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heelfan94
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| Joined: | Sat Jul 21st, 2007 |
| Location: | Mountains Of NC |
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Posted: Sun Feb 24th, 2008 01:01 am | 1st Post |
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Majesty Cruise
February 16-23, 2008
This is my account of the Majesty sailing Feb. 16-23, 2008. As some background, this is our sixth cruise and our fifth with NCL. The other cruise was with Disney.
We spent the night before our cruise at the Courtyard Marriott in North Charleston. It was fine, and close to restaurants and a great outlet mall. I found out by phone that my daughter was sick (just a bad cold and cough) so that put a quick damper on my mood. To balance it out she was voted the Valentine Sweetheart in her grade at the middle school dance the night before. Life is funny that way. I also found out by voice mail message that my son had his cell phone taken away at school on Friday (he had it out in class, so I understand) and that his teacher had grounded him from it for the weekend. Okay, now we have a problem. I called to tell her that I was on my way out of the country on a cruise ship, and that I needed him to have the cell phone to keep in touch. She tracked him down that afternoon (he was with my father) and took the phone back to him. I explained that I understood if he couldn't have the phone at school next week. Okay, so that's our run of rotten luck for this week. On to better things!
GETTING TO THE SHIP
We were one of two unlucky groups of people who weren't allowed to park in the warehouse adjacent to the terminal. Instead, we parked a few miles (I'm guessing on this) away where they had us pull up in rows and the vehicles were left outside. Not crazy about this. The $110 vehicle storage fee has always seemed a good deal because the cars are locked up inside for the week. After we parked it was over to a little spot where everyone was standing with their carryon bags. There was no organization when we were there. We got in the car line at 11:15 and it was 12:30 when we got back to the terminal. To me it was a little crazy, but our shuttle bus driver said that BMW (new cars rolling off the assembly line) had first rights to the warehouse parking and that this only happens a couple of times. But I digress. We parked and got on the shuttle bus. The distance back to the port wasn't great but anyone who has sailed out of Charleston knows that traffic is a nightmare. About 5 minutes into the ride over to the terminal one person announced that he left a bag at the pick up spot. He asked the driver if he would go back. The driver (to his credit) said he would have to let everyone vote on it. If we all said yes, he would turn around. Otherwise he was going to drop all of us off and then take him back. The passenger then said, "Well, if it's even still there when I get back." At that point someone said, "We have to let him go back in case it's stolen." So we turned around and headed back. Once there he told us he actually left the small bag in his locked car. Okay, that's a different story from leaving it out in the open for someone to take. Turns out he had a small drawstring bag with his bathing suit in it. At that point everyone was a little ticked off because we all felt like he could have let us go on to the terminal and then go back to his car. So an hour and fifteen minutes after we pulled into the car line we finally made it to the terminal for check in.
EMBARKATION
No one was in the Latitudes line when we got to the terminal (everyone was trying to get on a shuttle bus, so that makes sense ), so we had no wait at all. Once on board the cabins weren't ready yet (although we snuck in and dropped our carry-ons off in our cabin since it was ready). After lunch I made our Le Bistro reservation at the desk in Crossroads.
THE SHIP
The Majesty is just as we left her. Great crew, lots of fun and easy deck plans. This being our third Majesty cruise I felt right at home. I noticed a crane over next to the terminal not long after we boarded. Some work had to be done to the ship and our sail away was delayed a little over an hour. I don't know where to add the part about the kids on our sailing. For the most part all children were well behaved and fun to be around. A young boy (11, maybe?) even held the door for me one day while his friends ran ahead. Someone is doing a good job with him! There was a group of mixed ages that seemed to be very loud and always running and rough housing all over the ship. I have no idea where their parents were. Sun chairs are a problem on the Majesty. I don't like reserving them ahead of time, so the first sea day (Sunday) we were left without a place in the sun. The next sea day (Monday) I went out on deck 8 aft at 8 am and put towels on two chairs, had breakfast, then went out around 8:45. We left our stuff while we had lunch, then back outside. When we left that time I took everything with me. It's the only day I did that. There was an altercation right in front of us when two ladies moved someone's stuff so they could sunbathe. Of course the couple showed up right after they moved it. They hadn't been there in a couple of hours so I can see both sides. Normally I don't like reserving them, but there are so few on the Majesty that you have to be a little aggressive. Anyway, after they had a few words it settled back down.
THE STATEROOM
Okay, our first Majesty cruise we had a CC cabin. Our next cruise we had an AB Suite. This cruise we had an E cabin. I thought the CC was small! This one is tiny. I knew that going in but seeing it for the first time is still a little bit of a shock. Once in and settled the cabin was fine. Our cabin # was 897. I noticed a Cruise Critic magnet down the hall from us. I hope you all had a great time! Two light blue pool towels were in our cabin that need to be here when we disembark, and you can also sign the blue and white striped towels out on the pool deck. Our room stewardess this time (Lorna) is the best one ever, and we've had some really good ones along the way. She called us by name before we even introduced ourselves. She brought in a refrigerator without being asked (champagne that we didn't drink on the first day), showed up at my cabin one late morning to explain she couldn't vacuum because I had my camera batteries charging in the only outlet and made cute towel animals for us. I'm trying to figure out if she can come back home with me. We had a note on our door on Monday afternoon saying our carpet wasn't up to NCL's standard, and it needed to be replaced. We were supposed to call and let Reception know when would be a good time. I called Tuesday morning when we were leaving for Grand Cayman on the tender. When we came back a few hours later nothing was done. We went to a late lunch and came back and our beds, dresser, desk, refrigerator....everything was out in the hall and they were working. It took about an hour and it was really nice to have brand new carpet.
FOOD
In general the food was a problem on my cruise. Sunday, aka Lobster Night, aka Dress Up Night was okay. I don't eat lobster so I always get the Beef Wellington. The beef wasn't tenderloin. I'm not sure what the cut was. It was so so. This is our third cruise with the same menus so maybe I'm too critical. Anyway, the lobster was apparently fine. For dessert I ordered Chocolate Mousse Cake, from the Cooking Light section. It was a flourless chocolate cake - very dense and certainly not cooking light in any way. It was super rich and I only ate two bites. It was delicious, just not what I ordered. I think they were out of the mousse cake. I've had it on two other cruises and it was excellent and hard to think of as "light" fare. The highlight of the Lobster night menu was the spring roll appetizer. It was yummy. Le Bistro was good on Monday evening. I always have the Filet/short rib entree and it was good. I only had the mushroom soup to go with it, and chocolate mousse for dessert. I had a problem with the mousse. It was spongy instead of fluffy. It was a problem on the Majesty one time before. Tuesday evening I had the coq au vin and it was okay.
Overall quality and presentation were the main issues for me. By the last two days there was no more individual butter. It was cut up from blocks in the chilled bowls. Nothing wrong with that, but it just amplified my opinion of the food service overall. The buffet (Café Royale) was not good at all. The stations (pasta, stir-fry and deli) were very good, I thought.
ENTERTAINMENT
The first night was Can't Stop the Beat, a great singer but I can't remember his name and a short comedy routine. The second night was comedian John Pinney who performed in the Royal Fireworks lounge. My favorite night of entertainment was the Skinny German Juggler (that's not the exact name). He was hilarious.
DISEMBARKATION
There is a table set up on deck 5 to pick your color luggage tags for Saturday morning. I've never seen this on an NCL ship before. You can also choose Express, which was heavily pushed on our group. You just take the tags you want with the corresponding time to leave. I picked yellow which was scheduled to depart at 9:30 am. No one checks your time or asks you to fill anything out unless you choose Express. We were ready about fifteen minutes early and decided to try our luck with leaving before our color was called. It was no problem at all, even though we were told the day before that our luggage wouldn't be ready before our time. Off the ship with no problems and outside to wait on the shuttle. We got one right away. There was a long wait to unload back at the distant parking lot, though. It was an unorganized mess. Parking was a real issue for us.
OUR RATING
3.5 out of 5. This cruise is a great bargain and it is wise to keep the price you paid in mind. I love the Majesty and would sail her again any time.
Last edited on Sun Feb 24th, 2008 01:04 am by heelfan94
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NCL Majesty 2/08, NCL Dream 1/07, NCL Majesty 12/06, NCL Sun 1/06, NCL Majesty 2/05, Disney Wonder 1/04
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hstrybuf
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| Joined: | Sat Jun 17th, 2006 |
| Location: | Kansas |
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Posted: Sun Feb 24th, 2008 01:09 am | 2nd Post |
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| I'm beginning to read more and more problems with the food quality on ships. Thanks for taking the time to post a review!
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Deb
"In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
My pics: http://community.webshots.com/user/hstrycrsr
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heelfan94
Cruiser
| Joined: | Sat Jul 21st, 2007 |
| Location: | Mountains Of NC |
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Posted: Sun Feb 24th, 2008 01:12 am | 3rd Post |
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hstrybuf wrote: I'm beginning to read more and more problems with the food quality on ships. Thanks for taking the time to post a review!
The food has always been good to great on my other four NCL cruises. Maybe it's just the Majesty and maybe I caught them on an off week. I hope so. 
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NCL Majesty 2/08, NCL Dream 1/07, NCL Majesty 12/06, NCL Sun 1/06, NCL Majesty 2/05, Disney Wonder 1/04
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