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

[Stealthdog]

8 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Just a heads up.  Last week on the northbound portion, Skagway ended up being a tender port all day long.  The Niew Amsterdam from HAL got the lone dock spot, but they lent us their tenders so more cruisers could get ashore quicker.

This week we had split tendering in both Icy Strait Point and today in Ketchikan.  The tendering was in the afternoon in ISP and in the morning in Ketchikan.

Thanks for the heads up.  Tendering definitely complicates the ease of getting on and off the ship, and timing for private tours.  I’ll update as we go through which ports are tenders and partial tenders.

[Stealthdog]

On 6/7/2023 at 12:30 PM, Purple Gallinule said:

They tell us our "luxury motorcoach" trip takes about 4 hours. I think they allow that for the border crossing. We decided after last summer's trip to Vancouver (a real hassle) that we would simply fly Southwest to Seattle and use the Princess transfer. The hotels around the Seattle airport for Friday night are much less expensive than what we paid last July in Vancouver, too. Who knows, we may get home and say "never again" to the transfer, but at least they guarantee we will make the departure. It is our sixth Alaska cruise, and just one more experience to partake in. 🙂

 

Have a safe flight today!  Looks like it will be overcast most of the day with a high in the low 60s.  Not too bad!!!!!

[CruzeQueen2]

@ldtrHollywood Conservatory did not appear to have any restrictions for children when I was on the Majestic in May.  I found the pool area hot and stuffy as well. I walked all the way forward once. I like having the sanctuary placement there instead, like on the Royal Princess.

As much as it is a decent indoor space for glacier viewing and such, I preferred to be outside.

 

[Stealthdog]

The landsea tour reminded me of a cruiseship excursion.  They picked you up at the hotel, bus you around the city, and you stop at various points to get out for a specific time. At the end they bring you back to your hotel.  We were torn between a hop on hop off do it yourself ticket and this landsea tour.  I think we chose the right one.

 

It was a full tour (about 25 people).  The seats on the bus they use were one of the most comfortable bus seats I have been on.  The bus they use also have USB ports so you can charge your phones on board.  Some of the people had luggage stores, so it seemed like they were either coming straight from the airport or going to the airport after the tour. The traffic in Vancouver did not seem terrible, so I wouldn’t be worried about being late to a flight because of traffic.  
 

Specifically, we had 3 stops - Stanley Park, Prosect Point, and Granville Island.  They also bussed us all around the city and gave us some interesting narration and history of the neighborhoods, including the cruise port so you can see where you will need to go.

 

One interesting benefit of the bus tour is they intentionally brought us through the less reputable areas where you can see people sell stolen goods and doing drugs openly in the public.  It was horrifying and intriguing at the same time!  I’m glad we had that experience because we would not have known and could have accidentally found ourselves in those areas.  
 

NOTE - DONT go to Chinatown in Vancouver.  In fact, I would highly recommend reading up on the latest of Vancouver before you venture out on your own.  The city itself is beautiful with interesting architecture, clean streets, and then boom you are suddenly in an area with dozens of people doing drugs, and likely not in very stable mental conditions.  Know where those areas are so you don’t stumble into them by accident.

 

If it wasn’t in the high 50s, low 60s in mid June, Vancouver is a city we could see ourselves living in.  

[Stealthdog]

Stanley Park is awesome.  They have a nice little Totem area, tons of bike and hiking paths throughout, lots of animals (apparently including coyotes, which we didn’t see), and some parking areas for people with some mobility issues.  There options right outside the park to rent some bikes, and it’s also close enough to the downtown area that you can probably bike from your hotel.  Would have have spent a half day or full day just in Stanley Park - it’s a very nice space.

 

Edit - I’ll have to fix the upside down pictures later - didn’t bring my laptop with me on the trip.

Edited June 10, 2023 by Stealthdog

[Stealthdog]

Prospect Point appears to be another popular tourist stop, with some walking paths and areas to explore.  We only had about 15 minutes there, so not much time to explore.  They did have some interesting bird watching (I think the bird below is a humming bird) and some nice views of the bridges and areas across the river from Vancouver (which I think is called North Vancouver and West Vancouver).  Prospect point does not seem as mobility friendly as Stanley Park because there is a lot of stairs down to the walking paths.  The area up top is mostly flat.

 

[Stealthdog]

Granville Island is alot of fun.  It is a concentrated area of artists making goods and a huge food market where you can buy groceries (fruits, vegetables, meats, etc) or get a meal from just about any ethnic food.  Close to the downtown area, so it’s not too far to go.  We were in Granville Island for about an hour and this easily could have been a half day expiration as well.  I wish we had more time there.  It is easy to get lost there, so make note of where you are on a paper map or google maps, so when you explore down the alleys and unmarked walking areas you know where you need to get back to.  

[Stealthdog]

Some other pics of Vancouver from our walking along the river area or other areas.  It appeared they have 5 lines that use this port - Seaborn, Viking, Celebrity, Holland America, and Princess.  Celerity Millenium was in port on Friday, but we met a couple on the plane that were sailing on Celebrity Eclipse (we love that ship), so it’s a very popular cruise port.  Near the cruise port they have a seaplane excursion option, which is probably a lot of fun.  We didn’t have enough time to try it this time.

Edited June 10, 2023 by Stealthdog

[Stealthdog]

Here is the landsea tour contact information if anyone is looking for more information on tour options in Vancouver.

 

 

[Stealthdog]

Update on the binoculars drama.  There are a number of sporting goods stores in Vancouver that have a lot of affordable hiking, camping, and other outdoor equipment.  We talked to a couple locals for some recommendations and ended up getting a good set of binoculars at a place called Mountain Equipment Company

 

https://www.mec.ca/en

 

We went there after the tour, so took a Lyft instead of walking there (we didn’t want to end up in a questionable part of the city).

 

MEC is great - they also offer first responder and military/vet discounts to US citizens who meet those categories.

Edited June 10, 2023 by Stealthdog

[Stealthdog]

We had a 2 night stay at the Loden Hotel on Melville Street.  We booked through Fine Hotel & Resorts program through AMEX Platinum.  Using the travel benefits we got $200 off each night (booked one night in 2022 and the other in 2023).  It’s a fairly expensive boutique hotel, so using the perks made it affordable. 
 

When we checked in, they took care of us by putting us in the same room each night.  We got really lucky with a corner room - 2 sides are all windows!  
 

We also have a $60 breakfast credit each morning with the adjourning restaurant and $125 hotel credit to spend, so we ended up having dinner at the restaurant as well to use up the credit.  The restaurant is called Tableau, it’s French themed and offers breakfast, lunch, brunch, and dinner.

 

it’s a really nice hotel in a great location.  The staff is really friendly, they have a bottle of wine in the lobby for Happy Hour, and a nice gym that noone seems to use.  A surprising perk is if you ask the front desk for a ride somewhere in the city they will take you.  They dropped us off at a bakery last night and are taking us to the ship this morning.

 

They also have spa services on site, but we didn’t check them out.

 

The bathroom is nice - separate shower and tub.  It might be the deepest tub I have ever seen.  They also use Molton Brown products - a few small travel size bottles just happened to find their way into our backpack for us to bring on board to use because this will definitely be better than what Princess has in the cabin for us.  
 

I would recommend the Loden to anyone staying in Vancouver for a pre or post cruise stop, if it’s within an affordable range for you.  It’s in a great location near the cruise terminal, Canada place, downtown, and Stanley park, and away from the known drug areas so it feels safe walking.

[Hogladyrider]

@Stealthdog...we really enjoy Stanley Park.   How were the flowers, in the past they have been spectacular.

[Stealthdog]

1 minute ago, Hogladyrider said:

@Stealthdog...we really enjoy Stanley Park.   How were the flowers, in the past they have been spectacular.

They had some really nice rose bushes on display, but the bus drove past that area so we didn’t have an opportunity to walk through or enjoy that area.  There were some interesting purple circle flowers that were nice and some other white ones I didn’t recognize.  While driving through, there were some we could see from the bus, just not well.

[CruzeQueen2]

@Stealthdog Great reporting so far. Can't wait to read about your cruise. Bon voyage! Good luck at Canada Place today. May your lines move quickly through the ups and downs of the terminal. The process is ...what it is. 

We will be able to discern how your experience goes, if you make it into the dining room for the infamous embarkation lunch. Alfredos could be an option as well. Good luck!

[Stealthdog]

1 hour ago, CruzeQueen2 said:

@Stealthdog Great reporting so far. Can't wait to read about your cruise. Bon voyage! Good luck at Canada Place today. May your lines move quickly through the ups and downs of the terminal. The process is ...what it is. 

We will be able to discern how your experience goes, if you make it into the dining room for the infamous embarkation lunch. Alfredos could be an option as well. Good luck!

Success!  I’ll give a run down of the boarding later.  It wasn’t too bad - 30 minutes from arrival to the port until we were on the ship.  Was a lot of mindless standing and walking in lines without any real understanding of where we were going, but I’ll take 30 minutes!

 

And my traditional first drink on board - mimosa!

[CruzeQueen2]

4 minutes ago, Stealthdog said:

Success!  I’ll give a run down of the boarding later.  It wasn’t too bad - 30 minutes from arrival to the port until we were on the ship.  Was a lot of mindless standing and walking in lines without any real understanding of where we were going, but I’ll take 30 minutes!

 

And my traditional first drink on board - mimosa!

 

5 minutes ago, Stealthdog said:

Success!  I’ll give a run down of the boarding later.  It wasn’t too bad - 30 minutes from arrival to the port until we were on the ship.  Was a lot of mindless standing and walking in lines without any real understanding of where we were going, but I’ll take 30 minutes!

 

And my traditional first drink on board - mimosa!

I see you made it to the Allegro dining room - cheers!

 

[CruzeQueen2]

14 minutes ago, CruzeQueen2 said:

 

Not sure if my toast was sent in that previous post- Cheers! You made it to the Allegro dining room, well done!

Edited June 10, 2023 by CruzeQueen2
adding info

[Guest ldtr]

On 6/9/2023 at 8:31 AM, CruzeQueen2 said:

@ldtrHollywood Conservatory did not appear to have any restrictions for children when I was on the Majestic in May.  I found the pool area hot and stuffy as well. I walked all the way forward once. I like having the sanctuary placement there instead, like on the Royal Princess.

As much as it is a decent indoor space for glacier viewing and such, I preferred to be outside.

 

Usually it is adults only. though theydid allow children to use it during its time in Australia.

[Stealthdog]

Having more than a dozen cruises, Vancouver is probably the weirdest and most confusing port we began a cruise with. We got dropped off somewhere in the parking garage of the terminal, I lost track how many levels down we went - attendants just kept directing the driver down levels.  This is the first time I’ve checked in to a cruise underground.  The porters were all helpful and immediately packed luggage onto their carts and there were representatives present to help direct people where to proceed.

 

We were sharing the embarkation with a Holland ship and sometimes we were not sure if we were proceeding in the right direction (for Princess be Holland travelers).  Soon enough we were checking in with Princess and received our medallions.  We then proceeded through 4-5 other points, going up and down areas and snaking through roped lines seemingly for no reason.  I’m used to 1, sometimes 2 stops to board a ship, not sure why we had so many different checkpoints.  I thought we were finished when we processed US customs, but I think we had a medallion checkpoint before the ship, and then another one when boarding the ship.  As confusing as the constants stops and need to keep going up and down areas was, the whole thing only 30 minutes, so it was tolerable.

 

Once on the ship (about 11am) we switched to airplane mode and got on the Wi-Fi, which was easy enough. We had a little help with the internet station and explored the ship a little.  
 

Shortly after 1200 we decided to head to Allegro for lunch.  It’s a bit of an adventure because you can’t get there walking thru Deck 6.  I think we went up to 7 and then down to 6 to access Allegro.  We have been on a ship with a similar experience, so it wasnt to difficult to figure out.  The lunch was ok (not great, not terrible).  
 

The selection and layout of the buffet at World Fresh Market looked really nice - other ships are really congested with their buffet layout.  The Majestic seems to be better - I’ll check it out at a high volume time.

 

After lunch we did the obligatory gym and spa tours.  The spa seemed fairly standard.  We often get a thermal suite pass on ships, but will skip it on the Majestic.  For us, it was weird for the spa not to be collocated with the gym at a deck near the top of the ship.  The gym seems a little small for the size of the ship.  There looks to be plenty of cardio machines, but anyone looking for space for weights will be disappointed - it’s about the same size and equipment as a well equipped hotel gym.  
 

2 things we had to take care of today we did - excursion credit and speciality dining.

 

We received a coupon book after booking and paying for a Princess excursion.  We brought the digital coupon book to the excursions deck and they applied 10% of the cost of our excursion back to us as OBC.

 

We waited for the speciality restaurants to be staffed by someone at the front to get our dining straight.  We were originally booked for the French restaurant, which has been replaced by The Catch.  Princess changed our reservation at some point to Harmony.  The employee at the dining station was able to change it to The Catch at a reasonable time (630).  She was also able to change our Crown Grill reservation from 820 to 520.  Originally she told us we had to make our own changes on the App or the digital stations around the ship.  Don’t take no for an answer - of course they can help with your dining reservations.   

 

 

Edited June 10, 2023 by Stealthdog

[Stealthdog]

Day 1 event listings

[Purple Gallinule]

The good, the bad, and the UGLY of embarkation day.

 

GOOD: We left our hotel (SEATAC Marriott) and arrived at the Cruise Bus area at the airport by 8am. We were lucky to be on the first bus to leave for Vancouver. They said that enough folks had checked in that we did not have to wait any longer and we left the airport right at 9am. The drive to the border was almost exactly two hours and going through customs only took 15 minutes for the whole bus. We did have to get off, but there were restrooms inside that we took advantage of. The driver said it would be an hour to the port, but he got us there in 50 minutes. He said they would take care of the luggage and all we had to do was go check in.

 

UGLY: From bus to boat as TWO HOURS AND 4 MINUTES!!!!!!!!!!!!! There was NO accommodation made of those of Elite status. Princess touts priority boarding for elites. In this case we were told "We don't do that anymore!" We were also put through the lines with the folks boarding the HAL Konigsdam. We had back and forth lines for Princess check-in, security, and customs with literally thousands of passengers from both ships. We got off the bus at 12:05pm and got on the ship at 2:09pm. We have been on over 20 cruises (18 with Princess) and NEVER had anything that would remotely compare.

 

BAD: Elevators on the first day. Enough said!

 

GOOD: Met our friends who were already on board for lunch. Had a margarita to calm ourselves. Had some very nice Mexican fare. DW had her fave peanut butter cookies.

 

GOOD: Our bags were already in the room. How could they not be?

 

BAD: Watched the safety video twice and it still does not have us checked off. The muster station was crowded with folks who do not know how to use a Medallion.

 

GOOD: Manuel, our room steward. 

 

UGLY: We now know just how spoiled we were on all those cruises right after the restart that had no more than half occupancy. Boy it is crowded out there at every turn.

 

Well, it is time to turn on the Stanley Cup finals and cheer for DW's Golden Knights. Do yourself a favor and sail out of anywhere but Vancouver!

[Thrak]

2 hours ago, Purple Gallinule said:

UGLY: From bus to boat as TWO HOURS AND 4 MINUTES!!!!!!!!!!!!! There was NO accommodation made of those of Elite status. Princess touts priority boarding for elites. In this case we were told "We don't do that anymore!" We were also put through the lines with the folks boarding the HAL Konigsdam. We had back and forth lines for Princess check-in, security, and customs with literally thousands of passengers from both ships. We got off the bus at 12:05pm and got on the ship at 2:09pm. We have been on over 20 cruises (18 with Princess) and NEVER had anything that would remotely compare.

 

We had exactly the same experience when we boarded in Vancouver last May.  Absolute madness with passengers for our cruise mixed in with passengers for a different cruise line. Looooooooooooong lines weaving back and forth. The ArriveCan app made things even worse as very few people had managed to fill it out properly and a large number of people hadn't done it at all.

[CruizinSusan70]

3 hours ago, Purple Gallinule said:

The good, the bad, and the UGLY of embarkation day.

 

GOOD: We left our hotel (SEATAC Marriott) and arrived at the Cruise Bus area at the airport by 8am. We were lucky to be on the first bus to leave for Vancouver. They said that enough folks had checked in that we did not have to wait any longer and we left the airport right at 9am. The drive to the border was almost exactly two hours and going through customs only took 15 minutes for the whole bus. We did have to get off, but there were restrooms inside that we took advantage of. The driver said it would be an hour to the port, but he got us there in 50 minutes. He said they would take care of the luggage and all we had to do was go check in.

 

UGLY: From bus to boat as TWO HOURS AND 4 MINUTES!!!!!!!!!!!!! There was NO accommodation made of those of Elite status. Princess touts priority boarding for elites. In this case we were told "We don't do that anymore!" We were also put through the lines with the folks boarding the HAL Konigsdam. We had back and forth lines for Princess check-in, security, and customs with literally thousands of passengers from both ships. We got off the bus at 12:05pm and got on the ship at 2:09pm. We have been on over 20 cruises (18 with Princess) and NEVER had anything that would remotely compare.

 

BAD: Elevators on the first day. Enough said!

 

GOOD: Met our friends who were already on board for lunch. Had a margarita to calm ourselves. Had some very nice Mexican fare. DW had her fave peanut butter cookies.

 

GOOD: Our bags were already in the room. How could they not be?

 

BAD: Watched the safety video twice and it still does not have us checked off. The muster station was crowded with folks who do not know how to use a Medallion.

 

GOOD: Manuel, our room steward. 

 

UGLY: We now know just how spoiled we were on all those cruises right after the restart that had no more than half occupancy. Boy it is crowded out there at every turn.

 

Well, it is time to turn on the Stanley Cup finals and cheer for DW's Golden Knights. Do yourself a favor and sail out of anywhere but Vancouver!

Could not agree more.  After 50+ cruises, the embarkation process was an absolute joke with the mixing in of HAL passengers.  Luckily we got there early around 10 and we were on board just after 11.  Lunch at the Allegro dining room on day 1 and 8 were nice, with the tenderloin and the grand Marnier souffle.  Of course we went back for lunch on our sea days of 2 and 14 as well.  The only hassle of course is getting there via deck 7 and dropping down to 6.

Today getting off the ship was the worst.  Silver 1 tickets were called at 825, yet the bags were not all on display to be picked up.  Blue 2 and blue 6 were all lined up though.  Then after getting our bags, there were a total of two porters available.  By the time we got to the airport via van cab it was 1000.  We were told it would be 38, when the cabbie added extras for excessive bags and our scooter, making it 55.  The cheapest tip amount was 15%, so we were kicking ourselves for not using Uber XL or Lyft XL.  Then the salt in the open wound was the sky cab robbery at YVR.  Mandatory $5.00 CAD per bag.  Never again.  We will fly non stop into Seattle if we ever embark from Seattle or Vancouver again.

Edited June 11, 2023 by CruizinSusan70

[martincath]

5 minutes ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

...After 50+ cruises, the embarkation process was an absolute joke with the mixing in of HAL passengers.  ...  By the time we got to the airport via van cab it was 1000.  We were told it would be 38, when the cabbie added extras for excessive bags and our scooter, making it 55.

Unfortunately you got screwed by a weaselcabbie - firstly, there is no fixed rate going TO the airport. By law, it applies leaving YVR only - EVERY other trip, if the meter does not get turned on, free ride for you! Why would drivers offer this? When traffic is light and they put their foot down, they know the actual metered fare runs as low as $30-32, so many 'enterprising' cabbies offer the fixed rate - and keep all the cash themselves because officially it did not happen! Secondly, not only is it illegal to charge for moving a mobility device, all cabbies are trained how to safely move them in and out, attach them securely etc. - and they are specifically forbidden to even turn the meter on while doing so, let alone charge anything extra! Our equivalent of ADA ensures that nobody with a mobility device is charged a penny more than someone able-bodied - when the rules are followed at least! Bag fees are also Not A Thing here - there are rules that allow fee-based moving of packages separately, but an extra fee for baggage brought by a passenger is explicitly forbidden. If by any chance you took a photo or wrote down the cabbie's ID and license plate you should lodge a complaint and get a refund!

 

As to the mixing pax from lines - that is 100% on the US government. If there were no Preclearance here, each berth of the pier could be set up it's own lines for security, check-in etc.! But since every person has to be filtered through the one CBP area, it's simply not practical to have separate Security or Check-in rooms because everyone must be merged together to be pre-cleared.

 

Even on the crappiest days though, it's still faster than it would have been if instead you had to be cleared at your first US port! CBP staffing levels in Vancouver may seem inadequate - but have a think about how many CBP agents could be set up to work in Skagway? Ketchikan? Icy Strait Point? By forcing cruise ships to preclear in Vancouver, none of these tiny ports need to be staffed up to handle multiple 3000+pax vessels!

 

The only remotely viable alternative would be making every ship use Juneau as their first US stop - seat of government, biggest population, etc. etc. - but then the lines would all complain as they would lose a lot of flexibility in routing, and of course pax would also whine because now every ship leaving Vancouver has to visit Juneau first so the port will be JAMMED with pax, p*ssed off at having waited hours to be processed before they can get to Mendenhall etc.... we've seen San Francisco take over three hours to process the pax load on a single Grand class Princess ship, ~2600 pax... and Juneau currently has 4+ ships in port simultaneously many days, even with total freedom of which ports to put in which order for the lines as things stand.

 

Doing things the way they are saves your government a significant amount of expensive CBP staff, office space etc. in all the possible ports a ship might visit first - but by all means complain to your elected officials to see if you can persuade them to staff up Vancouver with more agents and kiosks. The more folks that can move through that bottleneck per minute, the smoother everyone's embarkation becomes!

[martincath]

13 hours ago, Stealthdog said:

Prospect Point appears to be another popular tourist stop, with some walking paths and areas to explore.  We only had about 15 minutes there, so not much time to explore.  They did have some interesting bird watching (I think the bird below is a humming bird) and some nice views of the bridges and areas across the river from Vancouver (which I think is called North Vancouver and West Vancouver).  Prospect point does not seem as mobility friendly as Stanley Park because there is a lot of stairs down to the walking paths.  The area up top is mostly flat.

Anna's Hummingbird I think - our official city bird! Good, or lucky, photo given how rapidly they zip around! Prospect Point is actually in Stanley Park - it's biiiiiiiiiiiig! And those other cities aren't over a river - that's the Pacific (Burrard Inlet to be specific).

 

North Van is roughly on the east (right) side of the bridge, West Van to the west (left) of it. Same folks who built the bridge - the Guinness Family - bought a huge chunk of what is now West Van for pennies first, then built the bridge which increased the value of their land massively compared to when just the small ferry was operating, then charged a toll to pay back the cost of the bridge (so all the folks buying land from them to build homes also paid them back for the reason they paid so dang much for their lots in the first place), then sold the bridge to the province 'for only the cost of construction' once they had already been paid back by the tolls and thus neatly avoided the starting-to-seriously-increase cost of maintaining an aging bridge! The Guinnesses were always a**holes - but smart ones 😉