It’s been billed as the battle of the big ships. In 2018, Australia will have two newly built mega liners – and Cruise Passenger has road-tested both.
Next September, Sydney’s newest and biggest premium ship will sail triumphantly into the harbour.
Majestic Princess will be just 17 months old, and her arrival will rejuvenate the Premium class with fantastic Michelin-starred dining and the biggest fashion mall at sea.
Eight weeks later, the ship some say will be her biggest competitor, Royal Caribbean’s Quantum class Ovation of the Seas – choc full of the latest technological gadgets like robot barmen, iFly simulators and luxurious sky loft suites – will tie up at the Overseas Passenger Terminal.
So which one will win Sydney’s heart?
Majestic Princess is causing a stir because she has many of the attributes of a luxury ships – without the steep price tag.
She is proudly premium – but with great food, big musical shows for entertainment, a huge spa called The Enclave and specially designed luxury beds.
Her 1,000 square metres of shopping mall is home to Prada, Couch, Cartier, Gucci, Bulgari…the list goes on.
She takes 3,600 passengers on 19 decks. For the premium Class, she is a game changer.
But Ovation of the Seas is a game changer, too. She is supposed to be in the “contemporary” class of ships, but in reality she is pushing into Premium.
She carries 4,905 passengers, has 18 dining options including a Jamie Oliver and a gastronomic restaurant called Wonderland.
But the biggest ticks for the Ovation – especially among those with kids – is ripcord by iFly, a sky dive simulator, a circus school and dodgem cars.
Our verdict
Both these ships represent the best in new-style cruising – great food, terrific places to see and entertainment and activities you won’t find anywhere else. You can’t beat the value.
If you’re a couple and love to relax on a sophisticated and luxurious vessel, go for the Majestic Princess. No-one does New Zealand like Princess, for instance, and they’ve just started immersive food and cultural cruises across the ditch that sound fabulous.
But if you have kids, the Ovation of the Seas is hard to beat for fun and value.
Who has what
Majestic Princess
Launched 4 April 2017
Total passengers – 3560
Crew – 1346
No of cabins – 1780 including 36 suites with private balconies.
Number of decks – 19
Food
Five specialty restaurants – Harmony (Classic Cantonese restaurant with Michelin chef Richard Chen) La Mer (also a Michelin chef), Crown Grill (traditional but brilliant), Chef’s Table and Ultimate balcony dining.
In addition, there’s Alfredo’s Pizzeria, Chopsticks Noodle Bar, Lobster & Dim Sum Bar, an international café, World Fresh Marketplace including the Bakery – Five bars from Wake View Bar to SeaView Bar.
Activities
A covered pool club, karaoke, the SeaWalk, Vista Gaming lounge with 16 mahjong tables, casino, private gaming room, sports centre for basketball, tennis, volleyball, a miniature putting green, driving cage, football, ping pong tables, internet café and library
Entertainment
Movies under the stars, musical productions at Princess Theatre, Princess Live with featured guest entertainers and BIG musical shows.
Additional amenities
Princess luxury bed
Onboard activities for kids from 3 – 17 years of age – three youth and teen centres.
Lotus Spa
Ovation of the Seas
Launched 17 April 2016
Total passengers – 4905
Crew – 1500
Number of cabins – 2091 including 1572 with balconies.
Number of decks – 18
Food
Number of restaurants – 18 with 6 main dining rooms and 6 signature restaurants. Including Jamie’s Italian (family favourite!), Wonderland (amazing food and service with a surprise!) and Izumi Japanese cuisine (brilliant and fresh). There are also 8 casual cafes including the Kung Fu panda noodle shop.
Activities
There are some great and technologically advanced activities like the sky diving simulator, iFly, the North Star, a viewing platform, the SeaPlex which has a roller rink and dodgem cars as well as the FlowRider, a surf simulator.
Entertainment
Kids can entertain themselves with stars from Dreamworks films. There is also an Adventure Ocean youth centre for children of all ages. Two70 is a multi-level room which fuses entertainment with technology. You’ll see dancers perform while there are moving robotic LED screens displaying beautiful imagery as well as floor to ceiling windows which transform into projectors. There is also Spectra’s Cabaret which blends lives performances with experiential cinema with music from contemporary pop culture.
Additional amenities
The Vitality Spa and Fitness Centre offers a range of activities and treatments to soothe the body and soul. The Fitness Centre has state-of-the-art facilities like TRX machines. Guests can take Beach Bootcamp classes or calmer workouts like Pure-Form Pilates. At the Vitality Spa, passengers will be able to indulge in massages, wraps, facials or acupuncture.
So which one would you pick? Tell us below to WIN a Cruise Passenger apron!
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We have always cruised with Princess and would love to take a trip on their new Majestic Princess. We absolutely love their productions and other entertainment and the kids have always enjoyed visiting the kids centers. It would be interesting as she has been built mainly for the Asian cruising market, so there have been quite a few changes with this build.
However, as we’ve never cruised with RCI before, it would be a totally new experience for us all. I’m sure the kids would love all the extra amazing things Ovation of the Seas have to offer and we would enjoy exploring a totally new ship.
Having completed a 14 night cruise from Sydney to Singapore in February this year with 5 other members of my family I would thoroughly recommend Ovation of the Seas. Have completed my second cruise with Royal Caribbean and can not wait to go again. Looking forward to also going on the Majestic Princess as have been on 3 other Princess cruises and can’t wait to go on this new ship. I feel that Royal Caribbean cater better for the younger age groups and have the Dreamworks parade and characters around the ship and Princess Cruises cater better for the older age groups.
Ovation for me st this stage, but perhaps Majestic at some time in the future. I do prefer the smaller ships though.
At 57 years of age, with my husband, I have just finished a Golden Princess cruise. Previously completed 2 x RCI and 1 x MSC cruises before hand, I felt it was poor value for money in comparison. The ship layout was poor, old and tired looking, staff nice enough but many ineffective, and many are there just to sell cheap rubbish. Feel very sorry for the staff with all the up sell that they have to do. Very crowded in the piazza, people stand on stairs, sit on planter boxes and crowd the balconies when an activity is been hosted. Can never get a seat in the International cafe, food lacking in imagination, coffee served with long life milk and the after taste keeps on lasting.
Airconfitioning cannot keep up in crowded areas such as Princess Threatre & International Cafe.
Vista Lounge area smelt of swerage for 10 days out of 14!!
Balcony stateroom is poorly layed out & small. Balcony is generous. Walls & floors creak.
Shows and productions are average and have to be attended 30 mins in advance to get a seat. Not enough exciting shows or activities on sea days. Disco is unattended as everyone is in bed by 11pm. Bars close early too! Lots of elderly people so night life is not needed!
Photographers are pushy and their poses are tacky.
Players Bar Tv’s would lose signal in the middle of a football game.
More fun on RCI and MSC ships, better shows and balance of passengers.
I have just completed a Princess cruise and will not be back. They try to sell themselves as luxury but are no better than RCI, in fact the Royal Caribbean ships are much better with more activities and a younger crowd. The Princess ships are crowded in public areas and attract an older crowd. Everyone in in bed by eleven! Nothing really wrong with Princess but they are not Luxury and not fun.
Majestic princess for me sounds wonderful and not to many children I hope. Love to win your price your giving away, so I can be on my way thanks!!!!!
My choice has to be Princess Cruises as there ships are smaller than RCI, appear to have a better staff to passenger ratio and a BIG plus “Use Australian Currency”. Having cruised on Ovation of The Seas, I can only say that I was disappointed with the overall cruise; the lack of entertainment, having to book everything on-board, certain facilities only being available or scheduled to operate in the evening when it was dinner time and the fact that the whole ship was too geared to the Chinese market (I realise it was built for the Chinese market). Overall, I would not recommend Ovation of The Seas to anyone and have decided that I will cruise on smaller ships in future.
I will be on the Ovation yes there is a lot of people on board but you would not know it there is plenty of room
The cabins are roomy
The crew go out of their way to make your holiday enjoyable
The meals are to die for
The shows are out of this world
Yes I have been on the Ovation before and it won’t the last time either
In fact SI will be going in 2019 from Singapore to Sydney cannot wait
My children are older and I have found RC to offer not only a better option for them but for us as well. While I wouldn’t say I’d never sail Princess again, it would have to be a “best deal” scenario to get me on board.
Having said this my father-in-law is Princess cruises all the way.
It depends on what you like, and those you prefer to cruise with, as well as the amenities on offer. Never say never.
I love cruising Royal Caribbean. They have so much more to offer on the ships.
I find cruising with them is better if not done from Australian waters. The thing I don’t like about them is everything costs in USD which makes the trip a lot more expensive, especially on board where you think you are paying a certain amount and then taxes are added on top of the price you are looking at.
The advantage of Princess cruises is it’s in AUD prices onboard shown is the price with no hidden charges.
Most of the time the ships from Princess or P&O are very old ships. Australian’s deserve newer ships we are a big market, so should be looked after.
We sailed on the Ovation of the Seas in February. It had no “WOW” factor, was very gimmicky and not “passenger friendly”. Having to pre book for most shows and restaurants where negatives. We look forward to “Majestic Princess”.
I would prefer the Princess, as we would not be travelling with children. She has less people, but more staff so premium attention. Bonus if the rates are better!
Always Princess. Looking forward to experiencing Majestic Princess. Princess provides impeccable attention to customer service together with excellent dining and stateroom service. Great entertainment and all without too much hoo haa, street entertainment and other annoying razza matazz as deemed appropriate by other cruise operators.
The Majestic Princess has fewer passengers and a higher crew to passenger ratio and even 1 more deck than the Ovation. All princess ships are premium and have the attributes of luxury and fine dining. The Ovation probably would have a more superior stage show and although the Majestic is designed for the Chinese market, its still the Majestic Princess for me.
,
Probably Majestic as it would be lovely to be on a virtually brand new ship. We have only been home one day after six week cruise with Princess, their crew are just great!
The Majestic Princess is fantastic in all aspects, and with somewhat fewer passengers and a higher crew to passenger ratio, the Majestic Princess gets the nod.
Princess every time. Not as big and not so many children and it looks as though they have more staff per passengers but it is a personal choice in the end.
Hey Barbara,
Apologies, I was looking at a different part of the article. Made the amendment.
Cheers
I would go with Princess. The Ovation just has too many passengers on her. I have only seen Ovation but I’m sure that the Majestic if she is like other Princess ships would be absolutely gorgeous.
I think there is a fair split between them. Despite both being modern, ovation caters best to family groups with children, while Majestic plays to couples without children better.
Both cater for all, but the facilities are better geared toward what group you fall into. As such my preference would change depending on travelling party.
Princess always gives great value for those who are child free and their service and food have always been impeccable. I cannot say the same for my experiences with R.C. – from half frozen raw scallops in a pasta to hoodies at the formal nights, it lacked a lot.
Hey Barbara,
Thanks for the comment…it does say roller rink and not ice rink in the story.
Cheers
We were on Ovation in February and loved it however your information is wrong there is no Ice rink on Ovation unless they have installed one in the last few months!
We have enjoyed our last few cruises with R.C. We are booked on Ovation for December this year to NZ .We are really looking forward to experiencing what this ship has to offer.
Ovation has something to offer everyone, every day has something new to experience. Great way to bring all the family together and keep everyone happy!