Just off Navigator May 25 - Questions? Comments?

[molsonschooner]

Well, first I would direct you to the Gulf Departures board for lots of ideas and recommendations.

 

Second, I will tell you about my one and only experience with shuttle transportation from Hobby to Galveston and then back to Hobby post cruise- Use Cool Tours! Excellent service, new vans, good drivers that will also tell you about the history of the area.

 

Make sure to look at the Gulf Departures for other opinions though. It seems like all the options are expensive - let me explain - It is about 40 miles from Hobby to Galveston and quite a bit farther to Bush International. It cost us about $100 each way for the two of us. I can book a shuttle from my house to LAX (about 55 miles) for less money. Disclaimer - We used Cool Tours and it was a private van for just my DW and I, which was really nice. If I recall, Super Shuttle would be a shared van but they only leave from Hobby about three times a day and we would have had to wait several hours after our flight to catch a Super Shuttle and we did not want to wait.

 

We could have done the RC shuttle post cruise for less money but I waited too long to book it. The RC phone rep told me I would need to reserve it at least two weeks before the cruise. I waited too long. My bad.....I learned something new. Usually I cruise out of LA or take a cab to the airport in Florida.

 

Vacation can be a good learning experience too!

 

I hope that helps! Enjoy your cruise!!!!

 

MTG

We also used Cool Tours last week. No problems at all. Would use them again

[molsonschooner]

One more thing I'd like to mention....CROWDS.

 

The only time we really noticed the crowds were the elevators!

The Voyager class ships elevators are always jammed and seems like someone always thinks there is room for just one more.

They are always the busiest at dinner time.

 

Anyone else on this cruise notice how many times the elevator alarm would sound....OVERLOADED! :eek: Felt sorry for the person who got on and then the alarm sounded!!! If it arrived full, we waited.....I wasn't going to be THAT person!! :eek: :p :D

 

Another area of crowds is the WJ, we avoided it as much a possible on sea days and used the MDR instead. Love the Tutti Salad they have on sea days!!!

 

We really didn't notice the 600 kids they were well behaved and we didn't see any problems.

 

***

Funny, we had almost the exact opposite experience. Most often when the elevator stopped and people waiting to get saw how full it was they just backed away and waited for another elevator. We were both surprised and pleased by these reactions.

[Austinettecruiser]

We were on the May 18th cruise on the Navigator. We had a balcony, forward on deck 7. Our beds were hard and the pillows so thin we needed two each. Even then we woke up sore and stiff every morning. This was our second time cruising with RC and First time on Navigator. The ship was crowded and unless you wanted to sunbathe there was not a lot of places to sit and chat or read. We did love the entertainment. The food was mediocre. The staff were all very nice. The Margaritas were weak. I never got a buzz from drinking them. I did not purchase the drink package as I normally have only two drinks a day. All in all, we love to cruise and always enjoy ourselves. While we are Platinum members on Carnival, we are always open to trying any cruise line. We are from Austin and Galveston is very convenient for us. We may try Princess next. I am thankful we have so many good choices.

 

 

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[Monty011376]

Anybody have the cruise compasses for this iteniary they could post? Would help with planning... Thank you!

[pscruzinboyz]

OK...reading this post the last 2 days...so here is MY Opinion.

Bill and I have almost 40 cruises under our built, all but 5 with RCL.....and been on every class of ship. We love the BIG ships...for us, now being in our mid 50's...there is just so much to do and room to roam around.

First, I have to laugh why people say the Ship felt more crowded with the extra cabins. 3800 people or 4000 people....Can you really tell? Also, you are on a ship.....anytime you our in a confined space...airplane, ship or closet....you will always feel more confined then the wide open space of your home. Sorry, but that is me.

We were on the May 18th cruise and had a GREAT time. I thought the ship felt Brand New.....and showed the same. She is the WOW ship of the fleet right now. Even the flow rider....every time I was up there, there was no more the 6 to 10 people in line to ride which is so much fun.....but we very careful. A 30's girl 3 riders in front of me was Knee Boarding...she was good...but got washed up to the back hard and hurt herself, where the Alfa, Alfa, Alfa went out and they had to shut down the flow rider for 15 minutes. SO BE CAREFUL when riding.

On the transportation front...Both Bill and I got a great deal on the cruise but coming to and from the Airport is expensive...and NO...you Can NOT rent a car....no rental agencies are open on Sundays or for one way rentals...we looked and looked and so it is a no go.

Just plan on 100.00 PP RT to either or both airports. We told ourselves that with the expense of the commute to Galveston, we would not do this port again.....then the BOGO sale happened last weekend and we booked again for the exact same week as this year for a Dirt Cheap Price. Going to the Eastern Western And because it is the week before Memorial Day....No Kids this year. I was so surprised that I read 600 kids a week later...we had just a few. All in All....The Navigator is worth the price and so is Galveston....The Strand is so much Fun before you cruise. We actually spent Sunday the day of the cruise exploring the OLD Downtown. We finally got on Board at 3 pm...No Lines at all....and still had plenty of time to get to the room to unpack.

 

Thanks for the review and hope to see some of you on the Navigator May 17th 2015.

 

Mike

Edited June 6, 2014 by pscruzinboyz

[maitaiguy]

We were on this same sailing. My DW and I both agree that the ship did seem a bit more crowded. But with more cabins, what do you expect? We have sailed both Voyager and Mariner.

 

Food and service were spotty starting off, then got better/good. We ate at Sabor the first formal night so we didn't have to dress formal. Very good food, but the margaritas were not worth $12.00. Just my humble opinion. We had booked a second time there but cancelled.

 

Chops was very nice. We enjoyed it a lot. We would definitely repeat this place!!

 

We LOVED Izumi. Wish we would have returned there a second time. Tried, but they were closed for lunch that day.

 

We also loved the Diamond Lounge. The appetizers are GREAT!!! Lots of drinks and they allowed us to go out into the former Viking Lounge because the diamond lounge was so crowded. They changed the name. Guess that is a bow to political correctness. Who knows.

 

The newly redone décor of the ship was very nice. New everything!!! Beds were great!!!

 

We notice a lot of little things that aren't there any more, but like what one poster said, the price was great!!! It was a good cruise, but we wish that RCCL would give us more options on ports of call.

 

We hate the fact that RCCL and most all lines are building bigger and bigger ships. We have really LOVED the Vision class. RCCL, if your reading this, please give us a choice of new/smaller ships and longer cruises/different ports of call from Galveston.

 

What did I expect? I will take this as a serious question and not a sarcastic remark. (Trying to take the high road here).

 

What I expected was a similar experience to Mariner with some of the venues having a different name. I booked Nav before I found out about the extra cabins or the drydock. We saw Navigator in the Caribbean a few years ago when docked in St. Martin and she was beautiful, just like Mariner.

 

We liked Nav and would not hesitate to book her again. To repeat what I said in an earlier post - it just seemed a bit 'busy.'

 

Navigator looks terrific. The cabins are great and all the venues looked brand new.

 

We had a wonderful time. Cruising is a great value compared to similar land vacations. I recommend cruising, and especially RC, to friends all the time.

 

We are not expert cruisers like so many people here - or CCers we met on the ship. We try to cruise as often as we can and have appreciated all the advice we have received from the wonderful, warm people on these boards.

 

Thanks for asking!:D

[internetwhiz]

We had a great cruise!

 

 

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[Texancruisers]

Actually I have a question for CCers that have cruised many times on Voyager class ships.

 

To me, Navigator, while awesome, seemed a little more crowded than Mariner did on our cruise a few years ago. Both were sold out but Mariner did not have the extra cabins that Navigator now has.

 

My wife thinks I'm crazy although that's not anything new. She thought it was about the same. It could be in my mind but I felt that the extra cabins made a difference and not in a good way.

 

What say ye Voyager class experts? (That have sailed on Navigator since February 5th)

 

Am I nuts or not?

 

Didn't mean to sound sarcastic. We agree with you that the ship seemed a bit more crowded. My DW has developed a hip problem and we couldn't even take one flight of stairs for the first time EVER!!!!:( Those elevators were often packed. We've learned that even if you are going down, sometimes it is fastest to go up and ride it back down!!!!!:D

[Galveston Cruiser]

Didn't mean to sound sarcastic. We agree with you that the ship seemed a bit more crowded. My DW has developed a hip problem and we couldn't even take one flight of stairs for the first time EVER!!!!:( Those elevators were often packed. We've learned that even if you are going down, sometimes it is fastest to go up and ride it back down!!!!!:D

 

We had the opposite experience; never waited for an elevator and never had one stop that was full.

Never felt the ship was crowded, never waited in line for anything and had no problem finding chairs around the pool.

:)

[Ladysilver]

We were also on this cruise and had a wonderful time! This was the first time we've cruised in the spring/summer months and it was packed with people! Also very hot in the ports so we didn't do a whole lot. :)

[CanDMan47]

My question to the folks that were on this cruise, do they have the Coke Freestyle machines yet?

[SA Traveler]

My question to the folks that were on this cruise, do they have the Coke Freestyle machines yet?

 

No. I was hoping!

 

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[maitaiguy]

Didn't mean to sound sarcastic. We agree with you that the ship seemed a bit more crowded. My DW has developed a hip problem and we couldn't even take one flight of stairs for the first time EVER!!!!:( Those elevators were often packed. We've learned that even if you are going down, sometimes it is fastest to go up and ride it back down!!!!!:D

 

I agree with you about the elevators. There were several times we went up to go down. Did I mention I met tons of great people on this cruise? (Especially from Texas!!!)

[internetwhiz]

I agree with you about the elevators. There were several times we went up to go down. Did I mention I met tons of great people on this cruise? (Especially from Texas!!!)

 

 

What about Arkansas? Lol

 

 

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[maitaiguy]

What about Arkansas? Lol

 

 

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Yes, from Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missour, Louisiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama.........only met one other person from California though.

 

Internetwhiz, it was me that introduced myself and thanked you for all your work organizing things on this roll call precruise. This was moments before the Meet and Mingle got really underway in the Viking Crown on Monday.

 

Did I have a California accent? lol

[internetwhiz]

No. But I know I have a Southern accent. Lol.

 

 

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[Galveston Cruiser]

We were on the May 25 cruise as well and had a great time. Embarkation was quick - arrived at the terminal at 11 a.m. and we were on the ship by 11:20. We were in a balcony on deck 8 (8378), the room was spacious and quiet. Rohan our room steward did a good job - kept the room clean and the ice bucket.

 

Rohan is a wonderful person, has an incredible smile and is a chef at heart:)

He is one of two of the incredible staff we have had at our home in Galveston for me to a) give them time to put THEIR feet up b) be waited upon and c) having the pleasure of preparing dinner and serving dinner.

 

He came to our cabin twice to visit and soooo look forward to seeing him in January on our visit to Jamaica.

 

His friend, and our former cabin steward, met us in Jamaica (on vacation from RCI) with his wife and took us around to see the sights, meet his family and take us to eat real Jamaican food. Not only did they make us feel very welcome, but we felt we had known the family forever.

 

What a fabulous day and many, many thanks to the wonderful staff friends we have made on the Navigator.

 

I can't stress enough how important is to say thank you to all of those who take care of us on these cruises.

[foxgoodrich]

We were also on the 5/25 cruise and enjoyed it very much!

 

There were a couple of things we missed though - NO place for self serve water, fruit water, iced tea other than the Windjammer. No self service drink station on the pool deck or Solarium. At Promenade Cafe on deck 5 you had to wait in line to just get something to drink - the self serve drink station was gone.

 

And…sigh…we missed the silly little coffee table. It was handy for room service coffee in the morning.

Judy

[Clarea]

We were also on the 5/25 cruise and enjoyed it very much!

 

There were a couple of things we missed though - NO place for self serve water, fruit water, iced tea other than the Windjammer. No self service drink station on the pool deck or Solarium. At Promenade Cafe on deck 5 you had to wait in line to just get something to drink - the self serve drink station was gone.

 

And…sigh…we missed the silly little coffee table. It was handy for room service coffee in the morning.

Judy

What about self-serve coffee and tea in the Promenade Cafe? Was that gone too?

[foxgoodrich]

What about self-serve coffee and tea in the Promenade Cafe? Was that gone too?

 

No - there was still self serve coffee and hot tea inside the Promenade Cafe. Just nothing cold available unless you stand in line! (Do you suppose they are rationing ice?) They used to have a table kind of in the front of the cafe with cold drinks. That area has tables and chairs now.

Judy

[maitaiguy]

Every time we passed the Promenade Cafe there was a pretty long line. I will admit to getting in line several times for pizza and cookies!

 

There was a cold water dispenser available at the corner of the bar at the Pool Bar. Don't recall if there was one at the Solarium Bar or not. I did go in the pool there a few times but didn't go to that bar.

[ahecht]

No - there was still self serve coffee and hot tea inside the Promenade Cafe. Just nothing cold available unless you stand in line! (Do you suppose they are rationing ice?) They used to have a table kind of in the front of the cafe with cold drinks. That area has tables and chairs now.

Judy

 

They had trays of ice water cups in Cafe Promenade that you could grab without waiting in line, but you needed to wait for iced tea or lemonade.

[Bigtex1622]

I was going to go with you all, and missed seeing you.

But got a great price for a Virtual Balcony on Aug 31.

Any way, we are under 90 days out.

No one has started a roll call, slot pull or cabin crawl.

I am going to try and setup the same thing Internetwiz did.

So a big Thanks, and hugs to Internetwiz.

 

 

:rolleyes:

[Doug S]

We were also on the 5/25 cruise and enjoyed it very much!

 

There were a couple of things we missed though - NO place for self serve water, .....

 

I was on this sailing as well. Self serve ice water was available at either end of the main pool bar. Easy to overlook, but it was there.

[gotolv]

I'm guessing they added more tables in the dining room because they seemed much closer together. A lady walked by our table and knocked my water over. The kids on the ship that we saw were very well behaved and polite. We never did find empty chairs in the Solarium. We were always able to find chairs on the Voyager and the Mariner but that's probably because we sailed in February. We didn't run into one grouch the entire week. We had a great time and have two more cruises booked on the Navigator.