Back from Navigator 1/28, first RCL cruise, pics!

[bartelbee]

We were also on this cruise and like Lovelights, came home with nasty, nasty cold/flu--so bad that we were afraid they wouldn't let us board the plane.

However, that's my only real negative. I can't call it a complaint--it's not the ship's fault I stayed up so late each night and was rundown enough to get sick, though I can sure understand how it might put a damper on things.

The cruise itself was wonderful. We're veteran cruisers so it's easy to get jaded but Navigator continues to entertain us. I never cease to be amazed at how friendly and accessible the crew is--I love to hear their stories about home and family. (Although on this cruise, I must admit Captain Bang seemed a tad grumpy giving his announcements.) The dining room was, well, the dining room, but we were pleasantly surprised by some new menu choices. We avoided the nightly entertainment--ever since they went to having the shows before dinner for late seating, we don't bother--so I can't rate it but we did have a lot of fun at the various dancing venues. Kieron, the CD, does his job well.

As far as excursions, if anyone is considering Nacho Cochom in Cozumel, I give it a hearty recommendation, if just for the beach alone. Blue-green, open sea and soft, white sand--it was heaven. They were short-staffed that day and getting food took 2 hours but drinks flowed freely. We hated to leave.

To anyone taking this cruise in the next few months--don't worry, you'll have a great time.

[lovelights]

We too just returned from the same cruise and had a great time. The tenders at Belize were a bit slow, which rushed our excursion for cave tubing and ziplining. But VIV tours did a great job. We booked through Shore Trips. The zip line was just so cool. Good equipment, very efficient and friendly staff, and a great experience. We made it back just in time for the final tender, so there was no time to shop, but that is the risk you take for a 6 hour tour.

 

Some of Lovelights complaints were a bit trivial. If you weren't happy with your attendant, I hope you took your complaints to guest relations so that they could address the problems. We too didn't get a towel animal till the 3rd day, but I can't imagine complaining because of that.

 

Regarding food upon arrival from Belize. I had the same problem and went down to the Prominade Cafe and had some great sandwiches. They are served there 24 hours a day and were delicious.

 

On mornings that we were tight on time, we ordered room service the night before and had a relaxing coffee, fruit, cereal and muffins.

 

Every staff person we encountered was friendly and helpful. I did hear of several people unhappy with their cabin attendants, but ours was wonderful and brought us blankets instead of comforters, extra ice, etc. No complaints. I guess there were some new and less experienced cabin attendants who needed to improve their service. That is why it is important to fill out the guest surveys.

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Not sure which Navigator you might have gone out on, but the one we were on, did not serve room service for breakfast before 7:00am. We were assigned to be at the theater at 7:15am at the forward part of the ship. Our room was aft. We did see some people chewing on muffins in the theater.... maybe you were one of them?

We were very familiar with the Promenade Cafe, considering we ate there several tiimes a day. The ham sandwiches with the croissant bread were wonderful, I agree, however, the little round sandwiches had bread that was so hard, that we could have used them for bowling balls.

What might be trivial for you, might not be so trivial for others. Like I said before... this was not our first cruise, so I'm very familiar with what a cruise should feel like, and what one shouldn't. As far as filling out the surveys, I find them a waste of time, and as sick as I was, the only thing I was concerned about what getting on the ship.

[dividedsky319]

lovelights, we were on an excursion that left at 7:15am as well. We got a message left on our voicemail saying that becuase of the early excursion, the Windjammer would be opening at 6:30am instead. Did you go to check to see if it was open or did you just assume it wasn't?

 

And I also really enjoyed the sandwiches in the promenade cafe, especially the basil pesto mozzarella sandwich or whatever it was called, with the tomato... delicious!

[castle701]

Just got back last night from the 1/28/08 sailing of the Navigator to Cozumel and Belize... had a great time.

 

It was our first RCL cruise and our second cruise overall... the first was on Holland America for our honeymoon. (We picked that cruise more based on the itinerary and the timespan than the cruise line, I know HAL is typically seen as an "older" cruise line... and we were only 25 at the time)

 

To compare the two quickly, I preferred the Navigator to the Noordam... the Royal Promenade was awesome, the casino was bigger, I liked the pool areas better... the mini golf was great as well, although it's in big need of a rehab. But overall I did find that RCL was much better for our age.

 

Our HAL trip was 10 nights, and this one was 5 nights... and in a lot of ways I actually preferred the shorter cruise. It was just enough time to get away, then I was ready to come home. (We spent 2 nights in Miami with my cousin before the cruise as well) So, I suppose really a 7 night cruise would be perfect for us...

 

The one area I thought HAL was better than RCL was in the food in the main dining room. We ate in the dining room the first two nights of the cruise, decided it wasn't anything super special so for the last nights we went to Johnny Rocket's one night then Windjammer (well, Jade) the other two nights. The sushi on the ship was very good. On HAL the food in the dining room was spectacular, some really unique stuff every night, and I didn't really feel the same way about the dining room food on the Navigator... It was good, but we preferred to just go about getting dinner at our leisure instead of waiting for our assigned time.

 

Cozumel was great, we went to Xcaret... fun place, lots to do and see... one thing I noticed was that the safety precautions aren't as stringent as they would be in the US, a lot of the paths we walked down had no railings and if you fell off you'd fall 15 feet! Or, fall right into the pool with giant sea turtles...

 

Belize we went cave tubing with Major Tom, highly recommended, lots of fun... only annoying part was that the tender getting off the ship was being very slow. We docked at 7:30 and weren't able to get to shore until after 10, and the last tender left at 3:15. I was a little worried we wouldn't even be able to go. But, we were able to, although it would have been nice to have a little more time so we weren't as rushed. We had to "link" and be pulled through the cave so we didn't take too long.

 

Here's a link to our pics if anyone's interested:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mveino/MiamiCruise2008

 

Is the mini golf area in need of a big rehab or the ship????

[dividedsky319]

I was referring to the mini golf, the ship is in great condition.

 

The fake plastic plants around the mini golf were all shriveled and falling out... and the "greens" had too many gaps and stuff like that. Still fun to play, but like I said, could use some work.

[dividedsky319]

Sorry, ignore this... dumb board made me double post!

[castle701]

Thanks Matt - This is our 3rd time on the navigator - glad to hear it looks great.

[IResQU]

We were on this sailing also.

we had a wonderful time. We have also sailed on Carnival Victory before and this ship is much more "fancy" But the victory was nice. My biggest complaint with this cruise is I gained over 5 lbs.....From the yummy desserts! No seriously, I don't like that the windjammer isn't open 24 hours, because my kids swam all day and would be starving for chicken nuggats or cheeseburgers about 4:30, and it was closed, then another time, after we won the BINGO!!!! (free cruise) we went to the windjammer to eat at 10 pm, (had to celebrate at the bar) and it was closed, so we had the prominade sandwiches, that were not so fresh and hard as hockeypucks.

All in all it was a wonderful cruise, Had tons of fun. Kids loved Adventure Ocean, and our waitstaff and room steward were AMAZING! Belize we did Bannister Island, VERY nice. Cozumel was only so-so, but we had four kids all under 7. So That could be why! I still have the cruise compasses so ask away if you have any questions!

[lovelights]

lovelights, we were on an excursion that left at 7:15am as well. We got a message left on our voicemail saying that becuase of the early excursion, the Windjammer would be opening at 6:30am instead. Did you go to check to see if it was open or did you just assume it wasn't?

 

And I also really enjoyed the sandwiches in the promenade cafe, especially the basil pesto mozzarella sandwich or whatever it was called, with the tomato... delicious!

 

 

Yes, we got the voice mail as well, and we did arrive at the Buffet around 6:30am, along with several other guests and were told that the buffet would not be open until 7:00am. Supposively, the buffet crew was not aware of the time change.... so they said. We ended up going to the Promenade Cafe and got a banana. lol We're all well now and feeling better, and have already booked out next cruise. This time we're going to try the Caribbean Princess on her Sample Cruise in May. Never had a balcony room before, and this will be the first time. Really excited and in hopes that I don't get sick this time. Think I'm going to take Zycam before I go. lol

[longwood]

Matt,

 

Great post. My wife and I were on the same cruise. In fact, I'm in one of your pictures. During quest, we were sitting across from you. I'm the chunky guy wearing the black suit.