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Navigator of the Seas NEVER again

Mj99

By Mj99,
in Royal Caribbean International

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OTownNick

OTownNick

Posted
Posted

I don't doubt you didn't enjoy yourself. It's just amazing though how different people on the same exact cruise experience 2 different things. The majority of the people LOVE Navigator and have no issues whatsoever. I wouldn't hesitate to sail her again

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Summerknight

Summerknight

Posted
Posted
I'm so sorry that you have not enjoyed your cruise on Navigator.:(

 

We sailed on her in October and had a fabulous cruise. Service, food and ship were outstanding. :)

 

Happy to hear that since we have two Navigator cruises booked. Yes, my signature line needs updating.

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rubrrick

rubrrick

Posted
Posted
Biggest complaint seemed to be any suite benefits like they had on previous cruises. Didn't say what kind of suite. Maybe it was a JS. Two weeks ago there was a very nice luncheon in Chops for suite guests.

 

Congratulations on becoming a member of the Pinnacle Club.

So, when you talk about suite benefits now vs previous cruises......how far back are they looking?

 

We last cruised the Navigator of the Seas in February/March of this year. We had an OS, and I can tell what has changed in the suite category from the past, but only back to 2003, when we first sailed with Royal Caribbean, on the Legend of the Seas.

 

I hope that the OP comes back and tells us his/her story. I wonder why a person would take the time, onboard, to sign up with Cruise Critic, and then just a general "cruise from Hell" story, with no back up description, to say why they were unhappy.

 

To those that have not sailed on the Navigator of the Seas, and are wondering if they made a good decision, after reading post #1 here, as a cruiser that bounces back and forth between Princess and Royal Caribbean, the only thing that I can think of, where Royal Caribbean has slipped over the past year, or more, is the quality of the food served. Executive chefs sometimes differ in the way they prepare food, and cook it, and we can testify to the fact that if the executive chef is not on top of his game, it is felt throughout the dining room. The same applies to the Windjammer.

 

By tomorrow, at the latest should tell a story. Either the OP will come back and explain the situation, or..........where is.......the popcorn.:):D

 

Rick

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ARCruisinNana

ARCruisinNana

Posted
Posted (edited)
Congratulations on becoming a member of the Pinnacle Club.

So, when you talk about suite benefits now vs previous cruises......how far back are they looking?

 

We last cruised the Navigator of the Seas in February/March of this year. We had an OS, and I can tell what has changed in the suite category from the past, but only back to 2003, when we first sailed with Royal Caribbean, on the Legend of the Seas.

 

I hope that the OP comes back and tells us his/her story. I wonder why a person would take the time, onboard, to sign up with Cruise Critic, and then just a general "cruise from Hell" story, with no back up description, to say why they were unhappy.

 

To those that have not sailed on the Navigator of the Seas, and are wondering if they made a good decision, after reading post #1 here, as a cruiser that bounces back and forth between Princess and Royal Caribbean, the only thing that I can think of, where Royal Caribbean has slipped over the past year, or more, is the quality of the food served. Executive chefs sometimes differ in the way they prepare food, and cook it, and we can testify to the fact that if the executive chef is not on top of his game, it is felt throughout the dining room. The same applies to the Windjammer.

 

By tomorrow, at the latest should tell a story. Either the OP will come back and explain the situation, or..........where is.......the popcorn.:):D

 

Rick

 

 

Thank you! It's good to finally make it to PC.

 

I hope the OP does come back and tell us what was so horrible. I agree that it is odd that someone would take the time and money to use internet time to search out Cruise Critic to post for the first time while on the ship and give no details other than it was bad and not what they had in the past. Details??? Suites no longer have the very nice dinner in the WJ, but I thought the luncheon was nice.

 

I'm really looking forward to my first full cruise as a Pinnacle.

 

Carolyn

Edited by ARCruisinNana
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Cindy

Cindy

Posted
Posted
Poor guy is still on the ship and probably doesn't want to spend expensive internet minutes on explaining the details right now.

 

That cruise ended this morning. He's only on the ship if he's doing a B2B -- or he's a stowaway!:D

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Spurschick

Spurschick

Posted
Posted

We last cruised the Navigator of the Seas in February/March of this year. We had an OS, and I can tell what has changed in the suite category from the past, but only back to 2003, when we first sailed with Royal Caribbean, on the Legend of the Seas.

 

By tomorrow, at the latest should tell a story. Either the OP will come back and explain the situation, or..........where is.......the popcorn.:):D

 

Rick

 

What differences did you notice? Would you mind sharing your thoughts. I am interested as have a suite coming up.

 

Thanks

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Jay Sam

Jay Sam

Posted
Posted
Was thinking of trying the Navigator.....curious

 

If Navigator is like sister ship Adventure of the Seas you will have the time of your life. Awesome ship and great customer service. My favorite ship of all 11 I have cruised on. Great memories. Royal has a very strong product and I would have trouble imagining any great differences between ships of the same class.

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Messunderstood

Messunderstood

Posted
Posted

I was just off the NOS this morning as well and I have to say that this cruise will rank on the bottom of my list. The OP likely isn't just a troll trying to stir up trouble.

 

There was an increased number of GI sickness to the point of the "suits" walking around and skirting people's hands with sanitizer throughout the ship. Germs are germs though and they did the best they could in trying to contain it.

 

It was 12:30pm by time we exited the terminal with our luggage for some reason. Our exit time was to be 10am. We stood in line inside the pedway between the ship and the luggage pick up area for over an hour alone.

 

MDR waitstaff just wasn't as friendly and attentive as I have had on other RCI ships.

 

The food was not up to par when compared to my experience on other ships as well. This is the first Royal Caribbean Cruise where I actually avoided the MDR and ate elsewhere.

 

Only ONE photo was attached to my account in the computer and the photo staff had to hunt the rest of them down (not great for sales).

 

I will say that there were a couple of WOW staff though whom I loved and they were compensated well and will have high marks on my online survey too.

 

Yes, cruises are what you make of them but this one ranks at the bottom of my RCI experiences.

 

Am I cruising again anyway? You betcha! One crappy cruise (pardon the pun) doesn't scare me away. Adventure of the Seas....I will see you in October!

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Mj99

Mj99

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Geez, people. I just got off the ship today and I had to fly home. Stop with the name calling and insults!! I had the full wifi package but I just put up a quick post as a warning to others and I was still trying desperately to find a silver lining onboard. Thank you messunderstood!! I have a very detailed review based on my personal experience. If you had a different experience, I'm very happy for you. I had a very different experience on Voyager in November that was great. This is not a personal attack, just a recount of my trip. No one wants to spend thousands of dollars for a sub-par experience, so I'm just trying to prevent anyone else from being disappointed.

 

 

So this is the first forum I have ever joined and I am only posting about our recent experience to help others consider their possibilities before they spend their precious vacation time and money.

 

I am the family vacation planner and I am always the last to complain. Since I’m the one who decides where, how, and when our group travels, I always try to make the best of whatever situation we find ourselves in. I organized a cruise in November on Voyager of the Seas sailing out of Port Canaveral. It was the best!! We had a great time and the service and the food were excellent. We stayed in a grand suite and with priority check-in we basically just walked onto the ship. The concierge went out of his way to make us feel welcome and to let us know that he was willing to help us with anything we needed. The concierge lounge had only top shelf liquors and wine, and if they didn’t have something you requested they would get it for you. All the crew were friendly and would greet you with a ‘good morning’ or ‘have a good day’ when we passed them in the hallway. We ate in Portofino’s for breakfast every morning and in the main dining room every night. The food was delicious and the dining room staff was outstanding at both venues. They were very attentive and our food was served promptly. We never had an empty water glass. Everyone we encountered was friendly. I was hooked on cruising with Royal Caribbean and couldn’t wait to go again.

 

So, I booked a 7-day cruise for a party of seven adults on Navigator of the Seas sailing out of Galveston on April 5th. I guess that every ship is different even within the same cruise line. Our experience on the Navigator was very, very different.

 

The port of Galveston is a topic unto itself, so I won’t discuss that here.

 

First, the highlights: We stayed in a grand suite again and the room was beautiful. Our steward, Dewan, was friendly and did a great job. The itinerary was perfect: 2 days at sea to relax, 3 great ports to explore, then another whole day at sea to relax & pack at your leisure. We ate in the main dining room, Izumi, Chops, and Giovanni’s. Izumi was really delicious, and the prices were reasonable for a sushi restaurant. We had dinner there twice! I got a massage from Sherryll at the onboard spa, which was fabulous and also reasonably priced.

 

Now, the problems:

Check In: There was no priority check-in as promised for suite guests. Once we finally got to the counter to check in, the RCCI employee was intentionally making things difficult and was being rude. We were travelling with our nephews who live out of state and we had all the paperwork required by the cruise line, their passports, and the required notarized letter from the boys’ parents giving us permission to travel with them and to consent to medical treatment. At one point the woman left the area without a word and disappeared for over ten minutes. We stood at the check-in counter for 28 minutes. The actual employee never apologized but every other employee who saw what was going on apologized profusely.

 

 

 

Dining: We ate in the main dining room for dinner only twice. The first night we ate there was formal night, so we thought maybe it was a fluke because of the crowd. All the food was room temp, bland, and incomplete based on the menu description. My husband’s crème brulee was liquefied. The service was almost non-existent and we stayed thirsty the entire time. The servers were actively ignoring us. So, we tried again the next night and it was even worse. It took over an hour to get the entrees. 4 were room temp and 3 were actually cold. Not like the plates sat around and got cold, but the food was not cooked and almost still frozen in the center. We left before desert because service was taking so long. So, we ate in the other restaurants for the remainder of the cruise, which were even more out-of-pocket charges.

 

We ate every morning in Chops Grille. We did get our food promptly and it was tasty and hot. But there was no service at all. I ended up serving everyone at my table water and coffee and the servers just watched me. Again, they were actively avoiding the patrons.

 

Dinner at Chops Grille was ok. Service was very good, but the food was just ok. 2 of the shrimp cocktails contained mushy shrimp. No bueno. It was a birthday celebration and I ordered a cake to be delivered to the table. No one in the dining room knew anything about it, but they did come up with a cake fairly quickly, although it was frozen.

 

Izumi was really good as I said before & we ate there twice.

 

I spoke to the concierge on day one and throughout the cruise, but nothing was done until the last night, after our room service debacle. We were comped for Giovanni’s Table but it was a huge disappointment. None of us finished our entrée. The crab ravioli were filled with a tuna fish-like crab mixture, not real crab. The penne pasta with salmon looked like something from Chef Boyardee. The cannoli filling had some sort of liqueur that was really strong. The mushroom risotto was delicious, though, and the antipasti plate was good.

 

Room Service: We placed a dinner room service order for our grand suite at 6:30 and were told it would be 30-45 minutes. No problem, but it took 2 hours. The hot dishes were cold and the cold dishes were hot.

 

Concierge Lounge: When we were on Voyager, the lounge was packed every night, with overflow into another bar on the ship. When we got there the place was totally empty, and I found out why. Bacardi White and Smirnoff ?!?! Not even for free. So, again, not a real perk for a grand suite.

 

Bar Service: Since the alcohol in the concierge lounge wasn’t fit to drink, we had to buy our cocktails. The same exact cocktail would cost a different amount at each different bar. We finally found the most reasonable price, but it was still expensive, especially with an 18% gratuity automatically added.

 

In general all the crew tried their best to avoid you, and service was absolutely terrible. A couple of the crew were absolutely rude. At a “guess the karat weight” event, the organizer told someone to “shut up”. Really. Two people in our group went to a class and the organizer said “here’s your kit, you have to be out of the room by 2:00. I have to do something else”.

 

It was spring break and the ship was practically sold out. So, there was a serious outbreak of norovirus, but it happens sometimes. One of our party missed 2 days of cruising because of it, unfortunately.

 

But, because it was spring break the cabin prices were very expensive. I guess I expected to get what I paid for with a grand suite, as we did on Voyager of the Seas. For the same money, we could have booked a luxury cruise on Regent that is truly all-inclusive.

 

Really too bad because I had such a great first cruise.

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OTownNick

OTownNick

Posted
Posted

That's unfortunate you didn't have a great experience. Can't argue with anything you said except the alcohol served in the CL wasn't fit for drinking? Maybe you were expecting free top shelf and may have gotten it before but they usually don't offer a lot of top shelf for free (e.g free gin is Tanqueray; Bombay is not free)

 

Anyway, as many will probably agree, bad food, poor service, etc HAPPENS. And there's no excuse or defending of egregious incidents. Fortunately it's a rare exception and if someone were considering Navigator I wouldn't let this one bad review change my mind

 

Hopefully you have contacted dispute resolution or guest services and perhaps they can provide some sort of discount on a future cruise to make up for your not getting your $ worth on the suite. I'm sure you will also let them hear about it in your survey.

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Cindy

Cindy

Posted
Posted
Geez, people. I just got off the ship today and I had to fly home. Stop with the name calling and insults!! I had the full wifi package but I just put up a quick post as a warning to others and I was still trying desperately to find a silver lining onboard. Thank you messunderstood!! I have a very detailed review based on my personal experience. If you had a different experience, I'm very happy for you. I had a very different experience on Voyager in November that was great. This is not a personal attack, just a recount of my trip. No one wants to spend thousands of dollars for a sub-par experience, so I'm just trying to prevent anyone else from being disappointed.

 

 

So this is the first forum I have ever joined and I am only posting about our recent experience to help others consider their possibilities before they spend their precious vacation time and money.

 

I am the family vacation planner and I am always the last to complain. Since I’m the one who decides where, how, and when our group travels, I always try to make the best of whatever situation we find ourselves in. I organized a cruise in November on Voyager of the Seas sailing out of Port Canaveral. It was the best!! We had a great time and the service and the food were excellent. We stayed in a grand suite and with priority check-in we basically just walked onto the ship. The concierge went out of his way to make us feel welcome and to let us know that he was willing to help us with anything we needed. The concierge lounge had only top shelf liquors and wine, and if they didn’t have something you requested they would get it for you. All the crew were friendly and would greet you with a ‘good morning’ or ‘have a good day’ when we passed them in the hallway. We ate in Portofino’s for breakfast every morning and in the main dining room every night. The food was delicious and the dining room staff was outstanding at both venues. They were very attentive and our food was served promptly. We never had an empty water glass. Everyone we encountered was friendly. I was hooked on cruising with Royal Caribbean and couldn’t wait to go again.

 

So, I booked a 7-day cruise for a party of seven adults on Navigator of the Seas sailing out of Galveston on April 5th. I guess that every ship is different even within the same cruise line. Our experience on the Navigator was very, very different.

 

 

I'm sorry so many little things added up to make a bad cruise. I'm a little confused about something though...Voyager of the Seas wasn't sailing out of Port Canaveral in November. In fact, that ship has been on the other side of the world for quite a while.

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Big_G

Big_G

Posted
Posted

Thanks for coming back OP with a review. Usually 'Never Again' OP's take a beaten on this site so you may have inadvertently set yourself up with those words. I've been on post Noro cruises where the crew seemed stressed out so maybe that factored in and I've rarely gotten my liquor of choice in the CL or DL. Sometimes I've gotten lucky but it's rare. I have better luck with the vouchers. Hope your next cruise is much better.

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Paul65

Paul65

Posted
Posted

Sure, some people are quick to criticize, but a few words of advice:

 

1. You come across as a hypocrite, when you title a post "Bunch of Cyber Bullies", then follow that with, "stop the name-calling." If you have tender feelings and get easily upset with name-calling, then don't take part in it.

 

2. People generally won't believe you, when you make statements like, "In general all the crew tried their best to avoid you." I don't believe that. I suspect most of the crew are trying their best to provide good service. I do believe that you encountered some problems with the crew, but not the claims that this applied to all or most.

 

3. People will not be impressed with your protestations that Bacardi rum and Smirnoff vodka are "not fit to drink." They will just think you're a snob who thinks only expensive brands are good enough for you. Those who have been to a concierge lounge on a few ships will also not believe your claim that the Voyager lounge only had "top shelf liquors and wine."

 

On the other hand, if you give a balance review, with the good and the bad, without the hyperbole that makes it seem like you're somewhere between exaggeration and dishonesty, then most people on the site will appreciate your review and input, even the negative parts.

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Paul65

Paul65

Posted
Posted
I'm sorry so many little things added up to make a bad cruise. I'm a little confused about something though...Voyager of the Seas wasn't sailing out of Port Canaveral in November. In fact, that ship has been on the other side of the world for quite a while.

 

Could just be confusing the names. Was there another Voyager-class ship sailing out of P.C.?

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ARCruisinNana

ARCruisinNana

Posted
Posted (edited)

Thanks to the OP for coming back to share your thoughts on the cruise, both positive and negative. The cruise experience can vary from week to week, even on the same ship, as do expectations. Voyager used to sail out of Galveston and New Orleans, but I don't think she has sailed out of PC (at least not in a very long time). Could the ship have been Explorer? I think she was in PC for a short time and still had a Portofino's.

Edited by ARCruisinNana
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