Navigator of the Seas 12/13 - 12/17

[BACON227]

My wife and I just returned from this sailing. I was a little skeptical about this trip after reading some of the reviews, but I must say the NOS is as good as ever.

My wife and I arrived at the port at 12:10pm for our third trip on the NOS, we were in the Windjammer eating at 12:25pm.........definitely the quickest embarkation ever.

We had a balcony cabin in the center of "the hump" on deck 6(6620). This was our second time sailing on the hump and definitely would recommend the location. My only issue with this cabin is that whenever you opened your cabin door.....anybody waiting by the elevators could look right into your room.......could be a little interesting if someone is in the middle of getting dressed. Just my little piece of advice. Luckily for my 03/29/08 sailing I am a little off center.

Our cabin steward, waitor and asst waitor were excellent. For some reason on the day of embarkation it seemed that there were not too many friendly people on the crew, but they did seem to warm up as the cruise went on. This was kind of odd to my wife and I because our memory of our previous NOS cruises was of everybody being extremely helpful and friendly. Overall I would give this area a good grade.

We found the food to be OK. I don't eat seafood, but my wife said the seabass and mahi mahi tempura dishes at dinner in the main dining room were uneatable. This is kind of odd because she just had these dishes on the Majesty of the Seas and loved them. I also found it odd that the second seating was at 9pm on two evenings........I prefer late seating, but that is a little too late in my opinion.

The entertainment was excellent. Kieron Buffery did a good job as the CD. Don't miss the comedian Dan Wilson.......he is hilarious, especially his late night adult only comedy show. Also, the parades were great as usual. And the Quest............don't miss it!!!!!!!!!

Our only stop was in Cozumel. We went to Paradise Beach and would highly recommend this club to anybody. The cab ride was $24 roundtrip for the two of us. Paradise Beach is beautiful, the food is delicious, the drinks are great and their loungers are very comfortable. The prices are very reasonable and the facility is kept very clean. I just posted a review of the facility under the Cozumel group on this board for anybody interested in reading it.

OK now for the big topic......disembarkation. Believe it or not I found that there was no problem with disembarkation. It didn't seem to take any longer than any other cruise.........maybe we just got lucky. I will say that it was odd disembarking on deck1. Luckily for us it was a cold morning by Fla standards or else my opinion may have been different.

Anyway hope this helps for anybody lucky enough to be on an upcoming sailing..........any questions ask away.....I'll try and answer.

[shipknotshore]

Thanks for your review. Seems the food is most often the one thing that changes dramatically from cruise to cruise/ship to ship. Not to say I haven't overcooked a dish I've made a ton of times - it happens - I'm just disappointed if I'm really looking forward to something I've had and loved before and then get it and it's just not good this time.

 

It sounds like the Navigator is looking in tip-top shape and is still offering a wonderful cruise experience. That's good news as she is one of my favorite ships.

[piercetc4]

we were also on this sailing- it was a great trip- we had no problems with disembarkation either- i had the mahi mahi the last night and it was not that great- the nos is a really nice ship- we found the crew to be very friendly from the minute we got there til we left- can't wait to go again in jan! :)

[missliad]

My wife and I just returned from this sailing. We had a balcony cabin in the center of "the hump" on deck 6(6620). This was our second time sailing on the hump and definitely would recommend the location. My only issue with this cabin is that whenever you opened your cabin door.....anybody waiting by the elevators could look right into your room.......could be a little interesting if someone is in the middle of getting dressed. Just my little piece of advice. Luckily for my 03/29/08 sailing I am a little off center.

 

We have this cabin on our Mariner sailing and I just went back to look at the deck plan and just realized that there really is nothing in front of the door. I'm wondering why didnt I notice this before??? :( Thanks for the heads up!!

[SherriZ366]

Was the 9 PM late seating for every night or just the first night? thanks

[Inshape]

usually it is for the first night since there will be one welcome show.

[SherriZ366]

usually it is for the first night since there will be one welcome show.

that makes sense as it has happened on other cruises. For awhile FOS was scheduling late season for the entire cruise at 9 PM because the ship had large Europeon parties and they eat later.

[Liz]

The late seating was moved from 8:30 to 9:00 on the first night and the night we were in Cozumel (Saturday). I think everything was 30 minutes later on Saturday, including Windjammer. Our waiter said it was to allow people to get back from shore excursions in time for dinner.

It was a really nice cruise except disembarkation - but I won't go there again! The food was good, but the mahi mahi had been sitting under the heat lamps for a while, and was a bit chewy. Entertainment was fun.

I really can't find anything to complain about. The crew was very nice and the ship was clean. The sofa in my cabin looked a bit worn - but so is my sofa at home! I treated myself to a watch for my birthday. If you are looking for a new Seiko or Citizens watch, buy one on board - the Citizens watches were 45% off US retail and Seikos were 30% (I think).

If they get the disembarkation squared away, I'll sail Navigator again in a heartbeat!

 

Liz

[BACON227]

We have this cabin on our Mariner sailing and I just went back to look at the deck plan and just realized that there really is nothing in front of the door. I'm wondering why didnt I notice this before??? :( Thanks for the heads up!!

 

 

We quickly solved this problem by keeping the two closet doors open while one of us was getting changed and the other may have been browsing around the ship. The closet doors will block the view of anybody taking a look in the cabin. Hope this helps.

[BACON227]

That's good news as she is one of my favorite ships.

 

I agree, this is our favorite ship and can't wait to be back on her in March!!!!!!!!!!

[poochierebelbear]

Hi everyone! I will be cruising on the Navigator OTS December 2008. I was wondering, what is "the hump" of the ship? I have been doing a lot of reading and I have more to go.

[BACON227]

Hi everyone! I will be cruising on the Navigator OTS December 2008. I was wondering, what is "the hump" of the ship? I have been doing a lot of reading and I have more to go.

"The Hump" is the mid to aft section of the Voyager class ships that humps out from the side of the ship..........hope that helps..........you'll find tons of threads about it if you search.

[Mike&Nancy]

We're booked for our first B2B on the NV in 2-09. How was it getting off the ship and right back on? Where did you meet, what time, how long did the whole thing take...I'm kind of nosy, lol. ;) :D

 

Seriously, I'm really looking forward to this. Any news you want to spill, I'm all ears! :)

 

Thanks,

 

Nancy

[cruisin4kicks]

We did a B2B last week on the Navigator. The morning everyone was getting off the ship at the end of the 1st leg, we met at the Champagne Lounge at 10:30am. There were about 15 or so of us. They took us down to deck 1 and we got off the ship and did that long walk to the customs area. For some reason, we had to wait for about 15 minutes or so before we could go through customs. Then all the customs official did was look at our passport and let us take the long walk back to the ship. It was different than the B2B we took on the Liberty in October based out of Miami.

In Miami, the whole process took about 15 minutes and we had to turn our customs form in to the customs official. In Fort Lauderdale, the whole process took somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes and the customs officials did not want the customs form at all. Overall, B2B was much easier in Miami.

 

Tim

[shipknotshore]

We did a B2B last week on the Navigator. The morning everyone was getting off the ship at the end of the 1st leg, we met at the Champagne Lounge at 10:30am. There were about 15 or so of us. They took us down to deck 1 and we got off the ship and did that long walk to the customs area. For some reason, we had to wait for about 15 minutes or so before we could go through customs. Then all the customs official did was look at our passport and let us take the long walk back to the ship. It was different than the B2B we took on the Liberty in October based out of Miami.

In Miami, the whole process took about 15 minutes and we had to turn our customs form in to the customs official. In Fort Lauderdale, the whole process took somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes and the customs officials did not want the customs form at all. Overall, B2B was much easier in Miami.

 

Tim

 

We did a B2B on the Jewel out of Ft. Lauderdale last year and it was pretty much the same as you describe. We went thru customs and stood there for awhile before we could board again. No biggie.....we were all smiles because we had another week to go!!!:p Although it was wonderful to have a couple of hours on the ship without all the other pax (no chair hogs in sight..LOL) it was a bit strange too in that there weren't employees around as everything was closed until they opened up for the new passengers coming on board. I love those B2B cruises.

[Mike&Nancy]

I thought of another question...sorry. Were you able to access your cabin before 1:00, even though the doors were close? If so, how did that work?

 

 

Inquiring minds and all that...:rolleyes:

 

Nancy

[alexkrn46]

We were on the ship around 11am. We were told to leave, we asked if we could drop off our stuff and was able to do this. But we left immediately after dropping our items off

[shipknotshore]

I thought of another question...sorry. Were you able to access your cabin before 1:00, even though the doors were close? If so, how did that work?

 

 

Inquiring minds and all that...:rolleyes:

 

Nancy

 

Hi Nancy. I know that we didn't have to leave our cabin, like the other pax did, and when we did the turn-around thru customs we headed for the solarium for the rest of the morning. We were able to go back to our cabin to shower/change for lunch in the WJ.

 

Do you have the same cabin for both legs of your b2b?