As the summer comes to a close, we felt the need to squeeze in one more vacation and bucket-list destination: a visit to Havana, Cuba as part of a 4-night cruise with Royal Caribbean on the Majesty of the Seas. And it was amazing!
The idea for this trip came about after my recent Las Vegas work trip. While getting my MLife Platinum card re-printed at the MLife desk, the attendant mentioned to me that I “hadn’t used my free cruise credit yet”. Ummm…what?!
So after that trip, I called the Fortunes Casino (Royal Caribbean’s Casino Loyalty Program) and inquired about the MLife Partnership. Sure enough, they told me I was entitled to a free 3-night cruise in an Oceanview cabin. Or, in lieu of that, I could take a $375 credit and apply it to ANY cruise on Royal Caribbean, plus get an additional $200 in onboard credit, just for being an MLife Platinum member. Yes, please!
After looking at our options, we booked a 4-night aboard the Majesty of the Seas out of Tampa, with port stops in Key West, Florida, and Havana, Cuba. We’d been wanting to go to Cuba ever since they loosened the travel restrictions for Americans to go there, and figured visiting through a cruise (where the ship acts as your floating hotel, so as to avoid the prohibition against staying in a state-owned hotel; and also provides your visa, so as to avoid the complexities of having to qualify through a people-to-people program) would be ideal. In short, this trip was all about the itinerary for us.
Of course, first, we needed to get to our embarkation city, Tampa. Luckily, Southwest Airlines flies direct from Austin to Tampa, so we were able to easily book our flights with Southwest points, effectively doubled via use of our Companion Pass. That move alone saved us around $600 in flights for this trip.
Once we arrived in Tampa, we checked in at the Aloft Downtown Tampa, an SPG property that we were able to use points for our hotel as well, saving another $130 or so as well. If you’re paying attention, that means we managed to save $1,305 using miles/points/status on this trip, all before we ever set foot on the cruise ship proper…not too shabby!
The Aloft was right next to the Tampa Riverwalk, and pretty close to the cruise terminal as well. And surprise: the layout & decor of our room were exactly the same as our room at the Aloft Liverpool last year.
Given we had one-night-only in Tampa, we decided to make it count. We headed straight over to the 110-year-old Columbia Restaurant to meet up with some friends who live nearby. There we enjoyed Spanish and Cuban cuisine, all while being entertained with traditional Flamenco dance. After dinner, we headed out in the Ybor City district, aka Tampa’s bar district, and had a few more cocktails to finish off the night.
The next day, embarkation day, we were able to sleep in a little, then enjoyed a leisurely brunch at a nearby cafe before heading to the cruise terminal around 12:30. By that time, the place was a bit of a zoo, but luckily, we were booked into a junior-suite category room on the Majesty of the Seas and got to skip the lines for security, registration, and boarding. From the time we arrived at the terminal to the time we were ordering our first drink on the ship was easily less than 15 minutes. And shortly after that, we heard the announcement that rooms were ready as well.
And the rooms were ok. What Royal called a “junior suite,” any other line would have just called a balcony room. Still, those extra 30 square feet or so definitely made a difference, and we never felt cramped or claustrophobic while in our cabin; a common complaint we heard from those in lower cabin categories.
The problem, though, which would continue throughout the entire cruise, was the water on the Majesty of the Seas. All the tap water — whether out of the sink or the shower, was a yellowish-brown and smelled somewhat as well. It was pretty disgusting. We were able to survive on beer, wine, and bottled water for drinking, but we definitely questioned whether this gross off-color water was being used to prepare our food. And instead of actually addressing the issue, as it was a common conversation among nearly everyone onboard, the Guest Services team just tried to “shush” anyone who complained too loudly with a future cruise discount and free bottled water delivered to their guest room.
The rest of the ship was so-so as well. The Majesty is one of the oldest and smallest ships in Royal Caribbean’s fleet, which is why it’s able to sail to Havana in the first place; the newer, larger ships wouldn’t be able to dock at Havana’s port. However, the age shows. There are no specialty restaurants onboard except Johnny Rockets. The entertainment, if you can even call it that, was laughably bad. And the staff, pretty much all over the ship, was pretty hit-or-miss.
Of course, we weren’t on this cruise for the ship amenities — we just needed to make it to Havana. And eventually, we did, though with a great stop in Key West first.
And in fact, we actually got to Key West ahead of schedule, docking about 11am, and staying an extra hour, through 7pm. So that gave us a nice full day in the Southernmost point of the United States.
Our primary activity in Key West was a small-group sailing & snorkeling outing with Floridays, which we booked ourselves and not through the ship. This ended up being a great choice, as our all-female crew was fantastic, and the snorkeling spot they took us to was a real winner. We saw giant barracuda, the largest parrotfish I’ve ever encountered, and even about a 10-foot nurse shark. My one caveat about this outing was that I got pretty seasick and ending up “feeding the fish” over the back of the sailboat on our return trip; if you’re also sensitive to seasickness, you may want to pick a larger boat.
After snorkeling, we checked out the downtown area of Key West, where we got to feed the turtles at the Hyatt Centric Key West, tried some key lime pie, and enjoyed some fried conch.
That evening, we headed back to the ship and enjoyed a low-key evening because the next day was HAVANA! Stay tuned for part two of our trip, coming soon, and feel free to ask me any questions in the comments.
