Jeff

Age: 38
Occupation: Professional
Number of Cruises: 1
Cruise Line: "Imperial Majesty"
Ship: "Regal Empress"
Itinerary: Nassau

After seeing Imperial Majesty listed under "Budget" cruise lines, it all started to make sense. This cruise was a gift and the person who purchased it for us did not fully research the firm. Yes, it was part of the "Ramada Plaza Resorts" package which includes the required time-share vacation rental pitch with pushy, bordering on rude, salespeople. I won't go into the experience we had at the Ft. Lauderdale Ramada Inn, I'll just say: Remodel All Motels And Dispense (with the) Apathy.

I won't go into our time on the ship itself too much. We headed out to Nassau and came back no problem. Calm seas. All the posts on this site thus far that had negative comments - they are all accurate - read them - My wife an I experienced most of them, sorry to say.

The worst part of the journey was Embarkation/Disembarkation. If you are faint of heart and find it hard to stand in line with luggage for at least one and a half hours in a hot and humid warehouse, seriously reconsider doing business with this cruise line. It reminded me of my in-processing with the US Army, sort of a "HURRY UP AND WAIT!" atmosphere. Granted, security, citizenship and the proper documents are necessary, of course, but it was a truly grueling experience.

The absolute WORST part of the trip was the process of exiting the ship and cruise line area, known as disembarkation. Although the process was a little shorter than embarkation, it was nonetheless a near chaotic catastrophe. This was due to a breakdown in the line system to "out-process". We were back in the "warehouse" again. As we were out-processing and going to the various stations (I.D./passport, etc) we were all in one line, but there came a point in the line where a little old lady who worked for the cruise line was exclaiming "People with luggage, keep going straight ahead, people who checked their luggage on the ship, to the right." No problem, or so we thought. To the right was an area with all those people's luggage. The problem was, once those people got their luggage, they somehow had to squeeze back in line. Where were they to do this? There was confusion as to which way the "already got luggage" line and "checked luggage" line people were to go. People began yelling and shoving each other. However, the picture I have in my head is of a an "Imperial Majesty" employee who was supposed be directing and guiding people as to which way to. In a sort of disinterested way, he said something to the effect of hey, these two lines need to somehow merge together. But, he had this sort of amused smile on his face as if to say, HEY, NOT MY PROBLEM, WHATEVER. People were looking at him with bemusement and saying to each other, THIS COULD BE AVOIDED IF IT WERE MORE ORGANIZED. I felt like telling him, HEY, YOU'RE AN EMPLOYEE OF THIS COMPANY, TAKE SOME LEADERSHIP AND CORRECT THIS. Eventually, it somehow worked out. But, I have been at events with 20,000 people where the organization was ten times better.

Every person on board that ship with whom I spoke about their "Ramada-Time share Vacation Package Plan" had very little if anything good to say about it.

The service on the ship, I must say, was excellent, but beyond the attentive waiters and cabin attendants, it was a disappointment. I would recommend one save their money for a Mainline or Luxury cruise.

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