just off the Navigator- Any Questions?

[c-leg5]

No Latin Band on our cruise.

 

Who was playing in boleros?

[awhfy]

We also cruise on 30 Nov 14. It is our first Royal cruise (but several on Celebrity). DH is excited about cookies in DL...

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[wolfganghowell]

Thanks Cat and paw (heh heh) for your thoughts! Already booked for Sabor. cat - thank you for the comments on Ricardo. Did he email you before the cruise? Also - how did he handle disembarkation? Did they have a cocktail party or dinner for CL guests? We're also in a GS. Guessing that the full breakfast is in Chops? Sorry - just realized that's a lot of questions!

[crazy4themouse]

If I had to nit pick, it would be that the ship seemed warm to me and more than one staff member commented that it was always that warm. We did ask our stateroom attendant for a fan and it made a huge difference for us.

 

 

 

 

There are fans available?? Is that only for suite guests? The ship was WAY too warm for me in February, especially at bedtime, and I was trying to decide how I was going to counter that this coming February. I wanted to bring my own small fan, but know they'll confiscate an extension cord. Or will they supply an extension cord if I bring my own fan?

 

Glad you had such a good time -- I can't wait to be back on Navigator, and can't wait to try Nachi Cocum for the first time!

[Blasian]

Hi,

 

My family and i just got off the Navigator this morning. Overall, it was a great cruise on a nice ship. As a little background, my wife and I have been on about 20 cruises on a variety of lines including Royal, Carnival, Celebrity, Disney, HAL, and some others. We booked the Navigator 6 weeks ago when there were some incredibly low ($374pp) fares. Thus we had an inside cabin on deck 9 which was fine and certainly better than being down on deck 2. It was too cheap to pass up.

 

The ship- Over all she was in good shape. All the public areas were nice and it appears the carpeting and soft furnishings were redone in places. This was my firs time on a Voyager class ship and I found the Royal Promenade to be an amazing space. I can't imagine it on the larger ships. I also like that you can go up on the bow. There are great views there and the captain of the Navigator kept it open most of the time. Overall, i give the ship an A-

 

The food (dining room)- We ate in the main dining room every night. Overall, i found the food there to be very good, especially if you took the waiter's recommendation (not the chef's recommendation in the menu). Standouts were crab cakes (lot's of crab meat), seafood salad, lobster, and turkey. Too be honest, comparing Royal to the Celebrity Reflection last December, I didn't think Celebrity was any better. Grade A

 

The food (buffet)- Definitely a mixed bag. Some things were very good like steak and potatoes, pan fried fish with tomato sauce, etc. Other things were not so good. Breakfast was pretty much the same every day. Grade C

 

Other Food- We ate at Sabor, Royal's extra fee Mexican restaurant on the Navigator. It was very impressive with excellent food. Quacamole made tableside was incredible as were the ships and salsa. If you book for lunch, the menu is the same but it is $10pp cheaper. There was 24 hour food in a bar on the Promenade that had pizza (not great) and sandwiches (shrimp rolls were fantastic). Grade A+ for Sabor.

 

Service- Overall, good. There was a misstep with our dining room request. We asked fro a late seating table for 4. We got My Time Dining. So they gave us a table for 4 the first night and assigned another table for the next day. What a disaster. The next day, we were placed at a table for 10 with a couple that said nothing and a mother and daughter. The daughter was completely drunk and loud and obnoxius. After the longest dinner on record, i caught the head waiter on the way out and requested another change. The next (3rd) night, we finally got our requested table for 4 permanently. The waiter and assistant were fantastic. Our room steward was great too. Grade A.

 

Cabin- it was an inside on deck nine. It was fine, although the bathroom could stand some refurb. There were cigarette burns on the counter and the paint on the door frame was chipped and rusty. The hose for the shower head was leaking quite a bit too, but i guess not bad enough for me to complain. Grade B-

 

Entertainment- The orchestra was quite good and performed in both the Royal Promenade and the shows. I saw one of the production shows and while the singers and dancers were really tallented, I didn't care for the material. It wasn't "bad", just not my taste. There was also a mini show in the Promenade one night that was very popular. The Ice Dancin show was fantastic. Even my teenage son liked it. They also had comedians and a juggler. I thought they were good. Grade B+

 

Overall- a great cruise. The crew seemed happy and always greeted you. The weakest thing in my opinion was the photography. They were 100% digital with monitors that had card readers. You swiped your Seapass card and your pics would come up in theory. For the first half of the cruise, a lot of our pics would never show. When we'd ask, we were repeatedly told "check tomorrow because we are having server problems". There is the ability to look at all the pics of everyone, so we finally did that and found our pics. That seemed to be the answer for every question: "come back tomorrow". The quality wasn't great either. We usually buy one formal and maybe another pic or two. For the formal, they cut off our legs in every shot.

 

Let me know know if you have any questions.

 

Dave

--

THANKS for the review.

How far in advance did you book the entertainment shows (i.e ice show)?

[katytxqueen]

Thanks for the information! Can you tell me if it costs extra to do the rock wall and simulated wave pool thing? Also, can guests ice skate? If so, is there a charge?

[wolfganghowell]

No charge for any of those things. You can ice skate - you have to sign a waiver and must wear socks and long pants. ps - not a simulated wave pool. It's a Flowrider - surfing and boogie boarding

[Tenderpaw]

We lined up in the Royal Promade for tickets to the ice show on the first day. The line was kind of long and it took about 20 minutes for the process. I don't think you can get on line reservations for the ice show on the Navigator.

[catjohnsn2]

Thanks Cat and paw (heh heh) for your thoughts! Already booked for Sabor. cat - thank you for the comments on Ricardo. Did he email you before the cruise? Also - how did he handle disembarkation? Did they have a cocktail party or dinner for CL guests? We're also in a GS. Guessing that the full breakfast is in Chops? Sorry - just realized that's a lot of questions.

 

Ricardo did email us before cruise and he personally escorted us from Chops to the ship exit to the pier. There was a cocktail party in the CL the first night....there was a party in the CL EVERY night!! Regarding breakfast in Chops: we never got there early enough to enjoy the breakfast. We went through the Windjammer on the last morning and sat in Chops till they called our number. We got a porter, found our luggage, went through customs, and were on the bus to the car in about 30 minutes. It was a breeze.

 

Really enjoyed Gold Pass perks.....seating in Chops during lunch and breakfast in the Windjammer. Reserved seating areas on pool deck, for ice show and showroom. It was grand and you will love the GS. Haven't sailed in anything else since 2006. It spoils you!!!

 

There was an invitation to have lunch or dinner with the ship's officers in the Windjammer....can't remember what it was but we had other plans that night.

[39august]

I have been on NOS 4 times this year and there was a Latin band on every one of those cruises. It did alternate with the country band in Boleros. No pre-reserving of any shows on NOS.

[c-leg5]

I have been on NOS 4 times this year and there was a Latin band on every one of those cruises. It did alternate with the country band in Boleros. No pre-reserving of any shows on NOS.

 

That has always been my experience - just wondered if there had been changes.

[Tenderpaw]

All we saw was a country band at Boleros. If there was a Latin band, we missed them and we were down there almost everyday in the late afternoon.

[Ladysilver]

We lined up in the Royal Promade for tickets to the ice show on the first day. The line was kind of long and it took about 20 minutes for the process. I don't think you can get on line reservations for the ice show on the Navigator.

 

 

When we went, you could also get the ice show tickets on the first sea day. :)

[SnakeBitten]

I have been on NOS 4 times this year and there was a Latin band on every one of those cruises. It did alternate with the country band in Boleros. No pre-reserving of any shows on NOS.

 

Thanks, we will be on NOS next sailing and very much like dancing Latin, C&W and Swing. I see Bubba Feathers is onboard, so that is good. :)

[Blasian]

When we went, you could also get the ice show tickets on the first sea day. :)

 

Thank you both.

[wolfganghowell]

Thanks cat. Yep - I know all about the spoiling. Hubby is addicted to the breakfast in Chops and I'm addicted to the GS bathroom. LOL

[jcatcoxes]

I have a cruise on NOS July 2015.. I still have to book airfare but I was wondering how hard it was to book transfers to and from the airport?? Prices?? Family of 4

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[39august]

If you go to the Gulf Departures under the Home Ports boards, you will find tons of information about this.

[DaNana]

I have a cruise on NOS July 2015.. I still have to book airfare but I was wondering how hard it was to book transfers to and from the airport?? Prices?? Family of 4

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

 

Here is just one thread about travel.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2108667

[Hoopster95]

I have a cruise on NOS July 2015.. I still have to book airfare but I was wondering how hard it was to book transfers to and from the airport?? Prices?? Family of 4

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Posted this on another thread just yesterday....

RCL shuttle - $49 per person x 4 = $196

I used Onyx Limo (any car service I looked up was very close in price) = $135 + gratuity for two adults (and they sent a stretch limo fitting 8!!)

4 passenger Escalade = $145 on their website

[chihuahuamama]

On what days of the cruise are the 2 formal nights in the main dining room? Trying to decide when to eat at the specialty restaurants for dinner.

[Saintsfan007]

On what days of the cruise are the 2 formal nights in the main dining room? Trying to decide when to eat at the specialty restaurants for dinner.

 

For the itinerary including the Caymen Islands, formal nights are 2 and 6. Was just on the ship last week.

[dancingranni]

On the advice of a previous poster, we booked the LaQuinta near Hobby airport. For 4 of us it was $292.49, which included transport from airport to hotel, to the cruiseport next day and transport back to the airport upon cruise return.

[levonfan]

Looking forward to our trip. We leave first week of March 2015. Will be spring break, but hopefully won't be to crazy. We chose the dining time of 8:00 which I think is to late, was considering switching to my time dining...thoughts?

[hardyz13]

Looking forward to our trip. We leave first week of March 2015. Will be spring break, but hopefully won't be to crazy. We chose the dining time of 8:00 which I think is to late, was considering switching to my time dining...thoughts?

 

First time on the NOS we did the late dining, we hated it. It ran into or very close to show times. Plus sometimes we were not hungry at set time. In Nov we did My time and we will continue to do this from now on. We got a table for ourselves everynight and being able to eat when we want was worth. Worth paying gratuities up front in my opinion.