“It’s Been a Lovely Cruise!” Majesty of the Seas 4-Nt Bahamas Review & Pics May 6 '13

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

Home, Sweet Home!

 

 

Just returned on Sunday from 4 great nights aboard the Majesty of the Seas to the Bahamas and Key West. We also added on 2 nights each pre and post-cruise in the Hollywood (pre) and Ft. Lauderdale (post) area. We sailed from Monday, May 6th - Friday, May 10th 2013. Hopefully someone will find my review even a tad useful and/or enjoyable. I know I love reading reviews, so I hope you enjoy! Since that dreaded work gets in the way, I will be posting in waves and not all at once.

 

This review will probably get wordy and very detailed, so if that's not your kind of thing, I'd probably skip this one. I will also be covering all 4 days pre and post cruise. Thanks in advance if you’re going to stay with me until the end. I absolutely love cruising and love RCI, however I will not shy away from complaints or things I felt were negative or annoying. Absolutely none of them had a major negative impact on this particular cruise at all (they usually don’t) so, as all readers of reviews should do, take them as my opinion only and with a grain of salt. I tend to compare things to “the good old days” (back in the late 90’s) so just bear with me. If anyone has any questions along the way, please ask, I would be happy to answer them. You’ll also probably see references to songs, since I am a music buff. Reggae is my favorite. You may see references to some of my favorite cruising songs throughout :)



Background:

 

My name is Stacy and I am a single, 32 year old female who lives in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. This cruise was a last minute booking, only less than 2 months prior to sailing. My parents and I were originally due to sail on the Independence at the end of February. We spent 3 nights pre-cruise in Ft. Lauderdale, and on the morning we were due to go over to the ship, I fell ill. Long story short, I didn't want to chance it and we let that ship sail without us. I have to say that it was pretty traumatic. We did not take the insurance so we lost a significant amount of money. We are cruisers, like most of you, so the anticipation of boarding Indy was great and the disappointment that followed was pretty bad. Not to mention being sick in a hotel away from home. I knew we had made the right decision both for myself and my family, as well as for the rest of the passengers and crew, but it was still tough to swallow.

 

Anyway, I am a worry-wort/stresser, so I was nervous going again so soon. Taking another flight and boarding a ship so soon after that catastrophe seemed daunting to me. But, the Sea was Calling, and after remembering again where I live (see below), I went along with it and we decided to book the Majesty for 4 nights in May.

 

 

 

 

 

I began cruising when I was 17 years old. I am 32 now and a Diamond-Plus member, mostly due to my Mom and Dad's generosity when I was younger. We tried NCL once and had a good time, but we have decided to stick with Royal Caribbean-they are just more polished and we really enjoy their ships and crew. Majesty is our favorite ship and we have sailed on her over 30 times. She was my first cruise back when she did the 7-night Western Route which included Ocho Rios, Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Labadee. When she moved to the 3 and 4 nighters, we were disappointed, but began sailing back to back's on her to make up for the shorter cruises. Because of that, sailing her a few times each year, we began to get to know many of the crew and formed some long-lasting friendships. They are, for the most part, retired now, most of them, but we still keep in contact from time to time. We have some great memories onboard MJ, so she feels like home to us.

 

“The Big Upgrade”

 

Due to booking with such short notice, mostly all the cabins were taken, the ship was almost full. Our favorite Decks are 4, 9 & 10, but nothing was available that we wanted. We took an oceanview on Deck 8. Less than a week before Sailing, we received one of the best emails one can get, telling us that we had been upgraded to the Royal Family Suite. Cabin #1549. We were so excited, to say the least. The biggest cabin I’ve stayed in had been the Diamond Suite on Majesty, but never the RFS or the Royal Suite. I was happy, especially for my dad since we would be boarding on his birthday. Nice surprise for him!

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

Pre-Cruise, Hollywood Beach, FL, May 4th & 5th, 2013

 

After the most traumatic part of getting to the ship was behind us (look at this face…),

 

 

We flew down to Ft. Lauderdale from Cleveland on Saturday, May 4th. We arrived to beautiful, hot weather and took a short taxi ride to the Crowne Plaza Hollywood Beach. It was around $30. We have stayed at many different hotels throughout Ft. Lauderdale, but never in Hollywood and I’ve heard many great things about the Crowne Plaza there. The beach hotels in Lauderdale are getting to be so expensive, so we decided to try Hollywood this time, since we were sailing out of Miami. I was able to secure a room using Last Minute Travel which worked out great for us. We had a room on the 8th floor with a partial view of the Ocean. The room was pretty large, and complete with a microwave, mini bar with sink, fridge, and a safe in the room. We also had a balcony which we made excellent use of. The CP is right on the border of Hollywood/Hallandale Beach which you can see from the pic below. It is just a short walk out the front doors of the hotel and across the street to the beach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rednancy1]

Nice upgrade to the RFS. :)

[Ocean Boy]

Congrats on the upgrade. I think RCI did that to make up for the Indy trauma!;):p

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

More views from the CP Hollywood Beach:

 

 

 

 

 

We arrived early, around 12:00 p.m., and were happy that our room was ready for us. We dropped our luggage off, clorox wiped a few of the major germ spots in the room (Ha!) and went down to the pool area for lunch. The pool area is one of the main reasons I booked this hotel. My mom and I are sun worshippers. We could lay by the pool and swim all day long. This pool area was THE best pool area I have seen. This one beat out the Doubletree Grand in Miami which was my old favorite. It hosts a huge, infinity pool with beautifully landscaped grounds surrounding it, complete with beautiful palm trees everywhere. It was literally right on the Intracoastal Waterway and had lounge chairs lining the waterway as well, next to the pool. It is gorgeous. There is a Bar/Grille right at the pool/Intracoastal called The Lava Tiki Bar which had really good food. We had conch fritters, burgers, wraps, hummus and several drinks between the 2 days and everything was excellent. I had several pineapple mojitos (try one if you haven’t already) which were fantastic.

 

Some pictures of the pool area below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kruzerci]

Lucky us, we were upgraded to a GS and then the RFS on Enchantment the same sail date. I'm serious to see how it was on Majesty :).

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

More Pool area pics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

“It’s That Time of Day”

 

While we were eating lunch, we saw Kenny Chesney’s yacht go right past us, which was really neat to see. The pictures are below. I am not a country music fan, but I do like Kenny so it was cool for me to see. BTW—if you’re a KC fan, go listen to his new song “It’s That Time of Day.” We cruisers can relate! Take the time and listen to the song, I think you will enjoy it. The link is below:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vmtc9b9Bx60

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really like his music, and it reminds me of cruising.

 

There is also a Water Taxi spot right at the Pool Area of the CP, however we were watching and noticed a rather large wait time in between stops. I wouldn’t pick it up there as I am not a fan of wasting time waiting on vacation. But the Water Taxi is an excellent way to see the area, so don’t let me deter you.

 

Some pictures of the WT stopping by to pick up some guests:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ocean Boy]

And I would recommend to you Kenny Chesney's CD "Be As You Are". The entire CD is songs about the islands. I really enjoy it.

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

After lunch and relaxing by the pool for a while, we went back to the room, took naps, got up, showered, and went downstairs to catch the Hollywood Trolley. Another convenient aspect of the CP is that the trolley stops right in front of the hotel and takes you to several hot spots within Hollywood. We wanted to visit the Hollywood Broadwalk, so we hopped on, paid $1 per per person, and got off 4 stops later. My mom has a bad foot and a bad back, so walking a lot is really not an option for us. I am very athletic, a competetive softball player, and I like to do adventurous things, but when I’m with my parents we kind of just take it easy, or I go and do my own thing at times. We’ve, for the most part, “been there done that” so we’re not really into excursions or anything.

 

Few pics from the lobby & grabbing the trolley to the Broadwalk:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

Congrats on the upgrade. I think RCI did that to make up for the Indy trauma!;):p

 

Thanks, no kidding, I wonder!! :)

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

And I would recommend to you Kenny Chesney's CD "Be As You Are". The entire CD is songs about the islands. I really enjoy it.

 

I will buy it soon!! Thanks.

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

Lucky us, we were upgraded to a GS and then the RFS on Enchantment the same sail date. I'm serious to see how it was on Majesty :).

 

You will see soon! Probably tomorrow, this is taking forever, photobucket is moving at a snail's pace. Thanks for reading!

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

Trolley/Hollywood Beach/Broadwalk:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to the Broadwalk. Honestly, I was not overly impressed with it. I really like Ft. Lauderdale Beach so Hollywood was just okay to me. Hollywood seemed to be more for families with smaller kids as there seemed to be a lot to do for them. Lots of ice cream parlors, little shops, pizza, etc. It was nice, just not my favorite. We decided to leave rather quickly and grabbed a pizza at Rocco’s (recommendation by the Concierge at the CP, Jeff) and go back to the hotel. On the way back, we had a great trolley driver who was very funny and entertaining, and he took us on a little tour of Hollywood. I wish I had gotten his name, but I didn’t. He definitely enjoys his job and it was nice to see.

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

After checking out the Trolley and Broadwalk, we went back to the hotel and ate our pizza by the pool. Afterwards, we decided to take a taxi over to the Walmart just across the bridge in Hallendale to grab some last-minute items for the ship. It turned out to be quite an experience.

 

The hotel called a taxi for us. Easy enough, right? The first taxi pulls up, we tell him we just need a ride to the Walmart. He freaks out, waves his hands while yelling in another language and then “No No No!!” and drove away. HA HA! That was a first. I realize it’s a short distance, but we tip well and it was literally a 2 minute drive. He would’ve made out! So, we waited for another taxi and he took us to Walmart. We grabbed what we needed and then couldn’t snag a taxi back. I called several taxi numbers and was just getting aggravated, so we decided to walk to the main road there-Hallandale Beach Blvd, and luckily we were able to flag a taxi down. It didn’t seem to be the safest area. While we were in WM, we witnessed a woman screaming and swearing at another man there and this went on for quite a while. Pretty unnerving.

 

So, back at the hotel---we ventured back to the pool area and then enjoyed the hot tub and drinks for the rest of the evening before going to bed. We were tired.

 

The next day, we spent our entire day lounging by the pool and swimming, watching the boats go by. I went for a run along the beach in the morning, picked up some shells, then headed for the pool. Some pics from my run:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

My dad picking up shells while I ran :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

The weather started out cool, cloudy and breezy this day (Sunday), but typical SFLA weather—it heated up quickly and the sun was intense. We had lunch at our chairs and it was again excellent. Later on, we moved into one of the 3 “Cabana” type setups they offered, so we didn’t get burned too badly. Our week was just beginning! We continued to swim, read, nap, sip our drinks, etc. It was a great day. I also had a slice of their Key Lime Pie this day and it was excellent!

 

View from our cabana:

 

 

 

We were pretty full from our full lunch, snacks, and drinks, so we sort of skipped dinner. I ran over to the 7/11 right next to the hotel and grabbed some waters and snacks for us later on. Nice to have that option there. My parents also had breakfast at the hotel on Sunday morning, but I didn’t join them. They enjoyed the buffet and raved about it.

it’s obvious that I loved the Crowne Plaza! Can’t wait to stay there again. Next time, I would just stay at the hotel, wouldn’t even venture out unless I had a car.

 

Okay, this (finally) concludes our stay at the Crowne Plaza Hollywood Beach. Up next...Embarkation Day!

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

Monday, May 6th, Embarkation, I made it!

 

I woke up just fine this morning, no sickness, no nauseousness, no bad “nightmares” about missing the ship again! All 3 of us were healthy, but the pessimist in me thought “ there’s still time, Stacy, we haven’t boarded the ship yet!” I kept those thoughts to myself though.

 

I had hired a private car service through Quality Limo Service to take us to the port. I do this when we stay in FLL but cruise out of Miami to avoid a potential high-stress situation with a taxi. It was $90 total including tip, however we tipped a little extra. I highly recommend QLS and will definitely use them again in the future. I scheduled the pickup for 10:00 a.m. and received a call around 9:30 confirming the pickup and letting me know the name of our driver, Harold. The lady let me know that a white van would be picking me up.

 

I was actually expecting a car since there were only 3 of us, but it didn’t matter. Harold showed up right before 10 and we were soon off to Miami. He was a really great guy, I asked him if he’d mind stopping at Walgreen’s for me so I could pick up some conditioner and he glady obliged. He was super nice, professional, and knowledgeable and is a great asset to QLS. I was so glad I went this route, as there was a serious accident on 95 and it was backed up for many miles. The QLS office called Harold to let him know, and he took the express lanes the entire way. Who knows how long we would’ve been stuck in traffic and what kind of fare we’d be looking at if we’d been in a taxi. This is what our van looked like:

 

 

 

By the time we arrived at the POM, Harold seemed like an old friend, but it was time to board the Majesty. It’s funny, as you look at the pictures below, and as I look at them again, I still get that butterfly feeling in my stomach when seeing the ship for the first time. Just like when I was 17 and could not BELIEVE the size of the Majesty of the Seas. I must’ve stared up at her in awe for minutes. 15 years later, turning onto Port Blvd in Miami past American Airlines Arena (I am from Cleveland, so seeing LeBron James’ gigantic face on the building was not ideal!!), I still got that same beyond-excited feeling that I can’t quite describe. Cruising is very special to me and to my family, and to a lot of you as well. There’s really no feeling quite like it. It’s like a completely different world, so many nice people, great music, out in the middle of the ocean…ahhhhh...... I always feel extremely happy and blessed when I see that ship for the first time. So lucky to be going on yet another cruise.

 

(Not my favorite! :)

 

 

 

 

 

I've missed this sight :)

 

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

Since we had been upgraded, we did not have correct luggage tags (by the way, I had purchased the luggage-tag holders from Amazon and was disappointed that we couldn’t use them this time!). A porter approached us right away, one who had helped us many times before at that very place (so we had a laugh), and he grabbed some tags and wrote our cabin # on them for us. We tipped him well and asked him to make sure our bags made it safely. I know this is discussed ad-nauseum here on the boards, but to me, they’re taking care of my heavy bags and that is worth a tip. I’ve never had a bad experience with a porter, so maybe that’s why it’s a no-brainer for me.

 

Here's our luggage and then some quick shots entering the terminal:

 

 

 

 

 

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes?!

 

Gotta love Jimmy Buffet. After we were set with the porter, we began that short trip into the terminal where we were stuck behind a couple who couldn’t find their cruise ticket. They were just disorganized, but of course my impatience kicked in, tapping my foot, thinking: “come ON! I have GOT to get on this ship NOW!!” Ha! But soon, we were on our way. We got up the escalator and were handed a form from Royal that the ship had not yet cleared Customs and that embarkation would be delayed. Now, I am never quite sure of this excuse b/c I have heard it before. Correct me if I’m wrong, but if the ship hadn’t cleared customs, the last group of passengers would not be debarking, correct? So either I’m totally wrong, or they just needed to delay boarding for some reason. Surprisingly, there were no chairs anymore upstairs, so we just stood. I was thinking we’d be standing there for awhile, but we were moving rather quickly through security.

 

 

We were directed to the Suite Guest Check-In, where we met a rather surly man who must’ve been having a bad day. He was not friendly or welcoming at all, and seemed more than annoyed by our presence. I explained that we had been upgraded and showed him the paper confirming it, when he asked me “well, what cabin are you in?” I wanted to say, “it’s right on the paper” and was sort of put off by his attitude. I told him “1549” twice when he pushed the paper back and sighed and said that we were in the wrong line. I said that we were in the Suite line and that we were directed here by another employee. He sent us off basically with no assistance, so we just went over to the area that used to be called “The Chairman’s Lounge” where the Pier Coordinator’s office is. We were greeted by two employees there behind the desk, one of which asked “Why are you here?” That is exactly how she greeted me. I was again taken aback and said “Um, to check in?” I am a very sarcastic person so I wanted to answer with a snarky reply, but didn’t. She said “who sent you here?” And I said “We are D+ and have a Suite, we are to check in here.” She then said “ohhhhh, okay!” My parents I just looked at each other and chuckled. There was a time where we knew the Pier Coordinator well and this sort of behavior would never have been tolerated. See? Here I go with “back in the good old days……” thing already. This is the way of the world now, right? So we checked in, got our SeaPass Cards and began to wait in the lounge. “Hurry Up and Wait”—you know how it goes. Here are a couple of pictures I took in there:

 

 

 

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

I am going to stop for tonight and will resume tomorrow evening. Thanks again for reading!

[odiesam]

I am loving this review! My husband and I are sailing on the Majesty in July. We have never sailed a ship this old before so it is reassuring to read your review.

[Stags14]

I am loving this review! My husband and I are sailing on the Majesty in July. We have never sailed a ship this old before so it is reassuring to read your review.

 

I have been on the Majesty and the Allure and if I had to pick between the two it would take me a while to decide. The Majesty is a very fun ship!

[Coolcruise02]

(Not my favorite! :)

 

 

Sigh....I understand! I'm a "Cleveland" any sport fan. :)

But, I have watched him play bball since high school and still admire the talent!

Love your review and can't wait for more.

Edited May 15, 2013 by Coolcruise02

[Dawniepoo]

“It’s That Time of Day”

 

While we were eating lunch, we saw Kenny Chesney’s yacht go right past us, which was really neat to see. The pictures are below. I am not a country music fan, but I do like Kenny so it was cool for me to see. BTW—if you’re a KC fan, go listen to his new song “It’s That Time of Day.” We cruisers can relate! Take the time and listen to the song, I think you will enjoy it. The link is below:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vmtc9b9Bx60

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really like his music, and it reminds me of cruising.

 

 

 

OH MY GOSH! I am the BIGGEST Kenny Chesney fan!!!!! If I would have seen that boat, I would have jumped in after him. My DH knows I'm leaving him as soon as Kenny calls:D