About to walk off the Navigator 1st time cruiser

[LeesSummitCruiser1]

Is the Sanitize guy who dances a lot still in the Wind Jammer? He taught my daughter to Cha Cha on our last cruise on the Navigator and we go again next March.

[TXBBQDUDE]

Is the Sanitize guy who dances a lot still in the Wind Jammer? He taught my daughter to Cha Cha on our last cruise on the Navigator and we go again next March.

 

did not see anyone like that but to tell you the truth we only ate at the windjammer a couple of times. We did not have kids so we did the MDR for breakfast and ate on shore for three lunches.

[tlatrice]

Subscribing. Glad to see you enjoyed the Navigator. My parents' first cruise was on her and we had a ball.

 

Welcome to Cruising Addiction...LOL! :p

[wolfganghowell]

Welcome to cruising Dude. So much fun to experience the thrill of a first cruise again. Liberty is like Navigator on steroids - even more options and depending on the age of your kids - they will have some great areas to explore! Thanks for your review.

[TXBBQDUDE]

Days 4, 5, and 6 are port days so we will get them all it together.

 

Roatan,

 

We had booked Victor Boodans fun and sun wife was not feeling so well so we slept in. Still got off the boat with enough time to visit the monkeys and eat at GIO's. Lunch was a little pricier than what we would have spent but it was so worth it the food was excellent. That night when we got back on the ship it was The Love and Marriage game show go see this show it is awesome.

 

Belize,

 

This was our favorite port but we booked a private tour with Nacho and Cynthia and they made it so worth it. It was about the same price as one of the boat tours but was all inclusive we got to see what ever we wanted including the Mayan Ruins and the Baboon Sanctuary. We were the only two in the van and by the end of the day we felt like we spent a day with family. We were the first ones to every stop always a half hour ahead of the tour buses. We even had time to stop and have a local lunch all included in the tour. We did not do any of the shows that night as the sun had beat us down. We retired early to the stateroom and sometimes that is not a bad thing at all.

 

Cozumel,

 

The first thing you will notice about Cozumel is the water is so blue it looks like they dumped 100 gallons of food coloring in it. Wow the most gorgeous water I have ever seen in my life. I could not stop taking pictures of it. There were 4 other boats in port so it was very busy. We sis not have anything planned we went to lunch and did some shopping and just stared at the water. When you get back on the boat get some rest you will want to go see The Quest game show in the evening. This is also the evening for the Lobster Tail in the dining room.

[TXBBQDUDE]

Day 7 Final Sea Day and Final Review

 

Day 7 was a sad day as we all knew it was our last day on board. We spent most of the day on the deck by the pool. We went to the Broadway Style Show it was very good and had one last dinner in the MDR.

 

Getting off the Ship

 

We chose self assist and it was an easy process. I am not saying it was fun but it was easy. We went to our designated wait area about 7 AM and there was already about 100 people in front of us. It took about an Hour for us to get off the boat and through customs when we finally started moving. We had bought 2 liters of booze but did not see the table to pay the $3 tax set up yet so we just walked on and got in our car.

 

Her is a link to the Cruise compasses for the week https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5rg9nBQ1PLER1JVMnJWZF9lNXM/view?usp=sharing

 

Over all for the money we spent about 1k for the cruise and enough on the actual trip I would say it is the best vacation my wife and I have been on period. We purchased the Coke package and carried two bottles of wine on board. I purchased two more bottles in the dinning room and that was plenty for us to drink while on the ship. I had several beers in the ports and we had a great time. We did buy a few drinks by the pool but not near enough to warrant a drink package for both of us. Once again YMMV as we are past out drink to get drunk stages of our lives. The time away form the kids was priceless even though we did have to get a cell phone package about halfway through the cruise because our teenage daughter got very ill and had to go to the DR. I used my company phone at ports as it has an international plan on it but to tell you the truth the calls were very short and sweet because after all I was on vacation.

 

What surprised me the most on the ship was the level of entertainment on it. I would have never guessed that the shows would have been as good as they were. I am not saying that I was expecting the local high school to put on a play but the level of talent on the ship was very impressive. From the first night till the last we only did not enjoy one of the shows we went too (Billy Garan). That is not to say Billy was not funny he just was not funny to us he was a one liner type of comedian and most of the jokes were very old and dated.

 

I had very low expectations for the food and was pleasantly surprised by the over all quality of it. There could have been a tad more variety in the MDR but i can see where cooking for 3000 every night can limit the choices. The desserts were mostly OK until the last night when we really enjoyed the Key Lime Pie.

 

The service was excellent. We never saw a crew member who did not have a smile on their face and was willing to go above and beyond for us. One day I wore a T-Shirt with Scooby Doo on it and at least 5 Crew members stopped to talk to me about it telling me it was their favorite cartoon from their child hood one even asking if it was shown in the united stated they thought it was a European cartoon. We loved our servers and our Stateroom attendant and had several conversations with all of them. The Cruise Director Jeff was top notch as well as "Cuddy" the Activities Manager Craig Cudworth. The one small issue we did have in the beginning of the cruise was fixed and it had no bearing on how we enjoyed our cruise. (Drink cups for drink package not delivered till late day 2)

 

The boat was always clean and fun to explorer even after we had been at sea for several days we enjoyed our walks around staring at the water people watching and walking around on deck 12.

 

Yes the TV stations suck but you are their to cruise. Yes they are trying to sell you everything but you don't have to spend a dime (wish i would have taken that advice J/K) My advice to anyone who is reading this and has never been on a cruise before is take everything you have heard negative about this ship with a grain of salt. At the conclusion of the trip I have decided if you cant have a good cruise you just did not try.

 

My favorite part of the cruise is by the end of it my wife and I felt a sense of community on the boat. Yes there were rude people pushing to get in the elevators, but the majority of the people we meet were quick to start up a conversation and share with you. By day three you would walk by people and you would hear "Hi how did your day go?"

 

I can say this is something I will look forward to every year. I have some pics will post them tonight. Thanks for reading and anything I can answer for you I will.

[1interpreter]

Excited to hear about your cruise. We are sailing on May 24th and I can hardly wait.

[BecciBoo]

Ha Ha Ha....gotta love it, another addict in the making.

 

Loved your review and attitude. Cruising is all about attitude. With the right one, its golden! Cruise on Dude:D

[cynt]

Day 7 Final Sea Day and Final Review

 

Yes the TV stations suck but you are their to cruise. Yes they are trying to sell you everything but you don't have to spend a dime (wish i would have taken that advice J/K) My advice to anyone who is reading this and has never been on a cruise before is take everything you have heard negative about this ship with a grain of salt. At the conclusion of the trip I have decided if you cant have a good cruise you just did not try.

 

^^^^THIS^^^^^

 

Great 1st time cruiser review. Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

I'm taking my bestie on her first cruise in 3 weeks and 5 days, but whose counting!! LOL!!! She has no idea what she's about to get into. I know she's going to love it and now I'll have a cruising buddy!! LOL!! She's been afraid of the ocean for years but finally she's worked up her nerves to give it a try. YEAH!!!

Edited April 27, 2015 by cynt

[TXBBQDUDE]

One thing I did forget to mention is I did see several cruisers sent away from the MDR for wearing Short Pants. My wife giggles when she hears short pants because it reminds her of Bobby Hill. Lets see if my countdown works.

[Paulette3028]

At the conclusion of the trip I have decided if you cant have a good cruise you just did not try.

 

 

Nice to read your review of Navigator. We will be cruising on her in November after she moves to FLL as her home port. We sailed on her back in 2004, on our very first cruise, and we fell in love with cruising. November gives us an opportunity to go back on her. Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

Thank you for the positive upbeat review. It's nice to hear some good comments about RCCL for a change. As you admitted not everything was perfect, but is anything in life. I'm glad you saw what has addicted so many of us to cruising and I'm excited that you will share your new found passion with your children!

[depplep]

Great review. Navigator is one of our favorite ships.

[Vidakatten]

Thank you so much for sharing! So much helpful information and I appriciate the Cruise compasses. We were already excited and now we are even more, if possible....:)

We are going with Navigator in June (Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Jamaica)

What about the tenderports? A mess or like when you are docked?

Do you know how much the spinnclasses were?

 

Thanks again for a great review! I'm already addicted to cruising, I think;)

[TXBBQDUDE]

What about the tenderports? A mess or like when you are docked?

Do you know how much the spinnclasses were?

 

Thanks again for a great review! I'm already addicted to cruising, I think;)

 

Tender-ports were a mess but do as my wife and I did we got off on the first tender without any issues. We had booked a private tour and they were only letting people with RCI tours off the boat first. We went down with them and tried to plead our case with the young lady at the door. She told us to wait to the side and she would try to get us in the line. When the line started to move she turned her back and we just moved with it. (we were not the only ones) Our tour guide was not ready for us we were off the boat so fast.

 

Spin classes no idea but the Sauna and hot tub in the gym are wonderful.

[1interpreter]

Navigator...May 31! Did you/others bring on your own bottled water?

 

They will not allow you to bring any bottled water on the ship as they sell it (for a pretty penny on board), you can however bring 2 bottles of wine. We set sail on May 24th. The count down has already begun. It will be me, the hubby, our 18 year old daughter (the three of us have cruised before), our 10 year old daughter and our 26 yr old "adopted" daughter. Lol! It will be both of their first time cruising. My 10 year old was VERY nervous about it at first but I have since shown her lots of videos and pictured from our past cruises. She is now VERY excited to go.

[TXBBQDUDE]

They will not allow you to bring any bottled water on the ship as they sell it (for a pretty penny on board), you can however bring 2 bottles of wine. We set sail on May 24th. The count down has already begun. It will be me, the hubby, our 18 year old daughter (the three of us have cruised before), our 10 year old daughter and our 26 yr old "adopted" daughter. Lol! It will be both of their first time cruising. My 10 year old was VERY nervous about it at first but I have since shown her lots of videos and pictured from our past cruises. She is now VERY excited to go.

 

I saw several more than 50 bring on a case of bottled water. I did not try it we drank the free water at the Cafe Promenade.

[bubba83]

Glad to hear you had a great cruise and now are hooked....my first cruise I was 17 and would prefer those over any vacations....our anniversary was my husbands first...while he enjoyed himself his idea of vacation is in the woods hunting, lol....It took a great deal of convincing for him to say yes to our upcoming cruise, it will be my third, his second, and out children's 1st....

 

and I do believe that those who have nothing but negatives to say about their cruise went in looking for negatives....sad to say but the world has its fair share of complainers or negative Nancy's :D

[skidrow1950]

TXBBQDUDE- we just got off the ship with you and you did a great review. Totally agree with your assessment of this great cruise! We also booked the Liberty of the Seas on April 17, 2016. Take care!

[TXBBQDUDE]

TXBBQDUDE- we just got off the ship with you and you did a great review. Totally agree with your assessment of this great cruise! We also booked the Liberty of the Seas on April 17, 2016. Take care!

 

That should be a great weekend to get on the ship basically one year from the last one. I bet not many kids same demo as the cruise we just got off. What itinerary is that cruise?

[skidrow1950]

Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel

[Paulette3028]

 

Over all for the money we spent about 1k for the cruise and enough on the actual trip I would say it is the best vacation my wife and I have been on period. We purchased the Coke package and carried two bottles of wine on board.

 

What surprised me the most on the ship was the level of entertainment on it. I would have never guessed that the shows would have been as good as they were.

 

The service was excellent. We never saw a crew member who did not have a smile on their face and was willing to go above and beyond for us.

 

My advice to anyone who is reading this and has never been on a cruise before is take everything you have heard negative about this ship with a grain of salt. At the conclusion of the trip I have decided if you cant have a good cruise you just did not try.

 

My favorite part of the cruise is by the end of it my wife and I felt a sense of community on the boat. Yes there were rude people pushing to get in the elevators, but the majority of the people we meet were quick to start up a conversation and share with you. By day three you would walk by people and you would hear "Hi how did your day go?"

 

 

They will not allow you to bring any bottled water on the ship as they sell it (for a pretty penny on board), you can however bring 2 bottles of wine.

 

To TXBBQDUDE: thanks for a wonderful easy to follow review of your cruise on NOS. I love when you say "If you can't have a good cruise you just did not try" and that goes for a seasoned cruiser as well as a first-timer in my opinion.

 

To 1interpreter: On many of our cruises we have seen people bringing on bottled water with their carryon luggage. I can't say how many bottles they would bring onboard, but they were always packaged the same way they are sold in the store, with the shrink-wrap unopened.

 

To all reading this -- if you are cruising on Navigator don't for get to join your Roll Call and meet other people cruising with you and get into vacation spirit early!