Majesty review 6-14 (LONG)

[birtdeltasig]

Baltimore Embarkation

Embarkation was rather simple. The Latitudes line moved much slower than the other line. What a joke! Fortunately, the woman who checked us in was very pleasant and engaged us in short, simple conversations to begin our vacation in a positive manner.

 

St. George and Bermuda

Bermuda gets two thumbs up. We will go back!

 

We bought the two day bus pass for $20 per person. I recommend this as it is good for the ferries also. The streets are scary and the busses fly around the islands, but it adds to the experience.

 

St. George is a quaint little town. We were greeted by a cannon shot and the town crier. Making it through the cut was fun to watch. We enjoyed checking out Fort St. Catherine, the Unfinished Church and other sights around the town. We wanted to go to the festival that the town has every Tuesday, but it was cancelled due to possible rain.

 

Hamilton is a much larger city than St. George. It is about a 45 minute bus ride away. The town is full of shops and beautiful parks. We enjoyed the festival that Hamilton haD on Wednesday evening.

 

We did not get much time to experience the Dock Yards. We were not worried as we are already planning to return in the next year or two. We did visit some of the beaches at that end of the islands though. Horseshoe Bay is a popular beach for some reason. It was ok in my book. The better beaches are the ones that are adjacent to Horseshoe Bay. They were less crowded, had less trash, and had a better view.

 

We went to the aquarium near Hamilton. What a cool place. It was only $10 per person to enter. I would say that it is the best bargain in Bermuda. It is an aquarium, zoo, and museum.

 

The Majesty

I was expecting a run down ship, but did not experience that at all. The ship was in great condition for being the age that it is. The crew did some painting one day and I would expect that they constantly try to maintain the boat.

 

Our cabin was extremely small. I was not happy that we ended up with a 108 sf room since NCL's site said our cabin was 145 sf. I wasn't going to let that ruin our vacation though. There was very little storage in our cabin. We barely had room to unpack. We took an electric alarm clock that constantly lost time due to the electricity on the boat...rather odd and funny. It would lose about 1 1/2 hours over the course of the night.

 

The staff were very nice and cordial throughout the trip. We saw the captin walking around the decks and he stopped to talk to us one time. The bar manager also greeted us one evening.

 

We lucked into having the Grey Goose representative on board. They offered the entire boat a free martini tasting!!! :D:D:D Everyone that attended received 2 martinis for free. They told us that the reps go on each NCL boat once a year and offer this.

 

Entertainment was lacking in my opinion. The shows and productions (I probably shouldn't even use the word "productions") were terrible. There were 2 comics that constantly picked on people in the crowd. There were 2 singing and dancing acts, both of which reminded me of a local karoake bar.

 

Food was fine. Service at restaurants took up to 2 hours or more. We ate at all restaurants on board. Le Bistro was quicker than the other dining rooms, but you have to pay for it. We only ate there because we purchased the anniversary package. The last few days, the dining rooms began asking if we wanted to sit alone or with a group. We opted to sit with groups and met some very interesting people. We never had to wait to be seated.

 

Baltimore Disembarkation

This was certainly the quickest and easiest that I have exited the boat and gone through customs. It took me longer to walk from deck 6 to deck 2 than it did to get off the boat and through customs.

 

All in all, the Majesty was fine. Bermuda was excellent.

[*Wink*]

Thanks for your review.. Was your cabin number one of these: 6001, 6002, 6003, 6004, 6005, 6006, 7001 or 7003?

 

Not that it really matters now since Majesty will be gone soon, but it would have behooved NCL to either change the category or make note on these cabins that they are indeed the tiny ones.

 

Your attitude about this is commendable.

 

Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

[birtdeltasig]

Yes, my cabin was 6006. I actually had my TA call NCL to confirm that 6006 was 145 sf. geesh!!! Based on the ship layout, it looked like a smaller room, but I trusted what the NCL rep said.

[*Wink*]

Yes, geesh is right! It's pretty sad that the information to find out about the actual size is on a website that's not connected to NCL at all.

 

I've read posts where folks were livid and understandably so.

 

The difference in size is incredible and in my opinion, can really put a damper on a cruise as some folks enjoy spending time in their cabins.. and expect to get what they've been told their getting, not to mention, paid for.

[Don Haynes]

Keep in mind the Majesty was built for another cruise line NCL bought. She was designed and built in an era before balconies became popular and cabins, much less the ships were smaller. She reflects cruising's past.

 

Despite her modern shortcomings, most reviews of her have been good. She has a great crew similar to the rest of her cruise line....