Just back from Navigator. Very long multi-post review

[Carguylee]

thanks, looking forward to more, going to be on NOS Sunday!

[dodgersmom]

Day 2. DL and Chops

 

8pm dinner reservations. Thought if we scheduled dinner a little later, we would want to stay up for the show. Let's see how that works out for us. Went to the new DL. Absolutely beautiful location. When we sailed NOS before refurb, the DL was in some non-descript room, and I am not even sure there were windows. Now it is up on deck 14 and all window lined. It was just so relaxing to sit there with a glass of wine. Nadia, the concierge was wonderful and took care of changing some dinner reservations for us. The DL was empty. Nadia told us that there were only 127 Diamond members on the cruise. That also explains why the non-status security line was so long. Sat there about 45 minutes and went to Chops.

 

As I remember, Chops is a beautiful restaurant lined with windows. They brought the rest of the bottle of wine we opened last night at Sabor. I love being able to leave it and then have it magically reappear the next day. The service was great as expected.

 

The food was wonderful. For an appetizer, I had the scallops and DH had the shrimp cocktail and the mushroom soup. We both ordered the NY strips for dinner. For some reason, they brought DH a filet mignon instead. He questioned it and the waiter insisted that was what he ordered. That he originally said the strip and then changed his mind. He offered to switch it, but he was happy with the filet so no problem really. Both steaks were cooked perfectly. Mine was very tasty, but was really thin, which is odd for a strip. But, In the end they both tasted great. Sides were asparagus, mushrooms and creamed spinach.

 

The deserts. Wow. The table next to us got their deserts while we were having appetizers. They got a piece of red velvet cake, a piece of the chocolate mud pie cake and a plate of warm cookies. We asked the waiter to bring us the exact same thing. Pretty sure that is what put us over the edge into a sugar coma. But wow was it worth it.

 

We sat there for a few minutes deciding what to do with the rest of the evening. I needed to move a little so we tried to walk up on the deck but the wind was too strong. Buzzed by the casino but really decided that between the sun and that wonderful dinner, we would head back to the cabin, read a little and do what we love best, sleep to the sound of the waves and the very gentle rocking of the ship.

 

Up next. Day 3. Back to Chops and can we stay out past 11pm?

[reallyhooked]

We tried Sabor last week. I agree with you.

[George C]

Phil Anderson (Schooner Bar piano guy) is supposed to go on break this coming Sunday. Not sure when/if he'll be back. Say what you want about him, he packs the place. The bartenders LOVE him because there's never an empty seat when he plays.

 

He had a short term sub for a few weeks last November. OH LORDY SPARE ME! The place was a ghost town.

 

I really disliked his music, but he did pack the place every night, happy to hear that there will be someone else there later this month.

[bighairtexan]

I really disliked his music, but he did pack the place every night, happy to hear that there will be someone else there later this month.

 

GEORGE!! Be careful what you wish for. :D :D

I always say what Phil lacks in talent he makes up in enthusiasm. And the atmosphere is fun when there are a lot of folks in there singing and being happy.

 

His emergency replacement for that couple of weeks was a DISASTER. He looked and acted bored the entire time he played, and maybe it's b/c he was playing to an empty room. Even a "PHil Hater" (not implying that's what you are) would have LONGED to have him back. I'm hoping that guy isn't on next week, when Phil leaves and I board.... and that they just had to do a quick fill in last time and got someone who was not a regular choice. Otherwise.. off to donate to the Church of the Open Black Jack Table every dang night. :(

[dodgersmom]

GEORGE!! Be careful what you wish for. :D :D

I always say what Phil lacks in talent he makes up in enthusiasm. And the atmosphere is fun when there are a lot of folks in there singing and being happy.

 

 

That may have been the issue. I mentioned earlier that there seemed to be a majority of Spanish speakers onboard. Turns out that 2/3 of the ship was from Mexico, I heard that they were mostly from the town of Monterrey. Seemed like most of the venues were not crowded. I love the Schooner Bar and agree that when it is packed full of people it is so much fun. But the night we went down, there were only a handful of people there. It was difficult for the crew to engage the Spanish speaking audience.

[George C]

I will be happy to take a chance on Phil's replacement , we go out every Friday and Saturday night to listen to music in DFW area and they are all better then him, there might have been 1 other piano player that bad in my 50 plus cruises, but I prefer Gershwin and Porter to country on a piano. Did not mind Country band on the ship

[dodgersmom]

Day 3. At sea

 

Today started with the call at 7:30 and pre-breakfast delivery promptly at 7:30. I want their room service coffee to be better, but it really is pretty bad. Weird that the coffee in WJ and the Cafe Promenade is much better than the room service stuff. Still, none of it is great, but I'm not really a coffee connoisseur so it will do for a week. Sat on the balcony enjoying the beautiful morning for awhile.

 

Off to the gym to earn our meals and snacks for the rest of the day. The gym was packed again. Many may find this annoying, but being a very active person, I like the fact that so many people on the ship are up and working out early. Decide to go to breakfast and hit the gym later.

 

WJ was busy but we found a table without too much delay. Made an egg sandwich with a fried egg and some bacon on a bagel. It was just OK. DH tried the omelette station and his was just OK too. Nothing surprising. Typical WJ food. Not terrible but far from great.

 

We were lucky that the seats he had yesterday in the Solarium were still there so we grabbed them up and spent the majority of the day out there. We met some really fun people and just enjoyed the afternoon relaxing, floating in the pool and reading. Needless to say we never made it to the gym. Oh well. The attendants were not as good as they were yesterday. They stopped a few kids from jumping into the pool, but had to be told twice that there were infants, in diapers, in the hot tubs. Like those hot tubs were not bacterial breeding grounds to begin with, now you have babies in diapers. I generally stay away from the hot tubs to begin with but it's just pretty gross.

 

Back to the cabin to shower and go to the Schooner Bar for day 2 of progressive trivia. Stopped by the casino hoping to play Blackjack for a bit but the only open seat was next to Suzie Smoker so we decided to head back to the cabin, read some on the balcony and relax before dinner.

 

Up next. Chops take 2 and various ship entertainment.

[Paulette3028]

GEORGE!! Be careful what you wish for. :D :D

I always say what Phil lacks in talent he makes up in enthusiasm. And the atmosphere is fun when there are a lot of folks in there singing and being happy.

 

 

That may have been the issue. I mentioned earlier that there seemed to be a majority of Spanish speakers onboard. Turns out that 2/3 of the ship was from Mexico, I heard that they were mostly from the town of Monterrey. Seemed like most of the venues were not crowded. I love the Schooner Bar and agree that when it is packed full of people it is so much fun. But the night we went down, there were only a handful of people there. It was difficult for the crew to engage the Spanish speaking audience..

 

Having bilingual crew members on a ship sailing from Galveston, would seem to be sensible for Royal. Just like when ships sail out of FLL or Miami, and of course especially out of San Juan. We sail mostly from FLL or Miami, and sometimes there are more Spanish language comfortable staff than English speaking....it all works out. But to put the staff in a more difficult situation because of language translates into making it that much difficult for the cruisers. Sign language can only go so far.

[dodgersmom]

Day 3. Chops again and can we stay up past 11?

 

Since DH and I are big fish eaters, we booked Chops for a second night to try some of the fish dishes on the menu. Had an 8pm reservation so sat in the Diamond lounge for about an hour and then headed down to dinner. Tonight, I ordered the mushroom soup and crusted tuna and DH the onion soup, scallops and Barundi. I would rate both entrees as really good. The soups were excellent and my tuna was cooked and seasoned perfectly. DHs fish was good and cooked well. I will give a huge thumbs up for the warm chocolate cake.

 

Went back to the casino for a bit and sat for about 30 minutes at the blackjack table before the bad cards and Susie and Sammy Smokestack lit up. Went up to the Promenade to watch a little of the 70s dance party. That's always fun. It was just 10:30 so went down to the Schooner Bar to check out Phil Anderson. He was good, but we were both pretty tired. Stayed for a few songs but just decided to call it a night. Walking back, we heard the infamous Bubba Feathers Band in the lounge right outside the casino. They were good, but just not our style of music.

 

It was after 11 when we got back, so yeah us! We both stayed up and read for about an hour then lights out. Falmouth tomorrow.

 

Up next. Jamaica and Giovanni's.

[spookwife]

very interested in your opinion on Falmouth.

[dodgersmom]

Day 4. Jamaica

 

Starting with some excellent news. We booked the Harmony for its first Caribbean sailing in November 2016. Got a JS on deck 12. The next cruise people did not even know it was open so thanks to all you knowledgeable folks we asked them to check and sure enough, there it was!!

 

To get it right out at the top, I really am not a fan of Jamaica. Never have been. And even less of a fan of the RC sponsored port of Falmouth. It's pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Halfway between Montego Bay and Ocho Rios. The biggest problem I have is that in order to do anything, you have to travel a long way to get there. I don't particularly want to spend 50% of my time in a port getting to an excursion.

 

To start the day, pre-breakfast arrived at 7:15 which was great, but we ordered it for 8. In addition to the pastries we got toast which was odd. But maybe the toast was to make up for no cream or sweetener with the coffee. Oh well. We were up anyway and always love sitting out on the balcony before we start our day.

 

With being docked, we were able to use the running track on deck 12 which is 8 loops for a mile, which inside any gym would be boring as anything, but the scenery was beautiful. Typical WJ breakfast. We did leave the ship to walk in the port area. There is absolutely nothing outside of the port gates for tourists. Went to Margauritaville for lunch and back on the ship. Margauritaville is always a fun place. Good food but better people watching, especially at Spring Break time. Had our favorite coconut shrimp and enjoyed the patio games. Stayed and watched a really funny scavenger hunt. What a college kid won't do for a free drink! Headed back on to the ship.

 

Had a great nap, round 3 of progressive trivia and got ready for the evening.

 

Ok, maybe this makes me a bad person, but one of my favorite things is watching for people running to the ship right before sail away. I am always hoping that we are docked with our balcony overlooking the pier so we can watch. There were some late people, but they were all coming from a ship excursion. Cozumel is always a good place to watch with the Senior Frogs right there by the ship.

 

After a drink in the DL, we had dinner at Giovanni's. It was hands down the best meal we had so far. Everything from appetizers to dessert was fabulous.

 

Polished off wine bottle 2. After that amazing meal, we were full and tired. I am sure the wine helped with that. So, keeping with our cruising tradition, we were in bed early.

 

Up next. Grand Cayman

[wolfganghowell]

dodgersmom- The reason you had so many Mexican citizens is that you sailed Easter Week. We learned this ourselves from sailing that week (and the week after). The week before Easter is a holiday week in many parts of Mexico so it's a huge vacation week. Our cruise even had extra activities and music targeted to the Hispanic passengers. You're right - they definitely are the majority that week. It impacted us the time we sailed boarding on Easter Sunday because customs/immigration was so overloaded processing non American passengers that boarding was delayed a few hours.

[marcy0912]

Name change since I am using Taptalk now. Like it so much better. Still me...Dodgersmom

 

Day 5. Grand Cayman

 

What an incredibly beautiful island. Easily one of the top five most beautiful water in the world (at least the small part I have visited). Skipped pre-breakfast and went to the WJ for another mediocre meal. At this point, I am pretty much sticking to fresh fruit and cereal. We had no planned excursions but wore bathing suits as we knew we would do something water related. There were 3 other ships in port. The Freedom, Carnival Dream and the NCL Epic.

 

Tendering was very easy as we had the concierge bring us down and avoid the line. The port area was packed so we wandered for a bit and settled on a Stingray City and Snorkel trip. Paid 40$ pp. We had about an hour before the tour started (at 10:30) so we wandered a bit before we had to meet back up. At about 10:45 we were ushered to the bus for the 25 minute drive to the boat. Another 25 or so minute trip out to Stingray City. It was packed. Not surprising though as the spring break crowds were still there. I

The water was so beautiful and clear. Our captain caught a few stingrays and we were all able to touch and feed them. Not a bad way to spend a Thursday. Stayed there for about 30 minutes and headed off to a snorkel site just little bit away. Our captain was not one to wait. I did not see this but DH told me that there were some people who did not listen to him about getting back in the boat, so he left without them.

 

The snorkel site was really good. Shallow reef, maybe 10 foot deep. Lots of small fish and even a few barracuda. At least they looked like barracuda. By now, it was about 1:30 and we had last tender at 3:15. Not worried but I am definitely one who likes to be back on the ship early. This is where things get a little fun.

 

Back to the boat dock, and there are no busses there to take us back to the dock. Still not concerned but people are getting annoyed. Makes no sense to me. They know that they have x number of people on the boat. They got us here why would they not have them waiting for us? So we wait about 10 minutes and one bus comes and is filled right away. Finally, a taxi van comes. We managed to get in but I had to basically sit on the floor. The traffic getting back to the port was insane. Forgot the next day was Good Friday and many people left work early today. Our taxi driver was great and took us back ways to avoid the traffic. Got back to the port at about 2:45. Not really any time to explore the shops.

 

The tender line was huge, but it moved very quickly. Once we were standing in the tender line we knew that the ship would not leave us. Plus, there were still hundreds behind us. Back on the ship. We were so hungry as our last meal was a small breakfast. Up to the WJ for lunch.

 

Back to the cabin for a much needed shower before round 4 of progressive trivia. A little time in the casino where we walked away with a little more of the ships money. We decided tonight to just enjoy a drink in the DL and have an easy dinner in the WJ. Maybe dinners will impress us more than breakfast and lunch.

 

Dinner failed to impress. The selections were very limited and to be honest, just not that good. The highlight was definitely the crepes. I asked the chef to surprise me with the fillings. He put everything but the kitchen sink in and it was fabulous. Put me in a bit of a chocolate coma, but totally worth it.

 

The casino was the busiest we have seen it but managed to get 2 seats at the 6$ blackjack table. Sat there for about 2 hours and again walked away with some of RCs money.

 

Great day today. Sun, chocolate and casino winnings.

 

Up next. Nachi Cocum and the day in Cozumel.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited April 7, 2015 by marcy0912

[JimAOk1945]

Ask away!

 

I have another question about the Galveston terminal. In looking at it on Google maps, it appears there is only one entrance into the terminal area. This is the way I remember it from the last time we cruised on RC.

 

Is this correct? Is there only one entrance?

Edited April 7, 2015 by JimAOk1945

[Clarea]

I have another question about the Galveston terminal. In looking at it on Google maps, it appears there is only one entrance into the terminal area. This is the way I remember it from the last time we cruised on RC.

 

Is this correct? Is there only one entrance?

One entrance, but you can bear left after the entrance to go to the Royal terminal.

[JimAOk1945]

One entrance, but you can bear left after the entrance to go to the Royal terminal.

 

This is what I needed to know. Thanks for taking the time to read and answer my question.

[George C]

Great review really enjoy it, we are also trivia fans and will be playing daily.

[ummgood]

Thanks for your review. We are sailing in exactly 90 days on navigator for our first rccl cruise. We have previously only cruised on Disney.

 

We love to watch people run to get on the ship too. On our last cruise a family held up the port departure. Then later the ship slowed down and a cruiser got off onto another boat shortly after we departed. Something must have happened in port and some of the family was still on the ship. I couldn't even imagine. I hoped it turned out ok for them.

[marcy0912]

Daniel does the trivia and he is a really sweet guy.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[MagicKimdom]

Hi Marcy! Thanks for posting your thoughts. I fully intend to blog about our cruise but haven't been able to sit still long enough to get started. I may need to reference this thread to help me remember what we did each day once I start writing. It was great to meet you guys. Thanks for being such a kick-butt trivia partner!

[mil76]

Daniel does the trivia and he is a really sweet guy.

 

We met Daniel Friday night and ended up talking to him for about 2 hours. Really nice guy.

[gambler]

I am confused?? We are doing the same itinerary as you but seems the order is different. We have a sea day then Cozumel, Cayman, falmouth then 2 sea days at the end. Is this what you did or did it change?

 

Also, I am a great people watcher also, what side were you docked at the pier, especially Cozumel. We have room 8316 which is starboard I think. Thank-you

[bighairtexan]

Not sure why but they've been doing the itinerary the way the OP mentioned for quite a while. But they are doing it in reverse later on.

[JBSteelerfan]

Enjoying your review!!! Thanks for posting. Sounds like Navigator has coffee similar to Brilliance. I can't understand why the coffee has to be so bad.