Navigator Vs Carnival Liberty

[redwave]

planning a family trip with a group, couples and their kids

regarding their 4 day options 2021, 

what is better these days carnival liberty or royal navigator of the seas

do these ships feel very old? is one more refurbished than the other? does one have more extensive slides pools and kids activities and does one have more entertainment options/shows for adults?

also does one have more connecting room options/availability than the other?

Thanks.

[bigeagle12]

Both ships are well maintained.

 

Advantage to Navigator for ship layout.  Love the 4 story Promenade.  Royal ships better kids activities.

 

Advantage Libery for comedy clubs and free food options (Guy's burgers, Blue Iguana, Deli, Wok) .. better pizza and 24 hr ice cream.

[Want2Cruise 701]

I have been on both.  It's been a while since I've been on the Liberty though.  I would definitely go with the Navigator.  There is much more to do on the Navigator especially for kids.  The Navigator also just came out of dry dock a year ago with some nice enhancements with slides to the pool area and more dining options.

 

On Liberty, I disliked the layout, MDR food and shows.  Maybe it was the time I went but I thought it steered more towards a party crowd than family atmosphere.  

Edited February 10, 2020 by Want2Cruise 701

[Florida Glamazon]

My two cents(your mileage may vary)- I would stay away form Carnival Liberty. We had to air our shoes and luggage out for 4 days on the back patio after spraying them with Lysol and Fabreeze didn't get the stale funk/smoke smell out. We didn't stay near the casino, either.

   Plus, the ship's layout was bad in my opinion- you had to do a lot of going up and down flights of stairs to get across the ship, kind of like Donkey Kong.

My hairdresser just came back form a sailing and said it was pretty bad, too. The fact that it mainly does 3 or 4 day "booze cruises" brings out a more of a hard partying crowd.

 

[CraigG]

The Navigator is bigger ship. A stroll down the Royal Promenade is a whole different experience than the "Atrium" on the Liberty.  The Navigator was just refurbished last year. Lots of on-board ammenities for the kids. Amped up slides and the Flowrider just to name a couple. 

[TPCRUISER2]

Think the Navigator offers more for the kids!

[Crazy4Cruisin225]

Navigator 100%. The Liberty may have been nice when it was newer, but when I sailed on it a few years ago it was a dirty, smelly, floating rust-bucket. You couldn’t pay me to cruise on it again. Was on the Navigator last week and found it hard to believe that she is as old as she is. Beautiful ship and she looks brand new!

[Joebucks]

Depends what type of experience you are looking for. If you are just talking about the ships, most people are going to choose Royal's ships. However, when you talk about the actual experience of the cruise, you will start seeing more people gravitate towards Carnival.

[Tapi]

6 hours ago, Crazy4Cruisin225 said:

The Liberty may have been nice when it was newer, but when I sailed on it a few years ago it was a dirty, smelly, floating rust-bucket. You couldn’t pay me to cruise on it again. 

We sailed on Carnival Liberty when she was only a few months old (and then again 3 years later). Back then, she was performing 7 night itineraries from Miami. At the time, she was easily my favorite ship in the Carnival fleet, and both times I had a very enjoyable experience. But she's not a new ship anymore, and she's now relegated to short, cheap cruises. I'm sure that if I sailed on her now, the experience wouldn't be as enjoyable. 

 

For the record, I've truly enjoyed my Carnival cruises over the years, and they hold a very special place in my heart. So my following comment is not meant to bash Carnival, but simply to vent my observations. I hate to say this, but I keep noticing that Carnival hasn't been as proactive about keeping their ships in top condition as other cruise lines. Any time I see Carnival ships in port, they look sadly neglected. Our last Carnival cruise was in 2019, and even though the ship had gone through drydock a few weeks prior and had several enhancements, many parts of the ship were in disrepair, with piling maintenance issues including mismatched and worn carpet, leaky windows, broken closet doors, elevators not working, window tinting peeling off, non-working TV, ripped water faucet, cabinets held in place with bungee cords, lots of unattended rust, etc.

 

We still had a great time on that cruise, and the maintenance issues that we saw weren't deal breakers, but they were definitely noticeable. 

[PhillyFan33579]

I can’t specifically address kids programs, but I would choose Navigator for the following reasons/features. 
 

1. Navigator has two excellent slides.  Liberty has one pretty boring slide

 

2. Adult area on Navigator has a pool and is much nicer than Liberty’s adult area, which doesn’t have a pool

 

3. Main pool area is much nicer on Navigator. 
 

4. Navigator has more bars than Liberty. This may or may not appeal to people based on their drinking habits. 
 

5. Navigator has standard RCI features like flow riders and climbing wall. 
 

6. Navigator has several speciality restaurants while Liberty only has a steakhouse. 
 

7.  Navigator was recently upgraded (amplified to use RCI terminology) and the overall look of the ship is much nicer than Liberty (I realize this is subjective).

 

8. Shows are better on Navigator to include an outstanding ice skating show. 
 

9. Navigator goes to Coca Cay, which is my favorite private island. 
 

10. This may or may not matter, but Navigator still uses tablecloths in the MDR every night while Liberty only uses them on elegant nights.  
 

Despite the reasons listed above, I have enjoyed cruises on both of these ships, so I don’t think you can go wrong either way.