Navigator Thoughts July 27, 2014

Navigator of the Seas

July 27, 2014

Family of 3 with many cruises, travelling with two other families of 4 each with several cruises. 6 adults, 5 kids.

[]---- Embark

Drove to Galveston and arrived around 10:15, easy park at Lighthouse covered parking. Online reservations. Quick pickup from shuttle and quick porter at the terminal. Short wait for xrays and very short wait for check-in.

No wait to board the ship, were in the WJ by 11:15. No questions on carry-on Dr. Pepper or water.

[]---- Ship

We were on NOS last November just before refurb, so we were anxious to see what all had changed. Yes, the Flowrider was a cool edition. Yes, there was some new carpeting on the stairs. Sabor for Dungeon. And I am sure some behind the scenes stuff and touch-ups along the way.

But very little was done to our cabin 7688 (aft corner big balcony). In fact, it has broken shelves, broken drawers, same carpet, rusted and stained balcony, etc. All fine, no biggie - but certainly no cabin touch-ups in refurb. The new Deck 12 cabins I suppose were nice, but I think way out of the way.

The new signage is cool and the big LCDs by the elevator were helpful and read-able.

[]---- Photos

New kiosk and face recognition system in place. And while kiosks would not accept your card several times in the first few days - overall it was going OK. Until Day 7. I don't know if they did on purpose, but self-serve kiosks were down and you had to wait in very long lines to have a photograher assist you. OK, but then about half way thru the lines, something crashed, and everyone who had found and linked photos to their account - once again were gone. You then could stand in an even longer/slower line and pick out your photos from the WHOLE SET, swiping thru one page at a time. The ladies in our group tried to work thru it and I think some discounts were given, but overall I bailed and many many folks were very upset. Seems like Disney or other PhotoPass services still have a huge advantage over these guys.

[]---- Activities

With a large group, we had interest in most of the activities. Rock climbing, Flowrider, MiniGolf and other sports items. A few for gym workouts, a few massages. Lots of trivia. Flying fish patrols. DEAD CALM SEAS all week. Looked like a lake. Casino action and pool time.

All good, no big crowds or unruly folks. Go early on first day with parents/kids to get ALL waivers done at one time. Kids may still need to check in again at skating or for another flowrider wristband, but then they can do on their own. Remember long pants for ice skating and socks for rock climbing.

[]---- Food

We ate in the MDR Late Seating every night. Our waiter only had our table as the other remained empty or half empty all week. This spoiled us back to when waiters could be very attentive. Assistance waiter also good, we had more rolls and tea refills than ever. Food was usually good to very good quality for our tastes. WJ however was the exact same offerings for breakfast, could have used a little pep there. WJ lunch was only marginally better. The sandwich/pizza place in the Promenade was good and rarely a line. We wanted to try Sabor for lunch, but still $25 - just didn't make sense for us this trip.

The line for Johnny Rockets was not well run. Was there a to-go line for just shakes, I am not sure. Were you supposed to go in and put your number down, THEN go wait along the wall, I dunno. It took about 30 minues but we finally got shakes and left.

[]---- Staff

Good experiences all week. As usual a few standouts for WOW cards or extra tips. As usual a few tired folks that were just going thru the motions.

We saw 30-40 debark with full luggage, so assuming lots of contract turnovers.

[]---- Casino

No slots tourney due to some new equipment or something. I spent all my time at Craps table anyway. Crew was very nice and friendly, but the dice were not. First overall loss in several trips. Smokey at always, blah.

[]---- Roatan

Did our own independent tour with Pirates of the Caribbean Zipline. Deposit in advance and good eMail communications before the trip with very clear directions on where to meet. Driver was right where they stated with sign, and off we went. We had 9 zip-lining with 2 ride-alongs, and all of us going to beach break afterwards. Little wait to get checked in and suited up. Other groups there were being pains and herding themselves in front of others to take the truck ride up. Fine, go ahead karma seeker. The first two zips are awesome. On the third, I jump off akwardly and the harness catches my prescription glasses, I heard them whistle to the jungle floor below, oh well. But at the next stop, the people behind me come up and hand me my glasses - the worker had seen them and jumped down below to retrieve them. Wow, what a save.

But that is where the fun started to wear off. For some reason, only one worker at this next stop who had run down a hill to pull up each person coming in, then go back over clip in next person for the next line. A crowd accumulated as he could not get them to stop sending new riders. At one point there are 30-40 people perched around this little hillside. Finally we get thruput enough to zip on two shorter lines - but then again to an even larger crowd waiting on zip #6. And now people are complaining and whining. And one jerk (and his kids) is making it worse than others, you know the type. Hope you are reading this, loser.

This stop is even harder on the single worker becuase he has to clip in himself to scurry back out and pull in the riders that don't make it in. And while he is out there, you can hear the line suddenly sing with another rider than has been sent without clearance. The stuck riders are two smaller girls. The worker sees a large man coming in full speed and tries his best to shield the impact with his own body. But they slam pretty hard.

Dummy me, I try to backtrack down the little hill we are all perched on to help, and really twisted by leg and ankle six different ways, almost passed out later from the sudden pain and overall heat. The people on the line seem to have no major injuries, so the wait continues before we can advanced down the next zip.

The remaining zips are shorter and uneventful. But what was suppoed to be a 60-90 minute run, has now been 3 hours. While our ride-along friends have been sitting/waiting, watching the monkey. The scenery is great, the ziplines are tucked into the land and hills just perfect. So it is a great facility in that regard. But I look back now and question the operation and even some of the harnesses.

We now wait for our driver who is to take us to the beach club. He doesn't show after a while, so we take the same open air truck they use for going up to the zips. We go to Parrot Tree Resort, which is very nice and well kept. We ask to be picked up at 3 (4:30 sail). We change into bathing suits and enjoy the lagoon area. Not exactly beach, but relaxing. We have some lunch and beers, pretty pricey, but good. A little before 3 we head to the front and find our driver. He states he now has another party of 4 (we are already 11 in a typical tour van). But they wish to stay until 3:30. They are on CCL and we are on RCCL which is the further port away. I have already seen the tiny congested roads, etc. - so explain to have him find a solution and let us leave asap. He talks the other group into leaving (shortening their time, sorry bout that). So we cram 15 plus the driver into this van and head back. But oh, we have to stop for air in the tire. First two places don't have any air (and don't look like they have had it in many years). The last place is a tire shop. We actually get boxed in from behind by another car which has my radar on full swivel motion. All was fine, but I was ready for anything. We drop the other party at CCL, and indeed hit some decent traffic getting back to Coxen Hole. We make it with 20 minutes to spare, long enough to buy a souvenier - but sorta close for my liking.

I wrote to Pirates as we pulled out of port that very same evening and have yet to hear any response.

[]---- Belize

We chose a RCCL tour in advance, for the ability to leave right from the ship and go snorkel on this wonderful barrier reef. We had an 8:15 meet for a 8:30 depart, yet for some reason we didn't get caled from the lounge until after 9. Then we are led to the wrong tender and are all called back off (and back thru security) before being led to the correct boat.

Equipment and ride out is nice. We grabbed a little hut for our group and some others, put on equipment and joined the "intermediate" group. It took a long time to get everyone in the water and settled, like always. But the reef to me was fair at best. Too many cruise tourists over the years seems to have taken its toll. And the usual fin kicking in your face as they herd you together closely. Back on land we had a good lunch snack for a better price. But then only a very short time to relax before they called us back on the boat to leave. Our tardiness was taken off the backside apparently.

Back on the ship we had time to quickly cahange and take a relaxing tender to shore for a quick souvinier trek thru the terminal shops. Back in line and a nice trip out to the ship. 15 mins tender ride, plus 10 mins each side to get on/off.

Enjoyed the sail out of Belize from our balcony, but wishing we had GPS to track the snaking route the Captain follows for water deep enough for us.

Loved that we didn't have to tender to the mainland and then take an independent trip all the way back out to the reef, but that would be the right way to see more quality sealife.

[]---- Cozumel

We chose the RCCL Fury tour in advance, mainly due to timing and for old times sake. We knew it would be a another cattle trip. But it was actually quite nice. We waited for the fourth Fury cat to go out, which was slightly less crowded and got good seats in the back. Nice, but quick trip to the reef area. Long spiel and instructions from crew, and finally in the water. Was actually very good visbility and sealife for Coz and we were able to hang back enough to stay away from kicking fins. It was good.

Back on the cat, we headed to the beach. I think we stopped just past Mr. Sanchos to their own little strip. But they had all four cats here. A little area for lunch ($11) and continued free drinks. They had many inflatables, some kayaks, and paddle boards, etc. Plenty of chairs, a fair amount of hammocks, and lots of floats. Spent most of the time in the water, the kids played on all the stuff. Was really nice once the other cats started to leave in advance of us.

Decent value even for a cattle cruise tour. We would have taken the trip that uses the Aqua cat and stops at Playa Mia, but felt it left too late and your time to explore everything at Playa Mia would be too short.

We tried to have a snack/drink at Senior Frogs, but way too long a line. We changed and ate instead in the WJ, then some went back for a quick tShirt spree.

We pulled out right on time with no pier runners, oh well. Allure was next to us, man what a WIDE ship. But with twice the pax over NOS, I dunno. Just doesn't seem my cup of tea. Maybe some day.

[]---- Debark

We were at the late end, but felt very rushed in the WJ. They closed stuff very quickly and there was minimal offerings. We read later that day it was not opened until later, I supect an inspection day of some sort. Plus the DW was once again down in the photo line trying to have our account corrected to the discounts they had promised.

Since we drive, we always head to a deck or lounge to just wait out the crowds. They were at least 40 minutes behind their posted times on the LCD screens. We got restless at 10:30 and headed down, but should have waited until 11. Pretty short line to GET a porter but is moved SO SLOW, about 20 minutes. Once we got all bags piled on, we waiting in the porter customs line for 45+ minutes. They were only pulling porters into 2 customs lines. The people at the other end without porters was comepletely full when we arrived, and only about 50 reminaed by the time we got up to the desk. Not an even split at all for some reason. Anyway, all that wait for nothing, no questions, no searches, just nothing. I feel safe, don't you? Lighthouse was quick to pick us up, and we were on the road shortly.

Good trip, kids had fun, we relaxed plenty. Other pax were OK, easy to avoid the normal jerks you see everywhere. Wish seas would have picked up at night for some rolling action. But no major rain showers to make any issues.

Photo thing was a big bust, and with the kids and our group - we would have likely spent some serious cash on those. But we have plenty of our own pics.

Looking back, we would have enjoyed independent tours better. Just more work and risk.

Terminal 2 (and perhaps the car traffic patterns) are going to need some work if they want to launch Liberty efficiently each week next year. Isn't she 800 more pax over NOS?

See you in a buffet line soon.

dna1990, I was on this sailing also. I enjoyed reading your thoughts. The calm seas were great! The photo thing was horrible. I hope you give them your thoughts on this issue if you take the survey. I did! I was polite about it, but left no doubt that I was upset and reminded them of the ton of money they threw away!

Good review, thanks again.

Navigator of the Seas

July 27, 2014

 

But very little was done to our cabin 7688 (aft corner big balcony). In fact, it has broken shelves, broken drawers, same carpet, rusted and stained balcony, etc. All fine, no biggie - but certainly no cabin touch-ups in refurb.

 

That's a shame...yours is the first review I've read since the refurb that the cabin didn't have all new carpet, drapes, and upholstery. :( Ours in April was the new color scheme, and so were all the cabins I saw on our cabin crawl.

[]---- Roatan

Did our own independent tour with Pirates of the Caribbean Zipline. Deposit in advance and good eMail communications before the trip with very clear directions on where to meet. Driver was right where they stated with sign, and off we went. We had 9 zip-lining with 2 ride-alongs, and all of us going to beach break afterwards. Little wait to get checked in and suited up. Other groups there were being pains and herding themselves in front of others to take the truck ride up. Fine, go ahead karma seeker. The first two zips are awesome. On the third, I jump off akwardly and the harness catches my prescription glasses, I heard them whistle to the jungle floor below, oh well. But at the next stop, the people behind me come up and hand me my glasses - the worker had seen them and jumped down below to retrieve them. Wow, what a save.

 

But that is where the fun started to wear off. For some reason, only one worker at this next stop who had run down a hill to pull up each person coming in, then go back over clip in next person for the next line. A crowd accumulated as he could not get them to stop sending new riders. At one point there are 30-40 people perched around this little hillside. Finally we get thruput enough to zip on two shorter lines - but then again to an even larger crowd waiting on zip #6. And now people are complaining and whining. And one jerk (and his kids) is making it worse than others, you know the type. Hope you are reading this, loser.

 

This stop is even harder on the single worker becuase he has to clip in himself to scurry back out and pull in the riders that don't make it in. And while he is out there, you can hear the line suddenly sing with another rider than has been sent without clearance. The stuck riders are two smaller girls. The worker sees a large man coming in full speed and tries his best to shield the impact with his own body. But they slam pretty hard.

Dummy me, I try to backtrack down the little hill we are all perched on to help, and really twisted by leg and ankle six different ways, almost passed out later from the sudden pain and overall heat. The people on the line seem to have no major injuries, so the wait continues before we can advanced down the next zip.

 

The remaining zips are shorter and uneventful. But what was suppoed to be a 60-90 minute run, has now been 3 hours. While our ride-along friends have been sitting/waiting, watching the monkey. The scenery is great, the ziplines are tucked into the land and hills just perfect. So it is a great facility in that regard. But I look back now and question the operation and even some of the harnesses.

 

We now wait for our driver who is to take us to the beach club. He doesn't show after a while, so we take the same open air truck they use for going up to the zips. We go to Parrot Tree Resort, which is very nice and well kept. We ask to be picked up at 3 (4:30 sail). We change into bathing suits and enjoy the lagoon area. Not exactly beach, but relaxing. We have some lunch and beers, pretty pricey, but good. A little before 3 we head to the front and find our driver. He states he now has another party of 4 (we are already 11 in a typical tour van). But they wish to stay until 3:30. They are on CCL and we are on RCCL which is the further port away. I have already seen the tiny congested roads, etc. - so explain to have him find a solution and let us leave asap. He talks the other group into leaving (shortening their time, sorry bout that). So we cram 15 plus the driver into this van and head back. But oh, we have to stop for air in the tire. First two places don't have any air (and don't look like they have had it in many years). The last place is a tire shop. We actually get boxed in from behind by another car which has my radar on full swivel motion. All was fine, but I was ready for anything. We drop the other party at CCL, and indeed hit some decent traffic getting back to Coxen Hole. We make it with 20 minutes to spare, long enough to buy a souvenier - but sorta close for my liking.

 

I wrote to Pirates as we pulled out of port that very same evening and have yet to hear any response.

 

That is so scary -- someone could have been badly injured, or worse.:mad:

I hope you can get the word out on here and Trip Advisor -- a zip line operator is no good if they don't put safety first!

I should add that our friends had three balconies in a row on Deck 8. And they were able to have the dividers opened. Lots of fun.

We also saw the meteor shower from the helipad. 3 good ones before dinner and DW saw 9 more later that night.

We were on this cruise as well. 3 aft balconies on Deck 10 including the corner 1688. So we were probably looking down on you guys at some point :) Certainly disappointed the dividers couldn't be opened between our balconies, but even more disappointed the ships hull continues way beyond where our balcony stops (cant look straight down into the water) with the exception of the corner room. I have never been on this ship before but everything looked new in our room. No signs of wear etc..

Not to hijack your post but I couldn't help but look over at the Magic and kinda wish... :)

We were on this cruise as well. 3 aft balconies on Deck 10 including the corner 1688. So we were probably looking down on you guys at some point :) Certainly disappointed the dividers couldn't be opened between our balconies, but even more disappointed the ships hull continues way beyond where our balcony stops (cant look straight down into the water) with the exception of the corner room. I have never been on this ship before but everything looked new in our room. No signs of wear etc..

 

Not to hijack your post but I couldn't help but look over at the Magic and kinda wish... :)

I'm sorry you didn't visit this forum before your cruise and you could have avoided the disappointment in your cabin. Many threads on here discuss the fact that aft balcony dividers don't open and that you can't see directly down into the water from them. Still my favorite cabins since I spend a lot of time in the lounger reading and from there I do just see water :).

To the OP I really don't understand about your cabin. We have been on the Navigator twice since the refurb and both cabins have had the new carpet and drapes and reupholstered furniture. I don't believe the vanities were replaced though and we did have one drawer that was a little hard to close on one of the cruises and the bathrooms weren't redone.

OP - we are planning on a doing an RCCL excursion that leaves from the ship. It's the one that goes to Rendezvous Caye. Is that the one you did

thanks for the review!

Thanks to both of the reviewers, it is great to see some recent information about the Navigator. And thanks for the balance of positive/negative you provided as well. So true that there will be a jerk in at least most crowds, and that sometimes the technology does not work, and the key to enjoying yourself is to just acknowlege it and move on (not "ruin your cruise" as I've seen on these boards occasionally)

We'll be on the Navigator in June, and that feels very far away right now. I'm glad to see the posts about how she looks and how things work.

I will look at photos to see if carpet was new, but it didn't jump out as new. The furniture damage could have just been recent by a drunk cruiser, et al.

And yes, the TV was new LCD.

Yes, the Belize RCCL trip was to Rendezvous Cay and was titled Wonders Barriers Reef or something similar. Wonders is the name of the tour operator.

As to Voyager-class afts, yes only 7688 or it's mirror make sense to us. We too like to see the water more directly, the 'hole' on the side makes this a better view. And the super structure looking straight back is abit less on 7. The only thing we don't like is the lights that are left on down at Deck 5 where there is a crew relax area.

Plus with 7688 we had a full hammock, a swinging chair, three loungers, two chairs, a table, and room to dance a little.

Memory is tougher every year.

I also forgot to mention we purchased the unlimited WiFi Internet package, $160 I think with C&A. This was mainly for email checking back home and work (don't judge). Now I have used the dog slow kiosk computers in the past and figured a) WiFi would be even slower and b) I would have to sit down near the Centrum to get any signal.

But nope. Had fair speed (for eMail) and could easily connect from our aft balcony. Very nice. Didn't try in other areas of the ship.

great job

Thanks for this review. I leave Sunday and very excited. We are not doing any RCCL tours and after reading your post I am good with that.

I try to avoid the WJ at lunch and breakfast when I can and go to the dining room. I just told my DD to be prepared to wait in line for a milks shake and she is good with that..

Thanks Again..

We are also on Sunday :)

We avoid the WJ as much as possible.

Biggest concern with private tours is tendering in Belize.

We were on the navigator in May. We had new drapes and the couches had new fabric on deck ten jr suite.. Maybe it depends which floor or how bad the room was prior. The wood work, drawers etc are getting beat up. However overall we thought she looked good for an older ship. We are ready to go again!

We are also on Sunday :)

 

We avoid the WJ as much as possible.

 

Biggest concern with private tours is tendering in Belize.

Staying out of the WJ is almost a game with us!:)

BTW- We were a party of 11 for my time dining. We went around 8 pm the first night and they held our table for us every night there after. We arrived as early as 7:00 a couple times and never had to wait. They considered us 8 o'clock reservations :)

Waiters were running pretty slow (as I heard someone else mention). I asked them if they could speed it up "some" and they easily did so. One night we got there at 7:30 and asked them if they could get us out in time for the 8:30 show. We were completely finished with all courses by 8:15 pm. 45 minutes, apps, main and desserts. So don't be afraid to ask.. Too many people complain or skip the main dining room for slow service without even asking for a faster pace.

As for the debate about who's food is better CCL or RCCL.. In my opinion they are so similar its not even worth debating.

Thanks for the info about the wifi. No judgement here! I am glad to hear it worked well even in the room, something I would be particularly interested in.

We are also on Sunday :)

 

 

Biggest concern with private tours is tendering in Belize.

We booked independently and my email confirmation says to meet at 9am.

I figure they know what is going on, but how does a father with a late-rising wife and two equally non-morning type daughters and no special status with RCI go about getting tickets on the tender? I understand certain groups go first, I just am trying to figure out when/how we get off.

Can I hold a space for them in line or is that just as bad as putting a towel on a deck chair early in the morning?

Honestly, I'm not sure. I have just heard numerous complaints on tendering at belize on navigator.

Our first trip to belize we did private island though rccl that picked up directly from the ship. Last trip we did 'flowrider + Johny rockets' for our belize excursion :)

I do know they had some sort of ticket distribution, I believe the evening before.

For a private tour - first the tour operator should certainly be aware of ships and the tender process. They should give you some comfort about the process, or if not - find another.

Yes, they distribute tender tickets in advance. Pay attention to Compass or stop by Excursion desk the first day or two to ask when/where to get these. You do want to be first at that handout to ensure you have a relaxing time getting ashore.

RCCL excursions will still take the first tenders, but if you have ticket #1, you will be on first available trip after that. I think 9am is safe. Do note that NOS changes time off of DST for Roatan/Belize. Weather is the likely slowdown, if any - but then all tenders will be late and your operator will know.

As for saving a place in line, I see no issue for 2-3 people. It is the family of 15 that grates on people's nerves. But the trick for the line for tender, is that it will often snake a strange route down the stairs and thru corridors on Deck 1. Having your last-minute-arriving party find you is more the challenge. Not huge, just something to consider.

For all excursions, I suggest getting your towel(s) the night before from Deck 11. The towels getting off on Deck 1 are sometimes on opposite side and take time to record your cabin number. Can waste a few minutes doing so.

Excellent! Thanks for your time and input.

We did the same tour in Honduras and had similar problems. I've left a negative review on tripadvisor. Sad that it doesn't seem that anything has improved since March.

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

DNA1990, you mentioned a "super structure" at the aft of the ship and that the crew had a rest area on deck 5.

How high does that structure go and does it block seeing straight back to the water from deck 6 upwards?

Is the crew rest area on deck 5 at the back of the ship, behind the dining room? Are they allowed to smoke there? Is it noisy because of the chatting?

Thank you so much for your input!

The superstructure goes all the way up. There is basically a band around at every level. I'll see if I can find a picture tomorrow.

We didn't find the free to be loud nor smoking. Although last time we had an aft other balconies were smoking and a lot of that drifted our way.

Edit

Look at the images in the Wikipedia entry -

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Navigator_of_the_Seas

Zoom in on the aft pictures and you can see how the superstructure wraps around the back.

DNA1990, you mentioned a "super structure" at the aft of the ship and that the crew had a rest area on deck 5.

 

How high does that structure go and does it block seeing straight back to the water from deck 6 upwards?

 

Is the crew rest area on deck 5 at the back of the ship, behind the dining room? Are they allowed to smoke there? Is it noisy because of the chatting?

 

Thank you so much for your input!

This will give you an idea:

http://voyager-class.com/pictures/cabins/aftbalconies/aftbalconies.html