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Name: Ken & Yvette Williams
Email: kenhw418@aol.com
Age: 30 & 32
Occupation: Sales Rep & Teacher
NumberOfCruises: 2
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Majesty-RoyalMajesty
SailingDate: 4/6/98
Itinerary: Miami, Cozumel, Key West
FoodDiningRoom: 75
CruiseDirector: 75
CabinComfort: 83
FoodRoomService:
CruiseStaff: 80
CabinAmenities: 85
FoodLidoDeck: 80
DiningRoomService: 85
CabinQuietness: 90
FoodMidnightBuffets: 83
CabinSteward: 95
ShoreExcVariety: 78
FoodVariety: 83
DeckService: 85
ShoreExcValue: 70
GoodForHoneymoon: 83
CasinoStaff: 90
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies:
LoungeService: 85
TenderService: 85
GoodForSeniors:
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 75
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities:
EntertShowLounge: 75
OverallPortsofCall: 85
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 83
CruiseActivities: 70
Casino: 88
AirSeaProgram:
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 95
EmbarkDisembark: 88
DiscoNightclubs: 83
DeckSpace: 70
Stabilization: 65
ShopsOnBoard: 80
SpaceRatio: 77
OverallCruiseValue: 87
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 11 Apr 1998
Time: 13:51:44
Remote Name: 152.163.213.112
Remote User:
Comments
My wife and I decided to take this cruise because we got a pretty good price, although my
wife had taken the same itinerary on another cruise line,
Regal. This was my first cruise and I used this database extensively and found that the
reviews for this ship were pretty much accurate. Overall, I
think that the cruise is a very good value, but does not excel in any particular area. I
will try to give some helpful tips that you can use to get the most
out of it.
Ship I have read horror stories about the embarkation and debarkation process, but they
went smoothly. My only advice would be to get at the pier
a little after 1 PM and not before. They check your documents before 1, but you have to
wait in a line to board the ship until then. But after 1, you
should not have to wait. There was a huge line before they let us on, but it moved fairly
quickly once people started to board. During disembarkment,
you have to be out of you cabin at 8:30 AM and have to wait about an hour in a public area
until the ship clears customs, but after that, you can
leave at a good pace.The ship itself was great. It was elegant without being gaudy. There
is a great deal of wood and the public areas have huge
picture windows. The ship has 10 decks with the dining room on 5 and the pool, main
sunning area and buffet on 9. It is easy to find your way
around after a little time on the ship with maps on every deck. It is difficult to find an
available lounge chair in the main sunning deck if you do not get
there early. On the day at sea, it was jammed packed. Try decks 7 or 8 for a spot. We
found a couple of lounge chairs on deck 7, which has the track
on it. We were lucky to have sunny weather for the entire cruise and everyone was out. It
is windy on the top deck so keep your hat on tight. I only
had two complaints about the ship. One was the elevators. Most of the time, there was a
long wait for them. We could not figure out why this was so.
Just be prepared to take the stairs most of the time. Also, the stabilization of the ship
left a lot to be desired. The first day and a half was good, but
the next two nights was horrible. The boat rocked and rolled a lot. And I mean a lot. I am
the type that likes roller coasters and such, but this was too
much. On two nights, my wife and I barely made it through dinner and after dinner , the
rest of the night was wasted lying in bed. The sea-sickness
pills work, but they knock you out. Try those wrist-bands instead of the pills.
Cabin Once again, I read about how small the cabins are, but found our cabin to be
comfortable. We paid for an inside cabin and were to be
assigned our cabin on embarkation day. We got a cabin on the 6th deck, number 6020. We
were lucky because the dining room was on deck 5 and
the casino and show rooms were on our deck. The cabin was not a small as I thought it
would be. Once we unpacked and put the suitcases under
the bed, we had plenty of room. Unfortunately, we had two lower beds which could not be
pushed together. But the cabin was really nice. The
bathroom was small, but again, not super tiny. It had a built-in hairdryer which was nice.
Our cabin steward came by twice a day to tidy up and to
give us fresh towels. He really did a fine job.
Onboard Activities We found that there was not that much to do during the day. If you like
to lay out in the sun and can find a chair, then you were
set. But otherwise, that’s it. They had Bingo, but I would be hard pressed to think
of anything else. At night, though, they had a couple of discos and
shows. The shows were really, really hokey. The performers were good at what they did, but
it seemed like a souped-up, high school production.
One night they had a singer and the coolest thing about him was ,that he was the guy who
sang the ‘Love Boat’ theme song on the show. All the
bars fixed excellent drinks. The casino is good and the dealers there were all really nice
and helpful. There are 3 poker tables, one craps table, one
roulette table, and a whole bunch of slots. They had a wine-and-cheese tasting, but you
had to pay for the wine and the cheese was no more exotic
that cheddar and Swiss. There was also a Captain’s Night reception where we got to
meet the captain and they gave free champagne, but it was on
one the the rough nights at sea and I felt that the captain should be navigating us so it
would not be so rocky instead of posing for pictures, but I
really don’t think that there was much that he could do.
Food The food was one of the major things that I was looking forward to on the cruise. I
guess I can sum up the quality of the food by saying it was
not great, but it was not unedible. It was satisfactory. If the food was being served at a
restaurant in my hometown, I would maybe go back only if I
had a two-for-one coupon. The portions were on the smallish side and it did not stick out
as extraordinary. Maybe semi-bland is a good word. The
buffet was ordinary. We went there twice. Once they had prime rib, which was very rare,
which is how I like it, but nothing for my wife, who likes it at
least medium rare. The main dining room’s food was nothing spectacular. They serve
the sit-down lunch and dinner there. I felt that they had a
decent variety of food on the menu. You have to pay for sodas, but you get water, tea,
and/or coffee. You hear so much about waiters and busboys
becoming you best friends, but we found that ours were friendly and very capable, but its
not like we wanted them to pal around with us, like some
people have written here. As my wife is a picky eater, she did not rate the food as well
as I did. Overall, in regards to the food, I would say it was a
notch or two above mediocre.
Ports We thought the ports were pretty good. The excursions that you can get through the
ship are limiting, meaning that you had to go by their
timetable. All of the ones offered on the ship can be found once you get at the port. We
met another couple onboard, Gene and Renee, who had a
suite on the the 9th deck and they had received an additional informational letter about
other things that you could do in port. One place that they
knew about in Cozumel ,was Chanakaab Lagoon. I wanted to snorkel and my wife wanted to lay
on the beach so it sounded like a great place. We
took an $8 cab ride with them and got there at about 10:30 am. It was the perfect time to
get there as we had our pick of places to claim before the
crowds got there.The water was beautiful. I highly recommend this place! They have places
to rent gear ($5 for snorkeling equipment) and cheap
beer and sodas. After a couple of hours there, we went back to the ship to change and eat
and headed back out. The tender service was good and
there wasn’t that long of a wait to go to and from the ship. Cozumel is so
Americanized that if you want to see the real Mexico, you have to go out of
town a bit. Cozumel has that chintzy Myrtle Beach/Panama City Beach/Orlando touristy feel
to it. There were 8 other ships in port that day and a lot
of people around. Key West is great because the ship docks right in the middle of town.
Key West has more of a personality than Cozumel and,
again , all of the excursions offered on the ship can be easily found close to the pier
for a cheaper price. Stay out during dusk so that you can see
the street perfomers right next to the ship.
I think that Norwegian Majesty 4-day cruise is a great value. If the food had been a
little better, then it would be excellent. As it is, I don’t think that
you will be disappointed if you are prepared for a possible rough ride and don’t
expect the food to be of gourmet quality. Feel free to e-mail should
you have specific questions; I’ll be more than happy to answer them. Happy cruising!!
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