Great trip after a marathon
Written: Sep 02 '01 (Updated Jan 06 '03)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Great service, fun ports of call
Cons: old and small ship
The Bottom Line: I would recommend this line to single people in their 30s like me. Sure, the ship could have been bigger and newer but I still had a great time.
|
|
|
| pete5668's Full Review: Royal Caribbean Majesty of the Seas |
From May 6 to May 20, 2000, I took two cruises on Royal Caribbean, one seven nights, the other for six nights, back to back. I had just run the Boston Marathon and had just moved into a new apartment, so I really needed to relax. Relaxation was the priority here. My body needed to recharge.
I departed from San Juan aboard the Majesty of the Seas. The first cruise took me to Aruba, Curaçao, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten before heading back to San Juan. The second cruise took me back to St. Thomas and St. Maarten with an additional stop at the island of Labadee before docking in Miami.
The check-in process at the San Juan terminal moved fairly smoothly, except it seemed that every time I put my identification back in my pocket after showing it, someone else needed to see it. There was a lot of fumbling around as a result. After posing for a quick picture, I boarded the Majesty on deck 4 in the lobby. There I found the Purser's Desk and the Shore Excursion Desk. I would be returning very shortly to the Shore Excursion Desk to book my port tours, as the brochure said some trips sell out quickly. After looking around the lobby a bit more, I decided to try to find my cabin, number 3578. It was down one floor on the port side.
Upon arrival at my cabin I was greeted by my cabin steward, Marlon. He gave me some details on when he was available, how to get room service, where the lifejackets were, among other things. He then left me to my unpacking.
After unpacking, I went up to the pool deck to look around. It was at this point that it dawned on me. After two years at Northeastern I had finished my certificate. I had trained for and ran the Boston Marathon. And I had finally found an apartment after a six-month search that took me as far north as Andover to as far south as Quincy. I then laughed really hard because here I was on this big ship with a steel band and pools and hot sunshine and a Bahama Mama in my hand. I couldn't believe I had actually made it. I said it over and over in my head, "I can't believe I finally made it." After exploring some of the other decks, I went back to my cabin. I took my time, as dinner wasn't until 7:30. Or so I thought.
At about 7:15, Marlon knocked on the door and asked me why I wasn't at dinner. I showed him my ticket which said "second seating". He then asked to see my cruise card, which said, MAIN SEATING. They must have changed my seating since the ticket was printed. I thanked him and hurried up one level to the dining room.
When I got to my table, everyone was obviously surprised to see me. They were already finishing dessert. Charlie Pretto from Rhode Island would not let me live this down. In a way, though, his ribbing was helping to loosen me up a bit as I adjusted to eating in a way that I would describe as "fast fine dining." This differed from normal fine
dining only in that there was not as much time to pore over the menu or the wine list.
This was starting out in a very hectic manner. I had five people struggling to accommodate me. Of these, Branka, from Slovenia, the assistant waiter, and Gabriela, the wine steward from Romania, were most sympathetic to me and would make me feel more at ease with my lateness and the adjustment to the flow of things.
After dinner, Andree would bring the shots in a different color glass every night. Soon, Charlie referred to him simply as "the booze man" and whenever he passed, they would exchange high fives.
After dinner there was a show in the "A Chorus Line" lounge, but I was usually too tired after dinner to take in the show, so I would relax at the cabin for a while before exploring the nightlife on board.
When I woke up I looked out the window and saw that we had arrived in Aruba. We would be in port until 1:00 the next morning. I had signed up for a snorkeling tour which left the dock at 8:15, so I ate an informal breakfast at the buffet at about 6:30 and walked the deck a while before heading off the ship.
As I was about to leave the ship I realized that I didn't have a towel. The towels were on the pool deck on Deck 11. I waited for the elevator for a while but it was slow so I took the stairs. The flights of stairs were short though, and before too long I was back down and off the ship.
After a short wait I boarded a bus to the tour boat. The boat we went on was a catamaran. After a short sail, we arrived at the first site. There were striped fish called "sergeant majors" aplenty and I got many pictures of them with my waterproof disposable camera.
The next site was the wreck of the "Antilla", a World War II ship deliberately blown up by its captain, who did so rather than face surrender.
On Curaçao I went on a tour of the Curaçao Museum and the Hato Caves, followed by a stop at the Chobolobo distillery, where they make the liqueurs that are so famous. The museum had lots of artifacts, including a carillon,
on which the tour guide played "When the Saints Go Marching In" for us, and a pump organ that I photographed before I realized that photographs aren't allowed in the museum.
I took a tour that went down into the Hato caves. Mind the bat droppings falling from overhead and the slippery surface we walked and slid on. I would not recommend this tour.
After waking up in St. Maarten, I went on a bus tour of the island.
After the bus tour and lunch on the ship, I walked around town.
Princess Cruise Line's Grand Princess was also in port this day.
When we arrived in St. Thomas I took it easy in the morning, knowing that I had not signed up for a morning tour. After breakfast I got off the ship for a while to walk into Charlotte Amalie. I discovered a scenic tramway not too far from the ship.
I got on the tram and a few minutes later, it began to move, with the doors still open! To my relief the doors automatically closed before the tram began to climb.
At the top, there was a show with a rollerskating parrot. They also had parrots that could drop balls in a "basketball hoop", some that could do a ring toss, and others that rode bicycles and scooters.
The afternoon tour was a trip on a party raft to a private island for a couple of hours of swimming and sunning, and then complimentary rum punch, underwater reef views, and lots of dancing.
Labadee was pretty much forgettable. As a percussionist I did appreciate being able to pick up a pair of maracas for five dollars though.
I would recommend this line to single people in their 30s like me, preferably after working your head off for a really long time with lots of crazy things going on, as I had. Sure, the ship could have been bigger and newer but I still had a great time.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Singles
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
pete5668
|
|
Reviews written: 12
Trusted by: 1 member
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.