James Falcone

Age: 58
Occupation: retired teacher
Number of Cruises: 1
Cruise Line: Royal Caribbean
Ship: Majesty of the Seas
Sailing Date: March 13th, 2005
Itinerary: Bahamas

Overall, the cruise was fantastic! Excellent food, very good room, wonderful destinations!

The only real problem was getting to the Miami Port terminal. We were driving down from the Miami Beach area where we had spent the morning. Getting through South Beach and over the bridge to Miami was no problem, but once near the corner of Biscayne Blvd. we encountered such heavy traffic that it took nearly an hour to go the final quarter mile into the terminal area. I suggest allowing enough time to negotiate this area of Miami.

Parking the car in the multi-level garage across from the ship was no problem ($10/day). In order to board, you have to drop off your heavy luggage and have it transported on board for you, but you can bring hand luggage yourself. Bring some swim clothing and a few necessities with you because it may take several hours for your luggage to arrive at your stateroom. Also, lunch can be had onboard at the Windjammer Café (the buffet food court) until around 3:30 on sailing day, so if you arrive early enough (as we did), you can drop off your hand luggage at your stateroom and head to deck 11 for an excellent lunch, then lounge by the pool or explore the ship until sailing.

By the way, the handle on one of our suitcases was broken on transport to our room, but the repair people managed to fix it for us - at least until it broke again after we left the ship.

The boarding process was smooth and swift, although, being Canadians, our passports were taken away when we boarded - something about the US not being allowed by the Canadian government to fingerprint Canadian citizens, so they had to keep the passports. Having someone take our passports caused some concern, and I will inquire about this with the Canadian government.

Our stateroom was only a small, interior room, but it had a roomy bed and adequate space for us and all our luggage, which can be stored under the bed (We had way too much!). The stall shower is very good, and the bathroom and the rest of the room is impeccably clean - and is kept that way by wonderful room service staff. One note: it may take quite some time for hot water to arrive, but be patient, eventually it does get quite hot.

Our room was cleaned twice daily (at least) and the ice bucket in the room was replenished each time. Animals made out of towels and placed on the bed and little candies on the pillows added a nice touch each day. The tv in the room received several movie channels and instructional channels to acquaint you with both the boat and with the shore activities.

Activities on board are excellent. There are many lounges and bars, as well as several large rooms for shows. The nightly musical or comedy shows are excellent in the Chorus Line Lounge, and the audience-participation karioke in the Paint Your Wagon Lounge are worth seeing - as is the couples game patterned on the Newlywed Show. I agree with several other reviewers, though, that the smoking in some of the bar areas is really annoying - and having to pass through a smoky bar to get into the Chorus Line Lounge is really a pain.
 
The ship has two pools, though we never actually had time to go in, but we did enjoy some time in one of the hot tub whirlpools next to the main pools. I was personally pleased, also, to find a basketball court on deck where I could do some shooting and where people could engage in some friendly games. The ship also has a library with many books and board games if you have nothing else to do. My wife enjoyed looking through the onboard shops on deck 5, and some of the deals there (on liquor and jeweler particularly) are quite good. Another worthwhile visit is the computer area on deck 4 where you can access your email and communicate with friends and family while at sea for only fifty cents per minute.

Our room was on deck 4, and this turned out to be an excellent location because the pursers’ desk and computer terminals are there, the shops and the Chorus Line are on deck 5, and our dining room was on deck 3. Contrary to other reports, the elevators run well and there was no more delay in using them than one would encounter in any large hotel.

I would recommend eating in the dining room in the evenings. The wait staff is excellent and the choice of meals each night is varied. Order several appetizers as these are excellent and each one is quite small. The quality of all the food is excellent, although the menu is not exotic. We chose the late seating (8:30) so we would not have to leave our daytime activities too early, and I think we made a good choice in that regard - although we found that we weren’t really too hungry for the midnight buffets, which are also excellent. (Don’t miss the chocolate midnight buffet - and you can bring some back to your room so you don’t have to eat it all at once!) We ate both breakfast and lunch in the Windjammer Café buffet style. Breakfast is the same each day, but includes eggs, waffles, pancakes, pastries, smoked salmon, a chef making your choice of omelets, and much more. Lunches vary each day, but always includes burgers for those who can’t quite escape traditional American style.

The first stop at Nassau was interesting. We planned to tour the town in the morning, return to the ship for lunch, then hit the beach in the afternoon. Everything went as planned, although the town of Nassau is not really worth the time to tour. It is old and fairly rundown with the only real activity being shopping (a main street and the Straw Market). You don’t need to pay for any shore excursions. We made the mistake of taking a carriage ride around the town when we first arrived, but it consisted mostly of pointing out shops. If you are interested in any historical visiting, do some homework ahead of time, then head on your own to a location you would like to see. Actually, there really isn’t anything of much historical interest in the town anyway. Nassau seems to cater mostly to shoppers and not to those interested in history or culture. The Straw Market is worth seeing, but don’t expect to get any real bargains. Haggle with the vendors, though; you might get lucky.

Actually my one complaint about the cruise is that the ship advertises mostly shopping and shore excursions you have to pay extra for in both Nassau and Key West. It would be nice if the ship would inform passengers about all the historical and cultural sights at the destinations instead of just promoting the local vendors. Speaking of vendors, expect to be assaulted continuously in Nassau by locals trying to sell you something. They are polite - but still annoying. There is not this problem in Key West.

The best part of Nassau was the visit to Paradise Island across the harbor. We took a ferry boat for $3 each one way, but the boat itself was actually an old fishing boat with planks to sit on. I doubt it would pass even a minimum safety inspection, but the water was calm and the trip over to Paradise was smooth. If you want to get to Cabbage Beach, though, (on the far side of the island) you have to walk from the ferry landing (at the Atlantis resort) across the island to the public beach entry (next to the Riau Hotel). We found out later that you can take a taxi (12 passenger van) for $4 each one-way directly to the beach from the boat dock (and take one back). We took this back to the ship after our beach stay - and the taxi driver was the most entertaining person we met while in Nassau - a highlight of the visit. Cabbage Beach is excellent, with white sand and clear water, although I was surprised that the water was quite chilly and the riptide was significant. By the way, the ship provides beach towels for you, so don’t weigh your luggage down with your own (like we did). On the next visit to Nassau we will go straight to the beaches and skip visiting the town altogether.

A number of passengers visited the aquarium at Atlantis and said it was spectacular. If you haven’t been to a tropical aquarium before, this is one not to miss.

The highlight of the trip was the visit to Coco Cay. One of the reasons we chose this cruise is because it travels at night and you are in a port all day. We heard that visits to Coco Cay are tentative, depending upon water conditions because the ship anchors away from shore and passengers take shuttle boats in. Fortunately, on this day, the water was calm, so we hopped on the early boat in the morning and stayed for the day. The beaches here are great! Venture away from the main landing area and explore the far side of the island where the beach runs extensively. No one lives here, so passengers have the whole island to themselves. I brought my own snorkel gear and enjoyed hours in the water watching the fish and taking pictures with a cheap underwater camera I bought ahead of time too. Great fun! My wife thoroughly loved tanning on one of the many lounges scattered all over the island; there is even an area under some trees with hammocks. Lunch on Coco Cay was great! We had read reports about cold food and flies, etc., but experienced none of that. The food was plentiful, hot, and tasted great - especially the barbecued ribs. I recommend them!

Ship staff will begin calling people to the shuttle boats by around 2 PM to return to the ship (although boats go back and forth all day - no problem returning when you want to). We, however, didn’t want to leave, so we stayed until the last boat at 3:30. Don’t bother lining up in the hot sun and standing there for a half-hour or so for the next boat; just lie around the beach and wait. They won’t leave you there! You can always get on the last boat. I was a little disappointed because the tour brochure said we would be at Coco Cay until 5PM, but the captain said we had to leave in order to dock by 7:30 at Key West the next day. Arriving at Key West a little later would have been fine with me.

One good thing about this cruise is that all the disembarking and embarking was very well-organized and ran quite smoothly. There is no need to line up immediately when the news to disembark is announced because if you wait 20 or 30 minutes, you can just walk off with no delay. Enjoy some food in the Windjammer, then leave at your leisure.

Also, at every stop and at several times onboard, professional photographers will ask to take your picture. Let them take as many pictures as they want! You can review all the pictures at the end of your voyage and you can buy any you want - and don’t have to buy any if you don’t want to.

Key West required everyone on board to pass through US Customs before anyone could leave. We all had to line up and have a brief interview (our passports were returned at this time), but this didn’t last long, and then everyone was free to go ashore. We took the boardwalk along the harbour and walked down Duval Street (the main drag) where all the interesting taverns are, but there were so many people that we couldn’t actually stop in any one of them because they were all full. We talked to some people who toured the Hemingway House, but unless you want to see a lot of cats, that didn’t seem worth the visit. Others rented bikes and explored more than we were able to, so I think that would be a good idea and we will probably do so on a future visit. The town is picturesque and laid-back, a real respite if you are used to most of the rest of southern Florida. Unfortunately, we were still full from lunch and didn’t try any conch on shore, but would like to do that next time too.

So, overall, the cruise was great and I would certainly go again. Here is some advice: Get maps of your destinations ahead of time and plan what you want to see (unless all you want to do is shop); make good use of the Windjammer Café; take in all the midnight buffets; see the shipboard shows; order some of everything for dinner; don’t buy the soft drink package because you can’t possibly drink what you pay (Cokes are only $1:50 each to buy anyway) and unlimited lemonade, coffee, water, and iced tea is free onboard; bring your own snorkel gear and an underwater camera for Coco Cay; buy some cheap watches on board; head to the Nassau beach areas as soon as you can after visiting the Straw Market; and get lots of pictures taken.

 

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