doenbucket

Thanks glencraigs.

We are booked on the Majestic for her NZ New Year cruise this coming December. When the deck plans for the Royal Princess were released a few years ago I was disappointed that there was no wrap-around promenade deck, no aft pools and that most of the balconies were on the small side. It will be interesting to see if the lack of these features makes any difference to our enjoyment of our Majestic cruise. I doubt it. The Majestic also lacks the Wheelhouse bar which has always been our preferred drinking venue.....but I'm sure we will adapt.

 

We sailed on the Diamond Princess a year after she had been 're-jigged' for the Japanese market. We had cruised on her 3 times and she was our favourite so wondered how changed she was. As it turned out, apart from the Japanese bathhouse which in Australian waters didn't seem to be popular and which meant that one of the public pools was no longer public, we enjoyed her as much as ever. Interestingly, as we had sailed on the Sapphire Princess the year before after her drydock where the International Cafe and Vines etc. were added, we decided we actually preferred her to the "Japanese" Diamond. We cruisers are such a fickle lot!

 

We couldn't do anything to change the Majestic's promenade deck, or her pools but we did book a mini-suite on the hump which gives us a slightly larger balcony...and I stress slightly, but hopefully I have chosen a deck where the people wandering around on the "Sea Walk" won't be peering into our cabin.

 

cheers

 

Stu

The sea walk was a bit of a novelty for the first 3-4 days, after that not so much. Just to be sure...no nuddie sun baking on balcony.:D:o:eek:

Travelling on Ovation, October 2018.

Is it possible to watch my own DVD's through the cabin TV? If so, what's the procedure?

Thanks for any help available.

On the Singapore to Shanghai leg the meet & greet was held in either the Allegro or Symphony Dining room. Can't remember which.

Just off Explorer & I love the Mongolian Stir fry that is done in the Windjammer cafe for dinner. You choose your own ingredients from vegetables, noodles & meat. You then choose sweet chilli, teriyaki or hoisin sauce. The chefs prepare it on the spot. Hot & tasty, just love it.

It will be held at least one night during your cruise, but you would need to check with buffet staff to find out which night.

On other nights it was create your own omelette, Asian style soup, hot pot & crepes. Very popular.

My DH uses the preloaded vouchers at the bar in the Music Hall. He gets 3 cans of Diet Coke which he puts in the fridge in our room to have later.

You can still go to the Diamond lounge during the same hours and have a few drinks as well. We only go there occasionally but DH has asked for a can of Diet Coke and it was served to him by the waitress with a glass of ice as well.

But you can only drink so much Diet Coke!

Thanks Megsie, that'e exactly what I needed to know. You're quite right about diet coke. I'm going all out & hope to get Diet sprite & soda water as well. Woohoo party time;p

We are on the same cruise on Monday. We are also diamond, the diamond lounge is a good place to meet people. I am not a big drinker but enjoy the lounge and have meet some very nice people. Hope you enjoy the cruise, let's hope the Cyclones stay away from us:cool:

Thanks for answering. This will be our first cruise as Diamond so looking forward to meeting new people in the lounge. It's also nice to know we can grab a drink & head back to our cabin. Have a great journey.

Yes, the soda is canned....I have always been able to get it unopened...other's have said the bartender has to open it....

Thanks for your speedy response.

My next cruise is on RC Ovation of the Seas, October 2018 Singapore to Sydney. I will be Diamond level & will be able to experience the Diamond Happy Hour with drinks pre-loaded on Sea pass card. I am not a drinker so I will only take advantage of the non alcoholic drinks. Can anyone tell me if soda is served in the can? If so, do they open it at the bar? I thought I would post here knowing there are a few Aussies & Kiwis that have loyalty benefits with RC or have been on Ovation. I have also posted this question on the RCCL board. Any help would be appreciated.

My next cruise is on Ovation, October 2018 Singapore to Sydney. I will be Diamond & will be able to experience the Diamond Happy Hour with drinks pre-loaded on Sea pass card. I am not a drinker so I will only take advantage of the Non alcoholic drinks.Can anyone tell me if soda is served in the can? If so, do they open it at the bar? Any help would be appreciated.:D

Just spent 17 days on board Pacific Aria, love that ship. A little birdie told me, actually, lots of little birdies (officers) said Aria was up for sale as we. Such a shame.:(

We will be on this voyage as well, although boarding in Brisbane.

If you are looking to do a tour from Phu My to Ho Chi Minh city, we highly recommend Smile Tours. We have used them, as have many CC members.. Very professional & reliable with wonderful guides. Check in on the roll call for this cruise, some private tours might be in the process of being organised.

We have been to Taiwan, last in 2015. When we docked in the port of Kaohsiung, we walked to the local railway station, along with a large amount of passengers. Had no trouble purchasing a day pass & travelling on the trains. Even though English is not widely spoken, we still managed to ask & get help from locals. We primarily spent time shopping. Really enjoyed our time in Taiwan.

For those of you who have sailed on the Majestic Princess and especially travelled in a Premium Deluxe Balcony stateroom at the stern of the ship, are you able to advise if cabin A737 (Aloha Deck) has any covering over the balcony area or is it exposed to the elements? We are interested in booking this stateroom. Many thanks for any advice on this matter.

Try googling Regal Princess aft balconies or Royal Princess Aft balconies. They are the same class of ship as Majestic. The photos are a bit small but they lead to a CC post. Didn't find anything for Majestic. Hopefully the photos give you an idea of shelter above.

I just phoned my son at work. He P&O rang him late this morning and offered $200 per booking. He is happy with that. :)

Good outcome all around

So it is" too dangerous" this year but not too dangerous last year, (we were were on one of the three P&O ships they had in the harbour last Australia Day) Sounds like a bit of a cop out to me. The Australia Day Council, you would think, would not make a safety call about cruise ships and the Sydney Port Authority would have been aware of any "danger" and not given permission in the first place.

Yes, have to agree, major cop out. Someone, somewhere stuffed up big time.:eek:

Maybe us folk up north are a dangerous lot.:evilsmile:

I have just spoken to my son. He phoned P&O on Friday and expressed disappointment but didn't hint that they might cancel. He was referred 'up the line' to more senior people but no offer of OBC. He was told someone would phone him back next week.

 

I note that the OP (Datone) didn't get the offer of $100 OBC on the first phone call. Someone from P&O had to phone her back. I really think that P&O are getting off lightly if they pay some passengers $100 OBC. That is probably only $25 or so out of P&Os pocket if people spend more than they would otherwise. All the best with this. :)

I contacted P&O this morning relating my disappointment.The lady I spoke with said she would pass my concerns to Customer Relations & someone would ring me within 7 days. Mmmm I thought.:rolleyes:

To my surprise a gentleman contacted me about 1.30pm. He explained the reasons behind the early departure for all P&O ships on Australia day. The Australia Day Council & Sydney Port Authority pulled the plug saying it would be too dangerous to have 3 cruise ships moored during the festivities. I spoke a bit about the reasons for picking this cruise & the dismay we felt. He offered a sincere apology for the change of arrangements. We had a sensible, calm conversation & I was pleasantly surprised when he offered $100 OBC each to compensate for the inconvenience. He also said they were offering full refunds to some passengers.

As loyal Princess/P&O customers I was very pleased with the outcome & the professional manner with which this matter was handled by the P&O representative. So I can only suggest passengers contact P&O direct about this matter.

When you booked, the itinerary probably showed that the ship would be anchored in the harbour for the fireworks. It is worth phoning P&O to see if you can also receive the $100 pp on-board credit. Doesn't hurt to ask.:) I suggest that you mention a "friend" got the OBC (if you need to mention this at all), not Cruise Critic. :D

Thanks Aus Traveller(y), we did believe we would be in the harbour for the evening festivities, that's why we were so excited when we secured a cabin. I will contact P&O tomorrow to discus & will let them know about my "friend" who received OBC. As you said, can't hurt to ask. I imagine they have been inundated with many disappointed passengers & rightly so.

Thanks to datone for sharing this information. I am so grateful I am part of the CC community. So much helpful & important information shared. :cool:

The OP said she received an email from P&O. My son did also.

We were wait listed on this cruise & were lucky enough to be offered a cabin about 5 days ago, which we accepted, but we have not received any email advising any changes.:(

So, this is the first I've heard any of this. We are booked on this cruise out of Brisbane as a b2b2b. Did people find out through email or on the grapevine (CC)? We've had no notification from P&O. We thought this would be a great opportunity to spend Australia day in Sydney & see the evening festivities whilst on board. First thing tomorrow morning I'll be on the phone to P&O.

Still required to carry on Diamond Princess, embarked 11th December.

We both had Noro on a cruise last December. There is no cure but we were given Avomine (sea sick meds) & Gastro Stop (or similar brand). These help relieve the symptoms only. I have always carried these meds anyway. Drink plenty of fluids if you can.

A few years back we were on a Caribbean cruise on the Ruby out of New York City where we live and the second night when we went to dinner we were placed with three other couples, the three men were all hot shot wall street brokers and they were bragging about the deals and tricks they do giving me hot stock tips, telling what to watch for in a few weeks, basically breaking the law and bragging about it, after the main course was done one of them asked me what I do for a living. I just could not resist the temptation, I replied that I was an Investigator for the Securities and Exchange Commission, well you should have seen their faces, they jumped up said hey look at the time we got to go, but you did not have dessert and coffee I said, by the way I didn't catch your names. The waiter came over looked at them almost running out of the dinning room turned to me and asked what happened, I told him that they said they had a show to catch. My wife looked at me and said, really the SEC, really. I would wave to them every time I saw them on and off the ship. I'm a Carpenter and my wife is a Teacher, no SEC.

Blah hahahha, love it. I would of loved being at that table with you. What a crack up;p

Hi,thank you for the review , like yourself we are just going aboard with an open mind and plan to have a great time. Did you have to purchase a China visa before boarding the ship or were you covered on the 144 hour visa exemption policy? Thanks look forward to hearing from you.

Before the cruises ended in Shanghai we stopped in Xiamen, China. So, we needed a multi entry visa which we obtained prior to boarding the ship. We are from Australia so not sure of requirements for UK citizens. We met a couple (Aussies) at check in in Singapore who didn't have the correct visa for China.:eek: Don't know what the outcome was for them. We had a really good TA who knew exactly what we needed so we knew what was necessary.

We cruised on Majestic from Singapore to Shanghai June 2017. This is my review that was posted on a the roll call for Majestic Brisbane to Hong Kong March 2019, which we booked as soon as the Australian itineraries were released.

Returned from our Majestic cruise on Tuesday (11th July). All I can say is…we loved it. This is the largest & newest ship we have been on, so everything was shiny & new, which was really nice considering we get the older ship in Australia. There was a couple of little things we commented on but nothing to complain about. We missed the promenade deck that could be walked all the way around. It is quite narrow in parts because of lifeboats & tenders above.We found it always closed at one end so had to walk through the ship.

Food was generally very good in both the International Marketplace (buffet) & restaurants. There was always plenty of seats available in the buffet, but we generally ate at quiet times. The French & Chinese Specialty Restaurants did not seem to be very busy at all. The Pizzeria was always flat out with a waiting time of 45 minutes for pizza at when really busy. As always, Princess pizza is the best. They also serve antipasto & pasta dishes.

We love to play trivia but the venue usually used, PrincessLive!, was more of a theatre & it was not possible to group together. So not good. I think trivia was very quiet because of this.

The Piazza, deck 5, was a great place to be. The International Café & two bars were in this area. Very big area with lots of tables, chairs & waiter service. There was always something happening on sea days, line dancing, gameshows, Acrobats, dance lessons, live music etc. The Princess theatre is a great venue. Good seating with good views. Some of the shops are really high end, very little going on in there.

One big omission are computers in the Internet/library area,only 2 available. Take your own device. About 50 books & a few board games available.

Rumours on board, had the ship undergoing a refurbishment prior to its Oz season. These rumour’s included more bars, apparently us Ossie’s like our alcohol, so more bars will fix things for us. They may also increase the size of the internet area & install more computers. I must say, the internet was sooooooo slowwwwwww. Glad I didn’t pay for it.

You have to remember, this ship was always meant for the Chinese market & was fitted out that way. Personally, we didn’t notice anything that made it feel too Asian or that would stop us cruising on her again. There were people who had lots to complain about, especially things that were very different to the Royal & Regal, which are the same class of ship. We had no expectations before sailing & we went on board with an open mind. That worked for us. We were not disappointed, this is from our own personal experience.

Hope this helps the anyone thinking of travelling on the Majestic.:)

That's a good link from OzKiwiJJ.

I followed this cruisers review before boarding Majestic for Singapore to Shanghai cruise. It was very helpful.