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Majesty Review 1/13

samdham

By samdham,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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samdham

samdham

Posted
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We had an awesome cruise on the Norwegian Majesty. We purchased the cruise through NCL, including air. Believe it or not, airfare was actually cheaper through NCL for us than it was through any other source that I checked. I know. I couldn’t believe it either.

In spite of living in a cold/snowy climate, we decided to risk it and travel the day of the cruise. We got up at the crap of dawn and made our way to the airport. Our flights were perfect and on time. In my own air research, the flights and times NCL chose for us were the best available. They had us scheduled to land at 12:20pm in Charleston.

One of the few glitches of the cruise came at the airport. Our transfer tickets said to meet an NCL rep at the baggage claim area. We were there, no one from NCL was. After waiting for about 20 minutes (our flight actually landed very early), we went to the info booth at the airport and asked if they knew where the NCL folks picked up guests. They said we should take our luggage and go outside to the taxi area (right outside the door and across just one lane of traffic) to find them. Sure enough, that’s where they were. However, they had the wrong flight info for us. They had us down as a no-show because we were scheduled on an earlier flight. That was obviously incorrect. Whatever. We were about to be on a cruise!

Our ride to the airport was uneventful, except that the only other person in our van with us and the driver was a guy who lines up entertainment for the ship. He had lined up a doozie for us this time: two NASCAR legends, Buddy Baker and David Pearson. Joey was so kind to us and greeted us whenever we saw him during the cruise.

Boarding the ship could not have been quicker. We are Latitudes members and that line went pretty quickly. There was a line, but it definitely went faster than it looked like it would. We lined up for a couple quick pictures (Which were totally goofy because we were wearing long sleeves and stuff—it was 18 degrees when we left home!), and we were on the ship.

Our cabin was 8981. We had booked a guarantee N cabin, and were surprised to be assigned a CC just a few days after we booked. This would have been a wonderful upgrade, except that we had requested a cabin in which the beds pushed together. According to the cabin description, the beds could not be pushed together in this cabin. We didn’t complain for two reasons: 1) We booked a guarantee and figured we got what we got, and 2) the cabin was almost all the way aft, and there is a really cool sunning deck on the back of the ship. It was like having a gigantic balcony. And really, we sleep in the same bed at home, maybe it was time for a vacation from that, too.

So imagine our surprise when we found the beds smooshed together. Woohooo!!! It was an NCL miracle.

Seas were choppy the first sea day, and many people were ill. I was all Bonined up, so I was fine. A lot of folks were in bed, we found out later. We heard a lot of complaints about the size of the cabins, also.

The food was pretty good. We’re not foodies by any means, but I remember the food being slightly better on the Sun 12/05. Still, we managed to stuff ourselves to the gills several times each day and knew that if we asked for something else, we would have been happily accommodated. We ate breakfast exclusively at the buffets, including the waffle and omelet stations. We ate our breakfasts in the Royal Observatory down the stairs from the buffet. Lunches were mostly at the buffets except for one lunch in the Seven Seas and the rest on shore. Dinners were at the Pasta Café once, Four Seasons 3 times, and once in the Seven Seas. We made reservations at the Pasta Café (tried again later in the week and it was already full. No big deal). If we were willing to share a table with others, we got right in. If we wanted to wait for a table for just the two of us, we had to wait. I think we waited twice for less than five minutes and about 15-20 minutes one time. Again, no big deal. The menus were just like the Dawn’s menus that someone posted previously: http://www.kast.org/NCLDawnMenus/

The shows were either really good or average. Comedian Bud Andersen is hilarious. Absolutely great. He did a show one night at 7:30 and 9:30, then he had an adult show at 11:15 one night. He does not swear in his shows, and he isn’t vulgar. He didn’t pick on people or groups or anything, he talked about situations and told stories. It was hilarious without being offensive.

Doug Anderson was the magician/comedian. He was funny. Dh thought he was more entertaining than I did. Sonny Rose was the musician. He did a show that included some songs from Neil Diamond and another show that was a tribute to Frank Sinatra. I thought he had a really nice voice, and he did a nice job. I’m pretty sure all the songs he sang were from before I was born, and the older crowd ate that up. He had a nice voice, but the music was not my cup of tea.

Before you get all excited about these folks, note that we saw all three of them at the airport after the cruise. They did a complete turnover this week. BUT we know that Bud Andersen will be going on another NCL ship next week, so if you see his name in your Freestyle, run, don’t walk (okay, you really should walk when the ship is moving) to your ship’s theater and watch his great show.

The Majesty Production Company was, I hate to say it, just average. The performers are certainly talented, but the shows themselves were not put together well. I couldn’t put my finger on what was off about them, but dh thought it seemed that whoever arranged the shows was “medley-happy.” He thought the performers couldn’t draw the crowd in to a particular song because by the time the audience got into it, it was time for the next song in the medley. That seems about right to me. Obviously, the stage on the Majesty, with its low ceiling doesn’t allow for the shows that are common on other ships.

The crew show was great. There are some talented crewmembers on that ship, especially Paolo, who sang my all time favorite song “This is the Moment” and did such a great job.

Ports. We went to Georgetown, Grand Cayman; Cozumel; and Key West. In Georgetown, we booked privately with Captain Marvin. We did a half day excursion of snorkeling and swimming with stingrays. I’m not a swimmer, so I floated and stood with the stingrays, but dh loved this excursion. Our ship arrived a bit late, we were supposed to meet Capt. Marvin at 9:15, but we arrived at 9:30 on the first tender available to nonNCL excursion people. Our ship was supposed to arrive at 7:00 am.

Cozumel. We booked this excursion through NCL. Last time we were there was just a few weeks after Hurricane Wilma. The island was not at its best then, though its people were certainly eager to have us there. This time, we did the Mini-Jeep tour and snorkel. We went to Punta Sur, which was lovely. We saw crocodiles and snorkeled (not in the same place!). Our tour guide, David, was absolutely wonderful. And it was fun driving the mini jeeps around, although we were all kinds of dirty when we got back to town. We arrived late in Cozumel, too.

Key West. We arrived about an hour late to Key West. We had told our kids we would call them from somewhere really cool, so we walked as fast as we could to the southernmost point of the continental US and took our picture talking to them on the phone. Then we hurried to Mallory Square to watch the sunset. It was lovely. We watched a few of the street performers, looked around, walked everywhere and back, and had dinner at Red Fish, Blue Fish. It was just okay. Nothing to write home about. The service was friendly and quick, and dh had a really good margarita, but the food was just okay. Then it was back to the ship.

Sea Days. To be honest, we’re not people lovers. We don’t go out of our way to join in on all the activities offered. We did go to Wheel of Fortune, where I was a contestant. Yea me! And dh was a contestant on The Price is Right. However, as fun as these games were, it was clear the host of the games had no idea how they were played. So it was awkward. Clearly, you can’t expect these folks to know the ins and outs and so forth, but it was odd at times because the players didn’t know the host’s rules for the games. He kept saying it was his “version.” The audience seemed frustrated with that.

We LOVED using the sunning deck on Deck 8. It was so quiet. It seemed that everyone who hung out there wanted a quiet spot to relax, and they got it there. There were a few games of ping pong there, but that’s where they put the ping pong tables, so it’s not like they were out of place or anything. There were several sunsets where dh and I had the deck all to ourselves. It was wonderful. We also spent time hanging out with real people, and made a few buddies on board.

The cruise director was Mike Witte. As far as cruise directors go, he was fine, I guess. Simon was our cruise director on the Sun last year, and it was nice this time not to be told every morning to “have a smashing day.” (Though I must admit that after the cruise, I found that statement to be almost endearing). Whoever was in charge of weather did a fabulous job. The weather was great until Friday, when it cooled off and rained a little bit. I still managed to sit outside for part of the day.

There was bingo all the time, which we did not do. I contributed a little bit to the casino. We read a lot and walked around a lot. We noticed that the elevators were slow and people spent a lot of time waiting for them. We took the stairs most times.

Leaving the ship. Sigh. Getting off the ship was way too easy and fast. I was hoping it would be slow and give us time to enjoy the last few hours, but NOPE. It was quick and painless. Darn it. We were VIP people because we booked our air through the ship. We were on the bus by 9:00 and at the airport shortly later.

We LOVED this cruise. We loved that even though the ship was full, it wasn’t crowded. There were a couple lines here and there, but I wait in MUCH longer lines at the grocery store and at restaurants at home. The staff is absolutely awesome. Our cabin steward was so friendly, even noticing at one point that I should probably put some sunscreen on my nose. He was right! Our server in the Four Seasons, Felicitas, was so wonderful and sweet and good at her job. The ship was very clean, sure, she shows a little of her age, but so do I. It was so fun.

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bakechef

bakechef

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Thanks, for the review, it seems like we are on the same page when it comes to vacation, it sounds like you wanted to relax, and had reasonable expectations.

 

I am even more excited about leaving on the 27th!!!!!!!!!!:D

 

MAC

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flgator55

flgator55

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Thanks for the great review. My DH and I are going on the Majesty 2/17. Sounds like we booked the right cruise...lots of relaxation!

 

If you don't mind, what time did you arrive in the Cayman's?

 

Again, thanks so much for your post.

 

flgator55

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samdham

samdham

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We were supposed to get to the Caymans at 7:00, but I think we were about an hour late. We expected to get off the ship at about 8:00, but we boarded the tender at 9:15. They could only board tenders at the aft tender area because the water was too rough at the forward spot. We were on the second tender. The first was full of NCL shore excursion folks.

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