playingpossum

Sorry to hear you won't be on Harmony but Navigator is a great ship - probably my favorite. We did a B2B on her after she got the flowrider and my husband said it was a fast one. Enjoy your cruise!

We were on it last December and I found that the Navigators flowrider was a little faster and steeper then the Allures. I really liked the padded grates over the hard plastic ones as well. We had such a good time on the Navigator cruise that we decided that we wanted to go back on it over the new ship. The 9 day southern itinerary helped make the decision a little easier too;). Hope you guys have a good time on the new ship and maybe someday we will get to cruise with you:).

You get presented with your first crystal block at 140 points. If that 140th point/night is the last night of your cruise will you still get the block for that ship on that cruise?

Hi Sunset, sorry to inform you that we will not be cruising with you in December. We decided to change plans and go back on the Navigator of the Seas instead. Hope you have a good time and your husband gets some good flowboarding time in.

The loyalty embassador has some blocks usually stashed away so getting one should not be a problem while you are onboard.

There are a few nice places on the Allure that would be nice to propose. The area over the bridge can be nice at night but usually it is pretty windy up there and fairly dark. The kids area usually has something going on too.

Central park with the seating and sort of private areas at night could make a good place. The lighting is nice and it is not windy and generally pretty quiet. There are people passing through but it is not generally that busy and you could take your time.

The only other suggestion I may offer would be that you propose at one of the many photo areas on the ship on formal night. While not really private it would allow you to capture the moment and her initial expression which could be priceless. They do have a white background sometimes set up in a area which is not as public usually off to one side.

However you manage to ask it will be remembered forever.

Good luck.

We have done b2b on separate ships twice now and really enjoy it. The first one was on the Indy / oasis and we ended up walking around with luggage in tow. That was not a bad walk and we had sidewalk all the way.

The b2b we just finished last December included the Navigator and the Allure. For this set we asked the concierge if they had a shuttle which they do not. We then were told to go and see if the parking shuttle would take us(btw they are not supposed to). We ended up getting a nice gentleman who said if we tip the shuttle bus driver he would take us no problem. You can not really walk out of the terminal that the navigator is at safely(29 has no sidewalk).

Just called. 1.4 exchange rate. This sucks. Meant to buy more for Harmony in November and just missed it. This may cause us to cancel that B2B we have booked.

Unfortunately it looks like we will likely be cancelling the cruise we were going to be on with you too:(. We just got back recently off of the Allure and the exchange rate combined with the overall oasis class experience has caused us to rethink our vacation priorities. We will probably rebook early spring 2017 on the Navigator again and cross our fingers that the Canadian dollar gets back to a somewhat reasonable rate:confused:. If you guys still go hopefully you have a great time.

It sounds like you are having the same problems we did a couple weeks ago on the Allure. I too had a printout of my complete weeks schedule which was disregarded. It is hard to reward Royal with booking other dining venues just because their MTD is so hard to work with.

I'm also looking forward to your follow up for the next few days:).

Thanks for the review. We'll be on NOS in February and was wondering how your internet experience was?... did you order the 'Internet Package', and how was the connection around the ship and bandwidth (connection speeds) Thanks!

Sorry Brandon but we did not purchase the internet package on either ship. Our friend did have the internet though and he was able to facetime with his wife whenever he wanted to on the Allure without any problems so I would think it is pretty good. Sorry I could not provide more.

This is my first review and I have tried to highlight on some of the things that we liked and did not while on our recent Navigator and Allure cruises. I now feel that we have a good perception of cruising and are experienced enough to get the most out of our vacations. Please note that some of my review may be different from what others have experienced or may think about these ships. Oh and this is quite a long review with port stuff too.

Navigator of the Seas review:

We boarded the Navigator of the seas on November 28th for a 8 day eastern route sailing. This was our first cruise on this size of ship and we were excited to try the slightly smaller than freedom class.

We were at the terminal fairly early and boarded the ship just before 11:00am with no problems at all. This is a very nice ship and for the most part is very well maintained. Once boarded we waited for the WJ to open for lunch and it was not too crowded and we managed to get in and out very quickly. The Christmas Decorations were already up and made for a really nice festive atmosphere. We did pack swim suites in our carry-on luggage so we were able to change and sit by the pool until our room was ready.

Our interior state room (7473) on deck 7 was ready at 1pm and our luggage was already at our door surprisingly. We took some time to unpack and make our room home for the week. Overall the room was as expected with a little wear and tear showing for this age of ship. Kelvin our room steward was one of the best we have had so far to date and kept our ice bucket full throughout the week. Kelvin was also very social and had lots to talk about when we saw him which was regularly. We did have a connecting room on this cruise and the neighbours could be heard easily through the closed door. If privacy is a concern a room without this feature would probably be better as there is not a door seal between the rooms. We found out our neighbours liked to get up early as light from their room would pass though the gap in the door which we treated as its time to get up too. We brought a door sign I made that had magnets on the back so our room felt more welcoming (and also gave Kelvin something to talk about too). Lots of other people have nice signs too and it is fun to see various celebrations and decorations.

We had My Time Dining for the entire week and usually made our reservations the night prior based on the show times. We had a very good waiter and a comical assistant waiter that made each evening sort of frustrating for our main waiter. We found it interesting to see just what he would forget to do each evening and our main waiter would have to do to pick up his slack. My wife has a nut allergy and our main waiter looked after her concerns throughout the week without any problems. Food selection was similar to what we have had on other cruises and the quality was very good. My wife did ask for them to sing on my birthday and when the desert was brought out and no one sang she was pretty upset as she thought they forgot. A couple minutes later our waiter brought the cake with a candle and sang so all was well again. I find that since I am a chocaholic the desert menu is a little lacking for me so I tend to order a brownie and chocolate ice cream off of the kids menu some nights. (they usually dress it up with chocolate shavings and sauce too which is nice) Our table for dinner was on the 5th floor overlooking the rest of the dining area. We did not sit with others for our dinners as we enjoyed our time together prior to the shows.

The Wind Jammer was really good on this ship and not too crowded. Finding a table each meal here was easy and the staff were good at looking after your needs. We ate omelets a few mornings and they were very good. I was disappointed that Johnny Rockets was not open for breakfast but on this ship there is not a really good place to eat outside anyways.

The promenade had very good water and the pizza there was always fresh it seemed. This is a nice place to sit and people watch while getting a snack.

We did not try any of the specialty dining on this ship so I cannot comment on that.

We did pack a couple of cases of pop in a duffle bag and checked them prior to boarding. The reason we did this was because there are not any freestyle machines on this ship and we wanted to have some pop other than the coke or diet coke onboard possibly. We were not sure they pop would make it to our room but it did without a trip to the naughty room. We also brought 2 bottles of wine as well and Kelvin provided my wife with glasses so she could enjoy it in the room. We left the minibar alone though out the week.

The shows on this ship were also as we expected them to be. The headliners were good and provided excellent entertainment. Some of the things we heard about one of the entertainers was a bit true but we still enjoyed watching the show.

We did not donate too much money in the Casino. My wife did bring lots of quarters for the bulldozer machine but it was cleaned out most evenings (they do put 50 dollar bills in this one unlike the allure)

The ports of call for this particular cruise are pretty good. We really like San Juan and St. Martin. St Kitts is not what we would consider a really good destination in comparison with other ports we have been to. Labadee is a nice beach day or a stay on the ship day and enjoy a laid back relaxing time.

Our favorite port by far is St Martin(we have now seen quite a bit of the island) On our first visit we decided to try going to Orient beach as I wanted to see about surfing and possibly Kite boarding. We had met some other people on this cruise and they were going to go there as well for a beach day. We took a cab to the French side and were dropped off at the Orient beach Club where we decided to walk toward the north away from the scenery. We walked the down the beach and stopped along the way to inquire about kite surfing and this looks like a good place to take a lesson as they will follow you in a boat once you get the hang of flying the kite. I was not able to take a lesson that day though as they were completely booked. We then asked about renting a surf board and was told to go to Legalion Bay for that. We ended up walking back to the road and taking a very short cab ride to the adjoining beach which we could have walked to if we had gone past the beach club and around the point on a little trail. We did find the other people we said we would meet up with at this very nice beach. There was a small bar and they had drinks there as well as various rental equipment for exploring or surfing. I rented a surf board and figured I would try to surf but the area is quite a distance out from the beach and not good for a beginner such as myself. I did get a lot of exercise and a good taste of the salt water while trying to surf. Next time we go to this island we may rent the paddle boards instead as this is a very nice place to do this activity. The butterflies that were everywhere on this island were really nice as well.

Our next favorite port is San Juan. The old section in this port is very nice and provides a good site seeing day. We had already visited the forts on our previous visit so chose to do a basic walking tour of each street near the fort. The shopping in this port is good and there is a good variety of merchants to purchase unique gifts from. Just an fyi, if you spouse finds a purse in the Coach store here “buy it” as you probably won’t find it again and will have to substitute something that sparkles instead lol.

When we went to Labadee we chose to visit the little store at the end of the drop off area. We did not venture back into the market area as I did not want to be badgered to purchase anything that day. We did eat our lunch on the beach prior to heading back to a basically deserted ship where we sat by the quiet pool for the rest of the afternoon.

St Kitts is our least favorite port of call for this cruise. We did a tour our first visit a few years back and this time we just wanted to walk around a bit and get some cheap beer. We returned to the ship fairly early and again sat by the pool enjoying the empty ship. I wanted to go to a beach off the beaten path but after inquiring about a cab and maybe not having a reliable way back decided against it.

Sea days and activities while on board. My wife likes to relax and read by the quiet pool while I usually like to flowride as much as possible while stand up surfing is open. The quiet pool has comfortable chairs and pads on them so this is the best area to be for sun worshiping. There were very few issues with others reserving chairs on this cruise and more often than not I could get a spot after returning from the flowrider. The pool in the quiet area is salt water and a nice depth but not too warm at times.

We also went to a Meet and Mingle while on board and got the chance to put a few faces to names that I have seen on here. The session was pretty short and we did not really have a lot of time to socialize with people but it was still fun. Our group was fairly large so it was pretty rushed.

Here are some flowriding notes for those who are interested for the Navigator. I only cruise on ships that offer flowriding and try to get as much time in as possible while it is open. The times for this particular cruise were a bit less then what I was hoping for because they did not offer “advanced sessions” for those people who could load themselves without assistance. This particular cruise had a group of about 10 people who could ride well and we all got to know each other by the end of the cruise. I brought my own boards and Royal inspects each board and you sign a waiver to enable you to use them on the ship. I have a Waveloch board and an Ash board that I bring with me. If anyone else wants to try out your boards they too must sign the separate waiver to enable them to do so. The sports staff that we had on this cruise were really good and a lot of fun. There were a couple of really good instructors who really went above what was expected to try and help people learn how to ride. On a longer cruise(more then 7 days typically) you have less children so this is another reason we enjoy these cruises too. On this particular date we had less than 160 under 16 year olds on the ship which is nice. The sports staff is grateful for the break right after thanksgiving as it is usually hectic for them. This is also the first cruise I encountered where they did not have any boogie boarders at times when the flowrider was open. The wave on this ship is a bit faster then the other ships(instructor’s opinions). One of the nicest improvements on this flowrider is the soft grates on the wipe out area. It is nice to not have your elbows all tore up from the hard plastic grates on the older flowriders. Another disappointment for this sailing is the lack of a flow show and best of the best competition as this is a nice finishing touch to the week. It is understandable though as the smaller staff numbers could likely not put on a show by themselves. I had a chance to talk quite a bit with the sports staff and they all were in good spirits while we cruised and enjoy working on the ship(most had transferred from the large ships to this class). At the end of our cruise the flowrider was having some pump issues and pressure was reduced greatly.

Since we were doing another cruise right after this one we were told to go and see about transferring at the customer service desk as they usually can help with this. We did visit them and the concierge did not really know how to get us to the Allure without either a taxi fare or transfer fare. We ended up using a parking shuttle and tipping the driver for dropping us off at the next terminal. If we had not been in terminal 29 in Fort Lauderdale it is possible to walk around luggage in tow to the next terminal. Apparently there are not that many people who change ships on the same day as it is difficult for royal to help with.

Overall the Navigator rated very well in our books and we were sad to leave her even though we knew we were not done vacationing yet.

Now on to the Allure of the Seas for the December the 6th sailing:

This is the second time we booked this ship and I had done so for a couple of reasons. We wanted to take a longer vacation this year and this ship lined up with our previous cruise so we could basically continue cruising while keeping things exciting. The previous year we did the 5 day Liberty and 7 day Oasis side to side and really enjoyed the extra days.

We entered the terminal at 10:30 and waited until 11:00 when the security started checking people through. We were through in no time at all and on to the next line to get our check in done. We checked in and I asked about my crown and anchor status so we could attend the top tier event on the one nights sail away on the helicopter pad if we wanted. I was instructed I would have to see guest services to ensure that would be invited. We then proceeded to the upstairs waiting area where we ended up being seated in the very back corner. My wife’s sea pass card did not have any status on it when we were being seated so we ended up in the back which really was not a big deal. Boarding went well and we then went to guest services to see if we could get my wife’s card changed. We were told that we would have to see the Loyalty ambassador to get our status changed and our invitations for the one party we wanted to attend. We figured we would do that later on as we were ready to eat and relax while other people explored this ship.

Since we have been on Oasis class ships before we have a general idea of what not to do on the first day. Unfortunately I broke one of the rules I had set for myself and we went to the wind jammer for lunch. This is by far the last place you want to be on the first day when people are basically flooding in and have no clue on what they are looking for. We picked a table first and then each of us went to get our meals. If you want to know how a fish feels swimming upstream then this is how you experience it. I had already known to avoid this area as there are a few other spots that people don’t know about but it is hard to get nut free healthy food other then the wind jammer. I could not get out of there fast enough after a real nice couple of ladies yelled at us for giving them our table to sit at.

We waited in the beach pool area for 1:00 when we could access our room and drop off our belongings. Again our luggage was brought to the room in a very efficient time and we were able to unpack a bit. We met our cabin steward and she was very nice. The room was very clean with exception to the pull out couch which looked pretty bad. We did have one of the few interior rooms on the 14th floor 14575. We stayed in the room opposite to this one last time and it is a nice room with everything we needed close by. We decided to split up for a bit so my wife could sit by the pool and I could flowride for a while before the muster drill.

I was excited to see some familiar faces when I went back to the flowrider. You realize how small this world is when you bump into people you have cruised with before. We had some good laughs and caught up a bit while the lines were still fairly short to flowride.

After the Drill we decided we may as well go and get our status looked after with the loyalty ambassador. We had no issues with getting things straightened out but it still took a little while since there were quite a few people ahead of us. She assured us to come back and see her if we had any other issues throughout the week.

We figured we may as well get ready for dinner now as I had our reservations made for the whole week and on the first night we had an early my time dining time. We proceeded to the reservation area and were informed that we did not have a reservation set and could not eat at that time. We were then informed that we had only one reservation for the whole week and could not get early seating times unless we waited in the non-reservation side. A little disheartened and upset we decided to go the windjammer to eat dinner and try to figure out what had happened. After eating a so-so meal at the windjammer we returned to the main dining room the see if we could work something out. We were told then that since the show times had been juggled around that our dining times that conflicted were removed in favor of the shows. This did not really work for us so we revisited the loyalty ambassador again to see if she could help us out. We did get a few of the problems solved but it was a pretty big mess and we were delayed long enough that we missed the Blue Planet show reservation.

At the end of the evening we found ourselves wondering why we left the Navigator of the Seas:confused:. Unfortunately we have not had good luck with any of our other oasis class sailings on the first day.

The ports of call for this cruise are not what draw most people to this ship but we actually look forward to St Thomas and St Martin again.

We were on the eastern route which made its first stop in Nassau. Many people are not happy about the short time that we get here but aside from Atlantis there is not a lot at this port really worth doing. We decided to walk to the Queens steps and sort of got a little farther into town before we were told by 2 separate locals that we should not be in this area and go back to the tourist area before something bad happens. This is the first time I have ever felt uneasy walking in daylight in an unfamiliar area and I have traveled a lot. We did take the advice given to us and went back to the area we were supposed to be in. We walked the queen’s steps and checked out the fort which even though not as well kept up as the San Juan fort was still nice to see. We then went back towards the ship while dodging heavy rain showers. If we go back to this port again we will likely just relax on the ship.

Our next stop was St Thomas and we ended up going downtown shopping since our first allure cruise here 2 years prior almost missed this port because of propeller bearing issues. This island has a lot of jewelry stores for sure and they are willing to compete pretty hard for your business. I had to make up for the coach purse blunder I made in San Juan here lol. We talked to other people who were going to Meghan’s Bay and I had wanted to see that but they informed me that it was not what it was hyped up to be. I still would have liked to go and seen it.

Our last port of call was St. Martin again and this time we decided to go to the famous Maho Beach and watch the planes. This is definitely an experience for the bucket list. It is very crowded and the beach is not nice but the pictures to be taken are great and the experience was fun. We stayed here for just a little while before heading back downtown. The taxi ride provided some of the nicest sites along the way and when we go back here we intend on renting a method of getting around the island on our own and seeing things at our leisure. We actually think this is a place we could visit for a full week and be really happy.

Sea days were usually pretty busy with the pool areas fairly crowded. Again I did not have any trouble getting a seat with my wife usually after returning from the flowrider in the morning(the key here is to ensure she sits beside a single chair to increase the odds it will not be taken). We would go for lunch and she would return to her chair and I would resume flowriding as long as the lines were not too long.

One of our friends who is a pinnacle member was aware of our dining room dilemmas and actually took the time on day 3 to contact the manager and get our dining times secured for the rest of the cruise. I will highlight more on that later.

One of the main reasons to go on an oasis class ship is for the entertainment. I can honestly say that for the faults these ships seem to have they do make up for it with the shows they provide on board. Unfortunately we were unable to see Blue Planet but did see it 2 years before so knew what we were missing. Regrettably for the rest of the passengers if they missed the first show they had difficulties seeing it as well as they had technical problems and canceled some of the shows. We did go and see the Aqua show again and sat in an area that most people would not think to sit in just off to the side on the rock wall balcony area. This particular spot provided us with a bird’s eye view and we could see the scuba divers working hard as well. This show is worth seeing over and over again as it is well done. The next show we saw was the headliner featuring Jeff Trackta(spelling?). He was probably one of the best headliner shows we have seen to date and ended up going to see a second showing just to tape a bit of his performance(he encouraged taping). The rescheduling of Momma Mia caused us to lose our comedy show reservations so I cannot comment on that. We did go to the flow show that is put on by the activities staff and I enjoy that a great deal. The Ice show is also very well done and a must see while on board. By far our favorite show was Momma Mia as it was spectacular. We had center row seats just 5 rows back but ended up moving to the first row in the lower balcony so we did not have anything blocking our view. The singers are definitely some of the best I have heard at sea and there were not any empty seats after the intermission. Shows on this size of ship are still scheduled in different times then what is considered traditional so lots of planning and juggling is still needed to get them all in.

So now back to the dining room dilemma just to cap it off. Here is a summary of the events: Day 1 – windjammer and not so good dinner, Day 2 – Main room dining room with a window seat for 2 and excellent waiters(took my wife’s order for night 3 so she could be assured no nuts), Day 3 – seated in a completely different area of the dining room with a new waiter who was ok, Day 4 – seated back with our original waiter who was excellent again and took my wife’s order for night 5, Day 5 – back seated with our second wait staff and service was pretty good, Day 6 – Momma Mia early seating request night and seated with the second wait staff who were not having a good night(my wife got the wrong appetizer, wrong main course and then an undercooked replacement) We also did not have time for dessert that night even though we had a 5:30 dining time and wanted to be in line for the show by the 7:15 opening. The show did make up for dining problems that night though.

Our last night we were lucky enough to be invited by our friend to the Costal Kitchen. I was opposed to this at first but he assured me that he had told the manager some of the issues we had experienced and they wanted us to come and enjoy ourselves. Well we did go and what an experience. The food rated the best we have had and they waited on us hand and foot. My wife was very impressed that they knew she had a nut allergy and upon bringing her the appetizer that she wanted immediately substituted it with a replacement that they could be sure had not contacted any nuts. After enjoying a great meal there we know now why some cruisers that are top tier or suite guests love royal so much.

Here are the flowrider comments for those who are interested in the Allure. One of the best features about these mega ships is knowing that you will have a dedicated flowrider for stand up and boogie boarding. While this is a great feature to have I have determined that typically the lines for stand-up are longer on these ships. On this cruise wait times were usually 15 minutes in less busy times and up to 40 minutes on sea days at peak. Advanced sessions were not what I would consider advanced as some of the people who showed up could not load themselves but got 2 or 3 tries anyways. On average I got 2 or 3 runs in prior to open sessions usually. The Boogie board side had much shorter lines then the stand up and wait times were less than 5 minutes for most of the cruise. Our instructors for this cruise were not in the same mind set as the last cruise either. Usually I get to know a few by the end of the week and this crew just were not as happy to be there it seemed. The sports crew is much larger (22? on allure vs 8? On navigator) then smaller ships have so you see less of each instructor typically. There were a few who were happy but it just was not the same feeling as the week prior. My wife would not try it on this ship as she cannot load herself yet and is sort of picky about how she is put into the wave. The Allure wave is a bit slower then the Navigator I felt and a little less steep. For the most part it was a very even wave with very little sticking. There are not any real mid-stream overlaps either so it is less prone to wiping out new riders. Some of the heavier people found the volume of water not to be as good as they caught edges when carving hard. The biggest difference I found was the wall height for loading. The allure has a very low side wall making loading a bit more difficult. I typically keep our last night open so we can enjoy the flow show and take in our cruise. I like to participate in the best of the best as well as it is a lot of fun. The staff on this ship could really ride and so I was surprised that they were not as friendly to the people who could ride the wave fairly well (not just my opinion either). The flow show on this cruise was one of the better ones I have seen the crew put on. It was well laid out and a good pace.

The vacation is over and it is time to make our way home. We now have a method of getting off of the ship which we have found the easiest and most efficient. We take our luggage off of the ship right after a early breakfast prior to when they start calling numbers. We started to get off of the ship around 7:45 and were out of customs in about 20 minutes. We no longer wait for a shuttle and just jump into a cab to take us to where we want to go next. For 20.00 to 25.00 with a tip you get to a nearby place you want without waiting around at all. We left our car at a local hotel and upon arrival they had not started their shuttle service yet. We were headed home in our car by 8:30 while in the past it has been as late as 11 before we got on the road.

So if you have made it through all of that and are still reading then this is what we have concluded when comparing these 2 ships.

Navigator of the Seas:

Good Features: shows were well done, ability to reserve and actually adjust dining times, very friendly staff, no issues with dining throughout the entire week, relaxing windjammer and very few lines.

Bad Features – ship has a few less amenities, single flowrider(won’t matter to most), less to do, the ship is showing its age in some areas, rooms are a bit tight depending on what you stay in, some show times are different each night so adjusting dining times may be needed

Allure of the Seas:

Good features - amazing shows, all of the bell and whistles a ship can offer, truly impressive man made marvel, biggest selection of alternative dining, wipeout café, johnny rockets breakfast outside, freestyle machines, boardwalk and central park are amazing

Bad features – lines, show times and reservations, port variety, lines, poor windjammer layout and overcrowding, pre-booking and royals awesome IT department issues, lines, too many people in some areas , my time dining, rudest cruise guests I have seen to date, and lines….(it is actually possible to be line free on this cruise but you have to work at it pretty hard)

On a side note if you book the allure of the sea and receive an email about show times moving I would highly recommend you call and ensure your other reservations are still intact. If you can’t log into your reservation do not assume your plans are going to be set when you get onboard. I had a planner made for the whole week highlighting all of our reservations and show times that was basically a waist of paper and time.

After comparing the 2 ships we have concluded that while the oasis class is truly amazing we will be booking the slightly smaller classes from now on. At the time of writing this review we have a reservation on the Harmony of the Seas for next December. We have determined that we will not be taking this cruise in favor of something else that will suit or vacation expectations better. While I will miss having some of the features on the largest ship I will not miss some of the negative things we have found to detract from our vacation to the point that it becomes very frustrating. The oasis class has the wow but the smaller ships have more of what we are now looking for on our vacations. A successful trip should only involve 1 trip to guest services to get your sea pass punched for your lanyard;).

I hope you enjoyed my review and if you have any questions I would be more than happy to try and answer them. I would also like to thank everyone on here who contributes to making cruise critic what it is. I have learned a lot from others who post as well.

We were on the December 6th sailing and were not impressed at all with how the my time dining worked for us. Royal lost all but one of our dining reservations and moved 3 show times around due to a new cast. We were unable to obtain times close to our original dining and had to settle with later times. We ate at the wind jammer on the first night and missed the Blue Planet show trying to straighten out the reservations we had lost:mad:. On our third day in the cruise we asked a friend who is a pinnacle member to help us out with our desired dining time for the show before Momma Mia. We did get the time we wanted prior to the show.(still a 25 minute wait but thankful for the early seating) Our waiter messed up my wife's order 3 times leaving no time for desert prior to the show. On a side note Momma Mia was one of the best we have seen and offset all of the negativity my wife was feeling from dinner.

We are loyal to Royal and enjoy cruising but have found that the oasis class ships are far from what they are capable of delivering for cruise satisfaction. To be honest if this had been our first cruise with Royal it would be our last with them. We currently have a reservation for the Harmony of the seas next December and I will be cancelling it and doing something different:(. It is basically 3 strikes and you're out for them now as our other oasis class cruises have all had problems which detracted from the experience. We will continue to cruise with Royal but go on slightly smaller ships that meet the expectations we have had in the past. The navigator cruise we had the week before was what Royal Caribbean is capable of and it was a great vacation.

Last winter we sailed on the Liberty for 5 days and then the Oasis for 7 days right afterwards.

Here is what I found:

Liberty - better service and overall happier crew(the experienced people we talked to said that they prefer to work on other classes then the oasis class), shows were actually nicer to go to at your leisure, lots to do and the ship never felt crowded, mdr is still a lot better on this class then the oasis class(jmho).

Oasis - it is still the destination and has the wow factor that people love, there is always something going on, it is a busy ship with planning needed to get the most out of it.

Both are really different and have many more plusses and minuses. I am not sure how the Liberty will feel after the renovations are completed either. I do agree that adding waterslides into the mix will make it a good fit for your situation. You should consider your itinerary as well and try to do the opposite route you did on your last cruise just to keep it as new a feeling as possible.

That's called a side-to-side cruise!:D

We tried this on our last vacation and it worked so well that we decided that is what we will do for the next couple years. Its funny that we say we have 2 cruises booked but it is not what most consider a back to back because we jump ships. We like to make sure we see new things so this has something to do with it as well. On this trip I am going to try really hard to document what I can so I can post a comparison of the 2 ships afterwards. It should make for a really interesting review since we will be on the ships long enough to get a real feel for them. I will call our cruises "side to side" from now on too :D.

You won't automatically be Platinum on Allure because it usually takes aboout a week for your status to be updated. However, if you visit the Loyalty Ambassador on Allure, they should be able to change your level to Platinum on that cruise. The only differences would be robes in your stateroom and an invite to the top-tier party.

Thank you for the quick reply Bob. It would be nice to be invited to the top tier party so maybe this is something we will look into. My wife would like to have the robe in our room so that would be great for her too. Thanks again

We are going to be cruising back to sort of back on 2 separate cruises this year and have a question regarding changing from gold to platinum. We will be on the Navigator for a 8 day cruise and on day 3 we will have our 30 days at sea. I know royal does not recognise that you have changed until after you complete your cruise so here is where the question comes in. When we leave the Navigator and go to the other side of the port to the Allure should we expect to be gold or platinum in Royals eyes. It is not a big deal either way but would be nice to hear others opinions or experiences.

Hey JC, with this Flowrider thread going on the past few weeks I couldn't wait the 4 more weeks for my Oasis cruise so I went down to Albuquerque for the weekend to get my fix. While there one of the riders from ABQ that I know said that he was on Navigator 3 weeks ago and won BOB. He said the staff said they are now getting enough decent riders every week to start doing it. So that may be good news for your trip next year, and definitely good news for anybody planning to sail out of FL. Also makes me feel better about my March Liberty cruise out of Galveston.

This is really good news. If they are getting riders that are good that hopefully means that they will have advanced sessions as well. I will make sure to post back here how our November trip goes on the Navigator(only 61 days to go). If this one goes well we will be very likely to book the 9 day southern route for 2017.

On our Allure cruise a couple of years ago I was so impressed with one of the sports staff crew I went to her supervisor on the last night. I gave her a envelope with a thank you card and tip to give to her on my behalf and told her that she was one of the most helpful people I have met. She thanked me so much for doing this and told me that she would present it to her at her crew meeting that week. She said that a gesture like this goes a long way in helping improve the moral of the crew and shows passengers do really appreciate what they do for them on the ship. I always make sure that I have a few thank you cards for special people who may not get the recognition that they deserve.

We have never seen this. On all of our advanced sessions, there has always been two Sports Staff for stand-up. This is often an issue because often times someone on the Sports Staff sleeps in and they won't operate with only 1 person. In fact, this is one of the rules I have always seen the Sports Staff follow. Whenever one person needs to leave the wave, they stop passengers from riding. However they do allow boogie boarding with only 1 staff member.

I can also verify they will not run stand up without a second sports staff member. I was the only person one morning for advanced and the manager was trying to find another staff member so he could allow me to ride. It was a few minutes before a sleepy staff member took to their position. Gio thanked me for waiting and understanding the rules. He was one of the nicest sports staff members I have met so far.

A friend of mine is going on an April 2017 cruise on the Navigator that is 9 days and goes down to the ABC islands, as well as Lababee. I think there are 4 or 5 sea days as well (great for riding). 9 day trip in all for as little at $600. Wish I could do that trip.

Hey Russ,

We are seriously thinking of doing this cruise too but it will depend on how well I like the flowrider on the navigator and the ship in general. If they put the advanced session on it I know that I will like it enough to book the 9 day abc cruise for 2017. By this time we will want to see different ports and try new things so I am keeping my fingers crossed that it works out.

We are still considering going to Windsor on Saturday(my wife will try to ride too if it is not too busy). Please send me an email (ryanvarey@gmail.com). I really should be finishing up house stuff but I need a break:).

I'm assuming they will start doing Advanced and BOB on Navigator once it gets to FL, since every other ship there does it as well. That extra 6 hours a week with the smaller crowd really makes a difference, especially on a ship with just one Flowrider.

 

I would love to do the ABCs on a Flowrider ship as well.

When we get on the Navigator I will be headed back to the Flowrider right away to check schedules and see if they are going to have the advanced sessions. I like to meet the instructors and chat with them away from the flowrider as it is nice to be able to actually hear them. On our last cruise there were even a couple Canadians running the flowrider and they were really just getting used to it. It was a pretty funny flowshow at the end of that cruise as it was the first for quite a few instructors;).

I am hoping that some day we can do a Hawaii cruise on a ship with a flowrider. I would settle for a southern Caribbean one first though as I would love to see the abc's as well(especially Bonaire). New places to see would be fun and keep it interesting and a 9 day cruise would make for a great vacation:).

Here here. I am sure Russ would support it's move to London as well. :D

 

I stayed at the Casino. I found a room package that gave a $50 food credit, as well as free passes to the water park for about $220 tax in. I also got a room in the no kid tower. Valet parking is free (I tipped though) and it is just a few minutes drive back and forth to the water park.

 

They also let me ride my own boards.

 

EDIT: you don't need the passes for the water park, but if you have kids and they want to use the slides etc it works perfectly. When you book the room make sure that you have the occupancy count at the right numbers. That indicates how many passes you get at checkin. I gave my pass to a family entering the park. I figure it saved them a few bucks.

I think London would be a good place too for one;).

I have stayed at the casino a couple of times already to play poker. I have not been in quite awhile now as I do not play anymore. We don't have any kids but my wife would probably like to use the lazy river as well so we would have to purchase at least one pass. She may use the flowrider depending on how many people are in line for it. I think we would probably get up real early and drive down for just the day. If I liked it enough we would make plans to spend a bit more time down there. That was nice of you to give your pass away and I would probably do the same thing as I would be there for the wave only.

I also agree that I would not rent it out by myself for a session. I would only do that if there were at least a few people to break up the time. I can only go for 3 minutes at a time max before my back leg gets too tired and then I need a 10 minute break. Maybe if you want to go down again sometime let me know and maybe we can work something out.

They are probably getting ready for Galveston where they'll stop doing Advanced and BOB just like the Navigator. :mad:

I am not getting my hopes up but when we go on the Navigator in November when it is docked in Fort Lauderdale I am hoping they have at least the advanced session onboard. If they don't I will have to see how much time I get on the wave. I am also hoping that the 8 day cruise combined with the after Thanksgiving time helps out with increased time to ride. I will probably get to talk to the activities manager on board at some point. We are hoping that it will adopt an advanced session and bob as we would like to do a southern Caribbean cruise in 2017 on this ship.

That sucks about being told the wrong info. I have no problem riding for the hour solo, I just stretch before, during, and after. I also take a few Advil before bed too. It was also funny hanging with riders, but ones that have never cruised before. A couple of the riders asked why would you ever cruise, and I asked them why wouldn't you.:cool:

 

I was emailing with Russ Lomas about me experiences at Windsor. I copied and attached it below in italics.

 

 

I had to go south of Windsor for work so I went on a Friday and planned an overnight stay for the Friday night at Casino Windsor. I rented the wave for an hour Friday night (200 plus tax), and went to the open riding Saturday morning from 9-12 for $10 tax in. I also had to pay for street parking/lot parking. It is a bit sketchy, but no different than parts of London.

 

The wave is maybe double the size of the cruise ship, and is much steeper. Also there was a bigger lower flat area. For starters it is hot as hell in their building. Even with 30' ceiling fans it was hot. I guess in the winter it is better. I went August 14th when it was humid like today. Besides the hot humid air in the water park the flowrider water was hot too, making it even hotter. The wave has bumpers on the sides so you need to one foot load in, which is no big deal. However the mat was real slippery. Once I realized that all was good for wave entry.

 

The wave seemed to be thin in water. Once you got 3/4 of the way up the wave you would catch your edge while turning. Instead of leaning back for sharp turns, you almost had to have 60% of your weight on the front foot to stop the board from catching. At no point was I able to ride the top of the wave, I got 80% of the way up, once I got comfortable on it. I was able to do multiple 360s, front and back stalls, climb the wave etc once I got used to the wave. Back stalls were way easier than front side stalls.

 

The regular riders on Saturday complained about how the wave speed is turned down so the boogie boarders did not get washed up into the back wall. That might explain why it was almost impossible to ride the top of the wave. It might also explain why the wave didn't push me over the top very well when I wiped out. The locals also explained that no one at the water park knows how to run it, to make changes. They also said the park was losing money hand over first. A possible chance for London to buy their wave?

 

Having only ever rode on the ship on a smaller wave, you might be able to note if my observations of this wave being under powered are correct. I would not return for a rental and the riding. Way to much for a uncomfortable building and a lack luster wave. If there were 5 people maybe to break it up I might return but not on my own for sure. If I was really hard done by I would go down for a Saturday open ride and back the same day. It is a lot of driving for 3 hours of riding though.

 

Positives. They basically had no rules. There were no wavers to sign for the Saturday morning, which surprised me. They had the cushy marsh mellow mats for walking on and in the upper wipe out area.The "stand-up lesson" was from 9-10 and then you could ride from 10-12 with boogie boarders if any were there. The staff persuaded possible boogie boarders away by saying that stand-up went to noon, wink wink. There were a couple of decent riders and the crowd was a strange mix, as in they were all different but didn't really mingle if that makes sense. Not like on the ship.

Thank you for posting this. It gives me a pretty good idea of what to expect when we go. We are planning on going down later this month if I can talk my wife into it(maybe the 19th). I would still be happy to try it out and see how I do at it. As for the drive I think it would take close to 3 hours from Simcoe so if we could drive down and back then we would be ok with that. It is such a long time between cruises that a day trip would be well worth it. I have not ordered a new board yet so it may be nice to ride whatever they have there just to try and make sure I am 100 percent set on the one I want too.

I was not sure how well Windsor would be able to support a park like that. It is too bad that it ended up down there. If it had been nearer to a more popular area it may have gone over a lot better. The only plus is that they are only charging $10 but how long it can go on before it is shut down will remain to be seen. I guess I better get down and try it before the plug is pulled. Maybe we could get together and find a better home for it some day;).

What is your thought on a "shorty" suit? That might be a good midpoint for them, helping keep the core warm but giving more flexibility and not as restrictive.[/QU

 

Your best bet would be to see what is available near you at a local store and have your boys try them on to see how they feel in them. I would say that the thickness would be the major factor in how much flexibility you are going to be giving up. The ship will not run the flowrider if the air is too cold (50 degrees I think is the cut off?)I used to use a shorty in the ocean with water temperatures around 65 degrees and that was ok. I did not buy another shorty because I like to have the long sleeves for when you end up on the hard plastic grate after a wipe out(my preferred rash guard has long sleeves too). If the weather is cooler the chances of them getting more time on the wave is probably pretty good provided they have the appropriate suits to keep warm. If I had to choose only one wetsuit for the trip I would probably go with a shorty as well but I would try to find one with long sleeves(a shorty also works well for bathing suit shorts overtop).

I was in Windsor on the Saturday August 15th for the Saturday morning riding. In the summer there were not offering Wednesday. I think the person you chatted with had no idea. I rented out the Friday night before for an hour. After riding it for that hour I would never rent it out solo again for a multitude of reasons. The 3 hours on Saturday is a deal for $10 even with the poor quality of the wave not to mention how hot the building was.

I was inquiring about that exact Saturday(it was going to be a weekend away for us). We were going to get a hotel room the night before and be there that morning until I called and got the reply I did. I wish I had posted here first as I would have been able to hang out with another royal cruiser:(. For 10.00 I am willing to make the trek down there for sure some time. What did you not like about the wave that they have there? I like heat so that would not bother me at all if the building is a bit warm. When you rented it were you the only one on it? I rode one time last year for over an hour with one other person on the liberty and both of us could hardly walk after that. It was fun but you need a few extra people to give you a little break.

I did stop at the Sea Trek desk to ask about them and he told me they rent them, but that they are really dive suits and therefore thicker. My BIL dives and has three suits for different conditions. His thinner suit is a 2mm/3mm and that's what the sports director Anthony recommended. We have a dive shop near the house, so I'm going to check that out and see what they think.

 

The boys have always worn rash guards but wetsuits feel entirely different. I'm hoping to get thinner for maximum flexibility.

I actually take a full suit(3mm?), a ripcurl top(1.5mm) and a couple of rash guards(long and short sleeve). The ripcurl top is what I like the most as it has long sleeves and provides my elbows protection and does not get overly warm. I did use the full suit in the evening as it is fairly cool when the sun goes down. I also put all of these items in my board bag to help protect my board and take up less suit case room. If I were leaving from a northern port I would definitely want the full suit on board even though it is not comfortable and very restrictive in comparison.

I don't think pezz ever loses. The show I competed against him in March was the exact same one that you can watch him do on YouTube. Same songs, moves etc... DW wondered how many times does he need to sign the same board on his B2B2B2B.:rolleyes:

 

That being said he is a fun guy in line and he encompass the spirit of flow-riding and cruising as well. I'd love to sail with him any day. :)

I sailed and lost against Pezz too in the bob on the allure a couple years ago. He does have a good routine and it is pretty funny. He is a great guy who I email as well from time to time. Hope to see him again on a ship as we enjoyed his company.