While we had fun, and will probably cruise again sometime, the whole experience was not as "plush and elite" as we were kind of expecting. Maybe if we had more of the same interests as other guests on board we would have felt more a part of what was going on, but as it was we felt kind of isolated and with the exception of the evening meal when we met up with the others at our table, we rarely interacted with anyone. My wife and I discussed this at length and decided we enjoy doing the theme parks in Orlando as much or more than the cruise experience we had. We may try a Disney cruise, just to see if we feel any differently about that experience because we are big Disney fans. We'll have to see what happens in the future, maybe when we are both retired.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
Embarkation experience was very smooth, for the most part. A shuttle driver crashed his van into a barrier and pillar at the drop-off point and it delayed things a little, but we were there in plenty of time and got on board before lunch, so it was good.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
We enjoyed the main dining room and enjoyed the other guests seated at our table. Our waiter and all the assistants were excellent. Good food, but not as amazing perhaps as we were expecting. Plus, my wife and I don't drink, don't drink coffee, and many foods don't really appeal to us generally, so the specialty restaurant held little interest for us. The buffets were good, but about the same quality as what we can find at slightly above average buffets in Las Vegas.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
We enjoyed Johnny Rockets, but we felt bad that not many people seemed to use it, at least not that we noticed. The night we went in we were the only ones in the place for quite a while.
Gift Shop
4 out of 5
We purchased a beautiful tanzanite bracelet for my wife at a good price and we were very pleased with it and the salesperson who assisted us.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
We only attended one stage show , the juggler/comedian and he was okay. We were kind of expecting more opportunities originally, but didn't realize Majesty of the Seas was a smaller ship and didn't have the entertainment venues/opportunities some of the larger ships have
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Waiters were very good. Our room steward was excellent, and very attentive. We particularly appreciated his towel animals he left in our room each night while we were away at dinner.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
Cleanliness was pretty good. We noticed some wear, etc., on some of the railings and decks, but it is a working ship and that can't really be helped. For the most part it was fine.
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
Nice view of the ocean, and even though the port looked out on the deck where the life boats were kept, it was kind of fun to watch the crew work on the life boat on the day they took them out for tests. The bathroom was a bit cramped, but functional, and the room had plenty of storage for us. and room to put our large suitcase under the bed. The TV worked okay, but some of the channels were fuzzy or cut out completely, but I guess that is to be expected when at sea. The bed was not very comfortable, and rather hard. If we had known, we probably would have brought along a mattress pad, which we have sometimes used in hotels where the bed was hard. Also, ship announcements were made that we could not hear in our cabin and could only understand what was being said by opening the door and standing in the hall.
Ship tip
One thing we noticed was that scheduled ship and shore activities often seemed to have the times changed. Twice we went to do something on board and discovered after the fact the time had been changed and we completely missed it. We also missed one shore excursion completely because we didn't notice that the time had been changed and printed on a notification.
The island was interesting and we walked around and sat and relaxed, but didn't find much to keep us occupied. The shopping area was okay, but we weren't that impressed. Also, as I said previously, we don't drink alcohol, don't really enjoy swimming and water activities, and neither of us do much in the way of sports any more (both in our 60s) so there were some activities and places that held little interest for us. We did do the glass bottom boat excursion which was very enjoyable and my wife took some excellent photos. We didn't even do the lunch served on the island because people got in line early, and it was really busy and crowded, etc.
We visited this port, walked through some of the shops close to the pier (it was pretty touristy!) and did another glass bottom boat cruise, as well as an evening sunset cruise. We missed the sea and land tour we'd purchased because the time had changed and didn't find out about it until after the fact, but the cruise line was great about refunding the cost. All of the shore excursions seemed to be a little disorganized as far as the meeting place, the times, etc. We also noticed that major parts of the spiel the guide used for the sunset boat tour was almost verbatim of some of the glass bottom boat tour we had taken earlier in the day. I presume due to the same company doing both tours with the same writers. Not necessarily bad, but a bit amusing.
We chose to take our own luggage off the ship and arrived early to the disembarkation location (dining room) and were very glad we did, because the line got really long very quickly. Once we got off the ship the rest of the process was quick and smooth.
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