Navigator of the seas review 12/03 thru 12/08

[dfishner]

Just got off the Navigator of the seas on a 5 day cruise and wanted to share our experience with you all. But first I want to list somethings I saw on CC prior to our cruise.

1) Yes there are raisins and brown sugar on the oatmeal station saw it everyday in the Windjammer.

2) Lobster was served on the 4th night as part of the fishermen platter.

3)There was a midnight buffet on the 4th night as well as a Caribbean buffet on the pool deck.

4) There was live entertainment throughout our cruise, not sure what others have posted that Royal is cutting back on that. Everywhere we went someone was playing music. There was even ballroom dancing as well.

This is our fifth cruise on Royal we have sailed Radiance class three times and majesty of the seas once. We have kind of stayed away from Voyager class of ships thinking they were to large for us and really enjoyed the size of the smaller ships. Navigator cured us of that we loved the ship.

We arrived at port at 11:20 on Sunday and dropped our bags off we also were ready for long lines reading from prior posters on how bad getting on the ship at Port Everglades was. Well whatever happened before has been worked out we were on the ship in less the 20 minutes. I have never seen anything so smooth and fast as we did on getting on the Navigator. I could not believe it, I kept saying to myself there is going to be a hold up somewhere and before I realized it we were boarding the ship, no wait at all.

The ship itself is something to behold elegant, beautiful and never felt crowded at all throughout the cruise. Ship left on time and many commented that this was so smooth with little to no wait.

Our Cabin was 7688 aft and was blown away by the size of the balcony, we had 3 loungers, two chairs a table and still had plenty of room. Really did not notice the super structure and we had views from the aft and the side. Did not hear any noise from the ship the entire cruise. We had an E1 cabin and the room was fine and had enough space for luggage and for clothes.

We only saw our cabin steward once and that was it, but he did a great job in our room, bed was always made, fresh towels and ice. We didn't even see him when it came time to leave wanted to tell him what a great job he did. We just left his envelop on the desk.

If there is one hit and miss area on our cruise it was the food in the main dining room. We have cruised royal enough to know that the food is far from being gourmet fare. But on this cruise the menus were either very good or just plain bad. The last night menu was the pitts and Wednesday and Friday menu were so-so. We really do not cruise royal for its cuisine. The only comment I will make is that the food does not match the elegance of the dining room. Our wait team was great and we never saw the headwaiter as we had on our prior cruises. We did chops on formal night since we did not want to bring any dress clothes just wanted to be causal all week. Chops as always was good and so was the service..

Entertainment- Kieron Buffery the CD in a one man entertainment machine, he is funny, can belt out a tune he was one of the highlights of our cruise.

Production shows were very good

Ice skating show was beyond belief

Lounges had good entertainment as well.

The parades on the first and last night were awesome

There was never any place we went that we did not see live music throughout our cruise.

The ship itself is beyond belief there is so much on the Navigator it would take a full week to find everything on her and we tried.

The royal promenade is terrific with the bars, shops and the café promenade. The ship layout is so easy to navigate and it never felt crowded the entire week. Our favorite lounges were the Two Poets the english pub great staff there, the schooner bar and the connoisseur club.

There seemed to be plenty of lounge chairs by the pool never had to go looking for any.

We were Platinum members on this cruise and they had a lunch for the Platinum, diamond and diamond plus members. Lunch was held in the main dining room with cocktails and a nice menu. Most of us thought it was kind of odd that they did a lunch but no reception it did not give you a chance to talk with the crew. It was different

We are partial to the Radiance class of ship, we like the size and the views of the ocean no matter where you go. Navigator faces inward for us that was the biggest difference but what navigator offers is so much more we could not help but be in awe of her. We are now converts and cannot wait to go on her or any voyager class of ship again.

[piercetc4]

great review!!!!- thanks so much for sharing it with us- we board the nav dec 13th.................woo hoo...............can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dfishner]

great review!!!!- thanks so much for sharing it with us- we board the nav dec 13th.................woo hoo...............can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You will love the NOS take good care of her for us. and have a great cruise

[whit53]

Thanks so much for the review! Glad to hear they worked out all the kinks. Only 9 days until we sail on this beauty of a ship!

[piercetc4]

thanks, dfishner! i know many will read your review and get even more excited about their upcoming trip on the Nav. !!! :)

[Cruising89143]

Glad to hear that they have worked out the issues. The Navigator is a great ship. Still one of my all time favorites.:)

[FL_Cruiser64]

1) Yes there are raisins and brown sugar on the oatmeal station saw it everyday in the Windjammer.

2) Lobster was served on the 4th night as part of the fishermen platter.

3)There was a midnight buffet on the 4th night as well as a Caribbean buffet on the pool deck.

4) There was live entertainment throughout our cruise, not sure what others have posted that Royal is cutting back on that. Everywhere we went someone was playing music. There was even ballroom dancing as well.

 

:eek: OMG. You just destroyed every complainers and pre-complainers wet dreams.

 

Shame on you! ;)

 

Great review. I am glad to read that Port Everglades gets it together.

[Kevin's girl]

Thanks so much for the review. We board on Feb 2nd, and I can't wait.

[frcia]

We sail News Years Eve, great review !!!!!!!!!

 

FC

[juniorsmom]

Thank you so much for the review. We are sailing December 17 and I am sooo excited it is ridiculous.

[dfishner]

:eek: OMG. You just destroyed every complainers and pre-complainers wet dreams.

 

Shame on you! ;)

 

Great review. I am glad to read that Port Everglades gets it together.

Gee, did not want to ruin the complainers pleasures :-) Since these items were mentioned on the board over and over again I made it a point to go looking for them amd even had a bowl of oatmeal with brown sugar and raisins to make sure it was real.

[dfishner]

Glad to hear that they have worked out the issues. The Navigator is a great ship. Still one of my all time favorites.:)

Was thinking of you when we got to the port right after we checked in our luggage just knowing what happened with you I was ready for it. I have never checked into a ship so smoothly as the NOS and it was amazing how fast we were on the ship.

[skipatrol]

January 5th can't come soon enough:)

[truesdpr]

Thanks so much for this great review. We are on our 1st 5 night cruise on Navigator on 29th March and we're really looking forward to it. Not bothered about raisins or indeed brown sugar but good to knwo they're there!

 

Pam.

[Willbcruisin]

Great to hear all well and PE has hopefully worked everything out! We're sailing her for Christmas and just can't wait. Can't pinpoint it but there is just something "magical" about Navigator! We sailed her sister ship Mariner and had a great cruise but it just could not compare to NOS!

 

Thanks for the review!

[vermontvoyager]

Was thinking of you when we got to the port right after we checked in our luggage just knowing what happened with you I was ready for it. I have never checked into a ship so smoothly as the NOS and it was amazing how fast we were on the ship.

How was debarkation in Port Everglades ?

Were you or anyone else able to get off the ship early ?

Why I ask...I may book a flight home that leaves FLL @ 8:50 am and I am worried that will be too early. The next flight does not leave until 4:50 pm and we would get home really late and would hate to spend all that time hanging around an airport.:eek:

Bob:)

[vermontvoyager]

Can't pinpoint it but there is just something "magical" about Navigator! We sailed her sister ship Mariner and had a great cruise but it just could not compare to NOS!

 

 

That was our feeling as well for Navigator. We did Mariner and Voyager also, but Navigator is a special ship and our favorite.;)

We were suppose to be on dfishner's cruise along with the next 2 cruises on Navigator.

We just had to cancel the B2B2B on Navigator due to a medical emergency with our son, who is back in good health now.

We are looking to get back on Navigator again soon.:cool:

Bob:)

[dfishner]

How was debarkation in Port Everglades ?

Were you or anyone else able to get off the ship early ?

 

Why I ask...I may book a flight home that leaves FLL @ 8:50 am and I am worried that will be too early. The next flight does not leave until 4:50 pm and we would get home really late and would hate to spend all that time hanging around an airport.:eek:

 

Bob:)

Bob, the first group which was the express one who carried their own luggage did not depart the ship until 8:15 and they still needed to go through customs. I would suggest you take a later flight or leave the next day. We were white tags and we were the next to get off, I did not clear customs until 9:20 hope that helps.

[vermontvoyager]

Bob, the first group which was the express one who carried their own luggage did not depart the ship until 8:15 and they still needed to go through customs. I would suggest you take a later flight or leave the next day. We were white tags and we were the next to get off, I did not clear customs until 9:20 hope that helps.

 

Thanks Dale, that is what I thought would be the case.:rolleyes:

Maybe we will stay overnight then, instead of hanging around airports for 14-15 hours.:eek:

JetBlue is who we fly with and usually they have flights that leave late morning from FLL and they must have changed their scheduling around enough to mess things up.:mad:

Maybe I will have to look at a different airline from now on for flights to Florida for a better schedule.

Bob:)

[alexkrn46]

Thanks for the review we will be on the Navigator on the 17th. We will be in our first aft cabin

[Cruising89143]

How was debarkation in Port Everglades ?

Were you or anyone else able to get off the ship early ?

 

Why I ask...I may book a flight home that leaves FLL @ 8:50 am and I am worried that will be too early. The next flight does not leave until 4:50 pm and we would get home really late and would hate to spend all that time hanging around an airport.:eek:

 

Bob:)

 

No way would I book at a flight that early out of any port but especially PE. There were some folks trying to get through the debarkation line on the Navigator a few weeks ago with a 10:00 flight and needless to say, they did not make it.

[vermontvoyager]

No way would I book at a flight that early out of any port but especially PE. There were some folks trying to get through the debarkation line on the Navigator a few weeks ago with a 10:00 flight and needless to say, they did not make it.

 

Thanks for the information.

I knew I was going to be s*** out of luck, but had to hold out hope anyway.:o

Just hoping I could get out early enough to get to the airport.:D

Bob:)

[dfishner]

Thanks for the review we will be on the Navigator on the 17th. We will be in our first aft cabin

 

Which cabin did you book? we loved the aft there was alot of walking to get to the cabin but once we were in it was well worth the walk besides it was our daily exercise to burn off the booze calories

[CharlieHarley]

Thankyou Dale,

 

Thanks for the GREAT review!! January 28th will be me and my familys 1st time on RCCI not to mention the Navigator. I also have been reading loads of bad reviews about RCCI and cruising in general. We have been on 8 cruises, all with Carnival and we are sooooo....... excited for NOS.

By the way how were the ports and also do you have any photos.

 

Thanks Again!!

 

Charlie

[dfishner]

Thankyou Dale,

 

Thanks for the GREAT review!! January 28th will be me and my familys 1st time on RCCI not to mention the Navigator. I also have been reading loads of bad reviews about RCCI and cruising in general. We have been on 8 cruises, all with Carnival and we are sooooo....... excited for NOS.

By the way how were the ports and also do you have any photos.

 

Thanks Again!!

 

Charlie

Charlie, the ports were cozumel and Belize, we just did the tourist thing in cozumel which was fun and went cave tubing in Belize which was awesome. We did not take pictures but I can tell you we had a blast and the NOS is a great ship and we are now hooked on Voyager class. Don't miss the ice skating show, the evening parades on the first and last night and quest which were great