Norwegian Cruise Line
Norwegian Majesty Cruise Review
Western Caribbean

George Topping

We had been on NCL a few times before, it is not my favorite cruise line, but we live in Charleston, and wanted a cruise over Christmas that was affordable and not a long car drive. Our party consisted of my wife and I and two daughters, 24 and 13 years old. We all have fairly wide cruising experience

We had read several negative reviews about this particular cruise, and were prepared to overlook a lot of problems but, up until the last day, we were actually quite pleased with the trip (I’ll describe the last-day mechanical problems later)

I thought embarkation was pretty smooth. Charleston has better (i.e., tighter) security than the other ports we have been to – this is probably because it is also a very major freight port. There was little waiting to get on board, and all went smoothly.

The first two days were planned to be at-sea, so we had a lot of time to loaf on the ship.

A couple of comments; The food was good – we ate in the Seven Seas dining room each night and had most breakfasts there. too. The ‘freestyle’ dining lets you choose when you want to eat. This has some good points regards flexibility, and a separate table for your party only (however, I sometimes like the experience of sitting at a big table with others) The service is good, but slower than in typical ship dining, where they have to rush you out for the next seating. Plan when you want to eat – If you arrive there about 45 min after opening on an ‘at-sea’ day, you may have a long (45 min) wait – just like a restaurant.

The ship’s amenities seemed OK for a small ship. As others have noted, the theater is too small for really big production shows, but they did a pretty god job on a “Salute to Favorite Cities” show. The “Broadway Review” was less good.

They have an art auction program like other lines, but it was not as good as on the other lines (Princess/Carnival have the best art)

Our 12 year old was reluctant to try the kid’s club, but when she did, she had a good time and wished she had started going there earlier in the trip

I was pleased to see hand sanitizing stations all over the place – no one got sick as far as I know.

We were unable to tender into Grand Cayman, because of bad winds, so we missed that stop.

When we got to Cozumel (a little early, after skipping Cayman), we went to Chinkuaba (sp?) park, which is a $10 cab ride – they have good snorkeling, etc – when we got there someone told us the beach was closed due to high winds. We continued in the taxi to Paradise Beach. This is a private beach with free use of umbrellas and chairs, but there is a $10 minimum you have to spend of food and drinks – this is a very good deal. They also have cool water toys to play on for a nominal daily charge. We stayed all day and had a good time, and did some shopping downtown.

The stop in Key West was in the evening, and was probably the best part of the trip-- we were there in the evening and saw the street performers and other nightlife – If you like a sort of wild good time – this is the place to go.

Everything was good until the last day – while returning to Charleston about noon Fri, they had problems with the electricity. We were stopped dead, while they made some fixes – at first, the ship had almost no power, and then it finally came back on, but without Air Conditioning. Also, when they restarted the engines, we were on the top deck near the funnel (smokestack) and a few hot cinders came out and stung us. We never got A/C back until we were tied up in Charleston – it was very hot and uncomfortable – I can’t imagine what it would have been like in the summer.

In summary, for six days we had a good time – the last day sort of stunk. I would consider going on NCL again only if they get their maintenance act together (This same ship had other mechanical problems earlier in the year)