Our cruise on the Majestic Princess - 15th to 27th Sept 2018 to the Pacific Islands

[Sailaway John]

On this cruise I had organised a Meet & Greet and 84 participants had agreed to attend, but some had other special places to be and we ended up with 76 in total . . as far as I was concerned that was a great turn-out. I sent out invitations to the Captain, Cruise Director and other Senior Staff and all attended and spoke to the group. We arranged a Cabin Crawl to be done on the next day which was the first sea day and thanks to all you volunteered their cabins we were able to visit all different types of cabins . . . Suites, Mini-suites, Balconies, Inside, aft and forward . . . Thank you everybody.

Now the review:

Embarkation . . .

After arriving at Sydney Airport from Port Macquarie we were escorted to a waiting Princess transfer bus that took us straight down to the Embarkation Wharf at Circular Quay and it was our first full sighting of the Majestic Princess. Boy what a ship . . . huge. We were directed to the Priority Boarding line (we are Elite Passengers) and soon were heading for the Registration Desk to get our cruise cards. It was at this point that we struck a little problem. Eileen received her card with no problem but apparently they had lost mine, so after searching everywhere they issued me with a temporary cruise card that would get me on board but not to the cabin area. Once on board I was stopped by Security and told to wait until the Purser’s Desk could check and print out another cruise card for me as their computer terminal had gone down. After three-quarters of an hour and very much apologising from the crew and ship’s officers, I eventually got my card and was allowed to proceed to my cabin where Eileen was already waiting for me. We had a Balcony Cabin on Port Side Aft and it was very nice and as expected was tidy, very clean and fresh. I checked for our little “Freebees” that Elite Passengers get and found that they were all in their right places and it looked like we were ready to sail.

By the way we were celebrating our 59th Wedding Anniversary and my Birthday on board this cruise.

The Ship . . .

The ship can carry 3560 Passengers with a crew of 1345. There are 36 Suites, 306 Mini Suites, 360 Deluxe Balcony Cabins, 732 Balcony Cabins and 342 Inside Cabins. Please note there are no Ocean View cabins on this ship.There are 20 Decks and the ship has 2 gigantic anchors. The ship is propelled by 2 huge propellers.

 

The ship was launched in 2017 . . . The Captain was Captain Dino Sagani.

After Two Sea Day we started at our Ports of Call . . .

The night before the first port of call, which was Noumea, we went to the Crown Grill, a Speciality Restaurant on board, and had a great evening. The food was excellent. Service was great.

Our first port of call was Noumea. Noumea is a perfect combination of South Pacific hospitality and European elegance. Although we had been here before we decided to do an excursion and decided on the Noumea Sights and Anse Vata Beach Break. In our opinion not worth the money and quite disappointed in the excursion. This excursion went for 4 hours.

The next port of call was Mystery Island. Apparently this Island is uninhabited and the islanderss who live on adjoining islands come across to Mystery Island to set up stalls only when the ship are expected. Went ashore and walked around the tiny island, had a look at the airstrip that the American Forces made and used in World War II. I think this airfield could still be used today. Got sand in our toes and had a refreshing time. The weather has been great for the entire voyage so far.

Sea Day today so went to the usual Trivia, then to the Enrichment Programme which was about “The Golden Age of Pirates”, did other miscellaneous things around the ship but after dinner we went to the Princess Theatre show which was The Princess Entertainer of Year winner Nathan Foley . . . wasn’t too bad but the next show in the Vista Lounge was very good and entertaining and that was the Marriage Match Gameshow.

Suva today, 21st September and my Birthday. I was 21 again and I felt like 25. Did not take a ship’s excursions as we have been here many times before and we decided to just hop on the free shuttle and walk around the shopping area. Some things had changed but not many and the city was still quite dusty, noisy and full of people hurrying from place to place. Headed back to the ship for lunch and then to the Vista Lounge for the movie “The Death of Stalin”, which was a disaster and we walked out just in time to get to the start of Afternoon Trivia. At this point I would like to mention our Trivia Team . . . Karryl and Warren, Terry and Bernadette and Eileen & John. We didn’t win any major prizes but we had fun.

We had bookings at Harmony Restaurant as a treat for my Birthday and it was fantastic. The food was just so plentiful that we could not eat it all. The staff were excellent and the atmosphere was very, very Chinese. Highly recommend.

Caught a bit of the “Mercury Rising” (Freddie Mercury) show but it was completely full up so decided not to wait till the late show and did other things about the ship . . . cocktails, etc. and watched the goings on in the Piazza.

Lautoka

The forecast for today was around the 27c and we had an excursion to the “Land of the Giants” and the Orchids that grow near this spot. The gardens were very lovely and we walked throughout the circular pathways and the orchid collection. Some of the orchids were amazing and after hearing about the “Black Orchid” we were intrigued to see where it was. Well we asked and it was pointed out us but it was a surprise . . . it was a white orchid with very small black flowers right in the centre of the flower. We were looking for a complete black orchid. After the excursion we went back to the ship for Afternoon Trivia!!!! Tonight was the “Hot Latin Nights Deck Party”.

Another Sea Day today and tomorrow we arrive at Lifou

Lifou

First of all, the island looks different – less pine trees, higher cliffs. Secondly, there are no expensive resorts awaiting you, hardly any tourists are staying overnight (although you can, if you want to, stay overnight in basic, more traditional accommodation). People on Lifou Island go by their everyday business, and on days that a cruise ship arrives they pack their traditional clothes, their home cooked meals and their imported cheap souvenirs and welcome the day guests at the tender boat pier near Easo. Once the cruise ship departs, life returns back to its normal, quiet self until the next influx of 1,000 or so tourists arrive for one day only. Most people in Lifou live in modest houses these days, however, some of them still have a traditional hut in their yard which is sometimes open for visitors. if you want to be able to wade into the water safely, consider using reef shoes or other shoes that you can use in the water.

Back to the ship for that famous game . . . Trivia. That was after we attempted to watch a movie in the Vista Lounge called “The Female Brain” . . . another terrible movie.

The next two days were Sea Days . . .

With all the activities that are on board we started off with the “Paper Plane Competition” then we went to morning Trivia followed later on to the “Explorers - Mapping Australia’s Coastline Enrichment Programme”. Then later in the afternoon we went to see the “Scrap Heap Boat Building Finals” which were done in windy conditions in the main pool area, then guess where to . . . Trivia.

After dinner we attended one of the best show we have seen and that was “Fiere”. What a show, the costumes, the sets, the singing, everything was as you would expect from a full Broadway/Vegas show. After this show we went to the Simon McKinney Show which was a mixture of comedy and voice impressions. Very good. I must mention at this point that we did see another show earlier in the cruise, “Fantastic Journey”. It was really good, colourful, and we recommend it.

Our last day at sea and the day before arriving back in Australia and apart from going to Trivia we went to the Enrichment Presentation which was “Famous Shipwrecks of the Australian Coast” . . . very interesting. We then went and saw the final of the Egg Drop Comp and surprisingly not one egg was broken when dropped from 3 decks above.

Back to our cabins and we had to start packing so that before dinner we could put out our bags so they could be collected for disembarkation tomorrow.

Disembarkation . . .

This sad episode of the cruise went extremely well and we were off the ship within the hour after having our numbers called and we then met up with the transfer bus to take us to the airport. Our cruise was over.

It was a great cruise and we met many nice people. We had a great turn-out for the Meet & Greet that was organised and Princess put on a great venue for us the Hollywood Conservatory. The exclusive Lounge set aside for the Elite, Suite and Platinum passengers was well attended and the pre-dinner complimentary hors d’oeuvres were excellent, changing every night. Last but not least on the two Sundays whilst on the ship we attended Interdenominational Church Services which were conducted by our Cruise Director, Andrew Kadillac. Thank you Andrew for a job well done.

We would highly recommend cruising on this magnificent ship . . . The Majestic Princess.

[rtb99]

On this cruise I had organised a Meet & Greet and 84 participants had agreed to attend, but some had other special places to be and we ended up with 76 in total . . as far as I was concerned that was a great turn-out. I sent out invitations to the Captain, Cruise Director and other Senior Staff and all attended and spoke to the group. We arranged a Cabin Crawl to be done on the next day which was the first sea day and thanks to all you volunteered their cabins we were able to visit all different types of cabins . . . Suites, Mini-suites, Balconies, Inside, aft and forward . . . Thank you everybody.

 

 

 

Now the review:

 

Embarkation . . .

 

After arriving at Sydney Airport from Port Macquarie we were escorted to a waiting Princess transfer bus that took us straight down to the Embarkation Wharf at Circular Quay and it was our first full sighting of the Majestic Princess. Boy what a ship . . . huge. We were directed to the Priority Boarding line (we are Elite Passengers) and soon were heading for the Registration Desk to get our cruise cards. It was at this point that we struck a little problem. Eileen received her card with no problem but apparently they had lost mine, so after searching everywhere they issued me with a temporary cruise card that would get me on board but not to the cabin area. Once on board I was stopped by Security and told to wait until the Purser’s Desk could check and print out another cruise card for me as their computer terminal had gone down. After three-quarters of an hour and very much apologising from the crew and ship’s officers, I eventually got my card and was allowed to proceed to my cabin where Eileen was already waiting for me. We had a Balcony Cabin on Port Side Aft and it was very nice and as expected was tidy, very clean and fresh. I checked for our little “Freebees” that Elite Passengers get and found that they were all in their right places and it looked like we were ready to sail.

 

By the way we were celebrating our 59th Wedding Anniversary and my Birthday on board this cruise.

 

 

 

The Ship . . .

 

The ship can carry 3560 Passengers with a crew of 1345. There are 36 Suites, 306 Mini Suites, 360 Deluxe Balcony Cabins, 732 Balcony Cabins and 342 Inside Cabins. Please note there are no Ocean View cabins on this ship.There are 20 Decks and the ship has 2 gigantic anchors. The ship is propelled by 2 huge propellers.

 

 

 

The ship was launched in 2017 . . . The Captain was Captain Dino Sagani.

 

 

 

After Two Sea Day we started at our Ports of Call . . .

 

The night before the first port of call, which was Noumea, we went to the Crown Grill, a Speciality Restaurant on board, and had a great evening. The food was excellent. Service was great.

 

 

 

Our first port of call was Noumea. Noumea is a perfect combination of South Pacific hospitality and European elegance. Although we had been here before we decided to do an excursion and decided on the Noumea Sights and Anse Vata Beach Break. In our opinion not worth the money and quite disappointed in the excursion. This excursion went for 4 hours.

 

 

 

The next port of call was Mystery Island. Apparently this Island is uninhabited and the islanderss who live on adjoining islands come across to Mystery Island to set up stalls only when the ship are expected. Went ashore and walked around the tiny island, had a look at the airstrip that the American Forces made and used in World War II. I think this airfield could still be used today. Got sand in our toes and had a refreshing time. The weather has been great for the entire voyage so far.

 

 

 

Sea Day today so went to the usual Trivia, then to the Enrichment Programme which was about “The Golden Age of Pirates”, did other miscellaneous things around the ship but after dinner we went to the Princess Theatre show which was The Princess Entertainer of Year winner Nathan Foley . . . wasn’t too bad but the next show in the Vista Lounge was very good and entertaining and that was the Marriage Match Gameshow.

 

 

 

Suva today, 21st September and my Birthday. I was 21 again and I felt like 25. Did not take a ship’s excursions as we have been here many times before and we decided to just hop on the free shuttle and walk around the shopping area. Some things had changed but not many and the city was still quite dusty, noisy and full of people hurrying from place to place. Headed back to the ship for lunch and then to the Vista Lounge for the movie “The Death of Stalin”, which was a disaster and we walked out just in time to get to the start of Afternoon Trivia. At this point I would like to mention our Trivia Team . . . Karryl and Warren, Terry and Bernadette and Eileen & John. We didn’t win any major prizes but we had fun.

 

We had bookings at Harmony Restaurant as a treat for my Birthday and it was fantastic. The food was just so plentiful that we could not eat it all. The staff were excellent and the atmosphere was very, very Chinese. Highly recommend.

 

Caught a bit of the “Mercury Rising” (Freddie Mercury) show but it was completely full up so decided not to wait till the late show and did other things about the ship . . . cocktails, etc. and watched the goings on in the Piazza.

 

 

 

Lautoka

 

The forecast for today was around the 27c and we had an excursion to the “Land of the Giants” and the Orchids that grow near this spot. The gardens were very lovely and we walked throughout the circular pathways and the orchid collection. Some of the orchids were amazing and after hearing about the “Black Orchid” we were intrigued to see where it was. Well we asked and it was pointed out us but it was a surprise . . . it was a white orchid with very small black flowers right in the centre of the flower. We were looking for a complete black orchid. After the excursion we went back to the ship for Afternoon Trivia!!!! Tonight was the “Hot Latin Nights Deck Party”.

 

 

 

Another Sea Day today and tomorrow we arrive at Lifou

 

 

 

Lifou

 

First of all, the island looks different – less pine trees, higher cliffs. Secondly, there are no expensive resorts awaiting you, hardly any tourists are staying overnight (although you can, if you want to, stay overnight in basic, more traditional accommodation). People on Lifou Island go by their everyday business, and on days that a cruise ship arrives they pack their traditional clothes, their home cooked meals and their imported cheap souvenirs and welcome the day guests at the tender boat pier near Easo. Once the cruise ship departs, life returns back to its normal, quiet self until the next influx of 1,000 or so tourists arrive for one day only. Most people in Lifou live in modest houses these days, however, some of them still have a traditional hut in their yard which is sometimes open for visitors. if you want to be able to wade into the water safely, consider using reef shoes or other shoes that you can use in the water.

 

Back to the ship for that famous game . . . Trivia. That was after we attempted to watch a movie in the Vista Lounge called “The Female Brain” . . . another terrible movie.

 

 

 

The next two days were Sea Days . . .

 

With all the activities that are on board we started off with the “Paper Plane Competition” then we went to morning Trivia followed later on to the “Explorers - Mapping Australia’s Coastline Enrichment Programme”. Then later in the afternoon we went to see the “Scrap Heap Boat Building Finals” which were done in windy conditions in the main pool area, then guess where to . . . Trivia.

 

After dinner we attended one of the best show we have seen and that was “Fiere”. What a show, the costumes, the sets, the singing, everything was as you would expect from a full Broadway/Vegas show. After this show we went to the Simon McKinney Show which was a mixture of comedy and voice impressions. Very good. I must mention at this point that we did see another show earlier in the cruise, “Fantastic Journey”. It was really good, colourful, and we recommend it.

 

 

 

Our last day at sea and the day before arriving back in Australia and apart from going to Trivia we went to the Enrichment Presentation which was “Famous Shipwrecks of the Australian Coast” . . . very interesting. We then went and saw the final of the Egg Drop Comp and surprisingly not one egg was broken when dropped from 3 decks above.

 

Back to our cabins and we had to start packing so that before dinner we could put out our bags so they could be collected for disembarkation tomorrow.

 

 

 

Disembarkation . . .

 

This sad episode of the cruise went extremely well and we were off the ship within the hour after having our numbers called and we then met up with the transfer bus to take us to the airport. Our cruise was over.

 

 

 

It was a great cruise and we met many nice people. We had a great turn-out for the Meet & Greet that was organised and Princess put on a great venue for us the Hollywood Conservatory. The exclusive Lounge set aside for the Elite, Suite and Platinum passengers was well attended and the pre-dinner complimentary hors d’oeuvres were excellent, changing every night. Last but not least on the two Sundays whilst on the ship we attended Interdenominational Church Services which were conducted by our Cruise Director, Andrew Kadillac. Thank you Andrew for a job well done.

 

 

 

We would highly recommend cruising on this magnificent ship . . . The Majestic Princess.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi John

What a great review [emoji1376][emoji568][emoji179]

Lovely to meet you & Eileen, & Thankyou again for organising the M&G as well as Cabin Crawl, interesting to see all the different types of cabins.

Wished we’d known that you & Eileen were celebrating your Wedding Anniversary & your birthday~ Many,very Happy, Belated , wishes for for two , what a lovely way to celebrate ~ a beautiful cruise, esp on the gorgeous Majestic Princess.

I took a pic @ the M&G~ will post here ( hope it’s ok to post it)

Thanks again John

Tracey Bayly

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[NSWP]

Great review, thank you John.:p

[Stickman1990]

John

The Mystery Island air strip is definitely still used

Great review and I’m sure it will help the many members who will be sailing on her over the coming months

 

We have some friends coming down from the US to do a NZ cruise on her in late January

[rkmw]

Hi John a good review and i’m moving to Wauchope very soon so we’ll have to meet you in Port for a coffee and I’ll bring Chez and Deb too

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Ru2on]

We are going on The Majestic in December, one of the negatives that i have been reading is the difficulty in finding a quiet place for a coffee etc , did you find this?. Also i love a lounge area where you can have a drink in a comfy couch or chair which would be the best lounge area for this ?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[NSWP]

We are going on The Majestic in December, one of the negatives that i have been reading is the difficulty in finding a quiet place for a coffee etc , did you find this?. Also i love a lounge area where you can have a drink in a comfy couch or chair which would be the best lounge area for this ?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

What you have to realise with these big ships, i.e. Majestic is that with 3500 mainly elderly pax on board, in the event of bad weather, majority of pax will sit in the areas you mentioned, some will stay there for hours on end. The piazza, international café etc will always be full, just not enough seating for everybody. Likewise the Princess Theatre, capacity of around 900, even with two shows a night only half the passengers can get a seat.:o So as has been said, get there real early.

[Sailaway John]

Look forward to that. Let me know when.

 

Hi John a good review and i’m moving to Wauchope very soon so we’ll have to meet you in Port for a coffee and I’ll bring Chez and Deb too

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Sailaway John]

I would suggest the Hollywood Conservatory for the quite time and/or the Wake View Bar area at the aft of the ship for a great view and great service.

 

We are going on The Majestic in December, one of the negatives that i have been reading is the difficulty in finding a quiet place for a coffee etc , did you find this?. Also i love a lounge area where you can have a drink in a comfy couch or chair which would be the best lounge area for this ?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[GUT2407]

Thanks John.

 

Never had a M&age anywhere near those numbers, and totally get the “had other things”, it is a frequent problem.

[erewhon]

Thanks for your review.

Congratulations on your 59th Anniversary, and a belated Happy Birthday.

[sewgood]

Greetings SailawayJohn and Mrs Sailaway,

Had a great time playing trivia with you.

We enjoyed ourselves so much I would count it as a win even though we did not win any ship prizes.

We too had a fantastic cruise and I have a few tips to add to John's review.

 

 

The Fantastic Journey and Fiere are the pick of the shows. I would say they are the best I have seen at sea.

For Fiere try to get a seat in the middle row as when they are on the roller coaster this is best viewed from the middle.

For Fantastic Journey don't sit too near the stage (front 10 rows) as the side walls at the front of the theatre are part of the show. To get your pick of seats you need to get there 1 hour before. If you arrive half an hour before you are risking not being able to sit together.

 

 

 

When there is an art auction on get to the morning trivia in the Vista lounge extra early on sea days as seats will be limited.

They put the art work along the side wings of the room and it takes up a lot of room.

 

 

After trivia (on sea days) if you go for a coffee straight away head for Le Mer as it is easy to find seats here at this time. You can easily take snacks from the Internation Cafe up here.

If you want a quiet place to sit and have a talk with friends during the day the Conners Bay is a great place to catch up.

We could always get a seat here during the day.

 

 

Make sure you go outside for one of the sailaways from a port just as the ship is leaving and listen out. You never know what you will hear.

 

 

 

Thanks John and Eileen for all the work you put into the Meet and Greet. The best one we have been to.

 

 

Karryl and Warren

[kate59]

Thank you both for your reviews. It is nice to see positive ones as early ones for the Majestic where not so good - but I never let that put me off a cruise.

 

We cruise on her at end of November 2018 and so looking forward to it.

[sewgood]

Thank you both for your reviews. It is nice to see positive ones as early ones for the Majestic where not so good - but I never let that put me off a cruise.

 

We cruise on her at end of November 2018 and so looking forward to it.

 

We had a wonderful cruise.

The worst complaint I heard onboard from passengers was the ship was too big.

Just think of it as opportunity to walk off all all those extra sweets. :D

 

Enjoy the shows thay are out of this world.

[Sailaway John]

Thanks Karryl and Warren . . . you have made my day.

 

Greetings SailawayJohn and Mrs Sailaway,

Had a great time playing trivia with you.

We enjoyed ourselves so much I would count it as a win even though we did not win any ship prizes.

We too had a fantastic cruise and I have a few tips to add to John's review.

 

 

The Fantastic Journey and Fiere are the pick of the shows. I would say they are the best I have seen at sea.

For Fiere try to get a seat in the middle row as when they are on the roller coaster this is best viewed from the middle.

For Fantastic Journey don't sit too near the stage (front 10 rows) as the side walls at the front of the theatre are part of the show. To get your pick of seats you need to get there 1 hour before. If you arrive half an hour before you are risking not being able to sit together.

 

 

 

When there is an art auction on get to the morning trivia in the Vista lounge extra early on sea days as seats will be limited.

They put the art work along the side wings of the room and it takes up a lot of room.

 

 

After trivia (on sea days) if you go for a coffee straight away head for Le Mer as it is easy to find seats here at this time. You can easily take snacks from the Internation Cafe up here.

If you want a quiet place to sit and have a talk with friends during the day the Conners Bay is a great place to catch up.

We could always get a seat here during the day.

 

 

Make sure you go outside for one of the sailaways from a port just as the ship is leaving and listen out. You never know what you will hear.

 

 

 

Thanks John and Eileen for all the work you put into the Meet and Greet. The best one we have been to.

 

 

Karryl and Warren

[Sailaway John]

By the way, Karryl. Can you send me some photos of the cruise if you can as I have had a accident with my camera. The Card got damaged and I cannot get the photos off it. Thanks..

 

We had a wonderful cruise.

The worst complaint I heard onboard from passengers was the ship was too big.

Just think of it as opportunity to walk off all all those extra sweets. :D

 

Enjoy the shows thay are out of this world.

[cheznandy]

Look forward to that. Let me know when.

 

Glad you had a great cruise John, Bob will contact you then me and we can meet up at a time that suits all!!

[sewgood]

By the way, Karryl. Can you send me some photos of the cruise if you can as I have had a accident with my camera. The Card got damaged and I cannot get the photos off it. Thanks..

 

No problem John,

I'll get Warren to do it when he has some time tomorrow.

 

Karryl

[kate59]

By the way, Karryl. Can you send me some photos of the cruise if you can as I have had a accident with my camera. The Card got damaged and I cannot get the photos off it. Thanks..

If you take it to a computer repairer they maybe be able to get the photos off the card. Some techs are great at getting to stuff.