Cruise Raider

Yes, the casino core OBC is added to your account as free play through the casino cage or host.

I think we are having much too much fun to leave on Saturday. We’ve decided to stay onboard until Sunday. We will miss a family event but they will hopefully understand. And yes, I think we’ve booked about 8 sailings from the half off list. We don’t have an unlimited travel budget but can afford the half off sailings so are so very happy with those. We just heard The Catch was serving sushi and oysters and the Crown Grill hosted the Crab Shack. I’m so happy they are making us of the venues onboard for lunchtime! Excellent strategic planning in play!

I wanted to mention that specialty dining, for those that are interested, was offered in both the Crown Grill (the Crab Shack lunch) and in The Catch by Rudi for lunch today. I understand that if you have the premier package, you can us your credits for lunchtime or dinner time.

We still haven’t tried the sushi because the lunch on the dining room has been so spectacular! I keep saying, for anybody that has complained about the food on Princess, they’ve never been on the Majestic. Wow .. the food has all been amazing.

That’s wonderful … what’s funny is I am from Green Bay and a big Packers fan and married a big Raiders fan! It’s all good, though. We have made a wonderful life together for decades .. both green and gold as well as silver and black in our house!

Oh yes, the Jordan was also wonderful. Another one perk of the premier package is getting discounts on bottles of wine. I think the same discount may apply to the plus package. Not all wines are sold by the glass and we took a special friend out to The Catch that night so wanted a special bottle to share. We were speaking to Chris, one of the special events coordinators for Princess, yesterday and he explained that on the Discovery, they will be swapping out the venues where Sabatini’s currently is for The Catch by Rudi. It has been reported that many people don’t like the open atmosphere. We actually loved it!

I forgot to mention, I went to the Future Cruise Sales office and booked a great deal on another cruise. When onboard, you may want to check out their current sales .. they can offer you some really great deals on some cruises.

The Catch by Rudi is the most incredible restaurant we’ve ever experienced! We went twice and have another reservation in a couple of days. The food and service are outstanding! I rarely take photos of my food but wow, the presentations were so beautiful. It is truly a special restaurant! It’s more of an experience than just a meal.

We are still onboard and having the best time. This cruise is not at full capacity and we are loving that so much! Since there are no crowds onboard, we made it to the dining room yesterday afternoon for chicken Korma and had the best meal. The waiters in the Allegro were so much fun and attentive! Last night was formal night and we checked the menu. They did have some cod and turkey dinner, both of which are always good but we had a big lunch so just got a few snacks at the buffet instead. The theme last night in the buffet was Indian food and it was so delish! Their curries are so marvelous. The evening entertainment was the production show, Fiera. Since we’d just seen it, we enjoyed the fabulous music options of the Sunset Quartet and Grace’s Secret in the piazza. Throughout the day, the cast of Dallas will be having talks in the theater. That should be interesting. They are around the ship and appear to be having a good time as well as interacting with the guests.

Sorry .. I have no idea. I will check tomorrow if I think of it.

The premier has been so worth it for us on our B2B here on the Majestic. We have gone to such excellent dinners in both Harmony and The Catch by Rudi. I love the photos and the premier brand label wines! Sit down pizza for lunch or dinner was remarkable on a busy sailing. Vines has a wonderful charcuterie board and crudités, as well. Interestingly enough, we did take advantage of the premier seating and we are so glad we did. The first leg of this sailing was at full capacity and we would have likely not gotten a seat in the new production show. For us, it is so worth it! For others, maybe not so much. I really think it sends on how much higher end liquor and wine you drink and how long your cruise is. It’s maybe worth it for a week long cruise or shorter … for anything longer than 10 days,I’d have to question upgrading to it.

We are staying B2B as far as Los Angeles and now, I wish I had the foresight to book it all the way through Hawaii. The turnaround day procedure this morning for ‘In Transit’ passengers was as easy and seamless as I’ve ever experienced. All that we had to do was to turn in our immigration for to the front desk yesterday and then relax and enjoy the ship this morning. I am excited this sailing is less crowded than the previous one, although, I really have no basis for that comment. Most everything we’ve done had no lines with the exception immigration in Astoria and the emebrkation lunch on the first day in the MDR. This ship really has the happy crew onboard!

I agree, it is such a happy ship!

We finally made it to the elite happy hour last night. It was located in the Vista Lounge. They had some snacks and we met one of the further cruise consultants there manning the door. She was very friendly and welcoming! There weren’t many passengers in attendance, though. Some of the most recent HH events I’ve attended on other ships had some live music during the event. The best snacks they’ve had were on the Ruby when we sailed on her last month. We usually just had that for our dinner instead of going to the dining room. But, I can assure you, there’s no way we are going to starve. The food all over the ship has been phenomenal. We haven’t made it up for the sushi as of yet and seeing we are in Seattle today, they aren’t open. We still have next week. And yes, we love Grace’s Secret. Jennifer and Graham both have such unique voices. Peter and Chip are still in the band but the guitarist they refer to as Elvis, maybe that’s really his name 😂 , has been replaced by Ollie. He is very talented and a great addition / replacement.

We went through immigration onboard the ship when we reached Astoria. Everyone was scheduled at a specific time for meeting with immigration officials. Those with tours set up in Astoria had the first scheduled times. Some people were still going through immigration after 2:30 PM. We were scheduled for 10:30 when they made the announcement that everyone was to proceed to the line. Because the line was so long, we let it die down a bit before standing in the line. Of course, we simply enjoyed the comfort of Good Spirits while we kept an eye on the line. Once we saw the end of the line, we made our way one deck up. We finally got through by around 12:30 PM. By this time, it had begun to rain so we merely stayed onboard. We missed the In Transit guests talk yesterday as we lost track of time in the casino. They did send a letter explaining that we don’t have to go through immigration procedures tomorrow. We still have to find out if we need to disembark to clear the ship. I really wished I’d have set an alarm to remind myself of the session for in transit passengers.

So, I made an attempt to continue my review of the Majestic and after writing out several paragraphs about the entertainment when poof, the whole thing was gone. So, let my try it now. We missed the show the first night as we were having a relaxing dinner in Harmony. It was a vocal impressionist that we heard from others to be quite good. We did catch two shows by the comedian, Sid Davis. He is one funny guy! We had seen two of the production shows a few times each in the past so didn’t repeat those but did go to the new show, Fiera, only performed twice so far. It is a circus themed show so not really to my liking but I can still appreciate it for all the hard work, talent, choreography and costumes. I wanted to comment on the seating for those with the premier package. There was a section of seats saved in a good location for those with the premier package, left side on deck 6 about 8-11 rows back from the stage. They were filled prior to even being able to release them 10 minutes before the show. This cruise is full capacity, thus the theater was filled by did not notice anyone standing in the aisles, at least not for the early show. They have two bands playing through the evening with a little different style of music but both are very good. Grace’s Secret is a group of 5 very talented musicians from England, which we’ve seen on several cruises in the past. We love them so we so happy to see them listed on Journeyview. The Sunset Quartet has a Latino flair and the lead singer is so very talented and energetic. They’ve played a lot of music to get people up on their feet in the piazza. A few times, it has turned into the Sunset Quartet without singing. We try to catch both their shows in the evenings when they play. Ercobel is a wonderful guitar player and singer and performs in both the Crown Grill Bar and the piazza. I’m sure there are another couple of duos around the ship but we really scope out the performances by the ones listed above. The casino isn’t really entertainment, per se, but we’ve had a lot of fun in there, nonetheless. No winnings but it is enjoyable gambling in a relatively low smoke environment. It’s not the norm but this sailing seems to have very few smokers onboard. The activities are pretty much all day and into the evening. We tried to see the vocal impressionist in the Vista Lounge the other night but it was standing room only 15 minutes before the show. We opted to go to this game show called The Generation Gap in Princess Live hosted by our cruise director, Christoff. Oh my word, we laughed so hard! We usually attend most of the CD staff activities as they are usually hilarious. Just of note, gone are the days with limited capacity sailings where you can go from one show to another and expect to find a seat. I missed the CC meet and greet up in the Hollywood Club area as there was an excellent enrichment lecture we wanted to attend. He was so knowledgeable, interesting and an excellent speaker. He even threw a little humor into his talk. Nicely done! We missed his lecture on humpback whales as we were waiting for our lunch to be served but, I imagine it was also a very interesting. Anyway, the Hollywood Conservatory is a wonderful area that is climate controlled, wonderfully decorated with soothing spa music playing. The cabanas are first come, first served and offer complimentary seating. I don’t know how long they will remain free but what a wonderful relaxing experience to find during a rainy day.

From what I’ve heard, it is not full.

We just walked by The Catch and although we already ate dinner, the smells were so appetizing.

She really is a special ship! We were on her on the first cruise after they lifted the cOVid restrictions back in July 2021. I was just so happy to be onboard, I didn’t actually appreciate what a special ship she is. I hope to meet you on the next sailing as we will be staying on until LA. I really wish we could stay even longer. I’m loving every bit of this sailing. We have to be doing some other things but will be back to continuing my review on ‘Everythng is Just Majestic’ later today.

So, moving along .. we upgraded to the premier package through one of our friends that works onboard as the sommelier. We’ve had a few problems being overcharged for wines included in premier package but taken care of pronto at the guest services desk. We then checked the menu for Harmony and it looked really appetizing so we made reservations there for the first night. We were given a beautiful window seat for a 5:30 reservation. My goodness, that food was so delish! The service was fabulous, as well. They were very accommodating with some changes to the menu. They had shrimp and snow peas and kung pao chicken and I asked for kung pao shrimp. They had no problem and even brought us an additional appetizer. We made our second specialty dining reservation for The Catch by Rudi for a couple nights later. That reservation was also for 5:30 PM but we wanted to make it to the 7:30 PM show so showed up around 5:15 instead and we’re seated immediately, again given a wonderful window seat. We noticed a solo traveler sitting in a window seat next to us and invited her over to our table. We had wonderful conversation .. so glad she joined us. Our service there was absolutely impeccable! Now, for the food .. WOW! That was quite possibly the best meal we’ve ever had while on a cruise. I asked the server what she would recommend and she was spot on! I had the seafood pasta and my DH had the filet and lobster. We had the citrus lobster calamari appetizers. Everything was just perfection! We were completely satisfied so, we were to skip dessert but our server said she’d pick out something light for us and boy, did she ever. She brought me fresh berries and my DH got the orange crepe. Both of those were so incredible. I know some people don’t love the atmosphere of the Catch but we thought everything was just perfect. We liked it better than the Crown Grill or Sabatini’s. More on the food .. Alfredo’s has been wonderful. Plus, there is no wait since the new charges have been implemented. I wouldn’t call it empty by any means, there is just no wait. We haven’t tried the sushi yet up on deck 7. We’ve heard it is only open on sea days. If it’s anything like all of the other venues onboard, I bet it will be fantastic! I think we will try it sometime today. We’ve had the charcuterie and crudités at Vines .. also wonderful! We’ve had them swap out some of the meats for extra cheeses. That has worked out so nicely. Neither of us has been a fan of the chocolates. The fresh vegetables are great! There are some decent wines on the premier package, however, there is no more Rombauer Chardonnay available, which is my favorite wine. The service at all the bars, but especially at Vines has been perfection! Eunice, Matthew and Mandal are all such wonderful staff. Goos spirits, with Chris and Erica and Good Spirits, with Jonard, Cesar and Johnson also spoil us! Lastly, we’ve gone to the buffet once for breakfast, once for a small snack and once for dinner and it is also quite good. The dinner is especially good with a stir fry station. The service there is also great. We ordered what we wanted for store fry and the server brought it to our table for us, insisting we were n vacation and we should just sit and relax and enjoy ourselves. To me, that type of service deserves kudos! The food there is really fantastic. We have ordered room service twice and everything was delivered quite timely and hot. Just of note, the specialty coffee from the International Cafe is amazing. The espresso based drinks are so very good! Sergei, that makes designs in the coffee is a true artist. I must admit, I am a sucker for coffee art! We haven’t been to the MDR or to the PES lounge as of yet. We’ve been so very happy elsewhere, so far. I will continue with other aspects of the cruise in another comment.

Being a huge fan of the Royal Princess, we booked a trip on the Majestic, mainly to meet up with some of the teammates now working this this ship. We’ve been onboard for 5 days and think this ship is just something really special. Embarkation was a breeze, even though there were two ships in port. We did not have to go through immigration in Vancouver so, that sped things up quite a bit. I got my medallion via the mail but somehow, my DH’s medallion was canceled in the app. Just in case anybody is wondering, the blue line took about an extra minute vs the green line. The security line at Canada Place was a short wait but nothing to really draw any complaints. Plus, the line is all indoors so not really a much of a hassle on a rainy day. The signage in Canada Place has really improved since we e last been there. Of course, we saw people complaining about no directions on where to go but they were just not paying attention. I call it the lost art of reading! Nevertheless, I think everyone got where they needed to be. Once through check in and security, we were allowed to board, which was shortly before 11:00 AM. They also allowed us to drop our carry on luggage off in our cabins. At that time, we met our most wonderful room steward, JeeVee! He is so hard working, kind, happy and friendly! Most of all, he is so attentive and keeps our room so clean and well stocked. We booked a midship deluxe balcony cabin and love our cabin. It is really the perfect size for two people, at least it is for these two people. The bed and pillows are so comfortable. Everything is in perfect working condition. We also booked the subsequent sailing and are in the same cabin. They set up a meeting today in Princess Live today to explain the procedures for all the In Transit passengers. That’s so great as I know that is a big source of questions for those that haven’t done B2B cruises in the past. Plus, procedures change all the time and in different ports. I think it will be very informative. The staff is extremely friendly and helpful. I understand from some of the crew that we know that the culture on this ship is generally quite happy. That attitude comes from good leadership from the top! Even though this cruise is completely full, the service is impeccable and none of the staff seem stressed out! It’s just a really happy ship! Most of the passengers are from the Vancouver area, since it is a roundtrip from Vancouver. We’ve had surprisingly decent weather and calm seas despite the forecasted wind and rain. The internet / WiFi has been pretty decent but, this site is sometimes giving me problems so, instead of going too much further on this post, I will continue in another comment in this thread.

We have been on both ships to Hawaii. I would choose the Ruby over the Grand any day, unless .. and this is a big unless .. you get one of window suites, which do not exist on the Ruby. The first couple of days out and the last couple of days back can have really rough waters and it will be cool outside, as well. Choose your room carefully .. on a lower deck and as close to midship as possible. Those window seats are actually a perfect location. Fries are readily available on every Princess ship. Pizza is available as sit down on the Grand but only up top by the pool or the room service menu on the Ruby. There is currently a charge for pizza at the sit down restaurant, Alfredo’s, and if ordered via the app. The only free pizza is up by the pool but ordering a whole pizza is $8.50. We cruise at times with very picky eaters and they are very good about finding something for them! Ask for the kids menu in the restaurants. There is also a decent menu on the app for delivery anywhere on the ship. The ships seem to have entertainment, activities, games, etc in the piazza that are pretty well attended .. plenty of kids seem to enjoy these events a lot! There will be very few teenagers onboard a 2 week cruise. The demographics trend older on these longer sailings. There are also a lot of Hawaiian activities scheduled that she might enjoy, such as crafts, ukulele and hula lessons, etc. The enrichment lectures are really quite good.

I saw the forecast of heavy rain and wind on Monday .. so, we packed our larger umbrellas. Still got everything into 2 carry on pieces and two personal items (we are continuing on a /2B on the Majestic) but, no room for goodies for the crew. So happy someone will be spoiling them, at least on the Royal. Thank you for the detailed info on the boarding in Canada Place. There are two ships in port on Monday but hopefully, we won’t go through immigration there as our first port of call is Victoria. I went there once and it was a flippin’ mess. There were 3 ships in port and US CBP only had one officer show up to work. People were in lines for hours on end. In the end, we were in lines for maybe 6 hours but there were people that faintly got onboard closer to dinner time. OMG .. people were madder than hornets with their nest disturbed. The next morning, we remembered the hotel director from a previous cruise and he apologized profusely for the mess. It wasn’t his fault, after all! But yes, it can be such chaos there. Glad the check in isn’t the worst of it as we will be needing to visit the blue lane for my DH! We won’t be checking any luggage so, that’s one less step.

I just saw it in the app .. on both tomorrow night and on Sunday. That was very helpful .. thank you!

So happy to hear that. It’s not inexpensive but got a great price a few months ago. Kept checking prices at the Pan Pacific and they never really came down. It’s just a short walk from and back to the pier, so that played a major part on my decision. I am wondering if anyone knows what embarkation in Canada Place is like since the recent changes. My DH never received his medallion for our next cruise, although I got mine. So strange! So, I guess it’s the blue lane .. hope it’s not horrible.