RCI newbie considering Navigator of the seas Cruise

[tdeyette]

My wife and I are thinking about taking my mom and stepdad on a Caribbean cruise (they have never been on a cruise) where as we have been on a couple.
Combining timing, ports of call, air fare and availability of a handicap room (she sometimes used a scooter) the Navigator of the seas popped up as fitting our needs.

We have never cruised RCI (we have done several Princess cruises) and I was wondering about a couple of things (I will research this further but thought I would pose the questions to past RCI enthusiasts)

Does RCI have anytime dinging? (this seems to work for us)
Do you typically have to book shows in advance?
Does RCI have a wine package you can purchase and use for dinner?

Seeing as my mom needs a scooter for walking any distances (she has a bad hip) it will make excursions a little more “challenging”. I’ll look at the disabled cruising forum to learn more about this.

On this cruise ports of call are Labadi, San Juan, Basseterre, and St Martin (I think these are all docked ports (no tenders?)
Anyway, still doing the research at this point

Thanks Edited June 25, 2015 by tdeyette

[denamo]

[quote name='tdeyette']My wife and I are thinking about taking my mom and stepdad on a Caribbean cruise (they have never been on a cruise) where as we have been on a couple.
Combining timing, ports of call, air fare and availability of a handicap room (she sometimes used a scooter) the Navigator of the seas popped up as fitting our needs.

We have never cruised RCI (we have done several Princess cruises) and I was wondering about a couple of things (I will research this further but thought I would pose the questions to past RCI enthusiasts)

[COLOR="DarkRed"][B]Does RCI have anytime dinging? (this seems to work for us[/B])
[COLOR="Navy"][SIZE="3"]Yes, anytime dining known as My Time Dining (MTD) is offered on the Navigator. Suggest you reserve this at the time you book your cruise. We didn't on the Navigator once and were unable to do so once on board.[/SIZE][/COLOR]
[B]Do you typically have to book shows in advance?[/B][COLOR="Navy"][SIZE="3"]On the Navigator the only show you need to do in advance is the ice show. Tickets will be available in the Promenade on embarkation day. If you don't get tickets, you can stand in the line that allows people to go in at about 15 minutes prior to show time. We usually get tickets since it is easy to do.[/SIZE][/COLOR]
[B]Does RCI have a wine package you can purchase and use for dinner?[/B] [/COLOR]
[COLOR="Navy"][SIZE="3"]There are several alcoholic packages. There have been some changes, so not all that use what is available. You can bring two bottles per stateroom when boarding, and can bring one to the dining room if you wish without a corkage fee.[/SIZE][/COLOR]
Seeing as my mom needs a scooter for walking any distances (she has a bad hip) it will make excursions a little more “interesting”. I’ll look at the disabled cruising forum to learn more about this.

On this cruise ports of call are Labadi, San Juan, Basseterre, and St Martin (I think these are all docked ports (no tenders?)
Anyway, still doing the research at this point

Thanks[/QUOTE]

Answered your questions within the quoted post. Hope this is helpful. Edited June 25, 2015 by denamo

[JulieRose]

Labadee, St Martin and San Juan are not tender ports. IDK about Basseterre.

Something to keep in mind coming from Princess is that Royal seems to cater to a somewhat younger, rowdier crowd. Princess seemed much more refined to me when we sailed on the Crown with less bellyflop contests and stuff like that than RCI. I'm not saying this is good or bad just something to take note of. Edited June 25, 2015 by JulieRose

[rrdew]

denamo answered your questions already, but here are I couple of additional things I noticed. I just got off Navigator last week.

We used "My Time Dining" and it worked very well for us. We had a large group and they were able to accommodate us without problems.

The ice show does distribute tickets, but we just showed up and were able to get seats with no problem. There were at the top, but it is no a big arena so we still had a great view. All other shows we attended had plenty of available seating.

Our itinerary was different, so I cannot comment of the ports, but we did see passengers with mobility issues, that seemed to be well accommodated and having a good time. However the elevators did get crowed at prime times.

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

[quote name='JulieRose']Labadee, St Martin and San Juan are not tender ports. [COLOR="Red"]IDK about Basseterre.[/COLOR]

Something to keep in mind coming from Princess is that Royal seems to cater to a somewhat younger, rowdier crowd. Princess seemed much more refined to me when we sailed on the Crown with less bellyflop contests and stuff like that than RCI. I'm not saying this is good or bad just something to take note of.[/QUOTE]

St. Kitts (Basseterre) is not a tender port.

[cb at sea]

The "belly flop" or "hairy legs" contest isn't a big deal! You do NOT have to go and watch it, or take part in any way!!

[tdeyette]

[quote name='cb at sea']The "belly flop" or "hairy legs" contest isn't a big deal! You do NOT have to go and watch it, or take part in any way!![/QUOTE]

Ohhh this is good information.... I'll have my mom start growing the hair on her legs now so we'll have a "leg up" on the competition!

seriously, this is all great information and I appreciate folks taking time to share their thoughts.

[Summerknight]

My friend has MS and has been on many Royal cruises. She loves the ease of getting around their ships.