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Majesty of the Seas-Frustration


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HI all,
Being a frequent RCCL cruiser,  it saddens me that we have the Majesty of the Seas in Port Canaveral. My husband and I miss our weekend cruise getaways when the Enchantment was here. We've been forced to try Disney  for weekend getaways as RC does not offer a decent weekend ship in Port Canaveral anymore.  The MoS is an old ship that has seen better days. Friends have been on it recently and were disappointed in the constant sewage smells, many of the public rest rooms being closed due to issues, no upscale restaurants or even private lounges for grand suites or diamonds to go to. Yet Disney, Carnival, & even Norwegian can have ships out of Port Canaveral? Yes, the Oasis is here but nothing for weekend getaways Fri-Mon.  That's a huge let down for locals like myself & I can't drive to Miami every time I want to have a weekend getaway!  What is wrong with RC that they can't see that it is time to fully retire this one from my local port? People trying out RC for the first time experience the Majesty and are so disappointed & I try to tell them to give RC a second try, that the rest of the  fleet isn't like the Majesty.

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Have you been on Majesty? My wife and I have been on Freedom, Allure, Independance, and Majesty (soon to add Oasis in less than two weeks!). Majesty was actually our favorite and we wished the opposite, that it did longer cruises. I do wish it had regular balcony rooms but other than that we had a great time on it. But love the other ships as well. I just wouldn't knock it too hard if you personally haven't tried it. 

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Been on Majesty, twice, don't remember any of those issues.  Yes its older and could use some upgrading but no sewage smells and anytime we needed a public restroom, it was open. No private diamond lounge, they use the Viking Crown for that.  I don't do suites so I don't know what they have.

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Tried Majesty for the first time and despite my somewhat negative attitude towards RCI at the moment thought it was a good ship and a good cruise. Certainly lacking in the big shows/big entertainment aspects but that's what you get on a small ship on a weekend cruise.

Havent sailed Enchantment yet (possibly next month) so I cant compare them from experience but based on reviews etc I would have thought the two ships to be fairly similar ?

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We used to have the Enchantment out of Port Canaveral which was nice. I've been on both the Sovereign & the Monarch and find I prefer the choice of going to Chops & Giovanni's which the Majesty does not offer. It's a personal option. I wish they would consider bringing the Rhapsody to Port Canaveral for the 3 and 4 day cruises.  After watching the Majesty fail it's safety inspection & not be able to leave the port on time until they were cleared by safety it  bothers me. Yes they ere fine now but time and again, I hear complaints of how old the ship is & ho much it is lacking compared t the Enchantment or the Rhapsody. This is my home port and even though I want to get higher in my loyalty status, I'm not going to go out on the Majesty just to maintain it when that ship does not offer me any benefits hat I enjoy. To hear that you folks enjoyed your cruise on that ship makes me happy for you & its nice to hear that you had a good time. But when I compare the Majesty to the Enchantment, the Rhapsody, Radiance, etc, it saddens me to know that RC thinks so little of our local port to put a ship like the MOS here. When you get used to a level of comfort and or level of satisfaction, it's hard to step back to a ship that I cruised on 10 years ago & no longer rises up to meet my expectations. I'm not being unrealistic. I've  spoken with friends that used to go out on the Majesty out of Miami and are THRILLED wit the Enchantment being there. And are bummed knowing its going to preposition to Galveston in 20187. They have a HUGE fear of getting the MOS back there & will leave RC for other lines if they do that. So it's not me. It's time for MOS to move on to other seas so to speak. I'm not comparing it to the Oasis class, seriously.. can anything compare to that? LOL.  I enjoyed my Oasis cruise, I loved the Freedom, Enchantment, Radiance & so on. I'm not comparing watermelons to grapes in any way. With all that cruise line has to offer, at least invest & upgrade the Majesty for a better offering of the  things like specialty restaurants. I don't  go out on the Empress because it has no stabilizers. I don't get seasick in any way but my husband does  so it would not treat him kindly. 

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4 hours ago, DocLC said:

@DannieM72 Look at the bright side. At least you have an option for a 3/4/7 day cruise. Royal has abandoned those of us in California after the relocated Monarch. 

Not abandoned, more like forced out by environmental laws.  The cost was to high to retrofit the ships.  Carb's current law bans them from homeporting a ship in California. yep, it sucks not having a ship 45 minutes away from home!

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I enjoyed my once cruise on Majesty..even though smaller/older, it was a great ship and I had no complaints!

 

I get that you like Enchantment better as that has been  my fav with Royal so far and been on her many times.

 

That being said..I would be glad to have ANY ship I could just drive to and get on for a weekend!

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Majesty does offer chef's table! And I enjoyed the shows on Majesty much more that cat's or chicago. Don't judge too negatively without giving it a shot. I was very impressed at how new and up to date the ship looked inside and out. Service was great and bar staff was great as well. I would prefer bigger newer ships but for the price and closest option I would do it and choose to have fun and enjoy it. 

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8 hours ago, RoyalLaker said:

Not abandoned, more like forced out by environmental laws.  The cost was to high to retrofit the ships.  Carb's current law bans them from homeporting a ship in California. yep, it sucks not having a ship 45 minutes away from home!

That hasn't kept NCL, Holland America, Princess, or Carnival from sailing from California. They seem to be able to make it work and earn a profit. 

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1 hour ago, DocLC said:

That hasn't kept NCL, Holland America, Princess, or Carnival from sailing from California. They seem to be able to make it work and earn a profit. 

My sense of it is if RC can make $X in California, they can make $X times Y elsewhere.  There are some other mitigating factors (i.e. violence in Mexico), but at the end of the day, RC positions its ships where it can make the most money.

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2 hours ago, DocLC said:

That hasn't kept NCL, Holland America, Princess, or Carnival from sailing from California. They seem to be able to make it work and earn a profit. 

With all the new ships RC is building, it would be nice if they could at least send an older ship to Cali instead of selling it.

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I'll have to agree with the OP,  I'm also local to Port Canaveral and have avoided taking the Majesty for a weekend cruise due to several issues.  For reference, I have been on two other Sovereign-class cruise ships many years ago and at this point, they are all "long in the tooth".  I'm not afraid of the smaller ships, in fact the Enchantment is one of my favorites (and I'll be driving down down south next week to take it out of Miami).  

What do I gain for the hours of time spent driving down to Miami for the Enchantment instead of a ten minute drive and taking the Majesty out of Port Canaveral?  I get to dine in Chops and Giovanni's Table, I get to enjoy both a Diamond and Concierge lounge, and much better on board shops.  My wife and I are Diamond members who always book Grand Suites or above and these perks are important to us.  In spite of it being older, the Enchantment is well maintained and we love the ship, with the exception of the Windjammer layout which tends to get too crowded.  

I've had two friends who have sailed this year on the Majesty, one a single girl and the other a family, and both came back saying "NEVER AGAIN".  They both had the same story, raw sewage smells in the halls, unfriendly employees, horrible bar service, plumbing issues in the cabins, and mediocre dining experiences.  Why would I want to risk a horrible experience?  

As for my wife and I, we have started taking the Disney Dream out of Port Canaveral for weekend cruises, we have been on one earlier this year (it was fantastic) with another one booked for December.  We will also be driving down to Ft. Lauderdale next March to take the Serenade for a weekend cruise, we wanted to try the ship before we take it again later in the year on a week long voyage out of Boston on a Fall Foliage cruise with family.  

In short, I know some people may find the Majesty "acceptable", but we shouldn't have to settle for scraps.  When given a choice, I seriously doubt many people would choose it over ANY other ship in the RC fleet.  ALL of the other ships in the fleet have more amenities, specialty restaurants, and other features the Majesty just can't compete with.  We truly long for the day that the Majesty takes it last sailing out of Port Canaveral and is replaced with something, anything......  

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Port Canaveral is also my closest port.  I was on Sovereign about 15 years ago and Enchanment 11 years ago, had a blast on both!  For sure Enchantment is a better ship than Majesty.  I would like to give Majesty a try in spite of my reservations about the ship but the pricing is higher than you would think for Majesty quite often.  That must mean they are doing pretty well there with sales.  While I'm not cruising Disney much anymore other than resident rates, Dream is obviously head and tails about the competition for short cruises out of Port Canaveral because Disney uses it as an add on sale to WDW vacations.  With Carnival Liberty and Norwegian Sun as well in/entering the Port Canaveral market I think Royal has to step up their game there soon.  With Oasis on the 7 day rotation they are giving a great option for the week cruises but I don't know that Majesty stacks up to the 3/4 day competition for very long.  Majesty is 9 years older than Sun, 13 years older than Liberty and 19 years older than Dream.  That's a problem.  Maybe when a few more new ships come online by Royal they can replace Majesty. 

I think they need a Voyager class ship there to stack up to the competition.

 

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On 8/22/2017 at 4:07 PM, DannieM72 said:

They have a HUGE fear of getting the MOS back there & will leave RC for other lines if they do that. 

They WILL get MOS back, just not the MOS they are thinking of...

Mariner (Voyager Class) will be doing 3&4 runs from Miami when Enchantment leaves.  

That one really surprised me but they are already available for booking.

 

 

 

 

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Guest toodle68

We were on Majesty in May this year and decided never again. We had to switch rooms mid way through the 3 night cruise and guest services could not have been more uninterested. The HVAC guys was over worked, unfriendly.. most of deck 6 at the back was sweating in heat. Whilst we were waiting to be able to get in our cabin (burst AC pipe) we heard several cabins had issues with smell and water.

The tables in the MDR were so close together it was more like a banquet table with just enough room every few tables for the waiter to push through.. although they had to go on tip toes to lift their butts just high enough so it dragged along the edge of the table. The food was nothing like we had enjoyed on Liberty in January and one night my steak was raw. First time I have sent something back. On Liberty we struggled to select the items we wanted since there were lots of good choices. On Majesty we struggled because nothing was appealing.

Maybe because it was a cheap-ish weekend cruise, but we also found the ship packed with drunks. The pool deck was also cluttered with uncollected glasses and half eaten plates of food was everywhere.

Just my opinion..

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