For all you past Majesty cruisers..What are the secrects??

[TomAndJane]

We have sailed on NCL several times but we will be taking a cruise on the NCL Majesty to Canada/New England. I know that she is one of the smallest ships in the NCL fleet (Been on the Dream). Even though I have the ship layout, what are the little secrets we should know about? Best place to view wildlife? Best place to sit and enjoy a quiet adult beverage as you watch the world go by? Secret outside viewing areas not to many people go to? etc., etc.

 

Thanks everyone. I have heard that the crew on the Majesty is wonderful and can't wait to sail her.

 

Tom

[salty dingo]

We like the aft decks - they are pretty un-crowded most of the time. There are several levels with an aft deck with chairs for sunning. The kids' area is on one of the decks but there are others.

 

Also, there is a quiet niche with a table or two just outside the doors of the exterior aft stairways that you use when you go from one aft deck to another. Just walk up or down and you will see it. I had that whole area to myself once for cocktail hour. Not many people know of it or use it.

[CRAFTCRUISER]

I agree deck 8 aft,,,..quiet as long as ping pong not going on.....

[TomAndJane]

Thanks for the Aft suggestions. Really appreciate that. Any others??

[iheartbda]

If you eat breakfast or lunch in the buffet, sometimes it's a challenge to find a seat. Port side in the Cafe Royale is a set of stairs that will take you to the Royal Observatory where there's lots of seating. Yes, you'll have to go up and down the stairs for refills but it's a place to sit.:)

[petesweet]

If you eat breakfast or lunch in the buffet, sometimes it's a challenge to find a seat. Port side in the Cafe Royale is a set of stairs that will take you to the Royal Observatory where there's lots of seating. Yes, you'll have to go up and down the stairs for refills but it's a place to sit.:)

 

That's what I was going to say. You end up in a nice lounge area (with tiny tables), and it's a quiet place to eat.

[TomAndJane]

If you eat breakfast or lunch in the buffet, sometimes it's a challenge to find a seat. Port side in the Cafe Royale is a set of stairs that will take you to the Royal Observatory where there's lots of seating. Yes, you'll have to go up and down the stairs for refills but it's a place to sit.:)

 

Thanks for the info. We had to do the same thing when we sailed on the Dream but it was the Aft Dining room we went to.

[cruizinwithkids]

I love the Royal Observatory for another reason as well. At night it becomes the Italian Restaurant.

 

My favorite thing is to go fairly early, sit at the bar which is part of the room, and have a drink. In the meantime leave our name with the maitre d'/hostess. When there is a cancellation or no show they would come get us. The restaurant is small and pretty much all seating is window seating or well within view of the window. We ate this way several nights and enjoyed the sunset as well.

[blitheone]

Is there a 24-hr eatery, similar to the Blue Lagoon?

 

And who is the Cruise Director? The CD can really set the tone of the cruise if you're into doing EVERYTHING (or, if you're stuck being married to somebody who loves doing EVERYTHING). Oh, and do they have a Second City troupe? And the new 2.0 classes? And doncha just hate too many questions, especially if they all begin with "And..."?

 

This is our fourth cruise with NCL (previously on the Pearl, Star and Spirit after two trips with Princess), but from what I've heard about the Majesty, it sounds like it'll be a very different experience.

Sure, we'll miss the balcony (but we'll make sure to have on our bathrobes when we're on deck at 3am), but the crew sounds superb.

 

Thanks for the info!

 

Janet

[Mayzir]

Cruise Director is Ered and assistant is Johnny. Very active and pretty funny.

Another tip, not that anyone asked.... try all of the chilled soups. For lunch one day at the Four Seasons we had a chilled Granny Smith Apple soup that I still think about:o

On sea days, we prefer the dining room for breakfast as the choices were better.

[blitheone]

Yummmmm...chilled soup....

It's like getting dessert first!

[beach2sea]

If you're going to the showroom, arrive early. Not the best designed room with support columns blocking the view from several seats.

 

Of our three cruises the crew on the Majesty was the best. Even with the freestyle approach, we received individualized service.

 

Being older and smaller isn't aways bad. Just different. We planned to redo our Majesty cruise to Bermuda, but they changed ships on us. We'll be boarding the Dream in three weeks.

[woodley]

Just returned from the majesty, we signed up for the players card at the casino. Drinks were flowing and FREE. We played the roulette machine $1 bets and although we only averaged $20 per night in gambling we had 5 or 6 drinks during that time.

 

We had a bar set up in our cabin and made our own cocktails which we took to the pool area in insulated mugs. orange juice to mix them was provided by room service free. Wine and champagne we bought on board in our hand luggage. We expected to pay corkage but was not asked to do so.

 

We did end up having our bags taken to the "naughty room" but the only thing they had detected was contact lense solution as we did not smuggle anything else and would not attempt to do so. We only bought two drinks the whole cruise.

 

I hope these tips help you.

[MAKZ06]

I would suggest you DO NOT take part in the express self-disembarkation. Maybe others have had a radically different experience but we just got back yesterday and that was a total disaster. Our cabin was on deck 3 not far from the stairs that went down to the deck 2 exit and we still stood in the crowded hallway and on the stairway for over an hour and a half. By the time we realized what a mistake we had made we had no way to push back through the hallways to get back to our room and wait for things to clear. I'm not sure we really got off the ship any earlier than if we had let them handle our luggage and waited for our decks turn to leave. Halls and stairs were so crowded with passengers and luggage that people in certain areas appeared to be unable to get from their cabin up to deck 10 for breakfast or back to their cabin after... Just imagine hundreds of people, all with 2-3 giant pieces of luggage, dragging bags down the stairwells. I'm actually sort of surprised someone hasn't been hurt considering the number of seniiors I saw wrestling with bags larger than they were...

[kebauc]

Just returned from the majesty, we signed up for the players card at the casino. Drinks were flowing and FREE. We played the roulette machine $1 bets and although we only averaged $20 per night in gambling we had 5 or 6 drinks during that time.

 

We had a bar set up in our cabin and made our own cocktails which we took to the pool area in insulated mugs. orange juice to mix them was provided by room service free. Wine and champagne we bought on board in our hand luggage. We expected to pay corkage but was not asked to do so.

 

We did end up having our bags taken to the "naughty room" but the only thing they had detected was contact lense solution as we did not smuggle anything else and would not attempt to do so. We only bought two drinks the whole cruise.

 

I hope these tips help you.

 

About the wine and champagne: How did you pack these - in your carry-on luggage or your checked luggage (is "hand luggage" carry on?) Did you do anything special when packing them so they you didn't worry about the bottles breaking inside the bag? And I'm looking forward to the player's card - thanks for the tips!

[Mayzir]

We wrapped the bottles in bubble wrap. We were going to use a carrier but our 1.5L were too big. We put the bottles in our backpack and my husband carried it. We thought the wine steward would take the bottles to put in the dining room when we paid the corkage fee but we were told to take them to our room and just bring them to dinner when we wanted wine with our meal.

[Susie51]

In January on the Majesty my bag was selected for searching because I had a bottle of Listerine in my checked suitcase. They left a message I had to report to a lounge to retrieve my bag. There was a long line. They were confiscating alcohol. It was all piled in a corner with no identification attached. That had never happened to me before.

[TomAndJane]

Just returned from the majesty, we signed up for the players card at the casino. Drinks were flowing and FREE. We played the roulette machine $1 bets and although we only averaged $20 per night in gambling we had 5 or 6 drinks during that time.

 

We had a bar set up in our cabin and made our own cocktails which we took to the pool area in insulated mugs. orange juice to mix them was provided by room service free. Wine and champagne we bought on board in our hand luggage. We expected to pay corkage but was not asked to do so.

 

We did end up having our bags taken to the "naughty room" but the only thing they had detected was contact lense solution as we did not smuggle anything else and would not attempt to do so. We only bought two drinks the whole cruise.

 

I hope these tips help you.

 

So how do you get the free drinks if you have a players card? Just show them when they bring the drink or is it at certain times??