Just back from Navigator....

[OliverTheCat]

Having JUST gotten out of the car (2100 miles round trip from my house to the pier)... I will try to share my experiences tomorrow... when I can actually function again. But I will say this... this was probably the WORST experience of my cruises (it wasn't ALL horrible, but bad enough). I had even talked my mother into going, saying how WONDERFUL RCCL is... and she won't cruise with them again. Things were SO bad, and Guest Relations were aware of it... one night I came back to a plate full of chocolate covered strawberries.

 

Oh no Erika! I know you were looking forward to this cruise because you and I chatted about Disney cruises in past on boards and I remember you mentioning it.

 

I cant wait to read your experience! Since I have also sailed Navigator (and raved and raved about it) I am shocked to see someone had a bad time on it! Wow!!!! :eek: Hope you get a good night's rest!

[coskat]

I can not believe that a cruise line, especially one that already has a PR nightmare revolving around the consequences of excessive drinking(albiet so called adults), would not take every measure required to deal with out of control underage or barely legal drinking. Aside from the ? liability of these teenagers hurting themselves or others there is the effect their behavior has on those who are witnessing this creating bad word of mouth. I have just booked my first cruise with RCCL and I have a 13 & 16 y/o and I am truly unnerved by the feedback I've seen regarding what goes on with &/or without the staff's awareness. The perception that RCCL is not adequetly capable of dealing with this issue by making sure there is enough security who is trained to handle this obvious problem will adversly affect their reputation and I hope bottom line. When on this forum you can read threads by teenagers who can tell you where they go to drink ect how can the cruise line not anticipate and effectively deal with this problem. Those that are found to be creating such havoc should be locked up & put off the ship ASAP. Perhaps then others so inclined would think twice before getting so out of control. It is unfortunate that the majority of those on a cruise are capable of maintaining civil behavior while enjoying themselves but others are not and ruin the experience. I hope RCCL gets their act together about this.

[Tyron]

I can not believe that a cruise line, especially one that already has a PR nightmare revolving around the consequences of excessive drinking(albiet so called adults), would not take every measure required to deal with out of control underage or barely legal drinking. Aside from the ? liability of these teenagers hurting themselves or others there is the effect their behavior has on those who are witnessing this creating bad word of mouth. I have just booked my first cruise with RCCL and I have a 13 & 16 y/o and I am truly unnerved by the feedback I've seen regarding what goes on with &/or without the staff's awareness. The perception that RCCL is not adequetly capable of dealing with this issue by making sure there is enough security who is trained to handle this obvious problem will adversly affect their reputation and I hope bottom line. When on this forum you can read threads by teenagers who can tell you where they go to drink ect how can the cruise line not anticipate and effectively deal with this problem. Those that are found to be creating such havoc should be locked up & put off the ship ASAP. Perhaps then others so inclined would think twice before getting so out of control. It is unfortunate that the majority of those on a cruise are capable of maintaining civil behavior while enjoying themselves but others are not and ruin the experience. I hope RCCL gets their act together about this.

 

 

this is one reason how/why ships/hotels are worn down so easily. and i agree if they don't start enforcing their behavior policies they're going to be slapped with more lawsuits and negative publicity but that goes for all cruise lines and resorts.

i sailed the navigator for the 1st time six months after her inaugural sailing and was amazed @ how nasty and destructive some passengers were...i.e., trays, drinks & food left in elevators, stairways and corridors...so i can imagine how some of the cabins are....sad/pitiful that people come on these beautiful ships with little or no regard for their maintenance and upkeep.

[fireguy091]

I've been back for a week and unless RCL starts having adults only cruises I'm going somewhere else. Ships are getting too big. Too many people, way too many kids and food is buffet at best.

[RG10203]

Just back from the 4/15 Navigator sailing and I found the ship to be in very good shape. The food in the dining room was very good and our service was great as usual. The one dissapointment was Chops Grill. We have eaten at Chops on six other cruises and always found it to be outstanding. This trip was just OK. The Filet Mignon was poor and not cooked as requested. Some menu items have changed and not for the better. The service was very good. As for the beds, we saw several cabins forward of our cabin get brand new beds during the day.

 

As for the kids on spring break, I found them not to be so bad. I also found RCL security taking action against kids with their parents present on several occasions. I'm sure there were many other times they were needed but they were not in the right place at the right time. I think RCL does a lot better job with spring break kids then Carnival or Princess. I've seen kids on those cruise lines go wild 24/7 and there's twice as many.

[medic_cruiser]

I did notice what I would perceive, an increased presence of uniformed security personnel.

 

While passengers were returning from what I think was Jamaica, some "young adults" were caught with illegal substances. Supposedly, they were held in the ship's "brig" (jail) until we reached Miami, Sunday AM. Confirmed by one of the ship's employees'

 

Also, in Jamaica, at the Taj Mahal shopping center, I witnessed obviously underages persons, purchasing liquor, and the cashier of the shop was helping them transfer the contents from their original bottle, to a water bottle.

 

While in line waiting for the tender in Cozumel, there was a fight in line, when an obviously drunk "young adult" was belligerent towards a couple of senior citizens. Not sure what was the actual catalyst for the fight, however, there were punches thrown.

[medic_cruiser]

I didn't have a problem allowing my son (16 yrs old, 250 lbs 6'2") roam the ship with the other "boys" that we sailed with (cousin 17, and a friend 17 & 15). We gave them a curfew, and for the most part, they were in before curfew.

 

Anyways, they have a curfew on the ship of 0100 for those that are under the age of 17.

 

Medic-

Sounds like we had some similar experiences. It was a shame how some of the teenagers acted. My son was dying for me to let him walk the ship alone but after seeing those kids, I was afraid to do so..

 

Next time I will probably choose a different time of year- but wish I didnt have to... Maybe RCCL will have a better handle on security in the future,, but I am not willing to bet my vacation on it!

 

Next cruise- EUROPE!! :)

[producegirl]

I was on "The Navigator" in December of 2003. There were 10 of us traveling together. My husband, son and myself and my sister-in-law, her husband and 3 kids. My husband and I and Karin and Bill all had GS. They were lovely and we NEVER heard any noise. The kids went like this, my son and nephew were in a connecting D1 next to us and the 2 girls were in a D1 connecting next to Karin. We LOVED the ship! In fact, the trip took place over Xmas and the all the kids were so well behaved that I was amazed!!!

A few years previous, we had been on "the Splendor" at Xmas and it was the worst cruise of our lives!!! The kids were HORRIBLE!! They ruled the ship, the shows and everything else in bewteen!! Whomever we complained to did NOTHING about it. We stayed away from RCCL for a few years and did Princess because of that experience. When my sister-in-law wanted to do RCCl and the "Navigator" we went along and are we glad we did.

I know that it's been a few years since I sailed on her, and I am really sorry to hear the news. But, don't give up...we love RCCL.

[coskat]

I was glad to read here and in the "worried about cruising during spring break" thread that actions are taken like putting people off the ship mid cruise, sit downs with senior staff and increased presence of security around pool ect. I hope they keep up a high level of enforcing curfews and rules for the benefit of all.

[WineDown17]

Yes- security was there, and did what they could- but I would say the needed about double the staff to have been remotely effective.

[Candleonwater]

Okay, ready for this?

 

1. Check in Process: 2 hours. Cattle Call, moved from one location to another, and then moved again. My mother had a really hard time with it because of a bad back - it was TOO much standing and walking for her.

 

2. Computer glitches at photo taking (more on this later - BIG problem)

 

3. Staterooms – had contacted Special Needs department about Egg Crate Mattresses, only one cabin had them. When I asked attendant, the response was, there aren’t enough to go around right now, so be glad you got one at all. Finally got something for my mothers bed 1/2 way through.

 

4. Towels – on Sunday both towels had disappeared. Keep in mind, we HADN’T gone to the pool. Asked attendant about them, her response was “you must have left them at the pool”. When I pointed out to her that we hadn’t gone to the pool, her response was “I don’t know what you did with your towels”. On Monday, I grabbed a couple of towels from the pool area, and when I mentioned this to our attendant, she got nasty about it – told me I was going to have to take them back to the pool area. I told her I was tired of waiting for replacements – turns out, when she took the towels on Sunday morning, there weren’t enough clean ones to give us new towels.

 

5. Adventure Ocean Explorers sign in - what a mess! Didn't give DD the freedom to sign herself in and out (obviously MY mistake, as I found out later). 1st day, show up and since there are SO many ppl registering their kids, the counselor says she will sign DD in. I ask, is there still space for the dinner tonight, answer is "I will sign her up". Duh! My fault, didn't do it myself, and didn't think to mention that she's a vegetarian. 12:00 pick up COMES and GOES, and no Mommy to sign DD out. Where was I? Bingo. Of course they promised it would end BEFORE 12, and I lost track of the time - my mistake. AO counselors were quite rude when I got up there at 12:15. I realize it's my fault that I was late, but in my defense, I'm never late ANYWHERE (I'm one of those annoying ppl who has to be everywhere 1/2 an hour early!), and I wasn't going to stress about it. When they brought DD back to AO (she and a counselor were out looking for me), I wanted to double check that she was on the list for the dinner... of course she wasn't. I was told, too bad, you were supposed to write her name down, not us, and it was too late. Well, I talked them into adding her, still forgetting to mention her food requirements... so when we got to dinner and they had her down for a burger... it was a no go.

 

6. Labadee - absolutely WONDERFUL day. Off the ship early, then stayed until the end. Never have done that before - couldn't believe the line for the tenders. So we had one person get in line and let the kids play in the water until that part of the line got close. Back at the ship, security wouldn't let me on the ship. Wouldn't tell me what was wrong either. As they had so many people trying to enter, they were also trying to get people moving once they had gotten through the metal detector. My 9 yo DD was pushed along, not allowed to come back to me. So there I am, no clue where DD was, having NO clue what was wrong. I lost it. Finally they told me the picture associated with my card wasn't me, it was DD. I lost it, and I guess they figured out it was better to let me go find DD, and we could deal with this when I got off the ship in the AM in Jamaica. First stop - Guest Relations. My questions to them were... how did I get on the ship in the first place? Do they NOT check the pictures as you get off (they are SUPPOSED to, according to Guest Relations), if they do... how did I get OFF in Labadee? Also, if they were actually looking at the pictures, and we were getting off the ship - my daughter could possibly been alone on an island? I was NOT a happy person. Next morning it was a headache, never really clear if we got a picture of me or not. The stupid machine just buzzed each time I put my card in it.

 

After that, well, let's just say, I discovered Red Stripe and ALL was good! LOL

 

I don't know how to explain just how disappointed I am (or even 100% why!). Our last 2 cruises have been on the Mariner, and I came back from each of those so pleased. Why was this different? No clue. I wasn't even happy with my PR cabin! Felt like I was in a sardine can. Maybe I was just PMS'ing! LOL

 

There were a couple of highlights, the friend DD made on the 1st day, the ice show (and cast), Graham Seymour - he absolutely made my day, most days! Laughter was the best medicine on this trip.

[WineDown17]

Erika-

 

Who was your daughter? My son was also in the 9 yr old group.. Petra was not always a shiny happy person I noticed! I did not let him sign himself out either.. I never had him do dinner with them- instead the 2 nights we ate at Chops/Portofinis I got him pizza from room service while we dressed... I guess I made a good choice!! I hope she had a good time at least!

 

What a horrible experience with the pictures and sign in. What time did you get to the pier? Will have to be sure to avoid that time going forward!! And yes- how could I forget that tender line in labadee?!?! Thank goodness for the Labadoozies being hawked!!

 

Our cabin attendant was not a warm friendly, but she was efficient enough. We never saw her, and the one time I needed something and buzzed her, (3pm ish) she was napping and would not come! I felt bad for her and let it drop.

[Candleonwater]

did you hear about a figure skater who was teaching the girls in AO how to do jumps? Or about an irish dancer (she actually did the dance in the talent show)... that would be my DD. Last year she almost refused to go to AO, this year she was there all the time, even begged to be able to go to the late night party!