Review: Navigator 6/8/14. Excellent Cruise

REVIEW

Disclosure: Our views and opinions and facts. NOTS June 2014 Western Caribbean

Will not be a day by day review, more informal.

Excellent ship, fantastic cruise. Staff were amazing!!

Ship: Navigator

Sail date: June 8th 2015

Cabin: 9294 Junior Suite

Starboard side.

Itinerary:

Galveston

Cozumel

Grand Cayman

Falmouth Jamaica

Embarkation:

Arrival at Port 10:15am

Into security 10:30am

Checked in at Kiosk with Patsy at 10:35am

Waiting area 20 minutes

On ship just after 11:00am

In WJ by 11:10am

In Cabin 13:00pm

Notes: 2 areas at Galveston for embarkation, holding area for Suite Guests, wedding parties, Pinnacle, D+ Diamond

No issues at all with security or check in, we completed CILA forms before we left

So we were 1st to the counter for check in, after the wedding party.

There probably were 100 or so ready to go before we arrived, RC staff called all Suite Guests, Pinnacle D+ D Platinum and Emerald to enter hall 1st.

All security lines open and all kiosks loaded ready to go :)

Cabin:

Junior Suite 9294 (Starboard central, small walk to CL)

Nice sized room, sunny balcony, large walk in closet, bath tub and all the usual

Amenities. This JS seemed to us to be slightly larger than other JS we have stayed in previously.

Very quiet room, in great location on ship.

Coffee maker and kettle for hot water in cabin, sofa double bed. No Pullman.

No issues with noise or any damage, room was in excellent condition.

Would highly recommend this cabin

Rodney our attendant, full of life and always there to meet our needs, one of the most amazing attendants we have ever had.

Excursions:

Cozumel: Playa Mia Deluxe Beach Break CZ68

Great family day, canoeing, water slides, paddle boats, bouncy floats and Snorkelling, $15 for snorkel rental.. Only fee we paid, great buffet, tacos were amazing. And as much alcohol as you could consume, umbrellas and tables all included in the cost of excursion.

Booked through RC.

Would recommend this tour, lots to do and plenty of drink.

Grand Cayman: Glass Bottom Boat & Island Tour GCG2

About 1-1/2 hrs on the glass bottom boat, you go over a wreck, captain goes under boat and feeds the fish with bread, so some great opportunities to take pictures.

Island tour ok, went to Hell and back, and sent the customary postcards from the post office back to the relatives.

Booked through RC

Tour was OK, we had OAP,s in our party, so less exertion was on our menu.

Falmouth: Island Tour & Montego Bay at Leisure FYB6

We were very lucky to have a driver for the 5 in our party, so we pretty much could stop at anytime for photos and we did.

Stopped at Pier 1 for Blue Mountain coffee and banana cake, was a nice touch to the tour.

2 hrs at leisure in Montego Bay to do the souvenir shopping.

Booked through RC.

Restaurants:

MDR: we signed up for MTD, however we could not get the 6:30PM every day we had requested, but that was not an issue, we ended up in Traditional dining with a little bit of flexibility. Table 31 right next to the Captains table on Deck3 Sapphire.

5 nights in here, and all meals were excellent, cannot fault one meal.

Service was excellent, Dalton and Danny did a great job.

Nagmila, who was serving our drinks, she was terrific, and had my wife's and daughters beverages on the table ready to be enjoyed every evening.

Yes RR package was used extensively in the MDR.

Giovanni's

We had a nice romantic evening in this fine Italian restaurant, and we're not disappointed.

Wife had the lamb, and I had the Filet, did not disappoint and the steak was better than what I have ever had in Chops

We had a nice bottle of Duckhorn.. Yum.

Vladimir our waiter did a fantastic job, and we enjoyed our time in the restaurant, just over 2hrs.

Did not eat in Chops this cruise. So no comments.

Did not use Johnny Rockets either.

Daughter wanted Izumi, but we just could not fit it all in, so will do next cruise,

When Izumi was busy, people were ordering and eating in the Cosmopolitan lounge.

Cafe Promenade, great for those midnight snacks and beverages

Sabor we did not use.

Concierge: Ricardo

Lounge was never busy, and coffee and continental breakfast always nice to have access to when not wanting to go up to WJ

Diamond Lounge: Larissa

We used for breakfast some mornings, and drinks in the evening, again, very quiet in the DL. Larissa did make our Giovanni's reservation, we did the buy 1 get 1 free.

Casino:

Our usual hang out, when cruising, so a lot of time spent on the Slots and tables.

Oleksandr was amazing with our drink orders and always made sure we were never without a drink,

Christian, Casino host did an excellent job and made sure we were well looked after.. Slot tournament was great fun, wife came in 2nd place, 9 rounds, so pay out for 1st, 2nd & 3rd were cash payouts.

Blackjack tournament had 7 rounds, and final 7 played for cash prizes.

Alfo casino manager did an excellent job, making sure we were well looked after, and often stopped to chat with us throughout the whole cruise.

Casino on Navigator, a nice size plenty of tables and slots.

Had its busy nights were you could not move,.. And some won some nice jackpots on this cruise.. Love the sound of winning machines..

Pool deck:

Was busy at times, daughter used the pool everyday and we never struggled to get a deck chair, not slippery either.

Solarium: did not use on this cruise

Ice cream machines:

One on deck 11 Port side, and 1 in WJ Port side.

No Freestyle drinks machines on Navigator.

Will upload more photos and attempt to answer any questions with respect to the Navigator.

IOHO, ship was in great shape, food was excellent and staff were really friendly.

Great cruise, great people, great ship!! Not crowded and all in all money well spent.

My parents 2nd cruise, 3rd booked and they have the bug :)

I do have copies of the Compass for every day, and also every day for the Voyager 9-11 and Teens 12-14 programs.

When time permits will get these all loaded up to CC.

Happy Days!!!

Thanks, appreciate the concise yet fact filled review.

Thanks, appreciate the concise yet fact filled review.

No problem Bob, this is a JS I am sure you would like

Thanks for your short and to the point review of your cruise.

Thanks for your great review. We will be sailing on NV next week at this time:D

Do you have a copy of the Wifi costs?

Love your to the point review!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

No problem Bob, this is a JS I am sure you would like

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. I will be looking forward to the cruise compasses.

How was embarkation/disembarkation?

Did you happen to notice if there were time changes between the advertised excursion departure time and when you actually left the ship?

Did you happen to notice if there were time changes between the advertised excursion departure time and when you actually left the ship?

All times shown were within 30 minutes of shown times. Give or take,

For the most part if 15 mins difference, we still got the full allocated time for the particular excursion we did.

We had no time zone changes either on this itinerary, which was nice.

How was embarkation/disembarkation?

Embarkation:

Arrival at Port 10:15am

Into security 10:30am

Checked in at Kiosk with Patsy at 10:35am

Waiting area 20 minutes

On ship just after 11:00am

In WJ by 11:10am

In Cabin 13:00pm

Notes: 2 areas at Galveston for embarkation, holding area for Suite Guests, wedding parties, Pinnacle, D+ Diamond

No issues at all with security or check in, we completed CILA forms before we left

So we were 1st to the counter for check in, after the wedding party.

There probably were 100 or so ready to go before we arrived, RC staff called all Suite Guests, Pinnacle D+ D Platinum and Emerald to enter hall 1st.

All security lines open and all kiosks loaded ready to go

Disembarkation

We were group B self assist walk off

07:15 - 8:00am met at Metroplis small queue

07:30 off ship

Through passport control 07:40

On shuttle bus back to Hilton to pick up car

On the road home by 08:00' stopped off for coffee and snacks

Back in Dallas by 1:30pm

Easiest getting off we have ever experienced

Do you have a copy of the Wifi costs?

 

Love your to the point review!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Sorry we did not get that info, we leave all of our devices at home when we go on vacation.

DW did use internet on PC in DL and it was $29.95 for 60 minutes,

We got this for free being D+' all we needed for quick checks on a few things

You do have to set up an account, and that she said is good for the PC and all of your devices across the ship.

Sorry not much help on this one.

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. I will be looking forward to the cruise compasses.

Plan to get them all loaded up by Tuesday if not sooner:)

Do you have a copy of the Wifi costs?

 

Love your to the point review!

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Here it is, as of 5/25 sailing:

I did the "One Hour $29.95" option, this is 60 minutes in total you can use in portions during the week.

Thank you for the great review.

Do you happen to remember the order of the MDR menus on this trip? Thanks :)

Thank you Pspercy!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you for the great review.

 

Do you happen to remember the order of the MDR menus on this trip? Thanks :)

Do not remember all the specifics,

Monday and Friday were Formal nights with Lobster on the Friday.

Will ask DW, if she can recall the order.

Here it is, as of 5/25 sailing:

 

I did the "One Hour $29.95" option, this is 60 minutes in total you can use in portions during the week.

Thanks for adding this pspercy, appreciated.

Thanks for the report! Glad you had a great time.

can't wait to see the compass and kids program! We leave soon and trying to plan out our days!

Great review! Thanks for posting pictures! :D

Embarkation:

Arrival at Port 10:15am

Into security 10:30am

Checked in at Kiosk with Patsy at 10:35am

Waiting area 20 minutes

On ship just after 11:00am

In WJ by 11:10am

In Cabin 13:00pm

Notes: 2 areas at Galveston for embarkation, holding area for Suite Guests, wedding parties, Pinnacle, D+ Diamond

No issues at all with security or check in, we completed CILA forms before we left

So we were 1st to the counter for check in, after the wedding party.

There probably were 100 or so ready to go before we arrived, RC staff called all Suite Guests, Pinnacle D+ D Platinum and Emerald to enter hall 1st.

All security lines open and all kiosks loaded ready to go

 

Disembarkation

We were group B self assist walk off

07:15 - 8:00am met at Metroplis small queue

07:30 off ship

Through passport control 07:40

On shuttle bus back to Hilton to pick up car

On the road home by 08:00' stopped off for coffee and snacks

Back in Dallas by 1:30pm

Easiest getting off we have ever experienced

This is really amazing! We always sail in a full suite and we have cruised from Galveston several times. Regardless of what time we arrive, it has always been a zoo on embarkation/disembarkation day.

Hopefully, some day soon, the traffic situation and terminal improvements will be completed.

Hey PompeySailor,

It was great to meet you and your family. This is the first meet & mingle we participated in and we meet some really nice people that we got to know throughout the week.

Your review is great, but I will say that MUST eat at Sabor next time you are on the Navigator. This is the first speciality restaurant my husband and I have tried out and it didn't disappoint. The best meal we have ever eaten on a cruise (although we don't have as much experience as you :) ) The made at the table guacamole was excellent and we ate every last bite of the dessert which we though we had no room for. We have never found the desserts in the MDR to be excellent, but this one made up for all of them. We were very hesitant about trying out a Mexican restaurant at sea, much less pay extra for it, but we are so glad we did.

Thanks for the review and happy sailing!

Hey PompeySailor,

 

It was great to meet you and your family. This is the first meet & mingle we participated in and we meet some really nice people that we got to know throughout the week.

 

Your review is great, but I will say that MUST eat at Sabor next time you are on the Navigator. This is the first speciality restaurant my husband and I have tried out and it didn't disappoint. The best meal we have ever eaten on a cruise (although we don't have as much experience as you :) ) The made at the table guacamole was excellent and we ate every last bite of the dessert which we though we had no room for. We have never found the desserts in the MDR to be excellent, but this one made up for all of them. We were very hesitant about trying out a Mexican restaurant at sea, much less pay extra for it, but we are so glad we did.

 

Thanks for the review and happy sailing!

How much does it cost per person to go to the Sabor???

How much does it cost per person to go to the Sabor???

Sabor is $25pp. I'm looking forward to trying it next week:D