Notes from the Navigator

[publicpersona]

Just back from the Navigator 5-day to Labadee and Ocho Rios. I'm not much for writing reviews, but suffice it to say that it was a very nice cruise and typical of the Voyager-class ships. I thought the ship might not be at its best game having just completed a trans-Atlantic, but there were few rough spots other than boarding commencing after 3 PM due to numerous issues at the port (first time that ship has been to Miami, they said).

 

But two bouquets and a brickbat:

 

1) One of the Explorations! staff exceeded my expectations. I inquired about the ship's "Sandals Beach Break" in Ocho Rios. The description said "a Sandals" but there are two - Ocho Rios and Dunn's River. The latter, I hear, is much nicer. She said she'd have to call the tour operator check into it and let me know. I honestly did not expect to hear anything back, but indeed on the next day, there was a formal written response left in our stateroom saying it was Sandals Dunn's River. Way to go! And by the way, a great way to spend a day in Ocho Rios.

 

2) The Diamond Breakfast event (we are D+) was excellent. It was the same breakfast menu as the MDR, but specialty coffees were included, and service was fantastic (especially as compared with the hectic MDR breakfast service).

 

Now for the brickbat ..

 

3) We have really enjoyed My Time Dining since they first began experimenting with that on some ships I guess a year and a half ago. Only one evening out of the many that we've done MTD have I felt that service was any less than the fixed dining times. The Navigator's implementation of MTD was really bad. The first night, we had no assistant waiter, so forget about drink refills and bread, etc. I had to go ask the head waiter for a drink. The second night was marginally better, but there were so many people buzzing around that I never quite knew who was serving our table, but somehow we got fed. The third night was the worst, even after the head waiter assured me things were fixed. Time to salad - 30 minutes. Time to entree - 40 minutes. And then the waiter argued with me saying he SAID it would be 20 minutes (well, OK, yes, he did .. but this was 40 minutes). There were also issues making reservations. The MTD person apparently closed up shop at 3:30 PM the first day despite the fact that passengers were just getting onto the ship. When I called the MTD reservation number, someone answered and said "Call back later!" and hung up. We ate at the Windjammer on night 4 and Portofino's the last night. I still like the concept of MTD, but on our next cruise I think we might try going back to having a wait staff that wasn't so discombobulated.

 

A neutral observation:

 

4) On Labadee, the Barefoot Beach has been our favorite lounging spot, and we were surprised to find it is now surrounded by a wall and a big gate. The gates were closed and the beach was empty even at mid-morning. So we opened said gates and had it all to ourselves for a little while. This is the beach where the cabanas have been built. Eventually, a few others joined us, somewhat confused about the wall and gates. I understand that they are just about to start making that a suite guest exclusive area (the beach) and the cabanas will go for an extra $185. Wow! But I also heard the rumor that Diamond Plus will have access as well. If that's true, my indignant response is somewhat muted. :-)

[pinkmonkey14]

We were on the same cruise too! I am going to be writing a review soon!!!!!

[Morecruisesplz]

Thank you for all the great info. Do you happen to have any further details on how the Sandals Dunn's River works? Is it an RCCL excursion or something you book separately? Use of Sandals facilities?

[publicpersona]

Thank you for all the great info. Do you happen to have any further details on how the Sandals Dunn's River works? Is it an RCCL excursion or something you book separately? Use of Sandals facilities?

You can find some good information in the Jamaica forum on the all-inclusives. We had narrowed it down to Couples San Souci and Sandals (because we wanted a couples/no kids place). Sandals advertises a day rate of $85, and the ship wanted $99 for same, but including transportation. I prefer to book with the ship if not outrageous, so we did that one.

 

They have water activities, and will take you out snorkeling. But we spent the entire day on a floating mat in the pool, ocassionally swimming up to the bar in the pool for another exotic drink.

[Bosjoe]

Hi There

 

What night is formal night. I just booked this last minute and planning things out.

 

Thanks

[yogimax]

Thanks for the review... interesting comments about MTD. Sounds like it gets mixed reviews.

[publicpersona]

Hi There

 

What night is formal night. I just booked this last minute and planning things out.

 

Thanks

On this sailing (the 5-night), formal night was on Day Two (sea day).

[John Henry on CC]

Just back from the Navigator 5-day to Labadee and Ocho Rios. I'm not much for writing reviews, but suffice it to say that it was a very nice cruise and typical of the Voyager-class ships. I thought the ship might not be at its best game having just completed a trans-Atlantic, but there were few rough spots other than boarding commencing after 3 PM due to numerous issues at the port (first time that ship has been to Miami, they said).

 

But two bouquets and a brickbat:

 

1) One of the Explorations! staff exceeded my expectations. I inquired about the ship's "Sandals Beach Break" in Ocho Rios. The description said "a Sandals" but there are two - Ocho Rios and Dunn's River. The latter, I hear, is much nicer. She said she'd have to call the tour operator check into it and let me know. I honestly did not expect to hear anything back, but indeed on the next day, there was a formal written response left in our stateroom saying it was Sandals Dunn's River. Way to go! And by the way, a great way to spend a day in Ocho Rios.

 

2) The Diamond Breakfast event (we are D+) was excellent. It was the same breakfast menu as the MDR, but specialty coffees were included, and service was fantastic (especially as compared with the hectic MDR breakfast service).

 

Now for the brickbat ..

 

3) We have really enjoyed My Time Dining since they first began experimenting with that on some ships I guess a year and a half ago. Only one evening out of the many that we've done MTD have I felt that service was any less than the fixed dining times. The Navigator's implementation of MTD was really bad. The first night, we had no assistant waiter, so forget about drink refills and bread, etc. I had to go ask the head waiter for a drink. The second night was marginally better, but there were so many people buzzing around that I never quite knew who was serving our table, but somehow we got fed. The third night was the worst, even after the head waiter assured me things were fixed. Time to salad - 30 minutes. Time to entree - 40 minutes. And then the waiter argued with me saying he SAID it would be 20 minutes (well, OK, yes, he did .. but this was 40 minutes). There were also issues making reservations. The MTD person apparently closed up shop at 3:30 PM the first day despite the fact that passengers were just getting onto the ship. When I called the MTD reservation number, someone answered and said "Call back later!" and hung up. We ate at the Windjammer on night 4 and Portofino's the last night. I still like the concept of MTD, but on our next cruise I think we might try going back to having a wait staff that wasn't so discombobulated.

 

A neutral observation:

 

4) On Labadee, the Barefoot Beach has been our favorite lounging spot, and we were surprised to find it is now surrounded by a wall and a big gate. The gates were closed and the beach was empty even at mid-morning. So we opened said gates and had it all to ourselves for a little while. This is the beach where the cabanas have been built. Eventually, a few others joined us, somewhat confused about the wall and gates. I understand that they are just about to start making that a suite guest exclusive area (the beach) and the cabanas will go for an extra $185. Wow! But I also heard the rumor that Diamond Plus will have access as well. If that's true, my indignant response is somewhat muted. :-)

 

Very helpful information.

 

Thanks for taking the time to share it.

[ariel23]

My fiance and I were on this cruise the 5 night sailing to ocho rios and labadee....we had a wonderful time even though embarktion was horrifying. We are planning our next RCI cruise for next year already. Overall Navigator was a nice ship

[Jimmy1065]

Thanks for the info. We are leaving on December 5 on Navigator. Do you happen to remember any of the dinner menus for the MDR? Or did they just follow the standard RCCL dinner menus for 5 nights? I am trying to determine what night to book Portofino's or Chops. Also, was there a midnight buffet on one of the nights?

 

Thanks!

[Catperson]

This is NOT the first time the Navigator has been in Miami port. We sailed on her in December '06 out of Miami.

[jebl]

It was the FIRST time AFTER being in a Foreign Port. Just like being there for the Very first time.

[SPlaya]

Thank you for your quick review! Would you happen to remember which menus were served on which nights? My wife and I are cruising tomorrow on the next Navigator 5-night voyage (last minute deal) and we're trying to plan our specialty restaurant nights. Otherwise, do you remember a night that you really enjoyed in the MDR vs. a night where the menu wasn't as good? Thanks for your help!

[RevSmith]

Thank you so much for your honest and well written review. I some what agree with you regarding MTD on the NOS...for some reason this ship has not managed to get it down as well as many of the others I have been on.

My problem was that you even had to make precise reservations, (the reason I am going to my time dinning in the first place, is so that I won't have to be pinned down to a certain time).

On the other ships I would make the statement...I will be here on (name the days), and I'll be arriving between 7:00 and 8:15, I don't care if I sit with others, or I dine at a table by myself...and that was that...I was always accommodated. On NOS they wanted to pin me down to a certain time.

As far as the wait staff was concerned, it was fine...service was good for me...but it's sometimes the luck of the draw...who knows.

I was wondering, is Carlos still in the CL?

Thanks again for your great review.

[cascargirl]

We did the Sandals excursion, and it was fantastic. I would highly recommend it. (We booked through the ship.)

[publicpersona]

.

 

I was wondering, is Carlos still in the CL?

Thanks again for your great review.

Yes, Carlos was still there.

 

We only ate in MDR the first three nights. The third night was Italian night which is my least favorite. If it isn't your favorite, that might be a good night to go to a specialty restaurant. Although if I had to do over (and was going to have the same bad luck with MTD), I would have eaten in both Chops and Portofino's at least once each .. maybe twice.

[publicpersona]

This is NOT the first time the Navigator has been in Miami port. We sailed on her in December '06 out of Miami.

OK .. I wasn't stating that as fact .. just what the RCCL port person said in explaining why they were having "network connectivity" problems that prevented boarding for the last 30-45 minutes.

[Twibes]

 

1) One of the Explorations! staff exceeded my expectations. I inquired about the ship's "Sandals Beach Break" in Ocho Rios. The description said "a Sandals" but there are two - Ocho Rios and Dunn's River. The latter, I hear, is much nicer. She said she'd have to call the tour operator check into it and let me know. I honestly did not expect to hear anything back, but indeed on the next day, there was a formal written response left in our stateroom saying it was Sandals Dunn's River. Way to go! And by the way, a great way to spend a day in Ocho Rios.

 

PublicPersona,

 

Did you just speak to the staff while on the ship about this day at Sandal's? I'd like to do this also in 2 months, wondering if there is anything I need to do in order to book it :). Thanks! Glad you had a great time!

[publicpersona]

PublicPersona,

 

Did you just speak to the staff while on the ship about this day at Sandal's? I'd like to do this also in 2 months, wondering if there is anything I need to do in order to book it :). Thanks! Glad you had a great time!

The excursion is offered through the ship as "Sandals Beach Break". It is described as going to *a* Sandals. I spoke with the Explorations desk to find out which one, and to my surprise they found the answer for me. If you look over on the Ports of Call/Jamaica forum, you'll find lots more information about Sandals.

 

It didn't fill up, I don't think, as there were two departures (which actually both left at 10:30 AM). But if you want to make sure you get on it, book it online before your cruise.

[Twibes]

Thank you! I appreciate the info, will be sure to figure this out very soon and handle online.