Our T-day on Navigator

[rtrtx2]

Back from our 6 night cruise, went by way too quick. We are platinum on RCL, as well as Carnival and have cruised on Disney and Norwegian. Ages late thirties and two teenage sons. Overall we enjoyed our cruise.

 

Embarkation: Got to port about 12:15 pm, received priority embarkation as platinum members, took perhaps 15 minutes top. This had to be the easiest and fastest of any prior cruise.

 

Ship: Clean and well maintained. Husband and I really enjoy the outside area on deck four. We booked connecting promenade rooms on deck 6. At first the room semed smaller than when we had sailed on the Voyager, soon I realized it was how the beds were placed. Adjusted quickly. I enjoy these rooms, I love the sitting area with the small couches and table by the window over-looking the promenade. Sons didn't appreciate the window because people could see in the room if the curtains were open.

 

Food: Well, I didn't have to cook it so that is a plus. Our experience in the dining room was the worst of any prior cruises. Our servers were pleasant but just could not get it together....our orders were never 100% correct, we spent much time sitting with empty glasses just waiting for our food. Initially I was disappointed with the food , first time I ever noticed the food temps being more of room temperature, be it "chilled" or the main entree. However the food was fine,the problem was because it sat awaiting our server to get it too us. The last three nights we ate in the Windjammer, which was excellent. The staff was not only efficient but very friendly. We also ate at Portifino's, excellent. The other thing I noticed was the lack of service from 5pm-6:30 pm in the Windjammer (yes there is room service and the cafe promenade, however after a port of call with all on board at 5 ish, this makes for very long lines with limited food options in the cafe and a long wait of 45 minutes for room service) We used room service, usually 30-45 minutes, food was fine but again our order was never exactly correct(missing items)

 

Shows: There was only one production with the RCL dancers. My family enjoys the productions shows, so this was a bit disappointing. This was the first performance of the show, and well it kind of showed. I actually think we have cruised so much now that perhaps the "wow" factor of the shows just isn't there anymore. I was suprised they used no props, just moveable steps. On the tv in the stateroom they showed a sampling of a show which included props, etc, so this may have raised our expectations a bit too. We enjoyed all the other shows which included two comedians and a juggler/comedian, also a singer "Delisco". The other suprise was that the "Love and Marriage show" was the entertainment one night, all other cruises that I have been on this would have been in addition to a nightly show.We also went to the Quest, no matter how many times I may have seen it, I laugh until I cry, this was no exception. The Ice show was awesome, the lead skater did a routine with hula hoops, wow! I never have been able to hula hoop let alone skate while using alot of hula hoops.

 

Activities: For us it felt as though there was not as many activities as on other cruises(such as daytime games, they seemed to offer trivia alot, but it felt as though there were alot of down time). However this ship offers alot of non-traditional activites such as the rock climbing, golf, roller blading, ice skating, etc.

 

Summary: This was the first cruise out since the ship came back from Europe, which may explain some of the service problems and activity. We had an enjoyable time, but this has been our least enjoyable cruise. I have aways preferred RCL, while the rest of the family liked Carnival better. We will cruise with both lines, however I am leaning more towards Carnivals newer ships with the outdoor movie screens and more options such as the deli, etc in their alternative dining areas. I like the Voyager class ships, but we really do not utilize the "sport" options, i.e. skating, etc. Like I said before, our experience I am sure was more of a fluke versus being the norm. Regardless, I would rather be on board a cruise ship than being at home cooking and cleaning.

[sailor moon]

We were on this cruise too and felt similiar to you. I think the crew was off as this was the first cruise since getting back from Europe. We have concluded that the Voyager class in general is just not for us. We prefer the Radiance class-- even our teenagers agree! It was not a "bad" cruise, but it was not one of our favorites either. We did enjoy seeing Belize and Roatan as we had never been there before. We do have the Voyager scheduled for 2009 with some friends so we will give this class another shot and we don't have to fly to get on!

[Host Star]

hi fellow nav. thanksgiving cruisers~

 

I've done 28 cruises, 16 on rci and I and my family felt this was one of the better ones.. we encountered wonderful staff, Carlos in the conceirge lounge could not have been nicer or more accommodating.. we had Bennet for our waiter and his asst. ignacious.. they were both wonderful.. bennet was always smiling and our service was so good that we canceled portofinos and chops.. Bennet's recommendations for dinner were excellent, the duck was nice and crispy and other selections were as good.. i don't think out of the 5 of us we had a bad meal and my son is very fussy that his food be prepared correctly..whatever Bennet suggested, we ordered : ) we could have just lucked out because Bennet is the mgr. of the crew's dining room so he is well experienced and knows how to perform his job well.. there were 900 kids on this cruise and from my observation they were well behaved.we had no little kids with us and we all thought the ones we saw were well behaved and looked adorable on formal nites... we had late seating , used the concierge lounge and the adult solarium pool and the upper deck.. our weather was absolutely perfect, and the calmest seas.. you could have jet skiied to mexico:).. I also had never been to Belize and Roatan.. the snorkeling in roatan was awesome!!.. and the kids loved the ziplining!.. I hope they don't spoil roatan with more D iamonds International, etc.!!... but the wall street journal had an article that rci has invested 30 million in the port and Carnival 50 million so you know what's going to happen there :(.....this article was in the nov. 24 issue.. we met some great CC people on board and some that had been on for over 21 days as they had come with the ship from England on the trans.. and they were all very happy with the cruise overall.. said it was flat seas all the way across the pond!

[chotton]

Star

 

I only talked to Carlos once with a couple of Belize questions, I took maybe three mins of his time and he acted like he was totally put out by my questions, so we never went back to the lounge.

 

Then our head waiter never came over to our table to introduce himself. He only came by once to drop off my daughter's mac and cheese.

 

But then there was Ana in the Schooner bar. She was great.

 

All in all it was a fair cruise to us. We had a good time and would book Navigator again.

[scuba214]

Hi, can someone tell me if the Navigator stayed on ship time in Belize or did they change the clocks to Belize time? This would be helpful to know for booking private excursions. Thanks:D

[Cruising89143]

Hi, can someone tell me if the Navigator stayed on ship time in Belize or did they change the clocks to Belize time? This would be helpful to know for booking private excursions. Thanks:D

 

We stayed on the ships time throughout the cruise.

[Cruising89143]

Star

 

I only talked to Carlos once with a couple of Belize questions, I took maybe three mins of his time and he acted like he was totally put out by my questions, so we never went back to the lounge.

 

Then our head waiter never came over to our table to introduce himself. He only came by once to drop off my daughter's mac and cheese.

 

But then there was Ana in the Schooner bar. She was great.

 

All in all it was a fair cruise to us. We had a good time and would book Navigator again.

 

Anna was great wasn't she? Very friendly and took the time to get to know you.

[alexkrn46]

We are going to the Navigator in about three weeks, glad to hear Carlos is on board since he was wonderful on our TA cruise.

[Cruising89143]

We are going to the Navigator in about three weeks, glad to hear Carlos is on board since he was wonderful on our TA cruise.

 

We used the CL a couple of times and Carlos was very helpful. I asked for ice show tickets and he got them right away. We just do not use the lounge that much. I would rather go where I can get the type of drink that I want and where it's less crowded. Also the CL had a strange odor each time that we visited. Not sure what it was.

[frcia]

Did Carlos email anyone in Suites in advance, to ask if he could do anything ?

 

Thanks

FC