As it happens, my name is the Hebrew word meaning Princess. And to celebrate the day approximately 34 years ago (give or take 10 years) that my parents first gazed upon me – screaming and red-faced with a defiant fist in the air – and wondered if they’d chosen my name poorly, I did what I always do to celebrate my birthday, I booked a cruise! On Princess! On the Majestic Princess! But while my sailing date and cruise line bear some significance to me personally, the ship name relates in no way, as I’ve never been described as showing impressive beauty or dignity (more like short, pasty, bushy-browed, overly casual, and low-key offensive at times). So does the ship herself deserve such a moniker? That’s why we’re here!
My review of the Majestic Princess will outline the many things I loved about her and a few things I didn’t love. I’ll also pass along some tips that might be helpful if you’re booked. As always, remember that so many things about cruising are subjective and mine is just one experience on one sailing. Please share your own experiences in the comments, or highlight things I said that you agree or disagree with, so we can all learn from each other! Feel free to also ask questions and I’ll do my best to answer them. So, with that…
As someone who relies on her 3rd grader for tech support (he’s recently started charging me an hourly fee, arguing that my mediocre cooking shouldn’t count as compensation), I’ll admit that the OceanMedallion and corresponding app, developed by Princess to perform a variety of tasks from checking in to opening stateroom doors to making reservations to ordering food and beverage delivery, caused an irrational fear in me something akin to the nightmares I sometimes have after falling asleep in the middle of a dystopian novel. But instead of accidentally releasing electromagnetic waves leading to a barren wasteland, the app and Medallion led to the easiest and fastest onsite check-in and embarkation I’ve ever experienced on my dozens of cruises.
You can read about my full experience checking in on the app at home and preparing for my cruise onboard the Majestic Princess HERE:
But in terms of checking in at the terminal, it was so fast that my watch barely clicked over to the next minute from the time I entered the terminal until I was seated and waiting for my boarding number to be called.
There was no line when I arrived, so after flashing the check-in screen via the app on my phone indicating I should proceed to the “green lane” (meaning I had completed the full online check-in process prior to arriving), I was directed to the counter where my Medallion was scanned, I showed my documents (vax card and negative test), and received my boarding card.
Boarding began at around 11:45am and I waited 15 minutes or so for my group (group 7) to be called. It was an efficient and organized process and before I knew it, I was eating pizza at Alfredo’s, the first of my two embarkation day lunches!
And while my love for the app would be short-lived (stay tuned), my cruise onboard the Majestic Princess was off to a great start!
You can learn how I ended up in a mini-suite on the Majestic Princess after booking the cheapest inside cabin, view my cabin tour, and read my full review HERE:
But in summary, I loved the roominess (it was definitely larger than the average $3000 per month apartment in my downtown Seattle neighborhood), decor, and especially the bathtub in my mini-suite! If you’ve never eaten chocolate covered strawberries and sipped champagne from a cruise ship bathtub, you should get a pedicure prior to sailing so the sight of your feet don’t cause you to lose your appetite as almost happened to me, and give it a try! It might just be the closest I’ll ever get to heaven.
The service I received from my room steward, dining room wait staff, other crew, the cruise director, and the ship officers was friendly, efficient, and, overall, outstanding. While I, admittedly, enjoyed a hearty breakfast each morning (read as stuffed my face at the buffet and International Cafe), it still felt like magic when I returned to my cabin each morning to find it immaculate. Thanks to the OceanMedallion, my room steward, Gilbert, knew the second I left my cabin for breakfast so he could use the 30-45 minutes I was away to perform miracles that should really qualify him for sainthood. And while I didn’t see Gilbert very often (as he was busy performing miracles for others), when I did see him he was friendly, called me by name, and made sure everything was to my satisfaction.
Because I’d made reservations via the MedallionApp prior to my sailing, I was seated in the dining room quickly each night for dinner and completed an average of six courses in under an hour thanks to my efficient and hard-working wait team who honored my “dining preferences,” which I’d entered into the app in advance, for “fast-paced dinner service.” I received equally excellent and fast service at the other sit-down restaurants I visited, Alfredo’s and Harmony.
Thanks to my blog and an established relationship with Princess Media Relations, I was lucky enough for an opportunity to meet with several officers on the Majestic Princess. While I passed along some (I hope) constructive feedback, I mostly raved about what a positive experience I’d had, thanks to their incredible crew.
As someone who acts far older than her age (even when I’m not lying about it), I really appreciated the opening hours, especially dining hours, on the Majestic. While I prefer to eat dinner at 4:30pm and generally arrive at the Sizzler just prior to the retirement home busses, so I can beat them to the salad bar, the dining rooms on the Majestic opened for dinner reasonably early, at 5pm, which gave me time to eat and hit a show before retiring by 9pm. And the World Fresh Marketplace (buffet) opens at 5am for breakfast, the earliest I’ve experienced on any ship. Even though I’d been in blissful cruise ship slumber (seriously, I never sleep better than on a cruise ship) for hours so I never verified this, the schedule indicates that the buffet also stays open until 11pm. AND the buffet stays open continually from 5am-11pm, with no full closures during the day while it transitions from breakfast to lunch and lunch to dinner. That’s a rarity on cruise ships these days and access to food at all hours of the day and night is very important to me.
Princess cruise ships are known for gold accents and the gold was so sparkling clean on the Majestic Princess that it almost required special glasses, like driving into the sun, to avoid going blind from the glare. And while I’m not always a huge fan of the decor on Princess ships, the condition and cleanliness of the Majestic Princess was immaculate and, even those of us who claim to prefer more contemporary design and decor despite wearing clothes older than the average millennial, can’t deny that she’s a gorgeous ship.
You can read my full review of MedallionNet (the new fleet-wide internet service on Princess) HERE:
Overall, I was impressed with the value and performance of MedallionNet on my sailing. I was able to video chat, stream, and complete necessary work functions for less than the cost of a much more basic internet plan on most other lines.
The Hollywood Conservatory was one of my favorite spots on the ship to relax with a snack and a book. It offers comfortable, private, and complimentary seating areas, some comparable to “cabanas” on other ships that you’d pay extra for. And the views out the large windows are gorgeous! Here’s a tour:
From 4:30pm-6:30pm most evenings, the Hollywood Conservatory transforms into the Elite Lounge for Platinum, Elite, and suite guests. You can read my review of the Elite Lounge (with the nightly appetizer menu included) HERE:
While my swimming style is the opposite of graceful and causes regular attempted rescues, “FALSE ALARM, that’s just the way she swims!,” and I don’t actually swim laps on cruises that often, I like having the option to do so and loved the two large, rectangle-shaped pools, one indoors and one outdoors, suitable for swimming laps on the Majestic Princess. There were quite a few people using them to get their laps in each morning, none of them flailing around like a beached sea creature violently fending off certain death.
Venture out onto the Skywalk for the sweeping views above, below, and around you or to help your travel companion, terrified of heights, conquer their fear with a bit of exposure therapy. I’ve found that coaxing them with a soft-serve cone from Swirl (located right next to the Skywalk) really helps! Or you can head to the bar on the other side (where a second Skywalk is located) for a bit of liquid courage. There’s also another thing I enjoyed doing out there, but I’ll get to that in my “tips” section.
After years of cruising, I’ve developed a lot of weird rituals. One of them is to visit the gym each day (early in the morning to get it over with) where I sit on a bike (preferably a spin bike) and watch videos on my iPad while I pedal slowly to justify a full-day of cruise binging to come: “Yes, I really want every dessert on the menu! I’ll have you know I was at the gym at 5am!”
And the gym on the Majestic Princess, while I’ll never admit to loving any gym, checked off all my boxes. It was open 24 hours (VERY rare – I only recall a few other ships I’ve sailed on having 24 hour gyms), had spin bikes available to use when classes weren’t in session in the aerobics room, and had a locker room with showers (very helpful when you’re traveling with others who prefer to sleep in while you hit the gym – I often wake up my family when I return to shower in our cabin). It was also large and well equipped and offered a variety of fitness classes (most for an extra fee). Here’s a full tour of the gym:
And this was the class schedule:
While no one relishes in doing laundry on vacation, self service laundry rooms serve an important function, but are increasingly rare on cruise ships. I’m a minimalist in all areas of my life and prefer to pack only the essentials. In fact, I pack so light I drew the attention of a couple of fellow cruisers as we waited for the bus after disembarking the Majestic Princess. The wife sent her husband over to ask me if I worked on the ship in some capacity (like maybe I just hopped on for a day or two to perform some specific function), because they couldn’t believe I packed 7 nights worth of stuff in my tiny bag.
The fact that I was waiting for the bus also played into why I packed so light. I’d decided to try taking public transportation from LAX to the cruise pier and back, so I didn’t want a bunch of bulky luggage to haul around (you can read about my experience doing that HERE).
Anyway, having self service laundry allows one to pack much lighter, as you don’t have to wait a day or more for your laundry to be returned like for full-service laundry. Plus it’s way cheaper! In terms of clothes, I packed one sweatshirt, three casual shirts, two nice blouses, a gym outfit (that I rinsed out between uses), one pair of shorts, two pairs of black leggings, one dress, a swimsuit, and four days worth of underwear. It helps some that I’m a tiny human, but I easily fit everything I needed for my 7 night cruise in a small carry-on sized roller bag, plus a backpack for my electronics. That would have been much more difficult without the self-service laundry facility that I used midway through my cruise.
$3 per washer and dryer. So $6 for a full load of laundry – can’t beat that! You can also buy detergent onboard, but I always pack my own laundry pods. You will use your Medallion to purchase tokens for the machines.
Let’s move on to the activities I loved onboard the Majestic Princess (besides laundry, lol).
One of my favorite evening activities was to curl up in a warm blanket (provided) on a padded lounger (special pads are added to loungers for the movies) with some (free) popcorn and buffet snacks to watch a movie on a large screen under the stars. There was a great selection of movies I hadn’t seen yet and it was never crowded. You can even use the Medallion App (if you can get it to work – I couldn’t) to order drinks to be delivered right to your lounger! I highly recommend you try this at least once!
Remember that game show, “Family Feud” (maybe it’s still on, is it still on?), where families would compete to guess the most common answers to survey questions? If asked, “what do most people think of when you say the word CRUISE?” would you guess: OPERA? No? It would be pretty far down the list for me too, well below Adam Corolla, a 95 year-old woman competing in a dance-off in a bikini, and an indoor potted plant being used as a makeshift toilet (all things I’ve seen on cruise ships). If none of those things I just mentioned appeal to you, maybe give Princess a try. Because on Princess you’re far more likely to see Opera! And if you see the production show “Encore” on the Majestic Princess you’re guaranteed to see Opera! And excellent Opera at that! Half of which is sung in Italian, making you feel both sophisticated and glaringly underdressed. I suppose for the Majestic Princess you should add lorgnette opera glasses to your packing list.
While Colleen Williamson, the guest soprano Princess brought onboard to star in “Encore” brought the house down with her performance in that production show, she also delighted guests with a solo show where she showed off her range with a variety of different musical styles. If you’re fortunate to have her onboard when you sail, don’t miss her shows!
Colleen Williamson wasn’t the only performer onboard the Majestic Princess that caused me to whisper to my neighbor: “Broadway called and it wants its singers and dancers back!” Seriously, the regular production cast was so talented they’d have been justified in turning down a Broadway traveling company in favor of a long-term stint in a one of the hottest new shows on the big white way!
I especially enjoyed the “Meet the Cast,” event, offered in an intimate venue so I was able to see performers up close and learn more about their backgrounds, training, and life performing on cruise ships. They were as charming and engaging as they were talented and they shared some amusing and interesting stories and answered audience questions.
As a huge Fleetwood Mac fan (I told you I act far older than my chronological age) and someone with only one degree of separation between herself and Stevie Nicks (my neighbor growing up was one of her best high school friends), I was captivated by Leo Rossi, one of the enrichment speakers onboard the Majestic Princess. Rossi worked as a tour manager for Fleetwood Mac and also worked with The Who, The Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, ELO, and Billy Idol. While he remained respectful of the groups for whom he had worked (he did share some interesting inside stories about members of the bands, but kept the gossip to a minimum and protected their privacy, which I appreciated), his memories and stories of life on the road were fascinating.
One part culinary demonstration to two parts comedy show, I enjoyed this more than any other cooking demonstration I’ve seen on any other ship. Ever. You might be worried that only someone with my weird sense of humor would enjoy it. But I assure you, I wasn’t alone! It was held in the main theater to a packed house (in the early afternoon on the final sea day). Don’t miss it!
Speaking of food, were you starting to worry that I wasn’t going to discuss the food onboard the Majestic? Clearly you don’t know me at all. I just made you wait for it until the end, because I knew if I started with it, no one would read me droning on about laundry and such. So, finally, at long last, food…
While I’ve never been able to figure out how the International Cafe earned that name (just like it doesn’t compute for most people that I’m named for youthful royalty), it was especially curious on a ship with so many bona fide international touches. The Majestic Princess spent her childhood in Asia and features two Chinese restaurants, a French restaurant, and an Italian restaurant. No mind though, I’m not going to waste any time on Ancestry.com trying to trace the lineage of my favorite breakfast cinnamon roll, I’m just going to eat it and then order two more (the cinnamon rolls aren’t displayed in the case – you have to ask for them).
The International Cafe is open 24 hours and serves breakfast sandwiches, parfaits, and pastries in the morning and then switches over to sandwiches, salads, and desserts. I never made a full meal of it, but stopped by frequently for a little snacky snack.
One of my favorite features of Princess is Alfredo’s, the line’s complimentary sit-down Italian restaurant. While it’s not on every ship, I was thrilled to see it on the Majestic Princess and ate there three times.
You can read my full review of Alfredo’s, find the menu, see food pics, and reveal my answer to the question, “does Princess really have the best pizza at sea?,” HERE:
As someone who used to spend three weeks each summer in China and who currently lives in Seattle where we have excellent authentic Chinese food, I know my ramen. And I wouldn’t have been suspicious had the ramen from Chopsticks Noodle Bar on the Majestic Princess been served up to me at a restaurant in Beijing or in the International District in Seattle. While the menu at Chopsticks is small (just two regular items and a daily special), the quality is excellent and the noodle bowls are fully customizable with a variety of toppings and sauces (so you can achieve the spice level you prefer). The line can be long at peak hours, so either get there a few minutes before it opens or visit later in the afternoon after the lunch rush. Or just wait in line trying not to salivate all down your shirt – it will be torturous, but worth it! Here’s the menu:
There are three things in life I love slightly more than my family (#sorrynotsorry): cruising, breakfast, and all-you-can-eat dining. So it’s no wonder my smile lines looked like an army of ant-sized trench diggers had been hard at work in them for seven days as I disembarked from the Majestic Princess. After all, I’d been on a cruise with a DELICIOUS buffet breakfast. Here were my favorite items:
It was like a buffet within a buffet! And even though I ordered “extra honey,” I considered it my daily serving of fruit, justifying poor choices at every other meal.
After the first two days of ordering, “two JB french toast with extra syrup and two dollops of whipped cream,” the crew member serving it would shout out as I approached, “two JB french toast with extra syrup and two dollops of whipped cream,” and we’d give each other a dramatic air high five. It took until day seven for me to work up the courage to ask what JB stood for though. I was worried it might be something like “June Bug Coated French Toast” (listen, when I was in China I saw long lines for bugs served fried up on sticks). But it turns out JB stands for James Beard, the famous American chef.
This french toast reminded me of a time in college when I accompanied a friend of mine who was working as a model to pay for school on a photo shoot. I thought I had finally bloomed when the photographer asked me to pose with her in a few photos until he said, “yeah, sometimes we like normal people in the shots to make the models pop.” Anyway, the way I felt in that moment must be the way the “normal” french toast, waffles, and pancakes felt sitting next to the coated JB french toast. I almost ordered a pancake out of pity, but got distracted by the smoothies…
As someone generally too cheap to purchase drinks on cruises, I was impressed by the complimentary fruit smoothies on the breakfast buffet. They were tiny, so I had to hook one on all ten fingers to equal the size of a small Jamba Juice, but they were delicious. Speaking of free drinks…
Look at the center photo below and tell me if that looks like a soup or a drink. It was listed on the menu as a soup, but contained rum and was served in a glass. Either way, I ordered three more and looked at the couple next to me who’d payed for their drinks and whispered under my breath: “suckers.”
Anyway I loved all the cold soups on the menu and ordered one (or four) each night.
Chocolate Journeys is a special culinary program on Princess featuring premium chocolate-based desserts, a step above the regular desserts (which are already very good) in quality. You’d pay a week’s worth of salary for these at the fancy French bakery on land while the neighborhood busy body standing in line behind you judges your pronunciation as you order. They’re complimentary as part of your cruise fare and are available on select nights in the dining room. Be sure to try them when they appear on the menu!
When I saw my mini-suite and realized I could have an extensive menu of free food delivered there, I joked with myself (since I was cruising solo and remain the only person who really appreciates my weird sense of humor) that my room steward was going to contact security thinking I was dead when I never emerged from my cabin. But seriously, if I had to choose one thing that currently sets Princess apart from other lines, it would be OceanNow food and beverage delivery. It offers an extensive menu of food and beverage options that can be delivered to guests almost anywhere on the ship (assuming the app works for you – I was limited to delivery to my stateroom since I had to order through the TV). There’s an extra charge for some food items and beverages cost regular retail prices (unless you have Princess Plus or another beverage package that includes them), but there’s also is a long list of complimentary food offerings and no delivery fee (just remember to tip). To read my complete review of OceanNow, see all the menus, and view my food pics, go HERE:
My two excursions on the Majestic Princess were among the best I’ve ever taken! I’ve mostly soured to cruise ship excursions as they are often overpriced and as I hate waiting around, huge groups, and getting dumped in a gift shop or restaurant where I’m expected to spend money above what I’ve already paid (all regular occurrences for me on past cruise ship excursions). But I had onboard credit to spend on the Majestic, so I booked two. And they were both excellent! I’m working on full reviews of each, but in the meantime would recommend the “Mahajuitas Cove, Yelapa, and Lunch” excursion in Puerto Vallarta and the “Panoramic Hiking Views to to El Faro Lighthouse” excursion in Mazatlan for anyone okay with a “strenuous” activity.
For a cruise line that caters to an older clientele, I’m surprised the line is doing away with wide, wraparound promenade decks on newer ships. Us old folks like our daily walks, even if we’re only traveling at the speed of an intoxicated sloth! Actually I’m not surprised – there’s no money to be made on these. I guess disappointed is a better word. Here’s a tour of what the outside promenade deck looks like on the Majestic Princess:
Despite being fairly impressed with how the app functioned pre-cruise and how it streamlined the check-in process for me at the terminal, as soon as I stepped onboard, this is all I saw:
I don’t have a great phone, but the app should really be functional on any smart phone. Great idea in concept, total fail (for me, on this one sailing) in practice. Luckily, I had made all my reservations in advance, was able to order food through the TV’s in my cabin, and relied on the hard copy “Princess Patter” for the schedule.
Whenever I compare cruise lines, I feel like I’m comparing children. I really do love them all! But when it comes to burger joints for a vegetarian (wait, what?), Princess is among the worst with Holland America’s “Dive In” the very best. I ordered the three vegetarian options on the menu and they were all disappointing. The burger was bland and didn’t hold together well, the street tacos had no flavor, and the fries were “meh.” Hopefully the meat options are better (chime in in the comments with your experience). Here’s the menu:
While I enjoyed the buffet at breakfast:
I wasn’t overly impressed at lunch and dinner. Mind you, only a portion of it was open on my sailing (that may have changed by now as occupancy gets closer to 100%), but I found the selection limited and the quality disappointing compared to similar lines.
The reverse is true for breakfast – I was impressed with the buffet and disappointed with the dining room. After enjoying the extensive breakfast menu on my prior Holland America cruise, I was pretty unimpressed with the limited breakfast menu on the Majestic Princess. Even with a few daily specials, it was pretty skimpy:
This is probably not relevant to most, but as a vegetarian I was disappointed in the lack of vegetarian selections at the Harmony specialty restaurant. I was excited to try it since, as I mentioned earlier, I used to spend part of each summer in China and because it’s the only restaurant of its kind in the Princess fleet. But there was almost nothing on the regular menu suitable for a vegetarian. The chef was able to make some modifications for me, but my dishes (a salad, hot and sour soup, fried rice, and noodles) were bland and, honestly, I would have had a better meal in the regular dining room or buffet. I did enjoy the green tea cheesecake though!
The only advantage of having a promenade deck that didn’t wrap all the way around the ship was that people were rarely out there, so I often had this comfortable seating all to myself! Even though I had a balcony cabin, I enjoyed being closer to the water and the loungers were more comfortable than the chairs on my balcony.
The buffet isn’t your only option on embarkation day. Both Alfredo’s and a dining room were open on embarkation day.
You can order an appetizer portion of any pasta in the main dining room. I ordered Princess’s signature Fettuccine Alfredo along with my entree every night!
Remember, cruise ship calories don’t count. There’s even a shirt that says it, so it must be true!
There was almost a revolt on Carnival when they announced they were starting to charge $3 for popcorn, but it’s still free and readily available in the evening on Princess. Just don’t eat it in bed. #lessonlearned
People will point at you and it’s possible security will be called if you stay there too long (another #lessonlearned), but do it anyway if you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be a sea bird (spoiler alert: it’s pretty great!). Then grab some soft serve at Swirl to remind yourself that it’s pretty great to be a human too.
There’s an outdoor smoking area on the starboard side of the Promenade deck. You’d be surprised at how far smoke can travel – if you’re particularly sensitive to smoke, you might consider booking your balcony cabin on the port side of the ship. Alternatively, if you’re a smoker, the starboard side of the Promenade deck offers a comfortable place to smoke and look out at the ocean.
There are no coffee makers in cabins aboard the Majestic Princess, so if you’re not suitable for public consumption before your morning meeting with Joe, you’ll want to order a pot via the room service card you can hang on your door the night before. Here it is:
So, did the Majestic Princess live up to her name? Yes! Absolutely yes! Even though this “dowdy” Princess slightly degraded her reputation as soon as I stepped onboard, with her grand stature and impressive beauty, one word most accurately captures this ship: Majestic. AND she delivered one of my favorite cruises ever, leaving me eager and excited to book a future sailing on Princess and to enthusiastically recommend her to others. And with that…
Class Dismissed.
Homework (10 points): Share your experiences on the Majestic Princess if you’ve sailed on her or ask any questions you may have if your booked in the comments and check out my other recent Princess-related content…
How Strong is the Internet on Princess? A Review of MedallionNet
Does Princess Really have the Best Pizza at Sea?
Princess’s 2022 Main Dining Room Dinner Menus
Preparing For Your Princess Cruise in 2022
Princess Cruise Line’s OceanNow Food And Beverage Delivery Menu 2022
Majestic Princess Mini-Suite Review and Tour
Princess Cruise Line’s Elite Lounge: A Review
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