Is Navigator of the Seas that awful?

For us it was bad enough that we have not been RCCL since September 2014 when we had a miserable cruise on the Navigator. We are going to give Royal Caribbean another chance next month, but if the issues are the same, then it is back to Princess for us.

 

We were in a RFS and spent a pretty penny, but the service was abominable and the cabin was filthy. The Concierge was no help as he was too busy falling all over some Pinnacle passengers and basically ignoring the rest of the suite guests.

Yeah that was my main gripe w the cruise, room was disgusting top to bottom and onboard management really didn’t step up to fix issues as much as they could have. Lip service not action. Issues beyond daily room attendant cleaning. I’ll make a separate post after I hear back from TA so I can lay it all out. Wife wanted RCI to refund us and fly us home it was that bad and it was second subpar room we have had on Royal within 6 months of each other

I don’t know who your concierge was but we had a wonderful lady Patricia in the Diamond lounge that was very available and helpful. Def one of the better ones we have encountered

We sailed a B2B 5 night/9 night cruise a few weeks ago. The ship was clean and well maintained, and the crew was wonderful. The only thing we were not happy with was the new dining room menus. We found them to be very repetitive, and the choices were very limited. The menus are fleet wide, so are not exclusive to the Navigator. We have sailed the 9 night on the Navigator several times, and enjoyed our most recent cruise just as much as the previous sailings. We are booked for the 9 night Navigator again in March 2019. The ship will have an extensive dry just prior to our sailing, and we're looking forward to seeing the changes.

For us the Navigator was bad enough that we have not been RCCL since September 2014. We are going to give Royal Caribbean another chance next month, but if the issues are the same, then it is back to Princess for us.

 

We were in a RFS and spent a pretty penny, but the service was abominable and the cabin was filthy. The Concierge was no help as he was too busy falling all over some Pinnacle passengers and basically ignoring the rest of the suite guests.

Our cabin on no’s was filthy to, complained and no one was interested. Tips were swiftly removed after that.

We booked the 9 night next March (2019) on the Navigator. Can't wait. We sailed an 8 night Eastern on her spring of 2016 and loved it. It feels very much like a Freedom class ship but here are the main differences (to us):

Promenade is a little shorter, and Cafe Promenade and Sorrento's are combined into one venue (actually it was kind of convenient).

The pools are salt water, and there is no kid splash zone.

It doesn't have the cantilevered hot tubs off the side, but the actual width of the ship is the same as Freedom class.

We thought the entertainment in the theater was a little sub par versus other cruises, but that changes with each cruise. Good friends of ours just did the same 9 night last month and loved the entertainment. The ice show was great though, best we've seen.

One thing that our friends noticed, (and we tend to have similar opinions, so I value their feedback) was that the MDR food and options were the worst to date. We're going to remedy this by doing a 4 or 5 night specialty dining package, and then visiting the MDR for the two formal nights. That should get plenty of good dinner options.

Happy sailing. The Navigator will be fresh off a dry dock refurbishment that is Jan and Feb of 2019 so she should be fresh and ready to go!! We're on the March 15th sailing, and I think there are two 5 night sailings and one 9 night sailing before that, so hopefully that gets all the crew back into the swing of things and ready before when we arrive.

Can't wait. That itinerary is stellar.

Dan

For us the Navigator was bad enough that we have not been RCCL since September 2014. We are going to give Royal Caribbean another chance next month, but if the issues are the same, then it is back to Princess for us.

 

We were in a RFS and spent a pretty penny, but the service was abominable and the cabin was filthy. The Concierge was no help as he was too busy falling all over some Pinnacle passengers and basically ignoring the rest of the suite guests.

I was also not impressed by concierge in 2014 and 2015, the one a few months ago was really excellent

Navigator is one of my favourite ships and I prefer it over Indy. I find nothing wrong with it and enjoyed my previous cruises on her.

Bad experiences understandably lead to bad feedback and bad reviews. However, in my experience they tend to one offs so I don't pay too much attention to negative reviews. It is highly unlikely that all cabins on any ships are "filthy" although very possible that you may be unlucky enough to end up in a cabin that has numerous problems.

Problem is that people have different tastes and expectations. I tend not to spend time on loungers for example or eat in the MDR every night. So my opinions are going to differ to those who find these two things important.

Yeah that was my main gripe w the cruise, room was disgusting top to bottom and onboard management really didn’t step up to fix issues as much as they could have. Lip service not action. Issues beyond daily room attendant cleaning. I’ll make a separate post after I hear back from TA so I can lay it all out. Wife wanted RCI to refund us and fly us home it was that bad and it was second subpar room we have had on Royal within 6 months of each other

 

I don’t know who your concierge was but we had a wonderful lady Patricia in the Diamond lounge that was very available and helpful. Def one of the better ones we have encountered

I'd love to see pictures of this, rats, roaches, crap exploding out of the toilet. Is this the kind of stuff you experienced?

Or did an article of clothing get left in a draw, some grime in the corner of the shower, under the bed maybe didn't get vacuumed?

What level are we talking about here?

I'd love to see pictures of this, rats, roaches, crap exploding out of the toilet. Is this the kind of stuff you experienced?

 

Or did an article of clothing get left in a draw, some grime in the corner of the shower, under the bed maybe didn't get vacuumed?

 

What level are we talking about here?

Have sent photos to my TA and corporate. If you know somewhere I can host photos free please let me know. I'd like to give TA and corporate the chance to respond before I make a full post on it here, so that I can be fair and show the problem and corrective measures taken. It was neither exploding toilet bad nor leftover sock innocent.

We were on Navigator 4 times last year. No problems for us.

Personally I think people tend to complain more than praise. I wouldn't worry. You can always make lemonade if you need to.

Have sent photos to my TA and corporate. If you know somewhere I can host photos free please let me know. I'd like to give TA and corporate the chance to respond before I make a full post on it here, so that I can be fair and show the problem and corrective measures taken. It was neither exploding toilet bad nor leftover sock innocent.

This board just doesn't like links.

imgur (dot) com / upload

It censored out whatever you have posted. I've tried Imgur in the past but it blocks those links.

Maybe I will download tapatalk and try it; but doesn't that butcher photos?

I load my pictures from my iPhone using the CC App.

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Maybe I will download tapatalk and try it; but doesn't that butcher photos?

No. The CC app will also work if the pic size is under 200KB.

I load my pictures from my iPhone using the CC App.

 

 

 

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I haven't been on the Navigator so can't comment on her however with so many ships and crew changes, what one may encounter on a cruise with a particular ship others may not. The best thing is to judge for yourself. We had always boarded a ship with an open mind and not look for the negatives. Except for perhaps a rude passenger or some minor flaw, we have enjoyed every cruise we have been on and certainly would not fault the entire cruise line for a bad experience one. Each sailing is different some great, some good but overall an enjoyable trip.

Cool! I did not know that you could load them from the cruise critic app! This is not the Navigator, but rather the Liberty from January. Only difference in dining rooms is primarily the color of the chairs though. Otherwise very similar layout and style.

Testing it out.

Dan

The Menus are an issue but we enjoyed our 5 day'er in Feb and are back again in March 2019 after her Drydock

Reading reviews can do your head in!

Cool! I did not know that you could load them from the cruise critic app! This is not the Navigator, but rather the Liberty from January. Only difference in dining rooms is primarily the color of the chairs though. Otherwise very similar layout and style.

 

Testing it out.

 

Dan

It worked. Congrats

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We sailed on Navigator over Christmas on the 9-day Southern, and thought it was the best cruise we have been on so far. But I am sure there are others who were in the same cruise and felt the exact opposite. We preferred food in specialties and WJ to MDR, entertainment was outstanding (saw the juggler routine twice), and the concierge for the suites was fantastic. We would book this cruise on this ship again in a heartbeat if it was offered when we can travel. But I think Explorer will be doing this itinerary in 2019.

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DW and I did the ABCs the first week of this past March. I'll give a quick letter grade of our cruise, totally subjective based on our expectations.

Emabarkation A-

Ship itself before dry dock B

Overall Crew experience A-

Cabin Steward A+

Cabin Deck 9 aft B

MDR Food C+

MDR wait staff A-

MDR Menu Choices C

MDR Breakfast B

MDR Sea Day Lunch B+

WJ overall B-

WJ Omelette Station A-

Shows in the Auditorium C+

Shopping/Sales C

Hot Tubs/ Pool B

Debarkation B+

ABC Itinerary A+++

I've not sailed Nav, but from what I have seen, her glory days seem to be over, as shown by her being relegated to the 3 and 4 night Bahamas cruises as of next year. It sounds like a refurb will be much welcome. Adventure is looking great after her thousandth dry dock, so hopefully the same for the Nav.

Labadee BBQ lunch - B+

You really can't go into the ship and compare it to an oasis class ship. That will be your first mistake and will ruin your cruise. You have to look at this as a whole new experience.

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I have a Samsung Android, how do you put your photo off your phone on CC

Thank you all so much for the feedback! Any thoughts on number of children and impact on this ship? We have never had an issue and have travelled in March before. I would think with a 9 day I would suspect even less even in the busy March timeframe.

I think hubby and I will go regardless.....I just love the length and islands option!