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My Review: Navigator of the Seas (2/19-2/23)


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Quips, quirks, and biases One of the great things about cruise vacations is that, in many cases, they are what you make of them. Because of that, I always like to include this little introductory section where I describe where I'm coming from, as context definitely colors any review. I am a graduate student who loves to find travel deals and is very comfortable with handling all of his travel arrangements and traveling alone. This was my 12th cruise on Royal Caribbean, and 22nd cruise overall. I've been "loyal to Royal" lately because I like their ships, have received competitive pricing, enjoy the C&A perks, and enjoy the OBC I receive for NextCruise bookings. This cruise featured 2 sea days and a stop in Cozumel.

 

 

This cruise was booked 4 weeks before departure. It was booked during standard pricing, so I was able to use my last NextCruise that I had been unable to use previously because I'd been booking "Happy Hour" specials. This particular cruise was booked because I was looking for a) something short, b) something with a decent mix of low-cost cruisefare and airfare available and c) a schedule that would minimize school/work time missed. It was also my "birthday" cruise because I turned 29 a few days before departure.

 

 

I'll also state right here that some of my review, especially in the beginning, will be presented in a more narrative format with the actual review sections coming later. I will, as always, highlight positives and areas I see for improvement.

 

 

 

Pre-Cruise

 

Flight

 

Since it was winter, I really wanted to fly in the day before the cruise left. Since I have a class to teach on Wednesday morning, I booked an afternoon flight on AirTran that traveled direct from Indianapolis to Fort Lauderdale. The flight went exactly as scheduled and arrived at FLL at about 7 PM.

 

 

Hotel

I has been conflicted when making hotel reservatoins. I knew I could go the "cheap" option and book something like the Rodeway Inn in FLL and get a place to stay, a cheap breakfast, and free shuttle transportation if I was willing to wait for it. I made a reservation, just in case, but then I tried my luck on Priceline because I really wanted a nicer property, perhaps on the beach. In the end, I won the Sheraton Yankee Clipper on Priceline for a $90 bid, which was just a few dollars more than the Rodeway Inn but of course didn't offer the shuttle or breakfast options. The hotel was a $20 cab ride from the airport.

 

 

 

I have read positive and negative things about this Sheraton and, having visited, can see both sides. Upon arrival, I was told that the hotel was very booked, so I would be placed in the "Marina" building which was across the street and accessible via a skywalk. The Marina building, incidently enough, carries the very definition of "Priceline" rooms on its bottom floors. I say this because the room we were assigned on floor 2, and every other room on floors 2 and 3 (or so I was told) have no windows ... my first ever inside-room in a hotel. Besides the no-window aspect, the rest of the room was a mixed bag. The entire building seemed aged and musty, and this continued into the room. The space seemed fairly clean, though one of the comforters had a large stain on the top of it. The bathroom was tiny, but it seemed that it had been remodeled. The hotel did feature Bliss Spa products which I like. I did also get to go out and play on the beach a little, so the location was definitely a positive. As for the rest of the area, I walked to Coconuts for dinner which was on the marina and had a good view, good food, and decent prices. I also stopped at a 7-11 for snacks and breakfast for the next morning.

 

 

Checkout the next morning was painless. When I inquired about a taxi, there was a shuttle waiting and willing to take me to the port for $16. I knew that this was more than a taxi would end up costing, but since I didn't have to wait for the shuttle and got a private ride, I went ahead and took it.

 

 

Embarkation

 

 

Upon arrival at 11:20 or so, I proceeded directly past the porters as I only had a carryon, made my way through security, then to the priority check-in line. Everything was quick and painless with almost no lines and by 11:40 or so, I was on the ship. Food was available in both the Windjammer and Cafe Promenade upon embarkation. Since cabins weren't available until 1:00, I used the time to eat lunch, make jealousy-inducing phone calls of "I'm on the ship," and make use of some of the sports-deck ammenities before they became super-crowded. Muster-drill was at 4:30 and was fairly standard with people ignoring crew instructions and doing pretty much what they wanted (standing in common areas, talking on the phone, etc). Sail-away was a little after 5. I spent sail-away on the helicopter pad because it offers a great view, in my opinion, and is also not very crowded as everyone seems to perfer heading to the top of the ship. Of course, there are no bars near the helicopter pad, so BYOB. ;)

 

 

 

___

 

 

I have to head to work, but I'll post more later. Sorry for the tease. ;)

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Hurry back! icon12.gif I'm anxiously awaiting the rest of your report. My daughter and I are sailing on the Navigator to Cozumel in a few weeks and I'm trying to read everything I can. We are flying in the day before also and won the Fort Lauderdale Grande on Priceline. This is our first time sailing with Royal Caribbean and are very excited.

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Ship

 

The Navigator is still a beautiful ship. I was curious if I'd notice any differences, as she's been dry-docked since I was on her in November. To be honest, besides no longer having yellow water and having perhaps a more steady ride (the stabilizer was fixed), I didn't notice too many other things. It seemed that they were still doing updates, as there were several rolls of carpet being cut and used on the back of deck 4 for half of the voyage and one long length of railing was off limits during a sea day because it had been varnished.

 

Cabin

For this voyage, I was in cabin 7233, which was a forward inside cabin. The inside cabins always feel a bit snug, especially when the beds are put together. Having the beds separated opens up the room a bit, though obviously you end up with small sleeping spaces. Otherwise, the cabin offered a half-couch and plenty of storage places both in the closet and behind the vanity. This cabin had two pullman beds that I didn't use, but I got the feeling that squeezing four people into this cabin might be tight. My only real complaint about the cabin was that it didn't seem to get much hot water, which is a problem I've never run into before on a cruiseship. At best, the water was warm, but hey, at least it was clear. ;)

 

Activities

 

I was curious about the activities onboard as this was my first cruise since the elimination of the Vitality/ShipShape rewards program. There seemed to be a lot of the same activities, though I personally thought that there were fewer deck games such as Baggo (which I didn't see at all). I didn't do walk-a-mile at all for this voyage, but from the Compass, it looked like they wanted walkers to buy a Make-a-Wish walking shirt which I found slightly odd. The rock wall was open most of the day on sea days, though the lines were long and with only two people working (one taking forms and handing out gear, another working the wall itself) there seemed to be a 40-90 minute wait. I can only remember the ice rink being open one night (there were ice shows on the three other days/nights) though it may have been open more. There was a deck party on Cozumel night which was fun, especially when they moved the adult disco from the Dungeon and put it in the Solarium ... the breeze was wonderful, though it closed much earlier (1:30ish).

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