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3rd Cruise with Navigator in 12 months!

Cruizlovers

By Cruizlovers,
in Royal Caribbean International

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Cruizlovers

Cruizlovers

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We must be hooked! Just back from the Navigator of the Seas, this is our THIRD voyage on this ship within 12 months. We did the transatlantic last year, one week in May and again on November 2nd through 9th. I’d like to make a few random observations and thoughts from our experience. This is our opinion, your experience may differ.

 

- Aft Junior Suite (1694) - is roomy and a great size, we had and the balcony it was three times the size of our son’s Junior Suite balcony. Lots of space, love it! The bed was too hard and the pillows were flat, wished we had asked for fresh pillows but most of the time we were exhausted and slept well. Our stateroom attendant was perfect, thank you, Elroy! However, our daughter who had a hump balcony was not so thrilled with her attendant. On embarkation day, he told her that he was very exhausted and would be back later. Most of the time their room wasn’t made up until late afternoon. Note that we all had prepaid gratuities and tipped extra. She said service/attitude improved toward the middle of the cruise.

- As far as noise right under the Flowrider/Windjammer, we experienced NO noise in this location. We did experience some heavier vibrations when arriving or departing ports. Nothing I would say bothered us.

- Diamond benefits were easily obtained through your Seapass card, no problems there and MUCH easier and more convenient than using those coupons. LOVED the three free drinks in the evenings, never made it to the Diamond Lounge other than pick up ice show tickets. BEST service and drinks were obtained from Boleros, Two Poets and Windjammer! Worst service and attitude was from the lower pool bar, avoid this bar! Drinks were tiny and bartender acted like we were bothering him.

- No corkage fee! Enjoyed taking our wine to dinner. We were willing to serve ourselves, but our waiter, Devon, insisted on serving him.

- Dining room, we were assigned a table right next to the captain’s table. Initially our family party of six were split up and assigned to two different floors. Went to the DR and after a few visits we were put together on the first floor. You just need to speak up and let them know what you want. Dining room staff were very accommodating. Not sure if our Diamond status helped.

- Dining room food - We ate in the DR twice and both nights were Formal Night. Food was very good, no complaints. Service as usual was excellent! Thank you Devon! No mention of asking for a 10 on the survey.

- Windjammer - Actually we ate there several times for breakfast and dinner. The food was fair to good. Never went hungry but wished that there was a little more variety.

- Sabor - Excellent! Food was wonderful and plentiful, if you go, go hungry! Living in Texas we feel somewhat knowledgeable about Mexican food. This was not your typical Tex-Mex food. Service is excellent, highly recommend you try this one. Well worth the surcharge.

- Johnny Rockets – Very disappointing! Waited 30 minutes for a table and almost ONE HOUR for food! Service was terrible, our waitress from Peru was missing most of our meal, we asked for water twice, finally had to ask the manager. Had to bother the manager to find out about our food and then finally to find our waitress for the check. Food was OK but NOT worth the wait nor the charge. Will skip Johnny Rockets from now on unless conditions improve.

- Excursions – We did purchase one excursion from Royal Caribbean, which was canceled the day before we arrived in Belize. They invited us to rebook another one with a 20% discount, which we did. It was the Star Fish Island and Snorkeling excursion. It was good and I would recommend. I would like to mention that we did an EXCELLENT excursion in Roatan. It was not through the ship, google Little French Key and book through their website. This was the BEST excursion we've done in 15 cruises. I highly recommend doing this one Roatan. An excellent day in Paradise!

 

- Shows – Shows were very good, we always enjoyed them. I know they’re not always great but we remind ourselves that we didn’t pay extra for them and always enjoy live entertainment. Didn’t see all of them but enjoyed the headliner. We missed the ice show but our niece took our grandson and they said it was awesome!

- Adventure Ocean – We had our 8 year old grandson with us, the staff in the kids club is excellent. Our grandson really enjoyed spending time in there and always was reluctant to leave so they must be doing something right!

- Debarkation – self-assist walk off was kind of unorganized but in the end it worked out OK. Since there are now so many people doing self assist, it seems like they are unprepared for handling the big crowd. Everyone mostly was well behaved but there’s always one or two people who think that they don’t need to follow the rules. “Do you mean you want me to drag my bags all the way down there to wait?” Yes, sir, just like the rest of us did…. Sheesh…

 

Summary: Another great cruise on the Navigator with no major complaints, will probably wait until the Liberty comes to town before booking another one out of Galveston. Would be happy to answer any questions. Happy Cruising!

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Ladysilver

Ladysilver

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Thanks for the review! I'm as hooked as you are on the Navigator! We're about to board for the 3rd time also! Question.....You mentioned that you enjoyed the headliner. Could you please tell me who it was? I emailed RC two months ago and haven't heard anything back yet. Thanks! :D

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Cruizlovers

Cruizlovers

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The headliner was, I think called Sideshow Bert, he was a comedian/juggler and then there was another comedy show that we didn't make it to. I saw him on the TV and didn't quite like his humor. Of course there were the production shows, we saw the Then and Now show, it was pretty good. Jefferey Arpin, the Cruise Director, said that they made 16 wardrobe changes in 49 minutes. I think this was probably the best production show I've seen in a long time.

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Ladysilver

Ladysilver

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The headliner was, I think called Sideshow Bert, he was a comedian/juggler and then there was another comedy show that we didn't make it to. I saw him on the TV and didn't quite like his humor. Of course there were the production shows, we saw the Then and Now show, it was pretty good. Jefferey Arpin, the Cruise Director, said that they made 16 wardrobe changes in 49 minutes. I think this was probably the best production show I've seen in a long time.

 

 

Thanks, I really don't care for comedians but oh well. I miss the Motown Shows! :)

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SA Traveler

SA Traveler

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Thanks for the intel.

 

One night - the bartenders are reassigned every 2 weeks so the surly bartender won't be at the pool bar all the time.

 

Not anymore. They are now in the same venue for the duration of their contract. So unless his contract was up he will still be there.

 

We were on the Navigator in March, June and August last year and will be on her again in March and August next year. Love that ship!

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Cruizlovers

Cruizlovers

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Thanks, I really don't care for comedians but oh well. I miss the Motown Shows! :)

 

 

Ohh, ohh, ohh I totally forgot! They had a group that I believe was called Tribute. They were a tribute band to the Temptations. They were excellent! So sorry, still having cruise-lag!

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Cruizlovers

Cruizlovers

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Not anymore. They are now in the same venue for the duration of their contract. So unless his contract was up he will still be there.

 

We were on the Navigator in March, June and August last year and will be on her again in March and August next year. Love that ship!

 

Thanks for this information, if this is the case, for your free Diamond drinks, I'd avoid this bar. I ordered a rum and coke, the bartender made a tiny drink with attitude. Just a fyi!

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avatexrs

avatexrs

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We must be hooked!

- Excursions – We did purchase one excursion from Royal Caribbean, which was canceled the day before we arrived in Belize. They invited us to rebook another one with a 20% discount, which we did. It was the Star Fish Island and Snorkeling excursion. It was good and I would recommend. I would like to mention that we did an EXCELLENT excursion in Roatan. It was not through the ship, google Little French Key and book through their website. This was the BEST excursion we've done in 15 cruises. I highly recommend doing this one Roatan. An excellent day in Paradise!

 

 

I've heard that there is an excursion in Belize that picks you up at the ship, so you don't have to tender into the port first. Is that the Starfish Island excursion?

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Cruizlovers

Cruizlovers

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I've heard that there is an excursion in Belize that picks you up at the ship, so you don't have to tender into the port first. Is that the Starfish Island excursion?

 

I'm not sure if all of the excursions do this but the one we bought from Royal Caribbean did this. We tendered onto our snorkeling vessel, then after snorkeling we were brought to Starfish Island afterwards and were brought back to the ship directly. No tendering, that was great!

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wolfganghowell

wolfganghowell

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SA Traveler - wow, when did that change? Not questioning you but we were on Indy in March and it was the usual rotations. That always seemed fair to the bartenders since the tips and workload vary so much location to location. Well, we hang at the Pool Bar a lot but since there are 2 guys there, we will work our charm on the nice one. :D

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SA Traveler

SA Traveler

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SA Traveler - wow, when did that change? Not questioning you but we were on Indy in March and it was the usual rotations. That always seemed fair to the bartenders since the tips and workload vary so much location to location. Well, we hang at the Pool Bar a lot but since there are 2 guys there, we will work our charm on the nice one. :D

 

We were first told by a Bar server on the Navigator in March at the R Bar. We loved her and missed her by a couple of weeks in June. As it turned out she was assigned to the R Bar again when she returned so she was there again in August. One of the bartenders at Two Poets told us the same thing. We were commiserating with him because it was always so dead in there. He wasn't complaining but we felt bad for him.

 

 

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Forums mobile app

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SA Traveler

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Speaking of the Navigator pool bar, in June we watched the Spurs win the Championship on the big screen by the pool and there were no servers. Had to go to the bar to get a drink. That was surprising. I would think that would have been a good time to be pushing the drinks.

 

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Forums mobile app

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bethco

bethco

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I bet you got the table that we vacated after the first night. There was one couple at our table who said no offense, but we are traveling with friends and getting moved tomorrow. We switched to My Time and the other pair had apparently already changed to something else. It was a great table location, glad that it was enjoyed.

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Cruizlovers

Cruizlovers

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I bet you got the table that we vacated after the first night. There was one couple at our table who said no offense, but we are traveling with friends and getting moved tomorrow. We switched to My Time and the other pair had apparently already changed to something else. It was a great table location, glad that it was enjoyed.

 

Yes, probably so! We had our 8 year old grandson with us, I had purchased him a cute captains uniform he wore on first Formal night. A staff captain noticed him and gave him a fist bump, it was so cute! Good location, service was great!

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