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Navigator OTS - March 26, 2017 - Live

leinhto

By leinhto,
in Royal Caribbean International

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leinhto

leinhto

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Thank you again for the review, it was fun watching your journey.

 

 

 

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Thanks for taking the time to post the pics and comments. Great review and sure helped to pass the time til we make on board the NOS!

Glad it helped.

 

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kwazi07

kwazi07

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Last glimpse of the ship coming out the tunnel.

 

72ac4667c0045d7d20ba44b664aac260.jpg

 

Hope you enjoyed the review. Will provide final summary in a few hours.

 

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Thanks for the report!

 

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leinhto

leinhto

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Thank you so much!

Note that the list is bias to coffee, although water, tea and beer are the top 3 beverages (in that order) worldwide. They have some excellent tea that we enjoyed spending our OBC on.

 

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dh6230

dh6230

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Thank You. R Bar is one of our hangouts, hoping that the drink package will cover the majority of them. Welcome back to real life.

 

 

 

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Most drinks were covered though I had an espresso martini and it was + $2.00.

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leinhto

leinhto

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Final Assessment

 

Ship

By ship standards the ship is in great condition. You can see why as everyday you can see crew maintaining or cleaning something. Can't say this ship is better or or worse than any other RCI ship we have been on. We had one maintenance issue where the sink was not draining. We reported left for Nassau and it was fixed when we got back. Can't ask for better.

 

Cabin

I think you know how I feel about that by now. Best balcony cabin we have ever had. Corner aft is now the gold standard. All about the balcony. We spent most of our time on the balcony than in the cabin or elsewhere. This will affect my perspective of cabins going​ forward. I have had the deluxe ocean view with balcony before and this just field an inch or two bigger. I am 6 three with oversized limbs. I felt I had great elbow room in the shower, hence the wash cloth find. Bed felt a tad bit harder than I can remember on other ships but that could just mean I am aging along with the fleet. Storage is no issue plenty drawers and shelf space.

 

Service

The Royal WOW is still in effect. Room steward, who we saw and needed rarely but our room.was always cleaned up when we returned from whatever activity we did

Dining staff and bartenders in all venues really provided the expected level of service. My wife was even able to exchange a Pinot for a Merlot as she did not like that first sip. No questions asked. Only one thing on the service end that was unusual. The last night at the WJ we were there at 8pm and when looking for seats there were several tables that had not had the used plates of food removed although the guest had already left. There were no wait staff at all for like 30min. We assumed they were in some meting. They siphoned in after that and thing were back to normal. On a good note I was surprised to see so much wait staff in the WJ walking around with cups of drinks (water, tea and lemonade) to the table which ensured you didn't have to get up for those things. Somw were walking around with desserts or pastries and at one time with chocolate covered strawberries. Neat.

 

Dining

We ate at WJ each morning for breakfast except the last day and disembarkation day. We ate lunch there on embarkation day and sea days. Food choices were adequate. Yoi can't guess whwn they vary it so it has some excitement to going. Desserts are limited in my opinion. Quality was very good for me. We did the MDR for only one night. Not much has changed there. The offerings that we like are still there the ones we don't haven't gone away either. I think its time they vary the menus.

 

Specialty Dining

We ate at 3 specialty dining venues. Izumi's was first on the first night. This was not planned. The sushi was great. The cost made it prohibitive to try more choices. Atmosphere and ambiance are perfect of you want to have a nice private and low key dinner. That last statement applies to all the specialty dining restaurants. Giovanni's was next. Food was excellent, a variety I hadn't seen before on the ship so to me it was all new and welcome. The dessert, tiramisu was incredible. I would dine there again just for that. Chops was OK. The conspicuous lack of salt in the dishes still leaves me a little lackluster. It was our second​ time and it did not live up to the first time novelty and Giovanni's​ had already captured our hearts. I am vegetarian and my wife doesn't like steak so take our assessment from that standpoint when reading our review of a primarily steak restaurant.

 

Entertainment

A note here we were celebrating our 20th anniversary. I am normally a to the hour planner and that would include the entertainment. This go around there was no planning beyond the specialty restaurants for on ship entertainment. We have sworn off the production shows so nothing to report there. We did part of a comedy act, the first one on opening night at the theatre and we left early. We did not make the other comedy shows. Ths Bon Jovi tribute band was an unexpected treat we love it, well rhe wife loved it and whens shes happy I am happy. The ice show was the best one we have seen in terms choreography and music. The predictable hula hoop skater was a bit of a disappointment in terms of show variety. But that did not take away from the show. Excellent. We did one trivia session and that was fun although we didn't participate officially. We watched and listened. Dancing is our thing and we got to do a good bit of that at Boleros and once, the last night, at the Star Lounge. The latin band was playing more salsa, wife preferred, than my preferred merengue. Can you picture my wife doing her salsa and me and my merengue? I am sure we got laughed at quite a bit. There was also another band playing 70's music, that one was quite a party bith in terms of dancers and quackers. That was fun. As you can tell we didn't take advantage of alot of the entertainment offered on board. My first time not rock climbing or flow riding when available. We were not bored at all though.

 

Port Stops

Nassau was boring, but perhaps we made it boring. We have been there so many times that we didn't plan anything except to purchase a few gifts and eat at a local restaurant. That made for a lot of dead time. We did manage to make it back to the ship one hour before sail away. So i guess we found some use of the time just walking the streets.

 

Cozumel never had a dull moment there before and this time was no exception. We did Mr. Sanchos and it was everything I had read about. We got there early and found a choice table. It never felt to crowded although people kept coming in droves all throughout the day. Food was great. It appears ordering is preferred to going to the buffet tent, its still included, so not sure why they have that food out there. The drinks included were top notch, served in plastic cups but you can have as many as you like. Service there is excellent. Very friendly staff. We did horseback riding. The guide was great and was funny though he kept an intense look. His helper practically never spoke to us and only to the guide in Spanish. I really felt bad for the guy. But he just kept a nice smile throughout. We also did kayaking. The area allowed to kayak is rather small and a bit to close for comfort to the swimmers. We almost decapitated a couple swimmers. This played into my decision not to snorkel as it was in the general area of the kayakers and there weren't many snorkelers so I assumed there wasn't much to see in that area. They tried to upsell me on a snorkel trip to a reef further out but I declined. I would highly recommend this place though. It is a nice relaxing beach stop.

 

Port of Miami

This one had me worried before the trip. There was supposed to be a festival that would generate a lot of traffic on top the already dreaded Miami downtown traffic. We had no problems coming in or leaving. The signs really help although you can pick out your terminal if you can recognize your ship. Terminal G was very nice in my opinion, well lit and clean. Easy to navigate. The staff there not so much. Alot of rude yelling at the guest. But once you pass security the atmosphere changes quickly and you realize you will be on a wonderful cruise after checkin. Different staff in the check-in lobby. Sailing away from Miami offers thr most picturesque departure. It really contrast the serenity of cruising to the hustle and bustle you are leaving behind. Of course the opposite effect occurs when coming back.

 

All and all it was our best cruise ever. It was a cruising anniversary of sorts as it was our 10th cruise and we were celebrating our 20th year anniversary. Very little can go wrong with so.much to celebrate. I enjoyed it immensely with my best friend and love of my life. So thats it for this sailing, signing off until next time which we don't know when. A first for us where we disembark without a next cruise planned or booked onboard. We have a couple big land based vacations coming up.

 

Thanks for following. Still taking questions if any.

 

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JMG

JMG

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Okay too lazy to go back and read or maybe it is the wine I just consumed? did you mention what time boarding began? we like to be there early enough to board and get decent seats for lunch...preferable outside if it is a nice day....

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leinhto

leinhto

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Okay too lazy to go back and read or maybe it is the wine I just consumed? did you mention what time boarding began? we like to be there early enough to board and get decent seats for lunch...preferable outside if it is a nice day....

Boarding normally begins around 11am - 11:30am for most sailings I have been on. We got there "late" at 1pm this time so I can't confirm when they started boarding this sailing.

 

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