I am not going to get in to all the details until Royal Caribbean has a chance to respond to a few of my strongly worded letters, but I was somewhat disappointed in our cruise on Majesty of the Seas. The service level, food and just general attitude of the crew were not what we had come to expect from our experiences on Monarch of the Seas. Let’s just say if this was our first cruise it may very well have been our last. In fact, I already canceled our booking for next October on Oasis of the Seas and am looking for an alternative cruise line or destination for Lailapalooza 2011.

We did have a good time though.

First people I need to thank  for making the trip special was the two gentleman who performed in the Schooner Bar. Ned Gray treated us very well and we enjoyed his performances nightly. In fact, he had the place really hopping on the night of my birthday. So much so that I will not post the majority of the pictures here to protect the guilty. Ned knew Layla, which is always a plus. He also knew a lot of George Strait, which went over well with the missus. Ned, you are still a young troubadour to us!

And Steve Savage who we were blessed to have as our piano man for the cruise.

As pictured above, Steve plays the boss. I did not know this the first night so when I requested a little Bruce, I was happy when he asked how well I knew the boss. I let him no that he couldn’t play anything I had not heard before.  I was very pleased when he played 10th Avenue Freeze out and Thunder Road for us. He also played some Ben Folds and Flight of the Conchords. Best of luck to you Steve in your next endeavor. By the way he did not know how to play Layla on Monday but he did on Thursday.

Our first stop was the one I was most excited about as I had never been to Key West before. For some strange reason I tend to do very well the first night in the casino, and it was no exception this time!

So we got up early the next morning to take in the sunrise and enjoy a little breakfast.  The Sunrise was amazing.

Key West was awesome! it had all the shopping opportunities that you had in a port, but without the same level of desperation by the merchants that you find out of country. There $5 stores every where and I think we hit most of them trying to spend what I had won from the night before.  I am also a big fan of Hawaiian shirts. I love them for cruises because almost no matter how fat you get, they still fit. They are also my uniform for relaxation.  Most of the stores had them for about $50 each, but I really don’t like them that much (unless they are a gift). The last store we found a gentleman that after some persuasion would sell me 4 for $100 and we struck a deal. Picture below is our ill gotten booty.

But we did not just shop. We stopped by Sloppy Joe’s Bar for a bite to eat and a beverage(s). See their live webcam here.  We ordered the fish tacos and an appetizer platter. They were okay but the atmosphere was great. while sitting there, who did we see but Ned from the ship. I told my waiter to go buy that man a beverage.  I saw the surprise and the fear in his eyes, when the waiter was speaking with him.

We spoke later and he was quite relieved that it was not a guy trying to pick him up. I did not know it at the time but Steve was sitting right next to him. Feeling generous I had bought their whole table a round. We also stopped by Guy Harvey’s and picked up a PBR there. Great artwork, out of my price range as it wasn’t that great a night at casino.

I like Key west!