Review of Majesty of the Seas with a toddler

[kitkat96]

We just got back from 4 nights on RC Majesty. The family included myself, my husband, and my 32 month old son. My husband and I have cruised several times but this was the first time with LO. Overall, if we knew what the trip would be like, we would have gone to a resort instead. Cruising (at least on this particular ship) with a toddler was not easy for us!

 

I want to preface this review with the fact that our son is VERY active. He loves to run and jump. Sitting is not his forte. Also, he is used to having a stable schedule. When on a cruise, its harder to stick to his schedule.

 

We also knew going in that he would not qualify for the kids program, he couldn't go in the pool, and that the ship did not have a nursery, but given that we had 3 ports (no sea days) we thought it would be OK.

 

The room -

We booked an outside room, which I would highly recommend. My son loved looking out the window! The downside - the room was so tiny, even compared to other ships we had been on. There was barely any room for the PnP. We squeezed it between the foot of the bed and the bathroom wall, which meant that my husband had to get in/out of bed on my side. We were under the impression (from this forum and from the pics on RC website), that we would probably have a love seat in the room that we could use as his bed instead of the PnP, but no love seat. There wouldn't have been any room.

 

Luckily we had left our car seat in the rental car at the port. There would not have been any room for it in the room. We didn't even have room to store all of our suitcases - one was too big to fit under the bed, so we had to leave it next to the PnP. We had almost no floor space.

 

Dining -

We had 6:30 assigned dining. The waitstaff were very nice and brought him fruit before every meal and he got a special kids dessert every night. I was disappointed that they charged $2 for a glass of milk with dinner. It is free at the buffet for breakfast and lunch, so I thought it would be free with dinner. After I learned this, he only had water with dinner. I don't understand why they can't give kids free milk. Its not like he's costing them much otherwise - he pays full price and mostly eats fries and mac and cheese. (As opposed to my husband who ordered 2 entrees every night.) :)

 

Royal Tots -

A week before the cruise, I got an email from RC customer service telling me to check out the Royal Tots program. I knew the ship did not have a nursery, but it was nice to hear about the parent-tot programs they had, like Adventure Art for Tots, Maritime Music and Royal Bedtime Stories. On the ship, we asked about these programs at Ocean Adventure and he said this ship does NOT have a Royal Tots program. Nothing. What about the toy lending? Yes, but there are limited hours when toys can be checked out - only after dinner. Could we at least let him play with the toys or run around in Ocean Adventures if we supervised him? No. Very disappointed.

 

Pool -

We knew that swim diapers were not allowed in the pool. But we were not expecting this to be such a huge problem for LO. Basically, we had to avoid walking on decks 11 or 12 because he would have a tantrum if he saw the pool.

 

Rest of the ship -

We were really looking for a place we could let LO run around. I tried Viking Lounge very early in the morning when it was empty, but starting at 8 am, it is "quiet time" there. We tried the basketball court, but it was almost always in use. He got to play there about 10 minutes. We tried the promenade deck, but the space between the rails was too far apart for me to be comfortable. He is not very careful when he runs, but it was fine for walking while holding our hands. To burn off energy, we also let him jump on the bed in our room. While we drank wine. :) When we booked, I didn't know that RC lets you bring 2 bottles of wine on board for free, as long as you drink it in your room. This policy is a blessing for parents. It would be challenging to go to a bar with LO.

 

Ports -

We went to Coco Cay, Nassau, and Key West. We enjoyed the beach in all 3 ports. Beach time was really the highlight of the trip. We brought an umbrella stroller, which we never used on the ship, but was essential in Nassau and Key West. He slept in the stroller while we walked to/from the beaches.

 

In general, I found this cruise not very accommodating for young children. I'm sure our experience would have been different if we were on a ship with a splash pad, or nursery, or if were on Carnival, which takes kids 2+ in the kids program.

[cb at sea]

I am very surprised to hear about being charged for milk! That's ridiculous!

 

You were on a smaller, older ship...that may have affected your views.....the older ship's cabins are teensy!

 

Hopefully, you'll try again when your child is older and not in the "terrible 3's"!

[martikus]

For me I think the bigger ships are better for kids. Can anyone else confirm they now charge for milk? DS had it every night 2 years ago and I used to have with desert. I hope the $2 charge was just an error cause that is crazy.

[gerif]

I'm shocked that they charged for milk - never heard of such a thing. I think I would have stopped at the WJ on my way to dinner and grabbed some there just on principle. As far as the rest of the things, I'm surprised you didn't read any reviews of this ship before booking it - you would have known about the tiny cabins, lack of services for toddlers and the like. Folks on the Family board would have suggested bringing a blow-up baby pool so he could at least splash a bit.

[Mack2]

Charging for milk at the MDR is crazy!

 

I even took the time to look for a copy of the RCI Kid's menu to check

It's ambigious... can't tell.

 

What I can say is that if that is their practice now, it's not acceptable. If this is to be the case, I'd order a whole bunch of milk from room service and bring it to dinner.

 

http://www.shipcruise.org/royal-caribbean-menu-room-service/

Drinks

• Coffee (Regular, Decaffeinated)
  
• Tea (Regular, Herbal, Iced)
  
• Hot Chocolate
  
• Milk (and fat-free).
  

 

edit:

Photo credit" Cruisinmama06 :)

Edited April 8, 2014 by Mack2

[Lerin]

Sorry it didn't go well for you. Maybe a family-friendly resort will work better for you while you wait for your son to mature a bit. Considering how active he is, perhaps a Club Med?

Good luck and hope you give family cruising another try in a year or so.

[leahlovescruising]

The milk thing surprises me! Sorry your trip wasn't as expecting. We just booked our cruise and our son will be 9 months. I went over budget a little to get on a larger ship that has more amenities so maybe next time that could be an option :)

[cruizinawayinva]

So sorry you had such a disappointing experience. We did Majesty before our kids were born. We had a great time but as young people weren't looking at what they offered kids of course. But our inside room was teeny tiny. I can't imagine a PnP in one of those either. We love the Voyager class with kiddos. They can't use the pools on those unless they are potty trained but the ships are so much bigger avoiding the pool and still having plenty to do isn't a problem.

 

That doesn't seem right about the charge for milk. We just got back from Adventure and had no problem finding free milk whenever we wanted it. We didn't eat in the MDR though so maybe that would have been different.

 

Both my boys sound a lot like yours, active adventurers always on the go. They love to cruise and have a blast just exploring the ship.

[Sunkissed Mommy]

I appreciate this review tremendously! I have a 13 month old. We're going on Enchantment (luckily) in May, then Brilliance, then Liberty in the fall. All of which have the kids club. However, if we ever decided to do a quickie cruise near home, Majesty would be our choice. Clearly it would not be a good one for us for the next 2 years.

 

At 13 months my son is very active as well. So I can relate to those issues you had. I think Majesty is small and unaccommodating. Based on your review I will also not recommend any families with the under 3 crowd to go on it!

 

I am truly disappointed that they charge a child for milk! If that's the case I'm grabbing a carton from the buffet before heading to the MDR o my future cruises.

[Akitkat118]

That stinks. We were on RC's Independence in December with my 20 month old and everything was awesome. Though, we did have the nursery, and royal tots program and we had a balcony for more room. I don't believe we got charged milkat dinner... we didn't notice if we did anyway.

we had so much fun we will take my son back this november when he is 2 and a half.

[nivek82]

We have taken our 3yo on over 15 cruises since she was 11months and never had to pay for milk. We took her twice on Monarch and with out the nursery it was tough but sounds like you had bad luck. On monarch they had a play time at night but we were able to get toys anytime. I read on here the deal with fisher price ended so maybe that is what happened to the toys.

 

The more I think of the milk I would send a letter to guest services telling them and see if they will credit you back or at least helps others.