April 2026 Transatlantic - Day 3
It's cruise day! Also, Happy Good Friday!
Last night we spent the night at the Four Points Sheraton in Fort Lauderdale, it was an alright place to stay. Closed to the port and many other things. Our room did face the main road and it was very loud, but for one night it was great. They do have a shuttle that is $15 per person or $20 if you return to the same hotel or airport. There are 3 departure times, 9:45 and 11:15 were the only times I saw.
We left the hotel at 9:45, and a quick tip, if you rent with Avis, return it to the location on Miami Road, they have a free shuttle to the airport. We had to wait about 15 minutes but we got a shuttle with 6 people, 4 of us heading to Majestic Princess and 2 going to Royal Princess. They were dropped off first, but we still made it to the port by just after 10:15. We were moving through the security line smoothly and then all of a sudden they stopped. A supervisor came out and told us all the needed to see the UK ETA approval. Lucky for us the email was still in our inbox. But many people didn't do their research and did not have their ETA yet, so they were off on the side applying for it. It is pretty quick and they were taking the application email as proof for them to get on the ship. Do your research!
Security got moving, slowly, since everyone was digging through their email instead of paying attention. But of course we made it through. We were blue lane since they don't send medallions to Canada any longer, again that didn't take long.
We were heading on board by 11:15, we had no other lines or waiting.
Once on board we like to go to the spa to see what kind of deal we can get for the Enclave, it wasn't great, they wanted $350 for the whole trip, but if you got a spa service they would sell for $299. I said no thanks, that was too much, then they gave it to us for $299.
We then went and found a comfy seat in O'Mally's. I tried the lucky charm cocktail, it was good. We watched our safety video while sitting there.
I did here some grumblings that the lineups to get on the ship had gotten very long with people not having their paperwork done, and the cell service was bad as so many people were trying to search their email or apply. Again, it is your responsibility to know your requirements to enter other countries. It is also in your cruise docuementation.
Our next stop was the MDR, it is one of my favourite traditions on embarkation day.
I always have the salmon for my main.
And the orange soufflé for my dessert.
At exactly 1pm they announced that the cabins were ready so we finished our lunch and headed to our cabin, and our bags were already there. Our preferred location on the ship is a mid deck, as aft as possible and on the port side... I know we are crazy.
We didn't immediately start unpacking, instead we went outside and enjoyed our balcony for a while. Remember we left Canada and still had snow.
I started unpacking and got everything laid out on my bed, and I hit a wall all of a sudden. I was so tired, I just sat there for 20 minutes and then managed to finish. That usually happens on the 3rd day being off of work.
Once I got motivated to finish unpacking we went to explore the ship a little more since it is our first time on Majestic and she is very unlike her sister ships. So, of course, the first stop was the Hollywood Pool and Conservatory. This area is fantastic and I can really see it being beneficial for a crossing where we are likely to have less then stellar weather.
The Disney Dream was next door so I got a couple photos.
Stopped for what would be my first of many drinks at the Wake View Bar.
We wandered around a bit more and ended up just finding a table at the wake view, since I wanted to get some more sunshine! It was also a great place to people and boat watch.
We had 6 other ships in port with us, Royal Princess, 2 Royal ships, Celebrity Reflection, Disney Dream and the Ritz Carlton ship.
Celebrity was the first to leave at 3:30
For some reason, I had it in my head that we were leaving at 5, but right after Celebrity left all the police boats and a tug made their way over to us.
Then we felt the tell tale shudder that we were heading out at exactly 4pm. Good thing we were still sitting there or we would have missed sailaway.
Our last views of land for 6 days!
Dinner was at a shared table with 6 others and we had a great table, so much so that we were there until 8:20 and not because the service was slow. I am an introvert by nature, but love learning about people and new things and this allows that meeting to happen naturally.
I started with Brie bites, they were ok, but could have used less breading.
For my main I had the short rib. It was fantastic, so tender that I didn't need my knife and the polenta was tasty.
For dessert I had the no sugar added lemon tart, don't snooze on the no sugar desserts, Princess does them very well! I enjoyed the filling, but the shell was weird, not sure how to describe it, but it was crispy.
Once we finished dinner we went to Princess Live for the Strikeout game show. I hate this version o Princess Live, it is the theatre type seating which is pretty annoying in a venue that has many intereactive events.
If you haven't seen Strikeout before they play a song and put 2 years up on the screen and you have to guess which year it was released by going to the appropriate side of the room, if you get it wrong you are out, they keep going until only 1 person gets it right
I got up and played one round and I actually ended up winning the game. There were 5 or 6 of us left and they all went to the other year and turns out I was right, so I won this beautiful bag and wine stopper.
I was pretty tired by this point and wanted to go to the thermal spa, so headed down there for a bit to unwind before calling it a night.