Engine Problems on Majesty and General Observations

[Gypsea]

Though I haven't sailed her in awhile I loove the Majesty from Boston to Bermuda. Some think she is old and dull but every other line has ships that are just as old and not often refurbed.

 

A client was just telling me the other day they positively would not sail RC's Majesty of the Seas again due to it's condition on their last trip.

 

Posters have pointed out Celebrity has to sell Century cruises for very little. I sailed that ship BEFORE the renovation and thought she was wonderful. Not up to the higher standards Celebrity strives for but very nice. I would love to sail her again but there are so many ships and so few vacation days.

 

I've also had HAL diehards tell me about the Statendam and it's disappointments.

 

As for Carnival.. some of theirs look very old and tired but I wouldn't know firsthand about the older ones. Talk about some cheap cruises.

 

The point is every ship in the fleet can't be the new kid on the pier. There has to be some well loved ones thrown in as well but the line may be fine between usefull and used up.

 

Sorry to those who have had bad cruise ship luck. I have been very lucky on all my cruises with weather and the ship.

[bakechef]

I do realize what happened on our cruise was very minor compared to the problems on the Dawn. As I said we were still able to enjoy our cruise although many fellow passengers did not (a combination of the changed itinarary and rough seas causing a lot of seasickness).

 

The compensation was provided not because the port was cancelled, but because of the itinarary changes due to the engine having to be slowly ramped up. The way the crew explained it was that in combination with the weather we just weren't able to go fast enough to make the scheduled itinerary.

 

I didn't mean to whine...just wanted to give an update on what happened on the Majesty last week. :rolleyes:

 

I didn't think you were whining, just thought since you said that this was your first cruise that I would let you know what you experienced was not all that unusual, whatever ship you choose. Don't sweat it, your points were valid.:D

 

MAC

[tetleytea]

Here's our Majesty 11/18 experience:

 

First, there's the "itinerary changes", as lovemy2dogs mentioned. Time in Key West was cut down to the point that you really only had ~2 hours of real, on-shore time. So that means, out of 3 ports-of-call, 1-1/2 were chopped out.

 

After we left Key West, the PA system comes on and says we needed to wait for about an hour on the water, because someone forgot their paperwork to go to Cozumel. So here we are, a ship of about 2,000 people going nowhere while some little boat catches up with us, because someone forgot some papers. The next morning--one hour before our scheduled time in Cozumel--we find out that a) Cozumel will be postponed by 4-5 hours, and b) Grand Cayman will be cancelled altogether. Norwegian blamed it on the "weather". Nevermind that their engine wasn't completely fixed yet and they forgot some papers, leaving us all sitting there. It wasn't their fault, it was the weather. Meanwhile, there was this one couple who made all their wedding plans to get married in Grand Cayman. Gone. The groomsmen all paid their fares and were on the cruise. However, NCL was very kind in compensating them all with $50 onboard credit apiece for their troubles.

 

That night, I get up at 3am to go to the bathroom, and the water coming out of the sink, shower, and toilet was black. Not brown, not gray--black. Like the color you get when you wash down your charcoal BBQ grill. I was told that was rust from the freshwater tanks.

 

Embarking were long lines, half the time out in the sun. For disembarking, NCL offered so-called "express disembarkation", a.k.a. "the opportunity to carry your own luggage off the ship". But because half the ship elected to do express debarkation, it wasn't express at all. It was the same wait time as other cruise lines, only this time you have the privilege of waiting in line with all your luggage the whole time, instead of NCL hiring the staff to move it for you. At Cozumel, we arrive about an hour later than our newly-rescheduled time, meaning several hundred of us were waiting in line for about 90 minutes in the cabin hallways. And then there's "Freestyle dining". I quickly learned what "Freestyle dining" really means: it means you had better show up for dinner at exactly 5:30pm when they open, or else you will be waiting for about 45 minutes outside while they free up a table for you. Our Thanksgiving dinner was no less than 2-1/2 hours, and that's AFTER we were seated.

 

Not a lot of social activities. We have done other cruise lines, and there has always been plenty to do at all times of the day. This go-around, half the time there was nothing to do. Nada. You could go see the show twice, I guess. So, you couple that with the cancelled ports of call, and...a lot of time spent just sitting there.

 

Edit: Oh I forgot, the smell. Although the black water didn't smell (I'm inclined to believe them, it was rust), our stateroom had this really weird smell to it. Actually, our whole floor smelled (it was just stronger in the stateroom). We speculated it might be sewage or maybe the Mexican vanilla we bought, but it was really strong. Eventually I figured out it was in the bed sheets. It must be that they douse the bedspreads in some antibacterial stuff instead of washing them. Nevertheless, our stateroom was not the most pleasant place to hang out, because of the smell.

 

There was sand in our bedsheets. We struggled to sleep our first night because they itched! We got our sheets changed and that fixed it, but I find it hard to believe they were washing the sheets with water. They must have sprayed some cleaner on it and put it back on our beds, leaving behind the sand from the previous passengers. I'm sorry, but I have thrown sandy stuff in the washer before, and I have never taken it out of the dryer and it still had sand in it. Maybe a little bit in the pockets or something, but certainly not ALL OVER.

 

There was one good side: the shows were better than we had seen on other cruise ships. Those poor dancers--the ceilings were only ~9 foot tall, so there were a lot of moves the dancers just couldn't do. Norwegian also put on a talent show for the housekeeping staff, which was good (housekeeping and restaurant staff were good in general, there just weren't enough of them).

 

We also had another bad episode that NCL had nothing to do with: we rented a car on Cozumel, and the Pemax gas station attendant ripped us off. The guy turned my $13 gas bill for a quarter tank of gas into $27 the minute he found out I was paying in USD. I ended up paying $21 just to keep from getting entangled with the Mexican police (which, no doubt, the attendant pocketed the difference). Be wary of those. Fill up your own gas, pay in pesos if you can, and knowing Spanish is a plus. I'm not repeating that mistake again. Fortunately, I warned the Americans immediately behind me in line at the gas station (in English), and they drove off. :)

 

 

All-in-all, I would give Norwegian another chance--*IF* it was really cheap. But as far as cruises go, not a good one.

[bakechef]

Here's our Majesty 11/18 experience:

 

First, there's the "itinerary changes", as lovemy2dogs mentioned. Time in Key West was cut down to the point that you really only had ~2 hours of real, on-shore time. So that means, out of 3 ports-of-call, 1-1/2 were chopped out.

 

After we left Key West, the PA system comes on and says we needed to wait for about an hour on the water, because someone forgot their paperwork to go to Cozumel. So here we are, a ship of about 2,000 people going nowhere while some little boat catches up with us, because someone forgot some papers. The next morning--one hour before our scheduled time in Cozumel--we find out that a) Cozumel will be postponed by 4-5 hours, and b) Grand Cayman will be cancelled altogether. Norwegian blamed it on the "weather". Nevermind that their engine wasn't completely fixed yet and they forgot some papers, leaving us all sitting there. It wasn't their fault, it was the weather. Meanwhile, there was this one couple who made all their wedding plans to get married in Grand Cayman. Gone. The groomsmen all paid their fares and were on the cruise. However, NCL was very kind in compensating them all with $50 onboard credit apiece for their troubles.

 

That night, I get up at 3am to go to the bathroom, and the water coming out of the sink, shower, and toilet was black. Not brown, not gray--black. Like the color you get when you wash down your charcoal BBQ grill. I was told that was rust from the freshwater tanks.

 

Embarking were long lines, half the time out in the sun. For disembarking, NCL offered so-called "express disembarkation", a.k.a. "the opportunity to carry your own luggage off the ship". But because half the ship elected to do express debarkation, it wasn't express at all. It was the same wait time as other cruise lines, only this time you have the privilege of waiting in line with all your luggage the whole time, instead of NCL hiring the staff to move it for you. At Cozumel, we arrive about an hour later than our newly-rescheduled time, meaning several hundred of us were waiting in line for about 90 minutes in the cabin hallways. And then there's "Freestyle dining". I quickly learned what "Freestyle dining" really means: it means you had better show up for dinner at exactly 5:30pm when they open, or else you will be waiting for about 45 minutes outside while they free up a table for you. Our Thanksgiving dinner was no less than 2-1/2 hours, and that's AFTER we were seated.

 

Not a lot of social activities. We have done other cruise lines, and there has always been plenty to do at all times of the day. This go-around, half the time there was nothing to do. Nada. You could go see the show twice, I guess. So, you couple that with the cancelled ports of call, and...a lot of time spent just sitting there.

 

Edit: Oh I forgot, the smell. Although the black water didn't smell (I'm inclined to believe them, it was rust), our stateroom had this really weird smell to it. Actually, our whole floor smelled (it was just stronger in the stateroom). We speculated it might be sewage or maybe the Mexican vanilla we bought, but it was really strong. Eventually I figured out it was in the bed sheets. It must be that they douse the bedspreads in some antibacterial stuff instead of washing them. Nevertheless, our stateroom was not the most pleasant place to hang out, because of the smell.

 

There was sand in our bedsheets. We struggled to sleep our first night because they itched! We got our sheets changed and that fixed it, but I find it hard to believe they were washing the sheets with water. They must have sprayed some cleaner on it and put it back on our beds, leaving behind the sand from the previous passengers. I'm sorry, but I have thrown sandy stuff in the washer before, and I have never taken it out of the dryer and it still had sand in it. Maybe a little bit in the pockets or something, but certainly not ALL OVER.

 

There was one good side: the shows were better than we had seen on other cruise ships. Those poor dancers--the ceilings were only ~9 foot tall, so there were a lot of moves the dancers just couldn't do. Norwegian also put on a talent show for the housekeeping staff, which was good (housekeeping and restaurant staff were good in general, there just weren't enough of them).

 

We also had another bad episode that NCL had nothing to do with: we rented a car on Cozumel, and the Pemax gas station attendant ripped us off. The guy turned my $13 gas bill for a quarter tank of gas into $27 the minute he found out I was paying in USD. I ended up paying $21 just to keep from getting entangled with the Mexican police (which, no doubt, the attendant pocketed the difference). Be wary of those. Fill up your own gas, pay in pesos if you can, and knowing Spanish is a plus. I'm not repeating that mistake again. Fortunately, I warned the Americans immediately behind me in line at the gas station (in English), and they drove off. :)

 

 

All-in-all, I would give Norwegian another chance--*IF* it was really cheap. But as far as cruises go, not a good one.

 

I feel bad for the wedding party, but using a cruise ship for transportation to your wedding is really risky, and Grand Cayman is one of the most cancelled ports, because it is tender only.

 

MAC

[Zeno]

.

 

Some felt that the captain was less than forthcoming about the entirety of the engine situation. We would get information in dribs and drabs. For example, we were first told we'd be boarding late but were left with the impression that the engine problem was being addressed. The next day we were informed that we would be late arriving in Bermuda, then told two days later that the engine was unable to be repaired and that we would leave early for the return trip. The general feeling by passengers was that the extent of the problem was widely known by the ship's officers well in advance, but there was never really an ongoing attempt repair the problem en-route (although this was the impression they tried to reinforce).

 

.

 

Well my sympathies - it does sound like it was a less than ideal experience.

 

I confess though I always have difficulty understanding why passengers get SO convinced that the ship's officers are playing some kind of disinformation game with them. I guess it's just human nature to want to blame someone but to me it defies logic. Anyone who has worked in a technical environment knows that complex systems have complex ,not always easily fully comprehended problems. Sometimes the info REALLY is being given to you as it becomes known to those trying to understand and fix the problem.

 

However be that as it may - I'm sure the problems made you cruise less than it should have been for you. I hope your next one is better.

[Bill568]

Bermuda . NCL called us at home Mon and told us the problem and itinerary changes and ask if we wanted to cancel or go with $50 room credit . Then called Fri and told of late arrival . We still went . Great food and service . Not any more worn than any other 15 yr(?) old ship . In the end we also got $30 more because we had to eat lunch in Charleston instead of on the ship . Talked to future cruise David and he said that the 'CAMshaft' bearings had to be made in Finland as the original manufacturer was no more . They flew 6 men and the bearings to Bermuda to install . I understood that it was fixed but don't really know . So glad alot of folks won't be traveling NCL anymore I hate to sit at dinner with someone that has to find fault with everything and everyone . Being an old Navy man I understand that all does not have to go as planned . If you have never had your itinerary changed you were lucky . People need to understand NCL has NOTHING to do about you until you cross the brow . The Post and Courier article was news at its best . 3 out of 1400 that couldn't find anything to like . Majesty is a great old ship and we will be sorry to see it go .