Mini-Suite Walkthrough and Review

Video Mini-Suite Review

Majestic Princess Mini-Review

Note: We were invited by Princess Cruises on this 3-day sailing as a member of the travel media.

We don’t typically do these 2 or 3 day press trips for a couple of reasons. First, 2-to-3 days is simply not long enough to experience everything, or even much of what these larger ships have to offer. So, we cannot do a thorough review. The second reason is that press trips usually include special hosted cocktail parties and other events, which we greatly enjoy and appreciate, but these are not experiences that YOU would have when sailing aboard these ships, and that is what we really want to cover. We want to experience the ship as a regular guest on a regularly scheduled sailing. That said, we greatly appreciate Princess Cruises inviting us on this 3-day sailing. I said we do not typically do 2 or 3 day cruises, but since the pandemic, these are not typical times.

That pandemic took a toll on the cruise industry and basically wiped out our business. Like the cruise lines, we are in the process of rebuilding our business and you can help by simply subscribing to our YouTube channel. It is completely free to subscribe and if you click on that little bell icon, you can ask YouTube to notify you when we post new videos. If you are passionate about cruising, we would love to have you as part of our international community of cruise enthusiasts. You can also follow us on Instagram and Facebook at @cruisereport.

So let’s talk about what’s going on with Princess Cruises. You probably know Princess has British roots and that is still evident even today. You also probably know that Princess Cruises is one of the Carnival Corporation cruise brands. And, of course, everyone knows that Princess Cruises was the cruise line featured in the popular 70s and 80s TV hit series, The Love Boat. But, most recently, Princess Cruises was in the news when the Diamond Princess was quarantined in Japan in February, 2020 due to Covid cases onboard. Of the 2,666 guests on board, 567 became infected with the virus and as many as 14 eventually died from the virus, or about 2%. Unfortunately, the brand received daily negative news coverage as images of guests being taken off the ship on gurneys to local hospitals.

At the time, I felt the news coverage was unfairly blaming the cruise line for the spread of Covid-19. Remember, this was a cruise around Japan, so most of the passengers had to fly on a crowded aircraft for 12-to-17 hours before they ever boarded the ship. Yet, even to this day, nobody ever mentions the airlines in regards to the spread of Covid, and they continue to fly at capacity. The CDC issued a NO SAIL ORDER basically grounding all cruises out of US ports, unfairly singeling out the cruise industry. Another topic for another video.

So, Princess Cruises is not just emerging from the pandemic shutdown, but they are also doing so with a bloody nose from being the cruise line to get the most negative media coverage in the early days of Covid-19. But, after our three short days on Majestic Princess, I am pleased to report that Princess is definitely back! Cruise enthusiasts who are passionate Princess Cruise devotees should rejoice.

As far as our personal history with Princess Cruises. Rickee and I enjoyed our very first Mediterranean cruise aboard Grand Princess back in 1998. We spent 14 days aboard Royal Princess in 2014 on a Baltic Scandinavian cruise. And, in 2018, we spent 10 nights aboard Island Princess on a Panama Canal cruise. So, we are pretty familiar with the brand.

Majestic Princess is the third Royal-class ship. At 144,000 tons she can carry 3,560 guests and a crew of 1,346. On our sailing, there were only 1,100 guests, but the upcoming 7-day Mexican Riviera cruises will undoubtedly carry more guests.

Majestic Princess is unique in that she was built with the Chinese market in mind. Initially, the plan was for the ship to sail from Shanghai year-round. Majestic was brought to the USA for 2021 Alaska season and is currently will be doing a series of Mexican Rivera cruises. Throughout the ship, you can see the Chinese influence with all signs being in English and Mandarin. There are also some other unique features, otherwise, the ship is virtually identical to other Royal-class ships.

Some other changes you may notice is that there is no Sanctuary on Deck 18 forward. That was disappointing for us because The Sanctuary was one of our favorite spots on Royal and Island Princess. Instead, there is the Hollywood Pool Club and The Hollywood Conservatory, both are covered spaces, completely protected from the elements. There is a large indoor pool bar here and a full service bar. The Conservatory has forward facing views of the ocean, interesting topiary trees in various shapes and a collection of what I can only assume to be Asian-inspired musical instruments, sort of like Xylophones which guests can actually play. The space is a very peaceful and serene area.

There is no Sabatini’s Italian Restaurant on Majestic Princess. In its place, on Deck 5 across from Guest Services, you will find Harmony, a Chinese-themed specialty restaurant with a $29/pp cover charge. We dined at Harmony on the first evening and found the food to be good, I would say about a 7 out of 10 for Chinese food.

Another thing you won’t find on Majestic Princess is the Lido deck pizzeria. That space is occupied by Chopstix Noodle Bar with a selection of noodle soup dishes. We had lunch here on our last day and the Won Ton Noodle Soup was amazing. Don’t worry, you can still get pizza at Alfredo’s on Deck 6 midship. Otherwise, from what we can tell in our 3 days, the rest of the ship is virtually identical to the other Royal-class ships.

MEDALLION CLASS

Perhaps the biggest news with Princess is that all of their ships are now Medallion Class ships. It is difficult to describe how revolutionary this MedallionClass really is. At first glance, it appears that they just replaced the stateroom key card with this small medallion. Every guest is issued their own medallion, unique to that cruise. The medallion is used like the key card, to embark and disembark the vessel, enter your stateroom and pay for shipboard purchases. But, unlike a key card, the medallion is actually a small GPS device that can track your movement around the ship. This becomes a very sophisticated contact tracing technology should a Covid outbreak occur. The medical team on Princess ships can easily see which other guests have been in contact with an infected person and take measures to protect them, or in extreme cases, quarantine them.

There are some other cool features of the medallion and how it interacts with the MedallionClass app on your smartphone. Like it or not, Princess has moved much of its guests website functionality to the MedallionClass app. In fact, if you do not own a smartphone, I am not really sure how you will sail with Princess. There are certain functions that can only be done through the app. For example, if you attempt to complete your guest information forms or add a payment method online, you are directed to use the app. I found this rather interesting since Princess tends to serve an older demographic. That said, the technology is really cool for those who do have a smartphone.

To go through all of the features of MedallionClass really would require a separate video. If we have the opportunity in the future to sail on a longer Princess cruise, we would do a deep dive into Medallion Class.

Actually, the app itself is overwhelming, even to a techie like me. It has a lot of features.

There are large LCD screens throughout the ship that make it easy to find your way around the ship, or see what is going on and where. I am only scratching the surface of what MedallionClass has to offer.

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Every Princess crew member has been vaccinated. On sailings from US, every guest must be fully vaccinated and show proof of a negative Covid test within 2 days of embarkation. All crew members were wearing N95 masks on our cruise and guests were required to wear masks when in public spaces indoors, unless they were eating or drinking. Hand sanitization stations were positioned at the entrance to virtually every venue. There are hand washing stations near the entrance to the ship’s buffet. Buffet food is served by crew members. You never come into contact with serving utensils. And, the crew members serving you are wearing masks and gloves. Princess is implementing some new testing requirements for cruises longer than 7 days. So, if you are planning a longer cruise, you may wish to check their website for details.

FOOD AND DINING

What about dining? We dined each evening at one of the three Specialty Restaurants on board. I have already told you about Harmony, but we also had dinner one evening with our press group at Sur la Mer, a French Bistro on Deck 7 midship. Honestly, the menu here is very French and not really our personal style, but even a couple of Texans were able to find something to enjoy. If you love seafood, this is the place for you. I ordered the lobster bisque, which was presented with a huge flaky puff pastry on top and the broth was filled with lobster, mussels, salmon and shrimp. I had a filet of beef which was very tender and perfectly cooked. Rickee had the duck breast, which was perfectly cooked, but unfortunately, served cold.

On our last night we had dinner at Crown Grill, Princess’ signature steak house. The experience was pretty similar to what we remembered on Royal Princess and Island Princess. My seared scallop appetizer was tasty, but the scallops were about half the size that I remember from my last visit to Crown. Rickee’s Beef Tartare was a better choice, in my opinion. My Grill Salad was the only real disappointment. It just was nothing special. It was like any side dinner salad you might get at Applebees. I would like to see them add a nice Caesar salad to the menu at Crown Grill. My 16oz Bone-In Ribeye, however, made up for any other shortcomings. Unquestionably, this was the best steak I have had at Crown Grill. The Creamed Spinach and Grilled Asparagus sides were both very good, but the portions were a little stingy. They were not large enough to share.

All of the specialty restaurants come with a $29/pp cover charge and we felt like all were a good value.

I did try a burger at the Burger and Lobster grill, which offers burgers, chicken sandwiches and lobster rolls. The burger was about like I remembered from Island Princess. Nothing special.

As I mentioned earlier, the Chopsticks Noodle Bar gets a big thumbs up.

We did get one opportunity to try out the World Fresh Marketplace, which is the ship’s Lido Buffet. We dined here right after embarkation and less than half of the serving stations were active. I suspect that is because there were only 1,100 guests on this sailing. I really enjoyed the Kabob station on Royal Princess and was disappointed to find it closed on this sailing. The few dishes we did try were pretty standard buffet fare.

We did not have an opportunity to try out the Chefs Table, Alfredo’s Pizzeria, main dining, afternoon tea or room service on this sailing. There just was not enough time.

ENTERTAINMENT

The only entertainment we encountered was a duo playing violin and guitar in the Atrium at various times throughout the evening. They were both very good. We did sit in on the end of a comedy impressionist show in the theater one evening and he was very good, but we only caught the last 10 minutes of his act.

The lido deck features a large pool with lots of loungers for those seeking to soak up some sun. Unfortunately, there was not a lot of sun on our three day cruise. The ship also has a lot of hot tubs. The indoor pool at Hollywood Club Pool is big enough to swim some laps too.

There is a full size basketball/tennis court on Deck 18 aft as well as a mini-golf putting green. The laser shooting range was closed on our visit, so we did not get to see it this time.

There is a large fitness center and spa. We did take advantage of a couples massage which was quite relaxing.

There are activities going on all over the ship during the day. Since we were in port every day on this sailing, we did not experience a day at sea, which is where you really get to see the cruise staff in action around the ship.

We did visit the casino one evening and found the slot machines to be quite friendly, at least to Rickee. You will find craps, blackjack, roulette and slots at the casino. There is also a VIP casino area, but I never saw it in action.

Parents will appreciate the kids spaces on Deck 17 aft. And, the ship has the best table tennis setup we have seen on any ship with nets surrounding the tables so you don’t end up chasing your ping pong ball down the deck.

ACCOMMODATIONS

We were upgraded to a mini-suite on this sailing. Thank you Princess. We have a separate video with a complete, detailed walk-through review of the mini-suite on Majestic Princess. You can view the video here.

Our mini-suite was A220 located on Aloha Deck 12 forward. We found the mini-suite to be comfortable enough, although the walls a very thin and you can hear when your neighbors have their TV on. The mini suite is 323 sq. feet, and that includes the balcony, which by the way is rather small.

Again, I would direct you to our Mini Suite review video for complete details on what we liked about the mini suite, and what we did not like.

ITINERARY

Our 3-day cruise visited San Diego and Ensenada. We did not even disembark the ship in Ensenada, otherwise we would not have been able to cover any of the ship’s facilities. So, I can’t tell you much about Ensenada. And, since none of the Mexican Riviera cruises stop at either of these destinations, it really makes no sense to report on them.

SUMMARY

Majestic Princess is a beautiful ship, like all Princess ships. All you have to do is take one look at the Atrium and it sort of takes your breath away. There are three banks of elevators and stairs, forward, midship and aft and a total of 14 elevators. We found the elevators to be reasonably fast and efficient. However, because of Princess’ stateroom naming convention it can get a little confusing. For example, our stateroom was A220. The “A” stands for Aloha Deck. But, the elevators do not show the names of the decks, only the numbers. So, when I board the ship, I don’t know where to find Aloha deck when I step into an elevator. You have to know that Aloha Deck is actually Deck 12.

The most outstanding feature of our three days on board Majestic Princess, and the one that made the biggest impression was the attitude of the crew. Everyone was extremely happy, smiling and willing to go out of their way to accommodate the guests. From the minute you step onboard a Princess ship, you will feel welcome and cared for. The service in every venue was exceptional without a single misstep. I suspect that is what keeps people coming back to Princess time and time again, more than any other thing the ships have to offer. We are very happy to see Princess sailing again and cannot wait to spend more time on one of their ships in the future. We really want to dive into this Medallion Class thing because it is quite revolutionary.

San Diego, California

This morning, Majestic Princess is docked in San Diego. From the starboard side of the ship, I can clearly see the USS Midway aircraft carrier which is now a museum. I am organizing my photos and video clips from yesterday while drinking coffee at World Fresh Marketplace on Deck 16 aft.

This morning, we have an excursion booked through the ship’s Shore Excursion desk: “An Exploration Of San Diego’s Culinary Roots”.

Per the instructions on the tickets, we met outside of the cruise terminal at 11:30 where we, along without about 10 other guests, boarded the motor coach for a drive to Barrio Logan, one of the older neighborhoods in San Diego. We were dropped off at Salud!, a local authentic taco joint.

Salud in Barrio Locan

We were seated at an outdoor patio where we could enjoy the perfect 75-degree weather today. We were given a choice of Mango or Watermelon drinks. I ordered the Mango and Rickee had the Watermelon and both were delicious. We each had a choice of pork, chicken or veggie taco. I ordered the pork and Rickee had the veggie. And, even though the photo is not much to look at, we both agreed that these were the best tacos we had ever eaten!

Veggie taco and Watermelon drink

After our tacos, we took a short drive down the street to a local Mexican coffee shop, Por Vida, where we each ordered a Mexican Mocha, which was sort of like a combination of hot chocolate and coffee topped with whipped cream.

Rickee tries the Mexican Mocha at Por Vida

After finishing our coffee drinks, we re-boarded the coach for a drive to a strip shopping center where we found Texcoco, an “authentic” Mexican restaurant.

At Texcoco our group sat at one long table where dishes were served family style, and the dishes were perhaps a little too authentic for our tastes. A platter of stewed cactus, corn fungus (yes, that is what our server said the dish was!) and refried beans was followed with a huge helping of braised “lamb”. I put lamb in quotes because it tasted more like mutton than lamb. I did not try a single dish here that would compel me to return to this place. And, when they passed around a plate of fried grasshoppers, that was it for us! I guess I am not as adventurous as I thought I was.

Our last stop on this tour was Old Town San Diego, which is a bit touristy, but we found it quite interesting. We were able to do some souvenir shopping here.

Old Town San Diego

Old Town is a fun place just to walk around and see the local shops and businesses. Rickee found a candy store where she purchased some homemade fudge.

We spent one hour at Old Town before boarding the coach for the return to Majestic Princess. I would rate the tour about 6 out of 10. The guide was very knowledgeable and pleasant, and the tacos at Salud! were excellent, but I think on a return to San Diego, we would just walk over to the USS Midway for a tour of the aircraft carrier.

When we arrived back at the pier, Princess greeted us at the terminal with a choice of lemon water or cucumber water, Rickee’s favorite. That was a nice touch.

For sailaway today, we went up to Deck 18 aft where we watched as the Captain backed the ship out from her berth. A harbor patrol boat with a machine gun mounted to the front circled Majestic Princess to keep smaller watercraft at a safe distance.

The Lido Deck with San Diego in the distance.

On Deck 18 aft, you can find a lot of murals painted on the walls providing some great photo ops.

Murals painted on the walls of Deck 18 aft

This evening we joined a group of other journalists for dinner at Bistro Sur la Mer, located on Deck 7 midship. Once again, I will cover our dining experience in my video review, but suffice it to say, a great time was had by all.

Tomorrow, Majestic Princess will be docked in Ensenada, Mexico.

Embarkation in Los Angeles

This morning we checked out of our hotel and met our press contact with Princess Cruises in the hotel lobby. Christina greeted us and arranged for an Uber to take us from the hotel to Pier 91. We arrived at the pier just in time for a short press conference with Jan Swartz, President of Princess Cruises, and Gene Saroka, Port of Los Angeles Port Director, to commemorate the return of cruising to the port of Los Angeles.

Princess Cruises President Jan Swartz and Port Executive Director Gene Seroka celebrate the maiden call of Majestic Princess to the Port of Los Angeles.

At the end of the press conference, members of the travel press had the opportunity to interview Ms. Swartz.

I had the opportunity to briefly interview Jan Swatrz at the Port of Los Angeles

After the press conference and interview, it was time for embarkation, which is a very different experience from the last time we embarked a Princess ship. All Princess ships are now MedallionClass ships, meaning that every guest is provided with a medallion instead of a room key card. The medallion is used for a wide variety of tasks, which we will cover in an upcoming video.

Each medallion has the guest’s name printed on one side along with the ship name and sailing date. The medallions are only good for the sailing indicated on the medallion. Therefore, on subsequent Princess cruises, guests are issued a new medallion.

Part of the MedallionClass experience is the MedallionClass app for your smartphone. It certainly enhances the onboard experience if you have a smartphone with the app loaded. Embarking the ship is also much easier if you have the app, especially if you plan to pick up your medallion(s) upon embarkation. You do have the option of having the medallions mailed to you in advance of the cruise and that does make embarkation much quicker.

We were instructed to open the MedallionClass app on our phones and have the QR code ready to scan at embarkation. However, nobody ever scanned the QR code. We simply tapped the medallion on the embarkation machine and we were allowed to embark. So, I am not sure what the QR code is for.

Nobody ever scanned our QR codes.

We embarked the ship around 10:45am so none of the bars or dining venues were open, and our staterooms were not ready to be occupied. We had a little time to explore the ship before heading to the World Fresh Marketplace, the ship’s Lido buffet, for a quick lunch. We will go into more detail about food in an upcoming video, so make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel!

When it was time for us to go to our stateroom (R705) we knew the “R” stood for Riviera Deck (every deck on Princess ships is named). However, when we entered the elevator lobby, there were only deck numbers and no deck names. We had to resort to the deck plans on the Princess website to see that Riviera Deck is actually Deck 14. Nevertheless, when we arrived at stateroom R705, our medallions would not unlock the door. So, a trip to Guest Services was in order. Along the way to Guest Services, we ran into one of our fellow press associates who said the same thing happened to him with his stateroom and he learned that he had been upgraded to a mini-suite on another deck. He suggested that we check our MedallionClass app again to see if a different stateroom showed up, and sure enough, it now showed that we were assigned to A220 (Aloha Deck). So, off we went to A220, which we learned was Deck 12 forward.

Here is an insider tip when sailing on Majestic Princess. In the hallways of the cabin areas, the carpeting on the Port side of the ship is blue while the carpeting on the Starboard side is red.

Blue is Port

Red is Starboard

Tonight, we made dinner reservations at Harmony, a specialty Chinese restaurant. There is an additional $29/pp cover charge to dine at Harmony. We arrived on time at 7:20 and were seated at a table for two next to the window. Watch for our video review for more on our experience at Harmony.

The menu at Harmony

After dinner, we had to decide whether we were going to go to the late show, or visit the casino. The allure of the casino won out and it did not take Rickee long to rack up a $261 jackpot on one of the slot machines!

After Rickee’s windfall, we decided it was time to go to back to our stateroom and get to bed. Tomorrow, Majestic Princess will dock in San Diego. Stay tuned. Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram and Facebook for updates throughout the day.

Majestic Princess Pre-Cruise

When we were invited on a 3-day press trip with Princess Cruises, we were excited to have the opportunity to be back on Princess. However, we do not normally do 2-3-day press trips. There are a couple of reasons for this. There is no way we can thoroughly cover a ship, especially one this large, in 2 or 3 days. It takes 7-to-10 days to thoroughly cover a ship like this. However, we are coming out of a pandemic and any opportunity to sail with Princess is better than none at all.

Pre-Cruise in Los Angeles

Princess arranged for us to stay one night in San Pedro prior to embarking Majestic Princess at the Port of Los Angeles. Our flight on American Airlines was delayed, of course, but we did eventually arrive at LAX where a driver met us at baggage claim to transport us to our hotel. We arrived at the Crowne Plaza at around 3pm.

The Crowne Plaza Los Angeles Harbor is in serious need of a refresh. Much of the furniture in our room was damaged, USB ports did not function and the bathroom looked like something out of the 1960s. I know because I was around in the 1960s! The room was dark and sort of depressing and the bed was way too soft.

I wondered why Princess would use such a property for its guests, but after some research, I found that the next closest hotel to the Port of Los Angeles is 17 miles away. Since we are supposed to be pierside at 9am, it would be difficult to get to the port with L.A. traffic by 9am.

We did walk down the street to a local pub for dinner and the food was quite good.

It is now Wednesday morning when I am writing this blog entry and at 8:45 we are supposed to meet our representative from Princess in the hotel lobby for the transfer to the ship. We were instructed to book a ride on the shuttle at the hotel but, upon check-in, we were informed that the shuttle is no longer in use. So, we shall see how this works out.

Oh, and just in case you watched my video (below), there was nobody at LAX checking to see if we had completed the online form required by the city of Los Angeles. to travel there.

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