Review of Navigator March 30, 2013 Sailing

[Paul65]

Just got back from the Navigator of the Seas yesterday, and we had a very nice week. I'm too lazy to write a full review, so I thought I'd make it an interactive review and discuss the aspects you want to hear about. But here's an introduction to give you an idea of what we did:

 

We (wife, 15yo son and myself) have sailed a few times before, all on Royal Caribbean, but this was a first for us, as we booked an Owner's Suite. It was a splurge to mainly celebrate making it through a difficult year in 2012. We considered flying to Miami and taking a cruise on the Oasis, but with the airfare costs and our close proximity to New Orleans, it was about the same cost to do a full suite on the Navigator.

 

We dined in the Main Dining Room every night, except for one night when my wife and I went to Portofino and our son went to Johnny Rockets. The reserved seating in Portofino for Breakfast/Lunch was one of our favorite suite perks, and we took advantage of that most days, other than a couple lunches in the MDR.

 

In ports, we went to Chankanaab National Park in Cozumel, just did some walking and shopping around Georgetown, Grand Cayman and did a ship-sponsored tour from Falmouth, Jamaica that took us to Dunn's River Falls and the Green Grotto Caves.

 

We took advantage of cocktail hour in the CL most evenings for an after-dinner drink (we had early seating dinner) and went to the headliner shows and the ice show, but not the production shows. Other onboard activities included a bridge tour, galley tour and a couple cocktail seminars, 70s Dance Party on the Promenade and more. Plus, the people watching was a favorite past-time, as well.

 

There were a few announcements from the Captain about norovirus. They had a few cases on the ship, so he kept reminding us all to be vigilant about hand washing and cleanliness, as well as letting the medical staff know, if you were not feeling 100%, so they could get you check out and treated, if necessary. Seems like it was kept well contained, as there were only a handful of new cases after the initial announcement. I think I heard a number of something like 18 total cases for the week.

 

Anyway, fire off any questions about details you'd like to know. :D

[Paul65]

OK - No questions so far, so either nobody really cares or the interactive cruise review wasn't a good idea. So, I'll start you off by saying a little bit about the crew experience. We may have just been lucky, but we thought this was one of the best ship crews we have experienced so far.

 

Our room steward, Michael, kept the room in good shape. We are pretty low-maintenance cruisers, so we didn't have much in the way of special requests. However, the one time we did make an extra request, it was taken care of, and he even followed up with us later to make sure it all worked out. We agreed to open up our cabin for a Cruise Critic "cabin crawl" on one of the sea days. We asked Michael to put a bottle of champagne that we had in the room on ice and leave out some extra champagne flutes, so we could offer it to those who came by. Everything was set up very nicely for that.

 

The bottle of champagne, by the way, was a door prize from the Meet & Mingle, which was generously donated by Bill, aka waterboy27. We thought it only fitting that we share it with everyone on the cabin crawl.

 

Our dining room staff were awesome. Shanisa, our waiter, was very helpful and friendly, and even went out of her way to help us find someone who could show us how to tie a bow-tie (for the son, who brought one to wear).

 

The staff in Portofino, both when we went there for dinner and at breakfast and lunch, were also outstanding. Everyone we met from the crew just seemed to really be top notch.

[Ocean Boy]

We felt the same way about the crew on this ship when we were aboard last year. I think Navigator is a very well managed ship.

[Paul65]

 

This is what our OS cabin looked like. :D

[Paul65]

Another thing I wanted to add, since I'm one of "those people" who is bothered very much by cigarette smoke, is that it wasn't much of a problem on this cruise. I have had one cruise on which I basically couldn't use my balcony, but I don't think I ever noticed it on the balcony this time.

 

It was slightly bothersome at times in the Promenade, because of smoke drifting from the Pub and/or the Casino, but not too bad. It was also noticeable at times on the pool deck, if I happened to be on the smoking side (either accidentally or to pick up a towel, as the towel station was on that side) or if it was drifting away from the smoking side. Since the side of the pool deck are semi-enclosed, it doesn't dissipate as rapidly as on a fully open deck.

 

There was one time in Grand Cayman, that we were on the non-smoking side, watching the tendering operation from Deck 4, and two guys walked out, lighting up as they came out onto the deck and came over to the railing just a few feet from me. I mentioned to one of them that this was the non-smoking side. The response was, "I know, but the other side of the ship was blocked off." So, obviously, he basically didn't care to bother finding an alternate smoking area. I didn't push it any further; just move away from them.

[estoyer]

Another thing I wanted to add, since I'm one of "those people" who is bothered very much by cigarette smoke, is that it wasn't much of a problem on this cruise. I have had one cruise on which I basically couldn't use my balcony, but I don't think I ever noticed it on the balcony this time.

 

It was slightly bothersome at times in the Promenade, because of smoke drifting from the Pub and/or the Casino, but not too bad. It was also noticeable at times on the pool deck, if I happened to be on the smoking side (either accidentally or to pick up a towel, as the towel station was on that side) or if it was drifting away from the smoking side. Since the side of the pool deck are semi-enclosed, it doesn't dissipate as rapidly as on a fully open deck.

 

There was one time in Grand Cayman, that we were on the non-smoking side, watching the tendering operation from Deck 4, and two guys walked out, lighting up as they came out onto the deck and came over to the railing just a few feet from me. I mentioned to one of them that this was the non-smoking side. The response was, "I know, but the other side of the ship was blocked off." So, obviously, he basically didn't care to bother finding an alternate smoking area. I didn't push it any further; just move away from them.

 

 

Thank you for your review. I have a couple questions. We are staying in an OS on the NOS in the near future. What room did you have and was it as nice as you expected? Furnishings and their conditions? Did you bring your own wine on board? Would you cruise her again?

 

Earl & Kathy

[Ocean Boy]

I thought Navigator was in great shape when we were aboard and I'd happily sail on the ship again. Though I like Freedom class ships, I think I'd sail Navigator over Independence without a second thought.

[Paul65]

Thank you for your review. I have a couple questions. We are staying in an OS on the NOS in the near future. What room did you have and was it as nice as you expected? Furnishings and their conditions? Did you bring your own wine on board? Would you cruise her again?

 

Earl & Kathy

 

I thought the OS was very nice. We were in 1630, which was near the main stairway, just aft of the "hump." The location was great, and the cabin was very roomy. We're used to spending some time trying to find a place to fit everything. In this room, we had extra drawers and shelves that were empty, because we had more storage space than stuff to put in it.

 

One downside of the OS was that it has a door-bell, and with this being spring break time, with lots of kids aboard, we had occasional problems with kids roaming through the hall pushing doorbell buttons. Thankfully, we never had this happen in the late night hours, but it was still a bit annoying at times. That would be less likely to happen away from the busy time for children.

 

But everything seemed to be in good condition. The shower was still a bit small, because they had to make room for the jacuzzi tub in the bathroom (which we did not use, but could be a selling point for some). It was really nice to have all that room, overall, and especially the nice roomy balcony. We don't hang out in the room that much, but it was nice, when we were there, to not have to be squeezing past the furniture and each other.

 

We did bring two bottles of wine with us, but had not even opened either by the next to last night of the cruise. So, we ended up bringing a bottle to the dining room with us each of the last two nights. I was prepared to pay the corkage fee, but was not asked to do so.

 

I would definitely cruise on the ship again. It was in good shape, and the crew was top-notch.

[39august]

Sorry to hear the pub is a smoking venue. How about the Schooner bar, please? Did you have cooked to order breakfast or did you bring your food in from the WJ? That is also one of our favorite suite perks! On Mariner we also got fresh-squeezed OJ every morning, no charge.

[Paul65]

Sorry to hear the pub is a smoking venue. How about the Schooner bar, please? Did you have cooked to order breakfast or did you bring your food in from the WJ? That is also one of our favorite suite perks! On Mariner we also got fresh-squeezed OJ every morning, no charge.

 

Schooner Bar is non-smoking. We had the option of cooked-to-order breakfast in Portofino and took advantage of that at times, other times just got food at the buffet and brought it in. We did not get complimentary fresh-squeezed OJ, though.

[swim13]

Ahhh the Navigator! Would you mind posting some pics of the main areas? Sailed her about this time 9 years ago!! :eek: Beautiful ship.

 

Thanks for writing your review!

[Ladysilver]

Thank you for taking the time to post your review. You had a beautiful cabin! We will be in a center hump cabin (9320) on her next December and can't wait! We were on the Mariner this past December, end of the hump (6328) on deck 6. Loved that location! :D

Will you be posting any more pictures?

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

Hey Paul~

 

Thanks for your thoughts. I enjoyed reading them as I sailed Navigator last year as well and we loved the ship and crew. I'm with OB-felt the crew was one of the best and that the ship was well-managed.

 

Glad you had a nice time.

[landj999]

How was it? Big enough?

[joandian]

Thanks for the review. We are hanging around waiting for Navigator 2014 TA and Europe cruises to be released. Did you hear anything about this while onboard?

[ltzol]

We were fellow passengers on this sailing, and I agree completely with you about the crew. We have sailed Disney and Norwegian, and the crew on the Navigator was tops!

 

We didn't have much trouble with smoke, either, but we did choose to pass on going to the pub one night when the smoke was thick :)

[chipq]

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us.

 

http://luv2cruise.blogspot.com

[bbrad8]

OK - No questions so far, so either nobody really cares or the interactive cruise review wasn't a good idea. So, I'll start you off by saying a little bit about the crew experience. We may have just been lucky, but we thought this was one of the best ship crews we have experienced so far.

 

Our room steward, Michael, kept the room in good shape. We are pretty low-maintenance cruisers, so we didn't have much in the way of special requests. However, the one time we did make an extra request, it was taken care of, and he even followed up with us later to make sure it all worked out. We agreed to open up our cabin for a Cruise Critic "cabin crawl" on one of the sea days. We asked Michael to put a bottle of champagne that we had in the room on ice and leave out some extra champagne flutes, so we could offer it to those who came by. Everything was set up very nicely for that.

 

The bottle of champagne, by the way, was a door prize from the Meet & Mingle, which was generously donated by Bill, aka waterboy27. We thought it only fitting that we share it with everyone on the cabin crawl.

 

Our dining room staff were awesome. Shanisa, our waiter, was very helpful and friendly, and even went out of her way to help us find someone who could show us how to tie a bow-tie (for the son, who brought one to wear).

 

The staff in Portofino, both when we went there for dinner and at breakfast and lunch, were also outstanding. Everyone we met from the crew just seemed to really be top notch.

 

Paul: Sorry we missed meeting you on this cruise. We did actually meet your son briefly now that you explained the above incident. ;) He was in the CL asking our group if anybody knew how to tie a bow tie. Very nice young man!!! You should be proud. :D

 

For those w/ questions about Navigator, this was our 3rd cruise aboard Navigator in the past 3 years (although it was by far our shortest). FULLY agree w/ Paul, this is a wonderful ship AND crew!!!

 

Bruce

[estoyer]

I thought the OS was very nice. We were in 1630, which was near the main stairway, just aft of the "hump." The location was great, and the cabin was very roomy. We're used to spending some time trying to find a place to fit everything. In this room, we had extra drawers and shelves that were empty, because we had more storage space than stuff to put in it.

 

One downside of the OS was that it has a door-bell, and with this being spring break time, with lots of kids aboard, we had occasional problems with kids roaming through the hall pushing doorbell buttons. Thankfully, we never had this happen in the late night hours, but it was still a bit annoying at times. That would be less likely to happen away from the busy time for children.

 

But everything seemed to be in good condition. The shower was still a bit small, because they had to make room for the jacuzzi tub in the bathroom (which we did not use, but could be a selling point for some). It was really nice to have all that room, overall, and especially the nice roomy balcony. We don't hang out in the room that much, but it was nice, when we were there, to not have to be squeezing past the furniture and each other.

 

We did bring two bottles of wine with us, but had not even opened either by the next to last night of the cruise. So, we ended up bringing a bottle to the dining room with us each of the last two nights. I was prepared to pay the corkage fee, but was not asked to do so.

 

I would definitely cruise on the ship again. It was in good shape, and the crew was top-notch.

 

Thanks for all the great information. One more question. Have they added the pay for lobster and steak to their new menu?

 

Thanks Again

Earl & Kathy

[Paul65]

Thanks for all the great information. One more question. Have they added the pay for lobster and steak to their new menu?

 

Thanks Again

Earl & Kathy

 

Yes, those were on the menu. I think it was $29.95 for the lobster, $14.95 for the filet or $37.95 for the surf & turf combo of both. Never tried them, though. I found the food quite good in the dining room. The warm-water lobster served on the second formal night was good sized, but not quite as good as Maine lobster.

[Paul65]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1823287

 

I'll probably get some more pictures uploaded later, but for those wanting more pics of the ship, one of my fellow cruises on this voyage has posted a bunch of them in the thread linked above. :cool:

[Paul65]

Now to one of our favorite things to do in just about any public place, observing humans in their natural (or perhaps unnatural) habitat. We saw a few interesting sights. I already talked about the smokers who just had no other option but to ignore the non-smoking side of the ship, since the first smoking area they tried was temporarily roped off. Here are a few others:

 

It starts with the CC Meet & Mingle on Day 2. We met some nice people there. I made a point of finding waterboy27, because we had talked on the Roll Call, and I found that he lived in the same town as my sister. He was also the one who bought a bottle of champagne to be given away as one of the door prizes, and my wife ended up winning it, so that was pretty neat. The most memorable part, though, was when the door prize drawing got underway. The first slip they pulled didn't have a name on it, so they pulled another. A couple ladies across the room from us complained that they did get a chance to write their names on their raffle tickets. Not sure what happened there, as the rest of us all had pre-printed invitations that had our names on them already. But one of the two ladies just had the most sour look on her face about the whole thing that, for the rest of the cruise, she was known to us as "Angry Lady." I mean, really? It's just little trinkets that were being given away, except for the bottle of champagne at the end. And we ended up saving that to share with those who came by on the cabin crawl, anyway.

 

Another lady we encountered in one of the gifts shops was such a loud talker that people in the shops on the opposite side of the Promenade knew what she was saying. She was dubbed "Loud Lady." And every time we crossed paths with her later in the cruise, the name was reinforced. :D

 

There was a group of three guys who hung out together, and we saw them multiple times. It seemed like two of them might have been a couple, but it was hard to tell for sure, but they were "The Boys." They always seemed to be having a good time, though, and were well-behaved. They were sitting right next to us at one of the shows in the theater. After reading some of mpoole3's review, I think it was probably his group.

 

Then there was "Bra Babe," a middle-aged, somewhat . . . . stocky . . . . woman, who decided to sun herself by just removing her shirt and laying out in her bra. I suppose it covered as much, if not more, than many of the bikini tops, but just seemed a bit inappropriate.

 

But, overall, the people we met were all very nice. There were about 900 kids on the ship, but from what I saw, they were mostly well behaved. The only trouble we had were the ones who thought it was funny to ring our doorbell and run and a few who thought the stairways were good places to camp out and visit.

[cathep]

Then there was "Bra Babe," a middle-aged, somewhat . . . . stocky . . . . woman, who decided to sun herself by just removing her shirt and laying out in her bra. I suppose it covered as much, if not more, than many of the bikini tops, but just seemed a bit inappropriate.

 

I was wondering if I'd see myself in here and you got me: I'm Bra Babe. I was told at Victoria's Secret that it was a bikini bra. I guess it wasn't.

 

Nah, just kidding. I was on the bridge tour with you. Our group agrees with you that this was the best crew we've had on a cruise.

[Paul65]

How was it? Big enough?

 

The balcony was nice and roomy, with a table + two chairs in the middle and a lounger on either side of it. There were two access doors to the balcony, one from the bedroom area and one from the sofa area.

[mpoole3]

 

There was a group of three guys who hung out together, and we saw them multiple times. It seemed like two of them might have been a couple, but it was hard to tell for sure, but they were "The Boys." They always seemed to be having a good time, though, and were well-behaved. They were sitting right next to us at one of the shows in the theater. After reading some of mpoole3's review, I think it was probably his group.

 

 

Yup thats us! Great review!