Cheapo Dad's Trip Report on the Navigator of the Seas (Maybe with few pictures added)...

[LuCruise]

55 minutes ago, harryfat1 said:

By then the RCI App had informed us of our table number (we have traditional dining at 8 PM) so we wanted to check out where our table is as we made our way to check out the MDR.

 

 

It is also a good opportunity to take pictures of the empty MDR as RCI does not open the area for onboard lunches.

 

....or they are not used to people taking pictures of the empty MDR. Not the most friendly RCI Welcome Aboard crew.

 

We do the exact same thing.  First thing we do when we board is check out our table (and make sure we were put at a table just for us).  And as you say...the BEST time for a picture of the dining room.  Voyager (and Freedom) class are just beautiful.  

[h20skibum]

3 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

Lucas is from the Bay Area - his company is in Marin and he created his Star Wars walking tanks based on the cranes.  Part of the useless info you learned in reading this thread...

Some more useless information….

 

 If you are ever in Marin, and you travel up Lucas Valley Road (which, by the way, is not named for George Lucas), you will come to the Big Rock Trail. You can’t miss it, because there is a big rock there.  
 

If you like to hike, the trail will take you up along the ridge above Skywalker Ranch.  If I were home, I could dig out a couple photos of the complex from the ridge.  

[harryfat1]

6 hours ago, LuCruise said:

We do the exact same thing.  First thing we do when we board is check out our table (and make sure we were put at a table just for us).  And as you say...the BEST time for a picture of the dining room.  Voyager (and Freedom) class are just beautiful.  

Yeah, it’s a good idea to check out the dining arrangement ahead of time and if you need to make changes, do so early around lunchtime as it’s chaos to do so at dinner time on Day 1.

 

I had forgotten which cruise, but on one of the previous cruises, another couple was assigned to be with our family’s table.  We found out during the pre-dinner check and had to stand in line to talk to the head waiter to swap us out to another table.  Think the issue was that the couple was doing a B-2-B and they were assigned the same table as the one I requested.

 

Anyway, it’s never a bad idea to check out the table location and size of the table.  I was going to do the same but the two MDR ladies were watching me like a hawk as in the Police song, Every Breath You Take, so I left without checking for my table.

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

4 hours ago, h20skibum said:

Some more useless information….

 

 If you are ever in Marin, and you travel up Lucas Valley Road (which, by the way, is not named for George Lucas), you will come to the Big Rock Trail. You can’t miss it, because there is a big rock there.  
 

If you like to hike, the trail will take you up along the ridge above Skywalker Ranch.  If I were home, I could dig out a couple photos of the complex from the ridge.  

Good info to have.  We don’t always go up to that part of the Bay Area but if we do, I will keep this info in mind. 

[harryfat1]

 

At exactly 1 PM, they made the announcement that the cabins are now ready so we made our way up to deck 8. We were in cabin 8287.  The boys were in 8289 – as we had the connecting inside the cabins.  The in-laws are in 8283.  No 8285 as that’s a storage area like towels and stuff for the staff.

 

 

 

 

I saw it open once with a worker inside getting things inside.  I felt odd taking a picture while he was working or else I would have taken a picture…

 

These cabins are center ship located so we can see what's happening on both ends of the Royal Promenade.  We like to people-watch and the location is good since I'm motion-sensitive, mid-ship cabins have less vibration and movements compared to bow and aft cabins.

 

We had Aft cabins once years ago on an older Carnival ship and I felt the movement of the ship's propulsion from our cabins.  It was like sleeping on top of a car engine.  Not for me.  

 

As I mentioned when we first checked in at the cruise terminal, in the old days they issued you the cabin keys then.  Similar to check-in at any land hotel.  However, RCI now has the cabin keys waiting for you outside of your cabin in an envelope.

 

I knew about this new policy after watching enough YouTube videos on what’s new with RCI since I’ve been away for a while.  The thought of leaving my cabin keys outside made me nervous for a while as couldn’t someone else come in and steal my card? 

 

But after thinking about it, there’s nothing to steal inside the cabin as we haven’t checked in.  The luggage is not up yet (who wants to steal my holey underwear anyway?).

 

The 2 cabin keys are sealed inside the envelope so if you see the envelope opened, it means someone has tampered with your cabin key and you should go to guest services to have them re-key it for you or at least check any balances to your account in case of any fraudulent charges.

 

2 cabin keys sealed inside an envelope tucked away by the door number sign at each cabin

 

 

 

As the shops on the ship are officially closed until the ship sails, no one is buying a Rolex with your card if they try to steal it from the cabin.  The only thing I can think of is they buy drinks at the bar with it.

 

That brings up a question – How do you buy drinks at the bar at 12 noon after boarding and before getting your room key?  How do they charge for that service if you don’t have the Set Sail card to charge things against it?

 

I don’t buy drinks at the bar so that has never been an issue but just curious now as I am being paranoid about the disadvantage of having a card waiting for you at the door instead of at check-in.

 

What’s the advantage of this method anyway?  Faster boarding to keep the port side worker having to do extra work? Now they just need to scan the set sail card, scan the passport & take a photo ID and leave the cabin keys to the ship staff?

 

Here's what the envelope looks like after it's been opened.  Note the message from RCI to report it if someone had opened the envelope prior to you opening it.

 

[harryfat1]

 

Anyway,  enough paranoia about the theoretically stolen key that may never happen, let’s go inside - the official name is Promenade View Connecting Interior Cabin.  It’s technically listed as an “indoor” category – at least that’s how most travel agencies’ sites list them.  But they are priced almost like an ocean view cabin because, unlike the classic inside cabin, these have a view.  The only difference is you see the neighbors across the way.

 

 

Now I know many people on CC dislike these cabins as they complain there’s no privacy but we like this category of cabins as it’s great value.  Being motion-sensitive, I can’t be inside an interior cabin.  Been there, done that. Got a major league seasick on my first Alaska cruise.  Never again.  Don’t care how cheap of a vacation it is if you are on your back and tossing cookies regularly and you feel like you are going to die.

 

 

This is our third time in the Promenade View cabins.  Had it on the Mariner and Freedom of the Seas.  Switched to Oceanview on the Independence and hated that as the porthole was right over the bed – who designed that?  My son said it felt like a downgrade going from this Promenade view to Oceanview even though Oceanview costs more. 

 

So this time, we are coming back to this. If we go to Europe on an RCI cruise and it’s on a Voyager class, I wouldn’t hesitate to get this type of cabin again.  Great value for the money spent.

 

I like to have 2 separate sofas to sit on. 

 

As with many land-based hotels, there are 2 sets of curtains.  Be sure to close the black-out curtains if you need privacy.

 

 

The boys are next door and connected via the inside door but we can’t open it ourselves.  We had to wait for a “supervisor” person later on to do so.  On the Majestic Princess last year, we were able to do it ourselves as they have 2 separate doors and as long as both cabins open their end, the 2 rooms will connect.  Royal only has 1 door so it’s locked by default and only opened upon request for families traveling together.

 

We like to people watch and see what’s “happening” downstairs so that’s part of the reason why we like these sets of cabins. The party noise doesn’t bother us at night because we are part of the party noise but if you need to sleep by 10 PM, then the bass from the street party will likely keep you up.

 

The first time we had these cabins was back in 2010 when the boys were younger, we used to watch the street parties from the rooms sitting on the sofa as they would be trampled by the adults if they were downstairs so having these cabins are great for little kids as they can see the activities from below but in the safety of the cabins.

 

The final note on the cabin is this is the first time we are on deck 8 of the 3 decks.  We typically get the middle deck on Deck 7 as some people complained that the noise from Deck 5 pub could disturb their sleep on Deck 6.  Also, Deck 6 is just above the people walking around so there’s less privacy.  I would opt for 7 or 8.  Deck 8 is higher and you get the slanted window so you can see more of the street 3 levels down.

 

[Sea Dog]

58 minutes ago, harryfat1 said:

How do you buy drinks at the bar at 12 noon after boarding and before getting your room key?  How do they charge for that service if you don’t have the Set Sail card to charge things against it?

 

We always have the drink package so if we go to a bar to get a cocktail we show them our set sail pass which will have a code on it that we have the drink package. I think it's DX. So I imagine if you don't have the package they can see your set sail pass on your phone and see what cabin you are in to charge.

[harryfat1]

2 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

 

We always have the drink package so if we go to a bar to get a cocktail we show them our set sail pass which will have a code on it that we have the drink package. I think it's DX. So I imagine if you don't have the package they can see your set sail pass on your phone and see what cabin you are in to charge.

Thanks for the info.

 

I was wondering how people would order a drink when they board the ship, say 11:30 but have no access to the cabins until 1 PM to gain access to their Cabin keys and it sounds like they just need to whip out the handy dandy phone App to have the bartender scan it to pay for the drinks.

 

I wonder if anyone on CC has ever reported fraudulent charges to their room with someone stealing their room keys and charging drinks?

 

Do the bartenders have a tablet that has your onboard picture show up when you charge the drinks?

 

As much as I have complained about Princess Cruises from last year's Alaska cruise, their Medallion system is very convenient.  We sailed with the perks of the drinks package included as part of the base fare and every time I walked near any bar to get a bottle of mineral water, my picture showed up on their tablet, and they addressed me by my name as the Medallion device I wear on my neck automatically connects me to the system. 

[harryfat1]

As we are on the subject of cabins and the Princess Medallion, when you are wearing the Medallion and approach your cabin door, the LED light around the door knob will turn green and the screen on your cabin door will display your picture and the door will automatically unlock for you.  

 

Very convenient if you are carrying food/drinks in both hands and would need to juggle things to whip out the traditional room key.  The auto-open feature is great to have.

 

 

 

The other feature of the Medallion is more hit or miss.  You are supposed to be able to order a drink from anywhere on the ship and the bar staff is supposed to know where you are based on your Medallion location and deliver the drinks to you without you ever having to get up. 

 

In practice, that wasn't perfect as sometimes the drinks never showed up.  But as we were on the drinks package, we just ordered a new one but you would need to wait for the new one to arrive.  

[harryfat1]

Anyway, enough about Princess cruise. Back to RCI Cabins:

 

++++++++++

As the Navigator of the Seas is on the older side in being around for more than 20 years, in some areas it’s showing her age.  One of which is the cabins which hasn’t been updated since 20-plus years ago.

 

My wife and my mother-in-law both commented that the bathrooms inside our cabins smelled less than fresh.  Maybe being a guy, my nose is less sensitive as I couldn’t detect anything.

 

Just keep that in mind as you book this ship.  The lower price on these cruises reflects the discount you get on the older and smaller ships versus the mega ships sailing elsewhere.

 

Even in the same west coast Mexican cruise market, Carnival will have 2 similar-sized ships (Panorama and Firenze) as the Navigator by next year on top of the old Carnival Radiance. Both the Panorama and Firenze are significantly newer than the Navigator so RCI will need to lower prices for their west coast sailings to compete for market share going forward.

 

I had forgotten to take pictures of the bathroom sink and the shower - I know, shocking, that I actually didn’t take a picture of something... 

 

Part of the problem in being jaded in the “been there, done that” on sailing on a similar ship category as previous cruises – just didn’t feel the urge to record every detail.  So you will need to just watch some YouTube video on the bathrooms but it’s pretty standard bathroom for all the ships in this category.

 

[perfect match]

I’m somewhat surprised at how much I liked your promenade view room. It looked spacious and well laid out. I also liked the two sofas. Some friends of ours were upgraded to a promenade view room once but nobody warned them about keeping the blackout drapes closed. They were on whatever the lowest level is and some stiltwalkers came walking by and got quite the view! 😱  I don’t think they opened those drapes for the rest of their cruise! 😂 I doubt we’ll ever book a Promenade view because I love and use our balcony so much I wouldn’t want to give it up. It’s my happy place. 
 

I miss the days of active roll calls and the cabin crawls that went along with them. I enjoyed getting to see all the different cabin types in person and getting to meet the people I’d talked to on roll calls. 
 

As a quick follow up, yes, I’ve booked out tickets to see Cirque dunSoleil Drawn to Life! We’re going 2 days before our anniversary because the show is dark that week, but the show times on the day we going work better for us than the show times on our actual anniversary. Thank you @harryfat1 for reminding me how king it’s been since DH and I have been to a Cirque show! 

[FionaMG]

I'm a fan of the promenade view rooms too, although I've noticed recently that they sometimes cost more than an ocean view. Also being frugal sailors, our general strategy is "cheapest cabin with a window". Sometimes that will be an ocean view, sometimes it will be a promenade view and sometimes it will actually be a balcony room thanks to our balcony discount.

 

Our promenade rooms have always been on deck 7, so I was interested about your comment on the view from deck 8. Definitely worth considering that for the future.

[nimbex1970]

I too am a fan of the promenade rooms when we aren't interested in a balcony.  The two couch set up is great.  I love to people watch from the window.

[HBE4]

On 8/23/2023 at 6:50 PM, harryfat1 said:

try the Voodoo Donut chain.  There’s one in Universal Studios Florida in the CityWalk area.  We got a box from Universal Hollywood last Christmas as well as the original store in downtown Portland many years ago. They have also expanded to CO and TX.

 

the Huge line outside Portland store.  Mostly tourists like us want to check out the original Voodoo store.

 

I've been to the VooDoo donuts in Portland, I just can't remember which one as it was about 10-12 years ago. Even looking at the pictures isn't helping me.  Then again, it was the morning after a night of brewery-hopping all over town. Seriously, I think there is a brewery on every corner. 

 

Anyways, I bought a bunch of donuts which was a mistake as each donut is a meal unto itself. It's quite possible it was my breakfast, lunch and dinner. The sugar crash was real.

 

On 8/23/2023 at 6:50 PM, harryfat1 said:

Nobody is really reading this thread to learn about the Mexico cruise, right?

 

I've been enjoying your posts so much, I forgot there was a cruise happening somewhere in here. 😀

 

Then again, I'm, 5 days behind so I should keep my wise-guy comments to myself.

 

[HBE4]

On 8/23/2023 at 7:20 PM, harryfat1 said:

For the most part, I prefer to stay at hotels that have free breakfasts as it’s convenient and saves money compared to going out to eat or dining in at an overpriced hotel restaurant.  Did I mention I’m cheap?

 

Decent hotel breakfast.  Not that different from what you will see at Windjammer later in the cruise with bacon, waffles and eggs.

 

Me too. And from the looks of it, your hotel had a pretty decent breakfast.  I've been burned once or twice when the free breakfast turned out to be nothing more than a box of plain, stale donuts & weak coffee.

 

You mentioned you stayed at one of the Marriott brands but i don't remember which one.

 

On 8/23/2023 at 7:32 PM, harryfat1 said:

At the risk of sounding paranoid, do you folks check/double-check each corner of the hotel room before checking out? Always worry I will forget something important in each hotel room. Yeah, yeah, 9.2 on the scale also includes being paranoid…

 

Yes, I triple check every nook and cranny & I'm a 0.345 on the anal scale.  On a good day.  Sometimes a -4.0

 

 

[HBE4]

On 8/25/2023 at 2:17 PM, harryfat1 said:

 

 

I love this picture for the contrast.  The USS Iowa - one of the biggest, most powerful battleships ever built by the US Navy - looks skinny & scrawny compared to the (now) mid-size Navigator.

 

[WyKnott]

14 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

Now I know many people on CC dislike these cabins as they complain there’s no privacy but we like this category of cabins as it’s great value.

I prefer a balcony but when I'm traveling solo, I like to book the promenade cabins. They're priced as an interior but with a window and I also like to people watch from above. I hate crowds.

[HappyTexan44]

On 8/23/2023 at 6:32 PM, harryfat1 said:

At the risk of sounding paranoid, do you folks check/double-check each corner of the hotel room before checking out? Always worry I will forget something important in each hotel room. Yeah, yeah, 9.2 on the scale also includes being paranoid…

If something is left, it is always something important.  We clear a corner of the room, then pile all the hotel's bedding in the corner. All the hotel's towels go in the floor of the shower.  That makes it easier to spot our stuff.  About 10% of the time we find stuff left by a previous guest.  We also triple-check each others work.  (Each person does a complete sweep of a cleared room).  

I'd put myself around 9.2 anal also.   Some people might think I'd be more, but I sometimes forget to do a pre-move in bedbug check.   
 

[LobsterStalker]

23 minutes ago, HappyTexan44 said:

If something is left, it is always something important.  We clear a corner of the room, then pile all the hotel's bedding in the corner. All the hotel's towels go in the floor of the shower.  That makes it easier to spot our stuff.  About 10% of the time we find stuff left by a previous guest.  We also triple-check each others work.  (Each person does a complete sweep of a cleared room).  

I'd put myself around 9.2 anal also.   Some people might think I'd be more, but I sometimes forget to do a pre-move in bedbug check.   
 

This is where I have evolved I guess. I used to be soooo worried about leaving something , but now It's a pretty basic check then 

Wallet/Purse ... Check

Keys... Check 

Phone... Check

Other than that if I leave a bottle of shampoo or some dirty socks... I won't much care 

 

Cheers

[HappyTexan44]

1 hour ago, LobsterStalker said:

This is where I have evolved I guess. I used to be soooo worried about leaving something , but now It's a pretty basic check then 

Wallet/Purse ... Check

Keys... Check 

Phone... Check

Other than that if I leave a bottle of shampoo or some dirty socks... I won't much care 

 

Cheers

I guess I should say I've only noticed when it was something important.  Things I know have been left, 
My High school Class ring, possibly there have been two rings.  

One of DD's stuffed animals that was loved and a part of a set.  
A book I was in the middle of reading,  
This sort of applies, since it was me hustling everyone to the car, my Dad's favorite pillow.   We were coming back from my Grandfather's funeral and we'd spent the night.   Wake up to hear that an ice storm is on the way.   It was right before Thanksgiving and I said, " I am NOT spending Thanksgiving in (podunk town halfway between DFW and MSP)"  
 

[Fishfan0073]

On 8/27/2023 at 12:05 PM, harryfat1 said:

Good to talk to another Cirque fan.

 

I tried to remember yesterday how many Cirque shows I have seen and had to do a count in the old man's memory bank:

 

Alegria/Varekai/Mystere/La Nouba/Love/Ka were the old shows I had seen and now adding Corteo to the list. 

 

Still need to go and see "O" as that was the crown jewel show in Bellagio which RCI "stole" (errr, I meant inspired by) to create their water shows on the Oasis class ships but the "O" tickets are very expensive for Cheapo people like me to buy.  Guess will need to suck it up and buy it as a "bucket list" item.

 

Corteo has been around for a while so not surprising if you saw it.

I had the opportunity to see "O" front row a few years ago.  We have seen 6 or 7 different shows and will say "O" was the best of the bunch.  I am sure being in a permanent theater helps them do different things, but it was worth the money.  

[HBE4]

On 8/25/2023 at 9:32 PM, Coralc said:

Just bad writing and punctuation on my part. T

 

"Let's Eat Grandma!"

 

"Let's Eat, Grandma"

 

Comma's can save lives!

[bobmacliberty]

1 hour ago, Fishfan0073 said:

I had the opportunity to see "O" front row a few years ago.  We have seen 6 or 7 different shows and will say "O" was the best of the bunch.  I am sure being in a permanent theater helps them do different things, but it was worth the money.  

 

I agree that O was the best Cirque show that I've seen.  The water stage and associated acrobatics was incredible.  I loved Ka...seen it twice...because of the huge rotating stage.  An unbelievable engineering and choreography feat.  But I liked the overall O performance better. Launching people from the swings into the water was spectacular.

[bobmacliberty]

53 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

 

"Let's Eat Grandma!"

 

"Let's Eat, Grandma"

 

Comma's can save lives!

 

I quit drinking heavily.

 

Oops, missed a period...

 

I quit.  Drinking heavily.

[harryfat1]

15 hours ago, perfect match said:

I’m somewhat surprised at how much I liked your promenade view room. It looked spacious and well laid out. I also liked the two sofas. Some friends of ours were upgraded to a promenade view room once but nobody warned them about keeping the blackout drapes closed. They were on whatever the lowest level is and some stiltwalkers came walking by and got quite the view! 😱  I don’t think they opened those drapes for the rest of their cruise! 😂 I doubt we’ll ever book a Promenade view because I love and use our balcony so much I wouldn’t want to give it up. It’s my happy place. 
 

I miss the days of active roll calls and the cabin crawls that went along with them. I enjoyed getting to see all the different cabin types in person and getting to meet the people I’d talked to on roll calls. 
 

As a quick follow up, yes, I’ve booked out tickets to see Cirque dunSoleil Drawn to Life! We’re going 2 days before our anniversary because the show is dark that week, but the show times on the day we going work better for us than the show times on our actual anniversary. Thank you @harryfat1 for reminding me how king it’s been since DH and I have been to a Cirque show! 

 

12 hours ago, FionaMG said:

I'm a fan of the promenade view rooms too, although I've noticed recently that they sometimes cost more than an ocean view. Also being frugal sailors, our general strategy is "cheapest cabin with a window". Sometimes that will be an ocean view, sometimes it will be a promenade view and sometimes it will actually be a balcony room thanks to our balcony discount.

 

Our promenade rooms have always been on deck 7, so I was interested about your comment on the view from deck 8. Definitely worth considering that for the future.

 

11 hours ago, nimbex1970 said:

I too am a fan of the promenade rooms when we aren't interested in a balcony.  The two couch set up is great.  I love to people watch from the window.

I'm lumping in 3 responses here as it's all about the Royal Promenade view cabins.

 

Yes, we liked the Promenade view cabins.  Especially the 2 sofas so we can sit and watch events downstairs.

 

My wife is always interested to see what “sidewalk” sales daily sitting on the sofa.

 

Deck 8 is a good location as it’s “3 up and 3 down” (to coin a baseball phrase) in that it’s 3 decks up to deck 11 for Windjammer and the pool area.  3 decks down to the Royal Promenade for sales and stuff to eat/drink at Café Promenade.

 

Typically, 3 flights of stairs is somewhat manageable unless you have mobility limitations.  We like the vertical “midship” location as well as the traditional “horizontal” location in between 2 banks of elevators.

 

Deck 8 has the slanted windows to face down so the perspective is slightly warped but not terrible.

We typically sail on RCI during the holidays and many times we see the Royal Promenade windows decorated in a holiday theme.  Especially if people are local and can bring tons of stuff in the car versus in the plane, we have seen some decors on deck 6 as those are easier to see.

 

Not a fan of the window-view cabins on the Freedom (and Voyager) class ships.  You have to crawl to the top of the bed daily to open and close the curtain.  The newer ships have better cabin design.

 

 

This picture will show the slant of the window as you see the tilt in the frame.  Only for deck 8 Royal Promenade view cabins

 

 

View of RP 3 decks below

 

 

 

Old photo from 2016 Freedom on view from deck 7 - you don't look as directly down versus deck 8 from the picture above

 

 

We decorated our cabins for the holidays back in 2016

 

 

One drawback of these cabins is if the cabin attendant wraps the comforter all the way up, it exposes a metal part of the bed. Trust me when I say they hurt when you bump into them. Try to untuck the bed ASAP when you walk inside so as to have some cushion between you body and the metal bed corner