Help! RCI Navigator vs Carnival Valor

[CookieBird]

Hi! Long time lurker, first time poster.

My husband went on our first cruise, Carnival Imagination, in May and now we are hooked! We are planning another cruise for next May and are hoping to get some advise.

 

We are thinking of the two options and don't know which is better..any thoughts?

 

Carnival Valor - 7 night eastern

Miami-Bahamas-sea-St.Thomas-StMaarten-sea-sea-Miami

ocean ~ $900

balcony ~ $1000

 

RCI Navigator - 7 night eastern

Miami-PR-sea-StThomas-StMaarten-sea-Bahamas-Miami

Ocean ~$1150

balcony ~$1350

 

So do we pay more for the extra port day? (slightly less time on islands). Or is 2 days at sea in a row too many? We are interested in experiencing another cruise line but is it worth the extra money for RCI? Will doing another Carnival be same old same old? Should we book using our TA (no discounts or upgrades from them but convienient) or book direct?

 

We loved the Imagination but would like to experience a newer, bigger ship. We are in our late 20s, early 30s.

 

Thanks! I appreciate your help

 

(what a life when this is my big dilemma of the week!!!)

 

I plan to post this on the Carnival board too.

[niceguy02_06]

I'm also deciding between these two ships. May 20th and 21st 2006. I can tell you RCCL board will almost all for sure says Navigator and carnival probably would say valor.

[Dave85]

I don't think you can go wrong with either.

 

I was on the Valor in January and had a good time. Its a brand new ship. The decor isn't for everyone (it's kind of loud... patriotic, flag/eagle themed), but it was certainly a good time and a lot of fun.

 

There is no right answer though, its up to you! I'm going to be on the Navigator New Years Cruise and i'm greatly looking forward to it.

[wrp96]

Just looking at the itinerary, I'd go with Navigator because it does PR and St. Thomas before going to an international port - no having to go through immigration in St. Thomas which was a bummer on my last cruise. The Voyager class ships are amazing with so much to do.

 

That being said, any cruise sounds great to me.

[Cruising89143]

Having done the Navigator this past December and the sister ship to the Valor(Glory), I can tell you that I would pick the Navigator hands down. Yes you may pay a little more but I feel that it's worth it. Carnival currently has nothing in their fleet that can touch the Voyager class ships.

 

The Navigator and Valor hold about the same amount of passengers but the Navigator is a larger ship and believe me you can tell the difference. I found the Glory to be crowded. RCI ranks higher in my book for service and a much more friendly crew.

 

You can order a hot breakfast through room service and also order from the menus at lunch and dinner for room service. Carnival does not offer this.

 

Take a look at this vacation planner from RCI. It has a virtual tour of the Voyager class ships. Kind of neat. I also have some photos on the two links below that I took on the Navigator.

 

http://experience.royalcaribbean.com/

As stated above, I feel that you will get more on here to tell you to take RCI and vice versa on the Carnival board. You can see in my sig line below that I have cruised with Carnival many times. They offer a good product but IMHO RCI is a true step up.

[Dave85]

Good point by wrp about the customs thing.

 

I remember that being annoying on my Valor cruise. Everyone had to lineup when we arrived at St Thomas, fairly early in the morning, to be cleared by customs. Nobody could get off until everybody had. While the line moved very fast, it was just annoying and it took away from one's ability to wake up whenever and move freely off the ship whenever.

 

That being said, it didn't detract from my cruise at all, so its not something to get worked up about. It was just a good point brought up by an above poster.

[wrp96]

Good point by wrp about the customs thing.

 

I remember that being annoying on my Valor cruise. Everyone had to lineup when we arrived at St Thomas, fairly early in the morning, to be cleared by customs. Nobody could get off until everybody had. While the line moved very fast, it was just annoying and it took away from one's ability to wake up whenever and move freely off the ship whenever.

 

That being said, it didn't detract from my cruise at all, so its not something to get worked up about. It was just a good point brought up by an above poster.

 

Believe me the cruise was still great, but I don't get up at 6 am at home, definitely didn't like having to do it on vacation.

[cruztime]

We've been on Glory (sister to Valor) twice and 3 other Carnival ships and just got off Navigator. The Navigator is a beautiful ship.It has a more classy decor than Carnival. The service was just as good on Glory as it was on Nav. I give them a tip on the first night and tip a little during the week and we get great service. It's no different than tipping at home. We enjoy the interaction with the waiters on Carnival. They sing and dance every night. RCI is much more tame and reserved. It's supposed to be classy. I found it kind of boring. We we're finished dinner every night in an hour. The food on Glory was much better in my opinion.

 

We love the days at sea so two days is great. In fact we're taking that same itinerary on Caribbean Princess in September. The customs thing in St Thomas is a bit of a pain but it goes fast. Don't wait for them to call your deck, just head up when you're ready and you'll be fine. Just be careful of the timing if you book a private tour on the island. They will leave without you and you'll still be charged.

 

One major drawback I saw on Navigator was that all deck chairs we're on one deck. It was extremely crowded. Carnival ships have chairs spread on out a few different decks and we never had a problem getting one. If you want to be by the pool or on the rail overlooking the pool better plan on being up early.

 

I didn't see as many 20-30 somethings on Navigator as there are on Carnival. Even though we're approaching 50 we still like to hang at night and Carnival is the way to go for that.

 

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, I liked Carnival better. My wife preffered RCI. We both agree that they need to do something about the chairs on deck and the food.

 

The main drawback I see in Valor is the decks don't go all the way through the ship on each level. It's because the galley is located in the center of the ship. Not a big deal, it just takes a little getting used to.

 

In the end, it's just a matter of personal preference and if you want to spend the extra bucks. As long as I'm going to St Marten, I don't care what ship gets me there.

 

Have a great cruise.

[1corona4u]

One major drawback I saw on Navigator was that all deck chairs we're on one deck. It was extremely crowded. Carnival ships have chairs spread on out a few different decks and we never had a problem getting one. If you want to be by the pool or on the rail overlooking the pool better plan on being up early.

 

 

That's not true. There are deck chairs on at least 3 decks. The pool deck, which is 11, the upper, which is 12, and the St. Tropez, which is in front of the pool area, just up the steps. There is also an area aft on deck 13.

[Soxfan05]

We had to make the same choice between Valor and VOS. VOS ultimately won out. In talking with the TA he felt that RCCL's style is more suited to us. After reading the boards, we felt the same way. We're also cruising with our kids on a non-school vacation week and were concerned that the "party atmosphere" on a Carnival cruise might be in full tilt.

[Cruising89143]

.

 

One major drawback I saw on Navigator was that all deck chairs we're on one deck. It was extremely crowded. Carnival ships have chairs spread on out a few different decks and we never had a problem getting one. If you want to be by the pool or on the rail overlooking the pool better plan on being up early.

.

 

There are deck chairs on more than one deck. As a matter of fact this is where I saw a major difference over the two ships. The Navigator pool area is not as crowded as what I have experienced on not only the Glory but also the Destiny class ships which is basically just a little smaller version of this ship. There is also an adults only pool in the Solarium. Also RCI does not take up the deck chairs early and stack them up like Carnival due to the fact that at least one pool and hot tub is open 24 hours a day but like you said it comes down to personal preferance.

[CookieBird]

Thanks everyone for the responses. Seems like I can't go wrong with either.

 

Anyone have an opinion on if a balcony is worth the extra money? We didn't have one on the Imagination, just an ocean view, and definately would not get an interior, but just wondering if people really use their balcony.

[FlyingPhotog]

One major drawback I saw on Navigator was that all deck chairs we're on one deck. It was extremely crowded. Carnival ships have chairs spread on out a few different decks and we never had a problem getting one. If you want to be by the pool or on the rail overlooking the pool better plan on being up early.

 

I was on Navigator last week. Chairs were on decks 11, 12 &13. Decks 11 & 12 had them from bow to stern along every rail. There were chairs in good spots (relative term) still available at 11:00am.

 

gator good point about the chair collection. I was out browsing on deck at 1:am on NOS and ALL the chairs were still lined up ready to use.

 

re: the balcony, we had one on the "hump" - room 6616 and loved using it! I used it often. DW found it too windy much of the time.