Its Going to Be Majestic - Live Review Princess Majestic Cruisetour - June 10-22

[Stealthdog]

Overall, had a great time on the Majestic Princess and with the CruiseTour, and we are happy with our choice.  In my mind, there is no such thing as a bad cruise.  
 

The ship is a really nice looking ship.  The floor plan is laid out well and it’s easy to get around the ship (with the exception of the weird placement of the Allegro Dining Room on Deck 6).  Having 3 areas of elevators is great for people with mobility issues and allows them to get around the ship easier.  A lot of the cruise lines appear to be going to 2 areas of elevators vs 3.

 

The 7 day sailing felt like a port-intensive cruise because 2 of the sea days were port-like with the scenic sailing.  So it felt like we were always doing something, and not as relaxing as I thought it would be.  If given the choice, even knowing that, I’d still pick the same itinerary.  We are happy with doing the landtour part our first time to Alaska.  If we sail Alaska again, we will skip the landtour and plan our own land portion.  
 

The food on board was a little disappointing.  But, that is a consistent opinion we have with all the cruise lines post COVID.  We don’t like going to MDRs anymore and would prefer to eat all dinners in specialty restaurants because the quality is so much better than MDRs, or buffets.  
 

The entertainment was better than expected.  I like that Princess is integrating technology and innovation into their shows.   They still have to ways to go IMHO and are being outpaced by other lines.  It’s probably really challenging with a cold weather cruise because there are no outdoor activities, which limits what the activities staff can do.  They were probably my favorite activities staff I have seen.  
 

The service on board was great - from waitstaff, bartenders, and room stewards, they were all awesome.  And, I thank them for all they did to take care of us.  
 

That said, Eric and I would like to thank all of you who joined us on our vacation.  Thanks for participating!  Our next scheduled cruise is a Back-to-Back on the Norwegian Escape in December out of Port Canaveral.  Who knows….maybe we will get on a last minute sailing out of Tampa or Canaveral before then!  I wish all of you great sailings.  If you have any additional questions don’t hesitate to ask!  😁

[Hogladyrider]

@Stealthdog...quick question.   The land tour you booked with Princess did you have the option to include meals?

 

I took a 7 day land tour with Alaska Wildland Adventures in 2014 and it included all our meals, all were amazing.  It also included all excursions except flight seeing in Talkeetna.  Only thing not included was alcohol and tips.  

 

We LOVED this tour, best vacation ever so far, even over cruising!  Tour consisted of 16 people, we had our own driver, our own tour expert and we never ever touched our luggage.

[gottagoacruzn]

The food looks so yummy!!! Also the places you went to after the cruise looks great! Thanks for sharin. Now, can't wait to go. Is it Sept yet?

[Thrak]

2 hours ago, Stealthdog said:

I don't know how I personally feel about a business GPS tagging me and knowing where I am, and what I am doing, at all times.  The first time I saw my face on the screen the bartenders use to ring up the drinks when I walked up to the bar, and without me giving them my room number, I was not ready for that.  Part of it feels really invasive.  

 

One aspect I didn't like with the medallion is when you leave a slot machine, it loads your balance back to your medallion.  I prefer the paper slips because it helps me track how much I have spent (I'm not a big gambler) better.  I imagine people have forgot they have a balance on their medallion and didn't cash in the last night.  I wonder how they get their money in those cases.

 

Your phone likely is already tracking you everywhere you go on land. With the Medallion they already know you're on the ship so who cares if they know where you are on the ship?

 

As for cash left in the casino account:  When we last sailed Alaska the penultimate stop was in Victoria. That evening I went to close out my casino account and found the casino was closed. There was no notice in the Patter and we had heard nothing announced. They said the ship didn't go far enough out to sea between Victoria and Vancouver so the casino didn't open. I had over $400 in my account and was unable to get it out. They eventually mailed me a check maybe 4 or 5 weeks later.

[Stealthdog]

1 hour ago, Hogladyrider said:

@Stealthdog...quick question.   The land tour you booked with Princess did you have the option to include meals?

 

I took a 7 day land tour with Alaska Wildland Adventures in 2014 and it included all our meals, all were amazing.  It also included all excursions except flight seeing in Talkeetna.  Only thing not included was alcohol and tips.  

 

We LOVED this tour, best vacation ever so far, even over cruising!  Tour consisted of 16 people, we had our own driver, our own tour expert and we never ever touched our luggage.

I dont think I had meal options when I booked….at least it wasn’t presented as an option.  I originally booked direct with Princess in 2021 and then transferred the reservation to my TA with the rebook in 2022.  Neither Princess nor my TA offered meals as an optional add-on for the land portion. I just looked at the FAQs on the Princess site and it looks like there are food package add ons for tours. Every lodge asked if we had vouchers when we were sat.  Maybe it was an oversight.  

[Stealthdog]

1 hour ago, gottagoacruzn said:

The food looks so yummy!!! Also the places you went to after the cruise looks great! Thanks for sharin. Now, can't wait to go. Is it Sept yet?

Will we be getting a review in Sept? 😁

[gottagoacruzn]

Well, not sure at the moment, right now you're name is, "Will have to wait." ha ha.

[mimmy52]

Thank you for this review. It helped me relive my Princess cruise tour in 2015. But now I want to go back and have a helicopter ride to a glacier. Your photo of the glacier crevice made me feel a bit weak. It don’t know if I could look at one, and then to see Eric (if it was Eric) straddling a crevice…well, I wanted to shout “Be careful!”

 

[Stealthdog]

14 hours ago, mimmy52 said:

Thank you for this review. It helped me relive my Princess cruise tour in 2015. But now I want to go back and have a helicopter ride to a glacier. Your photo of the glacier crevice made me feel a bit weak. It don’t know if I could look at one, and then to see Eric (if it was Eric) straddling a crevice…well, I wanted to shout “Be careful!”

 

Hahahaha.  That was not Eric.  He wanted nothing to do with the crevice.  😂

[Traveler1977]

I’ve been quietly following you on your journey through Alaska. My wife and I will be on the Majestic doing the same cruise and a similar land tour in a few weeks. You gave a great review and provided loads of tips and suggestions that we’ll be adding to our list of things to do. Thanks.  

[milogurd]

On 6/26/2023 at 12:54 PM, Stealthdog said:

We had a red eye out of Fairbanks (920pm) so had a full day in Fairbanks before we had to get to the airport. 
 

We placed our luggage outside the door early, skipped breakfast, and took a Lyft to the North Pole.  It was about a 20 minute drive from Fairbanks, passing Fort Wainwright most of the way.  Along the way, you can also see some eagle nests up in the power line poles.

 

We got to the North Pole a little before 10AM and our first stop was the Antler Academy.  This place was awesome.  For  $12-13/person, you get about 30 minutes inside the pen with several reindeer to pat and feed.  The academy employees will be with you to give you the food cups.
 

After the reindeer we went to the Santa Clause House, which was a little bit of a letdown.  I guess I was expecting to see people dressed as elves and a Santa and Mrs Clause in more of a museum like environment.  But, it’s really just a really big gift shop.  My favorite part was reading children’s letters to Santa posted at all the entrances.  
 

Several people we spoke to recommended eating at the local Chinese Food Restaurant at the North Pole, so off we went.  The food good, but if you get a lunch combination, we aware you will get a lot of food!  We learned the hard way 😂

 

After lunch, we wanted to check out the Museum of the North at the University of Alaska, and tried to get a Lyft or Uber to get there.  Our requests kept timing out with no available rides (North Pole only has a little more than 2000 people).  So unfortunately, we ended up calling a local taxi to take us back to the Princess lodge.
 

Our taxi driver arrived in an unmarked vehicle  with a windshield that was cracked across the whole length.  We were really apprehensive of getting in, but we got back to the lodge safe.  
 

At the lodge, the tour desk helpers will give you a pamphlet with a local company that provides shuttles to various local sites (including North Pole and Gold Mines), which is likely a more reliable way of getting out and back.  The cost of those  shuttles are $30/person roundtrip ($90 minimum), our Lyft out was $40 and our taxi back was $60.  
 

The reindeer experience alone made the trip to the North Pole worth it to me.  The town is tiny, but all the light poles and hydrants are painted candy cane style, which was cute. 

 

The Pagoda Restaurant was featured on two Food Network programs.

 

Takeout: Tastier at Home

 

and

 

Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives: A North Pole Christmas

 

 

[AJSkarbo]

Thank you for so much good information! 2 weeks until we fly to Fairbanks and it seems so close and yet, so far! 

[Stealthdog]

On 6/27/2023 at 2:20 PM, Traveler1977 said:

I’ve been quietly following you on your journey through Alaska. My wife and I will be on the Majestic doing the same cruise and a similar land tour in a few weeks. You gave a great review and provided loads of tips and suggestions that we’ll be adding to our list of things to do. Thanks.  

 

I hope you have a great time!

[Stealthdog]

On 6/27/2023 at 2:20 PM, Traveler1977 said:

I’ve been quietly following you on your journey through Alaska. My wife and I will be on the Majestic doing the same cruise and a similar land tour in a few weeks. You gave a great review and provided loads of tips and suggestions that we’ll be adding to our list of things to do. Thanks.  

 

Hope you two have a great time!

[Stealthdog]

On 6/27/2023 at 4:52 PM, milogurd said:

 

The Pagoda Restaurant was featured on two Food Network programs.

 

Takeout: Tastier at Home

 

and

 

Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives: A North Pole Christmas

 

 

 

OMG....who knew?  I didn't really provide any reviews of the Pagoda.  The soups that came with the lunch special were really good.  They do the traditional style tea you see from older Chinese food restaurants, which is nice.  The Mongolian beef was really nice.....the General Tso chicken was really weak.  It tasted like basic fried chicken dipped in a sauce.  I'll have to take a look at the Guy Fieri episodes!

[cruisequeen4ever]

Thank you; it was fun reading this and seeing your pics!

[geepmaley]

On 6/17/2023 at 12:39 PM, Purple Gallinule said:

We are taking the southbound Majestic trip starting today. It is amazing how quiet the ship is today. It is more like the first sailings after the recent unpleasantness (COVID) when the ships were only half full. The room stewards are busy and have a team-like organization to get everything done for the new passengers. We are doing laundry and enjoying our balcony. This is the first time we have ever seen the sun in Whittier! It is so beautiful!

 

Bon Voyage to all who are disembarking today. Hope to SEA you around on another cruise.

What's the laundry situation? Seeing on other ships that it may be free, but not much on whether that applies to Majestic also. We are doing a land tour starting in Fairbanks Sep 5 before our Sep 9 southbound but are also staying three days before and three days in Vancouver on the back end, so laundry would be nice

[Purple Gallinule]

19 hours ago, geepmaley said:

What's the laundry situation? Seeing on other ships that it may be free, but not much on whether that applies to Majestic also. We are doing a land tour starting in Fairbanks Sep 5 before our Sep 9 southbound but are also staying three days before and three days in Vancouver on the back end, so laundry would be nice

We did our own laundry on the turnaround day in Whittier. The laundry room was near our stateroom, and I believe it was $3, but don't quote me on that. We could have sent it out for free (elite perk), but decided to just do it ourselves.

[geepmaley]

@StealthdogDid they offer a winemakers dinner on your cruise? If so, which winery was it? Silverado or Caymus?

[geepmaley]

Another question for @Stealthdog What types of shoes did you where when hiking at Denali? Trying to figure out what to pack

 

[Stealthdog]

21 hours ago, geepmaley said:

@StealthdogDid they offer a winemakers dinner on your cruise? If so, which winery was it? Silverado or Caymus?

I don’t remember a winemakers dinner, but I wasn’t actively looking for it.  I love Caymus so could have been convinced!  I’ll check to see what brand of hiking shoes we used.  

[Stealthdog]

On 8/10/2023 at 10:31 AM, geepmaley said:

Another question for @Stealthdog What types of shoes did you where when hiking at Denali? Trying to figure out what to pack

 

We wore basic hiking boots that provided ankle protection and waterproof.  Brand we had was merrell and they were perfectly fine.  Any shoes you have that give ankle support should be good.  The paths are fairly well managed, but there are inclines and declines and if it rained, it could be a little slick.

Edited August 11, 2023 by Stealthdog