Comparison between ships

[doublesuited]

sailed on the on the mariner a few months ago a loved it and am looking at other RSSC ships. In terms of ship service levels and onboard amenties, is there any noticable difference between the ships in the RSSC fleet?

 

thanks,

 

doublesuited

[Dolebludger]

Well, yes, a few. On the Mariner, all suites are balcony. On the Voyager, all are balcony as well, but they are larger for the base suites. On the Navigator, it takes some upgrading to get a balcony, but all suites are larger than on the Mariner. On the Paul Gauguin, suites (more correctly, rooms) are significantly smaller than those on the Mariner, even if one upgrades to a balcony. Other than this, levels of service, food, etc., are similar IMO.

[ChatKat in Ca.]

I have been on all four of the current ships. The basic amenities are the same. On Mariner and Voyager you have 4 dining venues and only 2 on

Navigator. The Navigator is smaller and there is less to do because there are less passengers. The layouts and decor of all the ships are similar - but slightly different and the interaction of passengers has been different as well. Not sure if it's the ship or the layout or even the passengers themselves. Also the more port intensive cruises are different than a Caribbean cruise because the passengers have a different agenda in what they expect from their vacations.

 

The service levels are similar, but, I have found that there are a few "service stars" on each cruise. The cruise will have a different ambience based on The Cruise Director and the activities on board as well as the ship's itinerary and it is a Spotlight Cruise as well.

 

I find that the food varies in quality based on the ship's ability to re-provision -some of it is dependent on the itinerary since they try to customize based on where you are slightly. Some of my cruises have had better food than others and I think that is a function of who the Executive Chef is as well. An example is that we dined in Latitudes on both Mariner and Voyager this past summer. While the menu was the same, the food tasted very different - same recipe but different ship and chef. We dined with the same people on both cruises, and we were all very surprised by that.

 

None of it truly made a big difference to us. We'd gladly cruise on any of the ships on any of the itineraries again.

[alanhotatl]

Have any of you noticed a really serious aging of the Navigator? I have read several reviews that indicate it is really in line for a refurbishment. It is 8 years old, after all. Thanks!

[ChatKat in Ca.]

We sailed on the Navigator a few weeks ago - she's had all new soft goods, carpet and is in perfect condition - good as new.