Norwegian Majesty (Bermuda) Review - Oct 16-23, 2005

[Nath]

NORWEGIAN MAJESTY

By Cruise_Diva

 

7-Night Bermuda Cruise

 

Boston / St. Georges / Boston

 

Departed: October 16, 2005

Returned: October 23, 2005

 

Cabin: 314 Category GG (Oceanview Stateroom)

 

 

Of course, any day spent on a cruise is far and away better than a day at work, so please do not assume that I am complaining about anything. I am simply offering my view of a week aboard the Norwegian Majesty. Don't judge a cruise nor the ship based on people's opinions. Not everyone has the same expectations, experiences, personalities, level of tolerance, etc… Cruises provide a variety of activities to suit different tastes. A great trip in one person's perspective may be someone else's nightmare, on the same cruise! Beware, our review is rather lengthy…

 

Our background -- We've been on 15 cruises so far. Carnival (5), NCL (2-Bermuda), Princess (1-Transatlantic/Mediterrenean), Celebrity (3) and RCI (4). We are a couple (childless) in our mid 30's / early 40’s with enough vacation to be able to enjoy many cruises. We're avid boaters & love the sea. We do not smoke, we love the outdoors & are beach people. We're not into luxury, we always book cheapest cabin because we want to be able to vacation a lot.

 

Embarking on our adventure, we took a flight (1H20) on Air Canada instead of driving to Boston (5-6 hours). We were traveling with our cousin and his wife. We did several cruises/vacations together but this was their first time to Bermuda.

 

Upon arrival in Boston, a taxi took us and our friends to the pier. Hubby and I had 4 bags, so I offered $3.00 to the porter and he seemed satisfied. We walked to a check in attendant, and after a few minutes of checking-in and checking documents, we were issued our keycards and directed to the gangway. As luck would have it, we were almost the first to board the ship, and entered the greeting area with a full complement of ships crew smiling at us. After everyone welcomed us aboard, we went to the pursers desk to verify if we could change to a larger cabin but nothing was available so we had to stick with our tiny oceanview stateroom.

 

The Stateroom -- We opted for a guarantee oceanview stateroom (Cat. H), and were awarded room 314 (cat. GG) few weeks before final payment was due. The room is small but was very clean, with a mat on the foot of the bed to put the luggage on once it arrived. The furniture was scuffed and scratched, and was showing its wear and tear, but uniformly clean and functional. The TV was very small and there was no refrigerator. A safe in the top drawer in the closet was useful. The closet was most adequate, though the life vests took up most of the room on the top shelves. We found the beds to be very comfortable, but the pillows were of the foam variety that I don’t personally prefer. Luckyly I had brought my own pillow from home. The bathroom was excellently designed, and though very small, was functional. Hubby, a rather large man, 6’1” and over 200 pounds, was able to easily use all of the facilities – LOL! I especially liked the shower with the removable wand. Never had a plumbing or sewage problem, and never smelled anything bad the entire cruise. Mario Gomez was our attendant, and was efficient and unobtrusive. He always had a friendly smile and pleasant conversation whenever we passed him in the hall. The drawer space was more than adequate for our needs. Overall, the room was perfectly fine and comfortable, clean and almost sufficient for the two of us. In the past, we always stayed in superior oceanview cabins and would have rather took a superior inside if offered.

 

The Service -- Fair. The crew was pleasant, helpful, and a delight to be around. This included any maintenance workers or officers who happened to be walking by. Everyone offered a pleasant greeting, always with a bright smile, and any request was soon complied with.

 

Now, not every waiter that served us, in the main dining rooms, made an effort to make that meal the best one we would have on the ship (especially in the Seven Seas). Service was inconsistent. Often, the word was “I’m afraid not” and it became a running gag between us. Everything we’ve asked for seem to be complicated for them to get…This was disappointing since our last two cruises on the Majesty where wonderful and every requests were filled.

 

The staff at Le Bistro, however, took it up several notches. They did everything they could to make sure that this small intimate dining spot was a highlight of everyone’s cruise. The drink waiters were efficient but overbearing. If you were not interested in something, they would smile, and leave but come back often and I was surprised that I had to repeat the “No thanks, not right now” reply. The waiters made an effort to remember the customers, and a familiar face would ask if I wished a Cosmopolitan Martini.

 

Main Dining Rooms -- The presentation was always excellent, with a lot of thought going into the design of each dish. It was served hot most of the time, and any meat/steak was always cooked exactly to order. The soups were pretty uniformly excellent. The portions were pretty small, especially the appetizers. Now, understand, we usually ordered so much that we were stuffed even with the smaller portions, and maybe that is by design, but no matter, the crostini and bruschetta breads were tiny pieces. Nothing was bad, just minor problems; overcooked lobster and shrimp, overly salty French fries. I freely admit to being a gourmet, and somewhat of a food snob, so please take that into consideration when reading this.

 

Buffet -– We did make a couple of trips to the buffet for breakfast and lunch. Other than the omelet station and crepe/waffle station, the rest of the items were pretty standard during breakfast. There was always a nice assortment of breads (always excellent!!), some cold cuts, lox, salmon and herring for fans of those items. I wasn’t able to have ham for breakfast and was told that it is only served in the dinning room.

 

Lunch items were average and not too much variety. The salad bar items were fresh and crisp, and the dressings were all good. There was always a theme to the foods, and the ones we tried were pretty good. The outside buffets offered “Indian style food” or “Mexican style food”. The Mexican was excellent, with tacos and tortillas available to wrap around a variety of meats. We went there for dinner one evening.

 

Miscellaneous -- The San Marcos Grill at the rear of the ship offered hamburgers, pizza, hot dogs, chicken fillet sandwiches and fries all day long. There was also a salad bar. The burgers and pizza were always very good, and the fries were cooked perfectly as well. This was a nice spot to grab a quick snack. Oohh…and the big barbecue that was set up was excellent! The ribs were succulent, the chicken wings superb, and the accompaniments great. It was only a long wait in line to get our food.

 

Their Chocoholic buffet was awesome like usual.

 

Dinning ashore program -- We upgraded to a dinner voucher and went at the Carriage House. It was excellent but pricey. We ended up paying $100 more but again, it was very good and that is the way in Bermuda, everything is more expensive!

 

Specialty Restaurants -- Le Bistro is as good as dining gets. We have eaten in many gourmet restaurants, in many different cities, and countries, and this place ranks right up there with the best of them. The food was beautifully presented, cooked to order. The escargots (snails) are not to be missed. The perfect blend of garlic butter and cheese come together to make this a real taste treat. Hubby chose the “Surf & Turf” for his entrée, the additional $5.00 charge seemed reasonable enough to us. The lobster was cooked perfectly and melted in his mouth. The filet mignon with foie gras and truffle was magnificent. The meat was perfectly cooked and the combination of flavors from the demie-glace, foie gras and truffle were a match made in heaven. He also ordered the Chocolate fondue. This item is served with a variety of fruit pieces in a pineapple boat with deep rich chocolate. We enjoyed this meal so much, that against our plans, we ate there again later during the week. Again, every bit as good, though this time he didn’t get the lobster because while in Bermuda, NCL is not allowed to serve lobster, it was scampis. The Pasta Café offers two different items every night aside from the menu. The chef prepares the items to order in a corner of the room, so everything is fresh and delightful.

 

On Board Activities –- We are easily satisfied while onboard a cruise, we frankly don’t care if there are no activities, no ports of call and no entertainment. As long as we can go outside, soak in the sun, dip in the pool and visit the restaurants, the rest is all just gravy for us. Having said this, I must admit that there were many times when a few more activities could have been scheduled. The Karaoke nights were great fun, but again, not well attended. It ended up being a select few passengers and the host doing most of the singing.

 

Entertainment -- The shows we attended were all excellent. The dancers, singers and production company folks were very good at what they do. The shows we saw were executed flawlessly, and even on a moving ship, we didn’t see any missteps. The singers were fine, and the girls pretty, what more could you ask for? Overall, the entertainment was top-notch and very enjoyable.

 

BERMUDA -- I will not have much to say here except FABULOUS as always! We had been to Bermuda tree times before, and found what we expected. Mostly spent our time at the beach and Horseshoe Bay was awesome again!!! Our friends also enjoyed Bermuda very much.

 

The Sad Return: We hate luggage tags. We hate the debarkation briefing. We hate the thank you letter. We hate the comment cards. All of these things mean that our week in paradise is about to end and just don’t like it. Post Cruise Depression Syndrome begins to set in and I will be unpleasant for about a week. The system for debarking is pretty similar to that of all cruise ships, with one exception. Norwegian offers an “Express Debarkation” called Freestyle debarkation that allows you to leave before anyone else if you are willing to carry all of your luggage yourself. Obviously with my tendencies toward over packing, this was not the best option for us but managed fine. Once through customs, we dragged our bags to the curb where it was easy to find a taxi.

 

Conclusion -- As with every cruise we have been on, we had a good time. A little bit disappointed with the service level this time but we know that we will cruise with Norwegian again, and we would not hesitate to recommend it to someone else. We place a lot of importance on the food, and I think this contributes to our decision to return on the Dawn with more options. We had a fabulous time, and were very sorry to be back on dry land.

 

Thank you to everyone who helped us with planning, thank you to the staff of the Norwegian Majesty and thank you to Norwegian Cruise Line for another ride!

 

Feel free to email with questions (nlaroche@iq.ca)

 

Nathalie - AKA: Cruise_Diva