Just off Navigator of the Seas

[mdtcoll]

This is my first attempt at a review. I will keep it brief.

The four of us cruised 1/12/13 in a Grand Suite and adjoining balcony cabins. Cabins were very nice. I am short and had a hard time getting in and out of the tub/shower and the sink was a bit high for me as well.

We were not able to open the balcaony divider between our two cabins. Our cabin attendant said he would open it but never got to it and it really didn't matter anyway. Cabin attendant was very good, attentive, pleasant and learned our names quite quickly.

Service overall was quite good.

Food I thought was pretty average.

We enjoyed the ice show and Man of 1000 Voices, otherwise entertainment was not that good in my opinion. I did not think the comic was funny although many people seemed to enjoy him.

Conceirge lounge is small and has no windows. Drinks were average.

We spent 15-20 minutes there a few times during the week.

We enjoyed Jamaica and Cozumel. Tendering in and out of Grand Camyan was a bit of a pain and the island was very expensive.

Overall a nice week but would want to try something different next time.

It was interesting cruising the Mississippi River but it was a bit cool and quite windy.

I would be happy to try to answer any questions you may have about the ship.

[The Sunset Glow]

Thanks for the review. I have a couple of questions as we'll be doing the same cruise in 12 days.:D

 

Did you have the old or new menus in the MDR? Navigator wasn't supposed to get the new menu until the Feb 2 sailing but I heard the roll out has been moved up. Did you happen to hear anything about it?

 

There's been mixed reports about what times the casino and shops open and close on the first and last day. What was your experience?

 

Thanks!!

[KirkNC]

Welcome home, thanks for the report!

[bld44]

Did you have the old or new menus in the MDR? Navigator wasn't supposed to get the new menu until the Feb 2 sailing but I heard the roll out has been moved up. Did you happen to hear anything about it?

 

 

Old menus.

 

Also, the cruise director was not Jimmy Rhodes as expected. His name was John (can't remember his last name). I looked him up on CC and found one post mentioning that he was a CD "in training" a year or two ago. Was this his first cruise? He was "OK". I agree with you on the entertainment.

 

We were on the same sailing. Like you, we had a GS (1268). What was yours? It was our first time in a suite. It was nice, but I don't know if I would ever sail in one again unless I found a great deal for it. I spent a great deal of time trying to find a cabin without noise from above, but failed to look up where the crew access door was. Turns out it was directly across from our door, and there were two others adjacent to it. There was a lot of noise in the hallway, especially on the first/last days as they were moving luggage. During the week it was noticeable but not a vacation ruiner. We didn't have a whole lot of noise from above though, only a periodic screech from people adjusting chairs in the solarium.

 

We didn't use the CL that much, maybe went down for drinks 2 nights. Ricardo was helpful and nice. We got to go up on the bridge, too.

 

Service was decent. Our suite attendant did a good job keeping the room clean but always forgot to update the suite dining menu. We ate in the room 3 nights, which was a lovely perk. The rest of the nights we had MTD reservations at 6:30. On our first night, the service was absolutely abysmal. No one acknowledged us sitting at our table for 10 minutes. Our assistant waiter didn't say hello until 40 minutes after we sat down, although she was busy working the tables adjacent to us. We didn't meet our actual waiter until the 2nd night. Although, we stuck it out and the service improved every night. On the last two nights the service was perfect.

 

Dining room food was decent. Felt that the WJ was below average. I felt like the variety was less than I was used to on other ships.

 

As for excursions, we did the Green Grotto Caves/Dunns River Falls excursion in Jamaica, Stingray Sailing in Cayman and Naichi Cocoum in Cozumel. I have no desire to go back to Jamaica, but the other two excursions were top notch.

 

This was our first sailing on a Voyager class ship. It was nice, but we apparently have a thing for the Radiance class. We felt like the ship was showing it's age in some areas, mostly furniture, upholstery and carpet. Other than that, it was in great shape.

[mdtcoll]

Hi I am not really sure if we had the new or old menus. Sorry :o

My husband seems to think the shops and casino opened around 8:30 PM the first night.

I know the last night the shops closed early. Not sure if that was to settle the accounts or due to our location. The casino was open quite late.

Have fun!

[lemonade-sails]

Thanks for the review. I have a couple of questions as we'll be doing the same cruise in 12 days.:D

 

Did you have the old or new menus in the MDR? Navigator wasn't supposed to get the new menu until the Feb 2 sailing but I heard the roll out has been moved up. Did you happen to hear anything about it?

 

There's been mixed reports about what times the casino and shops open and close on the first and last day. What was your experience?

 

Thanks!!

 

I was on Navigator at the beginning of January

 

According to my Compasses the casino opened at 6pm the first day and the shops say "closed". I don't recall if they were open or not that first day - we were too busy.

 

On the last day the casino says open til late and the shops say 9 am to 8:30 pm.

 

Hope this helps some!

[exitoffnine]

Rather than start a new thread, hopefully nobody minds if we tack our review on here as well. We sailed the same 1/12 sailing - just the wife and I. Our 10th cruise (1st kidless).

 

1. We had a large (2-3x) aft facing balcony. It was huge. Two loungers, two chairs, table and you still could have had a few couples dancing. Down sides - when we boarded, it was FILTHY - and I mean gross. I wasn't surprised by the soot (there was a lot, on everything) but I was pretty upset by the scum, food stains and HAIR all over the chairs and the rubberized flooring RCCL uses was pitted and had pretty decent sized holes below where the rain runoff from above fell. We asked that our balcony be cleaned (and we wiped all the chairs, etc. down ourselves) - improved a little. Second big problem is that the noise from neighbors (less wind) on aft facing balconies (plus the fact that they're used more) can make them either a) very quiet if others are not there or quiet or b) let's just say NOT quiet. We lounged out there one whole day with little problem but every other day we had a "gaggle" (as we ended up calling them) of ladies cruising together that spent multiple 1-2 hour stints on their balcony chain smoking and carrying on conversations in a night club volume - with a fair bit of color as well. It didn't wreck my vacation but my wife the pre-schooler kept remarking about manners and why adults can't learn to use their friendly voice.

 

2. Food - a bit of a let down honestly. We cruised Allure in August so maybe we had unfair expectations. Dining room food portions were infant sized and quality is wayyyy off. Windjammer was ok but both variety and quality have fallen in the past 5 years - quite noticeably. Cuts of meat were pretty bad and there were so many "cubed chicken in (insert) sauce" dishes that I began to get nauseous. Chops dinner was "ok" for the money - my Porterhouse was pretty dry and tasteless. Portafinos dinner (last night) was highlight of the cruise (had the filet). Sushi in Windjammer (jade) was reasonably good but the better stuff (sushi v. Maki) was harder to find later in the week (predictably).

 

3. Entertainment - we agree 1000% with OP

 

4. Service - actually, we feel Navigator shined here. There were heightened precautions due to both Noro and Flu so lots of sanitizing and crew interaction around drinks, ice cream, etc. but I have to say, in all our cruises, it might have been the best service we saw a) generally around ship (helpfullness and friendliness) and b) in the Windjammer - the waiters there did not have that familiar windjammer scowl but instead insisted that you be comfortable and let them help you. They REALLY reacted well if you were polite, well mannered and helped clean up after yourself. KUDOS here to the passengers generally. Wife and I (being northeasterners who usually cruise out of Florida) noticed that the vast majority of the passengers were a) middle aged and b) well-mannered in that they said please, thank you, etc. and didn't issue demands and leave huge messes for crew. We concluded that the Southern and Mid West/Western demographic of the cruise passengers was a big reason for this. Also noticed at shared meals where it was VERY easy to start conversations with fellow passengers.

 

5. Ports - Been to all before. Stayed on board in Falmouth and lounged in the Solarium, took the bus to CayBrew in Caymans for FREE tour (read RCCL tour ripoff if you sign up!) and spent day at Nachi Cokum in Cozumel (great time).

 

6. Ship - yes, it is wearing - nothing that really detracted but noticeable most on balconies (patched paint, rust, etc.), windows (stains, weatherstrip falling out, etc.).

 

All in all, very relaxing - after being on Allure and being used to cruising with kids, we did find it a little dull in the evenings. The pub entertainers were quite bad compared to others we've experienced. The Two Poets also had the world's most uncomfortable chairs and smokey (unfriendly) environment which kind of killed my beer experience. Carnival (and Allure) also have a leg up as to late night food options (deli, decent pizza, etc. - [Navigator's pizza makes the Carnival pizza look like 5 star gourmet]).

 

Happy to answer any questions - (oh, it is the old menu btw in the MDR) - Chef told us that they are switching the second week of Feb. We have lots of time to answer questions - big break in cruising for us as we send three to college!!