13-Day Cruise Around the United Kingdom and Southern Europe on the MAJESTIC PRINCESS

The cruise had many port stops and only 2 days at sea. I felt it was very busy and would have enjoyed another day at sea. Especially in the beginning. The food was ok but not fantastic. I am celiac and the they were very accommodating. I do think the deserts are very lacking. They were almost always ice cream, mousse, or rice pudding. The English tea was terrible. The gluten free scones were like sawdust. The international cafe was so disappointing. Never a gluten free savory and always a rice pudding or mouse for the gluten free option. It would be nice to have cookies or cake. There were some chocolate chip cookies on the buffet but they were often gone. The breakfast at the buffet was great. I ate an omelet every day. Poor gluten free options for pancakes or French toast. The weather was fantastic so watching the World Cup games around the pool was super fun. The ship supplied blankets on the chilly nights. I love the burger and fries around the pool. One of my favorite things for lunch. Overall the ship was good, entertainment was ok and the ports were great.

The ship was good. Too many children for me but they all received excellent entertainment. Lots of laughter everywhere.

Food was very good and the wine was very nice.

Our cabin had a major leak the first night and they moved us.

The ports of call were all interesting.

I would have liked more talks, or enrichment.

There wasn’t a great deal of educational value.

Plenty of dancers and lovely shows. Some of the singers were incredible.

I’d say they did a great job with their restaurants. The specialty dining areas. Most of them were incredibly noisy with all the loud entertainment from every conceivable corner. Not ideal for older people who would like a little peace and quiet now and then. The Italian restaurant was the quiet place. We ended up eating there several times.

You could tell the staff were overworked. Busy busy busy. Anyway it was actually a fill in cruise before my uniworld river cruise and it turned out to be much more enjoyable than uniworld. So thank you majestic princess, you surprise me at how much I enjoyed the cruise.

I need to start out saying that this was my 37th cruise but my first on Princess. Some of my friends choose Princess only but I have always been a Royal or Celebrity cruiser. So n saying this I would argue Celebrity is still my go to but I was pleasantly ( for the most part) impressed by this cruise journey.

Let's start with embarkation out of Southampton, England. It was quick and uneventful - 5 star on that metric, the medallion process is definitely a big plus on this cruise line- makes everything quick and simple.

Second, the stateroom- we had a mini suite on deck 12- very spacious room, plenty of storage and space and the alcove area where closet and bathroom were located were ideal! Another big plus ! The balcony however was the smallest I've ever experienced but thankfully we were in the UK so truly not balcony weather- big NO if a Caribbean cruise for sure.

Next the food- despite a little snafu with our pre-arranged dining plans which was quickly corrected , I must say the food was delightful even in the Main dining areas. We ate mostly at specialty restaurants but the few nights at symphony were super- choices were good and varied each night we were there . I never had a bad meal and I truly am a food critic! The service was very nice for food / drink requests were a bit slow - does not seem to have enough bar facilities in restaurants!

The specialty restaurants were exquisite- our favorites were Sabatini and the steak house Crown. I recently saw a post noting poor preparation of beef on this ship- that certainly was not our experience! Kudos to the chefs and wait staff on Majestic Princess.

Ports of call

Magnificent!! Every port was exactly what we wanted. We did use private tour guides as I came with a rather large group so we were looking for personalized tours. Nonetheless, the ports were great. We did miss Edinburgh due to high winds which was quite disappointing but a reasonable excuse to return to Scotland .

Here's the not so great part of this adventure- the entertainment! Wow! What a disappointment ! Except for a couple of visiting singers and the lovely couple at the Irish Pub- the experience was dismal! The ship's singers and dancers were something out of a high school performance-not even fair - sad to say- for 12 night cruise, I expected more show stoppers!

The staff were all friendly! The ship is in need of some repair but very clean!!! One issue with bar staff is the lack thereof- too few waiters given the number of people sailing/ could take up to 45 minutes to get a drink ! Little disappointing for sure !

In summary, would I recommend Majestic Princess? absolutely!!! We had a wonderful time with wonderful people- crew and guests!!