Lets do an all things Navigator of the seas thread

[royalcruz]

I had the chance to switch from deck 8, cabin 8300, to deck 6, on the hump, for a lot less money due to a residency rate. I wasn't sure about switching, but so many people told me to go for it. What else did you like about this deck?

 

Pam

 

We got a hump on deck 6 for our next Navigator cruise. The cabins on the ends of the humps are supposed to have larger balconies so that is what we got. We have only had inside cabins on this ship, but we are Diamond now and the balcony discount is terrific. The best part about deck 6 is it's one deck down to the promenade and 2 decks down to other public areas. It is so close to the dining room and theatre. I get seasick and don't like being on the higher decks if the seas get rough. I read that the starboard side promenade deck is a smoking area, so I booked portside.

[dappledumpling]

And I know it has been posted over and over and over again on the boards, but I have to ask about this particular ship for those who have sailed her. The ship is scheduled to arrive in port at 7AM - what is the earliest and latest disembarkation time? We are flying out of FLL and it's been two years since I've cruised and all I remember is sitting forever in the theater waiting to be called. I am looking at a 3PM flight, non-stop so I know I would definitely make that flight. If I choose that one, can I still mingle around the ship and be one of the last passengers off?

 

On the other hand, if I decide to take an early flight, has anyone taken their own luggage off? If so, what time did you leave the ship? I don't mind waiting for a flight but I hate sitting around in the airport with nothing to do.

 

Last feb we put our luggage out by the door and disembarked platinum level (miami) we were off the ship with the luggage in our car by 7:20 and eating breakfast in lauderdale by 8am.. she is a wonderful ship so much so i booked December while I was cruising..

 

For the coffee question earlier we enjoyed the coffee on the promenade area.. hated the stuff at the windjammer

 

Not to miss is the filet at Portofinos.. Well worth the 20 bucks

(my wife will disagree and say it is the halibut but what does she know)

[dappledumpling]

How's the pizza? Are the dinning rooms for your time dining different then the fixed dining options? What time is the earliest time to get on the ship? Do they have afternoon tea? What are the free drinks? How's the coffee on the ship? Do they have coke or pepsi? How's the salad on the lunch buffet? Do they have any happy hour discounts? Do they offer a drink of the day for a discount? Any free ice cream? How are the shows? Just a few questions.....(:-)

 

We got to the port at 11am and I believe it was about 11:30 when they let the first group on

Free drinks-coffee, tea, lemonade and water

coffee -answered a post up

not a salad eater but the buffet line in the windjammer looked good

I didin't pay attention to any happy hour discounts but they do have a drink of the day

(sorry i drink rusty nails so I don;t look at any specials cause i know what I want)

There is free ice cream in the windjammer and MDR and pay for icecream on the promenade

Shows were Ok typical cruise fare... but after a couple of rusty nails they all are great

[fmax]

I know it was hard to find info on Navigator before I sailed her so decided to come back and update after my cruise so there's as much info in one place as possible.

[fmax]

Embarkation: In general, boarding can start earlier than generally stated in documentation. Having stayed at the W Hotel near the Beach, we took advantage of their acura alliance and booked an acura for 10:30 to drop us off at the port. Arrived some time before 11:00.

 

amazingly no line up and were able to walk straight up to the counter. Noticed they have line ups by floor and at that point all floor line ups were empty.

 

As platinum member we were shown to the platinum waiting area and it was about 15-20 mins later that we were called to board.

 

So there's advantages and disadvantages of arriving at port early. You might be too early to board and have to wait or you may arrive later and there's long line ups to check in but then you can board immediately after check-in.

[fmax]

Windjammer

 

Obviously, as stated, we were one of first on board so windjammer was relatively quiet so it was easy to find a seat. Lots of choice in windjammer - salads, sandwiches, burgers/hot dogs, fries, pizza, curry, potatoes (mashed, roasted, jacket - depending on day), soups, is just some of the selection.

 

Dessert area was relatively small and they had a server who would serve dessert onto your plate. I think this is a change from when we last sailed Royal. Cookies and fruit salad were daily staples and the main "cake" selection changed.

 

Soft Drinks: there was a soft drink station with lemonade, orange juice, iced tea and water. Servers came round trying to sell fresh fruit juice ($3.95 or $4.95 - can't remember) and wines. The orange juice at the drinks station tended to become watery as the ice melted.

 

Sushi is served in windjammer at night but not at lunch time. Also, maybe just a one-off, not sure, but our last night, even though we were eating in dining room at 8:30, we decided around 6:30 to go to WJ for some sushi. Grabbed the sushi and as we walked around to get a table, noticed there were lobster tails on the buffet :) they hadn't been served in dining room all week, nor that night, so this was an unexpected bonus.

[fmax]

Spa/Salon

 

Generally they have a scheduled time the first day for spa and gym orientation and we've always found there to be a really long line up to book appts. Especially if you want to make hair appts for formal night, or new year's eve if holiday cruise, try to get to salon as it opens. We had checked on boarding and it wasn't opened and went back at noon and there was absolutely no queue and we got our preferred appt time.

 

Some of services offered:

 

Botox with medi-spa physician

Facial rejuvenation and acupuncture

Ionithermie inch loss treatment

Body composition and metabolism analysis

Yoga

 

Seminars

Total Body Conditioning

Pain, Digestion and Chinese Medicine

No more bad hair

brighten your smile

Burn fat faster

Inch loss made easy

Detox for health and weight loss

Puffy eye

[fmax]

Main Dining Room

 

If assigned seating, it's good to check out your table assignment early on the day of boarding. We were assigned to table of 8 (we had requested large table) and it was towards the back of the nut cracker dining room.

 

As it happens, my sister won dinner at portofino's for first night, more on that later. Next day we got notification in our cabin that our dinner table had changed, and discovered that night that we had been moved to a table for two in different section. Not too sure about this, but ended up with a great waiter, murat, and assistant waiter, dennis. Waiters worked hard, moved quickly and were friendly and efficient.

[enidcruiser]

OK fmax, tell us the story of how your sister won a free dinner. You said you would tell us later but.........

It's later..........

 

Julia

[fmax]

Dining Times

 

Breakfast: 7-11 Windjammer/jade

8-10 Nutcracker dining room

 

Lunch: 11:30-3:00 Windjammer

12:00-1:30 Nutcracker

 

Dinner: 6:00 pm main seating all dining rooms

6:00-9:30 my time dining

8:30 pm second seating

6:30-9:00 windjammer/Jade

 

6:00-10:00 Chops

6:00-10:00 Portofinos

 

Snacks 24 hours: Cafe Promenade

10 am - 1 am: Ben & Jerry (fee)

11:30 am - midnight: Johnny Rockets ($4.95 cover)

3:30 pm - 5:00 pm: windjammers

5:00 pm - 1:00 am: Vintages wine bar (tapas)

Room service: closes 2:00 am ($3.95 between midnight & 2)

[fmax]

I'll continue tomorrow with some more specifics from the compass but in the meantime, here's some other threads on Navigator.

 

All things Navigator

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1089770&highlight=all+things

+navigator

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=847174&highlight=all+things+

navigator

 

New Year's on Navigator thread

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1327486&highlight=navigator

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=766832&highlight=all+things+

navigator

 

 

Picture review of navigator

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1324752&highlight=navigator

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=218192&highlight=navigator

 

 

Review Nov 11-15

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1309972&highlight=navigator

 

Review Dec 4-9

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1320399&highlight=navigator

 

 

Review Nov 20

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1314663&highlight=navigator

[fmax]

Winning Dinner at Portofinos

 

early afternoon, embarkation day, the various heads of dept have tables set up on promenade. The cruise director will announce a contest and tell you where you can pick up your quiz/questionnaires. There's about a dozen questions covering various areas of the ship and all you have to do is go to the various tables and get the dept heads/reps to tell you answers.

 

Once complete, submit into ballot box then cruise director will pull submitted papers for prizes. As mentioned, my sister was lucky enough to have her name called for the prize for dinner at portofinos.

[Cruisinfrombmore]

Winning Dinner at Portofinos

 

early afternoon, embarkation day, the various heads of dept have tables set up on promenade. The cruise director will announce a contest and tell you where you can pick up your quiz/questionnaires. There's about a dozen questions covering various areas of the ship and all you have to do is go to the various tables and get the dept heads/reps to tell you answers.

 

Once complete, submit into ballot box then cruise director will pull submitted papers for prizes. As mentioned, my sister was lucky enough to have her name called for the prize for dinner at portofinos.

 

The great part is that you don't even have to go around getting the answers if you don't want to. Last spring they told us, just to do our best. They pull the ballots for name but don't check answers! :)

[fmax]

Portofino

 

Were happy when we won dinner here as we had already reserved a table at Chops for New year's night so this let us experience both speciality restaurants. We stopped and said hi to fellow cruise critic Carol (Merion_Mum) and her party who were celebrating a couple of birthdays there that night.

 

Attached (if it works) is the menu that's posted on RCLs site.

 

Can't recall my appetizer but had the skewer of fish as main course and a chocolate cup filled with mousse for dessert.

 

We had purchased 5 bottle of wine package earlier in the day so had the first of these with dinner.

Portofino_Menu-1.pdf

[fmax]

Promenade Room 7609

 

Cabin: location was good. Only a few doors down from the elevator but you didn't hear any noise at all from elevator area. The library was next to elevator so pretty quiet area overall. It was two floors up from, and opposite the guest services area - behind the large chandelier/light fixture.

 

Didn't hear anything from promenade - although think one of the first nights some music might have drifted up from Pub but not even loud enough to make out what it was.

 

Only negative if anyone was planning to spend a lot of time in cabin would be that you get the flash from the various photo areas coming through promenade window when they start the photo stations in the evening.

 

And of course, you always have to remember to close the curtains when getting dressed.

[fmax]

Photo Studio

I saw them advertise pictures on disk and thought, finally, seamless, easy
process like disney... But no.

Hit and miss as to whether photographer took your seapass
before taking photos so obviously if they didn't, chances of photo
automatically appearing on disk was slim.

3 or 4 terminals were set up in photo area where you could swipe your
seapass and see the photos registering against your account. However, major issues with this - in our case whenever we swiped pass it would show photos of previous cruiser who had checked system, not ours. Now whether this was because we both had to get new seapass reset mid-week, I don't know.

Heard other cruisers complain that not all their pictures were appearing or
there were photos of people showing that they didn't know. It didn't give option along the lines of "not me/us" and allow you to delete. But if you didn't check it out at the terminal and purchased the disk assuming the pictures were all of you, not sure what the chance was off having a disk with a lot of random photos on it as I believe they use photo recognition to pull the photos together.

Cost: $249 for disk. Not sure if there was a maximum number of images
allowed or not but would hope not at that price.

[kmurph22]

thanks for the great info, fmax! we are on the Navigator next Saturday.

Question: are the tapas in Vintages free?

[fmax]

Yes, tapas free. Didn't try them myself but noticed one night a glass case that had different dishes in it like, olives, cheese etc.

They serve Sangria in there as well and although I love Sangria I found this one to be really heavy.

[fmax]

Sports

Not a sports person but here's some information on what's available. The times changed daily depending on whether a sea day or not but is always published inthe compass.

Sports Court: 24 hrs
Rock Climbing
Dunes Mini Golf: 24 hrs
Inline Skating
Sports Desk
Volleyball

Two Poets Pub and 19th Hole Bar both had sports on TV during the week

Nintendo Wii Open Play Ixtapa Lounge
Longest Drive Competition, Golf Simulator
Ice Skating (socks and long pants required)


There is a jogging track on deck 12 but probably need to be their early as there are lounge chairs near the track and I'm sure some people will have no qualms in moving their chairs onto track to optimize their tan.

On the last day there was also a Walk for Wishes with Captain Patrik and senior officers. Can't recall details of this but think there's a nominal fee and you get a t-shirt and the money goes to a good cause.

[fmax]

Bars/Lounges

Boleros Deck 4 - easy listening/latin dance music
Piano Bar Deck 4 - 10 pm to late
Cosmopolitan Club - 10 pm to late - dance music - invitation band
Dungeon Disco - Deck 4

Champagne Bar Deck 5
Vintages Deck 5 - Wine Bar and serves tapas in evening
Two Poets british pub deck 5. Allows smoking but there are seats outside
Casino Bar Deck 4
Schooners Bar deck 4
19th Hole Sports Bar

Ixtapa Lounge - variety of entertainment throughout the week
Viking Crown Lounge

Early Drinkers
Cafe Promenade Bar & Plaza Bar open at 7:00 am

[librayacht]

One of the great shows is the Ice Dancing in Studio B. We were on the Navigator over Thanksgiving with 2 grandchildren and they couldn't find enough minutes in the day to do all they wanted to do. Rock Climbing, Miniature golf, Children's program etc.etc.
We have booked a B2B on Navigator on February 3, we wanted to get another trip in before she leaves for Europe for 2 years.

[fmax]

Here's some pictures of Navigator taken on new year's cruise
[url]http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=272026&id=697798719&l=bae3c9c738[/url]

[copnlpn2]

Just a bit of info to add about the Navigator - the rails on the ship are unpainted on purpose. On one of my cruises on the NOS, I was talking with the captain and asked if the rails had been stripped in preparation for varnishing. He said, no, the rails are meant to be just like they are - natural.

[waterbugohio]

[quote name='fmax']Here's some pictures of Navigator taken on new year's cruise
[url]http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=272026&id=697798719&l=bae3c9c738[/url][/QUOTE]

Saw in your photos that you were able to snag free after dinner shots. Any tips on how you managed this?? Love those drinks!!

[Andys89]

My Friend and I will be going on our first RCI cruise on March 12. Any tips for two single 21/22 year old guys?