ejpoduska

I’m so thankful you wrote about the GF options on Navigator. My 9 yr old and husband both have CD, and I’ve been very nervous about the GF options. We usually cruise Carnival, and they ar fantastic with GF. However I thought it would be fun to try an RC cruise this time. 

Since the kids are with us, we won’t do specialty dining (waste of money on good food they don’t appreciate). Could you tell me about your experience with other dining options on Navigator?

Did you eat breakfast/lunch in the MDR?

Did you try the items on the buffet? Pizza? Was it difficult to get GF substitutuions (pasta, buns, pizza crust)?

On Carnival, we would order our GF items the day before (French toast for breakfast, pasta for dinner, etc). But we had a set dining time and the same wait staff. This time I thought we would enjoy our time better if we did the ‘my time dining’. Now, I’m regretting it because of the different staff each night....

Any help/suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated. 

19 hours ago, Grandma Dazzles said:

 

Lots of posts on the Navigator - just returned to service after a major update, numerous additions, $115 million redo - post was from over a year ago.  Just returned from a fantastic 9-day cruise on the Navigator.  Would highly recommend.

 

Serenade is a smaller, older, RC ship. Doesn’t have a lot of whistles and bells, but is a favorite of many people. Lots of glass and sea views - a true cruise ship. 

 

 

Thank you. I noticed too late that the post was from April of 2018.  I know of the updates, which is why I picked Navagator over our regular Carnival cruises (RC seems to redo ships better than Carnival).  

Tell me, since you just got off of the renovated ship, what you liked about it.  Do you have any comparisons to Carnival ships? 

On 4/9/2018 at 1:33 PM, JCruiseGuy said:

Just got off 9 days on Navigator of the Seas, which is larger and has more amenities than Serenade. Have cruised Carnival Conquest, which is similar to Glory. After the last 9 days, I would absolutely stay with the Glory. Even on the larger Navigator, food was awful and limited, and entertainment was limited compared to recent cruises on Dream, Triumph, and my prior cruise on Conquest. Although I am Diamond on RCI, I would not recommend a cruise on anything less than a Quantum or Oasis class, as it seems all resources are going there.

This is concerning to me!!! I just booked on Navigator for June... it's our first RC cruise in 15 years....

I love Carnival,  but was drawn to the price and new amenities of the Navigator.  What things would you say were great on the Navigator?  Any suggestions on great food?

We will be porting in Montego Bay, and just want to take a cab to a beach with nice sand and enjoy a few hours of swimming.

Doctors Cave Beach looks to be our best bet. Would you agree?

I’ve heard that it’s not safe to travel around without using a cruise line excursion, but I’m wondering if that’s true or if it’s just the cruise lines trying to scare people into booking with them.

We will have a 6yrold and an 8yrold with us.

Mr. Sanchos was a great time with good drinks and incredible food. We had a group of 6 (3 couples) and shared a cab (van from the cruise port). I don't have the prices but if you search it there was several people who posted the cab price list on these boards. They had plenty of shopping opportunities outside the resort with little pressure.

When the cab dropped us off we walked in the main gates and met with a girl at a desk who looked up our reservation (made online before sailing). We each paid separately then she introduced us to Jose and said that he would take care of us for the rest of the day. He gave us a quick tour of the facilities then directed us to the beach and set us up with beach chairs. He then showed us to a table under large thatched umbrellas for shade. We were able to safely keep all of our belongings here and after giving Jose our drink order we found our way into the water. Jose found us in the water to deliver our drinks and told us that he would get another round.

After some time in the water and several margaritas we headed for the shade. Jose gave us menus and told us that everything on the menu was included and unlimited. Whatever we ordered he brought us two orders. We were glad he did as the food was incredible. Everyone agreed that the garlic shrimp and coconut shrimp was the best they have had.

 

Overall we all agreed that if we go back to Cozumel we would definitely go back to Mr. Sanchos. I would upload photos but I am not on my computer where I have my cruise photos. If I get a chance later I will upload some for you to view. It was really worth the price for the all inclusive.

How busy was Mr Sanchos?? It seems like a great option.

We ported in Belize last summer, just before the hurricane stuff hit. We never book excursions through the cruise line because they are overcrowded and over priced. When researching things to do (I was looking for water activities since it was August and they needed to be fairly cheap since we don’t want to spend a ton of money on excursions for a 5yrold and 7yrold), it was difficult to find things that were somewhat close to the ship. Since we'd never been before, I didn’t think trusting a local to take me 2 hours away would be a good idea. So, we decided to just get off and see what we found and see what excursions were offered by locals.

It was a big mistake. As soon as we were out of the port area, we were confronted by the normal locals trying to get you to buy their excursion. But I didn’t get a good feeling from any of them, so we decided to walk around and see the ‘sights’.... The city is very dirty and the streets were busy. We weren’t messed with too much on our walk, but the smells and sights were bad. We made it up to the downtown area and then came back to the ship. If anything, it was a lesson to our kids that not everyone lives the life they live, and they should be grateful for what they have.

With all of that said, I wouldn’t recommend winging it and planning to buy an excursion when you get off the ship. Find something you like before hand and book it.