Majesty 11/28-12/1 Review with Lots of Pics!!

[want2cruiseagain]

Thanks for your review and pics. The Queen's Staircase looks like a wonderful place to visit. We might check that out!

[DeeDeeRode]

Thanks for the great review and pictures. I was on the Majesty twice and now I'm ready to go again!

[barbie5401]

I have been to Nassau over 30 times since moving to Florida in the early 70's and have never visited the Queens Stairs - now with your pics I will add that to my list for our cruise on 1/2/09. Many thanks:D

[gomomgo]

This is an awesome thread you have going. Thanks for taking the time to share. I can't wait to see your snorkeling pics. We will be on Majesty for Christmas and the only way we could get our 19 year old son to agree to a cruise was if we would go snorkeling, so we have that planned in Nassau and Coco Cay. Where did you go to snorkel?

[MIACruiser]

Erin and Charlie.

Thanks for the wonderful pictures and for sharing your trip with us. Obviously you had a great time.

However, you missed something very important :(, so definitely you have to start planning for another quick cruise on the Majesty. Next time you MUST visit Johnny Rockets! ;)

[earl_m]

great photos!!!

[lovecruzing]

OMG! what a great review Erin and pictures too. My DH and I will be on the Majesty in 8 days with our friends that have never cruised before. Can't wait to see your snorkeling pictures. Did you get to the beach in Nassau and if so, which beach did you go to?

 

Bevie

[ebandive]

I have been to Nassau over 30 times since moving to Florida in the early 70's and have never visited the Queens Stairs - now with your pics I will add that to my list for our cruise on 1/2/09. Many thanks:D

 

I'm glad you discovered something new! I think that a lot of people miss it, there were very few cruisers there. Seems like everyone goes to Atlantis.

 

This is an awesome thread you have going. Thanks for taking the time to share. I can't wait to see your snorkeling pics. We will be on Majesty for Christmas and the only way we could get our 19 year old son to agree to a cruise was if we would go snorkeling, so we have that planned in Nassau and Coco Cay. Where did you go to snorkel?

 

The snorkeling is pretty much at the first beach to your left when you come off the tender at Coco Cay. You will see snorkelers in the water, and the friendly people at the snorkel shack will help you out. Just stay to the left, swimming towards the rock wall when you enter the water. Swim out towards the first dock on the left, and you will go over lots of big rocks, ranging from I'd say 10-20 feet deep. There is some coral, but not a whole lot. The real treat is all the fish. Once you get to the first dock rest area (you can just stand on the rocks here, they are shallow enough), look further in the same direction you were going, and you will see another dock and most likely more snorkelers. This is another good distance away, and you won't see much on your way out. It is pretty shallow and grassy. But once you get there you will see the sunken planes and a lot more schools of fish.

 

We didn't snorkel at all at Nassau. I read on the boards that in order to see good snorkeling you have to take a boat out. I'm sure if you do a little research you will find something worthwhile.

 

I hope that helps!

 

Erin and Charlie.

Thanks for the wonderful pictures and for sharing your trip with us. Obviously you had a great time.

However, you missed something very important :(, so definitely you have to start planning for another quick cruise on the Majesty. Next time you MUST visit Johnny Rockets! ;)

 

I know! :( I was very sad to miss Johnny Rockets. If the prices stay like they have been, I will hopefully get to go again soon! :)

[ebandive]

great photos!!!

Thanks! I'm glad your enjoying it!

 

OMG! what a great review Erin and pictures too. My DH and I will be on the Majesty in 8 days with our friends that have never cruised before. Can't wait to see your snorkeling pictures. Did you get to the beach in Nassau and if so, which beach did you go to?

 

Bevie

We never made it to the beach because we ran out of time. We were planning on going to cabbage beach on Paradise Island because it is free.

[ebandive]

On with the review!

 

At the top of the staircase is both the water tower and Fort Fincastle. There are vendors selling souveneirs. We took advantage of the bottles of water for $1. That sure beats the RCCL selling bottles upon leaving the ship for $3.50! There was also a man offering us a history tour, which we immediately (almost shouted) NO! after our experience at the staircase! You can tour this little fort on your own with no guide for free.

 

Looking at the above picture, the entrance to the fort is to your left. We walked around to the right first (didn't know where the entrance was, and we were avoiding the vendors on the left) and we got this view of Atlantis:

You can see about how far we walked to get here. It looks like quite a distance, but really didn't take that long, maybe 20 minutes or so. I will warn though that there weren't always sidewalks.

 

They have some cannons outside

They also have signs posting the history and fast facts.

[ebandive]

Once walking around the fort, we discovered the entrance.

Inside they had a few jail cells and some more cannons, as well as more information on the fort.

[ebandive]

I noticed that there were bathrooms available by the fort, but at this point we didn't feel the need to go, so I can't tell you their condition. But if necessary, they are there.

 

It was now about 11:00 and we already toured quite a bit. We also wanted to see Atlantis, so we walked back to the ship to eat lunch before venturing back out. We had to be back to the dock by 4:30 so we felt we had plenty of time.

 

Hmmm. The skies are starting to get pretty gloomy. Looks like rain.

Upon walking back to the ship, we were surprised to see lots of people just getting off. We discussed that this felt like a bit of a waste because we had already experienced so much.

 

It was 11:00 almost exactly as we went up to the Windjammer after dropping some stuff off in our room.

 

Wait, breakfast? Windjammer is still serving breakfast? At 11:00? Come to find out, they start serving lunch at 11:30, but the dining room starts serving it at 11:00. After much debate about what to do for lunch--I wanted the dining room so we could start eating now, then head back out. Charlie isn't fond of the dining room even at dinner and wanted to wait for the buffet. Our friends didn't care. They just laughed at Charlie and I. To bad Johnny Rockets doesn't open until 1:00. After much discussion, I convinced Charlie to go to the dining room.

 

It felt a little odd being in the dining room with shorts, sneakers, and T-shirts or tank tops, but everyone else was dressed quite the same and we were seated without a problem. Among the dishes selected by us were a Chicken ceaser salad, BBQ pork with french fries (which was delicious) and some sort of Mexican steak quesadilla or something, that was chosen by Charlie and he didn't like. I felt a little bad that I made him go to the dining room just for me to get something delicious and for him to get something yukky, but then I got over it.

 

It was time to go to Atlantis!

 

We debated between taking the water taxi or a van. The water taxi is cheaper, but takes longer, but you also get more of an experience (in my opinion). The skies were still looking gloomy, so we decided to take the van and maybe take the water taxi on the way back. The van ride was $4 per person, no matter how many were in the van with you.

 

In about 10 minutes we arrived.

 

Wow!!

 

 

[ebandive]

We were very impressed with this place and we hadn't even stepped inside. It was our goal not to spend any money here. I heard that you can't see much without spending money, but we were going to try. I got some tips off the boards about free aquariums by some sort of restaurant, and then just walking through the casino and hotels or right next to them.

 

Here is the main lobby

It is really spectacular. In case you were wondering, that is not real sky in the cieling, just a painting.

 

Then we kept walking straight ahead until we found the aquariums. Atlantis was decorated for Christmas, and was playing upbeat Christmas songs through the speakers.

Oh look, the aquariums are right over here!

[ebandive]

I was expecting just one window in the aquarium to see free, but there was a whole section of them. It was all the same tank. There were plenty of fish, and there were also some nurse sharks and stingrays, including two baby manta rays that were HUGE! Every time they swam by they gave me the chills. They were so big and graceful gliding through the water.

 

[ebandive]

And here are more!

A school of these type of fish, with the yellow stripe, was swimming with us in Coco Cay. Anyone know what they are?

[ebandive]

And some of the nurse shark

There was someone (a staff member?) swimming in there for awhile with them.

And here is the restaurant in front of the aquariums. You can see that it is just downstairs from the main lobby.

[ebandive]

After watching the fish at the aquarium for quite some time, we figured we better get moving. We walked back upstairs and decided to go outside before heading through the shops.

 

It really was beautifully decorated for the holidays.

This is just out the back door above the aquariums to the left.

[ebandive]

The water in the pictures from my last post was the same aquariums we were just looking at. At one point the manta rays came swimming by at the top of the water, and with their "wings" pointing to the sky, it almost looked like two sharks swimming by!

 

We were never once stopped by staff saying that we weren't allowed to be there. We just stuck on this walkway and didn't try to venture toward the beach, pool, or waterpark areas.

We came to this part of the building, noticed that inside was the casino, and decided to go in.

I immediately noticed the beautiful blown glass scultures inside the casino.

[ebandive]

This dragon guy was in the casino bar.

We exited the casino and kept touring.

I liked how this tree was decorated!

[ebandive]

Every piece of furniture and every accessory had just outstanding detail.

[ebandive]

By this time we had spent a few hours walking around and enjoying the sights. It was time to get back! We took a bus back because the skies still looked dark and we wanted to pick up a few last minute things at the straw market before we left.

 

Our taxi driver warned us that bad weather was coming and that we might have a rough ride home. Oh boy.

 

We went back to the ship and crashed in our room for a few minutes. I was hungry and I knew Charlie was famished, so we went back up to the Compass Deli for a snack before sailaway. It was starting to rain now, so we stayed inside and didn't watch us sail off.

 

We put our tips on our sail & sign card, so those vouchers were waiting for us in our room. We had also gotten an invitation for an exculsive crown & anchor get together with more free drinks, but we had to bring our invitation. This was to be held at 7:45. So we went to dinner, using our buy one get one coupon for the drink of the day (Bahama Mama), paying $6.50 or so for the two drinks in souveneir glasses. Later that night we used our other coupon for the same drinks, but payed over $9 and are drinks were served in the cheap plastic windjammer cups, even though I saw more souveneir cups on the counter. I thought this was a minor thing to complain about, so I signed my name and thought, "oh well..." but I thought it was odd. Both sets of drinks were from the pool bar.

 

Dinner was good as always and we bid farwell to our waiters. I wish I had gotten a picture of them. They really were great. Then we headed to the C&A gathering in Spectrum.

 

To get in, we handed over our invitation and met the captain, Captain Bjorn from Norway.

 

On a side note, on formal night everyone lined up by the left doors of Chorus Line to meet the captain. In my past cruises, the captain is by the left door, but if you don't care about meeting him, you go to the doors on the right and they just let you in and you can have a seat. So we went to the right door because we didn't really care and didn't want to wait in line. Well, turns out the captian was at the door we were at, not the one everyone had lined up at!! I'm not sure if he always chooses that door on Majesty or if it is just the luck of the draw.

 

Anyhow, the after getting some rum punch, the loyalty ambassador welcomed us and told us where she was located so we could all purchase more cruises. Then she tried to sell us on the credit card. Next the captain came up for a Q&A session.

On Saturday I heard some loud mouth out on the pool deck telling people that Majesty was being sold to Pullmanter this year, and that this really is quite an old ship and not in very good condition. WHAT!?!? The passengers responded that they thought the ship was well taken care of, and this guy responded that one look at the public bathrooms showed significant wear and tear. OMG. What public bathrooms was he looking at? Because all the ones I've seen were gorgeous, as seen in my earlier photo.

 

So anyway, Majesty being given to Pullmanter was quite the discussion. The Captain was asked twice about this and both times said that he understood why there was rumor because Sovereign and Empress went over there, but as far as he knew, Majesty was staying. Other topics included when is Rock'n'roll coming (it's not), has anyone fallen overboard during his command (no), and does he ever leave people behind in ports (yes, more often than not.)

 

After Q&A we were shown a video about the Oasis, which people seemed to respond very positively to.

 

Then we went back to our room, and look, another towel animal!

[sdouglas]

Ebandive,

 

GREAT PHOTOS! They bring back memories :rolleyes:. My partner and I were on Majesty last May, our 5th time. We love the ship and the crew. Glad you both had a great time.

[bchalker]

Great job on your pics. It was nice meeting you and Charlie at the sailaway party. Here is a link you our cruise video and it funny to see we took some of the same pictures.

 

 

 

Brad

Holly

Bobby

[ebandive]

Great job on your pics. It was nice meeting you and Charlie at the sailaway party. Here is a link you our cruise video and it funny to see we took some of the same pictures.

 

 

 

Brad

Holly

Bobby

 

It was great meeting you too!! I'm at work now and youtube is blocked, but I can't wait to watch it! Thanks! :D

[Yvonne]

Hi Erin, I just wanted to say how much I'm enjoying your review and pictures of the Majesty. I have never been on that ship, and may never be, but I'm still enjoying reading and seeing all about your cruise. Especially the pictures of Atlantis. I have pictures of it from the ship, but have never seen "close up and personal" ones like yours, they are wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing with us!!