Review of Navigator March 30, 2013 Sailing

[Paul65]

OK - Now for a brief run-down of our experience with the dining room. In general, we thought it was quite good. I know some people want to talk about how low the quality has sunk and pretend that there was a time when they could feed 1000+ people at one sitting, while maintaining a made-to-order quality similar to Chops or Portofino. Personally, I think those are both exaggerations.

 

Sure, the dining room service isn't quite the same as 20 years ago. Things have changed. But the food quality is still good, and at least on this cruise, our service was excellent. Every night I had a dilemma deciding what to order for starters. I usually ended up picking two to try, but there were others that sounded good, as well. And, I agree with comments I've heard from others that the desserts on the new menus are an improvement.

 

As for main courses, there were a couple of lamb dishes that seemed to go over well, but not being a big fan of lamb, I didn't try them. I stuck mostly to the seafood, chicken and beef dishes. I can't say that anything stood out as outstanding, but everything I had was quite good.

 

We also dined there for lunch on two of the days, to enjoy the nice menu and the very good salad bar. It's a nice break from the Windjammer buffet.

 

So, that's a broad overview. Let me know if there are specific questions. I didn't memorize nor photograph the menus, so I may not remember all the details of what we ate for the week. :D

[Merion_Mom]

Now to one of our favorite things to do in just about any public place, observing humans in their natural (or perhaps unnatural) habitat. We saw a few interesting sights. I already talked about the smokers who just had no other option but to ignore the non-smoking side of the ship, since the first smoking area they tried was temporarily roped off. Here are a few others:

 

It starts with the CC Meet & Mingle on Day 2. We met some nice people there. I made a point of finding waterboy27, because we had talked on the Roll Call, and I found that he lived in the same town as my sister. He was also the one who bought a bottle of champagne to be given away as one of the door prizes, and my wife ended up winning it, so that was pretty neat. The most memorable part, though, was when the door prize drawing got underway. The first slip they pulled didn't have a name on it, so they pulled another. A couple ladies across the room from us complained that they did get a chance to write their names on their raffle tickets. Not sure what happened there, as the rest of us all had pre-printed invitations that had our names on them already. But one of the two ladies just had the most sour look on her face about the whole thing that, for the rest of the cruise, she was known to us as "Angry Lady." I mean, really? It's just little trinkets that were being given away, except for the bottle of champagne at the end. And we ended up saving that to share with those who came by on the cabin crawl, anyway.

 

Another lady we encountered in one of the gifts shops was such a loud talker that people in the shops on the opposite side of the Promenade knew what she was saying. She was dubbed "Loud Lady." And every time we crossed paths with her later in the cruise, the name was reinforced. :D

 

There was a group of three guys who hung out together, and we saw them multiple times. It seemed like two of them might have been a couple, but it was hard to tell for sure, but they were "The Boys." They always seemed to be having a good time, though, and were well-behaved. They were sitting right next to us at one of the shows in the theater. After reading some of mpoole3's review, I think it was probably his group.

 

Then there was "Bra Babe," a middle-aged, somewhat . . . . stocky . . . . woman, who decided to sun herself by just removing her shirt and laying out in her bra. I suppose it covered as much, if not more, than many of the bikini tops, but just seemed a bit inappropriate.

 

But, overall, the people we met were all very nice. There were about 900 kids on the ship, but from what I saw, they were mostly well behaved. The only trouble we had were the ones who thought it was funny to ring our doorbell and run and a few who thought the stairways were good places to camp out and visit.

 

Angry Lady? Not Grumpy Lady? ;)

[Paul65]

Angry Lady? Not Grumpy Lady? ;)

 

Actually, I wrote that incorrectly. We had Angry Woman, Loud Lady and Bra Babe.

[Tennessee_Cruiser]

Yup thats us! Great review!

 

And glad you thought we were well behaved! Clearly you didn't see us in the Dungeon at night! lol :cool:

[ltzol]

Whew - I was reading parts of this review with bated breath - hoping my "crew" didn't receive a nickname.

 

We were two families of 4 adults and 5 kids (aged 8 - 14) so you can understand my trepidation :)

[KirkNC]

Thanks for taking the time to post a review!

[Paul65]

Whew - I was reading parts of this review with bated breath - hoping my "crew" didn't receive a nickname.

 

We were two families of 4 adults and 5 kids (aged 8 - 14) so you can understand my trepidation :)

 

No, you're safe. :D Besides, being families with kids would not exactly have made you stand out from the crowd on this cruise. There were hundreds of those. :eek:

[Paul65]

And glad you thought we were well behaved! Clearly you didn't see us in the Dungeon at night! lol :cool:

 

No, our only trip to the Dungeon was for the Meet & Mingle.

[brillohead]

While I'm not Angry/Grumpy Lady/Woman, I am part of that group and can explain what happened there.

 

For starters, we never received our invitations to the M&M, which I believe happened to at least one other group from our roll call. I attributed it to the fact that we had changed cabins just five days before cruising. Fortunately, I remembered roughly when it was scheduled for, and I just confirmed with Guest Relations, so we did make it to the event. No harm, no foul.

 

When our group of four (not two) arrived, nobody from the staff greeted us. This being our first M&M, we didn't realize that there were little notebook pouch nametag thingies for the nametags that we were supposed to be given upon entry. Later on, after being told about them, we went over to the little table by the stairs to get ours. The two staff members were still MIA, so we picked up our pouch thingies and some BLANK nametags.

 

At this point, the big-haired staff member who ran the raffle wanted to "help" us all of a sudden. (Note: big-haired is being used as a description, not a pejorative.... one of the staff had her hair big and loose, the other had it in a bun. I'm the last person in the world who would be entitled to use "big-haired" as an insult!) BigHair took the four BLANK nametag papers and tore off the BLANK raffle stubs, and Angry/Grumpy Lady/Woman specifically asked her (I overheard this myself, not going on hearsay), "Don't you need to put our names on those?" BigHair replied, "No, I have your names already!" and she put the blank raffle stubs in the bowl with the others and shooed us off.

 

When the first blank raffle stub was drawn, we tried to explain AGAIN that she had put our stubs in without first putting our names on them, and we were pooh-poohed again. It wasn't until after the second blank stub was drawn that one of the two staffers kinda-sorta figured out that they had screwed up.

 

So it's not the fact that we didn't win the trinkets that upset my friend -- it was the incompetent and, quite frankly, rude manner in which the whole thing was handled that had her riled up. And it didn't help to overhear other CCers commenting at their tables about how we were "too stupid" to know how to write in our names on the raffle tickets, either.

 

If the staff had greeted us when we arrived and passed out the nametag thingies at that time, the whole thing could have been averted. If the staff had listened to her when she explained that the raffle stubs were blank, the whole thing could have been averted. And if the staff had listened to all of us when the first blank stub was drawn, the problem could have been rectified at that time.

 

Plain and simple, the staff running the M&M dropped the ball, then they were too stupid to pick the ball back up after realizing that they dropped it. :rolleyes: However, we didn't come running to CC to post a big hairy thread about it, nor did we allow this unfortunate incident to ruin the entire vacation for us, nor did we go crying to Guest Relations about it expecting a free cruise in compensation.

 

We had a wonderful week, and my three companions -- who were all first-time cruisers -- are looking forward to cruising again some day. I think they'll avoid M&Ms in the future, though. Not because of the staff screwing up the drawing, but because of people who chose to ridicule them for something that wasn't their fault in the first place. Such a shame, because I've met some wonderful people via CC, but as usual, a few rotten apples can spoil the whole barrel.

[cathep]

I think they'll avoid M&Ms in the future, though. Not because of the staff screwing up the drawing, but because of people who chose to ridicule them for something that wasn't their fault in the first place. Such a shame, because I've met some wonderful people via CC, but as usual, a few rotten apples can spoil the whole barrel.

 

That's a good reason to avoid the M&M. Just my opinion, though.

[Paul65]

We had a wonderful week, and my three companions -- who were all first-time cruisers -- are looking forward to cruising again some day. I think they'll avoid M&Ms in the future, though. Not because of the staff screwing up the drawing, but because of people who chose to ridicule them for something that wasn't their fault in the first place. Such a shame, because I've met some wonderful people via CC, but as usual, a few rotten apples can spoil the whole barrel.

 

For what it's worth, I was only making an observation about the really angry look that was on one woman's face. It wasn't about the circumstance, which was not her fault, but rather the reaction. And, not having met her, she just became known to us as Angry Woman. Even the other passenger who was sitting with Angry Woman appeared, at least from across the room, to be taken aback a bit by how seriously her friend was taking it.

 

But sorry if somehow your friends were ridiculed. :( I didn't notice that.

[Paul65]

We didn't really have any trouble with the M&M, as far as being greeted by the staff. There were two staff members there when we showed up, and they took our invitations and split out the raffle tickets, etc. But I didn't think the set-up in "The Dungeon" night club was particularly conducive to mingling. I know it's just a little extra thing that the cruise lines don't really have to do at all, but I have seen them held in venues that lent themselves better to meeting the different people.

 

Most people were sitting at tables with their own groups. I did recognize one person I'd chatted with and went over to his table to say hi. Otherwise, I didn't really meet anyone new there. Opening our cabin for the cabin crawl turned out to be a better way to meet a few of the other folks.

[brillohead]

I agree that the Dungeon wasn't the most conducive for meeting/mingling. It was dark and too compartmentalized for the purpose of the event!

[misty57]

Thank you for your review! I just put a hold on a cabin on this ship this morning. I didn't have time to complete the reservation before leaving for work and I didn't want the cabin to go away. I would love to stay in the OS some day, but until then we are lowly balcony dwellers! Seriously I would be fine in an inside cabin on a ship of this size but DH can't stand them.

 

We are planning on Feb 2014. Did you hear anything about the drydock and upgrade schedule for the Navigator? I think I saw on one post that January was the plan which would be amazing for us.:)

[Paul65]

Yes, I did hear that she was scheduled for dry dock in January.

[SC Cruiser69]

How was the Green Grotto Cave/Dunns River Falls excursion?

[sumertime]

I was just looking through my pictures from this sailing. Did anyone else notice the couples that got off the boat at the pier in Cozumel just as we were pulling away? They were rolling all of their luggage with them. They weren't looking very happy.

[brillohead]

I was just looking through my pictures from this sailing. Did anyone else notice the couples that got off the boat at the pier in Cozumel just as we were pulling away? They were rolling all of their luggage with them. They weren't looking very happy.

 

The story I heard was there were some 18yo kids who had been drinking (parents supplied booze, not the ship) and were involved in a fight. The kids, their parents, and the other parties involved in the fight were all put off the ship in Cozumel.

[mpoole3]

I was just looking through my pictures from this sailing. Did anyone else notice the couples that got off the boat at the pier in Cozumel just as we were pulling away? They were rolling all of their luggage with them. They weren't looking very happy.

 

I saw them. I was looking for "runners" from my balcony and all I saw was a family leaving with all their belongs.

[Paul65]

How was the Green Grotto Cave/Dunns River Falls excursion?

 

The excursion was good. For this excursion, they were filling up tour buses with 20 people at a time, and they alternated between going to the caves or the falls first. We did the falls first. It was about a 45 min drive to get there, but the tour guide was pointing out things along the way and giving us some history/background.

 

When we got to the falls, they suggested that we leave all our things on the bus, and the driver would stay with the bus. One thing to know is that you are required to have water shoes on the falls. Those who didn't have them could either rent a pair for $7 or buy a pair for something like $18. So, if you already own some, bring them with you. Anyway, we were assigned a guide to take us up the falls and we make the trek, stopping at several different spots for photo ops and other little activities, such as a spot where the rocks make a natural water slide.

 

Along the way, there is also a person taking video, and they offer a video of your trip for $40. We were warned by our tour guide to be careful of this and wait until back at the bus, if we want to buy the video. A couple people in the party paid for the video as they were finishing, though, and never actual got the DVD. Anyway, just trying to give a couple tips of how things went, so you won't be surprised, if you do the tour. Climbing the falls was actually a lot of fun, though, and you can get some good pics yourself, if you bring along a waterproof camera.

 

On the way out, we went through an area with souvenir vendors. I had heard that it can be high-pressure in that area, but I wasn't bothered by it at all. Sure, vendors were trying to get you to stop and look at what they were selling, but they weren't getting in our faces.

 

Next, we stopped at Green Grotto Caves. It was really neat, too. I actually need to run now, but will come back to post more details and perhaps a couple pictures. :)

[cathep]

I saw them. I was looking for "runners" from my balcony and all I saw was a family leaving with all their belongs.

 

Ha! Same here

[Paul65]

So, as I was saying, we did Green Grotto Caves second. I won't spoil it too much for those who might want to go see it, but I found the caves very interesting, and we had a really good guide. One of the more interesting things, to me, wasn't even in one of the caves, at all. It was after we emerged from a cave to an area where you could see the remains of a coral reef on land that was now some 40+ ft above sea level.

 

Anyway, I thought it was a really good tour overall. A couple other things to know, if you do this tour: For us, it turned out to be over 6 hrs, which was longer than advertised. It was about 2:30, when we got back to the dock area, and the tour did not include lunch, so it might be a good idea to have some kind of snack with you. There is an area at Green Grotto where you can buy drinks and snacks, and they were reasonable on prices. The tour also included a little cup of punch at the end of the Green Grotto part. The other thing to be prepared for is that you have at least four different people to whom you may want to offer a tip - tour bus driver, tour bus guide, Dunns Falls guide and Green Grotto guide. It's good to be prepared with several small bills.

 

Now, for a couple pictures:

Dunns River Falls

 

Some bats inside Green Grotto Caves

[SC Cruiser69]

Thank you for the reply and pictures, we are still trying to decide what we are going to do in Falmouth. This is the one ship tour I thought was priced reasonable for what you receive.

[Paul65]

Thank you for the reply and pictures, we are still trying to decide what we are going to do in Falmouth. This is the one ship tour I thought was priced reasonable for what you receive.

 

It did seem reasonable. In fact, a similar tour from an outside tour operator was about $20pp more. By the way, there are some better views in the caves than just a clump of bats hanging from the ceiling. :D That just happened to be a picture I had handy to be able to attach.

[bootslacky]

The story I heard was there were some 18yo kids who had been drinking (parents supplied booze, not the ship) and were involved in a fight. The kids, their parents, and the other parties involved in the fight were all put off the ship in Cozumel.

 

Yeah, there was a "fight" with one kid getting punched in the face, bloody nose, then it was over and high school tensions were high the rest of the night. We were standing on deck 12 when it went down on deck 11.