Majestic and her sister were the flagships of White Star Line's fleet for around a decade, until Oceanic entered service in 1899.

White Star had sought to fund the construction of both Majestic and her sister Teutonic through the British government, a proposal which was accepted with the stipulation that the Royal Navy would have access to the two liners in a time of war as Armed Merchant Cruisers.

Majestic and her sister were the first new additions to White Star's transatlantic fleet since the Britannic and Germanic had respectively entered service in 1874 and 1875.

[3] On one journey in 1894, Majestic attracted attention, when she raced against her rival City of Paris from New York to the English Channel.

[4] In 1902–1903, the ship underwent a refit, which included updates to much of her passenger accommodations, new boilers and taller twin funnels, and increasing her gross tonnage to 10,147.

In 1907, White Star inaugurated a new express service from Southampton to New York via Cherbourg and Queenstown, to which Majestic, along with Teutonic, Oceanic and the newly completed Adriatic were transferred.

[2] In January 1908, Majestic suffered a major fire whilst in port at Southampton, which gutted her smoking room and several cabins before being extinguished.