My very very long review of the Navigator of the Seas 12/5/09 Part 1

[happyteacher1214]

Navigator of the Seas

December 5-10, 2009

My honeys first (and certainly not last) cruise...

Disclaimer: This is the opinion of a fourth time cruiser and a first time cruiser. All events are real and nothing was made up. Also, the fourth time cruiser and poaster owes all of her CC friends a lot of thanks and pictures (not downloaded yet)

 

Here it goes.....

I have been counting the days since I have booked this cruise…first it was down to only 60 days left, then 30, 5 days…finally it was here and boy was I excited! I woke up Saturday morning feeling anxious, I was ready to go! Since we live in West Palm Beach, and its only a one hour and fifteen minute drive to the port of Miami, we decided to leave our home around 10:00 and we are so glad we did. There were two traffic jams that backed up for miles and we finally made it to POM around 11:45…so for those locals out there….leave your house with plenty of time, because you never know.

Parked the car right at the port, it was $20 per day….ugh! Expensive! The embarkation process was EXCELLENT, quick and efficient. They had fruit punch, lemonade and cookies at the check in area. We did not eat any, but it was a nice touch. After we checked in they told us to proceed to a waiting area and gave us numbers by group, we were group #5 and they had just called group #2 and it only took about ten more minutes until they called our group. My BF was so impressed with the organization he is a very methodical person and thought that the whole process from the safety check to the organization including they only allow a certain amount of people to stand in the hanging hallway (you know the one right before you board that connects the port to the ship) was very safe and organized.

We proceeded inside and my face just light up like a Christmas tree when I entered. My BF said “wow, this is nice” . We took the glass elevators and he gasped, I mean gasped he could not believe where he was and that this kind of ship existed. As we are floating away in those glass capsules, his breath was taken away by the promenade, I don’t think anyone ever gets over what a marvel the voyager class ships are. Simply breathtaking.

We checked to see if our room was ready, it was not but since it was only 12:30 (yes it only took about 45 minutes since we parked until we were onboard) so we hit the windjammer. There was a beautiful gingerbread house village set up that was super cute. The WJ was already packed full of people and the view of Miami also took my BF breath away. He asked where else in Miami could you get a view like that during lunch?? And we are Miami people!

My only wish was that the WJ food matched the beauty of the view. I too noticed right away the decline in food at the WJ. At first after reading all the reviews I thought that it was just certain people who were maybe picky eaters, however I too noticed and I am not a fussy eater. I remember back in the days when they had a delicious big ham and succulent beef roast being carved, they would have a paella, a fresh tossed pasta, now its more like a step above cafeteria food, more like a golden corral if anything else. My BF found fish as always, he loves seafood but even he wasn’t totally impressed by it. What we did find that we loved was the French toasted bread, and they had huge bottles of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) and we would take a whole bottle with us and dip our bread on EVOO with lots of black pepper. We did this every day for lunch and we absolutely loved it! I mean please don’t get me wrong I found some things I enjoyed like the greek salad, jerk chicken, lentil stew and a few in between dishes that were good oh and also the fruit salads were juicy and sweet. Most desserts were good but I did not try too many since I was watching what I had for desserts as most women do LOL. What we did notice was the nice service RCI had with the carts. There would be a WJ worker with a cart that came around offering water, coffee and tea. There was also people walking around picking up dirty plates, and clearing tables. The lack of attention, and cleanliness was NOT an issue on this ship whatsoever, unlike what I had heard before. So I give KUDOS!!! to the WJ staff for being so accommodating and efficient.

After lunch, we proceeded to our room and it was ready. We LOVED our balcony room. My BF called it “cozy and cute” and believe me he never uses those words, but it must have struck him as something that I would say! And it was! I noticed right away the new linens that RCI has been using for some time (I haven’t cruised in 6 years) and I realized how efficent all the space was. There was a place for everything..and everything in its place. BF and I are extremely organized so we found room for everything. Our luggage did not arrive till almost 7 PM and this had my BF sooo worried even though I had told him plenty of times about the luggage…aahhh ….men…..

We quickly changed into our bathing suits because we wanted to hit the hot tubs, again BF was so impressed at the pool area, he thought it was so awesome. I took him to the main pool area thinking that maybe he would like that better than the solarium..WRONG!!!!! He loved the solarium as much as I do. We are in our 30’s (he is 36 and I turn 31 on Monday yeeeh Happy BDAY to me!!!) He loved the architecture and of course the relaxing atmosphere…plus we noticed that those hot tubs are hotter and of course bigger. We met up with only one yes one person from our meet and mingle at the pool bar noone else showed up, maybe they were eating we thought..we had two beers and left. We then went to the MDR to check our table, we liked the location although it was only a table for 6, I had wanted a bigger table. On our way out there was an older man yelling and I mean yelling at the Restaurant manager telling him that he is an experienced cruiser and that you guys always F*** things up! My BF and I were soooo shocked to hear this. We could not believe our ears. Anyways we felt so bad for the manager and quickly left….some people. Oh and BTW BF could not get over the beauty of the MDR.

The dreaded muster drill wasn’t too bad and we saw Carnival cruising out. It was so nice. Then we proceed back to the room to check if our luggage was there, nope! Gosh he made me do this like five times,,,,,aargh men….again… Then right before sailaway we hit the promenade café for some coffe and my BF tried the pizza and he didn’t think it was too bad specially since they had red pepper flakes and he loves those! We went to watch sailaway and the band they were great as usual. We both loved it! BF went back to room for the sixth time to check luggage and it was there! He got his nice Cuban cigar and brought it back and he smoked it on the smoking section with his feet up. He loved it! I can tell he was getting hooked already! Around 7:30 we went back to our room to get ready for dinner at 8:30. I put on a cute red and black dress and dolled up for my man. He loves watching me transform myself for the evening and he is sooo happy that we went to dinner every night. He refuses I mean refuses to eat buffet at night.

Got to dinner and again the beauty of the lighted chandelier was just breath taking and met our wonderful, phenomenal, sweet, charming and loving waiter, Valentin from Romania. OMG we wanted to take him home so bad. We had requested to sit with the South American/Latin section since we are both latins and we miss our family from back home. They sat us at a table with a Peruvian couple, Jackie and Alex (I am half Peruvian, BF is Cuban) and the other couple never showed up (all five days). Jackie and Alex were very shy, I guess it was the first night, but we had a lovely conversation. Ok here it goes for the food. All throught the cruise, the food at the MDR was anywhere from good to excellent. With a few dishes that really stood out. That night we had the prime rib, delicious and soooo moist. BF likes it well done and even his was so soft. Mine was rare and delicious. It was served with a huge baked potato with lots of sour cream. For starters I had the Vidalia onion tart that was delish( BF wanted to order one too but he was too shy to ask for it even though I told him to….)he had the hot shrimp soup which was not too spicy as he said, and for dessert I had the pavarin and he had the pavlova (I think that is how you spell it) it was a meringue with a cream inside and strawberries on top and he LOVED it. I mean LOVED it. The pavarin was spectacular it was very moist with gran mainer and fruits on top….delish! BTW we ordered the wine by the bottle as it wasn’t too badly priced (22 for California merlot) and what we didn’t finish was saved for the next day. So it averaged to about $4 a glass…not bad at all!

After dinner we hit Boleros with our new couple friend. We had an absolute blast! I mean blast. The band Latin Express was FANTASTIC…Very authentic latin band that played salsa, bachata, meringue, cumbia, cha cha cha, and even tango. We met more people from around our area at home and we really hit it off! We had a nice little group formed and we danced till 12:30 or so. We then hit the sky bar for some karaoke but we were too tired to stay.

We retired to our room exhausted but very very pleased….wow what a day!!! BTW….have any of you realized how good you sleep on a cruise? Is it the rocking of the ship I wonder???

Please be back soon for the second day…at sea with Claudia and Amaury…on the Navigator of the Dreams!!! J

[PrincesScuba]

Nice Chapter 1!

 

Get back here and tell us more! ;) :)

[amybeth4]

Nice to see SOME ships still have the band playing at Sail Away...unlike the Liberty. :(

[happyteacher1214]

Yes the band was great just great...loved them they were from dominica and jamaica so very authentic...RCI please keep your live bands!!!!

[Pat'sSeaHag]

Sounds like you had a GREAT time. :D:D Can't wait to hear more!!

 

I'm still counting down to the big 55 :eek: in January!

 

Happy 31!!!!!

[hcat]

Great review--want to hear more--we are going on for Jan 25th sailing--Celebrating my Birthday in Belize!!!

 

Have not been on this class ship so glad to hear about the food, bands & good service!!

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

I am enjoying your review. We will be on Navigator in mid-January. I am really looking forward to the cruise.

[happyteacher1214]

Thank you Pat for your Bday wishes! My part two is up and I think I am going to keep it all in one thread so it can be continuous. I just dont know how to change the title of the thread.....

 

;)

[hcat]

where is Part two?

 

Did you see the costumed dogs referred to in the review by Dolly Trolly (or trolley Dolly) or notice any bad smells in the hallways??

[dolfandude]

Excellent first day review! Great detail! Can't wait to hear more. We leave on Monday on the Navigator! Thanks!