Navigator of the Seas 9/14/2014 - Random Observations From a First Time Cruiser

We just got back from our trip to Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Jamaica on Navigator of the Seas, 9/14 - 9/21.

This was my first cruise. I didn't really want to do a cruise but my DW talked me into it. I had an open mind about the trip but was honestly a little skeptical about doing it.

Anyway, I thought I'd just several random observations here . . . in some cases, to address questions I saw on CC in the days leading up to our trip. Remember, I'm a first time cruiser so if I say something that seems obvious to you, you'll understand why.

Embarkation - A bit chaotic at first. There were no signs or instructions in Parking Lot B as to connecting with shuttles. People were standing by their cars or wandering around. We asked employees and couldn't get a clear answer. Finally found a spot on the long side of the lot closest to the road where shuttles were collecting people. The terminal was crowded but RCI did an excellent job of getting people through. Security line took about 15 minutes. The next line, a massive serpentine line with at least 8 layers, only took 30 minutes to get through. They had 40+ agents working to process everyone and they did a great job.

Muster - life jackets not required, which made it easier. We were done in 15-20 minutes.

Windjammer - I hear people complain about the Windjammer food and I don't get it. Other than the scrambled eggs (really bad) I thought the selection, variety and quality of the food was excellent, and ALL of the servers in that area were very friendly.

Sapphire Room (MDR) - Loved the food, loved the service. We sat with two other couples who were lots of fun to meet and we had a great time. We were booked for the early seating.

Drink package - My DW and I bought the Premium Drink Packages. I've seen comments that bartenders ignored package holders because they don't get the tips that way. I never saw any bartender do that and I was watching for it. I was able to take both our cards to the bar and get two drinks at one time, never a problem. The packages worked very well.

Sodas - Bartenders never swiped our cards when we ordered sodas, as some have experienced. We'd just hand them our cups or hold up the card and they got our drinks.

Bars - The quality of bartenders and bars varied greatly. Bars on deck had less courteous bartenders and typically lower quality drinks. I was very disappointed with the drinks in Two Poets - I expected better there. Schooner Bar was better, and the R Bar on Deck Five was awesome. Bartenders Jelena (from Serbia) and Francisco (Dominican Republic) made a great team, lots of fun, and their drinks were tremendous. They use all fresh ingredients and make the drinks right, including some very complicated drinks. They did a martini class which we attended - it was almost a comedy show, it was that entertaining. We went to the R Bar a lot, so much so that every time we walked up Jelena would say to my wife, "Monique, dahhhling, how are you?" LOL Loved her accent. The bar directly below the R Bar had live music, and it was consistently too loud. There is just no reason to play music that loud. The service there was awful as well.

Johnny Rocket - a fun place, but again, when the waitstaff does their dance routine they crank the music up so loud it distorts. I think the sonic bludgeoning I suffered may have actually caused some internal injury. Loved the strawberry shake and the burger. Long lines at peak time; best bet is to go a little early. Next cruise I'll go back - with earplugs.

Surveys - No one asked us for a 10 on a survey. Only two people mentioned the survey at all . . . a guy on one of our excursions, and our waiter. Both asked us to fill out the surveys and said they hoped we were happy with their work. No one else said anything about surveys. I explained the survey situation to the others at our dining room table with our waiter standing there . . . you could tell he appreciated me doing that, but he didn't want to say it himself.

Excursions - we booked an excursion thru RCI for Grand Cayman because this is a tender destination, and it worked beautifully. We got off the boat quickly and without getting tender tickets. The excursion (Deluxe Stingray City) was fantastic, my favorite experience from the cruise. MarineLand tours was the company that did the excursion for RCI and they were outstanding. We booked a private tour to Blue Hole and Scotchies in Jamaica through Courtney Taylor tours and Courtney did a wonderful job.

Shopping - the stores were a little bit foo foo for my tastes, but my wife enjoyed window shopping.

Sales - Have you ever witnessed a shark frenzy, or hyenas fighting over a carcass, or a bunch of piranha attacking an animal? This is what you'll experience if you go to one of the one-hour sales on Deck Five. It's incredible how much energy you can generate by putting a sale price and a time limit on watches, jewelry, hats, purses and scarves. LOL I'm just teasing - We dived in to a couple of these and it was actually a lot of fun, like Black Friday on the Seven Seas. Here's a picture of the watch sale . . .

Guest Services - Really nice people, very helpful.

Photography - ok, I'm a photographer so I am probably more demanding than the average passenger. But I thought the photo process was a disaster from start to finish. The photographers are really nothing more than people who have been taught a few poses and handed a camera. One girl shot a picture and showed it to me so I'd see the glare in my glasses, to get me to remove the glasses. All she had to do was raise the soft boxes to change the angle and there would have been no glare, but she didn't know that. (She should have done that for all the photos, not just mine - I'm not suggesting she reposition her lighting for every subject.) The screens to review your photos are very nice - you can tag pictures as favorites or trash ones you don't like. Unfortunately, there is no way to save that information so if you order a digital package (like 15 images) you will have to re-choose whatever pictures you want on thier wonky, lame software they give you for ordering. You'll make your choices from tiny preview photos that are 360 pixels tall and covered in watermarks. So - make sure you write down which pictures you want while viewing them on the ship, or take a picture of screen to help you remember. Otherwise you may struggle with picking out your photos after you get home. Also, if you buy digital prints they're limited to 8x10 resolution and cropped to that aspect ratio. What if I want to print 4x6s or 5x7s? Why not just give us the full 4x6 image and let us crop to our preferences? And if the pictures are only sized for 8x10 (2400 x 3000 pixels), how does the ship sell 16x20 enlargements? Why are they reducing the size of the images before delivering them to you? All in all, I thought this was the worst part of the trip.

Entertainment - Loved most of the music on the ship. The piano player . . . if you'd billed him as a country piano player I wouldn't have objected, but a pianist in a bar typically plays all kinds of music. In this case we had two choices - country or western. Even non-country songs were country. Just didn't like the lack of variety. The comedians were good. The comedy mind reading show was a riot, and pretty amazing too. All top notch.

The ship itself - I didn't see the NOS before its renovations, but it is beautiful now. The art and decor are wonderful. I also thought they did an amazing job of keeping everything clean and clutter-free.

Cabin - We had a panoramic oceanview cabin #1816 on the 12th deck and it was awesome. I posted some pictures on the thread Panoramic Oceanview Cabin

Putt-Putt - that's a pretty tough mini golf course! Next time I'm bringing a 3W with me . . .

Other Cruisers - I was very disappointed with many of the cruisers, who seemed hell-bent on complaining. We watched an elderly woman gripe out a bartender because the bartender didn't understand her the first time, then fuss at another employee because everything in the Windjammer was "bad" - and this was early on the first day! People we talked with complained about this or that, because it wasn't perfect. People cut in lines or just walked in front of us with no sense of courtesy or respect. Children ran through crowds, careening off people, and parents did nothing to stop it. One couple literally walked between the photographer and us during a photo shoot. Just ignored us and walked thru. The photographer made a comment about it and the guy came back to get her name because he was going to report her "smarta$$ remark." We met a lot of nice folks on the boat but I was amazed at how so many people were self-absorbed and self-entitled, and just wanted to gripe and bellyache. I just hated to see people act that way.

Credit Cards - My DW neglected to call her bank before we left, and the bank cut off her credit card on Day 2 in Cozumel. Payment to RCI for our trip was connected to that credit card. We spent an hour plus on Saturday trying to get her card reactivated, to no avail. Fortunately, I had called about my card so I was able to pay for those expenses on mine. Lesson learned: always call your bank before you go! I wasn't upset about the mix-up - the "I told you so" value for this was priceless. ;-)

Disembarkation - the process on ship was excellent. Assigning different groups to the luggage and having people depart by group worked very well. We were supposed to leave at 9:30 and they actually called us to go by 8:45. The terminal was chaos. You entered on the right and went 2/3 of the way to the left to find your luggage, then went back to the right to get a porter, then back to the left to pick up your luggage, then back to the right to get in the exit line. Did the federal government plan this process? Signs would have been extremely helpful. That said - once we got in the exit line it went remarkably fast. From that point it probably took less than 20 minutes to go thru customs, get a shuttle to the parking lot and come back to pick up DW.

Summing it up - So how did the trip go, my first cruise that I honestly didn't want to do. Well, on the 6th day of the cruise, we went to Deck 6 and booked a cruise for next May at the Next Cruise office. Yep, I had a great time!

If you are going out on the NOS and want to see current photos, I've posted an album of pictures at familytravelphotos.com - you'll find lots of pictures of the ship's interior under the ship folder.

thank you for this...you had me LOL but I will be in your shoes next Aug so this is GREAT for me. And thank you for the pics!! I will be in the larger panoramic OV rooms!! #1864

So happy you enjoyed a positive experience, yes I've seen/heard some of the rude behavior, but very rare. Like you, I'm cruising on the NOS again, Nov. 9 to be exact.

Overall, I really do enjoy this ship.

Glad you had a great cruise.

Now you are hooked.⚓️

Enjoy the next and the ones after as well

Happy Days!

Thanks for the review. We are leaving this Sunday (9-28) on the NOS on the same itinerary. We are even taking the same excursion in Grand Cayman.

We are also 1st time cruisers but traveling with my sister & husband who are cruise pros.

Thanks again, we are packing now.

I am also glad you had a great cruise, and thank you for sharing. We also had our credit card put on hold. I had cash and the cruise line worked it out that day - but it was rather embarrassing at the time.

I also agree strongly with your "other cruisers" disappointment. I haven't been cruising that long - but I have noticed a more smug and arrogant demeanor among the "other cruisers" (regardless of cruise line). It has caused me and my wife to seek tables-for-two during dining (which actually is very nice).

Thanks again..

QTPie :cool:

Excellent photos, and great review!!! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the wonderful review. It was very insightful and well written. We sailed the NOS last year before the refit and we are looking forward to the changes. Sorry about all the negative people you met but these ships are as big as a little city. You can meet all types. Hope you enjoy your next cruise as much as this one.

GREAT review - thanks for taking the time to do it!

thank you for this...you had me LOL but I will be in your shoes next Aug so this is GREAT for me. And thank you for the pics!! I will be in the larger panoramic OV rooms!! #1864

You'll love the 12th deck!

Curious about what ship your next cruise is on? We love Navigator and have sailed and will sail on her several times.

I am also glad you had a great cruise, and thank you for sharing. We also had our credit card put on hold. I had cash and the cruise line worked it out that day - but it was rather embarrassing at the time.

 

I also agree strongly with your "other cruisers" disappointment. I haven't been cruising that long - but I have noticed a more smug and arrogant demeanor among the "other cruisers" (regardless of cruise line). It has caused me and my wife to seek tables-for-two during dining (which actually is very nice).

 

Thanks again..

 

QTPie :cool:

So happy you enjoyed a positive experience, yes I've seen/heard some of the rude behavior, but very rare. Like you, I'm cruising on the NOS again, Nov. 9 to be exact.

Overall, I really do enjoy this ship.

We were lucky that I had the $ on my card at the time, but DW admits she should have called before we left. To be fair, she was overcoming a pretty bad bout of pneumonia the week before we left so she had trouble with a lot of things like that.

There weren't a lot of people who were rude or self-entitled, just enough to make it noteworthy. The couple who cut in between us and our photographer really shocked me LOL. Most of the people we met were really nice, and very open to having nice conversations.

Enjoy your Nov 9 cruise, Sat1!

Thanks for the review. We are leaving this Sunday (9-28) on the NOS on the same itinerary. We are even taking the same excursion in Grand Cayman.

We are also 1st time cruisers but traveling with my sister & husband who are cruise pros.

Thanks again, we are packing now.

You are going to love it - the excursion in Grand Cayman is AWESOME.

Check out the pix and let me know if you have any questions. I'll be happy to help.

GREAT review - thanks for taking the time to do it!

Excellent photos, and great review!!! Thanks for sharing!

Glad you found it helpful!

Thanks for the wonderful review. It was very insightful and well written. We sailed the NOS last year before the refit and we are looking forward to the changes. Sorry about all the negative people you met but these ships are as big as a little city. You can meet all types. Hope you enjoy your next cruise as much as this one.

The ship was beautiful. I lack your experience on how the ship was so I can't compare it, but I was just overwhelmed with how nice everything was.

Curious about what ship your next cruise is on? We love Navigator and have sailed and will sail on her several times.

We are booked on the Navigator for a trip to Cozumel, Belize and Honduras. I may change it - I don't see much in the way of fun excursions at these destinations so far. I wouldn't mind going back to Grand Cayman and Jamaica again!

Going out of Galveston we don't have too many options, and RCI stops going out of New Orleans in April.

Great review. Thank you.

I really enjoyed reading your review and I also looked at ALL of your photos! I loved your cabin! Great views! :D

Loved your review! We were in the same boat (pun intended) as you. DH did not want to cruise but appeased me for one cruise. Did a Southern Caribbean out of San Juan in 2010. It has become our annual "break from winter" and he looks more forward to it than me, or just as forward, perhaps. So glad you had a great experience and a fun trip. Welcome aboard and now you can speak from experience.;)

Thanks for the review. My daughter and her husband will be on Navigator on Oct. 5 so I'm sure they'll appreciate your review!

Nice review! My parents had been on the Navigator 4 or 5 times and didn't bring us. We would like to get on the Navigator.

I like hearing feedback from someone who is new to cruising. Sometimes those who are more experienced become jaded and pick on the little things because their umpteenth cruise had a waiter who didn't smile the right way or their towel animal wasn't folded perfectly.

Navigator got me hooked on Royal too (and this was pre-renovation!), so it's nice to see it did the same for someone else.

Loved your review! We were in the same boat (pun intended) as you. DH did not want to cruise but appeased me for one cruise. Did a Southern Caribbean out of San Juan in 2010. It has become our annual "break from winter" and he looks more forward to it than me, or just as forward, perhaps. So glad you had a great experience and a fun trip. Welcome aboard and now you can speak from experience.;)

It really did turn my thinking around, that's for sure. I still want to do the traditional vacations - my passion is travel photography and my website is all about family travel photography - and cruises are pretty limited for that. But I do plan to intersperse cruises with our other vacations.

I like hearing feedback from someone who is new to cruising. Sometimes those who are more experienced become jaded and pick on the little things because their umpteenth cruise had a waiter who didn't smile the right way or their towel animal wasn't folded perfectly.

 

Navigator got me hooked on Royal too (and this was pre-renovation!), so it's nice to see it did the same for someone else.

That's a very good observation. A newbie's perspective is different than the experienced cruiser. We don't have the same level of expectation, and we're more likely to notice things that experienced cruisers have become accustomed to.

Navigator was beautiful. I was really impressed with how nice and clean it all was.

Enjoyed reading your review. DH is thinking about doing the zipline. We shall see.