Majesty review - 11/26/2005 Charleston

[Cruisemom39]

Just got off the Majesty W. Carib. itinerary out of Charleston. My husband and I, and our four kids (ages 7-1/2 thru 10). Had an absolutely wonderful time; probably our most relaxing cruise since we began cruising with our kids (this is our sixth as a family, 4 CCL, 1 RCI). Ship is older but in great shape, very clean. Le Bistro was excellent, Pasta Cafe excellent. Main dining room food was consistently wonderful, we were never disappointed. Evening shows were very good Rudy Macaggi (comedian) was hilarious. Production company were a very talented group of dancers, we thoroughly enjoyed the shows. Staterooms 722/724 were spacious - we loved Promenade deck and walked every morning.

 

Grand Cayman - did Seven Mile Beach and it was great. Cozumel - did Paradise Beach and it was great. Met PB Tom - what a nice guy!! Key West - did Mallory Square at sunset and saw all the street performers. Went to Billie's on Mallory Square and had a few $1 beers/sodas and a quick bite. It was very cool (low 60s with a good wind), so we didn't stay long and had to take open-air conch train back to ship at Navy pier - kids didn't last long, but Duval St. was starting to really "get going" for the evening, not really conducive to dragging the kids past all the bars and everyone drinking, anyway.

 

Freestyle dining was pretty neat, but would probably be better on a larger ship with more dining options. It seemed to take a day or so to "work the kinks out" - perhaps they need to figure out the general preferences for passengers on each cruise? The first night dinner took two hours and we still hadn't ordered dessert. The kids were getting fidgety, so we decided to go up to the buffet for dessert. We couldn't get a table, as there were at least 10-15 tables that had not been bussed yet, and no wait staff in sight. My DH bussed a table so we could sit. Thereafter we had no problems with the service, and food and service was excellent throughout.

 

All in all, I believe we have found our cruise line of preference.

[WaldosPepper]

Thanks for posting your review.

 

The Majesty is a wonderful ship for it's size and age, and I think it's due to the terrific crew. It's so obvious they love their ship!

 

You are correct that Freestyle works much better on the ships which were "built with Freestyle in mind".

 

So, now that you're hooked on NCL, where's your next cruise, and on which ship??? ;)

[Aliann]

Nice review and glad you enjoyed the Majesty, she's my favorite 'small' ship. Love my freestyle, works so much better for me (notice I said 'for me' - some may not agree so don't want to be flamed or start a debate). As above poster said, the other NCL ships are built for freestyle, the Majesty being an older ship was simply 'redone' for freestyle using the space it had.

[Cruisemom39]

So, now that you're hooked on NCL, where's your next cruise, and on which ship??? ;)

 

Depends...we relocate about every 10-18 months, so I'll have to see which port we are closest to (adding in the cost of air for 6 people gets a little pricey...). Since I'm hoping to get back to NY, I'm eyeballing the Spirit 8-day.

[Bluedevil]

Thanks for the TR. Did you hit the casino? If so can you give details?

Also, did you happen to save your Majesty dailies? Can you post them?

Thank you

[Cruisemom39]

Nice review and glad you enjoyed the Majesty, she's my favorite 'small' ship. Love my freestyle, works so much better for me (notice I said 'for me' - some may not agree so don't want to be flamed or start a debate). As above poster said, the other NCL ships are built for freestyle, the Majesty being an older ship was simply 'redone' for freestyle using the space it had.

 

I loved the ease of freestyle, particularly on port days (i.e. Key West 3 pm - 10 pm, we got back on the ship and ate at 730 pm.). And the Pasta Cafe - I almost felt guilty not having to pay a surcharge - it was that good!! I would imagine it makes for difficult staffing the first day or so. We had a primarily older crowd out of Charleston, and everyone seemed to want to eat early. If you had more of a "party crowd", perhaps the ship-wide preference may have been different. It was not an issue at all for us, merely an observation.

[WaldosPepper]

Depends...we relocate about every 10-18 months, so I'll have to see which port we are closest to (adding in the cost of air for 6 people gets a little pricey...). Since I'm hoping to get back to NY, I'm eyeballing the Spirit 8-day.

 

Wow! That does make advance planning a bit tough, doesn't it! I hope you're able to relocate to NY and have your wish come true! ;)

[DragonflyCruiser]

Thanks for posting your review.

 

The Majesty is a wonderful ship for it's size and age, and I think it's due to the terrific crew. It's so obvious they love their ship!

 

You are correct that Freestyle works much better on the ships which were "built with Freestyle in mind".

 

So, now that you're hooked on NCL, where's your next cruise, and on which ship??? ;)

 

We also loved the Majesty. I do think that they had one of the best crews we have experienced on a ship in a long time. It was our first cruise with NCL and that experience sold us on curising with them again. We are now waiting for our 3rd. NCL cruise to happen. The dining backups and problems seem to settle down at the week progresses. Sometimes it's just a learning curve for those unfamiliar with Freestyle. We loved it but heard some grumbling about not having every meal seating planned in advance. I'm not sure we could sail on such a structured ship again. Fun trip!

[electricron]

Nice review and glad you enjoyed the Majesty, she's my favorite 'small' ship. Love my freestyle, works so much better for me (notice I said 'for me' - some may not agree so don't want to be flamed or start a debate). As above poster said, the other NCL ships are built for freestyle, the Majesty being an older ship was simply 'redone' for freestyle using the space it had.

 

I enjoyed my cruise to Bermuda last summer on the Majesty. It's a grand old ship. But, more than a simple redecorating was done to the Majesty to make it a Freestyle ship. It was stretched 33.6 meters ( 110.24 feet) in 1999 at the LloydWerft shipyard in Bremerhaven Germany.

 

http://www.lloydwerft.com/e/auftraege/index.html

Plus a screensaver of an entire project

http://www.lloydwerft.com/e/ueberblick/fs_screensaver.html

[ready2goindec]

We will be leaving Saturday (12-10) for our second cruise on the Majesty. I was wondering how long it took to tender into Cozumel. We plan on visiting Paradise Beach also!

[Cruisemom39]

You have to get tender tickets from the Purser's desk. Tendering began at 10:00. We had our tickets in hand at 9:45 roughly, and were sitting on Paradise Beach at 12:15 - yes, it took that long I'm afraid! Some of the tenders are rather large, holding several hundred (perhaps 500) people. It took quite a long time to fill up the tender. On the way back, we left PB at 2:15 and were in our staterooms by 3:45.

 

There is not an abundance of time in any port, really. I believe the last tender from CZM left at 3:30-3:45. GCM was short time also, adding in tendering time. Key West we docked at 3:15 or so, everyone had to clear immigration, and we were at the Navy pier which required shuttling to Duval St. Last shuttle back to the ship was at 9:15 roughly. I think you'd be lucky to get a total of 15 hours on land when combining the three ports! We still had a great time though. Having said that, if you are on NCL organized tours, you will maximize your time as you will be first off the ship and they will wait for you upon return if necessary.

[planetcadillac]

We will be leaving Saturday (12-10) for our second cruise on the Majesty. I was wondering how long it took to tender into Cozumel. We plan on visiting Paradise Beach also!

Why don't you join our Cruise Critic luncheon that we should have scheduled. You make the 18th person (including our little group) that I will have identified going on the Majesty on the 10th.

[Janearl]

When you stop in Key West...how long did it take to get to Duval ST. We want to go someplace that closes at 5. We are going to rent a Conch cruiser to see what sights we want to see. Do you think we will make a 5 deadline.

[malcruiser]

We just got off the Thanksgiving cruise and were lucky because we were on the 8th floor. They send you through customs pretty fast and we were off the boat by @4:30 pm. We docked at around 3:30-3:45. we were not going on a tour, so we had to go to the far right off the gangway to take the "shuttle" to Mallory Square. It was a ten minute ride to town. We ran to the two stores that I wanted to go to (they closed at 5 and 6pm), and grabbed a pedicab to take us to the Southernmost point right after sunset. It was a rush, but we made it everywhere we wanted to go. Then, we wandered back up Duval, stopping a few times for refreshments, and made it back easily to the shuttle.

 

I loved Key West!

[Janearl]

We will be in a suite on the 9th deck. Can I ask the conceige to get us off in the first group. Is that possible.

[malcruiser]

You will probably be one of the first off anyway, so don't worry. Just make sure to go to the right off of the gangway if you are not taking a tour immediately. There was lots of confusion about that. We had a conch tour "shuttle" and he discussed the sights of the way to the drop off right in Mallory Square. If your Conch tour doesn't start immediately after drop off, you could go to the store that you want if it is nearby (say within three or four blocks). I heard that the tour was good, we just did not have time. We still saw the sights from a pedicab ($1 a minute). Try also looking at the Key West destination board if you need more info, it is always good! We had a blast, just take your Bonine. On the higher decks you feel the rocking more, but I slept like a baby!

[Janearl]

Have my Bonine already packed..everywhere I read it said the higher decks are rocky. Someone said there was a car rental place at the end of the pier. I know we will have a great time if I would quit worrying about every little detail.

[Barb Nahoumi]

Cruisemom,

 

Tell us about Charleston. It is a city which I'd love to visit. Did you have an opportunity to tour?

 

Barb