Majestic Princess Review
4.5 / 5.0
Curiosity123
10+ Cruises • Age 60s
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Sail Date: May 2023
We chose the cruise and the Majestic Princess for the itinerary - two weeks inner passage first South to North then back South again, with two visits to Glacier Bay. The weather was fantastic, Glacier Bay - an amazing experience. The Majestic Princess totally disappointed - poor quality food (way below the quality experienced on other cruise lines), miss selling of upgrade packages with Guest Relations unwilling to take responsibility and rectify, excursions booked six months in advance cancelled with no refund, VERY slow service in dining rooms, really poor ship layout, poor balcony, poor Spa service. The one bright spot was the shows - they were new and are probably the best we have seen on our ten+ cruises to date.
In terms of itinerary the scenic cruising of the glaciers were the highlight, in terms of excursions in Juneau we went dog sledding on a glacier and took a helicopter to two glaciers both amazing trips and had a wonderful experience catching crabs on the Aleutian Ballard (with fantastic sightings of Eagles) in Ketchikan. Ketchikan and Juneau are both very touristy but OK, in Ketchikan we did the lumberjack show, great fun. The food on shore was fantastic - especially in Tracy's King Crab shack in Juneau. Whittier is best described as an industrial port - nothing to do, at Icy Strait Point there was little to do and what there was was overpriced (e.g. $250 for one person on the zip line).
Majestic Princess:
Cabin Review
We booked a balcony cabin towards the front of the ship on the 10th floor. We have cruised on multiple lines in the past (e.g. NCL, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean) the stateroom was similar to balcony cabins on those ships, small but adequate, albeit a little worn. At times the stateroom wall "clicked" impossible to stop except by leaning on the wall by the window. I did not bother to mention it as my guess is nothing could be done to remedy. What was surprisingly poor was the width of the balcony, far smaller than any other balcony I have come across. I measured it at 1.15m - not long enough to stretch your legs out - far too small to make for comfortable viewing of the Alaska landscape.
Port Reviews
Glacier Bay
Simply amazing - we were lucky to have superb weather (the on board naturalist said it was of the 200 times he had sailed into Glacier Bay this was one of his top 5) but even with poor weather (as we had on the Hubbard Glacier) it would be spectacular. A must see - and the key defining part of the itinerary.
Juneau
Touristy but probably the best port to set off to visit glaciers from. We did two helicopter trips dog sledding and "pilots choice with two landings" both fantastic experiences. Tracy's King Crab shack has fantastic king crab - a culinaty highlight of the trip. There is always a line up - but the wait is 100% worth it.
Ketchikan
Touristy but a fun place to start or end your Alaskan adventure. Crab fishing on the Aleutian Ballad is a superb trip. While the crabs were a revelation the stars of the show were the bald eagles who spectacularly swooped down to catch fish from the sea. The Great Alaskan Lumberjack show is huge fun - family friendly and wonderfully entertaining.
Whittier
An industrial port - simply there for off loading / on loading of provisions and passengers - nothing of note to do. If you can avoid.
Vancouver
Fabulous compact city. Clean, vibrant albeit expensive. The Queen Elizabeth Park is beautiful and the seafood restaurants especially Joe Fortes and the Sandbar Seafood Restaurant overlooking the waterfront on Granville island are excellent.
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