Navigator of the Seas 29th September review from a Princess cruiser perspective

We (Geoffa30 and I) are currently on day eleven of a fourteen night cruise to the Canaries and North Africa on board the Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas. This is our first cruise with RCCL as we are usually Princess cruisers, though have sailed on Celebrity and P&O as well. Even though we still have three days left on board (two ports and one sea day) I wanted to do a quick review of our RCCL experience and do some compare and contrast with Princess.

I will start the review by saying that our experience on this cruise and cruise line so far has been very positive and we would definitely sail with them again if we had the right itinerary at the right price; something I wouldn’t say about Celebrity or P&O - though the latter are good for inexpensive short breaks.

We initially booked this cruise because we wanted to try a different cruise line and the itinerary and booking offer were both appealing. We booked with a three for free type offer; second guest was half price and there was free deluxe drinks package, free WiFi (which has been fantastic and is fast enough to stream Netflix and YouTube) and $100 OBC - this is the kind of offer that Princess cruisers enjoy in the USA but we never get in the UK. The itinerary including a stop in Morocco was the cherry on the cake that persuaded us to book this cruise.

The booking process was fairly simple though the website isn’t the easiest or most intuitive to use; we love the Princess website with everything in one place and so simple to navigate - I don’t think any other cruise line has such a user friendly website. We booked a panoramic ocean view stateroom, which is a recently created category with a whole wall of window overlooking the ocean - the cabin is large, bright and airy, though I do miss having a balcony to step out onto and would move the room round so that the sofa is next to the window. Also, the room is right below the fog horn and we have had two foggy nights - so no sleep!

Embarkation was simple, we were out of the car and on the ship in well under an hour, though our rooms weren’t accessible until 1pm - we were on the ship well before noon - on Princess our rooms are usually ready immediately we board and, as Platinum cruisers, we get priority embarkation. However, the boarding process was relatively pain free and we were able to enjoy a drink by the pool while waiting for our rooms to be ready.

One of the things we really enjoy is exploring a new (to us) ship and getting our bearings - finding the spots where we can go to relax. To us, the Navigator is a small ship - similar in size to a Princess grand class ship - and very simple to get around. The ship is clearly ageing; I’m currently sitting in the solarium looking at rotting window frames - in other places it can be noted that things are slowly deteriorating and there is rust and corrosion that has been painted over. Having said that even on some of the newer Princess ships we have noted the corrosion caused by the sea air but on Princess there seems to be a lot more maintenance constantly happening. I’m not sure how full this cruise is but the ship seems to cope well with the number of passengers on board except in two areas - the Windjammer (buffet) and the bars - which can be uncomfortably crowded at times; though we did find the same on the Emerald Princess in the buffet although the one on the Navigator is better designed.

The crew on the ship are from a wide range of nationalities and are friendly, engaging and very helpful - we find them very comparable with Princess staff - however, the crew to passenger ratio feels to be a lot lower and it is difficult at times to find a crew member. One of the things that really put us off sailing with Celebrity again was the crew, we found them rude and surly and generally unfriendly. We cannot fault the crew on Navigator who are delightful though clearly stretched - we have barely seen our cabin steward and had to ask for our sheets to be changed after 10 days seemingly without clean sheets! Other than this, he is doing a good job and we have had towel animals for the first time ever. Not that we’re that bothered but it is amusing to guess what they are supposed to be. The most recent was either a Sloth or Yoda!

The passenger demographic is as wide as the crew, there are young and old and all ages in between, however, being term time there are only a small number of families. A ship sailing from Southampton will always attract a large British contingent of passengers but there are also 800+ people from the USA as well as Canadian, Australian, Mexican and Puerto Rican passengers to name but a few. This wide variety of cultures makes for a much more interesting cruise and is something that we prefer rather than a monochrome UK population such as to be found on P&O.

Food - an important component to the cruise experience - has been overwhelmingly good. There has been an excellent variety of food on offer and the quality has exceeded expectations. We really enjoy the food on Princess but, over the past few years, we have become rather bored with the repetition. One big disappointment is the opening hours of food outlets - the buffet is closed for parts of the day and shuts completely at 9pm. There is no poolside food outlet or pizza place - we enjoy the Trident grill and Prego pizzas on Princess that are open all day until 11pm; on Navigator when the buffet closes in the afternoon and through the evening there is no access to food on the pool deck. However there are good quality burgers, hotdogs and pizza available in the buffet when it’s open.

We bought the five night specialty dining package and have eaten in the Chops Grille (very good), Giovanni’s Table (Italian seemingly with a new menu and the food was not very good at all) and Sabor (usually Mexican but Indian on this UK sailing - not sure why - the food however is excellent especially as they served basmati rice rather than the short grain type served everywhere else on the ship) - we are going back to Sabor and Chops. We didn’t try Izumi as Geoff doesn’t like a lot of seafood or sushi so there wouldn’t be much we could choose from There is a lot more up selling on RCCL than we are used to on Princess and this can be very annoying at times. Also, the Promenade Cafe, the equivalent to the International Cafe, is ok but not as good as the Princess offering. The food selection is not as wide as we would like here especially, as after 9pm, this is the only food outlet on the ship except for (paid for) room service. We also missed Alfredo’s (Princess’s free speciality pizza restaurant for those that do not know) - we always visit once or twice during a cruise - as apart from Windjammer, MDR and Cafe Promenade there is no other included food outlets on the ship but we did enjoy Johnny Rockets.

The bars on Navigator were disappointing, they all tended to be small, with a lack of seating and no real discernible drink theme (e.g. martini bar). The crowded nature of the bars made them uncomfortable and the one bar we really like - Cosmopolitan (equivalent to Skywalkers) was closed for the RCCL version of the PES Lounge from 5.30 to 8.30 pm; this would have been our ideal pre-dinner martini location. Also, the drinks tasted really watered down and if we hadn’t had the drinks package we would have complained particularly as the drinks are considerably more expensive on Navigator compared with Princess. The good thing about the drinks package (besides it being free) is that any drink above the $14 limit that you purchase you only get charged the difference - e.g. a $17 drink you pay $3 unlike on Princess where you pay the whole $17! Bottles of wine seem incredibly expensive on the Navigator; e.g. Wolf Blass Yellow Label £7.99 ($10ish) in a UK supermarket - on the Navigator $60ish.

The shore excursions are typical ship shore excursions - on the whole we do things on our own. We have been on two excursions so far to Marrakesh (Morocco) and Mount Teide (Tenerife); both trips were good value for money and well led; however, they tend to gather you far too early for the excursions and there is a lot of sitting and waiting in the theatre - very boring! I object to paying for shore excursions months in advance of a cruise - when in reality the cruise line probably pay the tour operator after the event - and this used to be a real plus for Princess being able to pay for the excursions at the end of the cruise, but sadly this no longer applies ☹️!

Entertainment has been okay, solo acts have been very enjoyable - we even got to see Darren Day (though wish he would do fewer impersonations and more straight singing - we heard other passengers saying the same - his George Michael was shocking). The production shows have been typically songs loosely linked by a weak story line - good but not great; you can see the Navigator is an old ship; one of the backdrops was sheets waving in the wind! Princess set design and staging is much better. Music in venues around the ship are hit and miss and not a patch on Princess. No real party band per se. However, We did enjoy the ice dancing show one sea day afternoon. The quizzes and game shows have been ok though poolside activities have not been to our taste. The stateroom tv has a very poor selection of channels; however, my Polish is much improved as all the adverts on the tv are in Polish - why? The films shown on the pool deck are all old and are repeated frequently - Princess shows a much better selection of up to the minute movies.

We found the Royal Promenade concept disappointing - we don’t really want a shopping mall at sea and much prefer the Piazza on Princess ships where there is always plenty of seating, entertainment and great people watching. Having said that the outside spaces are really good on the Navigator; there’s a great wide wrap around promenade deck (though you have to pass through the smokers on the port side) and the pool areas are much more open (even seem wider) than on Princess - though fewer of them. It seems that the wide outside promenade has been at the expense of the indoor space - the Royal Promenade is cramped and claustrophobic - you could be inside any very old and cramped shopping mall in the world rather than a lovely cruise ship.

One thing that Navigator lacks is a private adult only area like Princess’s Sanctuary - the Navigator’s Solarium is nice but is very much a corridor with people constantly walking through - we love the Sanctuary with its super attentive and discreet service and it’s calm, serene atmosphere. Another thing lacking is the self service laundry - poor Geoff had to iron us more than 50 shirts to bring on this holiday and when we got on board there were only eleven hangers in the closet! Our cabin steward brought us some more (plastic) ones on request but was incredulous that we asked for at least 30 more hangers. (We recognise we are probably strange bringing so many shirts with us but need to accommodate our increasing waistlines over the course of the cruise.) We really appreciate the launderette on Princess and the ability to refresh tired clothes.

In our opinion, Royal Caribbean appears to be a more budget option compared to the Princess offering. The little things often make a difference and the things that we realised we were missing included tote bag (will bring our own in future), bathroom toiletries (we always bring our own), the helpful port guides that Princess do so well, pillow chocolates, savoury snacks (e.g. nuts/Bombay mix) with drinks and robes to name but a few. Although given recent changes at Princess, these might not always be offered in the future.

In conclusion, the RCCL experience for us has been really good - so far - and we will definitely look to book another cruise with them (most likely on a newer ship possibly Quantum rather than Oasis class) in the future; though with seven future cruises already booked with Princess, P&O and Viking Ocean Cruises (which could jeopardise our Princess loyalty) it probably won’t be for some time. I will update on this cruise and the disembarkation process in a couple of days time but would be happy to answer any questions now.

Nice. Thanks for sharing

What stateroom number were you in?

Thanks for the great review! I'm going on Navigator next month and this has been very helpful.