CruisinQueen2013

Thanks, that seems to be what someone else mentioned of the 1 they could remember. Last cruise there was only 1 that we actually made time to go see, but we enjoyed the experience.

 

 

Also did you have plenty of time after the safety drill to be on deck for sail away? A co worker that is going to be on the same ship was really disappointed that his first cruise on carnival they were still at muster stations during sail away.

Even though they weren't able to really start the instructions until 4:20, we still had plenty of time. Sail away was at 5:30 and despite the thick fog, we left on time. Of course, being foggy and a bit windy and cool, we didn't stay up on deck for too long - not much we could see through the fog.

Did you happen to save the cruise Compass??

I have a couple of them but didn't save them all - we tried not having much luggage since we were doing self-assist with our toddler. Definitely made us have to be selective on what we brought home. :) Anything in particular you're looking for?

Many thanks! Did you actually go out to the boat deck and stand under the boats too?

Our station was on deck 4 and yes, they made us go out there. We were on Liberty a few years ago and we just had to go to the lounge but all other ships, we had to go out the deck. It's open-air there and it wasn't hot at all that day (mid 60s) so it wasn't too bad.

Thank you for posting. I will be on Navigator in 4 days. I appreciate the questions and your answers.

 

Was the Solarium pool usually crowded?

No, not at all. There were always lots of chairs open in there.

Do you recall what time 'boat drill' was before sailing? Trying to coordinate a rally point with 14 other cabins, old college friends.

thanks,

Larry

It was at 4pm but they started doing announcements at 345 and we headed straight there. By 4, most people were already there but as usual we had to wait for the few that show up whenever they want so they didn't actually start until about 420.

Navigator had gone through a refurb a little while ago. I would love to hear from someone who cruised on her before the refurb and after the refurb -- to know their feelings about the changes made to the ship.

 

We went on Nav in 2004 and are again cruising on her in Nov 2015.

You could try doing a search for reviews (in the board, not the actual review section) as I remember reading some comments from someone that had while I was doing my research. I can say the ship was overall in great shape, stateroom updates were quite nice with the new color scheme and furniture. The public areas were all well taken care of as well. The only issue we had was with the photo gallery. I'll go into more detail in my review but let's just say the new equipment/system didn't work very well.

Navigator had gone through a refurb a little while ago. I would love to hear from someone who cruised on her before the refurb and after the refurb -- to know their feelings about the changes made to the ship.

 

We went on Nav in 2004 and are again cruising on her in Nov 2015.

You could try doing a search for reviews (in the board, not the actual review section) as I remember reading some comments from someone that had while I was doing my research. I can day the ship was overall in great shape, stateroom updates were quite nice with the new color scheme and furniture. The public areas were all well taken care of as well. The only issue we had was with the photo gallery. I'll go into more detail in my review but let's just say the new equipment/system didn't work very well.

Wondering if you remember what movies were playing on deck?

Sorry, I dont. I do remember thinking they weren't exactly family friendly most nights. I think there was one night where it was and there were a few families on deck. Honestly, the movies were not well attended.

How is room service on the Navigator?

We did room service for breakfast most mornings and no trouble. We marked the 630-7 time slot and we typically had it about 645. We always got a call and we tipped the person each day. No issues.

I should mention too that there is a craft market within the port area where locals had a variety of items for sale.

Sorry, no, we didn't go out on our own and no one we talked to did either. We did take a bus out of the port area to head to Montego Bay and while I knew Jamaica is a poor country, I was really surprised at the level of poverty. Literally, houses were made of sheets of metal connected together. I also didn't see many shops or tables with items for sale. Maybe it was the way we went but I only saw a couple and then as we got further away there were restaurants and what seemed like convenience stores.

What side of the ship was facing the pier in Cozumel? Port or starboard? Thank-you

We backed in and the port side was facing the pier. Freedom was in port with us and also backed in so for them ithe was starboard. It may just depend on what ship gets in first, it was us that day.

Who was piano player in Schooner bar, also how were the other shows?

I didn't see one but I think we only stopped there once. The only shows we saw were Love & Marriage and the Ice Show. Again, we had a toddler with us so that wasn't high on our priority list. The Love & Marriage show was good, typical of what we've seen before. The Ice Show (Ice Dancin') was great, we all loved it, even my husband who hates watching figure skating. :)

Not sure if you can answer this one, someone recently sailed on Explorer and said there were two drink packages offered only on the ship, Grape and Grain. One was for wine and one for beer. It's rumored that it was because the ship was going into drydock. Any idea if this was offered on the Navigator, we sail April 12 and with the big increase in drink prices we'd love to see these packages be a reality. How was the food?

Thanks😆

I didn't see anything like this onboard. In full disclosure, I'm pregnant so obviously not drinking but did notice random things like "buy one, get one 1/2 off" on some alcoholic beverage in the cruise compass. Sorry I can't help more on that one.

Food is so subjective...don't want to start a CC war. I would say, in my opinion only...I didn't have problems with the food overall. Everything at Giovanni's was great, Sabor was mostly great - didn't care for my entree. Johnny Rockets was it's usual self - great burgers and onion rings. The windjammer was overall good - they repeated 90% of it every night but you could generally find something. Of course, we ate at a few other places obviously so we weren't there for every meal. As for the MDR, I'm sure others will have different opinions but we ate there for lunch on one of the first days and didn't have a good experience. The salad bar was great but the service was awful and the ordered food was just ok so we actually skipped the MDR the rest of the week. In fairness, with our 2.5 year old with us, we probably wouldn't have eaten there a lot anyway but that was enough to turn us off.

Let me know if you have any questions. We did the Dreamer Catamaran Sail and it was great! Would definitely recommend. We also walked around the port area and got appetizers at Margaritaville. We have been to other locations before and had a good time but this not the same at all. The place was half-empty and yet we got terrible service. She never asked if we wanted a refill on our drinks and we couldn't really find her to ask her ourselves. Once our food came, we never saw her again and had to ask another waitress to get our check. We paid with our credit card and even though the person that ran our card (they have a little machine that does it at the table) wasn't our waitress, she was very interested in the tip. When we told her we'd just leave cash rather than on our card, she stood at our table like she was waiting for us to give it to her. It was very awkward. We were also there well over an hour even though we only ordered the appetizer sampler and when it came out, it was cold. Definitely not a good experience there. Overall, everything else was great in Jamaica.

Leaving next month on Navigator, what did you do in Jamaica? How are the shows on the ship? Was it bad taking the tender to Grand Cayman? How fast did you clear customs on arriving back at Galveston?

 

Thank you in advance.

We did the Dreamer Catamaran Sail in Jamaica - booked it through RCI. It was fantastic and would definitely recommend. Let me know if you have more questions on it - I posted a review on RC's site under that excursion as well. The tender to GC was super easy. We didn't have an excursion and still got off very early. The line to get off the ship wasn't bad at all - definitely recommend using the stairs from deck 2 as people that took the elevator down to deck 1 had a hard time getting into line. When heading back, we got in line about an hour before all aboard and the line was VERY long. It looked like we'd be there for an hour but each tender boat holds 250-300 people so it went fast. Clearing customs was a breeze, we walked off the ship at 7:30 and were in our car by 8:05. The lines probably get worse the later it gets but we did the self-assist walk-off. We even had a group of 3 in front of us that didn't have their customs form and it was still quick. The lines for US Passports only moved fast.

We are just back from Grand Cayman aboard the Navigator of the Seas. We had a great time! Let me know if anyone has questions - here's what we did: We took one of the early tenders off the ship and when we got to the island, we walked a block or two to the bus depot (very easy walk, didn't feel unsafe at all and we had our 2.5 year old with us). Hoped on a "bus" - really just a conversion van and asked for Public Beach. There was another couple getting off there as well. It was about a 10 minute ride and when we got there, it was a pretty easy walk to the beach (maybe 2 minutes at most). We grabbed a couple of chairs in the front and settled in for some beach time. We had a perfect weather day and the water was super clear and easy to navigate. After a few hours, we rinsed off and headed back toward the road where another bus stopped almost immediately and asked where we wanted to go. We just said Margaritaville because it was across from where we tendered and we couldn't remember the name of the pier we tendered in to - there are a couple. He actually took us back to the depot and then gave us directions - not that we needed them since that's where we started but it was nice enough. The ride was $2.50 each person, each way and all went well. We then just walked around for a bit, browsed a few stores, grabbed a quick lunch and it was already an hour before all aboard. We decided to head back and the line for the tender was VERY LONG!! It went relatively quickly though and we were back on the ship.

Definitely depends on the week. We just got off on 3/8 and we docked just before 7am and times were posted for 7:30 and 8am. We went down at 7:10 and there was a rather long line already formed. We did get off quickly, literally walked off right at 7:30, went through customs and my husband picked up the car from the port of Galveston parking we were in the car pulling away at 8:05am. I would definitely recommend heading down early as those lines can get long...

I'm planning on doing a review but haven't gotten to it just yet. In the meantime, let me know if you have any questions. We did Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel.

Just back from Jamaica a week or so ago and we actually did spend a few hours in the port area after we returned from our excursion. Just depends on what you're looking for. We grabbed appetizers at Margaritaville and browsed the shops - got our 2.5 year old a "Jamaican" soccer ball that she loved. :) It's all newly built with nice palm trees, benches, etc. so it's a nice area to walk around and do some people-watching.

Just off Navigator and had dinner at Giovanni's one night. Food and service were fantastic, never felt rushed and still were done in just under 90 minutes. Also, as others have said, you can only book online for dinner. They encourage lunch reservations (only open for lunch on sea days) but they're not necessary. On Navigator, GT is right next to the Windjammer and we consistently saw them with a sign out front saying lunch was reduced from $15 to $12. Perhaps better to not pay ahead or worry about the discount.

I've looked at the Marine Zone forecast for Galveston Bay, and it looks okay for Sunday: SW winds 10-15, seas 3-5, slight chance of showers. No mention of fog. I'm in and out of Galveston Bay all the time, and generally the limit is 1/2-1/4 mile visibility. Galveston is one of the foggiest places in the US from Nov to Mar, but usually burns off by midday.

Very helpful, thanks!

Just so you know:

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/customersupport/faq/details.do?pagename=frequently_asked_questions&pnav=5&pnav=2&faqType=faq&faqSubjectId=333&faqSubjectName=Onboard+Policies&faqId=313

Yep, I know, thanks. I'm several weeks under that so all is good. I've also got my fit to travel note from the doc.

:) thanks. Running out of alcohol is definitely not high on my concern list. I'm almost 5 months pregnant. :)

With all of the fog talk lately, I checked the weather report for our upcoming Navigator cruise on Sunday and it shows some morning thunderstorms with "fog developing in the afternoon". Obviously, we'd ordinarily be leaving in the afternoon so my question is does it take a lot of fog (i.e. dense) to close the port of Galveston or is it likely that just about any fog would delay sail-away? Any one have experience with this? As long as we can get onboard, I'll enjoy the ship even if we have to stay in port longer but was just curious what others have experienced.