charliedalrymple

Hear, hear! In my post-cruise survey for our holiday cruise, I said that crew members should be empowered to intervene with parents when their children are misbehaving. It seems that they are currently unwilling or unable to do so.

Count me among them. We just returned from a holiday cruise on Majestic and it was crawling with loud, ill-behaved children. Never again.

We never tried on the portals. I would also note that there seems to be a time lag of a few minutes, which means you can go looking for someone according to the app but they have already moved on. (That was particularly an issue in the buffet.)

We just had it on Majestic. However, it seemed to freeze or not respond about a third of the time.

I brought my own on Majestic (which I do whenever I travel) and found that I didn't need it because they had all varieties of sweetener. However, better to be prepared.

Hi, Sue. The following is from my "semi-live" blog from the cruise, which I'd urge you to read! 🙂 _______________ A quick note about gluten-free options on board, which several people have asked about. (I am coeliac, so this matters to me.) I have found them very limited in the buffet. There is a gluten-free station at breakfast that features wheat toast, raisin bread and either pancakes or french toast. It is the first station after one of the entrances, so many people take those items (probably not realising they are gluten-free). As a result, it is often out of one or more items. The gluten-free dessert options in the buffet are limited to two types of muffins and Jello. Rather disappointing, although the chocolate chip ones are quite good. There are no specifically gluten-free options in the International Cafe, although a couple of things are naturally gluten free (such as chocolate mousse). Somebody mentioned at one point that one or more of the elaborate layer cakes were gluten-free, but that's not the case on our cruise. They are very good about catering to coeliacs in the MDR and let me order from the next day's menu in advance. They seem to know what I've ordered even if we sit in a different dining room, so the system seems to work. Unfortunately, the gluten-free bread in the MDR is basically just white toast, which is not terribly appealing. Overall, I wouldn't rate the gluten-free options on Majestic very highly.

I just wanted to talk a bit about our recent experience with Voice of the Ocean on Majestic to NZ over Christmas. It was the first time we had this on a cruise, and it was great fun. I'd encourage everyone to go and watch it. I initially did not plan on attending because I was expecting mediocre or even cringe-worthy singing (and in fact both were present). However, someone I had met on the ship was in the finals and I agreed to go to support her. There were two quite good singers, two meh, and two really bad. However, the host (our fantastic cruise director Nikki) and the judges were incredibly funny and kept things moving at a lively pace. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the show in spite of the singing.

Same. They had it on Majestic on our Christmas NZ cruise last month. I had never seen it before and watched from one of the upper levels. The host made it lots of fun and everyone seemed to enjoy it. I would note that it was mostly children who participated.

I'm loving your semi-live reports so far! It's very descriptive and I can really picture being there. Your candor is great and I love your cheekiness. Looking forward to the rest! We are considering a first VV cruise after a very unpleasant holiday cruise on Princess featuring several thousand shrieking children running amok (or at least that's how it felt).

Thanks for a well-written and objective review. My favourite part is that the first comment for the App is "hoo-boy!" 😂 The "bells and whistles" comment interests me and I'd like to know what you mean. I consider Princess quite bell-and-whistley, and we were actually saying after our 2023 Christmas cruise we would like a more subdued ship without the non-stop action of Princess. Which cruise lines do you think have even more bells and whistles?

You get a great view of the city from atop the ski jump--although there are quite a few stairs to reach it. I recommend doing it if you are able. I would also recommend the sculpture park, which is bit out of the centre, if memory serves. Generally speaking, Oslo is a very walkable city.

Indeed he did! 😁

Even the time we take for cruises during the holidays is counted as annual leave--so we tend to use all of it during school breaks.

I couldn't agree more. Unfortunately, DH is a teacher and we are tied to school holidays for the time being. That will change when we retire!

I intend to spend a long time on it today. I think we all need to speak up about the noise levels, which would be an easy fix if enough people complain. Do you happen to recognise me from the ship after seeing my photos?

I just received it via email!

Thanks, NZRainbow. I asked someone on board whether he was NZRainbow, but it turns out I was mistaken--so your identity remains a mystery. We honestly didn't experience the service issues you describe, but I agree with everything else you say as well. We found the buffet unbearable in all types of weather. So sorry to hear that. We were aware of quite a few COVID cases. I think the leadership team on board should have acknowledged that and urged everyone to take precautions. Fortunately, we escaped unscathed so far.

We had it on the last night (which happened to be just last night) of our NZ cruise. It was wonderful, but I totally agree with ordering it medium! I got medium rare and it was too red for my tastes.

January 4 - SEA DAY I feel the overall mood of the passengers slumping a bit by now after the festivities of Christmas and New Year's Eve, which is not helped by the fact that so many people are sick. Our final day was unremarkable except for two culinary highlights: - Beautiful chilled prawns in the buffet at lunch! These were real cocktail shrimp, not the limp little creatures they advertise as shrimp cocktail on the dinner menu. Quite a treat! - Prime rib at dinner, with lots of jus and horseradish! Yum! Another unexpected treat. (Yes, they did have the parade of Baked Alaska, but I just find it a bit silly after seeing it many times. I will say that most of the diners were loving it and waving their napkins with abandon.) The farewell variety show was pretty lame, and I was a bit sorry I squatted in a prime seat 45 minutes in advance for it. However, I had a very interesting conversation with the woman next to me, whom I had not met before on the cruise. The only real highlight was the return of the opera singer from Sydney. So, let's review, shall we? Here is my highly subjective list of the pros and cons of this cruise. PROS Almost everything, really. Great service, excellent food in the MDR and even in the buffet (despite chaos), amazing production shows, guest performers, and incidental music, fantastic events and ambiance for Christmas and New Year's Eve, lovely ship. CONS Only two, but they are significant ones: - Noise, literally everywhere. All music was too loud, and everything that happened in the piazza made it impossible to enjoy any venue adjacent to it--which is almost all of the bars. - Children. We learned that children sailed free on this holiday cruise, which explained a lot. Now, let me clear that I am not anti-children, but I am definitely anti-ill-behaved children, which applied to nearly all of the little darlings on this cruise. I blame the parents for not controlling them, and I also wish the crew were empowered to enforce order when the parents won't. The two above issues mean that we are likely going to try one of the higher-end cruise lines with smaller ships next time to see whether it makes a difference. Recommendations welcome! And to close out my post, let me add a few photos (which I wasn't able to do during the cruise for some reason). They are, in order: - My first frozen margarita (of many), moments after boarding. - DH and I at Rudi's enjoying the sushi lunch special. It looks a bit odd because the chef in the kitchen took the photo through the plexiglass screen. - Me at balcony dinner. - DH at balcony dinner. - Sail-away with the couple who cruised with us. - DH and I on New Year's Eve. - Adrian, our favourite server in the Crown Grill Bar. He made sure I was never without a frozen margarita for more than five minutes for the entire cruise.

January 3 - SEA DAY Not much new to report aside from the AMAZING production show, Encore! This was definitely my favourite of the four, and I enjoyed the 7:30 show so much that I went again at 9:30. It's a more traditional, elegant show with classical elements. The obvious highlight was a guest opera singer from the Sydney Opera who performed, among other things, a flawless rendition of the Queen of the Night aria from the Magic Flute. She was definitely an audience favourite. I do need to mention, however, that all four of the lead singers are exceptionally good, and each of them had the chance to show off their vocal prowess during a featured solo in Encore. I was particularly impressed by Vicki, the singer from China who did not speak English when she went to the United States at the urging of her voice teacher in China so she could pursue a career in musical theatre. I submitted a "crew appreciation" note to the front desk praising Nikki, the adorable Cruise Director. She actually called our cabin to thank me personally for it, saying that most of the feedback they get is negative and that very few passengers take the time to recognise good performance. I find that rather sad. The amount of hacking and coughing around the ship increases every day, and there seem to be fewer people out and about--either because they are sick or just getting a bit weary of the constant sensory overload around the ship. The incessant din from the Piazza is out of control. I really wish there were other venues for all the inane activities currently being staged in the Piazza so that one could actually have a conversation while sitting there. I don't know whether I'm just older and crankier, but the noise level on this cruise seems much worse than ever before. Note to self: When I have mobility issues and go on a cruise later in life, I will remember that there are people behind me who walk more quickly. I will not walk arm-in-arm with my beloved in the middle of a hallway and prevent everyone else from passing.

We are indeed--and this is an awesome cruise! Best production shows I've seen on any cruise line.

Alas, they were not--but lovely nonetheless.

We are loyal to Princess because they generally offer the best price for the itineraries we want. We've never had a perfect cruise (though Alaska came close) but have enjoyed all of them.

We're tipping in Australian dollars since that is the onboard currency and we are round-trip from Sydney. Does your cruise originate in Sydney? I think the crew would be thrilled with tips in any currency, since they aren't common in Australia.

January 2 - AT SEA I simply can't bear the chaos and cacophony of the buffet at breakfast any more, so we tried the MDR for breakfast for the first time. Breakfast finishes at 9:00 and we arrived at 8:50. Our server was clearly annoyed that we had dared to arrive so close to closing time and let us know it by being surly and rude. I just commented yesterday on the great service on board, and this was the first time we experienced a crew member with such a negative attitude. Today was all about scenic cruising in the sounds, and it was spectacular as anticipated. The weather was a bit overcast, but that actually added to the experience. The low-lying clouds clinging to the hills made for a moody and dramatic view. We stayed on our balcony and thought it was the perfect spot from which to observe the scenery. It was Italian night in the MDR and for me the most disappointing dinner of the journey so far. I had barramundi with "smokey aubergine sauce." The fish was dry and a bit tough, and the sauce was barely noticeable. Still, one disappointing meal among so many good ones is a pretty good track record. I haven't mentioned my frozen margarita fetish in a while, for the simple reason that our drinking has steadily decreased as the cruise progresses. At first I felt pressure to get my money's worth from the Plus package, and as a result I was drinking more than I really wanted to (or should). For that reason, I don't think I would go with Plus in the future. That's just me, and I don't want to open a pandora's box of cost/benefit arguments. You do you. A quick note about the clueless, annoying adults and shrieking children I mentioned earlier. People from certain countries tend to be much more irritating than others, and I have to assume that is due to cultural differences more than individual personalities. I'm not going to get any more specific than that. Two more sea days to go!