Premier’s Majestic Caters to Kids : Disney’s ‘official line’ offers plenty of characters, but not enough insulation in the cabin walls.

We had expected a lot of children to be aboard Premier Cruise Lines’ 950-passenger Majestic on this four-day cruise to the Abaco Island group in the Bahamas, although perhaps not quite the 279 who turned up.

And we were not really astonished to see Chip and Dale, the cartoon chipmunks, along with Goofy and Pluto, strolling around deck and along the sandy beaches of Great Guana Cay, since Premier is “the official cruise line of Walt Disney World.”

What did surprise us, however, were the honeymooners, some 25 young couples who were spending one of the most romantic times of their lives on a ship surrounded by so many children.

“We really didn’t expect to see so many kids aboard,” Libbi Forbes admitted. The petite redheaded woman from Gainesville, Fla., and her husband, Brad, were taking their first cruise for their honeymoon.

Many of the honeymooners aboard, we learned, had booked the cruise partly because it includes a visit to Disney World as part of its package: The Orlando theme park is the No. 1 honeymoon destination in the United States.

“The kids aren’t so bad,” Libbi said. “We missed our wake-up call this morning and wouldn’t have caught the tender to Man o’ War Cay if the baby in the next cabin hadn’t been crying and woke us up.”

She had neatly pinpointed the main problem with the Majestic, the former Sun Princess from Princess Cruises. Built in Italy in 1972, the vessel has very little insulation in the walls between cabins. Not only can you hear voices from adjacent cabins, but you can actually hear entire conversations without really trying. We took to turning on the cabin radio before engaging in dialogue.

Standard cabins range from compact to small. Only four suites and 10 deluxe cabins offer anything more spacious than two narrow bunks, a bedside table, a small desk/dresser and a curtained-off wardrobe rack. The bathroom has but a shower and two glass shelves for toiletries.

The ship is not dressy; men’s jackets are requested only for the captain’s party. The dining room serves meals at two seatings, plus midnight buffets. The Satellite Cafe serves a buffet at breakfast, lunch and teatime, along with make-your-own ice cream sundaes in the afternoons.

The Disney characters are on hand to greet arrivals at the port and sail with them aboard the ship. During our cruise, Chip and Dale, Goofy and Pluto, Captain Hook and his sidekick Mr. Smee turned up frequently, to the delight of both children and adults.

Children are registered according to age, with First Mates from 2-4 years old, Kids Call 5-7, Starcruisers 8-12 and Teen Cruisers 13-17. Each group has its own program of games and activities, including--during two days at Great Guana Cay--beach games, treasure hunts, a dolphin show and a late-evening beach party and marshmallow roast for the teen-agers.

All children 12 and under take part in a play called “The Wish,” which fills the show lounge with proud parents and their video cameras.

Optional baby-sitting for children 2 and over is available at a charge. No group child-care or activity programs are available on board for infants under 2, but baby-sitting in the cabin can be arranged.

One group of children tended to monopolize the swimming pool and whirlpool on sunny afternoons instead of swimming in the children’s pool. But there were usually more grown men than kids in the video arcade.

For adults, the ship offers movies, a small but modern gym, a casino, jackpot bingo and predictable evening entertainment with a comedian, a magician and a singer. The Abacos itinerary provides minimal buying opportunities for avid shoppers, unlike Premier’s cruises to Nassau and Freeport.

While we’d hesitate to recommend the Majestic for every honeymooner or senior citizen, both of whom are offered special packages by the line, we think it is excellent for families, single parents with children or grandparents traveling with grandchildren. No other line has a children’s program as extensive and as well run as Premier’s.

This is the only one of Premier’s three ships that cruises into the Abacos, the northernmost island group in the Bahamas. The ship anchors off Great Guana Cay for two days and shuttles passengers back and forth to the island’s beaches and water-sports centers, offering sailing, windsurfing, para-sailing, snorkeling, jet skiing, kayaking and paddle-boating, plus glass-bottom boat rides, most with additional charges.

An encounter with a pair of mother-and-daughter dolphins costs an extra $56 per person, and is available to a limited number of passengers. The mother, Abacomama, appeared in the film “Day of the Dolphins,” and although she was released after the filming, she did not return to the wild. Instead, she wound up first in the Seafloor Aquarium in Nassau, then in the island’s dolphin program.

Lunch barbecue buffets and a late-evening buffet after a Bahamian junkanoo show--an island calypso party of song and dance--also take place on Great Guana Cay.

Passengers who want to play golf or tennis or spend a day at a resort can opt for an excursion to nearby Treasure Cay.

But for those interested in the culture of the Abacos, there are also free morning and afternoon tender rides to Green Turtle Cay and Man o’ War Cay, settled by American Loyalists from the Carolinas after the Revolutionary War. These friendly, laid-back islands (a car meeting a bicycle can create a local traffic jam) are the antithesis of bustling Nassau. Cruise staff members conduct free walking tours, or passengers can strike out on their own with a map. It’s impossible to get lost.

The Disney World package allows passengers to spend three or four days aboard the Majestic, cruising to the Abacos, and the remainder of the week sightseeing at the Disney attractions in the Orlando area, with hotel lodging and rental car included in the fares.

The car is picked up and returned at the Orlando airport, and the drive to Port Canaveral takes about 90 minutes. Parking is close to the dock; we paid a modest $10 parking fee for the four days.

And, contrary to what we believed before our visit, Disney World is not at all like Disneyland, and Florida’s Universal Studios attraction, packing them in with a sensational new “Back to the Future” ride, is quite different than the one in California.

For anyone who wants to completely cover the Disney parks--Disney World, Epcot Center, Disney-MGM Studios, Sea World, Universal Studios and the lot--we’d recommend taking the three-day cruise, which includes the same land program as the four-day cruise but omits a restful day at sea.

The three-day cruise sails on Thursday afternoon from Port Canaveral and returns on Sunday morning, while the four-day sail leaves Sunday afternoon and returns Thursday morning. When the weather is adverse, the Majestic may substitute the Nassau itinerary of the other two ships rather than cruise into the Abacos.

The seven-day Disney World/cruise package ranges from $1,199-$1,609 per person, double occupancy. Two children or additional adults can share the same cabin in fold-down upper berths for $629-$699 each. These prices include round-trip air fare, the cruise, the rental car, unlimited admissions to Disney theme parks, accommodations at a Disney World-area hotel, a breakfast with costumed Disney characters and a guided tour of Spaceport USA or the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame.

Single parents can share a cabin with one to three children under 17, with the parent paying from $1,499-$1,999 (a 25% surcharge on the double-occupancy rate) and children from $629-$699 each.

Cruise-only packages without the Disney World days are also available. For a free brochure, ask a travel agent or call Premier at (800) 327-7114.