twangster

If I booked GTY and got an aft balcony I'd be buying lottery tickets!  So jealous!
 
 

If I booked GTY and got an aft balcony I'd be buying lottery tickets!  So jealous!
 
 

Flying into any country tends to involve two steps that are sometimes blurred into one step.  Immigration is often first, followed by Customs once you have all your luggage.  
YVR isn't bad unless your flight arrives when several international wide body aircraft from overseas arrive.  Same with Montreal, same with Toronto.  Same with Atlanta or New York or <insert name here>.  It's not the end of the world, it's just the way it is arriving from a foreign country.  In fact it's a big indicator you are starting on a real adventure.

If I booked GTY and got an aft balcony I'd be buying lottery tickets!  So jealous!
 
 

If I booked GTY and got an aft balcony I'd be buying lottery tickets!  So jealous!
 
 

Our sea day to Mexico starts with a beautiful sunrise just off the coast of Cuba.

Spacious Ocean View Cabin.  
On deck 9 are a series of ocean view cabins that are larger than the standard OV cabins found on lower decks.  The TV's are larger (and newer) as well.  The sofa and chair appear to be newer compared to the OV cabin I had lst time.  







All cabins on this deck are considered obstructed but they are high enough from the waterline and covered by the overhang so these windows don't tend to get as dirty as the windows at lower levels do.  

This area in general has crew walkways used when lifeboats are lowered and for other purposes.  The walkway at the forward most cabins are closer to eye level, the walkway aft is two steps down, enough that most crew can't look into your cabin at eye level.   

I like the cabin, it does feel much more spacious.  

A shuttle driver told me the port discourages them from dropping people off before 10:30am.  I took a $6 Uber at 9am.  

October 9, 2019.
Back from the wasteland of being land locked, I'm writing this from Majesty's VCL.
Rather than creating a whole new thread I'll just revive this one.
IT'S CRUISE DAY!!!
This booking started as a Cuba booking departing on Oct. 14.  As it turns out that wasn't going to be so to drown my sorrows I added the Oct. 9 cruise.  Very recently (last week) the Oct. 19 sailing was very inexpensive.  I looked at Southwest and could change my return flight for a $2 credit.  So... YOLO, this has become a B3B.   When you can book a Royal Caribbean cruise at these rates it's hard to say no.
5 nights to Mexico, 5 nights to the Bahamas and 4 nights to the Bahamas.
Cozumel, Costa Maya.  Key West, Nassau.  Key West, Nassau.  
I've managed to book the same cabin for the first two legs but change cabins for the 3rd.
We embarked at terminal 19 in Port Everglades today.  Arriving to the terminal at 10:21am I was on board at 11:01am after a short wait in the terminal.
I'm going to be lazy from this point forward, only posting when it's blog worthy.  
Cabins are almost ready, time to go...

Our sea day to Mexico starts with a beautiful sunrise just off the coast of Cuba.

Our sea day to Mexico starts with a beautiful sunrise just off the coast of Cuba.

Spacious Ocean View Cabin.  
On deck 9 are a series of ocean view cabins that are larger than the standard OV cabins found on lower decks.  The TV's are larger (and newer) as well.  The sofa and chair appear to be newer compared to the OV cabin I had lst time.  







All cabins on this deck are considered obstructed but they are high enough from the waterline and covered by the overhang so these windows don't tend to get as dirty as the windows at lower levels do.  

This area in general has crew walkways used when lifeboats are lowered and for other purposes.  The walkway at the forward most cabins are closer to eye level, the walkway aft is two steps down, enough that most crew can't look into your cabin at eye level.   

I like the cabin, it does feel much more spacious.  

Good to see Royal innovating given the first Oasis class ship was designed in 2006-7.  
Deck 17 looks interesting with a rear facing open deck, presumably for Golden Suites.  I think the pink crane shield over the Aqua Theater was really smart (just kidding).  
Hopefully she'll have a similar itinerary to Spectrum when she launches so some of us have a chance at booking her before she reaches China.

Some people are truly impacted by cigarette smoke.  I can understand that if it doesn't bother you might not appreciate how it can affect some people.  
The problem is exacerbated when smokers don't follow the rules.  Even if the majority do follow the rules, when the minority ignore them it impacts everyone (including those that do follow the rules) and I see that nearly every cruise.
The reality is the choice to smoke cigars and cigarettes does impact other people.  The choice to break rules will cause increased complaints.  No "cutting slack" is warranted or needed.   

Good to see Royal innovating given the first Oasis class ship was designed in 2006-7.  
Deck 17 looks interesting with a rear facing open deck, presumably for Golden Suites.  I think the pink crane shield over the Aqua Theater was really smart (just kidding).  
Hopefully she'll have a similar itinerary to Spectrum when she launches so some of us have a chance at booking her before she reaches China.

Aall Australians do is moan :L

Well it's at least on the right side of the world, that's a good start. 
Not sure I'm a fan of sailing out of China, but I'll take one for the team and post the photos here!

October 9, 2019.
Back from the wasteland of being land locked, I'm writing this from Majesty's VCL.
Rather than creating a whole new thread I'll just revive this one.
IT'S CRUISE DAY!!!
This booking started as a Cuba booking departing on Oct. 14.  As it turns out that wasn't going to be so to drown my sorrows I added the Oct. 9 cruise.  Very recently (last week) the Oct. 19 sailing was very inexpensive.  I looked at Southwest and could change my return flight for a $2 credit.  So... YOLO, this has become a B3B.   When you can book a Royal Caribbean cruise at these rates it's hard to say no.
5 nights to Mexico, 5 nights to the Bahamas and 4 nights to the Bahamas.
Cozumel, Costa Maya.  Key West, Nassau.  Key West, Nassau.  
I've managed to book the same cabin for the first two legs but change cabins for the 3rd.
We embarked at terminal 19 in Port Everglades today.  Arriving to the terminal at 10:21am I was on board at 11:01am after a short wait in the terminal.
I'm going to be lazy from this point forward, only posting when it's blog worthy.  
Cabins are almost ready, time to go...

Cruise Summary
My biggest complaint is the 5 night duration.  Even though I came off another ship before hand it's a lot of unpacking and you just get into cruise mode when it's over.  I feel like I didn't have enough time to really experience the ship properly.   I have a B2B booked in the fall so hopefully that will solve this problem.
Majesty definitely feels like a bigger ship than Empress (the ship I was on before this) but it is a bigger ship so it had better feel bigger.
Majesty is dated in places such as decor and the outdoor carpets on the upper decks.  You can tell some new carpeting has been installed in places but in certain areas or staircases the carpet is older.
Crew was fantastic and I only experienced great service.  
It was great to visit CocoCay again and I look forward to my next cruise when I have the water park and zipline booked.  
O3b Voom was great and I really wish Royal would upgrade more ships to O3b.  
This was a relatively inexpensive cruise and there is great value at the price point I paid.  Majesty has a lot to offer and I'm looking forward to going back to spend more time on her. 

A last breakfast with the WJ opening right at 6am on the final morning.


There is another forward section with additional food station that was closed on this morning.
Upstairs where there is more seating, the Compass Deli and Sorrento's.

Freestyle drink dispensers for those with a beverage package.

For a small ship Majesty has a lot of big ship features.

Viking Crown Lounge when it's not hosting the nightly Diamond event.






There is a bar but I've never seen it used.  When waiters are present they use the area behind this as a service bar for serving drinks during the Diamond event but also I saw them serving non-Diamonds in the aft section of the VCL (paid using a SeaPass card). 

Since I booked this cruise with the intent of capturing Majesty in photos here are some of the Schooner Bar.




You don't get views of the sea like this on the big ships.

Day 4 continued...
Majesty has the old style TV's and map displays.  Our progress...

Getting my steps in before...

... heading up to the VCL for the Diamond event.

Like most Diamond events there are finger foods every night.

The bridge crew did their best to avoid the downpours as day turned into night.

There is a lot going on around the ship but I'll be back soon enough so I'm not doing the ship's entertainment staff justice.  I'll post the Cruise Compasses once I get home to scan them in properly.
Outside for a walk on the Promenade deck there were a lot of stars visible.  That made me pull out my night sky photography app and see where the Milky Way might be tonight. Sure enough...
Majesty has these shelves along the forward section of the Promenade deck that worked great for my little tripod.

While we were well past sunset the long exposure catches enough light coming over the horizon to make it look like a sunset.  The lights of a city were on the horizon to starboard.
The big dipper was very prominent tonight.  It stood out more with the naked eye compared to this 10 second exposure.

In this one I caught a passing airplane with it's strobe light flashing every second.

For this one I setup on the floor of the deck trying to get into the shade of those Windjammer lights.  In the darkness of the forward deck I got some strange looks as random guests walking past were wondering what I was doing crouched down low in the dark.  Oh well, all in the name of taking a picture.

All in all not bad.  Majesty like Empress is also a good ship for stargazing with it's dark forward Promenade deck.

Back to the ship to change and get my good camera.




I tested Voom on CocoCay and once again the speeds were very good for satellite internet.

Always good to avoid scaring the mermaids away.

Back to the Snack Shack for a Shack Crispy Chicken Sandwich, a Greek salad and fries.  The mango fruit drink is surprisingly additive.

Yum.

The floating bar remains popular.


The pool was hopping again.  Having been several times to the new CocoCay I couldn't imagine it now without the pool.

One last trip back to the ship.
Someone's not going to have a Perfect Day when they get charged for leaving a pool towel behind...