Is there something I'm missing with Majesty??

[smeyer418]

Personally I don't care whose fault it is. They have a whole crew to fix it even at 4 in the am. "sound the general alarm, sound the general alarm" all hands man(people) the pumps."

[Another Cruise Addict]

You guys, it just amazes me, honestly. It didn't take 10 minutes after the toilet problem messages were posted before people started posting it was the passengers fault for putting things down the toilet.

 

I hate to interject more rational thought into your sensationalism, but that was posted because most of the time it IS a passengers fault. That's why they put warnings on the toilet that say in effect "don't throw large objects in the toilet because it WILL jam up the system and cause fifty toilets on this circuit to back up."

 

But people still do it.

 

And they do it on all ships. Did you bother to do a search on "sewage" on the forums? Did you notice how many ships and lines this has happened on?

 

It's not common, but it does happen. And it's usually because some passenger tried to flush a towel.

 

It's too bad cruise tickets are not transferrable. Since the Majesty is obviously a floating derelict that is a virtual prison-ship for passengers one week at a time, I'd save you the heartache of going and buy your tickets for $100. :rolleyes:

[GregInCharlotte]

I hate to interject more rational thought into your sensationalism... ...It's too bad cruise tickets are not transferrable. Since the Majesty is obviously a floating derelict that is a virtual prison-ship for passengers one week at a time, I'd save you the heartache of going and buy your tickets for $100. :rolleyes:

Person to person put downs and sarcasm are generally considered inappropriate on these boards.

 

I've traveled enough times and to enough places to have had many unexpected things happen (On and off the English languauge world of cruise ships). In every case the response of the owner/operator/manager/employee made all the difference. I understand, better than many, that a cruise ship is a large complicated city at sea but when "ship happens" I want to know the ship is concerned, like the "all hands... ...man the pumps" post. They should act concerned then they should act.

 

This will continue to be my view no matter how sarcastic the replies are.

 

It comes down to this: My parents, completely lively and entirely independent dispite their combined age being 160, are going on the Majesty (in 3 days:) ) for what will be their first cruise. As their host I want everything to go as well as possible. They're patient and gracious and never complain. I just want them to have a good time and I'm sure they will. I'm just feeling (notify the shrink;) ) extra responsible.

[Another Cruise Addict]

Person to person put downs ... are generally considered inappropriate on these boards.

 

Yes they are. When you see person-to-person put downs, by all means report them Greg. I haven't seen any yet. And personally, I will continue to try to bring some reason to the hyperbole.

 

I hope you and your parents have a great time on your cruise.

[Mikey8Ohio]

Interesting how these threads develop over time. I truly appreciate all of the information and advice that everyone has bestowed upon me. I am the type that usually laughs off the problems, and looks at the bigger picture. I figure that the worst day on a cruise is still better than the best day at work. If the bathrooms don't work, I'll find a public one. If the room smells, I'll sit at a bar and enjoy cocktails until the smell won't bother me anymore. I originally asked the question because of the strange response from my TA. I have pretty much decided to take the cruise and see what the Majesty is like firsthand. I will post a review upon my return and recovery from Post Cruise Depression. Anyway, thanks again to all of you for a informative and entertaining discussion.....Mike

[Hucc]

Another to be aware of on the NCL Majesty -- it is a smoker's paradise.... it's allowed almost everywhere... except for the dining rooms and the theater. So, there is basically no where for a nonsmoker to just lounge around without cigarette smoke billowing by. So, if you're a smoker, or don't mind the smoke, it'll be okay. If you're a non smoker and/or can't stand the smoke, I'd highly recommend another ship.

 

BTW: I've cruised on the NCL Majesty four times. She was better before being stretched. The stretching kind of ruined her... they added so many more cabins, and not much public space.

[salty dingo]

I have heard that from other posters, too. I am one that is not terribly bothered by it, unless someone is smoking next to me and either blowing it near my face or having the smoke curl up from the ashtray toward me. Yecch.:eek:

 

I was happy to learn that the dining rooms are non-smoking. I think one of the lounges may be as well. NCL should consider making more areas non-smoking at least some of the time. Tight spaces, like hallways, come to mind.

 

With all the open deck area to use, I do hope smokers will take it upon themselves to go there often to considerately smoke. I know many will puff away in the lounges and casinos, but those areas are easy enough to avoid. If the smoke is so bad that the nonsmokers stay away, NCL will get the message from lost revenue.

 

Maybe the ventilation system in the ship is not all it could be. I hope NCL will take the ventilation capabillity into consideration when they set smoking policy, and maybe tighten it up some.

[F5Loar]

Hoosier Countour: It's nice that you quoted a price but without the category included it's not much use for comparision. What category did you quote?

I saw prices lower than that in the JJ category.

[Barb Nahoumi]

We cruised from Boston to Bermuda, on 5/2/04, the first cruise of the season. Since it was an off-peak time, crowds were minimal(Few Kids).

 

Our cabin, an outside on the prominade deck was tiny albiet adequate. We stored some items in the suitecase under the bed.

 

The food in the main diningrooms was delicious and well presented. The waitstaff, friendly and attentive to our needs. On occasion, when we visited the buffets, the offerings were good. Somewhat better than the buffets on the NCL Sky, which is now the Pride of Aloha.

 

My major complaint was the size and layout of the theater. It was too small, and many of the seats had obstructed views. However the entertain ment was superb.

 

Try to attend some of the happenings in the Fireworks lounge. We enjoyed the 50's & 60's night with an Elvis contest, the 70's night was fun too.

 

Art auctions, educational seminars, and movies were available as well.

 

Keep in mind that this ship does not have many of the activities usually found on the megas, but we loved it anyway.

 

Mike, try to read some of the past reviews and comments about the Majesty on this forum as well as others. Many are positive-------some not.

 

As others have stated, if you are looking for a smaller quiter cruise, this is the ship for you. For more hustle bustle, book aboard a megaliner.

 

Smooth sailing,

 

Barb

[Bad Penny]

-- it is a smoker's paradise....

By God it's 2004, almost 2005.

 

Smoking is no longer cool.

 

It is a filthy, disgisting, poisonous habit and only people who are too WEAK to beat the addiction still do it.

 

It's time for LAWS to be passed that prohibit it on cruise ships.

[Gypsea]

Personally, I love NCL. The Majesty was my first NCL cruise. I have cruised four times with them since. The Majesty is smaller than many but she is well loved (CARED FOR) and I thought the staff was great. The gym has what is generally required by fitness freaks...treadmills, ellipticals, classes, weights etc. It is not huge but we enjoyed it.

 

The cabins we had were fine but we had only two in each cabin.

 

The smoking issue depends on the folks on-board. Some sailings will be chock full of smokers who feel justified in smoking anywhere they choose. I have found that many non-confrontational staff avoid dealing with the offenders much to my chagrin. Some sailings have less agressive smokers who adhere to the rules without being told. It is not that smoking is allowed everywhere it is simply not enforced as it should be, IMHO.

 

My mom had never sailed before this trip to Bermuda and she enjoyed it very much. The size was good for her. The walking from one end to the other was not endless. I booked someone on the Dawn who had been on this ship and they say they preffered the Majesty. New and big is NOT for everyone.

 

Bermuda on this ship is fab because I think St George is the best spot in Bermuda for beaching it and you can walk to it! It is also one of the best snorkeling spots on the island (Tobacco Bay).

[bpear1600]

 

The smoking issue depends on the folks on-board. Some sailings will be chock full of smokers who feel justified in smoking anywhere they choose. I have found that many non-confrontational staff avoid dealing with the offenders much to my chagrin. Some sailings have less agressive smokers who adhere to the rules without being told. It is not that smoking is allowed everywhere it is simply not enforced as it should be, IMHO.

 

.

 

We seemed to have a disproportionate amount of smokers on our cruise but I can't recall seeing anybody smoking where they should not have been. I think the problem lies with the ship's ventilation system. The casino and surrounding hallways were very smoky as was the lounge in the front of the ship near the shops. Smoke from said lounge leaked out into the hallways and shop area to an unpleasant degree.

 

It may have been worse on our cruise because of the ship's AC problems but I don't think this ship was built with ventilation of smoke a real concern. You know, I don't recall ships being this smoky back in the early 80's when you could smoke almost anywhere. Of course, we were smokers then and may have a skewed memory. :)

[socerjim]

The Majesty only has a "smokers problem" when it sails from Charleston, and if you think about it, it's just common sense. There are a lot more smokers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Virginia (per capita) than in other markets!

 

Yes, it's a disgusting habit and all smokers should be thrown overboard during the cruise. :eek:

[salty dingo]

Let's be thankful that the smoking population in general is declining. Maybe someday we'll all be a nation of drinkers.:p

[98Charlie]

On our last Majesty cruise I don't recall any problem with smoke or smokers with the exception of one lady across the hall who would stand in the hall outside her room smoking. She was actually standing in front of a built in wall ashtray. We were in the older (pre-strech) forward section.

 

In retrospect she may have thought that was where she was supposed to go since there was an ashtray there and none in the room.

 

Other than that, nothing out of the ordinary.

[Vehorn]

We did book this cruise for Thanksgiving because it was economical and we could drive from Virginia to Charleston. The next time we book it though will be cause we had a wonderful experience and thoroughly enjoyed the Majesty. We have been on larger more expensive ships and did not have a better experience. I had read some negative stuff about the ship on other boards and had mixed emotions before departing for the cruise. But there was nothing negative that I experienced. The food was good and in most cases very good. the crew was friendly and the entertainment very good. We can;t wait to get go back.

[Copper_beeches]

in August... the fireworks theatre is non-smoking, as are all the restaraunts (including the pasta cafe, which is th Royal observatory by day, and a great place to eat breakfast when the decks are super crowded)

 

Yes, the Casino is smoky, and lounges that do allow smoking were pretty bad, but I never smelled smoke in a hallway, and most of the "functions/entertainment" are in non-smoking areas. There were a few times on deck that I found myself downwind of a smoker, but to be honest I never figured out where the non-smoking area was, so I might have been in the wrong place.

 

My mother is extremely allergic to smoke, and she wasn't bothered enough to prevent us from booking again.

[bpear1600]

in August... the fireworks theatre is non-smoking, as are all the restaraunts (including the pasta cafe, which is th Royal observatory by day, and a great place to eat breakfast when the decks are super crowded)

 

Yes, the Casino is smoky, and lounges that do allow smoking were pretty bad, but I never smelled smoke in a hallway, and most of the "functions/entertainment" are in non-smoking areas. There were a few times on deck that I found myself downwind of a smoker, but to be honest I never figured out where the non-smoking area was, so I might have been in the wrong place.

 

My mother is extremely allergic to smoke, and she wasn't bothered enough to prevent us from booking again.

 

Maybe socerjim is right? It's only smoky on cruises out of Charleston. :)

[Another Cruise Addict]

One of the downsides for NCL to cruising out of Charleston is that when there aren't enough smokers on board, NCL has to bring in expensive foreign smoke to pump into the lounges and showroom.

[salty dingo]

Actually, due to cutbacks, rather than using the expensive imported smoke, they now just light some old tires on fire. :D

[timrevis]

We smoke and checked on this before leaving. What we were told was evidently true on board: smoking is allowed only in staterooms that are portside - starboard staterooms are non-smoking and, as a courtesy, this is supposed to apply to the upperdeck (10) as well. We only went up top a few times but we noticed that ashtrays were only on the portside tables. When passengers would take them to the starboard side, it wasn't long before a deck steward came back with the ashtray and passenger to the port side. There was no smoking in any entertainment or dining venue - none in the corridors and only in the lounge next to the casino, the casino itself and the port side of the Rendez-vous Bar. The bar at the front of deck 9 was non-smoking as was the bar on the corridor to the Seven Seas dining room. The starboard side of the Rendez-vous Bar was non smoking. Also, they were able to close off part of the starboard side of the bar for private parties. We attended a private party there and it was non-smoking even though it was closed off so I would say they adhered to the rule pretty well. We went to another party in the boardroom which is on port side - smoking was allowed here depending on whether or not the host requested ashtrays.

 

That being said: whether or not you have fun on this boat would be very much dependent on your capability to have fun in public in general. For some reason, the passenger population on this boat was all over the board and it took everyone about two days to sort themselves out but they did, as people do, and after a couple of days everyone seems to have found their places and their groups and settled in to having their interpretation of a good time. Everyone I had a chance to speak with was enjoying themselves to varying degrees. I never heard or overheard anyone claiming they were in traveler's hell even when inclimate weather or rough seas turned up for a period of time. I overheard some people who were scheduled for shore excursion mention that they had been cancelled due to weather but they had a sort of c'est la vie attitude about it. If you're this type of person you would have fun on the Majesty, just as you would have fun at the Savoy Hotel in London or sitting by the road with a flat tire waiting for a tow truck. Some people just know how to enjoy themselves and some don't and venues have a limited ability to alter or embellish this.

[erv bontrager]

if you enjoy everything being thorougly mediocre, please take this cruise ship. Food was at times excellent (dinner meat entries), at times incredibly mediocre or poor; the art displayed on the hallway passages was grotesque, vulgar and offensive (I do appreciate GOOD art); the reading room books (lots of them) were locked up and unavailable 95% of the time (so why have them at all?); embarking from start to finish was a sloppy mess, with demarkation not much better; drinks at breakfast are very small, drinks the rest of the time (unless you want to pay mint prices) for soft drinks, alcololic drinks and fruit drinks are exorbitantly priced; the walking deck (because of a ragtag hodgepodge collection of lifeboats) is litered with lifeboat paraphernalia; we resented the arbitrary imposition of $10/per day/person on our onboard ship card to [supposedly] be distributed equitably to all service personnal on board - we would rather make that choice ourselves; the ship has no movie theatre at all; the fitness room and the weights room were adequate - no problem; the Key West "stop" was an absolute farce. Overall, it was a thoroughly mediocre quality experience.

As my wife so capably stated, "It's a 5th-rate cruise for people with little class who expect little and get it, essentially people who want to go on a cruise but really can't afford it."

[WaldosPepper]

if you enjoy everything being thorougly mediocre, please take this cruise ship. ...

 

As my wife so capably stated, "It's a 5th-rate cruise for people with little class who expect little and get it, essentially people who want to go on a cruise but really can't afford it."

I beg your pardon?

 

People with little class? People who really can't afford it?

 

I respectfully reserve the right to disagree with you and your wife.

 

Furthermore, your bold passing of judgement on the "Class" of passengers does not speak well.

 

I'm sorry you did not enjoy your experience aboard the Majesty. Perhaps you and your wife are more suited to the ResidenSea. ;)

[98Charlie]

Hey Waldo

 

Aooooooga, Aooooooga, Troll alert!! All hands man your trolling stations.

 

erv just registered today to make one post. Having said that we will now hear how s/he has been lurking for many weeks/months/years and never felt the need to comment until someone said that they like the Majesty.

 

The comments will then continue regarding the many high quality cruises that s/he has taken on this line and that line.

 

Now, I could be wrong but to me it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and sounds like a duck.

 

Some Points:

• The food was IMO good to excellent.
  
• I am not an art critic but I did not find anything grotesque, vulgar and offensive.
  
• The library is locked most of the time. Bring a book. I'm not sure how many people take a cruise based on the quality of the library.
  
• I don't know about other weeks but we were processed swiftly both for embarkation and debarkation.
  
• Juice at breakfast was served in a juice glass. Ask for another or ask for a large glass.
  
• Drinks throughout the day were priced about the same as on every other mainstream cruise line.
  
• Yes the lifeboats and all materials required by the Coast Guard are kept where they are supposed to be.
  
• The $10 per person per day auto tip has been in place on NCL for a number of years. It was in your documentation. If you booked online it was mentioned. If you booked through a TA they should have explained it.
  
• Correct, there is no movie theater. ("Hey Honey, let's take a cruise. I feel like watching a movie.")
  
• Key West - Hey! They turned out the lights! Oh yea, that was the Key West Sunset. Maybe not one of the seven wonders of the world. But, a magnificent sight none the less. Then followed by some conch fritters and a cold beer at a small restaurant. Not my definition of a farce, sorry.
  

Charlie

[WaldosPepper]

Thank you, Charlie! I do feel much better now. I started feeling better the moment I started reading your description of the old siren - and laughed myself silly. That was beautiful. :D I laughed even harder at the Hey Honey remark. Thanks for the laughs. Apparently I needed that!!!!! :p

 

I'm in 100% agreement with your entire statement.

 

Happy cruising!

 

P.S. I'm Pepper ... Waldo's Pepper. Hubby is Waldo. I know, it's confusing. Long story.