Stephen L.

Age: 43
Occupation: Travel Agent
Number of Cruises: 3
Cruise Line: Royal Caribbean
Ship: Majesty of the Seas
Sailing Date: May 23rd, 2005
Itinerary: Bahamas

To start I would have to say yes I have now 3 cruises under my belt but they all have been on the older ships so far. Holiday, Sensation and now the Majesty of the Seas. We had a great time on this cruise and enjoyed our time. We arrived into Miami the night before to get an early start the next day. Arriving at the pier around noon we were all set to check in. A very short line awaited us then on through a couple of more security checks. The next line was a little longer but that was for our boarding pictures. Once inside the lobby of the ship we did find more people buying their unlimited soda cards. Myself I do need my diet coke but can not stand syrup soda and brought a few 12 oz plastic bottles of my D.C. for the fridge in our room. Like others before us the room was ready. We chose to do a superior outside room and were not disappointed in the room size. As a matter of fact we found our room with the sitting area to be a good size room. The window did lookout onto the lifeboats but it preformed it's duty of letting the sunshine in.

After putting a few things in the cabin that we carried on with us. All suitcases were tagged and handed over to the valet along with a nice tip. A backpack will carry a change of clothes and your swimsuits, this is all we brought onto the ship with us. Later that day between 5pm and 630pm our suitcases were waiting out in the hallway for us.

The weather, food and islands were all in our favor. Some folks wrote that the wine Stewarts were in your face as you boarded the ship. I did not find this in my case. We ran into one by the elevators on our way to the room, we simply said that we were all set and nothing more was said. There is plenty of time to order wine at the supper table. I had preordered a bottle for the room. At the time I asked if glasses and a wine cork would be in the room with the bottle and was told yes. Well this was not the case but our room Stewart took care of that in no time flat.

>From what I read about the shows, they sounded great. My main problem was I like late seating 8:30pm. On past cruises (Carnival) this was no problem. Royal Caribbean has pre dinner shows 7:15pm. Well I'm still around the pool or on shore at this time so I didn't get to see one show. The Newlywed Game or the Adult Scavenger Hunt. I did watch about 20 minutes of the scavenger hunt as our table of 8 was a great group of people and this was our time to find out about each other and where we were from. So dinners ran late. I do wish Royal Caribbean would reconsider this policy.

Oh I had read and ran into the problem myself as a nonsmoker, the entrance to the Chorus Line Lounge is right next to the Casino and through the schooner bar. Yuck. But if you go up to deck 8 on the main elevator this one runs from deck 2 - 12 you can work your way down the hallway to the aft stairwell and avoid the smokers. Yea I know lots of extra steps but to me it was worth it.

I asked several people about the Viking Crown Lounge (round room in the back of the ship) and not many people made their way up. It has wonderful sunset views and we found this a great place to have a pre-dinner glass of wine. One night after leaving CoCo Cay there happen to be a storm in the distance. Within no time we were in the middle of a gale with thunder and lightening everywhere. A little excitement and within no time we had passed through and could see moonlight again.

Nassau is still Nassau as I was there about 12 years ago. The straw market may have moved slightly but still is the same bunched up people. Nothing there I needed. Senior Frogs was fun for a quick bite to eat and some photo ops. I have to have them. I'm not sure if the Majesty parks in the same spot each time but there were two other ship blocking the camera lens from the town side. I simply went to the Paradise Island side of the dock. No people or boats blocking my view there. A simple tripod and self timer I got some great shots of us and the ship in the background. We spent our day at Sandals. Yes the only thing that was suppose to be free on this cruise. As a travel agent I asked for a day pass to inspect their property. Well the first cabbie wanted $25.00 plus tip. I ended up spending $40.00 roundtrip with tip. So my freebie cost me in the long run. But yes I did get to see the Royal Bahamian. Most people for your first time into port head for Paradise Island and enjoy the beaches or a tour of the Atlantis with it $25,000 suite.

CoCo Cay is not much to look at from the ship and my be a bit of a rough ride getting there on the tender. Once there if you are a beach person you will love it. We found a nice area to relax, swim and soak up the sun. Here there are lot's of things to do from snorkeling to jet skiing. They do offer a BBQ but for some reason we never made it to the lunch line. Again some nice photo ops on the windward side of the island with the ship in the background.

Key West I was looking forward to. A great little town with lot's of place to wander in and out of. You exit the ship by the Hilton. If you happen to enjoying breakfast on deck 12 and on the opposite side of Key West there is a little island called Sunset Key. A lot of these little cottages are run by the Hilton. Yea a pretty penny to stay there but what a vacation. Down Front Street towards Duval. There are a lot of webcam sites in Key West lookout you never know who's watching you or when. WWW.webcam.keywest.com  .

They have a couple of live streaming video camera on in front of Sloppy Joe's with a mic that you can say hello to the folks back home. All the way down Duval is the Southern Most Point photo opt. Yep 90 miles to Cuba. Along Duval along with Sloppy Joe's is Jimmy Buffett's place Margaritaville, look for it. There's not much signage in front of this place.

Well anyway go and enjoy. Don't worry about this and that just enjoy yourself. If you've cruised before on Princess don't try and compare, it's not an apples and apples comparison. She maybe almost 14 years old and besides the smaller lower rooms I hope you enjoy your cruise as much as we did.

Steve

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