Seven Seas Navigator Mini Review

Seven Seas Navigator – 3 day Sampler Cruise – Rome to Rome – May 2006

The majority of passengers on this voyage were from the UK. My wife and I stayed in the Hilton Hotel in Rome the night before departure, and that hotel can be highly recommended, although it is not in the city centre.

After a long 90 minute taxi drive to Civitavecchia, we arrived at the ship at 1.30pm. We were advised on our tickets that boarding would commence at 2pm. On arrival, the departure lounge was completely deserted and we boarded the ship immediately. Met by a welcome glass of Champagne we were ushered into the dining Room and given our cards. Then shown up to the Grill deck where food was being served around the swimming pool area and Buffet. This whole process took less than 10 minutes. We enjoyed a leisurely lunch in the sun around the pool with the beginning of our continuous excellent service. We had been told that the rooms would not be available until 2.30pm. At that time we went to explore our new home. We had been assigned to suite 700, which was forward on deck 7. Although, it appeared that the rooms were not quite ready for occupation, we were immediately met by our Butler, who introduced himself and spent several minutes explaining the wheres and wherefors of our suite. WE were impressed. A bottle of Laurent Perrier Champagne, several bottles of Sparkiling Wine, four litre bottles of spirits, an excellent bouquet of flowers and a large box of Godiva Truffles. The ipod music system was new to us and took extra tuition. Our cases arrived whilst he was with us. The room was superb, clean and dustfree. Very shortly after this we were introduced to our stewardess, who, also was top notch, efficient and very polite always addressing us by our surnames. The service we receieved by these two persons was top class throughout this short cruise.

Having recently been disappointed with short cruises on the QE2 and Mercury, our expectations were speckled with doubts, as we had felt on these two other cruises that the staff really didn’t try to impress. WE have travelled once before on Crystal, and twice both on Seabourn and Silversea, and thus were able to make sensible comparisons.

After unpacking and exploring and the obligatory Lifeboat drill, it was soon time for the sailaway party held on deck. Again, top marks all round. Music, an introduction from the Cruise Director, hot and cold buffet and plentiful free Champagne. There was no fight or shortage of drink or food. AS soon as your glass was empty,a replacement soon appeared, served with a polite smile and ‘You’re welcome’. WE thoroughly enjoyed this sailaway party and probably overstayed our welcome, as it was 7o’clock before we realised and hadn’t even thought about getting ready for Dinner.

At arounf 7.45 we arrived at the entrance of the dining room and were immediately greeted by a head waiter we had met some time back on Silver Shadow. (He had been the Maitre D on that ship.) He shew us to a table for 2, which we weren’t entirely happy with. At this point I would like to say that we go away on a cruise for private time and like to have a private table for dinner. It generally appeared that the tables for 2, were either very close together or situated in bad positions i.e.close to the waiters stations. In any event he obliged us with a round 4 top table for the two of us.

Food service on this ship was far better than Crystal, Seabourn and Silversea without any doubt. Our two waiters Edgar and James were superb. They were polite, gave good explanations and advice and always served from and took away from the correct sides. Once they knew we liked cold sparkling water and cheese rolls, they were there for the rest of the cruise. (We requested the same table for the duration). Similarly the little wine waiter whose name I forget. Never had an empty glass. My wife and I are quite particular about our wines and both enjoy a different type of White Wine. She prefers the Pinot grigio type and myself a Sauvignon Blanc. WE tried several this first night, and once we had selected our personal choices, there they were every other night. Nothing was too much trouble, and we truly wish this had been a longer cruise. My wife enjoys cheese as a dessert, and once they knew she enjoyed a glass of Ruby Port with that, she didn’t have to ask anymore. The service in that restaurant was 10/10.

The weather was generally very good, but during the first night we were woken at around 1.30am by an annoying knocking noise which appeared to come from above. WE tried to ignore it, but it just didn’t give up. We called reception, who sent somebody to investigate straight away. The man said that as we were at the front of the ship, it was probably the sea. We insisted that we didn’t think this was the case. Anyway, he did investigate and found that a sunbed had become loose on the deck above and as the ship gently moved from side to side this sunbed banged against the bulkhead. He removed it, and the rest of the night was peaceful.

We do not generally do buffets. For some reason we decided to give the breakfast buffet on deck 10 a look before perhaps going to the restaurant. I think we were both quite keen on eating outside on the veranda at the back of the ship. We were met again by a head waiter and shown to a seat by the window (all the outside was full) and immediately offered Coffee and Juices. Although there was an excellent buffet from which to chose, we simply place our orders with the waiter who delivered our food to the table. Exemplary service throughout.

We cannot fault the service we received from any of the waiters throughout the ship.

The Captains welcome party was rather strange on Day 2. Normally I find these events are packed, and there are queues of people forming lines to get in the room. At the time advertised for this event there was no one around. The door opened, and we were met by several stewards with trays of drinks. For the most part there were more staff than passengers, and again the drinks and canapés were plentiful. In total there couldn’t have been more than around eighty people in attendance.

I did sign up the Bridge Visit and did receive an invitation. Unfortunately I completely forgot and by the time I found the invitation I had missed it.

On the third (last evening) there was another sailaway party, but the weather had turned chilly and dull, and there weren’t many people on deck, but again a plentiful supply of food and drink.

Disembarkation: There was no rush, we had breakfast in our suite and at 9am we were called to disembark. It was a leisurely experience.

Overall, this taster cruise completely exceeded our expectations and although we already have two future cruises booked with Seabourn, our next sailings will be with Seven Seas.

Great review, thank you! So glad you had a wonderful experience on Regent!

Host Dan

Having just booked an 11 night on Navigator for a Caribbean cruise in January 2007, I was delighted to read that wonderful review about her. I realize you were on board only three nights, but did you have any notable entertainment? Thanks for that nice review.

great review i also was on the sampler whats your name might have mewt you onboard. my review is on the member review leyt me know what you think. were you in a better suite a=bovew penthouse. as you got 4 bottles of liquor i got 3 plus just 1 bottle of champagne. i thought things were not so good. i have bookked on voayager in november though as the voucher sounds great

dave

I'm glad you had such a wonderful experience. It seems like the negatives I experienced were totally turned around for you. In the past waiters have also remembered preferences, and even sometimes names, but my experience was distracted waiters and inconsistent service in the dining room. Wonderful food, but poor service. Definite lapse in training.