Review of the Navigator of the Seas - March 26, 2005 Sailing

My review of the Navigator of the Seas which sailed on March 26, 2005

We flew into Miami on the 6am flight. We arrived at the pier at approximately 10:30am. There were no lines at all and we were checked in and given our room keys right away. We were then told to go stand in line and wait until they could let us on the ship. This was a disaster. We ended up standing in line for two and a half hours until 1:00pm. Supposedly, immigration was giving the guests departing the ship from the cruise week before us a hard time and this caused the long delays.

Our room was a larger oceanview family stateroom. It had the 2 beds pushed together and a sofa sleeper that was a double bed. My boys had to share the sofa sleeper. There were lumps at every break in the cushions and the feet area of the bed was about a foot lower than the head area so they were sleeping on an angle. I complained to our room steward and he said the bed was broken but no one came and fixed it the entire week. When the sofa sleeper bed was fully opened there was no way to walk from the queen size bed to the bathroom. You literally had to climb onto the sofa bed every time you had to go to the bathroom. It was a nightmare and not pleasant for the entire week. The steward opened the sofa bed while we were at dinner and the entire evening before we went to bed we had to deal with this sofa sleeper in our way. Each morning as we showered and got ready to leave the cabin we had to deal with the sofa bed again, as the steward didn’t close it until late morning.

This ship has lots of extras in the area of entertainment for kids and that is one of the reasons that we picked the Navigator. But only one of my sons got to do rock climbing and only one time. There was a special time on a couple of the sea days when kids were allowed to do the climbing wall. The first 20 kids to show up were allowed to climb and the rest were sent away. This made it very difficult for my kids to get a chance with over 1500 kids on our cruise during the week. As far as roller blading went, it was not clearly marked where the roller blade skates were given out and therefore they never even tried roller blading all week. The ice rink was only open in the morning for free skate from 9am - 11am on a couple days at sea and my kids never woke up this early to try ice skating so again they didn’t use the facilities that I paid a premium for by booking the Navigator. I booked this ship thinking they would have a ball doing all these different activities when in actuality they weren’t necessary for their enjoyment of the cruise.

The entertainment on this ship was excellent. Ken Rush was the cruise director and he was full of life and very entertaining. He is one of the best cruise directors I have seen at sea. The Broadway type shows were good and the comedians they had were also good. We usually went to the theater about a half hour early to be sure to get a seat. The house was jam packed each night. And every single show got a standing ovation. The ice show was great too. Just a pain to get tickets for the ice show. If you have first seating of dinner the best show is on Tuesday at 9pm after dinner. For this particular show the tickets are given out in the first 10 minutes after the line opens. People had to wake up extremely early on their first day at sea to stand in line to get these tickets. Other options for first seating dinner were at 7:30pm (had to rush thru dinner to make this show) or 5:15pm on the 2nd formal night. Who wants to get ready early for formal night dinner and then go to ice show dressed formally. But the ice show is definitely not to be missed. We were exhausted the first morning of the cruise but forced ourselves to wake up early to get in line for these tickets.

There were two different parades going down the promenade at midnight. One was the first evening and was called the Welcome Aboard parade. There was a second parade near the end of the cruise called the Mardi Gras Parade. These were fun to watch.

They had only one midnight buffet. Viewing and picture taking was until 12:45am. And they didn’t even open it up for eating until 1:00am. We didn’t even stay up to try the food. It was just way too late to gorge ourselves.

This was our 11th cruise and our first on Royal Caribbean and we felt the food was not good. I didn't even gain one pound. The choices were terrible and the food was not prepared properly. Everything was hard and tough and tasteless. We were really disappointed in the dining room food. The buffets were typical cruise food and were fine. The desserts were all horrible and tasteless too!!! I was shocked, I usually gain 7 pounds easily in a week long cruise. The ice cream machines were always broken. The buffet closes at 9pm each night so no late night snacking. They had a little shop on the promenade with a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream shop for $2.75 a scoop which was open 24 hours a day. This place also had cookies and pizza all night long. It had desserts and little sandwiches which weren’t very good. My favorite thing on this cruise were the cookies. I lived on cookies most of the week.

The teen program was very poorly run and I was really surprised at this knowing how many people chose Royal Caribbean because of their children’s programs. Activities were listed on the daily planner for teens and when my teens would arrive at the center the counselor wouldn’t run the programs, he would just say that it was “chill time”. My boys were very upset by this having cruised Carnival and Princess in the past and having a fantastic time in the teen program, Royal Caribbean was a real let down for them.

The pop card was the most expensive I have seen on a cruise line at $35. This is expensive and you have to drink a lot of pop to get your moneys worth. If you want to celebrate a birthday in the dining room they expect you to pay $8 for the little cake that they will bring to your table. If you want to watch a cable type movie in your cabin you have to pay $12 for the experience. If you wanted to try out Johnny Rockets for burgers and milkshakes you had to pay $3.95 per person for the experience. This was the only restaurant on the ship that was open until 1:00am for snacking and you had to pay for the privilege.

There are 2 outdoor pools on this ship but one of the pools was always being used for scuba diving lessons and was closed. When you are on a ship with 3200 people and one pool isn’t even available most of the day and it is hot out, this is not a good thing. There was one other pool which was considered adults only, but chair space at this pool was limited and it was next to impossible to ever get a seat around this pool except on port days. None of the pools were heated and all of the pools were filled with salt water.

I had a relaxing week at sea, but truthfully I was not thrilled with Royal Caribbean. My boys were very upset with the teen program. There was a game room on this ship and all games were priced from $2 and up. Using a room card the games could be played.

Now that travel agents are not allowed to discount Royal Caribbean, I really don’t think it will be worthwhile to book a Royal Caribbean ship in the future. The prices are extremely expensive without discounts and I feel what Royal Caribbean is offering is no better than some of the other lines where discounting will still be available. The ship was beautiful not gawdy like Carnival, but it really didn’t offer anything special to warrant paying the extra money needed to sail this line. They seem to nickel and dime the customer once they are onboard. Charging for birthday cakes and in room movies, things that used to be free while onboard.

I hope this review helped those of you considering Royal Caribbean with teens and I would be happy to answer any questions if you have them.

We had 52 people sign up for the meet and mingle and only 4 people actually showed up for the party. Royal Caribbean did not even deliver the invitations until 36 hours AFTER the party was scheduled to be held. This probably caused the mix up and why we had such a bad showing. The Royal reps had coffee and cookies out for everyone and it is a shame that the invitations didn't go out on time so that more people could attend.

Did they not have food 24 hrs available in the Cafe Promenade? We were on the Explorer in May/03, and they offered food 24 hrs at this location, pizza, cookies, small sandwiches. Also, room service is available 24/7.

If the sofa bed was in the way, why didn't you fold up the bottom portion each morning just so that you could move around the cabin?

I believe Princess is about the only cruise line that has fresh water pools. Most all cruise lines have salt water pools.

Sorry you had such a bad experience. We have been on RC 3 times, and will be on the Navigator in 3 1/2 weeks and plan on it being our best cruise yet!

My goodness --- what a horrible week. Sounds like from the time you stood in line (that terrible 2-1/2 hrs.) you had decided that this was one cruise that you weren't going to like. Sorry, but that's what I get from your review. I've not sailed on the Navigator (but will very shortly), and although I have every confidence I will love this cruise, I do not have overly high expectations....that just leads to disappointment at every turn. I cannot find fault with the cruise line that your children slept in and didn't partake in the ice skating open skate. These are choices and one cannot find fault with the cruise line. As for the food, well, I have to agree that some things I've ordered may not be the tastiest, but to say the food was so bad that you didn't even gain weight....really, do you gain weight at home every week? Like Debshomespun says about the sofa bed I agree...why didn't you fold it up yourselves if it was in your way? Didn't you know the price of the soda card before you purchased it? You can bring your own on board (lots of passengers do), or purchase them on the ship when you want one, that's a choice too.

Well I hope that your next cruise, on whatever cruiseline you choose, it much more enjoyable. Sorry that you didn't like this one.

Of course they had pizza and cookies. But I don't eat alot of carbs and these would not be my snack of choice. The sandwiches were awful and the desserts were not to our liking. You may like it all. This was my 11th cruise, as I said, and I had alot to compare this cruise to. I just felt Royal Caribbean is not worth all the hipe that it gets. I had a wonderful vacation week, why wouldn't I, I was on vacation, but for ME PERSONALLY, I will never sail Royal Caribbean again. Perhaps you should try other cruise lines before you attack me about MY OPINION.... Everyone is entitled to their OWN OPINION. You can choose to read my review or not, that is your choice. These were MY observations after my week. You can write your own review after you have sailed on her when you return.

Of course they had pizza and cookies. But I don't eat alot of carbs and these would not be my snack of choice. The sandwiches were awful and the desserts were not to our liking. You may like it all. This was my 11th cruise, as I said, and I had alot to compare this cruise to. I just felt Royal Caribbean is not worth all the hipe that it gets. I had a wonderful vacation week, why wouldn't I, I was on vacation, but for ME PERSONALLY, I will never sail Royal Caribbean again. Perhaps you should try other cruise lines before you attack me about MY OPINION.... Everyone is entitled to their OWN OPINION. You can choose to read my review or not, that is your choice. These were MY observations after my week. You can write your own review after you have sailed on her when you return.

Bluehorizonlover123... I have had the pleasure of reading your reviews of many of your other cruises. I totally understand what you are saying about the RCL issues.. another friend traveled the same weekend on the sister ship to yours.. and said.. and I quote "RCL nickels and dimes you all week" they never charged a surcharge for Johnny rockets on her last cruise.. this time you couldnt even use the drink card there ...when traveling with multiple kids.. 3 for her.. that adds up.. she also had a broken bed which wasnt fixed during her cruise.. It was the main beds not the extra fold outs..

She also said that the extra activities though nice are not accessible enough compared to the number of kids onboard. Shipknot I did notice in your past remarks on this board that your son only traveled once at age 19.. so it doesnt seem Bluehorizons issues affect you at all. but if you are reading her review and you have young teens or pre teens.. this review will certainly mean something.

On the issue of drink cards.. my other friend also mentioned the cost.. she said they increased since her last cruise.If you have ever traveled with more that one child.. how many suitcases are you willing to add. An extra carry on suitcase filled with soda? Nice if you want to pick it up in the port city before you board. If your hotel is near a store and you have extra hands willing to carry them onboard.

Not always feasible.. I did notice that on past cruises you were not willing to pay for Alcohol drink cards... again you made that choice. When you have kids.. they tend to drink lots of sodas.. and if you have more than one child that is a costly expense.. can you imagine my other friend spent $105.. just so her kids could access unlimited drinks.. thats expensive when you have payed more for RCCL than other cruise ships.. Her kids were also use to eating at Johnny Rockets.. so were disappointed they couldnt just pop in when they wanted..

But the basic issue here is you are booked to leave on this cruise in 10 DAYS have spent your hard earned money to go.. AND NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR NEGATIVE REVIEWS ON THE SHIP THEY ARE ABOUT TO BOARD!! :rolleyes:

VERY Understandable.. You tend to take it personally like she is talking about a child of yours..

When you favor a cruise line.. and I see you have not ventured away from RCCL. It is like a part of your family.

I have noticed in the past on this board you have mentioned the less than perfect food you have experienced and that you were willing to search the menu and find something edible.. Well many savvy cruisers like Blue knot with 11 cruises under her belt on NUMEROUS CRUISE LINES>>>don't feel as a customer paying premimum prices.. that she is willing to forgo excellent to better than average quality.

I know you will have a wonderful cruise... ...I will be curious to read your review...

But maybe its time to try another cruise line...EXPAND YOUR HORIZONS>>> (no pun intended) ;)

(PS.. I'm not a newbie.. having been on multiple cruises on different lines... )

If the sofa bed was in the way, why didn't you fold up the bottom portion each morning just so that you could move around the cabin

HA.. I would assume since Bluehorizon had teens.. that their sleep schedule would not be the same..so it would be impossible to lift up the end of the bed with two sleeping teens that probably stayed up all night! :eek:

Thank you Drommom for pointing that out. It was impossible to fold the bed up in the morning as my teens were sound asleep while I was trying to get read in the morning to leave the room. Their bed was broken, the cabin steward reported it to his supervisor and yet nothing was ever done to try and fix it the entire week. I have made my complaints known to Royal Caribbean and they have to agreed to compensate me for my trouble. But I will never cruise on Royal Caribbean again. They don't offer good value for the money they are charging!!!!

So Blue Horizon.. I see you made a formal complaint to RCCL. So they compensated you? That is very unusual. I'm assuming it wasnt with drink tickets.. so how generous were they?

Most lines would only give you drink tickets etc..

So as not to scare everyone that may have an upcoming trip on the Navigator, I also was on the March 26th sailing and I had the most wonderful time. We got to the ship around 2 and didn't have to wait on line at all. We had a balcony room on deck 9 and it was comfortable.

I ate ice cream every day (okay, sometimes a few times a day :p ). They had 3 machines (one on each side of the Windjammer next to Jade: one with chocolate/swirl the other with strawberry/swirl. On the nights when they had the fixings out for ice cream that they were serving for dessert, I went and filled a bowl with the soft serve and brought the bowl over for my toppings. The 3rd machine was out near the pool and I remember that was broken on one of the port days, but they fixed it by the next day.

The pool area was very busy, but it was Easter week and there were many kids/families on the ship. There were a couple of high school groups also. I used the main pools as well as the pool in the Solarium and only once remember having to wait because they were scuba diving. It was fun to watch though. Perhaps a bit too many kids for my liking but I'm a teacher and the only time I can vacation is around my school holidays or in the summer so I really have no choice on that matter.

The food thing is a personal preference, so I wouldn't take anyones opinion to heart. I don't do the dining room thing, so I ate every meal in either the Windjammer or Johnny Rockets (had my free coupon). The pasta station guy was so good he knew what I wanted each night as I walked up to him. There was also food available at the Promenade cafe (pizza, sandwiches, wraps, cheesecake, cookies)

The rollerblading didn't seem very popular. I only saw a few kids skating during the week. the skates were handed out at the booth right where you get the golf clubs/balls for the mini golf. Rock climbing was always packed.

I had so much fun I just booked a RCI Mediterranean cruise for this summer on the Splendour!!

Thanks MM27, we too had a WONDERFUL time on the Navigator last year.

Sorry, but I cannot imagine 2 adults and 2 teens being anywhere near comfortable in an inside room, no way, no how :eek:

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Phoenix Cruiser - We were not in an inside stateroom. You obviously cannot read. We had a larger oceanview family size stateroom. It is a room that is specially sized for four people. It had a square footage of about 190.

And MM27 how come you didnt join our roll call? There were 54 of us that signed up for the roll call and you seem to have ignored us and never presented yourself on the boards when we were all visiting pre cruise. We all had alot of fun meeting up onboard.

MM 27 -I don't know what ship you were on but on our ship the outdoor ice cream machine was broken the entire cruise. They were trying to fix it but it was closed most of the week.

I see you ate in the buffet the entire cruise. I thought the buffet food was very good. My complaint was with the dining room food. You really can't comment as you didnt eat in the dining room

Phoenix Cruiser - We were not in an inside stateroom. You obviously cannot read. We had a larger oceanview family size stateroom. It is a room that is specially sized for four people. It had a square footage of about 190.

 

You are correct, I was wrong, sorry! However, I still cannot imagine 2 adults and 2 teens being comfortable in a 190 sq. foot room.

Sorry that you had a bad experience blue.

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Phoenix Cruiser - We were not in an inside stateroom. You obviously cannot read. We had a larger oceanview family size stateroom. It is a room that is specially sized for four people. It had a square footage of about 190.

 

I can't imagine why you didn't just fold up the bed, and why, since you paid so much money for the cruise, that you didn't just wake the kids up and have them go to the activities that you paid for. I would have. If it was that important.

BTW, I think you could have had the bed and the sofa configuration flipped by the steward. I have seen pix of the same room with the sofa near the balcony door, and the bed near the bathroom.....however, I aree with Phoenix, 190 sq. ft. is small for 4, despite the possibility that the cabin will hold 4. They never say "comfortably". I have a JS for 2,(2 women) because that's as tight as I wanted to be. It wasn't about the money, it's about personal space.

Personally, I think you had a negative attitude going in. Your review started negative, and ended the same way.

I cruise on the NOS soon, and NOTHING anyone says, or has said, will ruin the cruise for me. I can't wait to do my review.....

I read that the Navigator will be in dry dock the week of May 21st. I know this won't help the original poster. I bet a lot of the issues will be fixed and cleaned up then.

Blue, Thanks for the review! I totally understand what you mean about the teen program. My kids attempted to go to several planned activities and when they got there, nothing. Either nobody else showed, and they cancelled them, or they (the kids club crew) didn't have the activity. My kids just saw other kids milling around. It may have been the time of year though, and the fact that there were only about 150 kids on board.

I'm sorry a few feel the need to slam you for having an opinion. To me, it sure doesn't sound like you are saying your cruise was terrible, just that some things that happened were irritating. I agree about the weird food and closed venues.

On Enchantment 2 years ago, there was literally HOURS when the only thing I could get was a burger or pizza. Maybe I wasn't looking in the right place, or yes, could have sat in my cabin and ordered room service. But right around 5pm, I wanted SOMETHING not too heavy. Dinner wasn't for 3.5 more hours.

The bed was BROKEN all week? I'd be MORE than irritated!

Blue, Thanks for the review! I totally understand what you mean about the teen program. My kids attempted to go to several planned activities and when they got there, nothing. Either nobody else showed, and they cancelled them, or they (the kids club crew) didn't have the activity. My kids just saw other kids milling around. It may have been the time of year though, and the fact that there were only about 150 kids on board.

 

I'm sorry a few feel the need to slam you for having an opinion. To me, it sure doesn't sound like you are saying your cruise was terrible, just that some things that happened were irritating. I agree about the weird food and closed venues.

 

On Enchantment 2 years ago, there was literally HOURS when the only thing I could get was a burger or pizza. Maybe I wasn't looking in the right place, or yes, could have sat in my cabin and ordered room service. But right around 5pm, I wanted SOMETHING not too heavy. Dinner wasn't for 3.5 more hours.

 

The bed was BROKEN all week? I'd be MORE than irritated!

PLEASE don't apologize for MY comments! I have the right to post MY OPINION, and you need realize that ANY post that is on the board IS open for discussion, despite YOU or the OP not liking the feedback!!!

I'd like to read a different review from you, this time leave out all the negatives and tell me the good times you had. Can you even do this? If the cruise left this bad of an impact on me, I'd never cruise again.

They seem to nickel and dime the customer once they are onboard.

My thoughts exactley, we cruised the Navigator the week before you did, your review nailed it, all though, we had some great dinners in the dining room.

 

Our room was a larger oceanview family stateroom. It had the 2 beds pushed together and a sofa sleeper that was a double bed. My boys had to share the sofa sleeper. There were lumps at every break in the cushions and the feet area of the bed was about a foot lower than the head area so they were sleeping on an angle. I complained to our room steward and he said the bed was broken but no one came and fixed it the entire week. When the sofa sleeper bed was fully opened there was no way to walk from the queen size bed to the bathroom. You literally had to climb onto the sofa bed every time you had to go to the bathroom. It was a nightmare and not pleasant for the entire week. The steward opened the sofa bed while we were at dinner and the entire evening before we went to bed we had to deal with this sofa sleeper in our way. Each morning as we showered and got ready to leave the cabin we had to deal with the sofa bed again, as the steward didn’t close it until late morning.

I just went to look at the "larger Oceanview Family Stateroom", and here is what I found.....

"Two twin beds (can convert into queen-size), additional bunk beds in separate area, separate sitting area with sofa bed, and a private bathroom with shower. (328 sq. ft.) "(from RCI)

The pix can be found here;

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/cabinclass/cabinTypes/cabinType/home.do;jsessionid=00000UwZae8cBPG2Jt7c8aPN79a:v2mocb1m?br=R&cabincls=O&cabinType=FF&shipCode=NV

The OP made no mention of the extra room, so I am assuming that they actually had a regular oceanview room, which can be seen here;

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/cabinclass/cabinTypes/cabinType/cabin/home.do;jsessionid=00000UwZae8cBPG2Jt7c8aPN79a:v2mocb1m?br=R&cabincls=O&cabinType=LO&shipCode=NV

And here is the description;

"Two twin beds (can convert into queen-size), sitting area with sofa, vanity area and a private bathroom. (211 sq. ft.)"

Sounds to me like you picked the wrong room.:rolleyes: (or were given the wrong room)

Just thought I'd mention that for future cruisers....

Bluehorizonlover123 - Thank you for taking the time to post your review.

Although my cruise isn't for several months I appreciate the unvarnished truth.:)

It never occured to me that my DD 7 might have a problem rock-climbing. She's a gymnast and has been begging to take rock-climbing lessons (of course there is no such animal :rolleyes: ). She is really looking forward to that activity and without your heads up, I might have sauntered over too late. I will now be sure I am early for that event because it is important to her.

Thanks again for taking the time to write.

Did you go to Chops or Portofino BTW? If the food is mediocre I might spend the extra money to get better food.

Nope Corona, I'm not apologizing for you. I said that "I" was sorry. Not that YOU were sorry, and that I was speaking on your behalf.

Nope Corona, I'm not apologizing for you. I said that "I" was sorry. Not that YOU were sorry, and I was speaking on your behalf.

Whatever, next time, please do not "speak on my behalf". You need someone's permission to "speak on their behalf".

Huh?

Huh?

To act or speak on behalf of someone or on someone's behalf is to do so as their representative. On behalf of should not be confused with on the part of: a speech on behalf of the Chairman is made by someone else, expressing the Chairman's thoughts: a speech on the part of the Chairman is one he makes himself. In American English behalf is also used with in, to mean 'in someone's interest', 'for someone's benefit': Several people argued in his behalf.

You are NOT my representative. Capisce?

On Enchantment 2 years ago, there was literally HOURS when the only thing I could get was a burger or pizza. Maybe I wasn't looking in the right place, or yes, could have sat in my cabin and ordered room service. But right around 5pm, I wanted SOMETHING not too heavy. Dinner wasn't for 3.5 more hours.

QUOTE]

 

Hm, what are the windjammer hours? We're late seating this summer and I'm figuring we may grab a snack at the buffet to tide us over. I'm not really an ice cream and cookies or pizza and burger type of person, but maybe a salad or soup would be nice. I had the pizza on the Serenade in 03 (not late at night but in the Solarium during the day) and thought it was awful!