6/21 Navigator of the Seas - Incredible Vacation

[RandSluv2cruise]

Just got back from our honeymoom cruise and want to share our experiece.

 

We flew through Frankfurt to Rome on Lufthansa. This was a very good airline. The service was great and the flight attendants very friendly. Nothing like our US carriers.

 

We pre-booked a driver with romepickup.com. My wife found a great price, only 40 E for both of us. He was on time with a sign outside baggage pick-up. The ride was, to say the least, quick and scary. If you have ever been on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride you will understand the experience. However, it was cheap and quick.

 

We stayed at the Best Western Canada, just a few blocks from Termini (Rome's version of Grand Central Station). Don't thumb your nose at "Best Western". They are very different overseas. The hotel was awesome. The room was large and clean with a 4 poster bed and painted ceiling. The front desk was very friendly. We took a nap and then headed out to see the sites of Rome before our departure the next day. When we returned the manager had a bottle of champagne and chocolates waiting for us with a card congratulating us on our marriage. Great touch! Totally unexpected!

 

We had connected with 2 other couples from Cruise Critic and we booked a driver for a tour and then transfer to the port. We used Luke from lukethedriver.com. Let me tell you, he made a great trip, even better. The guy was awesome. Very friendly, very attentive and very accomodating. We did a drive by of the major sites (we had visited them the day before on foot), took us to a few off the beaten path places and showed us a great local place for lunch. He then drove us to the port. Between the 3 couples, it was very affordable.

 

Navigator of the Seas is a beautiful ship. We had a balcony cabin and it was the best one we've ever stayed in on a ship. We reserved an X-Balcony room. Basically, you were guaranteed a deluxe balcony or better room. The common areas were always clean. We spent some time each day/night sitting on the balcony having tea or reading.

 

There are 3 dining rooms, an incredible 5th deck promenade, usual pool deck and solarium spa, and some nice activity areas (that we didn't use): putt putt golf, rock climbing wall, basketball court, in-line skating track, ice-skating rink, etc. Something for everyone.

 

We booked My Time Dining and will never go back to the early/late seating scenario. You can call in each day and reserve the time you want to go to dinner. One night we ate at 7, another at 8:45 and the rest at 8. Once we found a favorite waiter, we requested him every night. Since it was our honeymoon, we really didn't care to sit with other people and had a table for 2 most evenings. You could also sit at larger tables and take your chances with dining companions. After the first 2 days, we made advanced reservations for the rest of the week.

 

Speaking of our favorite waiter, we had the great luck to find Dani and Rebecca. Dani is a cruise veteran with many years waiting tables. He is from Croatia and his assistant, Rebecca is from Romania. They were, by far, the BEST team we have ever had in a cruise ship dining room. If you are going to do MTD on Navigator, ask for Dani's table and tell him his friends from Houston sent you. I bet you will get top notch service.

 

I'm going to review our ports of call on other message boards. In general, we skipped all of the overpriced shore excursions offered by RCI. We have found they are crowded and overpriced. Frankly, we don't care about all the details of all the old buildings you will marvel at in each port. However, we armed ourselves with great walking tours from the internet. Frommers.com is a great site to find walking tours or a "city in a day". We also used public transportation: busses and trains. We had NO problems at all with any of the public transportation. Again, more details in other boards.

 

The entertainment on this ship was your usual cruise ship talent. However, the ice show was awesome. We now found out what happens to Eastern European ice skaters that don't make it to the Olympics! The show was very nice. There were other shows that were ok.

 

Be forewarned, cruises that depart from European ports, will have a majority of passengers from that country. The Americans and British on board (believe me, we talked about it all week) were amazed at how loud and rude the Italian passengers were. Also, most of them smoke. You could barely get off the elevator as they were pushing their way in. I almost started many international incidents in the buffet line at the Windjammer. Simply amazing! Oh well, just know this up front and you will be ok.

 

Both of the embarcation and debarcation went very smoothly. We are Platinum Crown & Anchor members so we did have our own line getting on the ship and early departure. However, it didn't seem to go too badly for everyone else.

 

Luke picked us up and drove us back to Rome. We stored our luggage at the Termini station and went off to explore Rome again. We took the Leonardo Express (that's a train) from Termini to the airport. The ride was only 30 minutes, runs every 1/2 hour and only costs 11 E per person. Don't worry, you won't be the only one wheeling your luggage onto the train. Best value in town. PLEASE NOTE: If you use the train, you must get your ticket punched at the yellow box before boarding. There isn't any clear signing. From the train station we stayed at the Hilton Hotel at the airport. It was very convenient but probably the low point of our trip: poor service, not friendly, VERY long time at check-in. However, if you have an early flight the next day it is convenient...just a 15 minute walk to the ticket counter.

 

Overall, this was a great cruise value on a very nice ship.

 

Whew....now it's off to other message boards.

[scotslizzy]

So glad you enjoyed your cruise and that all your travel arrangements worked out.

 

My question is if there ares so many Italians on this cruise do they sit non Italians at the same dinner table. I would not like to be seated with them at dinner if they are as rude and loud as you and others have mentioned in previous comments .

 

I so enjoy meeting people from different walks of life on cruises but not the loud brash type. Or am I being unfair here ?

 

Scotslizzy

[RandSluv2cruise]

Well, we had the My Time Dining, so it wasn't and issue for us. You could probably request English speaking dining companions. The head waiter should be able to help you with this if you do happen to get at a table with Italian speaking guests.

[Shiver]

Great review!

 

I'm going on the same cruise out of Civitavecchia in September :)

 

Btw, did you do the Western or Eastern Med? I would also like to read about your port reviews. Could you post them here as well? Or maybe in som way point me in the right direction to where I can read them?

 

I also like the part you said about Romepickup! I haven't booked any transportation yet, but I will surely look at their website now!

 

Looking forward to hear more!

 

Thanks!

 

Ps. congratulations with the wedding!

[RandSluv2cruise]

We visited Genoa, Villefrance, Barcelona, Palma de Mallarca and Sardinia. I'll get the port reviews posted soon. You can just search for the posts under my user name. You'll love the trip.

[Aquahound]

Be forewarned, cruises that depart from European ports, will have a majority of passengers from that country. The Americans and British on board (believe me, we talked about it all week) were amazed at how loud and rude the Italian passengers were. Also, most of them smoke. You could barely get off the elevator as they were pushing their way in. I almost started many international incidents in the buffet line at the Windjammer. Simply amazing! Oh well, just know this up front and you will be ok.

 

This was exactly my experience on this ship last fall. Everything about the cruise was fabulous except for the fellow passengers. The extreme rudeness was overbearing at times. You're right...it was always the topic of conversation among the U.S. and U.K. passengers (and the crew!).

 

Oh well, I agree with your ship assessment. I love the Navigator and all the Voyager Class ships.

[RenieRaider]

Thank you RandS! And thank you for the heads up.

We took a cruise out of Galveston one time and there were many Texans... and they were LARGE, like the state, Larger than life. FUN. Big FUN!!!!!! LOVED it!

 

I see we are going to be cruising the same ports and look forward to your reviews. THANKS AGAIN!

[CruisinManiac]

Just got back from our honeymoom cruise and want to share our experiece.

 

We flew through Frankfurt to Rome on Lufthansa. This was a very good airline. The service was great and the flight attendants very friendly. Nothing like our US carriers.

 

We pre-booked a driver with romepickup.com. My wife found a great price, only 40 E for both of us. He was on time with a sign outside baggage pick-up. The ride was, to say the least, quick and scary. If you have ever been on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride you will understand the experience. However, it was cheap and quick.

 

We stayed at the Best Western Canada, just a few blocks from Termini (Rome's version of Grand Central Station). Don't thumb your nose at "Best Western". They are very different overseas. The hotel was awesome. The room was large and clean with a 4 poster bed and painted ceiling. The front desk was very friendly. We took a nap and then headed out to see the sites of Rome before our departure the next day. When we returned the manager had a bottle of champagne and chocolates waiting for us with a card congratulating us on our marriage. Great touch! Totally unexpected!

 

We had connected with 2 other couples from Cruise Critic and we booked a driver for a tour and then transfer to the port. We used Luke from lukethedriver.com. Let me tell you, he made a great trip, even better. The guy was awesome. Very friendly, very attentive and very accomodating. We did a drive by of the major sites (we had visited them the day before on foot), took us to a few off the beaten path places and showed us a great local place for lunch. He then drove us to the port. Between the 3 couples, it was very affordable.

 

Navigator of the Seas is a beautiful ship. We had a balcony cabin and it was the best one we've ever stayed in on a ship. We reserved an X-Balcony room. Basically, you were guaranteed a deluxe balcony or better room. The common areas were always clean. We spent some time each day/night sitting on the balcony having tea or reading.

 

There are 3 dining rooms, an incredible 5th deck promenade, usual pool deck and solarium spa, and some nice activity areas (that we didn't use): putt putt golf, rock climbing wall, basketball court, in-line skating track, ice-skating rink, etc. Something for everyone.

 

We booked My Time Dining and will never go back to the early/late seating scenario. You can call in each day and reserve the time you want to go to dinner. One night we ate at 7, another at 8:45 and the rest at 8. Once we found a favorite waiter, we requested him every night. Since it was our honeymoon, we really didn't care to sit with other people and had a table for 2 most evenings. You could also sit at larger tables and take your chances with dining companions. After the first 2 days, we made advanced reservations for the rest of the week.

 

Speaking of our favorite waiter, we had the great luck to find Dani and Rebecca. Dani is a cruise veteran with many years waiting tables. He is from Croatia and his assistant, Rebecca is from Romania. They were, by far, the BEST team we have ever had in a cruise ship dining room. If you are going to do MTD on Navigator, ask for Dani's table and tell him his friends from Houston sent you. I bet you will get top notch service.

 

I'm going to review our ports of call on other message boards. In general, we skipped all of the overpriced shore excursions offered by RCI. We have found they are crowded and overpriced. Frankly, we don't care about all the details of all the old buildings you will marvel at in each port. However, we armed ourselves with great walking tours from the internet. Frommers.com is a great site to find walking tours or a "city in a day". We also used public transportation: busses and trains. We had NO problems at all with any of the public transportation. Again, more details in other boards.

 

The entertainment on this ship was your usual cruise ship talent. However, the ice show was awesome. We now found out what happens to Eastern European ice skaters that don't make it to the Olympics! The show was very nice. There were other shows that were ok.

 

Be forewarned, cruises that depart from European ports, will have a majority of passengers from that country. The Americans and British on board (believe me, we talked about it all week) were amazed at how loud and rude the Italian passengers were. Also, most of them smoke. You could barely get off the elevator as they were pushing their way in. I almost started many international incidents in the buffet line at the Windjammer. Simply amazing! Oh well, just know this up front and you will be ok.

 

Both of the embarcation and debarcation went very smoothly. We are Platinum Crown & Anchor members so we did have our own line getting on the ship and early departure. However, it didn't seem to go too badly for everyone else.

 

Luke picked us up and drove us back to Rome. We stored our luggage at the Termini station and went off to explore Rome again. We took the Leonardo Express (that's a train) from Termini to the airport. The ride was only 30 minutes, runs every 1/2 hour and only costs 11 E per person. Don't worry, you won't be the only one wheeling your luggage onto the train. Best value in town. PLEASE NOTE: If you use the train, you must get your ticket punched at the yellow box before boarding. There isn't any clear signing. From the train station we stayed at the Hilton Hotel at the airport. It was very convenient but probably the low point of our trip: poor service, not friendly, VERY long time at check-in. However, if you have an early flight the next day it is convenient...just a 15 minute walk to the ticket counter.

 

Overall, this was a great cruise value on a very nice ship.

 

Whew....now it's off to other message boards.

 

Great review that brought back memories! :D We also stayed in the Best Western Canada. Do you have photos of your room, or know what type you reserved? Ours did not have a 4 poster, but i am returning and would like to request one. :)

 

BTW - On our cruise, we had no trouble with rude, pushy Italians. :confused: I assumed everyone was American, and the guest were certainly more refined than I have seen in quite a while on a ship. ;)

[RandSluv2cruise]

We just reserved a standard room at the Best Western Canada. This is a picture of the ceiling. Very nice.

[CruisinManiac]

We just reserved a standard room at the Best Western Canada. This is a picture of the ceiling. Very nice.

 

We also reserved a standard room, but with two beds. Perhaps that's why we ended up with the room we did. Very lovely suite, and a painted ceiling, too.

 

 

For anyone curious about the "Best Western", here is a photo of the outside.