Review from Princess fan sailing on RCI for the first time.....

[Ldyandrea]

The full review is posted over here on Livejournal, and has pictures and lots of details, but to sum up my highlights of good and bad on the Majesty of the Seas:

 

 

Good things

• Super easy and fast embarkation at RCI terminal in Miami
  
• Beautiful artwork all over the ship, and recent renovations don't make this ship look nearly as old as it is.
  
• Smaller ship made it faster to get to various points in the ship, much easier to navigate around than the bigger ones.
  
• Really cool and neat-o insulated soda cups when you purchase your soda sticker (prettier, more design options, and ability to close the opening on top)
  
• Free soft serve ice cream and soda stations on the pool deck!
  
• Awesome pools with gated off area in the shallow end for little ones, and sunken pool perimeter
  
• Neat hottub overhead shades to keep you from frying as well as boiling
  
• Cabin is small, but makes great use of space. Has wonderful storage spaces, closet, and larger than expected shower
  
• RCI Reality TV channel showing ship building and rennovation is not to be missed!
  
• Bedding was pretty comfy, and really nice!
  
• RCI's Compass daily schedule was conveniently formatted for carrrying around
  
• Windjammer Cafe buffet area nice and open, and was easy to find a place to sit, with the exception of the morning we got back to Miami.
  
• Johnny Rockets was lots of fun, cool tabletop juke boxes, great service, and nice informal place to have an easy meal.
  
• Compass Deli was quiet, had a nice variety of lunch foods, and a nice view.
  
• Crown Lounge (?) was generally pretty quiet, had full drink service, and a lovely view for people watching night or day.
  
• 24 hour room service with limited menu, and only a charge between midnight and 5am.
  
• You could order a light breakfast to be delivered to your door in the mornings....no charge.
  
• Toweldog!
  
• Boleros had the comfyest lounge chairs on the ship, and was a great location for Bingo.
  
• Dining room meals were certainly good, relatively comparable to quality of Princess.
  
• They offered some neat coupons that could be used in various places around the ship (casino, bingo, etc.)
  
• Offer laundering and pressing of clothing at relatively reasonable prices. Did a good job on the pressing from what I saw.
  
• Mustering drill didn't require that you tow along your life jacket, and staff did what they could to make it a little less boring.
  
• Overall, I found that the crew on this little ship seemed a very close-knit group, and appeared to really get along well. The bartenders, and activity crew members in particular all really engaged the passengers in conversation, and just seemed really the happiest and most effective crew I've ever seen on any cruise ship yet.
  

Bad Things:

 

• Disembarkation at the Miami RCI terminal was congested, lengthy, and generally just AWFUL.
  
• Pool deck chairs NEED to be replaced quite terribly, as they were old, difficult to get into and out of, and since they're made of vinyl you stick to them immediately. Yeesh.
  
• No little tables for drinks or whatever were available on the pool deck at all, and chairs were WAY too close together for comfort.
  
• Have to check towels in and out of a station on the pool deck, rather than just having them in your room where they are easy to get.
  
• No balconies unless you're in a suite or jr. suite, but lots of OV cabins (I suppose this could be seen as a good or bad thing, depending on your preference)
  
• Can't get into cabins until after 1pm.
  
• Very tiny cabins in general, nice size for one, but two or more would be seriously close quarters.
  
• Mustering took place out on deck in the sun, and seemed to take a very long time.
  
• Their karaoke collection is severely limited and the system itself is positively ancient with corded mikes, etc.
  
• No self-service laundry rooms or irons available
  
• No Movies Under The Stars (If you've been on Princess, you'll understand)!
  
• Casino slot machines mostly quite old, and still operate on coins rather than with printed tickets.
  
• The weather was awful......okay, I'll admit that's not the cruise line's fault. ;)
  

So, in closing, I think that I really did enjoy my overall experience on Royal Caribbean for the first time. I'm still a devoted fan of Princess, but I have to admit that the good stuff far outweighed the not-so-good stuff, and I would have no compunction about sailing with them again. Not so bad for what is nearly a 20 year old ship!

[DonnaK]

Thanks for posting your review!!!

 

Just a note that Majesty is one of the oldest, smallest ships in the royal Caribbean fleet, so it shouldn't be judged against the more modern Princess ships you've been on. Comparable RCI ships wouldn't have many of the negatives you listed.

[Ldyandrea]

Thanks for posting your review!!!

 

Just a note that Majesty is one of the oldest, smallest ships in the royal Caribbean fleet, so it shouldn't be judged against the more modern Princess ships you've been on. Comparable RCI ships wouldn't have many of the negatives you listed.

 

Actually, the only things I felt were really dated were the deck chairs and the casino. Okay, maybe the lack of balconies, but I don't care so much about that. My thought is that as much money went into the renovations, replacing these items as well shouldn't have been such a big deal.

 

As for the karaoke, like I said, I think this is pretty endemic to the industry as a whole, and I would have died of shock if it had been otherwise. :p

 

All that being said, I really enjoyed myself on it, and thought the smaller ship had it's own advantages. Thanks for reading! :)

[Rosethorn40]

Enjoyed your review-felt it was very balanced. We too are devoted Princess cruisers who tried RCCL (Grandeur of the Seas) last September because of a last minute Too-Good-of-a-Deal-to-Pass-Up sailing out of our home port. I agree that the pools were very nice, and I loved that the hot tubs were shaded. I also think you are on the money when it comes to the staff. The crew was just wonderful!

 

On our downside list we would have to add that we didn't care for the buffet closing at 9. DH loves to get a late night snack; fruit and cookies (Loves the Princess cookies), and that just wasn't possible. As our room didn't have a fridge he couldn't go to the buffet earlier in the day and pick some up to reserve for later. We also did not care for most of the evening entertainment.

 

We too would sail RCCL again. Love the last minute HOT deals. While I have gotten some good deals on Princess, the last minute prices on RCCL can't be beat.

[DonnaK]

Actually, the only things I felt were really dated were the deck chairs and the casino. Okay, maybe the lack of balconies, but I don't care so much about that. My thought is that as much money went into the renovations, replacing these items as well shouldn't have been such a big deal.

 

As for the karaoke, like I said, I think this is pretty endemic to the industry as a whole, and I would have died of shock if it had been otherwise. :p

 

All that being said, I really enjoyed myself on it, and thought the smaller ship had it's own advantages. Thanks for reading! :)

 

 

The size of the cabins are also much smaller on Majesty as compared with other ships in the RCI fleet.

 

 

On our downside list we would have to add that we didn't care for the buffet closing at 9. DH loves to get a late night snack; fruit and cookies (Loves the Princess cookies), and that just wasn't possible. As our room didn't have a fridge he couldn't go to the buffet earlier in the day and pick some up to reserve for later.

 

The other ships all have an area, such as the Promenade Cafe, where snacks are available throughout the night.