An RCCL Newbies Perspective on Navigator with Triumph Comparisons

[Alyrica]

My husband, myself and our two good friends decided to sail Navigator of the Seas on the first sailing out of dry dock. Of course being newbies we had no idea that this was the first sailing out of dry dock or what that meant in terms of "kinks" that are inherent on these cruises. At the time of booking my husband and I were waiting to go on our first cruise on the Carnival Triumph. Of course it took forever to get here but finally the day came when we were to make the 5 hour trek to Galveston. Overall, it was a wonderful cruise. Unfortunately most of the issues that occurred were with our cruise virgin friends. I had hoped to have sailing buddies but alas it is not to be...lol I am going to separate out our experiences and will add some comparisons to our Carnival cruise.

 

Parking/Embarkation:

We had booked several month prior with Lighthouse parking. For the Carnival cruise we had booked with Galveston Park & Cruise but they were sold out. We really liked the fact that our car was inside with P & C, the rates were good and it was easy to get to and from Terminal 1. We chose the Lighthouse as a second option because of the covered parking and many great reviews. Though I prefer being parked in a building and not just a small, metal covering I was happy with the service we received from the Lighthouse. Everyone was extremely friendly and it wasn't difficult to park and get a shuttle. It did take a bit for the shuttle to fill up...Actually, it was probably only minutes but I wanted to get on the ship so it felt like FOREVER! We were dropped off and told where to meet the shuttle after disembarkation. My hubby and I were fortunate to have been able to upgrade to a Jr. Suite so we were directed to the left line and our friends were directed to the right. It took almost no time at all for us. There was only one person ahead of us in line. The longest part of the process was due to them not having my hubby's card so they had to find it. This is comparable to our Carnival cruise with the only difference being that we got to the port much earlier and had to wait to board the ship. We had a suite with Carnival also and were able to wait in the room for loyalty members and suite guests. Both experiences were similar though Terminal 2 feels a lot more chaotic that Terminal 1. My husband called it controlled chaos.

 

Stateroom 9548:

This room was very pretty. There was plenty of room for the two of us. There was some minor damage to the bathroom door but we don't care about things like that. The balcony felt just a tiny bit wider than that of our balcony on Carnival. Unfortunately, it was chilly and windy so we didn't utilize the balcony. Overall, aesthetically, I thought our stateroom on Royal was superior. What I did like in our Carnival suite was a separate area right outside of the bathroom with a vanity. It was a wonderful place to be out of the way of my husband while putting on my makeup or fixing my hair. A detail that I preferred on our Royal cruise is that the steward actually came and introduced himself right after we entered the room. Carlos was fabulous and kept our room very tidy. We only saw him in passing after that but he had made sure to tell us if needed anything to call him. If only our phone worked...lol We didn't need anything so that wasn't a problem. On Carnival we had no idea who our Steward was. It was actually a big letdown for us because I had read so many posts and reviews on CC about how the stewards typically operate. Sounds silly, Im sure, but I would have preferred not having a stealth steward on my first go round. Royal definitely wins in this catagory.

 

Food:

I know food is subjective and even if it weren't you won't want to take my opinions to heart when it comes to food. I am not a foodie, I don't cook and a majority of my meals are fast food or chain restaurants. Still, I am going to share my thoughts. On both the Carnival and Royal cruises, I found the buffet to a bit of a let down. I was shocked because I am not hard to please when it comes to food. The layout on the Carnival Triumph was much easier to navigate through the crowds than the Navigator. On the Navigator there were many pinch points with these big columns and people streaming in every direction...This may be a good time to add that big crowds give me major anxiety. I think it has to do with being 5'1" and almost everyone towering over me. Anyway, enough about that. Due to booking later, we had to take either early dining or MTD. We decided to do the early seating which we thought was 6:00 but was actually 5:30....Yikes that is early! Our waiter was Claudiu and our assistant waiter was Vanessa. These two were FABULOUS!!! I finally got the service that people rave about on cruises and definitely felt spoiled the entire cruise. It is probably not fair to compare this aspect to Carnival because we had their version of MTD which meant different waiters every night. Also, I have a seafood allergy and after telling our waiter for the night on Carnival he gave me lobster bisque instead of corn chowder. He felt bad and though my allergy isn't pleasant it isn't fatal. Even though I didn't die I was a bit weary of dining in the MDR from that point on. I found that the food that was seafood free was overall very good on Carnival. Carnival also has Guy's Burgers, Blue Iguana Cantina and of course a pizza stand. My husband preferred the food on Carnival, in part due to the many non charge options. I thought they were comparable. Since dinner quickly became one of our favorite times of the day we didn't want to do any of the specialties at night. My husband and our guy friend both love sushi so they went to Izumi for lunch while me and my girlfriend went to Giovanni's table. The guys both said that they really enjoyed Izumi. Giovanni's was delicious and our waiter was wonderful. He easily handled our food needs, my seafood allergy and my friend's vegetarian diet. We only got room service one morning and husband thought the breakfast was abysmal. I thought it was fine....See, I told you not to listen to me when it comes to food..lol

 

Drink Package:

We had the drink package on both of our cruises. The Cheers program with Carnival could not be ordered early on-line nor could it be bought the first day due to Texas law. Additionally, all adults in the cabin had to purchase it and there was a limit of 15 alcoholic beverages a day. I didn't like not being able to prepay but both my husband and I having to purchase wasn't an issue as that was our plan anyway. The price was slightly higher since it is $49.00 per day plus a 15% gratuity. The drink options didn't seem to be as plentiful and bottled water was not included. With Royal, we were able to buy the package prior to boarding (still in Texas so the difference baffles me). It was very easy to get drinks with the exception of the first day at Boleros. On Carnival we had to sign a slip for each drink but with Royal we did not. Sometimes it is the small things that make us happy. Royal beats Carnival hands down in regards to the drink packages.

 

Casino/Entertainment:

My hubby and I like to gamble so we spent a great deal of time in the casino on both ships. Carnival had just added our favorite slot game, Paradise Fishing, so for that reason we enjoyed the Carnival casino just a bit more. We had good and back luck with the slots in both casinos as well which we expected. We didn't do a lot of shows or activities on either cruise. On both we attended the comedy show and enjoyed both. I think the room they have on Carnival dedicated to the comedy acts has a great lounge like feel however not a lot of people can fit and you have to get there early. On Royal it was in the theater so there was plenty of room but it lacked the comedy club ambiance. We saw the ice show on Royal. I found it interesting but there was some odd moments. For those of you that have seen this show I am referring mainly to the hockey piece and the dancing, skating puck. Overall if was fun and what a novelty to have an ice rink on a cruise ship....Newbie awe alert! Our friends enjoyed climbing the rock wall, playing putt putt and watching the Flowrider participants.

 

Disembarkation:

So, let me preface this with the fact that there was fog and disembarkation was delayed for us by approximately 8 hours. This may be part of the reason why this was hands down the worst, most chaotic process (other than the photo debacle which I will get into in a moment) that I have ever had the misfortune of dealing with. Now, that being said, I expected it to not be a great process due to you wonderful CC members having expounded on Galveston disembarkation issues. Unfortunately, it was far worse than I imagined. We waited for hours in the Royal theater. This wouldn't have been too bad if my phone wasn't almost dead or I had brought a book. Once our number was called we waited in line to exit the ship. Then we waited in line on the gangway. Then we got into the terminal where the line for customs was completely blocking the sections with the bags so you had to go find your bags then walk back toward the door where you ....you guessed it....stood in line. As an adult I have been indoctrinated into certain things such as standing in line but jeesh...there were lines and more lines. Of course by this point we were just ready to start our 5 hour drive so that had some bearing on my lack of patience, I'm sure. With Carnival there wasn't any issues that caused a delay so comparing probably isn't fair. Also we had a much earlier number so instead of it taking 3 hours it took us about 30 minutes. Will this stop us from cruising in the future? Heck no!:D

 

Miscellaneous:

Prior to going on our Carnival cruise we had heard so much about the wonderful service that is provided. Unfortunately, our expectations were high and we were disappointed on our first cruise. The service was fine but it didn't WOW. The service on Royal definitely wowed us! The passengers on Carnival, however, were lovely and we met so many great people. I'm always a little baffled when people disparage Carnival cruise passengers because my experience was such a positive one. Of course, I don't pay attention to classes just actions. If you are a nice, friendly, person, chances are that I am going to like you. We had some great interactions with the passengers on Royal as well though we found that typically we had to initiate those interactions where we didn't on Carnival. This isn't a criticism just an observation. Now for the photo debacle. I am sure this is mostly due to the Navigator having new software that was glitchy but it was a cluster for sure. Lines for everything but no signage or personnel to tell you which line you needed to be in. That meant standing in three very long lines before we got what we needed. Anyway, overall it wasn't that big of a deal to me but definitely something I noted on the comment card so that hopefully the next passengers will have an easier time of it. There were also some other glitches that we didn't experience such as the plumbing not working on certain floors, the virtual screens flickering and not working right and elevators not working. I am sure all of this will be worked out in short order. We heard a lot of the passengers complaining and there was a lot of disappointment out there but for us this was a wonderful vacation and we can't wait to do it again!

[ace1zoe2]

Thanks for posting. Enjoyed reading your review and I agree with everything you said. We also had 2 couples with us, 1 first time RCI and 1 that had never cruised before. I felt bad that this cruise didn't measure up to everything I had built it up to be but it must not have mattered as they both purchased Next Cruise Certificates :)

 

My main issues were the same as yours... the photo debacle and the cluster of disembarkation... absolutely our worst ever too.

 

The other little things didn't bother me or I didn't experience what others did. I do think they will get the kinks worked out. Navigator is a beautiful ship which I would sail again!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Edited February 12, 2014 by ace1zoe2

[cjknox]

What a wonderful review and comparison between both Carnival and Royal Caribbean. I too agree with much of what you said, and this review only reaffirms my opinion that both cruise lines are very similar when it comes down to it although both have differences too which makes them unique in their own way. Do you have any pictures you'd like to post? I love looking at peoples photographs. :rolleyes:

[delacruz]

Misty, I enjoyed reading that comparison between Carnival and RCCL. Our experience was the opposite - we sailed on RCCL first and then Carnival. Since we have both the RCL Grandeur and Carnival Pride in Baltimore - an easy <2 hr drive, we wanted to like the Pride since the rates were significantly less. But we really missed the WOW factor that you can't quite put your finger on, and wouldn't choose Carnival over RCCL again.

 

Looking forward to meeting you on the Navigator in May, and am sure they will have worked out all the kinks by then. And hopefully - no fog!!!:eek:

[VUCowboy]

Were you able to make lunch reservations for the specialty dining? Thank you!

[Stateroom_Sailor]

Misty, I enjoyed reading that comparison between Carnival and RCCL. Our experience was the opposite - we sailed on RCCL first and then Carnival. Since we have both the RCL Grandeur and Carnival Pride in Baltimore - an easy <2 hr drive, we wanted to like the Pride since the rates were significantly less. But we really missed the WOW factor that you can't quite put your finger on, and wouldn't choose Carnival over RCCL again

 

We started with Carnival so I know where the OP is coming from. In fact, I had such low expectations thinking there would only be cheap cabins and buffets-only meals, no entertainment, that I was wowed on Carnival! I thought, "No way can these ship have anything to offer at these prices", but the itineraries seemed well worth it.

 

Carnival passengers did seemed consistently more outgoing and friendly, but we made better friends on Royal, so it's a wash for us. We liked the MDR food better on Carnival, and missed the self-serve drink stations near the buffet. Other than that, Royal Caribbean is our preference on everything else.

Edited April 12, 2014 by Stateroom_Sailor

[Alyrica]

Misty, I enjoyed reading that comparison between Carnival and RCCL. Our experience was the opposite - we sailed on RCCL first and then Carnival. Since we have both the RCL Grandeur and Carnival Pride in Baltimore - an easy <2 hr drive, we wanted to like the Pride since the rates were significantly less. But we really missed the WOW factor that you can't quite put your finger on, and wouldn't choose Carnival over RCCL again.

 

Looking forward to meeting you on the Navigator in May, and am sure they will have worked out all the kinks by then. And hopefully - no fog!!!:eek:

 

Judi, I am sorry that I missed your post! I thought this thread disappeared when CC went down and the search function was non existent.

 

I look forward to meeting you as well! It's getting close...yay!

 

Were you able to make lunch reservations for the specialty dining? Thank you!

 

Yes, we were able to make reservations for Giovanis. My hubby didn't make reservations for Izumi but I believe that was an option. With both restaurant we were the only customers initially.

[Alyrica]

We started with Carnival so I know where the OP is coming from. In fact, I had such low expectations thinking there would only be cheap cabins and buffets-only meals, no entertainment, that I was wowed on Carnival! I thought, "No way can these ship have anything to offer at these prices", but the itineraries seemed well worth it.

 

Carnival passengers did seemed consistently more outgoing and friendly, but we made better friends on Royal, so it's a wash for us. We liked the MDR food better on Carnival, and missed the self-serve drink stations near the buffet. Other than that, Royal Caribbean is our preference on everything else.

 

We got a great price on our Carnival cruise. We were able to stay in a suite for what an outside or a balcony typically costs on Royal but it was a 5 day and not long after the debacle so I'm sure that factored into the great price.