Live-ish Navigator ABC April 12

[Muerz]

Hello,

I‘m on the Navigator of the Seas right now and it‘s my first RCCL cruise. I‘ve been cruising mostly NCL, but also did experience Carnival, Celebrity and MSC before. I‘m not doing a fully live trip report but I try to send a few impressions and maybe answer a few of your questions.

I was at the port around 11:30am and had to wait until 12 until they let people inside the security area. No communication whatsoever about why we were delayed. Security and and document check went swiftly but then we had to wait once more on the gangway to finally board. People weren’t happy about those delays. Once onboard, around 12:30, the ship felt empty, we were the first to have a drink at the Bamboo Room and we got an excellent MaiTai. Rooms were ready shortly after 1 pm and we dropped our carry on luggage right before we went to Chops for Lunch. I honestly wasn’t blown away. I have the Key package, my parents don’t and paid for this lunch upfront only to be informed that they were also limited to the small Key lunch menu. What a waste of money for them. They didn‘t even prepare pepper sauce or bearnaise sauce and limited us to bordelaise sauce 👎🏻. The quality of the beef was fine though.

I‘m used to inside muster drills on NCL and prefer those to the chaos that was here during sweltering heat on the outside promenade. 👎🏻 

Sailaway came and we were delayed because of a medical emergency. The captain did inform us about a small delay which then turned into 3 hours delay because apparently an elderly lady died. So sad 😭.

Dinner in the MDR was very nice though and I think service and food was a step above NCL. Out of the major cruise lines, I still prefer Carnival for food quality though.

The promenade was crowded for the balloon drop and the music was too loud for me. My promenade room has rather good soundproofing but I hope in the coming days, music won‘t be as loud.

 Had breakfast in the MDR today and felt it took too long for me because I want to be out on the deck enjoying the ship instead of wasting my daytime in a dining room. Once again, the food was rather good though and service was great again.

I‘m now out on the 12th deck enjoying my day but the chair hog situation is out of control compared to the other ships I‘ve been to. At 10 am the pool deck was empty but there wasn‘t a single chair available in the Solarium or in the shaded areas around the ship. They really need to do something about this.

 

[JessyCruises]

Enjoy your cruise!!  If possible, can you please let me know what time the Casino opens up on ports days on the ABCs?

 

[Grandma Dazzles]

Sailed last week on the Navigator. If you are having chair hog problems would suggest reporting to pool attendants. Didn’t seem to be a big problem last week in the solarium and I was there every day. If you are looking for shady spots to sit suggest looking away from pool areas - lots of quieter areas and shade away from pool decks. 

 

If you enjoy MDR breakfast but want to be in and out (same at lunch) you can do just the buffet. No need for waiter service other than they will fill drinks but it’s up to you how quickly you eat. 

[CntPAcruiser]

If you get an opportunity to check out the new fitness center and locker rooms (if there are locker rooms), could you please report on them? For context, the original fitness center was a large forward space with locker rooms that had sauna/steam facilities. That are was torn out to put in new cabins, and a fitness center was put in elsewhere. Some of us are wondering what the new facilities are like, and if they have decent locker rooms. Thanks!

[Paulette3028]

57 minutes ago, CntPAcruiser said:

If you get an opportunity to check out the new fitness center and locker rooms (if there are locker rooms), could you please report on them? For context, the original fitness center was a large forward space with locker rooms that had sauna/steam facilities. That are was torn out to put in new cabins, and a fitness center was put in elsewhere. Some of us are wondering what the new facilities are like, and if they have decent locker rooms. Thanks!

I personally am wondering if they took out the sauna and steam rooms and put them in the spa as a 'fee only' way of using them.  On ships that have it as part of the spa area you can buy access to the sauna and steam rooms for a day or for the entire cruise and of course it is per person.  Wondering if that is how they did it now on NV after refurb.

 

[CntPAcruiser]

2 hours ago, Paulette3028 said:

I personally am wondering if they took out the sauna and steam rooms and put them in the spa as a 'fee only' way of using them.  On ships that have it as part of the spa area you can buy access to the sauna and steam rooms for a day or for the entire cruise and of course it is per person.  Wondering if that is how they did it now on NV after refurb.

 

I saw one report a few weeks ago that stated Navigator does not have a thermal suite in the spa, but they do have a small sauna in the spa changing room (men/women) that was only for spa customers. 

[Paulette3028]

9 hours ago, CntPAcruiser said:

I saw one report a few weeks ago that stated Navigator does not have a thermal suite in the spa, but they do have a small sauna in the spa changing room (men/women) that was only for spa customers. 

If so, then it has been turned into a 'for fee' service area.....no reason to be in the spa changing areas if you are not using a spa service. 

 

Looking for confirmation from current cruiser.

 

[SAmome]

If you happen to go by JRs I'd be curious as to how they say they are handling UDP with the recent changes?  Only use at dinner time on port days?  

[Muerz]

Sorry for not updating more regularly, I got so busy enjoying my cruise that I didn‘t find the needed time. But now is the last day and I can provide answers to some of your questions 😜.

 

On 4/13/2019 at 10:23 PM, Canadian Disney Mom said:

Enjoy your cruise!!  If possible, can you please let me know what time the Casino opens up on ports days on the ABCs?

 

 

Casino hours during this cruise:

Day 1 - Miami: 6pm - late

Day 2 - Seaday: 8am - late (slots) and 10am - late (tables)

Day 3 - Labadee: 10am - late (slots) and 1pm - late (tables)

Day 4 - Seaday: 8am - late (slots) and 10am - late (tables)

Day 5 - Bonaire: 8:15pm - late

Day 6 - Curacao: 6pm - late

Day 7 - Aruba: 6:45pm - late

Day 8 - Seaday: 8am - late (slots) and 10am - late (tables)

Day 9 - Seaday: 8am - late (slots) and 10am - late (tables)

 

On 4/13/2019 at 11:16 PM, Grandma Dazzles said:

Sailed last week on the Navigator. If you are having chair hog problems would suggest reporting to pool attendants. Didn’t seem to be a big problem last week in the solarium and I was there every day. If you are looking for shady spots to sit suggest looking away from pool areas - lots of quieter areas and shade away from pool decks. 

 

Pool attendants can‘t and won‘t do anything about chair hogs. The situation is really intolerable. This morning for example, at 7:10 am, the entire Solarium area was reserved, it‘s just crazy. Granted, some people are already here out enjoying the amenities but mostly it‘s just chair hogs. This is honestly the worst situation I‘ve seen on a cruise ship.

 

On 4/14/2019 at 1:01 AM, CntPAcruiser said:

If you get an opportunity to check out the new fitness center and locker rooms (if there are locker rooms), could you please report on them? For context, the original fitness center was a large forward space with locker rooms that had sauna/steam facilities. That are was torn out to put in new cabins, and a fitness center was put in elsewhere. Some of us are wondering what the new facilities are like, and if they have decent locker rooms. Thanks!

 

Checked it out and couldn‘t find any lockers at all. Just a few lockboxes right at the entrance but no real lockers. I am not fitness center person so I cannot comment on the machines themselves but the number of machines looked rather limited compared to the Norwegian Escape for instance. I also didn‘t see a sauna or free thermal room. Cannot comment on Spa areas.

 

On 4/14/2019 at 11:53 PM, SAmome said:

If you happen to go by JRs I'd be curious as to how they say they are handling UDP with the recent changes?  Only use at dinner time on port days?  

 

JR is completely à la carte, no set menus or all you can eat for one price formulas. I‘m not sure if it was even open for dinner. Will check the cruise compasses for that.

[CntPAcruiser]

6 hours ago, Muerz said:

Sorry for not updating more regularly, I got so busy enjoying my cruise that I didn‘t find the needed time. But now is the last day and I can provide answers to some of your questions 😜.

 

Checked it out and couldn‘t find any lockers at all. Just a few lockboxes right at the entrance but no real lockers. I am not fitness center person so I cannot comment on the machines themselves but the number of machines looked rather limited compared to the Norwegian Escape for instance. I also didn‘t see a sauna or free thermal room. Cannot comment on Spa areas.

 

Thanks for the information about the new fitness centers. As expected, sounds like they are more like those on Oasis and the later ships, without proper locker rooms and definitely without free sauna and steam amenities. I can understand not putting these facilities into new ships, but it's a terrible shame that they've taken the nice ones out of Navigator and replaced them with a major downgrade. And sadly, the same is planned for future renovations of other older ships. The only "amplification" going on here is of Royal's profit centers, at the cost of the guests and formerly free guest amenities.

[Paulette3028]

1 minute ago, CntPAcruiser said:

 

Thanks for the information about the new fitness centers. As expected, sounds like they are more like those on Oasis and the later ships, without proper locker rooms and definitely without free sauna and steam amenities. I can understand not putting these facilities into new ships, but it's a terrible shame that they've taken the nice ones out of Navigator and replaced them with a major downgrade. And sadly, the same is planned for future renovations of other older ships. The only "amplification" going on here is of Royal's profit centers, at the cost of the guests and formerly free guest amenities.

I have to agree with you.....and if they kept doing it on the new builds turning the sauna/steam rooms into part of the Spa and a revenue generator fine...but they should have left them as is on the older ships.  It is enough that on major remodelling jobs they squeeze in as many new cabins as possible and forget that the 'food venues' don't get any bigger, nor seem to have more personnel to handle the extra cruiser capacity.

 

I realize that more and more cruisers take advantage of specialty restaurants and diminish the cruiser use of the MDR (our experience at least), but many of the other food venues have longer lines than I have ever seen before.