Listener Cruise Trip Report January 2008

Majesty of the Seas

Departure Port: Miami, Florida
Ports of Call: Miami, Florida; Nassau, Bahamas; CocoCay, Bahamas; Key West, Florida; Miami, Florida
Date: December 2007

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This months Listener Cruise review is from PRC from Texas , as he says in his review “This was a great trip. Jody and I love the feeling of being on board” and there is interestingly information about a holiday sailing in the review.

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The Beach at CocoCay

SUNDAY, 12/23:
We started very early Sunday morning. We only live 42 miles from IAH, but we were afraid of a very crowded airport. We had to wait outside to check baggage, because the security lines completely filled the terminal (terminal C…all Continental domestic check in). Once through there, we were bracing ourselves for a VERY long trip thru security, when we were told that because our flight was leaving from terminal E, we could just go over there and do security. There was no line at all! We now had time for a sit-down breakfast, and a slow walk to our gate. After a short wait, we were told that our gate had changed to the one next door, but they were also using it (it was a dual ramp) for a flight to Tokyo. This is where the confusion started, added to by a rather large group that only spoke French and seemed to enjoy trying the patience of all the staff! We feared our bags may end up in Tokyo, or who knows where! We took off about 20 minutes late, but it was a very calm smooth flight. My wife doesn’t fly well, and she appreciated that!

We landed in Miami about 5 minutes late, and had to wait about 10 more for the gate to clear. MIA was rather crowded, and they seem to not have a very good system of telling people where their bags will pop out…we walked between all the baggage carousels before seeing a small handwritten sign saying what one we were to use. Our bags made it, and we walked upstairs to catch the shuttle, which we just missed. I called the Embassy Suites and was told that they run every 20 minutes. When they showed up we hopped on for a 5 minute ride to the hotel. We had stayed here before, and they have now finished their remodeling. It is still not the greatest Embassy Suites there is, but it was more than fine for one night. They did eliminate the “cheaper” eatery, leaving only the high end steakhouse (with the high end prices to match), so we ordered pizza & salad from a place nearby. It was very good, and showed up quickly. There is a Bennigans around the corner, but we did not feel like walking over.

We arranged transportation to the pier at the desk in the lobby. They have a separate transportation desk that is very efficient. We would leave at 11am with Miami Sunshine Transportation. We have used them before, and it is clean, prompt, and well worth the $10pp.

MONDAY, 12/24:
We woke, went down and had breakfast (cooked to order, so-so), and gathered our things. When we arrived downstairs at the transportation desk, Hector, the owner of Miami Sunshine transportation was there. We remembered him from last May. A very nice man who takes pride in his business, and does it well. This is the man to use in Miami! It was a 10 to 15 minute ride to the port. We handed our bags over at 11:20, walked upstairs, no line at security, and went straight to the Platinum and Diamond line, where there was only 1 couple ahead of us. This probably saved us about 20 to 30 minutes. We had to wait in line for boarding to commence (for about 5 minutes), and I would say that we were probably the 100th or so people to board. We were onboard by 11:50. We looked at all the decorations in the Centrum, and at 12 we headed up to the WJ for lunch, and started to notice that there were Christmas trees everywhere! We found out that each one was decorated differently, from different countries (even ones that don’t do trees!). The WJ was not crowded, and everything was very good.

At 1pm, we headed to our cabin, 5518. Now we have stayed in the “standard” window cabins on the Sovereign class ships many times before, so we were ready for the size. They have made one change though…when the beds are together, instead of having the pillows on one side wall, they are up at the window. This left a very narrow walkway on one side, and surprisingly, it made a difference! The room was very clean, and out attendant, Jeanette from the Philippines was fantastic. We unpacked and explored the ship, still marveling at all the decorations.

The lifeboat drill never changes, and we headed up for sail away, and the weather was perfect! We decided to make use of the JR coupons in the CA book and headed there for dinner. Everything was fantastic…much better than the one we had been to on land. Of course I over-did it with a double burger with bacon!

My wife found her old friend Jeanie the slot machine (as in I Dream of Jeanie) and they got re-acquainted. The welcome aboard show was a comedian named Steven Scott. He was quite funny and we enjoyed the show very much. I went and turned in the CA coupons for the RCI-Online, then we headed to the Love and Marriage game show. 3 day newlyweds and 57 year vets. The vets won.

We finished the night exploring and looking at more decorations. Of course I had to have a bedtime snack at Sorrento’s. There was live music everywhere (and quite good!).

TUESDAY, 12/25: MERRY CHRISTMAS!
I forgot to mention that we had brought our own Christmas tree on board. My wife had found a 12″ tall artificial tree, along with a set of miniature star. ornaments, and garland at Hobby Lobby (she was a little depressed about not decorating a tree at home this year). She decorated it, and placed it on the small glass table in our room, along with two “snow people” she had found. They are a snow man and woman, wearing swim suits, floppy hats, shades, and carrying beach towels & bags!

Anyway, when we awoke Tuesday morning, Santa had left her a present under our tree. It was an appointment card for a “trio” at the spa…foot/leg, hand/arm, and neck/shoulder massages. After breakfast she headed off to the spa, and I went to the pool deck with my camera. The captain had heard that Santa was going to be making his rounds that morning. Sure enough, after apparently slipping down the smokestack, Santa appeared in the Viking Crown Lounge! He, along with 4 of his elves joined the Cruise director and a drummer on a parade around both levels of the pool deck, then they circled their way through the decks in the Centrum, and ended up in the theater. There, he set up camp on the stage, and had a gift for every boy and girl on the ship! (There were 5xx kids under 17). It was a great time!

I stopped off to see Sam the loyalty ambassador. He remembered me from last May. I booked another NextCruise reservation, and then spoke to him about our C&A status. This cruise was the 10th, so we would now be Diamond, but I wanted to discuss whether or not our status would change quickly enough to be shown next month on the Serenade. He looked up the reservation, as well as the one we have for the Radiance in September), and made notes to e-mail the LA’s on both ships, as well as the home CA office, so that we would get the Diamond discounts on the balconies. I thought that was a nice piece of customer service! I just need to follow up with a phone call next week.

Today was a sea day (no Nassau) for Christmas. I met back up with the wife…she said that the massage(s) had turned every bone in her body to Jell-O! We got our things and headed up to the pool, where we had no trouble finding a perfect spot on the upper deck overlooking the activity area. We lounged there the rest of the morning, and even though I coated myself in spf-30, I still reddened up quite a bit! It was about 88 today. We were basically drifting about 12 miles south of Freeport, so it was not overly windy as it is when cruising at full speed. We had maybe a 2-3 mph gentle breeze, and it made for a great day! The men’s sexy legs contest was fun as usual…one of the judges was in her 80’s and had a blast! The belly flop contest was fun to watch as well. We picked up lunch at the Compass Deli and ate poolside.

This evening was formal night, and even though we did not visit the dining room, we cleaned up a little anyway. We had pictures taken while listening to live caroling in the Centrum. They passed out songbooks for all to join in. It was a great holiday atmosphere, as they also had a snow machine at the top of the Centrum! We ate, then caught the last part of the Captain’s reception. This evening’s entertainment was a production show, Signed, Sealed, Delivered. We have seen it before, but it was still very good, and slightly different as a lot of the singers & dancers have changed. Afterward, my wife visited her “friend” in the casino, then we headed up top for the dancing under the mistletoe pool party at midnight, which was accompanied by the Caribbean Market Buffet. We were exhausted, but both agreed that it was a FANTASTIC Christmas Day!!!

WEDNESDAY, 12/26:
When we went to bed last night, I had noticed that my laptop said we had stopped drifting off the coast of grand Bahama Island, and had turned south (my gps antenna was taped in the window…yes, my wife puts up with a lot from me!). When we awoke, it said that we were almost to my favorite spot on earth: COCOCAY!

To me, there is nothng that sounds better than an anchor chain rolling off at this spot. This was my Christmas present! We had breakfast, then headed down to line up for a tender. They were running two tenders for passengers, and one for supplies. We stood in line for about 20 minutes and were on the first tender! When we got to shore, we decided to head over to the south coast and start walking past the aqua park until we could walk no further, which varies depending on the tide. At that point we would head inland to the trail down the spine of the island and walk down to Land’s End, on the far western tip.

Now, before I get too far ahead of myself, my wife had bright red toes (it matched her outfit last night) and I had commented about the Iguanas on CocoCay may be like the ones on Roatan and have such bad eyesight they would mistake them for little cherries and nibble on her toes! Well, I was only a little off in my prediction! After we past Coconut Willies Bar and the aquapark, we were walking along and she decided to take her sandals off and walk in the water, while I was still on the beach. We were walking along and she noticed something paralleling her in the water. I tried to catch it on film, thinking it was a little stingray, while she started to gradually walk a little farther out, into about 2 feet of water, hoping to see what it was. As it came closer to shore, it got to within about 5 feet of her…it was a 3′ NURSE SHARK! I have never seen her move that fast!!! I snapped a bunch of pictures of it, which came out pretty good. She stayed in about 3 inches of water, and the darn thing paralleled us for about 75 yards along the beach!

Anyway, we went as far as we could without either climbing onto the rocks or walking in the water (wife wasn’t doing that now!) so we cut inland to the trail and headed west. we visited the lone Palapa at the little stone embankment on the northwest point, where we can always get some fantastic shots of the ship, then over to the southwest point known as land’s End. This is true paradise! Palm trees, green grass, sand, beautiful blue and turquoise waters, not a sound but gentle surf…HEAVEN! We stayed here completely alone for about 2 hours, I actually fell asleep for a few minutes, just relaxing in a lounge chair (there are a few) while looking out over the beautiful Bahamian waters towards Andros and Bimini. aaaahhhhhhhhhhh…

We walked back and found a spot with 2 chairs and went to enjoy the BBQ lunch. It was as it always is…basic but good. I know some people have complained about it before, but to us it fits perfectly with what is going on around you…a big day at the beach. Anything fancy would seem out of place! After eating we found a secluded spot west of the aquapark under a palm tree and just relaxed the rest of the day. Too soon we had to pack up and leave, we gave ourselves time to walk thru the little straw market, then we visited the really nice looking, semi private covered habanas that have been constructed on the northeast corner of the island. Up the tower for some pictures of the ship and a private vessel that looked to be 200′ or so that was anchored over off the coast of Great Stirrup Cay (NCL doesn’t own that whole island), then off to the tenders for the ride back…sad to leave, but it was a perfect day in every way!

After dinner and my wife’s visit to the casino, we went to see the evening’s show. Tonight was Arturo Shelton, a singing impressionist who gets many audience members involved in his tribute to Motown. We’ve seen him 4 times now, and each show is different enough to be brand new, plus he is just downright good! Tonight was also the Quest. We’ve never seen a bad Quest, but this one was extra funny because of the group of 80-something ladies over in one corner that had no idea what they were attending. After the initial shock, they were laughing and clapping like everyone else! After visiting the Sweet Sensations pool party at midnight (think Chocolate Buffet) and another late night snack for me at Sorrento’s, it was off to bed.

THURSDAY, 12/27:
We woke to another beautiful morning. The weather has been perfect this whole trip. After breakfast we walked down to the theater to do the immigration thing…took all of 10 minutes. We stepped off the ship at about 9:45. Key West is an interesting place. It’s got both good and bad, but we like just wandering around. We took a leisurely walk down to the southern end of Duval, where Jody had to wade into the water one more time for this trip. While there we called the kids, whom we hadn’t spoken to since Christmas Eve before we departed Miami. DD/SIL were both at work, and DS was on duty (USCG).

On the way back up the other side of Duval we stopped at the Hard Rock for lunch. We called my parents and waved to them from the Live Cam at Sloppy Joes. My wife got another toe ring and then we wandered a couple of side streets before heading over to the marina. We walked along there farther than we ever had before, and were very pleased that we did. We went all the way to where the Ferry from Ft. Meyers docks (Key West Bight). Lots of interesting shops and things to see. On the way back we would look at the water in between all the boats, and it was so clear we could see the bottom always. We must have watched hundreds of fish, including about a dozen Tarpon 4 to 5 feet long! Right there in the marina! There was also another of my wife’s buddies…another nurse shark, this one about 5 or 6 feet long. It was also around here that we almost got run over a few times by rented mopeds!

We hung out at Mallory Square for a short while, and DW got some Conch Fritters (she loves ‘um!). After a last stroll along the waterfront we headed back on board. I went and printed our boarding passes for our flight home while Jody got us a couple of chairs on the top deck to watch the sunset. We had a perfect view to the most wonderful sunset we had ever seen! The pictures turned out wonderful!

After dinner and a final trip to the slots, we went to the farewell show. It was Boogie Wonderland which we’ve seen twice before, but it’s still good (high school/college in the 70’s…we lived this music!). Before the farewell at the end, the CD called one of the female singers out and let everyone know that this was her final performance on the Majesty. She would stay in Miami for the next 3 months of rehearsals before reporting to Finland as one of the singers on the Independence when she debuts in May.

After a final trip to the slots and one last walk around the ship, we called it a night. We went back to the room and packed. There is nothing sadder than walking back to your cabin and seeing all that luggage set outside…that’s when it hits you that this is the last night. We kept all of our luggage inside, as we planned on doing the express departure.

FRIDAY 12/28:
This was a very early morning for us. We got dressed and carried all of our luggage down to deck 4 by 6:45. We stood in line (maybe 50 people ahead of us) for about 20 minutes before we started to move. We were off the ship by 7:10 and getting into a cab by 7:20. At the airport by 7:35. We were told that we could make the 8:15 flight to Houston if we wanted to, but getting re-ticketed and the luggage moved made me nervous, so we stuck with our scheduled 11:50, which meant a long wait in the airport (I really didn’t think we would get off the ship that easily!). We had time to sit down in Chili’s and get breakfast before heading through security (no line!) and settling in to wait at the gate.

The flight home was as good, we landed about 5 minutes early. 10 minute wait for the bags, and the shuttle was there when we walked outside. It was 61 degrees, but I already missed the Bahamas!!!!! We picked up the car and headed to the house (40 minutes).

A Christmas cruise…It’s both good and bad. We had a fabulous time, but it is different. There were some multi-generational families on board, that seemed like a great idea, especially since our kids are all over the country right now. I think we will do it again, but Jody especially missed the kids. This was actually the first year neither one could get to our house for the holidays, and we weren’t going to them.

We had a great time on board. There were NO problems with kids of any age, no “issues” with anything or anyone on board. The ship was beautifully decorated, and it seemed like the entire crew was in the holiday spirit! Our cabin attendant told us that they had a great crew party for the holidays, and every nationality was quite pleased. We also noticed at the Island Boss shack (that’s what it was called!) on CocoCay that there was a notice of a island staff new year’s party on a day/night that no ship was visiting (yes, they have staff living and working there in weeklong shifts now). The ship, the service, the food, the entertainment, everything was fantastic. I can only imaging how they do the holidays on the larger ships!

This was a great trip. Jody and I love the feeling of being on board, and can’t wait for the Serenade in January!

PRC
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