Majestic Princess observances in August 2024

[paddingtonbear]

10 hours ago, dweeb said:

What do think of the new layout and presentation of the Patter?  I like the new look.

 

I like the new look too.  But, I've only seen it when people have posted copies on their live threads.  I am so pleased they didn't stop the paper patters.  I like to highlight what I want to see/do.

[Bobpell54]

Can you order anything on your pizza from Alfredos or is there a set menu?

Thanks

[TM]

What did you think of the dinners in the MDR?  We were on the Crown in Alaska a year ago and the food was the worst we have had on a Princess ship in 28 cruises with them.

[coops]

7 hours ago, TM said:

What did you think of the dinners in the MDR?  We were on the Crown in Alaska a year ago and the food was the worst we have had on a Princess ship in 28 cruises with them.

I agree we did the 15 night Hawaii cruise a year ago and the food was terrible. 

[Cruise Raider]

On 8/22/2024 at 4:07 PM, jimlouisesophie said:

What other casual meals are included in the plus package.  Good to know that I can get an Alfredo pizza twice if I want it for no charge.  Thx,  Jim

As of now on the Majetsic, you can only get pizza and such at Alfredo’s and a charcuterie board with crudities from vines.  In March of next year, the I’ll be converting Vines into an O’Malleys and that I’ll give you another casual dining venue.

[Cruise Raider]

14 hours ago, Bobpell54 said:

Can you order anything on your pizza from Alfredos or is there a set menu?

Thanks

there is a set menu but you can customize it every so slightly.  Just of note, the $12 options for pizza are not part of the packages.  

 

[Cruise Raider]

8 hours ago, TM said:

What did you think of the dinners in the MDR?  We were on the Crown in Alaska a year ago and the food was the worst we have had on a Princess ship in 28 cruises with them.

We have only eaten in the  MDR for lunch 2 times and breakfast 1 time.  The lunch was decent on embarkation day, great on the next time we went and breakfast was excellent.  We haven’t gone for dinner once.  
 

[wallyj]

12 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

As of now on the Majetsic, you can only get pizza and such at Alfredo’s and a charcuterie board with crudities from vines.  In March of next year, the I’ll be converting Vines into an O’Malleys and that I’ll give you another casual dining venue.

I thought they still offer Ocean Terrace/Sushi at ‘The Catch’ location on Sea Days for Lunch as Casual Dining?

[Cruise Raider]

6 hours ago, wallyj said:

I thought they still offer Ocean Terrace/Sushi at ‘The Catch’ location on Sea Days for Lunch as Casual Dining?

They do … sorry for the omission 

[waldonlou]

Where did you go for your dinners?

[Cruise Raider]

17 minutes ago, waldonlou said:

Where did you go for your dinners?

We ate a specialty restaurants a couple of times but we usually don’t eat dinner.  We did just go to the PES happy hour event for small bites around 5 PM.  Lunch is normally our bigger meal.  We enjoyed the pizza at Alfredo’s and the noodle bar up on the pool deck.  We’ve not eaten dinner in the MDR in quite some time .. probably the last dozen cruises or more.  
we had two specialty dinners in our package for each sailing so, we went to the Catch by Rudi twice and Harmony twice.  Both restaurants were outstanding.  We plan on getting the premier package on our next sailing and will probably do the same and not eat every night in specialty restaurants even though they are included.  We don’t like to stuff ourselves.  
 

Edited August 25 by Cruise Raider

[Teechur]

48 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

We ate a specialty restaurants a couple of times but we usually don’t eat dinner.  We did just go to the PES happy hour event for small bites around 5 PM.  
 

Which venue is used for the PES happy hour on Majestic? We will be aboard in a couple of weeks.

[LUVNICK]

Did they offer the crab shack in Rudis? I will be on in 2 weeks.

[Cruise Raider]

11 hours ago, Teechur said:

Which venue is used for the PES happy hour on Majestic? We will be aboard in a couple of weeks.

The first week, it was held in the Hollywood Conservatory but this last week, it was in the Double Down Bar.  There were many new cruisers on both legs of our cruise so, there was rarely more and a handful of people attending.  Also, the first week, it was from 5-7 PM but the second week, it folded up at 6:30 PM.  I’m not sure what time it started but I think it was 4:30 PM.  

 

[Cruise Raider]

6 hours ago, LUVNICK said:

Did they offer the crab shack in Rudis? I will be on in 2 weeks.

Not that I noticed but that isn’t saying it wasn’t held.  We had so few sea days and I think the Catch had the sushi lunch offered on those 2 sea days.  

[Cruise Raider]

So, we’re now back at home and a couple more things to note from our most wonderful trip.  

We didn’t have to go through any immigration or facial recognition when disembarking. That was a first for us.  
 

We learned a bit more about the new premier package.  Time will tell if they will have to limit the premier specialty dining reservations once it is in full force.  We booked another cruise while onboard and we were hoping to upgrade to the premier package onboard using our OBC.  I may wait to see how easy it is to get a reservation before I upgrade, though.  We wouldn’t go every night as we really just can’t eat that much food but we’d like to use it for half the nights onboard.  
 

Speaking of booking another cruise while onboard, we were disappointed to find out our cruise we just booked couldn’t  be refared a couple days later when the price dropped.  Why?  Because we booked the air through EZAir.  If I’d have been smarter at the time, I would have booked it independently, directly through the airline. Live and learn!  

 

Crew can’t is a treasure.  We used it a few times on our cruise and the response came back within a few minutes.  It really beats standing in line at the front desk.  
everything solved within record time.  And no challenges from those that don’t realize there are two lines at guest services, the one for suite and elite and one for all others.  There is a sign right there but they still wish to challenge others in the suite and elite line.  
 

Things we love about cruising in and out of Seattle:

- the disembarkation was just so quick and easy 

- Seattle Express have a shuttle at the pier where you don’t even have to reserve a space on their shuttle at a specific time.  They leave very 20 minutes or so or when the shuttle is full, which ever is quicker.  
Do note, though, since cruising is back in full force, the shuttle was full of people coughing and sneezing,  The shuttle driver had someone coughing the entire trip and asked her to please put a mask over her face.  
- Port Valet for your luggage and without any charge.  We’d have had another 90- 120 minutes in line to check our luggage if it hadn’t been for this invaluable service.  

Things I did not like about cruising out of Seattle:  

- SeaTac airport .. it was an absolute zoo!  No places to sit, very long lines for the restrooms, nobody seemed to know where they were going!  

It didn’t help that their systems had been hacked and so all the computer systems were shut down.  Even their WiFi was down, all the airport monitors were down. Such a mess.  Some flights were canceled and others, including ours, were delayed. 
There was completely inadequate signage to indicate the separate lines for security and which baggage conveyor to get your luggage for the arrivals.  There were signs we saw for SeaSpot Saver but nothing for TSA pre check or Clear.  There is construction going on making traffic getting in and out a compete mess.  
To be fair, we usually fly in and out of smaller airports whenever we can.  

 

Regardless of the inconvenient ending, we really had a fantastic cruise!   🚢 
 

 

 

[D1324tt]

12 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

So, we’re now back at home and a couple more things to note from our most wonderful trip.  

We didn’t have to go through any immigration or facial recognition when disembarking. That was a first for us.  
 

We learned a bit more about the new premier package.  Time will tell if they will have to limit the premier specialty dining reservations once it is in full force.  We booked another cruise while onboard and we were hoping to upgrade to the premier package onboard using our OBC.  I may wait to see how easy it is to get a reservation before I upgrade, though.  We wouldn’t go every night as we really just can’t eat that much food but we’d like to use it for half the nights onboard.  
 

Speaking of booking another cruise while onboard, we were disappointed to find out our cruise we just booked couldn’t  be refared a couple days later when the price dropped.  Why?  Because we booked the air through EZAir.  If I’d have been smarter at the time, I would have booked it independently, directly through the airline. Live and learn!  

 

Crew can’t is a treasure.  We used it a few times on our cruise and the response came back within a few minutes.  It really beats standing in line at the front desk.  
everything solved within record time.  And no challenges from those that don’t realize there are two lines at guest services, the one for suite and elite and one for all others.  There is a sign right there but they still wish to challenge others in the suite and elite line.  
 

Things we love about cruising in and out of Seattle:

- the disembarkation was just so quick and easy 

- Seattle Express have a shuttle at the pier where you don’t even have to reserve a space on their shuttle at a specific time.  They leave very 20 minutes or so or when the shuttle is full, which ever is quicker.  
Do note, though, since cruising is back in full force, the shuttle was full of people coughing and sneezing,  The shuttle driver had someone coughing the entire trip and asked her to please put a mask over her face.  
- Port Valet for your luggage and without any charge.  We’d have had another 90- 120 minutes in line to check our luggage if it hadn’t been for this invaluable service.  

Things I did not like about cruising out of Seattle:  

- SeaTac airport .. it was an absolute zoo!  No places to sit, very long lines for the restrooms, nobody seemed to know where they were going!  

It didn’t help that their systems had been hacked and so all the computer systems were shut down.  Even their WiFi was down, all the airport monitors were down. Such a mess.  Some flights were canceled and others, including ours, were delayed. 
There was completely inadequate signage to indicate the separate lines for security and which baggage conveyor to get your luggage for the arrivals.  There were signs we saw for SeaSpot Saver but nothing for TSA pre check or Clear.  There is construction going on making traffic getting in and out a compete mess.  
To be fair, we usually fly in and out of smaller airports whenever we can.  

 

Regardless of the inconvenient ending, we really had a fantastic cruise!   🚢 
 

 

 

How about Seattle embarkation. What's the best time to arrive to avoid waiting to long? Ship departs at 3:00. Thank you

[tml1230]

thanks for a really informative report! As we will be on board for a TA in February,  your thoughts have been most helpful!

safe travels!

[dweeb]

2 hours ago, D1324tt said:

How about Seattle embarkation. What's the best time to arrive to avoid waiting to long? Ship departs at 3:00. Thank you

I know you asked CruiseRaider, but I'll give you our experience for boarding the Majestic twice this summer in Seattle.  Our Uber trips show we arrived at the Pier between 12:30-12:50 p.m.  There was no line and we breezed through check-in.  We were Blue lane, so we needed to get the medallion at the Pier.  Since Majestic's MDR was open till 1:30, we were able to drop off our carry-ons and still make it to lunch at the MDR.     

 

If you are going on the Discovery, the MDR closed at 1:00 and we didn't make it to lunch on that one, if arriving the same time.  Hope this helps..

[D1324tt]

5 minutes ago, dweeb said:

I know you asked CruiseRaider, but I'll give you our experience for boarding the Majestic twice this summer in Seattle.  Our Uber trips show we arrived at the Pier between 12:30-12:50 p.m.  There was no line and we breezed through check-in.  We were Blue lane, so we needed to get the medallion at the Pier.  Since Majestic's MDR was open till 1:30, we were able to drop off our carry-ons and still make it to lunch at the MDR.     

 

If you are going on the Discovery, the MDR closed at 1:00 and we didn't make it to lunch on that one, if arriving the same time.  Hope this helps..

Thank you. Exactly the information I was looking for. Thank you

[CruzinNoony]

Who was the captain and will he be on for our Oct. cruise?  That you for your very informative review.

[Cruise Raider]

6 hours ago, D1324tt said:

How about Seattle embarkation. What's the best time to arrive to avoid waiting to long? Ship departs at 3:00. Thank you

We ended up at the pier at about 10:00 AM and did stand in some lines but they weren’t all that bad.  We heard a some complaints from the others in line .. not sure what they were expected.  
Inguesx you can give you luggage to a porter but Seattle has an entry in the booted level of the terminal where you could just drop off your luggage with a guy placing it right onto the belt.  I much prefer this as you know it’s going onto the right ship.  I didn’t see a lot of people tipping this poor guy.  He was most appreciative of those that did.  
Anyway, from there we got into line to have our passports and medallions checked at the bottom of the escalator.  Sorry that I cannot remember if we went through security down at the bottom or top of the escalator.  But, I do know that check in was upstairs and then people were seated according to their boarding number or in the elite or suite lounge.  It was totally full by the time we got there but we just stood in line for about 10-15 minutes and were allowed to board by 10:45 or thereabouts.  
To avoid long lines, I think I’d show up around 1:30 PM after shortly after that.  
 

[QuilterGirl]

At the Seattle Pier 91 terminal (the one Princess uses), security is the first thing you encounter after going up the elevator.  Can have a short or long line, but it moves quickly either way.

[JLMcruise]

2 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

To avoid long lines, I think I’d show up around 1:30 PM after shortly after that.

Thanks for the info. If I could ask a question -- This is our first Princess Cruise - we have the Plus package and wanted to use our OBC's to upgrade to the premium once we get onboard. With the new added dining to the Premium package - do you think this is a bad idea and we should upgrade now. I believe my husband will eat at the Noodle place everyday for lunch🤣. We like to eat dinner early and haven't had trouble on other cruise lines getting reservations once onboard. Any insight is greatly appreciated!

[memoak]

On 8/23/2024 at 5:50 PM, Cruise Raider said:

As of now on the Majetsic, you can only get pizza and such at Alfredo’s and a charcuterie board with crudities from vines.  In March of next year, the I’ll be converting Vines into an O’Malleys and that I’ll give you another casual dining venue.

Yes are you losing Vines ?  They have one of my favorite wines and keeps it under the e plus package level which is what we cruise with