Its Going to Be Majestic - Live Review Princess Majestic Cruisetour - June 10-22

[Stealthdog]

In summary, our experience in the main dining room was 50/50 - 2 disappointing evenings and 2 very nice evenings.  I didn’t post Day 3 - we ate at Allegro and left halfway thru the main meal and didn’t bother with desert.  We really didn’t find anything we liked and didn’t want to wait to order anything else to get served because we had a hard stop to get back to our balcony to watch for the whales and hear the narration from the naturalist. 
 

After the hour of sailing through the whale zone we had a makeup dinner in the Italian restaurant Alfredo’s Pizzeria.  For a complimentary eatery on board, it is perfectly fine and probably like any local Italian restaurant near where you live.  If you like Chicago style pizza you will probably like Alfredo’s - their pizzas have a lot of dough.  If you like NY style with thin crust and light dough with thin slices you may not care for Alfredo’s.  
 

I can spill the beans on here because Eric doesn’t read this.  Tonight (Day 6) we are going to the new Seafood Restaurant, which he knows about.  Tomorrow night we are doing the stateroom balcony dining as we go through one of the straights, courtesy of our travel agent for Eric’s birthday.  Eric doesn’t know about this and I hope the weather cooperates.  

[Stealthdog]

We have seen most of the evening entertainment on board (we missed the first production but saw the second).  Entertainment is always subjective and it really depends on what you like.  Overall, we found the evening entertainment ok and average for a cruise ship.  I’ll post a separate post on the 2nd production show because I think it deserves its own post (in a good way).

The below two shows does a good job of highlighting why entertainment is subjective.

 

Day 3 we had a ventriloquist, impressionist, and singer named Michael Minor.  To us, his act was very dated and targeted for a specific generation.  All of his songs and impersonations came from the 1950s and 1960s.  Anyone born in the 1970s or later probably won’t appreciate the act because they did not grow up listening to that music or knowing the famous people he was impersonating.  People from an older generation would probably love his show.  He was a talented singer (his ventriloquism was probably his weaker talent), but I got bored and was falling asleep during his act, and looking around so were alot of other people.  I made sure to put down my drink so I didn’t drop the glass and shatter it in the theater like I did during a Jersey Boys show on Celebrity. 
 

Pianist Jason Lyle Black on Night 4 was the complete opposite for us.  He was a very talented pianist (and outshone the orchestra, which probably isn’t fair because they just got his music that day).  He created mashups of songs that spanned Beethoven and Mozart to today, with some contemporary songs, theater production songs, and Disney.  If you don’t like classical music you probably won’t care for his show.  We really enjoyed it and would go a second night if he performs again.  
 

Day 2 there was a tribute to Tina Turner.  Some people probably loved it, but we only stayed for the first couple of songs - the singer really didn’t have the voice for that style.  We heard her perform another night and she is talented, but her voice just didn’t work for Tina Turner for us.

Edited June 15, 2023 by Stealthdog

[Stealthdog]

I /think/ I am mostly caught up.  We had the  White Trail and Bennett Lake tour yesterday, which was fantastic, but we took about 500 pictures and I need to organize and go through the photos.  Today and tomorrow are both at sea, so I’ll go around the ship and take some pictures of areas and give some thoughts on the Casino, gym, indoor pool and conservatory, and the main piazza area.  If anyone wants a photo or detail for anything specific on the ship, let me know.  I’ll have tons of time today and tomorrow to look into it.  Going to break for a while now because we are about to pass by the glaciers.

[Stealthdog]

11 hours ago, gottagoacruzn said:

Sorry if I wrote that wrong, i meant to say buy the picture.

I don’t think you had to buy the photo the cruise line was taking.  It looked like people  who waited in line for the puppies had people taking picture for them.

[CruzeQueen2]

@Stealthdog Enjoy those dinners!

Thanks for such a great report. I appreciate all the information, and ALL the time, that you have shared with us.

I hope you enjoy the glacier viewing days and that you get some lovely photos taken by the photographers.

 

Edited June 15, 2023 by CruzeQueen2
adding info

[walkingmom]

Love the details you've been posting for your adventure. My niece and her husband are doing the same ship/Itinerary in a couple weeks, their first cruise ever. They are both fitness addicts, unlike me, and have asked a question I cannot answer. Is there anywhere on the ship to get protein shakes? Could you possibly send menu pics from Lotus Spa and International Cafe so they can decide if what is available will be enough for them. 

 

Keep up the great information.

[Stealthdog]

4 hours ago, walkingmom said:

Love the details you've been posting for your adventure. My niece and her husband are doing the same ship/Itinerary in a couple weeks, their first cruise ever. They are both fitness addicts, unlike me, and have asked a question I cannot answer. Is there anywhere on the ship to get protein shakes? Could you possibly send menu pics from Lotus Spa and International Cafe so they can decide if what is available will be enough for them. 

 

Keep up the great information.

I don’t see anything for protein shakes on board.  The international cafe only has coffees, teas, hot chocolate type drinks (menu below).   I saw little smoothies glasses with what looked like vanilla and strawberry smoothies yesterday morning in the IC.  The spa doesn’t have a cafe-like area for healthy eating/drinking.  I’ll keep looking around, but I think they will have to bring their own protein powders(?) on board and add to either the juices from the juice bar or smoothie from IC.

Edited June 15, 2023 by Stealthdog

[Guest ldtr]

5 hours ago, walkingmom said:

Love the details you've been posting for your adventure. My niece and her husband are doing the same ship/Itinerary in a couple weeks, their first cruise ever. They are both fitness addicts, unlike me, and have asked a question I cannot answer. Is there anywhere on the ship to get protein shakes? Could you possibly send menu pics from Lotus Spa and International Cafe so they can decide if what is available will be enough for them. 

 

Keep up the great information.

I think that they will pretty much have to bring their own mix if they want them on board.

[gottagoacruzn]

Better not miss the glaciers!!! Hey take any unusual pictures you find on the ship.

[Stealthdog]

On 6/6/2023 at 3:06 AM, AJSkarbo said:

Following along as we are doing the southbound next month with the land portion before. 

I am looking forward to your thoughts on the white pass rail in Skagway. My aunt and mother are looking at that excursion in Skagway and asked me to look into if it is a good option for them as they both have trouble walking. 

All of the bus and train excursions for the white pass appear to use step stools to help people up and down the stairs.  We took a bus up and the train down.  Depending on your tour, there may but a small amount of unpaved areas and stepping over train tracks. One stop we had on the train back down had an old town area that was optional that included steep inclines.   Pics of the step stool and steps below.  I’ll plan to post the full review of the tour Saturday on train ride up to Denali.

[Stealthdog]

40 minutes ago, gottagoacruzn said:

Better not miss the glaciers!!! Hey take any unusual pictures you find on the ship.

You mean this one?  😁

[Stealthdog]

Glacier Bay was awesome today.  We had sightings of the mountain goats (we missed them), sea otters, seals, brown bear, and all kinds of birds.  Watching humpbacks and about a hundred sea otters as we do the icy pass now.  Will post pics of this later today or tomorrow.

[gottagoacruzn]

Yup!!!

 

[Purple Gallinule]

It is now 4:30pm and the captain played the Love Boat theme on the ships horn and then announced that we are heading for rough seas of over 15 feet. Yikes! it has been smooth sailing thus far.

 

By the way, I loved the "Incredible Journey" production show last night. So did my wife, but the other couple travelling with us didn't care for it at all. Grumps! It was well done and lots of fun.

[wallyj]

18 minutes ago, Purple Gallinule said:

 

By the way, I loved the "Incredible Journey" production show last night. So did my wife, but the other couple travelling with us didn't care for it at all. Grumps! It was well done and lots of fun.

I believe the show is titled ‘Fantastic Journey’, did your show include ‘drones’?

 

When I was on Majestic earlier, they had a problem with the drones and they were nixed.

[Stealthdog]

Day 6 events

[AJSkarbo]

2 hours ago, Stealthdog said:

All of the bus and train excursions for the white pass appear to use step stools to help people up and down the stairs.  We took a bus up and the train down.  Depending on your tour, there may but a small amount of unpaved areas and stepping over train tracks. One stop we had on the train back down had an old town area that was optional that included steep inclines.   Pics of the step stool and steps below.  I’ll plan to post the full review of the tour Saturday on train ride up to Denali.

Thank you SO MUCH!! Looks like they will be able to participate. 

[Stealthdog]

1 hour ago, wallyj said:

I believe the show is titled ‘Fantastic Journey’, did your show include ‘drones’?

 

When I was on Majestic earlier, they had a problem with the drones and they were nixed.

It had drones.

 

We really enjoyed the Fantastic Journey.  But, like my other post, entertainment is subjective.

 

All the cruise lines are starting to revamp their production shows to include creative production sets, drones, and other non-traditional production styles.  I like it because it’s creative and unique, with technology included in the shows.  
 

Fantastic Journey was pretty good - there was one really talented singer and the rest were probably average or a little lower compared to other productions we have seen since COVID.  The dancers were all good and entertaining.  
 

They use the whole stage and part of the theater aisles during some of their songs, which is fun for the audience.  And the songs chosen were a good mix of age.  
 

The use of drones were fun - all the lights were white.  I’ve seen production shows with multiple color drones.  The illumination of the props, cast, and walls was also well done and added to the show.  
 

There were some confusing parts - the 2nd piece made no sense to me, and it looked like some of the performers were lip-synching.  They had enough singers that they didn’t need that. 
 

Overall, it was a solid performance and in line with new productions we are seeing across lines.  We like a good mix of traditional theater productions and these new ones.

Edited June 16, 2023 by Stealthdog

[Stealthdog]

On 6/14/2023 at 5:56 PM, ldtr said:

 When I was last on the Majestic they had the same rules board posted, but then they had a sign (metal sign on a gold colored background on a moveable post at the entrance) that stated adults only.  Sounds like they are doing the same as they did in Australia and removed that sign.

We walked through there today for first place time since Day 1 because the Park Rangers were set up in the Conservatory.  The pool area was full of kids.  I didn’t see any in the conservatory area, but the noise from the pool area was fairly loud.  Makes sense since they can’t really use the outdoor pools because of cold temps.

Edited June 16, 2023 by Stealthdog

[AbbyCruiser45]

Thank you for all this information! How was the viewing space on deck for glacier bay? Where did you spend the day?

[Stealthdog]

2 hours ago, AbbyCruiser45 said:

Thank you for all this information! How was the viewing space on deck for glacier bay? Where did you spend the day?

We spent the first 20 minutes in the Conservatory, where we missed out on the goats.  The Park Rangers were set up in the Conservatory and were doing questions and answers, providing other information, and selling merchandise.  It was fairly busy in the conservatory, but because you could get to both sides (and it’s inside) that seemed like a nice place to view. 
 

We spent the rest of the time on our starboard (right side) balcony.  Park Ranger Han was giving the narration and pointing out some of the wildlife.  It was broadcast on the live TV so we just put on the TV and turned up the sound.  When we got too cold, we stepped inside for a break.   We were out there maybe 3 hours.  
 

Later in the day I ran up to Deck 16 to get some views outside on the port side as we were sailing through the straight.  I was able to find space to take a few pictures on the outside deck whenever I went up.  
 

It started raining in the afternoon so it was wet for people outside watching.  Our balcony room was protected because there was a balcony immediately above us, we could be out there and not get wet.  Some of the balconies on the lower decks looked like people were getting rained on.   Looking up from the balcony, i could see alot of people outside above the bridge area.  
 

During glacier bay it really didn’t matter what side you were on because the ship slowly turned and both sides got the same views, with a few exceptions - starboard got views of the mountain goats and brown bears as we were sailing in.  Sailing through the icy straight port side was the better side with views of humpbacks and sea lions.  Starboard got to see the pilot leaving the ship.  Both sides got to enjoy the dozens and dozens of sea otters doing the backstroke past the ship.  
 

The Park Rangers say the best side to see the wildlife if Outside.  You will have several options and it will depend on the weather what is best for you.  We didn’t check out the Wake View Bar area in the back of the ship (deck 16), but I bet that was a nice spot too.

[Stealthdog]

I’m going to post some of these Day 6 sailing pictures individually or in groups because without a laptop, labeling each is a little time consuming.  
 

Here is Momma and Baby Brown Bear along the beach line near the entrance to Glacier Bay.  They are hard to capture with a phone camera, but they were easy to watch with binoculars.  If you zoom in the picture (which was already zoomed in to take), you will see the two dark dots in the center on the beach.  That is Momma Bear on the left and Baby Bear walking behind her.

[Stealthdog]

The sea otters are a lot of fun.  We just started randomly seeing them before the narration even pointed them out.  They are really cute to watch and my favorite - most look like small logs passing the ship.  The closer they get to the ship, the easier they can been seen with the naked eye.  They can easily be seen with binoculars.  Most were on their backs, with their snouts up in the air, swimming part the ship, using their feet to steer and pedaling.  
 

The otters are much easier to spot in the pictures, even the ones with the seaweed.  They were really fun to watch.  

[Stealthdog]

The seals were much harder to spot with the naked eye, but fairly easy with the binoculars.  I counted about 18-25 of them together laying on the ice in front of the glacier.  On the photo, in the center right is what looks like a long rock in front of the glacier.  In front of that and to the right are a bunch of different colored shapes.  That is the big group of seals and there is a smaller group to the left of them.

[Stealthdog]

The rangers had a presentation in the morning to give some hints on what to look for, a presentation in the early afternoon about the ranger program, and were available in the conservatory all day to answer any question about the bay, the wildlife, or any other questions you had.  They were very accessible.