Great value
Written: Apr 07 '03 (Updated Apr 08 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Value, Food, Entertainment, Coco Cay, Key West
Cons: Weather, Not enough time in Coco Cay or Key West
The Bottom Line: Great trip for the money but not enough time in Key West or Coco Cay.
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| vousman's Full Review: Royal Caribbean Majesty of the Seas |
My wife and I took the 3/31/03 four day cruise aboard the Majesty. It was our first cruise but will not be our last. For the money that you pay it is an excellent value. The ship was very nice and clean throughout. We had a category F room and it is plenty big enough for what you need (I did not feel claustrophobic at all). The thing that impressed me the most with the room was the water pressure in the shower. Man do I miss that shower!!
The food was decent (not great) but remember that you’re paying roughly $100 per night for a room, transportation, shows, and all you can eat meals so it’s a great deal (you can’t expect five star dining at these prices!!). The dining room service is excellent as you would expect since the wait staff is basically working for your tips. We had the late seating and it worked out very well (you don’t need to rush back to the ship to get ready for dinner). Also, there are two shows every night so you don’t miss anything by eating late. The Windjammer is buffet style so although you don’t get waited on you can try a lot more dishes and eat as much as you want. On the other hand we met a lot of nice folks eating breakfast and dinner in the main dining room so sitting with other people in the dining room is nice. I thought the breakfast and lunch food was every bit as good as dinner. We did not try the midnight buffets but I heard they were good also.
The service on the rest of the ship is just ok. They were somewhat disorganized when it came time to disembark in Key West. The directions they gave turned out to be inaccurate and they never made any attempt to correct themselves. Note that on the three day cruise you do not go to Key West so you have to go through customs at the end of the cruise whereas on the four day you go through customs in Key West so you don’t need to do it again when you get back to Miami. Getting off the boat in Miami was a breeze for us. Virtually everyone was off by 9:00 am (we had plenty of time to kill before our 1:20 flight). However, getting on early in Miami was more difficult since the folks from the three day cruise took a long time getting off. We arrived at 11:00 but didn’t get on board until 12:30. Lunch is served beginning at 12:00 in the Windjammer so that’s the place to go when you first get on board. Note also that if you can get away with just packing carry on luggage it will save you time getting on and off the ship (as well as at the airports). Hey if my wife can do it anyone can. Remember, it’s only four days!!
The entertainment aboard the ship is very good and the cruise director (Parker) and his staff are also very good. We took in the Love and Marriage show, Majesty Quest, The Beat Goes On, the acrobats and comedian. I would recommend all of them. We never got a chance to work-out but the fitness facility seemed adequate (although small). We did the casino one night but did not fare well at the craps table. The lounges/clubs were ok but not very happening when we checked them out. Note that the casino and many of the lounges allow smoking but we didn’t have a problem with smoke in any of the other public areas. There are 11 lounges on the ship and most were usually empty when we visited. I would recommend that RCCL turn one of the lounges into a Johnny Rockets like many of their newer ships have. They’d never miss the other lounge.
The first night of the cruise we had very rough seas (15 foot swells) and both my wife and I got sick. TIP to first time cruisers: get your doctor to prescribe a patch for sea sickness prior to leaving!! Plenty of folks had these on and they were fine with the conditions. Many, many others got sick. We got Dramamine from the Purser but by then it was too late!! Don’t wait to find out if you will get sick!!
Nassau was fine but the weather was cloudy and cool. We took the excursion to Atlantis but since the weather was bad we felt stranded. The resort itself is great and definitely worth checking out but you don’t need to book the excursion to do it . I had also booked the 3:30 Dolphin Encounter but luckily we were able to get bumped up to the 1:30 trip. The Dolphin Encounter is a great experience. TIP: I booked this trip directly through the Dolphin Encounter web site and saved $$$ versus booking it through RCCL.
The second day was Coco Cay. This was our best day of the trip. The weather was warm and sunny. We found a nice spot on the beach about 200 yards from the Jet Ski house. Note that it was windy on the island but in this spot we were protected from the wind by a 5-10 foot ledge. It was THEE spot to be. Not sure why so many folks gathered on the main beach where is was very crowded and windy. We booked the jet ski excursion and it was my favorite part of the vacation. I highly recommend it. I also did some snorkeling and it was pretty neat too. The barbeque was a disaster as the food was covered with a million flies!! Couldn’t eat after I saw that so just be prepared (probably a good idea to eat a large breakfast just in case).
The third day was Key West. Unfortunately since no one can get off the ship until EVERYONE on board has cleared customs it took all morning which left us with very little time to walk around the town. Key West is quaint little town that was much nicer than I expected. We booked the Snuba excursion but the weather was not good and visibility was poor. I wish that I hadn’t booked anything. I could have used more time to look around and take in more of the bars/restaurants.
Overall, this was a good vacation that was much too short. If I had it to do over I would:
1) Get a patch/medicine for sea sickness prior to leaving.
2) Packed more dress up/cool weather clothes as shorts/jeans are not acceptable in the dining room. Note also that my wife was cold throughout the trip as most of the outfits she packed were not conducive to the cool weather that we had.
3) Not have booked the Atlantis beach excursion or any excursion in Key West.
4) Would have gotten off the boat sooner in Coco Cay and set up camp on deck #1 the morning of Key West so that we could have gotten off the ship sooner (there was a huge line to get off the ship).
5) Told my family to check e-mails daily since our cells would not work in Nassau or Coco Cay (but we did use the internet café daily).
6) Booked the trip later in the Spring or Summer so that we would have had warmer weather.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
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Epinions.com ID:
vousman
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Reviews written: 1
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