Navigator 11/30 review

[wolfganghowell]

Forgive me since this will be relatively shorter than normal from me. I got hit with work and family issues upon returning. Holler any questions you like - I'll do my best.

 

Our itinerary was Roatan/Belize/Cozumel. This was cruise #23, we are Diamond Plus. We don't do shows.

 

PRE CRUISE

We stayed at Hotel Galvez as usual. Great way to get in the mood. Spa is lovely, rooms are small but we know that going in. We took the 1st shuttle at 10 am and arrived close to 10:15. We were in a Grand Suite so we knew we would be among the first to board.

 

EMBARKATION

Not too bad. We waited outside for about 10-15 minutes before they opened the doors. Then we were in fast, walking through, going through scanners, getting seapass cards and being directed to the priority waiting area. We were called quickly and onboard by 10:45. Yippee!

 

Beautiful day. We headed to the Pool Bar since Windjammer wasn't open yet. Franklin is the Senior Bartender at the Pool Bar, assisted by Kenton. They are great guys - treat them well. So nice to have a big smile and warm welcome when we board. FYI - It is true that they no longer rotate the bartenders. This may or may not change - we shall see. More on that later.

 

We got to WJ a little early. We were lucky that suites are allowed to sit in Chops for lunches. We were the only ones in there so it was nice to have a quick lunch and head back to our friends at the PB. It did seem as if there were less choices but the food was fine. Other than breakfast on debarkation day, this was the only time we ate in WJ.

 

Rooms opened at 1 and happily our bags arrived by 2. We got organized and headed back out. Quick muster. Sailaway was a bust - we were delayed leaving due to divers working on the stabilizers. We were in the Concierge Lounge for pre dinner drinks before the ship ever left.

 

CL Note - we never found it crowded, always could find a place to sit. We had late dining and the 4 times we went in it was around 6:45ish so the early dining people were gone. Ricardo is a very professional host. He is not as warm and outgoing as others we have met but he did a fine job. No complaints.

 

Dinner was the usual routine. Our tablemates were utter delights. We adored them and I'm sure we will all keep in touch. After dinner, we headed to the casino. It was relatively evil all week but we kept trying.

 

More to come.

[April-in-NC]

How was debarkation? I've heard that it gets backed up after the stop in Belize.

[ItsScott]

We are also staying at the Hotel Galvez. I hope to see a ghost :)

 

I would love to hear more about your review, as we depart this weekend.

[bighairtexan]

WAVING AT THE OTHER SHARON ~ ~ ~

I was early off (but not self assist) and it was the easiest disembarkation I've had in LOTS of cruises. My last time off the Navigator was the WORST ever. Both this year. Both included Belize.

[ssb]

WAVING AT THE OTHER SHARON ~ ~ ~

I was early off (but not self assist) and it was the easiest disembarkation I've had in LOTS of cruises. My last time off the Navigator was the WORST ever. Both this year. Both included Belize.

 

That's good to hear!

[ssb]

Forgive me since this will be relatively shorter than normal from me. I got hit with work and family issues upon returning. Holler any questions you like - I'll do my best.

 

Our itinerary was Roatan/Belize/Cozumel. This was cruise #23, we are Diamond Plus. We don't do shows.

 

PRE CRUISE

We stayed at Hotel Galvez as usual. Great way to get in the mood. Spa is lovely, rooms are small but we know that going in. We took the 1st shuttle at 10 am and arrived close to 10:15. We were in a Grand Suite so we knew we would be among the first to board.

 

EMBARKATION

Not too bad. We waited outside for about 10-15 minutes before they opened the doors. Then we were in fast, walking through, going through scanners, getting seapass cards and being directed to the priority waiting area. We were called quickly and onboard by 10:45. Yippee!

 

Beautiful day. We headed to the Pool Bar since Windjammer wasn't open yet. Franklin is the Senior Bartender at the Pool Bar, assisted by Kenton. They are great guys - treat them well. So nice to have a big smile and warm welcome when we board. FYI - It is true that they no longer rotate the bartenders. This may or may not change - we shall see. More on that later.

 

We got to WJ a little early. We were lucky that suites are allowed to sit in Chops for lunches. We were the only ones in there so it was nice to have a quick lunch and head back to our friends at the PB. It did seem as if there were less choices but the food was fine. Other than breakfast on debarkation day, this was the only time we ate in WJ.

 

Rooms opened at 1 and happily our bags arrived by 2. We got organized and headed back out. Quick muster. Sailaway was a bust - we were delayed leaving due to divers working on the stabilizers. We were in the Concierge Lounge for pre dinner drinks before the ship ever left.

 

CL Note - we never found it crowded, always could find a place to sit. We had late dining and the 4 times we went in it was around 6:45ish so the early dining people were gone. Ricardo is a very professional host. He is not as warm and outgoing as others we have met but he did a fine job. No complaints.

 

Dinner was the usual routine. Our tablemates were utter delights. We adored them and I'm sure we will all keep in touch. After dinner, we headed to the casino. It was relatively evil all week but we kept trying.

 

More to come.

 

Was there even a formal night?

[Ladysilver]

We leave this Sunday and are super excited! I look forward to reading more of your review! :D

[DaNana]

Was there even a formal night?

 

We were on this cruise also. Formal nights Monday and Friday.

[CruisinManiac]

What about entertainment and staff?

[39august]

i thought entertainment was great on this cruise. There were only two production shows, first and last night. All the guest entertainment was very good. However, guest entertainers are on board usually for a very limited time. So no telling what futrue entertainmnet might be. Ice show is always very good. Staff was very friendly and attentive.

[wolfganghowell]

Sorry for the delay. Everyone in the family is sick including me! :( And no not cruise related.

 

I thought the staff was very good. We (read Mr Wolf) lost a $100 chip somehow. grrr. Two days later, it was sitting on our bed as a gift. Patricia our attendant had found it under the bed. Must have rolled there!

 

Hi O/S!!!

 

Monday - Day 1

We took advantage of the made to order in breakfast in Chops 5 days. Very consistent service and food was good. No surprises. The coffee machine in the DL is better than the one in the CL so we would head up there to grab our morning coffee. The DL is really nice and I'm sorry we didn't utilize it. Great outdoor seating too. The day was basically spent lounging in the Solarium in the morning and then parking ourselves at the Pool Bar for the afternoon. Weirdly there was no pool band on the first sea day! WHAT? We solved the problem with my iPod and speakers courtesy of our new BFF Franklin. Hey - if they won't give me cruise tunes, I will supply my own. This was formal night. We had decided we were only doing one formal night so we did this one. It was a nice dinner and after we changed clothes so we could breathe again and went back to the casino to donate. I left up - yay. The Schooner Bar was packed this night - lots of people having fun with Phil.

 

More to come.

 

Yes - as Other Sharon said, disembarkation was not bad. BUT we (and she) were in suites so we were the very first group off. I doubt those behind us had as smooth a time as we did. Probably took us about 20 minutes. We didn't wait for our Galvez shuttle, just grabbed a cab. With 6 hours ahead of us and 3 chihuahuas waiting, we wanted to hit the road.

[George C]

Thanks for review, sounds like your embarkation was a lot smoother than our last cruise. The GS is a nice suite

[wolfganghowell]

Day 3 - Sea Day

We are creatures of habit. Solarium in the morning, hanging at Pool Bar in the afternoon. Sometimes just sitting and doing "nothing" is the most relaxing way to spend a day.

 

Day 4 - Roatan

We booked directly with Bananarama for car service and beach. Our driver was waiting for us and we headed over. Due to the heavy rains before us, the beach was full of seaweed. I mean FULL. The normally crystal clear water was murky and green from the fresh water. Bummer. But let me tell you, they had shovels and wheelbarrows and had the beach cleaned off in 2 hours. WOW. We made it to the restaurant just before a short but heavy rain shower. Food is simple and good. Get a Monkey LaLa! Tasty! The weather cleared in the afternoon but the normally peaceful tide was rough with large waves. A nice day - not the perfect beach day we usually have had there but Mother Nature had her own agenda.

Tonight we had been invited to eat at the Captains Table with the Food & Beverage director. We met in Boleros for cocktails and were given our "instructions". We had done this before but it has been a few years. They now have some protocols - you are assigned the order to walk in the dining room and then as he approaches the table, the men are to stand. I was grateful that my job requires me to talk to many different types of people at all levels since we arrived at the table and I was seated next to our host. :eek: Happily, Maurizio was a delightful dinner companion and a lovely host to the table. The Human Resources Director was also with us - turns out they are married! They make a charming couple - I wish them many years of happiness.

 

Belize - Thursday

We booked a snorkeling excursion through the ship. Main reason, I didn't want to have to deal with tendering. Also, we were fogged and rained out of Belize the last time we tried it so I wanted to play it safe. And alas, the weather was not great. We boarded from the ship and took a ferry/tender/whatever for about 45 minutes to Rendezvous Caye. On a beautiful day, I would recommend this excursion. For us, weather was a factor. Again due to solid weeks of rain, the water was dark and murky so visibility was poor. Plus it was lightly raining most the day. Once we were done snorkeling, we just huddled under our palapa and drank Belikin beer until it was time to go. Oh well.

 

Tonight was dinner in Sabor. OMG. Absolutely delicious. From the table side guacamole to the queso fundido to the red snapper. The only mistake we made was waiting so late in the cruise to eat there. By Thursday, you are so full of food and foo foo drinks it's hard to gorge yourself! ;) On our next cruise, we will be doing Sabor the first night!

 

Cozumel, last sea day and disembarkation to come.

[wolfganghowell]

Geez, longest delay ever. sorry!

 

Cozumel - we were off early since we wanted to get to Paradise Beach before the crowd to nab a good spot. We did - beat the taxi line and arrived shortly after 8:30. We got a front row on the beach, relaxed and then headed to the restaurant. They don't really advertise this yet at PB but they have a breakfast menu available until noon. Holy cow their chiliquilies were awesome. GET THEM! After that, we hung on the beach and just relaxed. We left early afternoon thinking we would relive the old days of the party scene downtown. oops. Things have changed. Carlos & Charlies is gone with Senor Frogs in its place. And the party scene morphed into a restaurant. So back we headed to the 1/2 Frog at the pier but it just never seems hopping enough. So our day was relaxing all the way around. FYI - 1/2 Frogs also does made to order fresh guacamole. Theirs was ALSO outstanding. We were full so we just grabbed a sandwich in the Cafe for dinner before our usual casino hang.

 

Saturday - last sea day

Pretty much a rerun of the 2nd sea day. :) We ended up not even getting our 2 free photos because of the last minute frenzy down there and half the kiosks weren't working. It just wasn't worth the hassle. We will be better next time about ordering pictures before the final afternoon (yeah...right).

 

Disembarkation - we were due to leave around 8:30 from Chops. We arrived a little before 8, grabbed a quick breakfast from Windjammer. They don't do cooked to order on the last day. Had about 30 minutes or so before we were led out and grabbed elevators to the gangway. Getting off the ship was fast, getting our bags were fast but then the porter line just stopped while the people that had their own bags were moving. After about 15 minutes of that nonsense, we started moving. The reason it was nonsense is because they ran out of porters - the poor guys were trapped with all of us in line.

 

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS We are low maintenance cruisers. We don't nitpick. One night my escargot was cold. Oh the horror. The other 3 nights at the table they were fine. Service in the MDR is a bit slower - most likely due to cutbacks in servers. Although I think it is a kitchen issue since the MDR was half empty the nights we dined.

 

We didn't see an overabundance of chair hogs or rude guests. However, we stuck to a routine that didn't afford us a lot of versatility either. Never really felt overly crowded onboard.

 

The staff we dealt with were great. Most that we saw smiled and/or greeted us. It did seem there were less activities at night - the Promenade usually looked empty!

 

Sadly, we won't be back on Navigator before she leaves Galveston and our next cruise is Oasis. Perhaps Liberty in the spring of 2016? Speaking of - apparently Liberty will have to back out of Galveston - she will be too long to use the turning basin. Should be interesting.

[Cruisin Dave]

Sharon, thanks for the review. We are sailing with the other Sharon in April. We have a JS and wanted to know if we have access to Chops on sailaway. I know we don't have much else since we are not Diamond yet but we are working on it.

 

Thanks,

Dave

[wolfganghowell]

Hi Dave, no JS are left out of that little suite perk too. :( The JS seem to just get the double points, the bathtub and great closet and the priority check in.

[rubrrick]

Sharon, great to sail with the two of you again.

 

Great review! We were fortunate enough to have the RS for this sailing, and certain items that needed addressing for that cabin, are now being looked at, to make certain corrections, such as not being able to control the heat from the afternoon sun coming into the bedroom.

 

Sorry we just had such a short time to visit.

 

Rick

[awhfy]

Glad we met you, even if it was the almost end of the cruise. This was our first Royal cruise (we're Diamond from Celebrity). Quite a few of same observations as yours; however, our Chops dinner (7:30 reservation) was the best meal of the cruise. Windjammer was ok, not great, not awful. MDR, best thing were our tablemates, the waiter & waiter assistant were very good, food, meh. Really, no regular crime brûlée only with bananas (yuck) & Baileys. Never had a bar server come around in late seating. Diamond Lounge was crowded every night, nice group. Embarkation was a breeze, disembarkation wasn't too bad, we went out right after self disembark. No porters (you must have had them all ;). Waited in line 22 minutes (yes I started my watch). Grabbed a cab & were in our car headed north on I45 at 1005. Melody (& other Les)

 

 

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