Navigator of the Seas - Full Review - February 27, 2010

[airlinerob]

Good Afternoon Everyone!

 

It's time for my full review of the Navigator of the Seas - 5 Night Western Caribbean Cruise on February 27, 2010.

 

Our ports of call were Labadee, Haiti and Ocho Rios, Jamaica.

 

Okay, so let's get started...

 

Day 1: Embarkation in Miami

 

I flew from MCO to MIA and arribed at the port at approximately 10am. They opened the check-in counter at approximately 10:30am. We checked in quickly, and we were asked to sit as they would not begin boarding until 11:30am.

 

Boarding began exactly at 11:30am, and we were on board by 11:40am. Everything was very quick and efficient. We explored the ship a bit as the Windjammer was not opening until 12pm. We walked back to the Windjammer at around 11:50am, and it was already open.

 

This was the ONLY bad thing I have to say about the cruise.... One word... WINDJAMMER. Every meal I ate here was HORRIBLE. So bad in fact, that I rated it POOR on my comment card. Other people I spoke to also said the same thing about the food at the Windjammer. Weird combinations of food, dry food, horrible fish, etc. The burgers were good, but how many can you eat? Other than that, the food at breakfast and lunch was horrible, but we will discuss that more later. I didn't let that ruin my cruise though, because everything else was incredible.

 

At 1pm, they let us go to our rooms. I was in cabin 7553, a cabin overlooking the Royal Promendade. The room was great!!! Everything was in great condition, the bathroom did not have any smell of sewage (some people had reported that), and I loved the window overlooking Cafe Promenade.

 

We met our room stewardess, Iliana from Romania. She was AWESOME! Every day, she asked us if there was anything else that she could do for us to make our stay more enjoyable. I've been on about 15 cruises, and she was the best room stewardess I've ever had on board!

 

Life boat drill at 4pm, and I loved not having to bring the life vest to the drill. While we were completing our drill, the Carnival Destiny was passing by us.... and it's amazing how much larger the Navigator is! It started pouring rain just as the drill was ending, and everyone went back to their rooms.

 

We set sail at 5pm, and although I had MY TIME dining, I set up dinner for 6pm every day at a table for 2. I was very happy to have used MY TIME. They have a lot more tables for 2 upstairs in the Swan Lake Dining Room (where MY TIME is). We scouted out the room, and found two tables that we really liked. We spoke to the maitre'd and although the first one was taken, the second one, Table 626, was available for the entire cruise. It was a nice table for 2, overlooking the entire dining room (all 3 floors).

 

At 6pm, we went to dinner, and met our waiter, Mursel from Turkey and assistant waiter Rebeca from Romania. Again, I said it before, but WOW... That's all I can say. They both exceeded the service I have been provided on any of my previous cruises. (I've been on Celebrity several times, and it even exceeded that). Mursel has been with RCL for 10 years, and truely loves his job. Rebecca has been with RCL for 3 years. They made an awesome team. They truely wanted to ensure we were happy.

 

A second entree was never a problem, in fact, it was encouraged. They gave us honest opinions on the items offered, would tell us to order something else in case we didn't like the first choice (and we were normally happy we did).

 

The food in the main dining room (although I had read some negative reviews) was VERY good. We were very pleased with all of our meals there! I was able to find great meals on every menu.

 

We had a very enjoyable dinner, and went to the show which was also great.

 

That's it for Day one.... More in the replies....

[airlinerob]

On Day 1, we also saw the welcome aboard parade... it was okay... nobody seemed too interested in being a part of it (the staff)....

 

We also saw the Ice Dancing show - which I have to say was my favorite show of the entire cruise!

[airlinerob]

Day 2 : At Sea

 

It was a beautiful day. Our day started with breakfast in the main dining room. The food was very good (as usual). I enjoyed Eggs Benedict (one of my favorite cruise meals). It was delicious. My only complaint - they only put 1/2 a slice of canadian bacon on each english muffin. I originally thought that it was a mistake the first day, but it happened every day. Really strange, and although it was really good, it kind of annoyed me that they only put 1/2 piece of canadian bacon on each muffin. It seemed cheap to me. Food and service was great.

 

We spent the day on deck getting a tan. It was beautiful - in the 70's - bright sunshine, etc. Very relaxing - and we had no problem finding a place. There are tons of beach chairs. We only spent about 2 hours out, but what we thought was a tan, turned out to be a burn. OUCH! (Later that night, we went to find Aloe in the gift shop - they don't sell it! We had to buy some Clinique product from the cosmetics store - which worked, but I prefer pure Aloe.)

 

Okay, time for lunch... we decided to try the Windjammer again. Yet another disappointing meal. Very sad. Everything I tried, I was disappointed in. I wasn't alone. There were a lot of people disappointed in the tables around us.

 

Took a nap in the afternoon, and got ready for dinner... Dinner was fabulous again.... We LOVED Mursel and Rebeca!

 

We didn't go to the show this evening - we decided to walk around the ship and explore... It was EXTREMELY windy this evening, with 90 kph winds (55 mph) and it was rocking the ship pretty bad.

 

We went to bed early so we could get out on Labadee early on Day 3.

[airlinerob]

Day 3 : Labadee, Haiti

 

Got up early, went to breakfast in the main dining room again. Of course, I got my eggs benedict. Yum!

 

We were off the ship by 10am, and it was an overcast day in Labadee. I haven't been to Labadee in about 8 years, and BOY has it grown! First, I LOVE having a dock and being able to walk off/on.... FABULOUS. I hear that it's been in use for less than a year. It's definitely a PLUS. They really built Labadee up! WOW!

 

The last time I was here, it was mostly a beach, but now, it has everything... a full-service spa on the island, zip-lining (apparently the longest in the world), a roller coaster - which was incredibly fun, etc.

 

We walked around the island, and got to the roller coaster, and decided we HAD to do it. Everyone coming off was saying how much fun it was. We bought 2 rides each. It was definitey worth it. I considered upgrading to the unlimited - because I would have loved to do it many more times!!! I'm glad I didn't though, because it began to rain (lightly) in the afternoon.

 

Had lunch on the island (which was VERY good... the jerk chicken, the ribs, and the bean salad were my favorites).... We sat and watched people come down the zip line - which looked like a lot of fun....

 

We got back on the ship around 2pm, and the ship was still pretty empty... We enjoyed walking around and exploring the Promenade, etc.

 

Dinner was fabulous again.... Great service once again!

 

It was an early night because it was Ocho Rios, Jamaica the next day - and I had an excursion planned!

[airlinerob]

Day 4 : Ocho Rios, Jamaica

 

I set up a tour with Peat Taylor (who you can find on the Jamaica board here). I would recommend him to anyone. He gets an A+ in our book.

 

We decided to try the Windjammer for breakfast, because we had to be off the ship by 10am for our tour. BAD BAD choice yet again. The only good things were the greek yogurt and the fruit. Two things you can't mess up on too much. The bacon was all soggy and undercooked, and the Turkey sausage (which was the only sausage that didn't look like the formed/pressed Denny's style sausage) was dry and kind of tasteless.

 

We were off the ship by 10am, found Peat Taylor and our tour group. Let me say this, for $35, Peat offers a FANTASTIC tour, and our experience sounded FAR SUPERIOR to any tour provided by RCCL. RCCL was charging over $80 for the Dunn's River Falls tour. Peat took us to Dunn's River Falls first, and we were done within 2 hours of arriving (actually within 1 hour of arriving, and then just relaxed for an hour). Peat took us on a great tour of Ocho Rios, and some of the folks on the tour wanted to go to a nice private beach area, which he happily took them to.

 

We were done with our tour around 3pm, and Peat dropped us off at Margarittaville, which was a FUN place to stop. They have a swim up bar, and even a water slide. Totally fun - and a great view of the ship from the bar/beach area. I'd definitely go there again! :-)

 

PS - the nachos are great!

 

Back to the ship - dinner was fantastic yet again. Lobster night!!! YUM!! I had 2 lobster tails and they were sweet and delicious. My server even asked me if I wanted more. :-)

 

We played miniture golf at night (so fun), and walked around the ship. Had a great evening.

 

One more day! Our cruise was TOO quick! :-)

[Mrs. Ram]

Awesome review so far! I am going on the 4 day on NOS in less than 2 weeks now!!! I am curious about MTD. We did choose the MTD option but didn't get a lot of info on it. Do you reserve that before cruising or once on board? We are thinking 6:30 would be a good time, what do you think?!

[airlinerob]

Day 5 : At Sea

 

This was our final day. HOW SAD!

 

We started the day in the main dining room for breakfast. (You already know what I ate!) Everything was great.

 

They were setting up the Royal Promenade for a "Food Festival" (kind of like a midnight buffet, but during the day). They had an ice sculpture, carved fruits, etc. It was awesome. It was from 12-1:30pm.

 

We decided to have lunch in the main dining room. I'm glad I did. The salad bar they have set up was delicious. They have shrimp, salmon, chicken, all sorts of toppings. The soups and other foods were delicious as well. Great option!

 

In the afternoon, we decided to do some packing. Again, we walked around the ship to enjoy how wonderful it was.

 

Dinner was delicious yet again. The funny thing is - I couldn't find anything on the main menu I wanted at all. I am not a fan of NY Strip Steak, or Turkey, etc. So, I decided to try the Black Angus Sirloin - which is available every night on the menu.

 

WOW - it was incredible. If I had known how good it was going to be, I would have likely had it again during the cruise. The sirloin was SO tender (like a filet) - in fact it was the most tender sirloin I've ever had. Luckily, I had ordered two. :-) My partner enjoyed the Mahi Mahi and Shrimp Tempura, and he said it was very good.

 

We went to the farewell show. It was great. I also went to the farewell parade. The crew again didn't seem too "into" it, but the show was nice.

 

We put our bags outside, and went to bed. It was to be an early morning in Miami on Thursday.

[airlinerob]

Day 6 : Miami

 

We got up at 6am, and got ready for breakfast in the main dining room.

 

We had another good breakfast - but sadly, no Eggs Benedict on the last morning! :-(

 

We were scheduled to disembark at 8am with our tags. We got in line at 8am, and were in a taxi by 8:20am. Everything went smooth, and getting our bags was simple.

 

We LOVED the cruise, and can't wait to go back on the Navigator again soon!

 

More final thoughts to come.

[airlinerob]

Awesome review so far! I am going on the 4 day on NOS in less than 2 weeks now!!! I am curious about MTD. We did choose the MTD option but didn't get a lot of info on it. Do you reserve that before cruising or once on board? We are thinking 6:30 would be a good time, what do you think?!

 

Yes, 6:30pm would be fine.

 

In the Cruise Compass, they actually show "MY TIME" being open for seating from 6:30pm - 9:30pm, when in actuallity, they open at 6pm.

 

If you want to have the same server every night, and the same table each night, go to the Swan Lake dining room on the first day and speak to the maitre'd. He will reserve a table for you for each night at the same table with the same servers. Ask him for the table number, go look at it and see if you're happy with it. If not, he will be happy to put you in another area.

 

We really enjoyed having a table for 2 (which was one of our definite wishes), and having the same table / servers every night.

 

You're going to love the cruise!

[airlinerob]

I have copies of the Cruise Compass' from each day, which I will be scanning tomorrow. I also have some other items from the cruise.

 

If you're interested in seeing the Cruise Compass' from this cruise, please feel free to contact me with your e-mail address, and I'll be happy to send them your way.

 

Post your e-mail address here, or contact me at MCOFlyGuy@gmail.com and I'll be happy to send them your way tomorrow evening.

 

If you have ANY questions about the cruise, please feel free to ask here, or via e-mail. I'll be very happy to assist in any way I can.

[Mrs. Ram]

Yes, 6:30pm would be fine.

 

In the Cruise Compass, they actually show "MY TIME" being open for seating from 6:30pm - 9:30pm, when in actuallity, they open at 6pm.

 

If you want to have the same server every night, and the same table each night, go to the Swan Lake dining room on the first day and speak to the maitre'd. He will reserve a table for you for each night at the same table with the same servers. Ask him for the table number, go look at it and see if you're happy with it. If not, he will be happy to put you in another area.

 

We really enjoyed having a table for 2 (which was one of our definite wishes), and having the same table / servers every night.

 

You're going to love the cruise!

 

Thank you very much! Can't wait!

[airlinerob]

By the way - I did take the suggestion of some on the boards....

 

I purchased a box of wine at Target (which by the way, has won awards). We got the Shiraz/Cab mix.

 

I was able to bring it on the ship with no problem.... It was great for a pre-dinner drink in the room while getting dressed.

[airlinerob]

I do have something I need to get off my chest.

 

What is it with people not reading what is and is not appropriate attire in the dining room for dinner?

 

The Cruise Compass clearly states that shorts/t-shirts are not considered appropriate for dinner in the dining room for dinner.

 

Yet, every night, even on formal night, people walked in the dining room with shorts and t-shirts. WHY does the maitre'd allow people in the dining room dressed this way? Why are they not asked to go to the Windjammer?

[hcat]

Nice review!

We enjoyed the other 5 day itin on Navigator in January...& also had a great time..

 

Our only compliaint was also the WINDJAMMER--bad food , poor selection & little service...other than the sushi area.

 

Did you have the comedian magician? We thought he was hilarious...

 

Would definitely cruise on this ship again--

[airlinerob]

Nice review!

We enjoyed the other 5 day itin on Navigator in January...& also had a great time..

 

Our only compliaint was also the WINDJAMMER--bad food , poor selection & little service...other than the sushi area.

 

Did you have the comedian magician? We thought he was hilarious...

 

Would definitely cruise on this ship again--

 

Yes, I totally agree about the Windjammer. HORRIBLE. Everything else was good on the ship. Yes, the sushi area at dinner time was nice - and the busiest part of the buffet at dinner time.

 

Yes, the comedian magician was on board.

[debshomespun]

Glad you enjoyed the Navigator. We spent 10 nights on her back in Jan. and miss her! :eek: I didn't have the same experience as you in the Windjammer. For breakfast, I mostly ate the melons and fresh fruit. For lunch, it was mostly salads, meats and desserts. I think it was the last sea day, the had creme brulee for lunch in the windjammer. It was delicious both times!

[gagirl7143]

Who was the CD and any cruise staff names would be great

[Conanc]

Robert,

 

Thanks for the review! Glad that you enjoyed your cruise! I have a question about the cabin. Were you able to see any of the parades or anything going on in the Royal Promenade with a cabin this far down the end?

 

Thanks!

[t-bonz]

Hi Robert,

 

If you still have your Cruise Compasses from your NOS five-day cruise I would love to obtain a copy. I'll be sailing two weeks before Christmas.

 

Thank you very much for the information you've offered to share. I appreciate you! :) My email is tkrodgers325@gmail.com.

 

Teresa