Majesty of the Seas Christmas Cruise Review Royal Caribbean International's Majesty of the Seas
Back to Back December 22-29, 2000
Christmas Cruise, Dec.22-26
3 Day Cruise, Dec. 26-29
Captain: Olav Soevdsnes
CD: Richard Spacey
Ship: FULL CAPACITY!
Best Entertainment: Blair Shannon, and 'If I were not Upon the Sea"
Best Meal: Jamaican Jerk Chicken, and the Majesty Chocolate Cake
Biggest Drawback: People not controlling their kids. # 1 tip: Bring Bottled water!
Best Drink: CocoLoco, Banana Daquiri
Cruise, 1-10: 100!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry that this review has taken so long to write. I guess being home and seeing all the snow and cold makes me feel sorry for myself that I am not still on my favorite ship! If anyone ever has any questions, just ask, as always. We had the cruise we expected to have on the best ship afloat. I traveled with my Mom, Dad, and my 15 year old sister (I am 19, almost 20). For those of you who don't me, My family and I have been on the Majesty 4 times, including these cruises, and she is our favorite ship. I have also been on the Enchantment, while my parents have been on the Enchantment and Grandeur. We always come back to the Majesty. DAY PRIOR MIAMI/EMBARKATION
We flew down from Cleveland to Miami on Thursday, December 21, in case there was a snow storm and we couldn't make our flight. We had a direct flight into Miami, and this would be our first time flying into this airport. We'd always flown into Ft. Lauderdale and had ground transportation to the hotel or port. Our flight was on-time, smooth, and we arrived in rainy Miami at about 12:45 pm. One of the nicest people I have ever met, Olga from Cuba was there to greet us. She was RCCL's representative and she met us at the gate to take us to the bus. She was very knowledgeable and very friendly. Since we did Air/Sea with RCCL, we did not see our bags, and wouldn't see them, until they were outside our cabin door the following day. They take care of your luggage for you. We got outside, Olga called a bus right away, and the bus was there in about 10 minutes tops. We had a good laugh, since everyone was freezing and we were loving this warm weather! I believe it was 72. Our bus pulled up, and we were the only people on it, and our bus driver took us on the 15 minute ride to the Hyatt Regency in downtown Miami. We've always stayed here in our day-prior's, so we know what to expect. We checked in, asked for a high room with a view of the ships, and we given a great room on the 22nd floor. A carnival ship was already docked, and I was dissapointed that we wouldn't be able to see the Voyager or Explorer, since we were sailing on different days. This hotel is great. It was decorated for CHristmas, with a huge tree in the lobby and many other decorations. There is a very nice but expensive restaurant, called the "Riverwalk Cafe," 2 Gift Shops, the Box Office, and the Miami Convention Center. My sister and I went swimming in the heated pool, and it was so nice to go swimming outside in December! Never before had we done that. After our swim, we showered, got dressed, and went to Bayside Marketplace. We walked, and it was about a 15 minute walk. We had dinner, got our traditional shirts from the Hard Rock, and walked around. Then we went back to the hotel to relax and get ready for our cruise.
We have not done the day prior since they started doing the boarding so early, at 10:00 am. Our last cruise was in August on the Enchantment, and we didn't go a day early. Anyway, my parents went down early, and I believe they didn't do the check-in there, anymore. I could be wrong. We were so shocked that RCCL was letting us board at 10:00 am. They sent around a flyer telling us that our cabins would not be ready, but there would be donuts, etc. in the WIndjammer, and that we could stay in any public room. We used the new terminal, and it was quite fast!!! There was hardly anyone there at this time, the buses arrived around 9:45 or 10, and we were checking in around 10:15. We got our blue cards there, and boarded the ship.
THE SHIP/CABIN
What we saw was unbelievable. The ship was decorated so nicely for Christmas. Gingerbread houses, a large Christmas tree, and Santa and his reindeer were all part of the Centrum. Everything was decorated. There was even a tree on the pool deck, above the "Majesty of the Seas" sign, but since we had such terrible weather, it blew overboard. LOL! Since I am talking about Christmas, I will talk about Christmas Eve and Day. On Christmas Eve, there was a Caroling Service in the Centrum, followed by the Midnight Mass. On Christmas Day, all the kids went to Deck 7, as Santa rode in on a boat from somewhere in the Bahamas. they lifted him up to Deck 7, and he proceeded to the Centrum, Deck 3, where each child sat on his lap and received a present from Under the tree. It was GREAT how they did this!!!
After we checked all our favorite spots on-board, we headed to our cabin to see if it was ready. We met our Cabin Steward, ITO, and he is from Indonesia. Great guy. Before that, we saw Ray, our cabin steward from our last cruise. He was still in the same spot, and we've known him for 3 years. He was happy to see us, as we were to see him, and he right away took our carry-on's into our room so we would not have to carry them. He also arranged to take our luggage right to our cabin for the 2nd cruise. He was the cabin steward for this room, 4572, Main Deck, Oceanview. Our first cabin was 4551, Main Deck, Inside. All four of us managed to stay in the inside cabin. We lived out of our suitcases, and will never do that again. Also, we weren't too happy with the location of cabin 4551. It was at the end of the hall, directly next to the "CREW ONLY" doorway. One time, while I was laying down, I counted that door slamming 16 times in half an hour! Didn't take a nap that time, ha ha!
The ship is in great condition, I have always thought that. The crew is constantly cleaning and polishing. Going Deck by Deck:
Deck 2: Passenger cabins and the Movie Theater
Deck 3: Passenger cabins, Photo Gallery, Art, the Maytime Dining Room
Deck 4: Main Deck: Passenger cabins, Purser's, Shore Excursion Desks, the Mikado Dining Room
Deck 5: Showtime Deck: Passenger cabins, Boutiques of Centrum, Casino, The Schooner Bar, A Chorus Line Lounge Deck 6: Tween Deck: Passenger cabins
Deck 7: Promenade Deck: Touch Of Class Champagne Bar, Library, Conference Room, Blue Skies Lounge
Deck 8: Mariner Deck: Passenger cabins, Paint Your Wagon Lounge
Deck 9: Commodore Deck: Passenger cabins, On Your Toes Nightclub
Deck 10: Bridge Deck: Passenger cabins, ShipShape Center, massage, sauna
Deck 11: Sun Deck: Windjammer Cafe, 2 Pools, 2 Whirlpools, Kids Room, Flashes (Teen)
Deck 12: Compass Deck: Upper Windjammer, basketball court, ping pong
Deck 14: Viking Crown Lounge
We went up to the Windjammer for lunch, found more crew friends, and started our cruise. We did the Muster Drill at 4:30 p.m. and then the "Sail Away from Miami" party up on the pool deck at 5:00. Well, it was very very windy and rainy, so we headed down to the Main Deck for dinner. Before I start dinner, there is a brand new band, Rythm Explosion, who plays Caribbean Music. Many of you know that I LOVE the Calypso music on-board, and I am always worried about what band will be on my ship. Well, I hate to complain, but this bad was not very good. this was their very first cruise, and they sounded like all they were doin was banging on drums and yelling. They did not sing together, or play together. Most people that were listening left. Big change from Mega 4. I was wishing they were there. Anyway, since there was bad weather everywhere, we were delayed sailing because of some passengers trying to get in, and I think we sailed to Nassau around 6:00.
FOOD\SERVICE
Since we have many friends on the ship, we requested one as a waiter. We waited in line to talk to the Maitre'D, and let me tell you, the rudest person I have ever encountered on a RCCL ship. He needs to find a new job. Rude, and just plain mean. After a lot of trouble, we had Ozkan from Turkey as our waiter, Cassandra from Jamaica as our assistant waiter, and Domenic from Ireland as our head waiter. We had table 95 in the Mikado Dining Room (Deck 4), Main Seating, and we met very nice people at our table. They were from Boca Raton, FL, and their son proposed to his girlfriend on the trip! Our three waiter made our trip what it was. Ozkan, Cassandra, and Domenic are excellent, and you'll have a lot of fun! We also know Bilal, Antonio, Karim, and Rita, they are all great!
Day One, Fri. Dec. 22: Casual, "Venetian" or Italian theme
Day Two, Sat. Dec. 23: Formal, Captian's Gala
Day Three, Sun. Dec.24: Smart Casual, Caribbean theme
Day Four. Mon. Dec. 25: Formal, Feast Of Nations theme
Day One, Tues. Dec. 26: Casual, Venetian theme
Day Two. Wed. Dec. 27: Formal, Captain's Gala
Day three, Wed. Dec. 28: Casual, Feast Of Nations
The Windjammer, we did for mostly every breakfast and Lunch, and it was always good. Sometimes, the breakfast's weren't the greatest, but it is always better than home!! In the Windjammer, they have fruit punch, water, lemonade, iced tea, and coffee for lunches. In the DR, soft drinks do not cost anything.
ENTERTAINMENT
The Welcome Aboard show was "El Gaucho" and he was great!!! The comedian on-board was Blair Shannon, and he was excellent as well. The Second night was Wild Wild West, with the RCCL singers and dancers, along with the Not-So-Newlywed game, that our tablemates participated in. There was a "Holiday Spectacular" on Christmas Eve, which included Charlie Fry and Company, and something else that I cannot remember. The cruise staff did "If I were Not Upon The Sea" after the Holiday Spectacular. The Cruise Director was Richard Spacey, and he was from England. He was the nicest and most sincere CD I have ever seen. And SUCH a happy and friendly guy!
There was Karaoke on the first and last night's of the cruise, as well asthe Majesty Quest, the Bim Bam Boom gameshow, the 70's Disco Inferno with the "Village People", Dancing Under the Stars on the Pool deck, Bingo, an Art Auction, and many other things. There was ALWAYS SOMETHING TO DO! My sister participate din the Teen thing, she always does while on the Majesty, she says that this is the best ship for kids. She is 15, and has met a lot of great people. They have pizza parties, scavenger hunts, games, movies, and dancing. There is a basketball court on the back of the ship on Deck 12, and ping pong and shuffleboard also. Also a movie theater on Deck 2.
Ports of Call
Our itineray was fine, except for the first cruise, the 4 night, we could not go to CocoCay due to rough weather. We had a day AT SEA on Christmas Eve instead. In 2 months, the Majesty has only gone there about 4 times. The weather was very bad, for everyday except our final day of the second cruise, CocoCay. Rainy and Windy all the time. The "Sail Away" party along with the Dancing Under the Stars for the first cruise was cancelled. In Nassau, my Mom and sister did the Dolphin Encounter, and loved it. It was at BLUE LAGOON and costed $80 per person. The second time there, we went over to Paradise Island and walked around. CocoCay, we did the Banana Boat ride and rented the mats, each were $8 per person. It was only 70 degrees and the water was 80, but felt like 50!!! We still had a great time, and had the BBQ lunch on the island.
TIME TO GO HOME
Since this is already extremely long, I will start to wrap this up. Debarkation was very very smooth and we were off the ship by 8:30. They actually called our color while we were eating breakfast. You have to be out of your cabin early, because the cabin stewards have to get the rooms ready for the next group at 10:00 am!!! Make sure to leave your luggage, ready and tagged, outside your cabin door by midnight the night before you leave. We had an excellent trip and are booking another trip on the beatiful "Majesty of the Seas." Any questions, just ask!!!
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**Stacy**
email me at AEStacy13@aol.com
Majesty of the Seas 8/98
Majesty of the Seas 10/99
Enchantment of the Seas 8/00
Majesty of the Seas 12/00
Majesty of the Seas 12/00