Majesty 9/6/08 - Days 3 and 4

[KatWag]

Day 3 – First Day on Bermuda

 

We both love Bermuda. We honeymooned there 25 years ago and had only been back once before (about 3 years ago on a Regent cruise out of NY).

 

The Captain made up some time and we got to Bermuda only slightly late. I think a lot of folks were very grateful. We spoke to a number of people who had gotten sea sick on the way over. Hanna definitely roiled things up for us. A few days later we would have breakfast with a couple who told us of two honeymooners who actually left the ship to fly home.

 

DH and I headed up to the Royal Observatory around noon – ended up being a great choice. We were able to relax with a snack and the most amazing view. Saw the pilot boat heading in and were able to watch it dropping off the pilot. Then we were off toward the “cut”. Definitely be either on deck on the starboard side or up in a spot like the Royal Observatory on your way into St. George’s – it really is amazing to see your ship make it through such a small area. The town crier was at Gates Fort welcoming us to Bermuda, along with a number of other folks. We all waved back madly, happy to be almost at Bermuda.

 

We were originally scheduled for Majesty’s “normal” spot on Ordinance Island. There was a ship having engine problems which couldn’t navigate the cut so they put that ship into the Ordinance Island slot and moved us over to Penno’s Wharf. The Captain told us later at the Latitudes party that he jumped at the opportunity since he periodically has to do Coast Guard mandated lifeboat drills on the port side and this gave him the opportunity to do it. He told us that one passenger mentioned to him that he had watched the webcam for months before deliberately booking his room on the port side of the vessel so he would have the town view. And lost it in an instant when we moved. The next day, we found out that was our friend Tim!

 

I think most of us would have preferred the original spot, it’s more scenic. But we managed fine – it’s just a slightly longer walk into town. And being docked on the Starboard side gave the coffee bar and the port side of the vessel the most phenomenal view across the water. It was really breathtaking. DH and I faced town. There are actually two small shops there which we may not have seen if we’d been at the original location. One is run by a woman and her daughter. The daughter is a talented artist and does hand painting of a number of items. They also make jewelry from sea glass. I bought a bracelet – very unusual. Believe it or not, we never made it into the Heritage Center – I should have done it the very first day. It was only open from 10 to 4 so it was usually closed when we passed it.

 

After we docked, first stop was the café and visitor’s center to buy our bus and ferry passes. Then up the stairs to wait for the bus to the caves. The bus poles are quite different today from what we saw only three years ago. The pink and blue poles are fluorescent now, not the older painted poles we were used to.

 

Waiting for the bus, we met a couple from the ship who had honeymooned at the Hamilton Princess 29 years ago that day. They were heading into Hamilton and planned to go to the Princess to look around and to have a drink in honor of their Anniversary.

 

The person at the café had told us to take any bus heading toward Hamilton so we jumped on the first one. Had a short walk up to the caves, but it was well worth not waiting for the bus which goes directly there. Thanks to some other posters on CC, we did both caves. Enjoyed Crystal Cave, but DH and I both felt that Fantasy Cave had the more interesting formations. Great guide in Fantasy cave as well.

 

Naturally, following our trip to the caves, we had to stop at the Swizzle Inn. Nice outdoor area upstairs – enjoyed a half pitcher of rum swizzles and burgers before heading back to St. George’s. Spent some time wandering around St. George’s before heading back to the ship. Definitely a charming town, but everything closes up pretty early. I had read in the guidebook that Gates Fort was a short walk from town so we headed over there. Let’s just say that the guidebook and I have different ideas of the definition of short walk. (Although I think the heat and humidity level had an impact as well). We finally got there and walked out to where the town crier had been during our trip through the cut. We went upstairs and had a great view of the St. David’s area. And I displayed my total lack of geographical knowledge by saying that North Carolina was straight ahead. DH gives me a look and says…. “More like the Azores and Africa”. So much for my sense of direction. So we headed back to the ship, heading straight into the setting sun. By the time we got back to the ship I was desperate for a shower and a cool drink.

 

Ted Holum was the comedian for the evening shows. We always enjoy the comedy shows and his was OK. I would change one thing though. He does a few gay jokes which I didn’t appreciate. Given the fact that there were several Friends of Dorothy parties while we were onboard I thought it was in really poor taste for the onboard comedian to be telling gay jokes during the cruise. I was surprised that John (the CD) didn’t put a stop to it the first time he heard it, actually.

 

Day 4 – Second Day on Bermuda

 

Dockyard day – first ferry to the dockyard leaves St. George’s at 10AM and we were on it. Only about a 40 minute ride. These ferries are great. Snack bar, restrooms, air conditioning, comfortable seats – can’t beat them. Wish I could commute to Philly on something like that rather than SEPTA. I’d made notes from the guidebook of everything we wanted to see and do. Fortunately, we’d done the museums the prior trip. Tasted the rum cakes and decided which ones we wanted to take home. Definitely try the Rum Swizzle one – excellent! Rather than cart them around, we decided to come back before taking the last ferry back to St. George’s. (And of course we forgot to go back …)

 

We’d never been in the clay works before and both of us loved two of the patterns they have. Seemed like a great souvenir so we placed an order and it’ll be shipped to us in about eight weeks or so. The dishes are a summery pattern (Summer Lemon) so I likely won’t use them much in a PA winter, but they’ll be great when spring finally arrives. I’ll need a little taste of summer by then.

 

After working our way through the rest of the shops we tried the Frog and Onion for lunch and had a blast. Ran into a bunch of folks from the ship here, including Tim and Patricia. Lots of fun drinks in souvenir glasses. And they do it well. After you finish they give you a ticket for the gift shop where you can pick up your clean, paper-wrapped glasses to take home. DH had a burger and I tried their Hamburger pizza – very good in both cases.

 

We did get the restaurant booklet NCL puts out. A number of the local restaurants do have special deals. Unfortunately, the three restaurants we patronized over our trip weren’t among them. I’m guessing that’s because all of them have a pretty good tourist following already and don’t need to do anything extra.

 

As we were waiting to board the ferry back to St. Georges we saw lots of folks coming off heading for the Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas, docked at the Dockyard pier. I think they were on a five night cruise – not much time on Bermuda in that schedule. Someone on the ferry told me they were leaving Bermuda that day at 4PM to head home.

 

Back to the ship in plenty of time for the St. George’s Harbour Night. We stopped into the Dockyard Glass outpost in St. George’s to buy the rum cakes we forgot to go back for at their main location. Wouldn’t you know it? They had all the flavors except the one we wanted most, Rum Swizzle. That was only available in the largest size. I don’t know about the rest of you, but if I open the largest size, we’ll eat the largest size, calories be darned. So we were hoping for the smaller sized cakes.

 

When we asked about it, they told us the delivery was expected before the ship left so we bought the other flavors and headed back to the ship.

 

I think we really messed up the Harbor Nights Celebration by not docking at the usual spot. The DJ commented on it several times, asking people to let others know about the event when they went back onboard. (Apparently they are usually in sight of the ship and that encourages folks to pop over for a bit.) We watched the town crier overseeing the dunking of the nagging wench. The girl who played the wench was terrific – really got into it and funny. One of the passengers on our ship was from Iceland and he played the town drunkard – great sense of humor. And the town crier recruited about 4 guys to do the actual dunking. They were definitely enjoying their work and the wench got dunked repeatedly. The way they kept dropping that chair though? I figure the wench needed a chiropractor the next day!

 

We had expected that the shops would remain open late that night but very few did (A.S. Coopers and Carole Holding were the main ones which stayed open later that we saw. Check out Carole Holding for her strawberry flavored rum cakes – we brought a few back as thank you gifts for folks at work). We wandered into a few shops, checked out the stalls in the town square and then wandered our way back to the ship. The vendors at the stalls had some really nice items to bring back as souvenirs.

 

Tried the buffet for a late dinner. As I mentioned before, this is one area that I think NCL needs some additional work. The new stations they’ve added are great. But the table situation doesn’t match up to it. In this case, someone had a really nice idea of putting white tablecloths and candles on the tables at the buffet at night. The only problem is: the tablecloths get covered with stains and they don’t change them. So folks avoid those tables and gravitate to the few with no tablecloths. The idea is great; the execution needs some work. DH discovered the pasta station and really enjoyed it – pasta made-to-order. I tried a bit and it really was good. The new “made-to-order station” idea implemented with 2.0 is definitely a plus.

 

The show that night was Chantz Powell. We’d seen him at the opening show the first night. What a talented young man. Unfortunately, we were too late for either of the shows this night and didn’t see his full show. He’s only 21 but sings, plays the trumpet, dances.

[Cosmopolitan]

KatWag~ What a great, informative review. I am enjoying every word.

We've never cruised on the Majesty but it sounds wonderful:)

 

Oh, how I love Bermuda;)

[Philly Steve]

Glad to hear the relocation of the ship worked out well for you. :)

 

We will definitely try to see the dunking this cruise, along with a stop at the Frog&Onion.

 

Too bad about the comic. Maybe he did a test joke, got some laughs, then went deeper into his material?

 

Looking forward to more of your review.

[maryln]

Glad to hear the relocation of the ship worked out well for you. :)

 

We will definitely try to see the dunking this cruise, along with a stop at the Frog&Onion.

 

Too bad about the comic. Maybe he did a test joke, got some laughs, then went deeper into his material?

 

Looking forward to more of your review.

Philly Steve, Days 5 & 6 are on page 2 as of this morning. Enjoy your cruise! :D

[jacksonvar]

Great review. I'm leaving on the 27th and would love to read the entire review. Where are days 1 and 2?

 

I'm getting sooooo excited!!:D

 

Thanks.

[KatWag]

Thanks, everyone. It was fun writing the review - it let me relive our trip. :)

 

I'm with you, Cosmopolitan - I'm a huge fan of Bermuda.

 

You'll enjoy the Frog and Onion, PhillySteve. We had a blast and I think 25% of the room was folks from our ship. DH recommends the onion rings if you like those - they allow you to pay a bit extra and substitute them for the fries which come with the meal.

 

Jacksonvar - check back a page or two - days 1 and 2 were the first post I made and they've slipped back a bit. Day 7 and debarkation day were posted a few minutes ago.