Royal Caribbean, Majesty of The Seas Review

Overall Rating

Relatively cheap! If you are from the UK the flights costs are high but if combined with another few weeks in USA then good value. Food excellent in the restaurant and the buffet areas. Decor of the public areas is beautiful and well laid out.

Entertainment - the comedians were very good but that is all you got on their night nothing else. Cabin size rather small, I could stand in the middle of the room and touch two walls, not enough hanging space

Firstly the good things - food as mentioned very good, plentiful, hot and a very wide choice in the restaurant and the windjammer. The restaurant 3 course meal each evening was delicious with a good interesting menu and well served. Especially enjoyed the formal night and the night when the waiters sang. ( Most people were dressed smartly for the formal night - some in full tux but most men in a smart shirt/trousers with a tie but no jacket, ladies in an array of dresses but there were still some who were in less formal clothes and ate in the buffet restaurant. Most who were dressed up were having the formal photos taken. (No one in shorts/t shirts though were allowed in the Captains cocktails)
The ports were good - Nassau was interesting. We did our own thing in the morning and walked to a small beach and snorkelled no one else there and it was brilliant (the beach is just past 'Senor Frog' and can be seen from the ship). In the afternoon went on the ferry to Paradise Island. Interesting commentary and enjoyed it, trip actually takes 20 minutes but didn't have long enough to see much of the Island. Beware - Bahamas time is very slow and laid back. We were told the ferry left every half hour - no one mentioned until on the ferry that this meant half an hour from the time the first customers got on for that trip and we only had 2 hours and 30 minutes of that was spent sitting on the ferry waiting.
Coco Cay - smashing place very laid back. The snorkelling there was brilliant saw loads of different fish, squid and starfishes well worth the wait for the equipment. Bit of a rip off though that the sea mattresses were $10! as they have a captive audience if you don't like snorkelling. The inflatable slide is expensive and again ought to be free IMO.
k Key West - A lovely place but so hot! Really pretty town. Most of the excursion places like the Believe it Or not! Hemingways house, Sloppy Joes etc are easily accessible by yourself and are not worth going on the boats excursions. The conch train, whilst interesting is rather long at an hour and a half as there is not that much to see. It is also easy to do by yourself as the station is on the main street. However, we did got on the Kayak excursion and it was ace! The instructors/guides were brilliant and we saw many different creatures and a 3ft nurse shark (baby) swam under my kayak! At Key west we had to go through USA immigration before we were allowed off the ship, it was a lot quicker than we thought it would be and relatively painless.
Bad points. Cabin very small - we were in the cheapest cabins but these were easily the smallest we have ever been in and we have been on five cruises with different companies. Our steward was not particularly helpful, no beach towels twice and when I asked for them I was told I had a 10-15 minute wait before she would get them. Didn't turn the beds down the first night (the others in our party had a different steward and they were very good). On the last night she gave us the wrong disembarkation letter and if I hadn't spotted this it would have cause a lot of problems with the luggage tags and the collection of our luggage.
Disembarkation- this was a nightmare, don't rush to get off the boat when your colour is called. We waited on the boat for quite a while as we have experienced this before but we have never waited so long for our luggage. The pick up areas are awful - no seats no drinks and an awful long wait - over 2 hours in the luggage area.
The shows - the comedians were very good but that was it not really a show. The first night was an Argentinian cowboy - very good but that was it ! On other boats the shows have been excellent with the Ships own singers and dancers. There were nothing else until a late night game show or competition or the disco which didn't start until very late. The first night had a movie under the stars - it was dreadful the screen was inflatable and was wonky and blowing around and no one we asked knew what the film was going to be until 2 minutes before the showing!
Climbing wall- not open when advertised to be
Did we enjoy our holiday? Of course we did holidays are what you make them and these complaints are mere niggles. However as I've said I have been on other cruise ship which are way superior in term of the shows and things to do on board eg. Sea Princess
Perhaps one of the larger RCI are better as this is apparently one of there smaller ships. My next cruise will be with the Princess cruise Line again as they are superior. IMO

Members' Comments onjooles83's Review

• lili0606 on 22nd Oct 2008

  Can you tell me exactly how long it took to clear customs in Key West. I have an excursion (booked independently) at 9:30 and don't know if I will make it in time.
  Thanks