Pricing - HAL/RCI/NCL/PCL

[Tummy]

We just got back home from the 3 day Majesty of the Seas and have gone on the same itinerary on the NCL Sky. We've been on NCL I think 5 times and RCCL just this once in the last three years.

 

Comparing the Majesty to the Sky on the 3 day, overall we like the NCL Sky much better.

• I find their base pricing about the same
  
• Excursions on NCL were more expensive
  
• We have two cosmos at the show each night and they cost cost slightly higher on the Majesty (~$21).
  
• Majesty decor looks like it came from the Golden Girls era and is not as well maintained in some areas. At first I didn't like the loud colors on NCL ships, but the Majesty looks dated and muted.
  
• Artwork in public areas really sucked, especially on the stairs. The art in the buffet / Jade restaurant was badly faded by the sun.
  
• Sky had more comfortable beds
  
• Sky had easier to control thermostats
  
• Sky has more balconies
  
• We like freestyle dining much better
  
• Variety of food options on Sky is better. Main dining room open for lunch everyday, sports bar restaurant serving food almost 24hrs. Le Bistro is far superior than Jade. Larger variety of options at the buffet and the Sky has outdoor seating available.
  
• We like the NCL embarkation / disembarkation experience much better. There was live music on embarkation and they told you where to go. They had no music in the centrum on the Majesty and nobody welcomed us onboard or gave us a Compass with the day's activities. For disembarkation, they assigned us a time to get off the ship instead of letting us leave when we were ready. We had to wait in a lounge where we couldn't hear the attendant making the annoucements.
  
• Majesty packs 2,384 onto a 70,000 ton ship, while the Sky has 2,004 on 77,000 tons
  
• The seats in the theater on Majesty are really terrible
  
• During announcements, they would mute the cabin TV, but there was no channel where you could hear the announcement. The LCD TV on the Majesty is much larger than the 13" CRT tv on the Sky.
  
• My Time Dining can not compare to Freestyle. There is a lack of individual tables. And when you do get one, on the Majesty, they treat the group of individual tables as one large one. So you have to wait for an entire row of people to finish each course. It felt very mechanical and rushed, even though there were at times 15 minutes before they brought out the next course after we were done. There are times when it is ok to spend two hours on a meal, and other times we want to be in and out so we can get to to the show. The tables were also very close together.
  
• Claude's diningroom on Majesty looks like a cheap diner. The lighting is horrible, florescent and too bright. There is no elegance to it.
  
• For being so structured, Majesty did not enforce any kind of dress code. People were in shorts, flip-flops, and t-shirts on formal night. We felt stupid and out of place in our suits. For some reason on NCL people dressed a little nicer.
  
• Majesty felt like it was missing something and I figured out that there is hardly any background music. On the Sky there is always music playing in the background in the main dining room, either from a machine or a person playing the piano.
  

[Aquahound]

Tummy - you may want to check your paperwork. Your description does not sound like Majesty of the Seas.

[Cruzaholic41]

We just got back home from the 3 day Majesty of the Seas and have gone on the same itinerary on the NCL Sky. We've been on NCL I think 5 times and RCCL just this once in the last three years.

 

 

Comparing the Majesty to the Sky on the 3 day, overall we like the NCL Sky much better.

 

The venues you named are not on Majesty. They are on Monarch. Monarch is RCI's oldest ship and has already been slated to leave the RCI fleet and join Pullmantur. While Monarch and Majesty are sisters, Majesty is a much nicer ship, had a better refurbishment, and sails out of the same port as Sky. In fact, on the 3 night cruises, they sail side by side for a good portion of it.

[Tummy]

The venues you named are not on Majesty. They are on Monarch. Monarch is RCI's oldest ship and has already been slated to leave the RCI fleet and join Pullmantur. While Monarch and Majesty are sisters, Majesty is a much nicer ship, had a better refurbishment, and sails out of the same port as Sky. In fact, on the 3 night cruises, they sail side by side for a good portion of it.

 

Yes, I get them confused with the similar names. Still, the shabby ship was only a few of our complaints. I think we just like what freestyle has to offer compared to what we experienced of the RCCL system.