New to Norwegian: Difference(s) in Majesty and Carnival Victory or similar ship???

[Effie]

We've taken 3 Carnival cruises (2001 - Imagination to the Bahamas, 2002 - Fascination to Key West/Cozumel & 2003 - Carnival Victory - Bahamas, again). We would like to try something different. Norwegian seems like a nice change but I don't know that much about it. We were looking at an end of this year cruise on Majesty. We're a family of 5: mid 30's Mom & Dad, 15 yr old twin girls and 7 yr old son. Our first cruise we took as husband and wife for our 10 year wedding anniversary. The other two we took as a family.

 

Anyway, that's a little background on us. If anyone could give us some comparisons on staterooms (inside/outside cabins), kids activities for the 7 year old and for the teens, dining (formal or is it all casual?), the shows, casino, cleanliness of the ship, staff (attitudes and so forth), food, overall atmosphere. We've only experienced Carnival. Tell us the GOOD, (and the bad and the ugly if there are any) about Norwegian compared to what we already know from Carnival.

[hods93]

Hi Effie,

 

I have been on the Majesty a while back and I have most recently been on the CCL Miracle and Triumph. I feel like trying to compare the CCL to NCl is very difficult.

 

The Majesty is a smaller ship than the newer flashier Carnival ships. I found Carnival to be a lot of neon and glitz (not that this is a bad thing). I would say the Majesty is a very beautiful ship just a little older and a little smaller. It is lovely.

 

I think that Carnival has the edge in cabin size. The rooms seemed so much more spacious than those on the Majesty. Also a big factor for us was a balcony. I do not believe the Majesty has balcony rooms.

 

We were on the Majesty so long ago it probably is not fair to compare food. I do however think the food was CCL was really good. I will say what drew us back to NCl was freestyle dining. With two kids it is much easier to eat when and where you want. I really did not like having to eat at a certain time.

 

Hope this helps a little bit.

[Lisa63]

I agree with the previous poster. I'll add a few more comments, comparing Norwegian Majesty (which we've sailed 3x) and Carnival Destiny.

 

Choose your cabins carefully on N. Majesty. You will need two cabins as there are five of you. I highly suggest getting superior inside / superior outside. The "superiors" are larger than the "standards" -- 145 square feet vs. 108. I don't know if there are adjoining cabins on N. Majesty as there are on Carnival Victory, but you can easily find superior outsides and superior insides directly across the hall from each other on Decks 4 and 6.

 

The variety of dining options on N. Majesty is nice. There are two main dining rooms -- one large, one smaller -- a specialty restaurant ($20 pp, I believe), and an Italian-themed cafe. In this regard, I give the edge to NCL. There are no set dining times or tables. We had to wait only once for a table in the main dining rooms, and it was only 15 minutes. If you go before 6:15 or after 8:30, you should have hardly any wait. I found the food in the dining room to be very good on both ships. (The specialty restaurant, named Le Bistro, and the Italian restaurant are reservations-only.)

 

There is also a small buffet area -- Carnival clearly gets the edge when it comes to buffets. There was more variety and more seating on Carnival Destiny. (Hint: After getting your tray at the buffet, go down one deck to the Observatory, where there are plenty of tables. Most people start discovering this about 2-3 days into the cruise.)

 

One thing I noticed about N. Majesty, and about NCL in general, is that many of the crew have been with the line for many years. On our N. Majesty cruise last year, one of the maitre d's had been our waiter 10 years earlier on a different NCL ship. And, he actually remembered us. He asked about my in-laws, with whom we traveled on the earlier cruise... we hadn't mentioned them.

 

There is one formal night on NCL cruises, but passengers can opt out. NCL touts itself as "resort casual" and they mean it. I saw people in jeans turned away from the main dining rooms. Many people dressed business casual for the evening, which is about the same as we saw on Carnival.

 

N. Majesty has less seating around the pools than Carnival Victory/Destiny. But, there is plenty of seating one deck up. There is also no water slide.

 

A big positive for N. Majesty is its incredible sea views from a wall of windows on Deck 5. There are very comfortable window seats, and a nearby coffee bar, which makes this my favorite hangout. There is also a wraparound outdoor promenade with plenty of deck chairs -- edge, N. Majesty.

 

So, while the ships are very different, they have their positives and negatives. We are actually booked on both of them within a 7-week period this coming summer.