Disorderly Conduct on Navigator 5/28/05 Sailing ~ My Review!

[WeirdEyes]

Navigator of the Seas ~ Western Caribbean ~ May 28, 2005 Sailing

 

Gotcha, didn't I? LOL

 

First, let me say, we all enjoyed the cruise very much. I am 40, my DH (John) is 41, and our DS (Nick) is 16…almost 17. This was mine and John’s 3rd cruise and Nick’s 2nd. We sailed with two couples from Scotland and another couple from Alabama. This will be an honest review with some good and bad. This is my opinion, so no flames please! I will try to remember everything I can, but will probably leave things out. So, if you have any questions, please post them and I’ll answer. :)

 

We arrived at our hotel in Miami on Friday afternoon around 2:00 pm and checked in. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Marina Park (Bayside). The hotel was nice enough…..not the worst I’ve stayed in, but not the best by a long shot. We received a room on the 9th floor that had a great view of the port and the Navigator. However, this proved to be a very noisy location due to the constant traffic on the street below. Taxis were constantly honking their horns all through the night. I don’t think I’ll stay here again unless I can get the room real cheap. The breakfast buffet the next morning was a joke. It was way overpriced and the service was terrible. I think we’ll splurge next time and stay at the Intercontinental right next to Bayside. It is a lot nicer than the Holiday Inn, but right next to the port also. We enjoyed Bayside and ate lunch and dinner there.

 

My family’s cabin was an E1 balcony, mid-ship, deck 7. It was sort of tight for the 3 of us, especially since Nick is a big guy. I’m sure it would be fine for a family with a younger child. Next time, we’ll probably get a junior suite if Nick is cruising with us.

 

We cruised on the Mariner last year and I’ll be making comparisons from time-to-time. So far, the Mariner is my favorite ship.

 

Day 1: Saturday – Embarkation Day

 

We were able to board the Navigator early (around 11:30 am) because it was in dry dock the previous week and there weren’t any passengers to disembark. There were actually a good many cruisers on board when we boarded at 11:30. After the muster drill, we went to deck 12 and met some other Cruise Critic members. Hi guys! It was nice to put a face with the names. We all watched the Navigator sail-away from Miami in-between the rain showers.

 

After unpacking, we roamed the ship and it was pretty much the same as the Mariner. I did like the décor on the Navigator better. The art was more to my liking on the Navigator. There were several paintings that I would’ve loved to take home.

 

We went to the Welcome Aboard show and it was good. The comedian was funny and we liked the CD, Ken Rush. After the show, we went to dinner. We were surprised that we were at a table for 11 instead of 9, which was the number in our group. The other couple was from London, England so we had interesting conversation. They fit in fine with our group and were very nice. Our table made an interesting arrangement with one couple from England, two couples from Scotland, and two couples (plus one teenager) from Alabama. Needless to say, we had to say, “Excuse me?” a lot! :D Our waiter was Nilesh from India and our assistant waiter was Micolas from Hungary (I think). The team wasn’t the best we’ve had, but they were nice and did a good job. Our head waiter, Medic from the Philippines, was wonderful.

 

After dinner, we went to the Schooner Bar for some adult refreshments, but the jazz band playing was real loud so we left and went to the Two Poets Pub. The Pub ended up being our hang out for the week. We had several beer connoisseurs in our party so we spent lots of money here. ;)

 

Day 2: Sunday – Sea Day

 

After breakfast at the Windjammer, we went to the pool deck for some sun. It was easy to find some deck chairs because it was early. Our Meet & Mingle was scheduled for 11:30 AM so we gave up our chairs and went. I hate to say it, but I was very disappointed with this M&M. The one on the Mariner was much better and organized. The time was early so there wasn’t a bartender at the bar. The persons hosting the M&M were lame. On the Mariner last year, the social hostess hosted the M&M. I have no idea who hosted it this year because she never introduced herself. She also had the personality of a dishrag. I’ve been told by several previous Navigator cruisers that Captain Bang usually attends the M&Ms and that they have a raffle for dinner at the Captain’s table. Captain Bang didn’t attend our M&M and they didn’t raffle a dinner with him either. I was very disappointed. Needless to say, not many people stayed long. I’m not sure if I’ll attend another M&M. We had more fun when the Cruise Critic members met on Saturday afternoon on deck 12.

 

After the M&M, we went back to the pool deck for more sun. We had to search for deck chairs because it was very crowded. There was a lot of chair-saving going on and I started to remove several towels, but I chose to be nice. ;) One of the CC members, Gary, won “Mr. Flamingo Legs” during the Sexy Legs contest. Gary was a blast and I will miss him.

 

Tonight was our first formal night. We all got dressed up in our fancy duds and got pictures taken. My men looked so nice in their suits. Our friends from Scotland decided to wear their kilts and I was delighted! They were a hit and they received a lot of attention. They looked smashing! We went to the Captain’s Cocktail party and some of us drank too much champagne…no, it wasn’t me! This party was actually the only time we saw Captain Bang.

 

After dinner, we went to the late-night show, which was a comedian. He was really funny and we enjoyed him, but I can’t remember his name. (I don’t have my Compasses in front of me.)

Next......

[WeirdEyes]

Day 3: Monday – Labadee

 

We ordered room service (Country Breakfast), which was good for a quick bite. I had my coffee on the balcony and it was very nice.

 

We absolutely loved Labadee. The island is beautiful and it was a nice, relaxing day on the beach. I ventured into the market for a quick souvenir and was asked by every vendor there to buy something. I just kept walking and said, “No thank you.” I did buy a small painting of a sunset beach scene for $7. I normally buy one thing from each island. I will warn you, make sure you are prepared for B.O. before entering the market. I don’t think they use deodorant in Haiti. My son said, “They make Right Guard turn left. They make Old Spice want to retire.” LOL Also, make sure you put on plenty of sunscreen before Labadee. I have a pretty good tan and I used 8 SPF and still got sunburned.

 

We did the normal drinks, dinner, and more drinks! I rarely drink, but I have fun watching the others. ;)

 

Day 4: Tuesday – Jamaica

 

Is it day 4 already? This cruise is going by WAY too fast!! :(

 

After more room service for breakfast, we met up with Peat Taylor for a tour. He put the 9 of us in a van with Kevin as our driver and Deidre as our tour guide. They took us on a tour of Ochos Rios, which included Fern Gully, the countryside, and neighborhoods. After the tour, we went to Dunn’s River Falls for a couple of hours. Most of us loved Dunn’s River Falls. I could’ve climbed it several more times. After the Falls, Kevin & Deidre picked us up and dropped us off at Margaritaville. We ate lunch and did a little shopping and then walked back to the ship. We avoided the market at Dunn’s River Falls like the plague so we never felt harassed. We really liked Jamaica and I didn’t see why it gets such a negative review from a lot of people. I think us booking Peat Taylor saved us a lot of aggravation. I definitely recommend him.

 

I think most of us were really tired after our excursion, but we did the usual again. More food and drinks.

 

Day 5: Wednesday – Grand Cayman

 

Our excursion didn’t start until 11:30 AM ship’s time so we slept in. The late nights of 1:00-2:00 AM were finally starting to catch up. We booked Captain Bryan’s Buccaneer tour going to Stingray City and snorkeling. After checking in with Captain Bryan’s, we went downtown for some shopping. I bought a watch from the Fossil store. Later, I discovered that it was broken after we had already set sail for Cozumel. Please check your purchases AGAIN before you get on the ship.

 

The excursion was wonderful! It was just my DH, DS, and I booked on this excursion out of our group. A lot of other CC members were booked on it also and we had a blast! Stingray City was so neat, but the stingrays did scare me when they came up from behind and brushed my legs. Everyone really enjoyed the trip back to the dock with the sails and the bar open.

 

Tonight was our 2nd formal night and we all got dressed up again. Everyone enjoyed the dinner of lobster and prime rib. I ate one too many desserts though as I couldn’t make up my mind. I’m a sucker for desserts!

 

After dinner, we went to the Two Poets Pub. I think the bartender/servers Pub were starting to get to know us VERY well! LOL We had a blast that night and I think we ran everyone off from the Pub. We were laughing so hard; we were all crying. Sorry to anyone that we disturbed! :o

 

Day 6: Thursday – Cozumel

 

We ate a good breakfast in the Windjammer and set off for Cozumel. We didn’t book an excursion for this port, as we wanted to shop. We shopped downtown for several hours and bought the usual of Kailua, vanilla, t-shirts, and sombreros. After shopping, we headed to Carlos ‘n Charlies. I’ve never been to one before and it was wild! I drank a yard of beer and it was the most I’d had to drink all week. It was a lot of fun to watch and I got some great pictures.

 

After Cozumel, we went to the show to see The Drifters. They were very good and we all enjoyed them. The ship started rocking during the show and I began to feel a little sick. I had to leave during dinner because I got really seasick. The ship was rocking sooooo hard! I went to the cabin to lie down a bit. I couldn’t get up to go to Quest and I was really upset about that. John and the others went and they said it was fun. I know we had a blast at Quest on the Mariner.

 

Day 7: Sea Day

 

Today was cloudy and raining most of the day. It was suppose to be cloudy and raining all week so we didn’t mind it raining one day. There were deck chairs everywhere! No chair-saving going on today…LOL! John hung out at the Pub and I shopped most of the morning. Our group met at Johnny Rocket’s but the wait was 1.5 hours so we decided to eat lunch in the Windjammer. After lunch, we went to play putt-putt golf. It was very interesting playing golf in the high winds and rain. We had a good time laughing at ourselves.

 

After our magnificent golf game, it was time to pack. This was VERY sad. :( Not only did we have to leave the ship, but had to leave our friends from Scotland and our new friends.

 

We went to the Farewell Show before dinner and the comedian Craig Carmean was the feature act. We saw Craig on the Mariner last year and he is absolutely hilarious! After the show, we met him on the Promenade and bought his CD. He was kind to my son who loves comedians. He posed for pictures and was very nice. If you have the chance, see him. You won’t be disappointed.

 

After dinner, we all met at the Two Poets Pub along with our new CC friends. We all reminisced about our week and enjoyed more time together before we had to say goodbye. We headed back to the cabin around 11:30 to get our luggage out in the hall by midnight. I was very depressed!

 

Day 8: Disembarkation

 

We were the last color to be called on disembarkation. We had a 12-hour drive home and we weren’t looking forward to it. We finally got off the ship around 11:30 AM. The process was painless except for saying a final goodbye to our friends.

 

Highlights

 

Service! Our cabin steward was WONDERFUL. Her name is Lydia from Jamaica. She kept our messy cabin clean and always had a great smile on her face.

 

Two Poets Pub! We all fell in love with Michelle, Lorraine, and Francisco. They are fabulous!

 

The Café Promenade! I am having withdrawals from the wonderful cookie and pastries. Margaret and I made a habit of having coffee and pastries/cookies every afternoon.

 

Key Lime Pie! It was AMAZING!

 

Lowlights

 

The food was just “okay.” There were only a couple of things that I thought were really good: the key lime pie (see above) and the Maryland Crab Cakes. John thought the duck was fabulous, but I didn’t eat any. Oh! The French toast in the Windjammer was very good. I do know that it is hard to cook for all of the passengers so I understand about the food. I gained 7 lbs on the cruise so I guess I liked it well enough. LOL I also didn’t have to cook so that was a plus!

 

The only time we saw the Captain was during his cocktail party. We didn’t go to the Crown & Anchor party so I don’t know if he was there or not. The party conflicted with a show that we wanted to see.

 

The CD, Ken Rush, was great, but we hardly ever saw his staff. I never knew who the social hostess was either. We were on first name basis with the CD staff on the Mariner, as they just seemed to be everywhere.

 

Summary

 

As I stated earlier, we had a wonderful, fabulous, magnificent, (insert adjective here) time! The Navigator is a beautiful ship with excellent service. The staff are wonderful. We will definitely be cruising again...probably in 2007. Since the Mariner is our favorite ship, we will probably book her. If the Freedom moves to the Eastern or Southern Caribbean, we will give her a try also. I wouldn’t pass on the Navigator again either. It is just a long drive to Miami from Alabama and we’d rather not fly.

 

To my new Cruise Critic friends: Ron, Nancy, Jeff, Gary, Tracy...I really enjoyed meeting you and spending time with you. You all are so much fun and I look forward to hopefully cruising with you again one day. :D

 

If anybody has any questions, just ask away! Sorry this is so long!!!

[TheBeachBears]

That’s just a great, great review fair and balanced. Glad you had a good time.

 

Just a sidebar: IMO you had a good time in Jamaica because you did everything right. Go with Peat Taylor (or another reputable guide) and you did not stop for the vendors. I wish we had done the same.

 

Great review, Thanks

[WeirdEyes]

That’s just a great, great review fair and balanced. Glad you had a good time.

 

Just a sidebar: IMO you had a good time in Jamaica because you did everything right. Go with Peat Taylor (or another reputable guide) and you did not stop for the vendors. I wish we had done the same.

 

Great review, Thanks

Thanks! That's the reason why we went with Peat Taylor. We were warned beforehand. Hopefully, your next visit to Jamaica will be a more pleasant one. It is really a beautiful island.

[sk8man]

Thanks for the great review of the Navigator. We sail 9/3 and are looking forward to it even more. Thanks again. :D

[xpcdoojk]

thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts on your trip!

 

jc

[ArbeyWolf]

Sounds like you had a good time.

Thanks for sharing the review :)

As for the Fossil watch, they have a great guarantee on their watches so just contact them and tell them what happened. They will either repair it, or if they can't, give you a credit to buy another one on their website of about equal value.

I had to go through this when my husband's watch decided to take a dive off the kitchen counter (ok it was assisted heavily by our cat ;) ) and the hands stopped working.

Good luck!

[WeirdEyes]

I sent the watch in for repair or replacement yesterday. It just made me mad because I didn't even get a chance to wear it. I love the watch though.

 

I appreciate everyone's comments and I hope I didn't bore you. ;)

[CruiseCrazy7]

Does anyone know what was done to Navigator while in dry dock .. did things look fresher ... or updated ...

[LABCHICK]

Great review. We will be on the navigator in Nov. How long is the walk from Margaritaville back to the ship? We are thinking about using Peat Taylor. Read several good things about him.

Thanks

______________________________________________________________

JUDI :)

[chumley]

Hi Sheila,

 

Thanks for the great review! Can you tell me if you waited a long time to get off the boat in Grand Cayman and Labadee? I know you're tendered in those places and wanted to get an idea of how long that process was on the Voyager class ship with so many people.

 

Thanks again.

 

Leslie

[TheWog]

Great review. We will be on the navigator in Nov. How long is the walk from Margaritaville back to the ship? We are thinking about using Peat Taylor. Read several good things about him.

Thanks

______________________________________________________________

JUDI :)

 

You will be very pleased with Peat Taylor. We went with him in January.

 

The walk is only about 5 minutes or so from Island Village to the ship.

 

 

 

 

Great review, thanks for sharing it.

[BuilderMan]

Excellent review Sheila!! Sounds like you have a fantastic time (except for the sea-sickness!)

[bravjd]

Great review. We will be on the navigator in Nov. How long is the walk from Margaritaville back to the ship? We are thinking about using Peat Taylor. Read several good things about him.

Thanks

______________________________________________________________

JUDI :)

 

The walk from Margaritaville is maybe 5 minutes. It's right at the main street next to the docks.

[cruztime]

Weirdeyes - Great review. I'll just add a couple of cents

 

We were on this cruise as well. DW, I and our 18 year old son.

 

We flew into Ft Lauderdale on Saturday morning and caught the RCI shuttle to Miami. No problems there at all. It's about a 45 minute ride door to door. We didn't have to unload our luggage from the bus. RCI took care of it all. We flew through checkin and were onboard by 11:45. Not to shabby considering we didn't arrive in Ft Lauderdale till 10:05.

 

The decor on Navigator is much more classy than Carnival. None of the garish statements Carnival is so fond of.

 

I agree that Navigator is a fabulous ship but it does get crowded on deck on the sea days. There aren't as many places to get away from the crowds as there are on Carnival ships. The Promenade is beautiful. It feels like you're sitting at the cafes in Epcot at Disney World. I'll also ditto Poets. We also liked the Schooner bar for a before dinner drink. We got to be on a first name basis with the bartenders there. The Champagne bar on deck 5 is also very nice for a drink. The Latin dance band was great! I really need to take those lessons. It looks like lots of fun. Kinda reminds me of my single days doing the various hustles. Ooops! I just dated myself. LOL!!

 

I agree too that the food was just OK. This was our first RCI cruise after several Carnival cruises and the food on Carnival is much better. More choices, better taste, everything. The service was very good though the wait staff doesn't entertain or mingle as much as they do on Carnival. We had late sitting (8:30) and were done dinner each night by 9:45.

 

We didn't eat at Chops Grille or Portofino so I can't comment on them. The food in Windjammer was very good. I did however miss Carnivals outside grills.

 

We had a junior suite on deck 9 amidships. It was a great room especially since we were sharing it with our son. Plenty of room. Our cabin steward Clover was absolutely great!!! We saw her everyday several times a day. She was top notch!

 

We too were disappointed in the M&M and probably won't bother with it again. We had a much better time on Saturday with our new CC friends.

Shelia, John, Nick, Gary, Josh, Jeff, We miss you guys already and hope to cruise with you all again someday.

 

Our son was at the inbetween age. Too old for the teen stuff and too young to hang with the 20 somethings. If we ever take him again we'll probably take a friend for him.

 

Labadee - Great stop - Nice beach, plenty of sun food and drinks. My son and I did Waverunners. They were a blast! We had never rode one before and they were great fun. The tour takes you to several different spots where the guides stop and give a little talk about Haiti. Very informative. They really do turn you loose on the jet skis too. We were doing 45 MPH across the water! My son wants me to buy one since we live near the Chesapeake Bay.

 

Ochos Rios - We also did Peat Taylor and highly recommend him. Melvin met us at the ship and took us directly to the falls. We missed most of the crowds. Then we boarded a bus with Peat himself. He's a great guy and lots of fun. He had us singing songs. It was hilarious! He dropped us off at the Island Village where Margaritaville is located. We ate there and bought a T shirt. We also got a great deal on Grey Goose. $23 for the large bottle that sells for $40 at home. I never saw another store that sold it at that price. Definitely book with Peat Taylor or another private tour. Peat's tour was $35 each and that included the admission to Dunns River Falls.

 

Grand Cayman - We booked with our CC friends on Capt Bryan's Bucaneer. We too had a great time. Definitely check out the English Bakery. You'll see it if you take Capt Bryan. Great pastries. Stingray City was awesome and the snorkeling was the best I've done in the islands. It was also great fun to watch Weirdeyes jump. Great vertical leap!! Sorry Weirdeyes, I just couldn't resist.

 

Cozumel - This is the bad part...Since I couldn't find a private charter I booked the Sail, Snorkel, Beach tour through the ship at $59 each. This was to take us to a "pristine" reef for snorkeling. DO NOT ever take this tour. It was an absolute joke and a total waste of money. We met the catamaran at the dock by the ship. It spent 45 minutes motoring to the back of the ship while we were talked to like children how to use the flotation snorkle vest. It was really tough snapping those 2 belts together. During this time we were told not once but twice!! about the 7 crew on board and how we should remember to tip them!! After the 45 minutes riding around we were taken to the pristine snorkeling area that turned out to be a spot 50 feet from the main highway in Cozumel!! We snorkeled looking at the bottom not a reef. We did see some great tires though. A few Goodyears and a Michelin or 2. Then we motored about an hour to a beach area and were told the only food available on this Mexican island was burgers at $8 each. We stayed there about 45 minutes in the rain then motored back to the dock. The beer and margaritas that were free was cheap beer. Not the good Dos Equis or Sol and the margarita was the stuff you can buy premade in a bottle. They did however mention twice more about the tipping and that they actually wanted us to recommend them to RCI for the future. Yeah right!!!I was so ticked off about this tour that I demanded my money back. So far I got 30% back. Oh...and the best part is they took your picture in the water and superimposed it into a real reef background then expected you to buy that. Unbelieveable!!!

 

Do yourselves a favor and just grab a cab to one of the great beaches in Cozumel. We did however get some nice silver there.

 

Overall, it was a great trip made so much better by the great friends from CC. Thanks again guys for a great time.

 

Sorry if I got as little longwinded here.

[cruztime]

Cruzcrazy7,

 

According to the crew she was in drydock for routine maintenance. I did smell some new carpet and all the paint looked fresh.

[bravjd]

Hi Sheila,

 

Thanks for the great review! Can you tell me if you waited a long time to get off the boat in Grand Cayman and Labadee? I know you're tendered in those places and wanted to get an idea of how long that process was on the Voyager class ship with so many people.

 

Thanks again.

 

Leslie

 

I was on the same sailing as Sheila. We did not have to wait at all for a tender in either location. Waited a few minutes while onboard the tender for it to fill up. In Labadee there is only 1 ship in port and at least 3 tenders running continuously from ship to shore and back. They each take a lot of passengers.

 

We were very fortunate in Grand Cayman to be the only ship in port so the process was very similar to Labadee. Only waited a few minutes for the tender back to ship and that was because it was after 3pm and the last tender was scheduled for 3:30. We waited while one tender filled up and then were on the very next one which was waiting. Very painless in both locations.

[WeirdEyes]

Ron,

 

Nancy told me about your horrible excursion in Cozumel. I'm glad you got a percentage credited to you. I also agree about Carnival's food being better than RCI's.

 

John, Nick, and I really enjoyed you, Nancy, and Patrick also. I miss my CC friends!!

[canuckof5]

Great Review!!! it was nice change to hear about Jamaica and that you & your family had a good time, as I haven't seen many positive remarks about Jamaica so maybe there is hope for Jamaica..:)

 

Thanks so much for doing the Review

 

:)

[BuilderMan]

cruztime - We were on the Navigator in June 2004 with a JS, 9th deck, mid-ship (9598) and we had Clover as our steward too!!!! She was wonderful!! Glad to hear that she's still doing a top notch job!

[WeirdEyes]

Great Review!!! it was nice change to hear about Jamaica and that you & your family had a good time, as I haven't seen many positive remarks about Jamaica so maybe there is hope for Jamaica..:)

 

Thanks so much for doing the Review

 

:)

Thanks! I think the trick to Jamaica is booking an excursion with a good tour guide such as Peat Taylor. I booked the excursion for just the nine people in our group so we could do whatever we wanted. We just chose not to visit the marketplace except for the one next to Margaritaville. No pressure to buy there. The only begging we saw was walking back to the ship after we had gotten back to the port. There were kids actually treading water next to the pier asking for a dollar. We almost gave them one just for their tenacity.

[jwlane]

I drank a yard of beer ....

 

...I began to feel a little sick. I had to leave during dinner because I got really seasick. The ship was rocking sooooo hard!

 

 

Blame it on the boat!!!

[Cruising89143]

Thanks for the review. I am counting down the days until the Navigator again.

[WeirdEyes]

Blame it on the boat!!!

I KNEW someone was going to say that...LOL! And it was the ship cause I wasn't the only one who got sick. ;)

[WeirdEyes]

Thanks for the review. I am counting down the days until the Navigator again.

Gordon, can I stow away with you? I won't be cruising again until 2007. :(