Navigator of the Seas 8/23/15 - REVIEW

Thanks for the informative review! Can I ask how long debarkation took? I have heard it's a nightmare so I've always hesitated on booking out of Galveston for that reason.

We had a non-typical experience. If all had gone "well", from leaving ship (we were supposed to leave at 10, but at 9:15 they called our number) to being on the street with our luggage would have been maybe 30 minutes. Not too bad. The line through customs looks horrendous, but actually moves pretty fast. After you hit the street, it depends. It took us about 30-45 more minutes (I took shuttle to parking lot then drove back around to pick up my wife and our suitcases.)

You know those signs you see at airport luggage carousels "Many bags look alike, check your tags?" Well, someone took one of our bags. We were pretty frantic for awhile, but when the pile of remaining bags was low, we called the ones that looked sort of like our missing bag, and finally reached the man who had our bag (had NOT realized it yet). We were able to coordinate a bag exchange, but the woman who had made the mistake was not very apologetic OR grateful, and her dang bag didn't look all that much like hours, which had blue duct tape and other identifiers on it. This added nearly an hour to our experience and was VERY stressful. So everyone, please check your bags to be sure they are yours.

Thanks for the review, hopefully more people dress up in Tuxedos when she comes to Southampton next year

I would think so. My impression was that the heat probably really made everyone evaluate just how many layers to throw on. It's interesting, because in my experience the OLDER, slightly more well-to-do Texan frequently dresses up more formally. But I'd guess for some of those guys (I played trivia with a couple), this cruise was seen as a chance to take a break from some of the formality. They wore nice suits and ties and I thought looked more than fine for our cruise.

When we sailed on Serenade of the Seas in Europe, formal nights were nearly 50/50 tuxes and suits. VERY few people completely failing.

On formal night on the Navigator, the dining room had signs out saying "No one with shorts, bare feet or bare shoulders will be admitted." No idea if they ever HAD to enforce. I never saw anyone in line or at the tables who violated this pretty basic dress code. I did notice that some of the folks we usually dined around (and who dressed most casually) were NOT there on formal nights at all. Guess they went to the Windjammer.

Have a GREAT cruise. We sail on Navigator over Thanksgiving. We were on Navigator back in 2004 on our very first cruise. I was just reading a list of things onboard and it listed the ship as having 3 pools and one of them was a heated pool. I surely don't remember a heated pool on her. So please let me know, if it is so.

Hi Paulette

Which pool am I suppose to check? The main pool

Also Paulette I sent a memo the the Dinning Dept to join several couples together for a large group table. Hope it works. Don't know if I went through your friend or not. They forwarded my request to the ship

It was a friendly group with better elevator manners than some others.

 

Well...you did say it was mostly Texans on board. :D

Well...you did say it was mostly Texans on board. :D

Yep! I thought the same thing. In general, this was a friendly cruise (from the fellow passenger perspective).

My wife and I (both in our early ‘50s) just returned from the 8/23 sailing of the Navigator of the Seas from Galveston to Cozumel, Grand Cayman & Falmouth, Jamaica. I will try to touch on the highpoints but let me know if you have specific questions.QUOTE]

 

 

 

 

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH. We too are from ABQ! Did you have to drop your bags off for the port parking? We are parking at the port and keep hearing about how chaotic it is!

 

 

If you use the PORT OF GALVESTON parking lots.... You drive thru & drop off passengers & luggage, then drive to the lots, you are then shuttled back tonthe terminal..... And then when you disembark.... Same process in reverse! Huge PAIN in the REAR, IMHO.

 

Easier.... Park at EZ Cruise Parking & they will shuttle You, other members of your party & your luggage together!

 

Plus if you book online... There is a discount. You also have the option (cheaper) of parking & walking (with your luggage) to the terminal.

 

Shuttles run often & we have never waited going or coming more than a minute or two.

 

 

If you use the PORT OF GALVESTON parking lots.... You drive thru & drop off passengers & luggage, then drive to the lots, you are then shuttled back tonthe terminal..... And then when you disembark.... Same process in reverse! Huge PAIN in the REAR, IMHO.

 

Easier.... Park at EZ Cruise Parking & they will shuttle You, other members of your party & your luggage together!

 

Plus if you book online... There is a discount. You also have the option (cheaper) of parking & walking (with your luggage) to the terminal.

 

Shuttles run often & we have never waited going or coming more than a minute or two.

 

I should have mentioned this in my review. I tried, about 3 weeks before my cruise, to book some "private" parking (not Port of Galveston) and they were ALL sold out. Every single one. So that was my mistake, not to take care of that sooner. I agree, it seems those would be better spots. They are certainly closer.

Thanks for the great review. I will be going on this same cruise on September 20th.

No "bare shoulders" on formal night? What about the ladies in strapless dresses?

No "bare shoulders" on formal night? What about the ladies in strapless dresses?

I did not pay careful enough attention to that. My wife had the same question, but in the end, we didn't make a point of looking around. My impression would be that a nice, strapless dress still passed muster. I certainly saw well dressed ladies of all ages around the ship that night with strapless or spaghetti straps. I'm thinking they would have been on the lookout for things like tube tops!

To really sum up, I think their sign really just needed to say: "We won't let you in if you look like a slob or just came down from sun-bathing."

Sorry, I know that's not as much help as I would have liked to provide.

We had a non-typical experience. If all had gone "well", from leaving ship (we were supposed to leave at 10, but at 9:15 they called our number) to being on the street with our luggage would have been maybe 30 minutes. Not too bad. The line through customs looks horrendous, but actually moves pretty fast. After you hit the street, it depends. It took us about 30-45 more minutes (I took shuttle to parking lot then drove back around to pick up my wife and our suitcases.)

 

You know those signs you see at airport luggage carousels "Many bags look alike, check your tags?" Well, someone took one of our bags. We were pretty frantic for awhile, but when the pile of remaining bags was low, we called the ones that looked sort of like our missing bag, and finally reached the man who had our bag (had NOT realized it yet). We were able to coordinate a bag exchange, but the woman who had made the mistake was not very apologetic OR grateful, and her dang bag didn't look all that much like hours, which had blue duct tape and other identifiers on it. This added nearly an hour to our experience and was VERY stressful. So everyone, please check your bags to be sure they are yours.

Thanks that's not bad (the part about 30 minutes to get off ship), however, the bag story happened to us too once but at an airport. I went running after the woman saying that's our bag, stop and when she finally did stop she looked at the bag and didn't even utter an I'm sorry, so I know the feeling! Thanks again for sharing.

I wear strapless dresses in the MDR on Navigator almost every night I sail.... Summer dresses.... Not dressy... Never been turned away.

Thanks that's not bad (the part about 30 minutes to get off ship), however, the bag story happened to us too once but at an airport. I went running after the woman saying that's our bag, stop and when she finally did stop she looked at the bag and didn't even utter an I'm sorry, so I know the feeling! Thanks again for sharing.

In the end, I was just glad to get our correct luggage back, but it is amazing that when someone does something a little stupid, they have a hard time apologizing and/or being grateful. I mean, they got THEIR bag back too, but somehow I was never sure the lady really understood that they were minutes away from leaving the port without one of their own suitcases. I would NOT be surprised, though, to find she had been drinking a bit! Just clueless. (And the husband on the phone seemed ticked-off, but I'm guessing it was at her spouse and not us. He, at least, understood what had happened, and his good luck that WE called HIM from his luggage tag.)

I wear strapless dresses in the MDR on Navigator almost every night I sail.... Summer dresses.... Not dressy... Never been turned away.

Thank you! I will accept that as the definitive answer!! I tried to be observant, but I was probably too interested in my own menu and the food in front of me!!!:)

Mr Murray,

Nicely done, well written.

I think the sign mentioning no shorts, strapless dresses, etc was on another cruise ship. I have been on the Navigator the past 3 weeks and there is no dress code sign outside the MDR. The first 2 weeks people were dressed more informally, this week there have been many more Tuxs and formal gowns. I hate to see the formal nights go so informal, have seen shorts and a little bit of everything.

I think the sign mentioning no shorts, strapless dresses, etc was on another cruise ship. I have been on the Navigator the past 3 weeks and there is no dress code sign outside the MDR. The first 2 weeks people were dressed more informally, this week there have been many more Tuxs and formal gowns. I hate to see the formal nights go so informal, have seen shorts and a little bit of everything.

Dress was so casual I thought we were on a carnival cruise by mistake, I preferred when they enforced a dress code, I still take a Tux

I think the sign mentioning no shorts, strapless dresses, etc was on another cruise ship. I have been on the Navigator the past 3 weeks and there is no dress code sign outside the MDR. The first 2 weeks people were dressed more informally, this week there have been many more Tuxs and formal gowns. I hate to see the formal nights go so informal, have seen shorts and a little bit of everything.

I have to disagree with you. The sign was on Deck 5 (My Time Dining) right in the middle of the waiting area, attached to a stand about 5 feet tall, printed on an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper. It was ONLY on display for formal night. It was certainly makeshift looking, compared to most of the printed material you see onboard...but it was there. I haven't been on another ship in the last 3 years...so unless my wife and I were sharing an hallucination, I'm stickin' by my guns.

Once.... This is long, so bear with me.... We flew to Ft Lauderdale for our cruise. We grabbed our two bags & headed to the car rental... Fought to get our two bags into the trunk (didn't fit) so we lowered the top & put them in the backseat.. Rasied the top (it was raining)... Great day for a convertable... Anyway get to the hotel, check in, head to the pool bar to chill just a bit.... Walk around the area for a while...

Decide a few hours later, to go get ready for dinner.... Go to "our" bag.... It looked similar to our bag ...... Same color, same size.... Looked at it .... Thinking man, the airline really banged up this suitcase.... Also wondering where my tags were & where was the bright yellow hanky that I tied to the handle before we left? Well, the bag was really scuffed & so I figured... They pulled all that off somehow... Go to unzip it & the zipper was not in the right place.... It zipped top to bottom instead of around the sides.... Uh oh... Something is wrong here.... Open it up to see shoes (not mine!) clothes that are clearly not mine! OMG! I slammed the lid down & said "We got someone elses bag!!!" I had NO CLUE what to do! Didn't know who to call... There was a tag with a ladies name & addy on it...but NO PHONE NUMBER or email.....

So we had bought travel insurance, so I called them! I told my story & asked what I should do... She began to snicker at me while I was telling my story quite frantically... I said "Don't laugh at me!" She said I am not laughing AT you..... I'm laughing with you! LOL we did have a chuckle about it...

Anyway, the travel insurance lady called the airport baggage claim & sure enough, the lady had filed a lost bag claim. They had all her info... The baggage claim had our bag....

So we lowered the top to our car, threw in the bag, drove back to the airport (with the top down - only time the whole weekend we were able to do that)....

Hubby dropped me off at baggage claim, I go in, there is no one anywhere.... I see the little room at the back of the big room.... There is a uniformed man there.... He sees me & smiles.... Walk of shame.... He took the bag & gave me mine... All was right again. He said they were going to deliver her bag to her at her hotel.

I put a note in her bag with a $20 in it.... Said how SORRY I was & hoped she wasn't too put out with our stupidity. I included my phone number in case she wanted to call & chew me out, I had it coming. She didn't.

Anyway...... What we did wrong was grab our bag without checking it.

And what she did wrong was not include a phone number, travel plans etc in her bag. We could have delivered it to her much faster if we could have called her...

Anyway that was our "Boy, do we feel stupid moment."

We finally got dinner about 9:30 that night. Bet we never make THAT mistake again! Hope not anyway!

 

Anyway that was our "Boy, do we feel stupid moment."

 

Great story. Glad it was yours and not mine! But I also realize I'm more than capable of making such an error...I just hope I've learned to be even more careful than usual now regarding bags. But I can't do anything about those who are NOT careful.

Thanks for sharing. (And you're right about including a phone number. These days, we all have cell phones and reaching someone in a hurry is a real advantage we have over a generation ago. And the cell phone number won't really tell anyone where you live [unlike the address!], so you're right...this traveler made a big error).

I am sailing on the 11/22 Navigator cruise out of FLL. People on my roll call are curious about the nightly entertainment. I know that the weekly headliners change, but they have several revues that are done by the Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers....can you tell me what those were?

I will share it with my fellow roll call members, Thanks.

I am sailing on the 11/22 Navigator cruise out of FLL. People on my roll call are curious about the nightly entertainment. I know that the weekly headliners change, but they have several revues that are done by the Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers....can you tell me what those were?

 

I will share it with my fellow roll call members, Thanks.

For our 7 night cruise, we only had two of those "singers and dancers" shows (production shows). One was the ballroom dancing show. It was not very good. The headline couple were pretty good, but the rest of the show was lackluster, from singers to dancers to costumes and sets. It was on night two. Night 6, they did their "Salute to Broadway" which was basically 3 random songs from several different Broadway shows, each on a different set. This was much more entertaining, although still a bit cheesy. And for this one, they had the live orchestra, which helps.

For our 7 night cruise, we only had two of those "singers and dancers" shows (production shows). One was the ballroom dancing show. It was not very good. The headline couple were pretty good, but the rest of the show was lackluster, from singers to dancers to costumes and sets. It was on night two. Night 6, they did their "Salute to Broadway" which was basically 3 random songs from several different Broadway shows, each on a different set. This was much more entertaining, although still a bit cheesy. And for this one, they had the live orchestra, which helps.

When Navigator comes to FLL in early November she will be doing 6 and 8 night cruises on a two week cycle. The production shows will be the same that you had....those shows don't change much on a ship for 5 or so years. I appreciate what you have shared with me and will be posting your comments in our Roll Call for others to read.

Thanks again!

Thanks for your review. We just got home from a fabulous cruise on the Anthem (having previously been on Freedom and Oasis--between which we preferred Freedom, although Anthem is now our favorite) and will be on the Navigator for New Year's. I am a bit worried that we will do the inevitable comparing and that will negatively impact our trip. It sounds like there is a lot going on on Navigator. We are not big drinkers or sit in bar people either but on Anthem we really liked that they had live music every night in certain venues (bands, not just the Schooner piano guy), it sounds like there were clubs with activities in the evening?

A few other questions for those who have been on Navigator. We have late seating. Do you recall whether the shows were timed so that late dining could see them after dinner or whether they were set for before? We prefer after but have done MTD in the past so haven't really paid attention. We could always try to shift to MTD if needed to better work with the show timing. We like to hang out late at the pool deck when the crowds thin which is why we like the later dinner with the shows after, but with MTD we found our service was so inconsistent since the servers had so many passengers on different schedules that we decided to try the standard seating. We have had fabulous production shows on our cruises (with the exception of The Gift on Anthem, not so great) so I'm sorry that these don't sound so great but I think they do try to do a good job with the guest performers on the holiday cruises (or at least that has been our experience) so we will keep our fingers crossed for that.

I think that I have read about cooking classes at the Italian restaurant, was that offered? It looks like there is a wine tasting I could sign up for online but that is it at least so far. Any thing else of particular interest?

Also, was there a movie theater or were there any movie screenings on the outdoor screen in the evening?

Thanks and glad you enjoyed your trip!

I think the sign mentioning no shorts, strapless dresses, etc was on another cruise ship. I have been on the Navigator the past 3 weeks and there is no dress code sign outside the MDR. The first 2 weeks people were dressed more informally, this week there have been many more Tuxs and formal gowns. I hate to see the formal nights go so informal, have seen shorts and a little bit of everything.

Actually there was a sign outside my time dining on the August 23rd cruise but only on formal night. I did wear a dress with small straps without a problem on formal night. In my time dining I was actually surprised at the amount of people who wore long gowns especially because people were very informal on the other nights. We saw people not only in shorts but also in sweat pants. As an aside, we had a fabulous My Time Dining experience.

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