Nov 21st Navigator - a little disorganized???

[publicpersona]

I was on the Navigator 11/21 cruise and posted my notes already under thread "Notes from the Navigator".

 

We took the late boarding in stride, but it wasn''t all the USCG's inspection that made them late. The crew got up at 3 AM to go through immigraton, and immigration was not ready for them. But the last 30-45 minutes of delay boarding was because they couldn't get the photo security cameras working when connected via cable into the port. After some delay, they started saying "Go manual" and they started writing down names instead of taking pictures. But some bright spark suggested just rolling the cameras back onto the ship and doing it there, and that worked (we were at the front of the line, watching all of this).

 

The OP was absolutely right about My Time Dining on the Navigator. It was horrible, as I'd previously posted.

[truffles2]

We were on the Navigator TA that pulled into Miami 11/21, just before this sailing.

 

The OP's comments mirror a lot that we felt was wrong on the ship on the TA crossing, so it is not a new crew feeling it's way. Over 12 nights we noted dozens of errors in the compass and the poor scheduling, to the point that on a 12 night cruise with 7 days at sea they couldn't figure out how to squeeze "The Quest" in. Plus, on our sailing the trivias and name that tune sessions always conflicted with the production shows and fixed dining.

 

To be blunt, the CD doesn't know what he is doing. His main job is to be an executive, not a part time lounge singer.

 

We were on this cruise also and I will have to agree. Navigator did not meet my expectations --is not on a par with the other ships we have sailed. The best thing about this cruise was our waiter and asst. waiter--both of whom were excellent!

[The Big Booper]

We were on this cruise also and I will have to agree. Navigator did not meet my expectations --is not on a par with the other ships we have sailed. The best thing about this cruise was our waiter and asst. waiter--both of whom were excellent!

 

Yes, our waiter and asst waiter were extremely good and professional. Many of the CD staff were very good, including Mauricio (sp?) the king of "Name that Tune", cute little Amy from Canada (Cidney, no less), Italy's son Dave, and the guy-who-lived-in-his-parent's-basement and was a Star Trek fanatic (he??, I forgot his name) and last but not least Rich from Trinidad, who strikes me as being from the school of Andrews, Brooks and Chapman, and that is high praise.

[The Big Booper]

Alot of the crew had only joined Navigator in last two months..in fact if I recall correctly 400 crew got off the day NV arrived in Miami...21st Nov.

 

Embarkation was a mess...nearly 4 hours late getting off for us...no food or drink available during the wait. Final bill wasnt left at my cabin and I had to wait in line for 1 hour as I wanted to settle it in cash rather than my cc(missed breakfast due to waiting) ...oh yea and I was stuck between two huge guys argueing about jumping the queue:eek:

 

There were too many mistakes in compass over the 12 day TA...food was to be honest bittie garbage, a lot of grumpy staff onboard..until about two days before we arrived :confused: The ship just didnt have the buzz we are used to.

 

Although we love the ship and many of the staff were great..it all felt...tired...like as if it just couldnt be bothered with us.

 

One Ice show...repeated and repeated.:(

 

About the ice show, I don't think we can criticize only one production show, since the ship does 4 and 5 day cruises the rest of the year, and never needs a second production show, unlike the ships that do long cruises all year such as the Indy and Explorer. They both have two ice shows.

 

But that is no excuse for making the ice show the main evening attraction after 5 previous performances. Could have done something else, like Quest, maybe?

 

The rest of your comments were dead on.

[MaryL31]

I am so sorry to hear of this on NOS...I have sailed NOS 3 times since 11/07, and the only thing I could complain about was the debarkation on our last cruise in 01/09...every other experience, from beginning to end of each cruise, was great. I hope her crew "gets it together" soon. Anyone know who her captain is at the moment?

[publicpersona]

But that is no excuse for making the ice show the main evening attraction after 5 previous performances. Could have done something else, like Quest, maybe?

I don't recall any evening where the ice show was the main event. The Quest was held (and it was a good one). The game that we were missing was Love and Marriage.

 

As I said in my post, with the exception of the horrid My Time Dining, we thought there were fewer glitches than I expected. The ship was in great shape, and we enjoyed our cruise very much.

[Desert Cruizers]

There is another Post and it possibly pertains to the same cruise. We love RCL and their Radiance Class, and was considering the TA out of Rome for 2011, so if we still go with tisi cruise, hopefully we won't encounter such a problem, or might check out other TA options.

[The Big Booper]

I don't recall any evening where the ice show was the main event. The Quest was held (and it was a good one). The game that we were missing was Love and Marriage.

 

As I said in my post, with the exception of the horrid My Time Dining, we thought there were fewer glitches than I expected. The ship was in great shape, and we enjoyed our cruise very much.

 

I was talking about the 12 night TA, not the 5 nighter that followed us.

 

Good to hear that The Quest is back, guess it was just omitted from our TA sailing. But no Love & Marriage, even with the lame Carnival format that the CD here uses........?

 

Towards the end of our trip, after 5 or so performances, the ice show was held at 7 PM for late seating and 9 PM for main seating. These are main event times.

[temple1]

Arrived at Miami Port at 1:00pm, boarded at 4:00pm....RCCL said that customs had not cleared the ship. About 1 1/2 hours later, customs cleared the boat, siad we were boarding and NO ONE moved. Next PA message, RCCL was experiencing interconnectivity problems. Meanwhile, all the vending machines ran out of food and drinks and since this was a Thanksgiving cruise there were tons of children. Next PA message, about an hour later, we are boarding...guess what??? we didn't move. The least the RCCL could do with offer water bottles to the 3000 people whi had been waiting.

 

As soon as we did board, my husband went directly to the Maitre'd to sign our 3 families (10 of us) for My Time Dining and he was told to come to the dining room at 6pm that night. When he did, RCCL told him it was full and come back at 9:00 that night! Guess what, he went at 9:00pm and they again told him it was full. He and our son-in-law went to Guest Relations the next day, waited in a long line to be told that we couldn't sign up.

 

Don't get me wrong, we use to like RCCL, but there were too many bad experiences on this cruise.

 

My husband, who is 63, was at the Windjammer the first night to get something at the buffet and slipped and fell where there was a water spill that he wasn't aware of and fell in front of one of the Windjammer's head waiters, Francisco. The head waiter never said watch out for that spill and when my husband fell, he never asked him if he was OK or if he could help him up...it was horrible. My husband asked for a report and they said he would receive one, which he didn't!

 

Our daughter and her husband (Platinum members) were so disappointed and had so many management issues with this cruise that they wrote a certified letter today to the President and CEO.

 

Looking at the Carnival Liberty in 2010.:)

 

After reading your extended post I have to let you know how sorry I am about the bad experience. We all go on a RCCL cruise expecting certain levels of service and when it is not there we know that it is lacking.

 

I hope you pointed out the deficiencies on your comment cards and sent a follow up letter to the execs.

 

What you experienced on Navigator is not the norm. We're just off Majesty and they provided service that lives up to what all of us expect from a RCCL cruise.

[dhay]

I am going on Navigator in 2 days and I hope this is not the case. I saw on another thread somethign about a sewage leak so I certainly hope that is not the case since this is our anniversary cruise.

[spoonful]

i am also leaving in two days and i am on the deck seven so i really hope this is resolved!!!

[publicpersona]

There were things not to like on the Navigator (like the abysmal My Time Dining), but we nonetheless found plenty to offset it. Like this view from our hump balcony .. aaahhhh ...

[wolfcathorse]

I am so sorry to hear of this on NOS...I have sailed NOS 3 times since 11/07, and the only thing I could complain about was the debarkation on our last cruise in 01/09...every other experience, from beginning to end of each cruise, was great. I hope her crew "gets it together" soon. Anyone know who her captain is at the moment?

 

Capt Erik Standal took over 10-15-09 (Capt Bang is on vacation).

[alexkrn46]

A lot of contracts end or are changed when the ship moves homeports. This isn't any different than any year before. It is not just because of Oasis.

 

We have been on Navigator TA and I am well aware of contracts being changed. I am also aware when all of corporate is focused one issue, other issues tend to suffer. On the Oasis, I was told on my last cruise on the AOS that only the best of the best were going on the Oasis. When one does staffing, if you send all your best people to one assignment, other areas tend to suffer.

[temple1]

We have been on Navigator TA and I am well aware of contracts being changed. I am also aware when all of corporate is focused one issue, other issues tend to suffer. On the Oasis, I was told on my last cruise on the AOS that only the best of the best were going on the Oasis. When one does staffing, if you send all your best people to one assignment, other areas tend to suffer.

 

I disagree - we were on the Majesty cruise that docked in Miami the same day Oasis docked in Port Everglades. Service and food were both excellent. I did not think our service suffered at all.

 

Besides - with 20+ ships in service and they have been planning to add the new ship for over a year they would, I hope, been adding and training staff during the past few months. Plus, didn't most of the staff join Oasis before the trans Atlantic crossing? So you would think all the early November cruises would have suffered from deficient service.

[molly361]

[quote name='silentbob007']I was on this cruise last year (and almost jumped again this year) and unfortunately there are some transitional problems after such a large change in intinerary ... namely, the staff don't have a "routine" down yet for the itinerary and there are also usually large shifts in personnel when the ship changes routes.[/quote]

Thanks for the heads up on this. We were thinking of booking the NOS for 11/6/10 and I believe that is the first one back from Europe , will push it back a couple of weeks.