REVIEW - Navigator out of NOLA - March 2013 with pictures! Questions welcome!

Over the next week or so I hope to complete my first review with pictures! Ha! We had a wonderful time on the Navigator. To give you some background, i'm a thirty something that was traveling with my wife and two parents.

And to narrow it down even further...

1. We are all-inclusive (sandals) lovers and this is our third cruise.

2. We really can't stand the buffet anywhere. (crowds not the food)

3. We got our first balcony (connecting!)

4. We were all about RELAXING on this cruise and not filling the ports with excursions. However we do make an exception with nachi cocom in Cozumel!

5. WE HAD A FRIGGIN BLAST and booked Serenade for 2014.

Next.... travel to New Orleans and embarkation! (Is that even how you spell it?)

To be continued!

Can't Wait!

We stayed in Jackson, Mississippi the night before as we were coming late in the day from Tennessee. The night was uneventful and we woke up about 7 in the morning, had breakfast, and then made the three hour drive to the port. We have never been to NOLA before so that was an adventure in itself!

I saw both fulton street parking and the WHALE lot but we knew a local that agreed to keep our car for us so that was the first WIN of the trip!

We knew we were staying at the Embassy Suites the Saturday night after the trip so we made sure to scope out the walk to make sure we could do it with our luggage... MORE on that later in the review. :)

Turns out that when we drove up to the port it was a breeze to drop someone off and then go to the parking garage. I HIGHLY recommend that. When you're downtown go to the Hilton hotel roundabout then over the railroad tracks to your right... this road goes RIGHT up to the ship. Literally... tell the guard you aren't parking and just dropping someone off and you can drop them, and your bags right at the porters. After I did that I went a few blocks away to park and walked back. no big deal....

After a view of the ship from the shopping center we went downstairs and into the check-in process. Really was a breeze.... went in the dedicated "gold" line and only stood for a few minutes before getting our sea pass and heading to the gangway.

We made our usual UGLY face boarding picture and were on the ship by 11:30.

Then we made our way up to the ninth hole for a quick drink while we waited on our rooms to be ready. They were ready right at 1pm as advertised.

We were on deck 8 right on the hump! I've got to say that we were thrilled with this location and loved being in the center of the ship. More on the room later....

I was excited to see that our gifts and gear order arrived exactly as I had asked. We even got the bottle of champagne I ordered on ice waiting for us as soon as we walked in the room. No complaints here!!!!

Headed to bed for the night. it was a long drive home but I'll be back working on the review more tomorrow. Feel free to leave questions. happy to help!

Next... SET SAIL....

Looking forward to more of your review. Thanks for posting!

Looking forward to your review! I haven't been on this ship yet...we tend to like the bigger ships out of Florida. And for some reason Royal doesn't keep a ship here in New Orleans year round. But one day we want to try it...so, your review will help me to decide just how quick I need to look into it!! :)

Please tell me what you thought of Simona.

And who was the headliner entertainer?

3. We got our first balcony (connecting!)

To be continued!

Navigator used to be one of the ships that never allowed the inteconnecting balconies to be opened. I'll be curious to see if that changed.

Looking forward to the rest of your review!!

Looking forward to your review! I haven't been on this ship yet...we tend to like the bigger ships out of Florida. And for some reason Royal doesn't keep a ship here in New Orleans year round. But one day we want to try it...so, your review will help me to decide just how quick I need to look into it!! :)

We really did love the ship. I even liked it more than Freedom of the Seas. The size felt "just right".

Loved going down the river too!!!

Getting caught up at work today but plan on really digging into the review when I get home tonight! :D

Please tell me what you thought of Simona.

 

And who was the headliner entertainer?

We aren't much of a "show" person but did enjoy the ice show. We went to the production show but honestly I feel asleep after a long day and left for my cabin! What can I say? SORRY! :D

However, the band that played in the promonade was wonderful. We enjoyed the champagne reception with the captain.

As for Simona... I really was disappointed. However, we are compairing her to the AMAZING Graham Seymore from Freedom. I loved him... but I didn't think she brought much to the table. Maybe that's too harsh? :(

Navigator used to be one of the ships that never allowed the inteconnecting balconies to be opened. I'll be curious to see if that changed.

I can tell you that this issue will be a MAJOR part of my review.... I'll share pictures and insights later tonight so stay tuned....

But the short answer... is YES we got our divider open. :rolleyes:

How's that for suspense?

As far as security was concerned the lines flew by with no issues at all. There was NO indication that they were checking to see how many bottles of wine you had in your carry-on. We had two bottles per cabin and had no issue at all.

And to be honest, we had a hard time (imagine that?) drinking the two bottles over the course of a week! Ha! We enjoy wine, but for us on the ship it's more about the cocktails and beer.

However, one of the surprising parts about our trip was that we decided to bite the bullet adn take a bottle to the main dining room one night to have with our meal. Our favorite wine (in our price range) was the Cline Zinfindel that was $29 on the menu. Good stuff, but we had a much nice Coppela bottle we wanted to have with our meal. So the $25 was a problem we were willing to face.... however, our waiter seemed surprised that we had an unopened bottle with us and when I asked him to cork it... he did, but NEVER charged us the $25. Strange but that was fine with us!

Next.... the FOOD.

We always like to eat later and selected the 8:30pm MDR seating. However, when we boarded we were told it was 8pm. FINE with us. That's a much better time. However, for the early group 5:30pm seemed too early!

I had emailed RC before the trip and asked for a table for four. They responded with a screen shot accomodating our request. They even gave us our table number and told us we would be on the railing. This was a WONDERFUL table and we were very thankful for that.

The food really was good. Even the staff was proud of what they were serving. The general "steak" that's always on the menu was much better than our previous cruises.

We also liked that the food was more of a "reach" than in years past. They had some dishes that were much better than standard chicken, fish, and steak offerings. I had duck and lamb! Even the starting courses were memorable. We would normally have bread, soup, salad, entree, and dessert.... below are a few examples....

Carpachio

Salad

VERY GOOD lamb.....

Next... CHOPS!

Was the pub smoking or non-smoking please?

As a general rule we never wanted to try a specialty resturant because we figured that a $30 upcharge wouldn't be worth it. Why pay $60 a couple when yo've already paid for the cruise???

Boy we're glad we changed our mind. We've been converted... we even went to Johnny Rockets! HA!

The second night of our cruise we went to Chops. We chose the celebration dining deal on the RC website because if you dine with a party of four on the first or second night you also get a $30 beverage credit to use during the meal. So we were able to get our (see above) $29 bottle of Cline Zinfindel for free!

(We had to ask for that wine specifically from the MDR menu because it wasn't on the Chops menu, but they were happy to fetch it for us)

The location alone was appealing to us because the resturant was basically empty. We had a great table. Very private and with wonderful service.

There was only one or two parties in the back of the resturant when we arrived and "Zee" our waiter was wonderful. He let us know about the "ways of the ship" and what to try.

Goes without saying that the steak would be good... but trust me on this... TRY THE ONION RINGS! Best anywhere... I'm strange like that.

Duck to start!

Oysters for my DW

Spicy Tuna for my wife. Said it was real good!

And I swear, I have to laugh but I didn't take a picture of the steak! When he sat it down I jumped into it! Maybe it was the wine or the good conversation... but trust me... it was huge, wonderful, and cooked perfectly. We all got the 10oz filet and drempt about it for the rest of the week.

Creme Brulee on FIRE!!!!!!

This red velvet cake was so good my dad took what he didn't eat "to go" and ate off it for the rest of the week. It's HUGE and was by far the best cake we had all trip!

For sides we got the onion rings, roasted potatoes, green beans (amazing!), and we all got salads.

This really was a first rate meal and something we won't skip again.

We aren't fans of the buffet, not because of the food (it is good!) but because of the crowds. Can't explain it but my wife and I get anxious with everyone pushing their way through with trays of food. Just our opinion of course....

Next... THE QUEST to open our balcony divider....

Was the pub smoking or non-smoking please?

The pub was smoking. However we would go in and order drinks and take them to the outside seating to listen to the music. They had a $4.50 16oz draft beer special on two days we took advantage of.

As you can see we were able to open the divider between our two balcony cabins on the hump but it took an act of Congress!

We are SO happy they did finally open it up because it really was the highlight of our trip.

As soon as we boarded I made a call to housekeeping to ask about opening up the door. They asked what cabin I was in and said they would take care of it. Well, it never happened. We asked our stateroom attendant when we met him for the first time and he stated the general "safety" excuse but said he would ask for us.

Later in the day he said he wasn't able to open it due to safety concerns but if we wanted we would contact guest services. So we did...

They said they would get back to us.

Then, the next afternoon when we had almost given up we got a call from guest services saying they were sending someone up.

I figured they would have a "key" that would open the door for us. no big deal, right?

Well... that's when the POWER SAW came out. I'm not kidding when I say they LITERALLY cut the door off. They cut the bolts all the way through and reinforced the lock that keeps the door from swining in the wind.

We were SO IMPRESSED and expressed how happy we were when they completed the work. I can't figure for the life of me why it's sealed up as tight as it was. Maybe this is something they're going to fix in the dry dock. Either way, this was a BIG thumbs up to the RC staff.

Enjoying your review. Looking forward to our sail out of NOLA in December.

Enjoying your review. Looking forward to our sail out of NOLA in December.

Thanks very much! Just trying to get it all down before I forget it! :D

Subscribing as we are on Navigator right out of drydock, so I'd like to have a comparison!

Looking forward to more.

The pub was smoking. However we would go in and order drinks and take them to the outside seating to listen to the music. They had a $4.50 16oz draft beer special on two days we took advantage of.

I was going to ask about the smoking, too. Our city has pretty well banned smoking indoors in public places so we've just gotten used to smoke-free pubs and bars. How was the ventilation in the other lounges on board? I am really crossing my fingers that's it's good. I hate the smell of smoke now. :(

Thoroughly enjoying your review & photos.

I'm enjoying your review so far! We live just 2.5 hours away from Nola and would love to take a cruise one day!

Thanks for all the great pictures and info!

That is hilarious about the balcony connector door! Did you get an action shot!?

I was going to ask about the smoking, too. Our city has pretty well banned smoking indoors in public places so we've just gotten used to smoke-free pubs and bars. How was the ventilation in the other lounges on board? I am really crossing my fingers that's it's good. I hate the smell of smoke now. :(

 

Thoroughly enjoying your review & photos.

I'm not a smoker and in Tennessee we don't smoke in resturants anymore either so I'm not a fan of it at all. Honestly I wouldn't be able to enjoy a drink in the pub because of the smoke smell but that's because I'm not used to it. On certain dates and times you weren't supposed to smoke in the casino either.... but that really wasn't enforced.

In the 19th hole bar you could smoke but you can't in the crown bar which suited us just fine.

Just have to pick your battles!

I'm enjoying your review so far! We live just 2.5 hours away from Nola and would love to take a cruise one day!

 

Thanks for all the great pictures and info!

 

That is hilarious about the balcony connector door! Did you get an action shot!?

It was unreal! I was sitting on the couch when I heard them go on the balcony from my parents room. I about jumped out of my skin when the powersaw came on! I was NOT expecting that. I can't imagine what the folks around us were thinking when they heard that power up!

We gave them a tip for their trouble. Had no idea it was such an operation to get that done. Glad they did!

I'm not a smoker and in Tennessee we don't smoke in resturants anymore either so I'm not a fan of it at all. Honestly I wouldn't be able to enjoy a drink in the pub because of the smoke smell but that's because I'm not used to it. On certain dates and times you weren't supposed to smoke in the casino either.... but that really wasn't enforced.

 

In the 19th hole bar you could smoke but you can't in the crown bar which suited us just fine.

 

Just have to pick your battles!

What about smoking in the Dungeon... was it allowed?

Also, how about our Blue Raiders making the NCAA tournament?! :D