Majestic Princess 13N Sth Pacific Feb 10-23 2024

[mr walker]

Recently returned from our 13N Majestic Princess Sth Pacific cruise 10-23 Feb Sydney roundtrip. It was our first Princess cruise since 2017 & our 3rd cruise for the 23-24 season. I make some points:

 

-          Embarking was very fast & we were soon on the ship after shuttle drop-off around noon, having a light lunch in the buffet before dropping our carry-on in our cabin.

-          We had a deluxe balcony stateroom mid-aft starboard on deck 11 (Baja). Room was excellent & location, just aft of the middle lifts/stairs, was perfect for us. The stateroom was selected for us by our PCP Gellie (good choice!!)

-          We found the ship very much to our liking. Well laid out and all staff encountered were very pleasant and very enthusiastic to please. Rarely was there any crowding, even with some poor weather which kept a lot indoors at times.

-          We had Standard fare only, so no drink or internet packages, but it all worked well for us & our on-board bill was within budget 😀

-          Our cabin guy (Dwi from Indonesia) was excellent (fun, friendly and did a great job), & our dining room waiter (Paula from Brazil) & the assistants in dining room (Allegro) were very good with nothing being too much trouble. The restaurant managers were more visible and interactive with the guests than on any of our previous cruises.

-          Of all our cruises, on this cruise the visibility of the ship’s officers was much higher than we have seen before.

-          Always easy to get a drink or something to eat around the ship. DW thoroughly recommends the lobster roll from the grill on the pool deck (there was a charge for this, but well worth it). Our ‘personal’ pool deck steward (Soumen from India) was great.

-          We did breakfast in the dining room on a few days which was a good way to avoid the Marketplace buffet at busy times, and also helped with portion control 😉

-          We thought the food overall, choice & quality, was the best we have had on our 20+ cruises. I really enjoyed the soup offerings and it was always a challenge to choose from the many delicious desserts. The menu in Allegro for Valentine’s Day dinner was really great. We met some people who we ended up dining with for most of the cruise & we tried between us to pick the best ‘menu’ offered but many of them we almost equally as good, so hard choice.

-          Our 5 ports were Port Vila, Suva, Lautoka, Dravuni Is (missed due to weather) & Noumea. We stayed on-board in Suva as the weather was terrible that day. Many came back onboard drenched.

-          The CD and her team were excellent – they all were like entertainers themselves. The theatre shows were great, as were the guest singers, including the Elvis guy. The guest lecturers were very good & the events were well attended. We did note that Princess passengers really do attend the nightly shows – each & every show was packed for both sessions, something that we have not really seen before. You had to be there 30mins before to be sure to get a seat! We gave the comedian & hypnotist a miss – not our cup of tea.

-          We did many trivias etc (even managed to win one! – Country Music) & enjoyed our time as a team of just the 2 of us.

-          Travelling as just the 2 of us meant that on this cruise we met a lot of interesting and friendly people from all around the world. We took part in a shot-glass exchange event organised by one of the passengers, which was fun & we met some people from other places at the event.

-          Disembarking worked well (very well organised) & we were soon back on land 

-          Very pleasant cruise and we were sad it all ended so quickly. Did we enjoy it? Maybe – we confirmed our booking for Grand Princess 37N in Oct 2025 while on-board & have since booked Royal Princess cruise to TAS in Nov/Dec 2024.

 

Cheers Neil

Edited March 7 by mr walker
pressed reply button to soon

[sewgood]

Glad you had a great cruise.

 

I'm sad I missed the Elvis entertainer and a cruise on my favourite of the Royal class ship.

[Cbtours]

6 hours ago, mr walker said:

Recently returned from our 13N Majestic Princess Sth Pacific cruise 10-23 Feb Sydney roundtrip. It was our first Princess cruise since 2017 & our 3rd cruise for the 23-24 season. I make some points:

 

-          Embarking was very fast & we were soon on the ship after shuttle drop-off around noon, having a light lunch in the buffet before dropping our carry-on in our cabin.

-          We had a deluxe balcony stateroom mid-aft starboard on deck 11 (Baja). Room was excellent & location, just aft of the middle lifts/stairs, was perfect for us. The stateroom was selected for us by our PCP Gellie (good choice!!)

-          We found the ship very much to our liking. Well laid out and all staff encountered were very pleasant and very enthusiastic to please. Rarely was there any crowding, even with some poor weather which kept a lot indoors at times.

-          We had Standard fare only, so no drink or internet packages, but it all worked well for us & our on-board bill was within budget 😀

-          Our cabin guy (Dwi from Indonesia) was excellent (fun, friendly and did a great job), & our dining room waiter (Paula from Brazil) & the assistants in dining room (Allegro) were very good with nothing being too much trouble. The restaurant managers were more visible and interactive with the guests than on any of our previous cruises.

-          Of all our cruises, on this cruise the visibility of the ship’s officers was much higher than we have seen before.

-          Always easy to get a drink or something to eat around the ship. DW thoroughly recommends the lobster roll from the grill on the pool deck (there was a charge for this, but well worth it). Our ‘personal’ pool deck steward (Soumen from India) was great.

-          We did breakfast in the dining room on a few days which was a good way to avoid the Marketplace buffet at busy times, and also helped with portion control 😉

-          We thought the food overall, choice & quality, was the best we have had on our 20+ cruises. I really enjoyed the soup offerings and it was always a challenge to choose from the many delicious desserts. The menu in Allegro for Valentine’s Day dinner was really great. We met some people who we ended up dining with for most of the cruise & we tried between us to pick the best ‘menu’ offered but many of them we almost equally as good, so hard choice.

-          Our 5 ports were Port Vila, Suva, Lautoka, Dravuni Is (missed due to weather) & Noumea. We stayed on-board in Suva as the weather was terrible that day. Many came back onboard drenched.

-          The CD and her team were excellent – they all were like entertainers themselves. The theatre shows were great, as were the guest singers, including the Elvis guy. The guest lecturers were very good & the events were well attended. We did note that Princess passengers really do attend the nightly shows – each & every show was packed for both sessions, something that we have not really seen before. You had to be there 30mins before to be sure to get a seat! We gave the comedian & hypnotist a miss – not our cup of tea.

-          We did many trivias etc (even managed to win one! – Country Music) & enjoyed our time as a team of just the 2 of us.

-          Travelling as just the 2 of us meant that on this cruise we met a lot of interesting and friendly people from all around the world. We took part in a shot-glass exchange event organised by one of the passengers, which was fun & we met some people from other places at the event.

-          Disembarking worked well (very well organised) & we were soon back on land 

-          Very pleasant cruise and we were sad it all ended so quickly. Did we enjoy it? Maybe – we confirmed our booking for Grand Princess 37N in Oct 2025 while on-board & have since booked Royal Princess cruise to TAS in Nov/Dec 2024.

 

Cheers Neil

Great to hear this report as we’re boarding 13 n Sydney to NZ on 18 March.