Majestic Princess

Princess really knows how to showcase Alaska, and in my opinion, the Princess ships are the perfect size for an Alaskan itinerary.

The Majestic Princess was built in 2017. She did not get to sail for long before the great cruise shut-down of 2020/2021. Even though we sailed in June of 2022, she still felt like a new ship.

The Piazza in the center of the ship on deck 5 is a place where many people like to relax. It is convenient to the International cafe’ and entertainment throughout the day, and it is the perfect location for people-watching.

From the Piazza, there is easy access to the Symphony dining room, one of three main dining rooms on the ship. These dining rooms use the same menus and have a similar layout with multiple pods of seating for two to ten.

Also on deck 5 is the Lotus spa, the guest services desk, shore excursions desk, and one specialty (for an additional cost) restaurant: Harmony Chinese. This is the only ship in the Princess fleet with Harmony Chinese, so I am curious if this is a trial run for Princess restaurants or if it will be replaced with a different restaurant at some point????

Unlike some of the older Princess ships, there are no guest staterooms on deck five.

The Princess Royal Theater encompasses two floors at the front of the ship. The lower entrance is on deck 6 and is the best entrance for handicap accessibility. Deck 7 will bring theater-goers to the upper level of the theater.

During our 7 night sailing, Princess offered two full-production shows with the talented Princess singers and dancers, and they had several other entertainers on the schedule: a comedian, an illusionist, guest lecturers, a cooking show, an instrumentalist /songwriter, and others.

The casino occupies deck six in the middle of the ship; if you need to walk from the theater to the dining room, you will pass through there or through Crooner’s Bar next door.

This is an area of the Princess ships I do not like for several reasons. One: The crowd leaving the theater after a show causes major congestion (which I’m sure also annoys those who are using the venues.) Two: smoking is allowed in the casino on this ship, and I am sensitive to the smoke. Three: They have glass doors at the entrances, and when those doors are closed, it was difficult for my 80+year-old friends to maneuver their scooters through the closed doors. Usually I would be accompanying them to dinner, or a kind worker or guest would hold the door for them, but it just wasn’t convenient.

For ambulatory guests who are sensitive to smoke, I just recommend taking the stairs or elevator up or down a floor and walk from forward to aft on deck five or seven, but that is not great for scooter-dependent folks – who also try to strategically limit their elevator rides. For anyone, I recommend waiting in the comfortable theater for several minutes to let the crowd clear. In fact, if dinner reservations are for the Allego dining room, there is not a direct path from deck six forward because the galley is located between the two dining rooms on this floor. You MUST the Allegro dining room by the aft stairs or elevator.

Speaking of smoking, this was Princess’ statement for our sailing:

Deck six houses another one of my favorite complimentary food venues on this ship: Alfreda’s Pizza.

Alfredo’s is a sit-down pizza restaurant with wonderful pizza. Princess’ pizza is my favorite pizza at sea whether the ship has Alfredo’s or not. On other ships, pizza is available at a walk-up food-service counter on the Lido deck.

Deck six also has the photo gallery where guest can view and purchase professional photos made by the ship photographers. The art gallery next door is a great place to view art that will be offered at one of the many art auctions held onboard.

Deck seven is another public deck on the Majestic. Besides the upper floor of the theater, one can find the Crown Grill Specialty restaurant and two other popular entertainment venues: Princess Live and the Vista lounge. (I neglected to take a photo of the Crown Grill, which has EXCELLENT steaks by the way, and of the Vista lounge. The lounge is a large venue and we saw indoor movies there on sea days.)

There is a cafe’ just outside of Princess Live. Specialty coffees are available here at the international cafe, and at the buffet. There is a charge for specialty coffee unless your booking included a drinks package. Lines were pretty short here at the first of the week before people realized this was available in the mornings.

Across from the Princess Live cafe’ is a little shop for Medallion accessories. Princess supplies the medallion (which replaced the key card) and a lanyard. My roommate and I pre-ordered wrist bands, but hers was too small. They gladly replaced hers with the proper size. They offer several types of accessories from wristbands, bracelets, necklaces, clips and lanyard cases. The medallion itself is a magnetic disk and can also be placed in a pocket like your loose change.

Decks eight through fifteen have guest staterooms. There is no deck thirteen. Each of these decks have self-service laundry facilities. That is a feature of the Princess ships that I especially appreciate- especially on long itineraries. This is the laundromat on deck 10:

The machines used tokens which could be purchased by the medallion at the vending machine.

Tokens were $3 each for the washers and dryers and $1.50 for soap, bleach and softeners. One token was needed to wash and one to dry. (I bring my own detergent.) There is no cost to use the irons.

You CAN pay for full service if you wish. Here is a price list for our sailing:

Deck sixteen has staterooms forward, an outdoor pool, and the Worldfresh Marketplace (buffet).

At the pool area where many ships have a grill for burgers and dogs and a pizza place, this ship has Chopsticks Noodle Bar and the Burger and Lobster Grill. All items on the menu are complimentary except for the lobster rolls. It was quite chilly in Alaska. Very few people used the pool on this deck but I would occasionally see people in the hot tubs here.

The Worldfresh Markeplace has multiple food stations serving breakfast, lunch and dinner with lots of grab and go offerings as well as self-serve and full-serve options including an omelet station and a pancake station at breakfast and crapes later in the day. I only took a few pictures here and all at breakfast. They have indoor seating on both sides of the buffet area and if you prefer to eat outdoors, you will find tables all the way aft and there are tables in the pool area mid-ship.

Deck seventeen has the fitness center and the kids’ club areas in the aft. The middle has the sun deck with lots of loungers and a couple of hot tubs, but my favorite area is forward on this deck.

The Hollywood Pool Club has a domed glass roof.

Beyond this is the Hollywood Conservatory with floor to ceiling windows perfect for the view as you sail by.

For the active individual, deck 18 has an outdoor jogging track and a sports court, and deck 19 has a small putting green.

This ship has so much to offer, and there were many areas I left out of my review due to the port-intensive Alaska itinerary. Our final port was in Whittier, Alaska where we boarded a train for our onward journey.

Goodbye, Majestic Princess!

………..Until next time.