Mini Review - Navigator March 13 2016 Sailing

[Toddcan]

Review of the Navigator of the Seas cruise - 6 night Western Route

 

Cruise Date: March 13-19, 2016

Cabin: 7394 - Aft Junior Suite

Ports: Grand Cayman, Falmouth Jamaica, Labadee Haiti

Home Port: Port Everglades, Fort Lauderdale

 

Background Info

This sailing was just my wife and I. Early 50's. 8th cruise, and 5th with Royal. Have always sailed the Freedom Class before - this was our first cruise on the smaller Voyager Class.

 

Embarkation

We arrived at the port at approx. 10:30am. Parked our car at Park N Go at the port entrance. We were at Terminal 29 by about 10:50am. We had a JS, so we got into the priority embarkation line, which really did nothing at the end of it all. But, for some reason, the line started moving as soon as we arrived. But, the main check in area was not yet opened - they were trying to check people in at a temporary desk just inside the doors - it was way too small, and it was chaos for about 20 minutes until they opened up the main check in area at 11:15am. From that point on, it was very smooth - the only line with lots of people was the first time cruisers line. All others had no more than 4-5 groups to wait until check in. We were in the suite/pinnacle line, and waited less than 5 minutes before being processed. Once we had our sea pass cards, we walked right onto the ship. We were on board at approx. 11:30 - so one hour from the time we parked our car.

 

We headed right for the windjammer since we skipped breakfast. I noticed a big difference right away in the Windjammer layout. There are a few sections missing from the Freedom class - I only know this because that is where we normally sat. Had no problem getting a window table . We grabbed a quick bite, and headed to the Solarium to change into bathing suits and start enjoying the quite time. I LOVE the hot tubs. I think they are nicer than the Freedom Class - they just seem to feel better. The only advantage is the overhang view on the freedom class.

 

 

Cabin - 7394 JS Aft

At 3pm, we headed to our cabin - Junior Suite Aft Cabin # 7394. We've only had one other junior suite - a center hump on Freedom Class - and I have to say that I was surprised how small it was compared to our other one. The cabin was considerably narrower, and the walk in closet was barely walk in. With clothes on the rack, you could not fully walk in to access the shelves. On the hump JS on Freedom, you could get dressed inside the closet. Not this one. Mind you, it was totally fine for two of us. The bathroom was awesome - full tub, which was great. The balcony was great - 2 loungers, 2 tables, 2 regular chairs. We spent a lot of time out there.

 

Dining /Food

We bought the 3 night dining package - $70 pp. We had Sabor reserved for the first night. One of the first things we did was meet the food manager who had a desk setup right near Guest Services - so that we could book the other nights. Was not a problem - very easy. We decided on Chops x2 and Sabor for our 3 nights.

 

Sabor LOVED LOVED LOVED it! In fact, we booked another night - so we ate at specialty dining 4 of the 6 nights. Our cabin neighbor is also a cruise critic member, and they were not impressed as we were with Sabor. But, us? We had the whole 9 yards - Freshly made Guac (Warning - they like to add generous amounts of fresh lemon and lime juice - which was fine with us!). We had appetizers (Tortilla soup was fantastic). We also had main dishes, and the dessert box (small sampling of 6 different desserts). We loved it all. Even the cheese is Oaxaca Cheese - which I've never been able to find outside of Mexico - VERY tasty - I'm a big fan. If you booked Sabor alone - it was $25 pp.

 

Chops

I always love a great steak. I found the Filet Mignon steak too gray- but still very very tender. Normally, I expect a good stake to be pink with a nice charred outside (medium), but it was grey throughout with a light pink - didn't really bother me because it tasted fine, and most importantly, was very tender. They like to offer lots of sauce options, but I'm a steak flavor kind of guy. The shrimp cocktail was awesome! Very large, cold, and firm.. perfect! Sides we tried mushrooms, baked potato, creamed corn, asparagus - all got the thumbs up! Dessert: Liquid center chocolate cake (my wife ate a smaller dinner, and ordered two of these on our second chops night), and the red velvet cake, and cheese cake. All thumbs up. I still love Chops - but would not pay the $35pp price to book by itself.

 

Johhny Rockets

We LOVE this place - not sure why. The food is greasy burger joint stuff - but there is something about ordering a meal with enough calories for two of our normal land life days - including milkshakes - and enjoying every bite while watching the ocean. Ahhhhh :) Cover charge was $6.95 pp, which includes unlimited soda. I don't remember soda being included in the price before - but it was this time. They had diet Dr. Pepper!!

 

Main Dining Room

Only ate here on Lobster night. Lobster was tiny - should asked for more than one - in fact, seriously.. they Chops Shrimp cocktail shrimp were close to 1/3 the size of the MDR lobster tail. We tried to see if we could get different desserts (specifically the red velvet cake, or the liquid center chocolate cake), but were told "no". We could only order off the menu. Most of the desserts had alcohol or coffee in it - which we avoid, so out choices were limited to Baked Alaska ( horrible - they ice cream inside was already a soup), and they angel food cake - which was decent.

 

Entertainment

The cruise director has only been on the ship for 2 weeks - Jeffrey Arpin. Frankly, he was awkward. He seemed to be just making stuff up, and he came across as a newbie, although, I'm sure he has a lot of time at sea. At one point, it was very awkward - he told a joke about Garage Sale items being resold at Mexican ports - only to have the same joke told by the comedy headliner on the last day - not sure who stole whose material. But overall he was OK - didn't make or break our cruise at all. One thing we did LIKE about him is that we could easily understand him over the announcements - not like the captain - could not make out a word he was saying.

 

The shows were OK - not no big theatre production show which I thought was odd.

 

Ice show was great, but it was only run during the sea day afternoons - no evening shows.

 

Ports of Call

We booked all of our excursions through Royal (which is a huge departure for me - but I ended up loving it!). First ones off the ship.

 

Grand Cayman - booked the stingray city tour - was very well organized. It's like they have done this before ;) We'd never done that one on our previous visits, so we enjoyed it.

 

Falmouth Jamaica - booked a Catamaran Sail and Snorkle tour. Although the snorkeling itself was OK - the Catamaran had over 120 people on board - like they tried to jam as many as they could on it. As part of the tour, they asked for us all to move to certain areas of the boat at different times - but there was no where near enough room to do it. It took the crew over 20 minutes to try and doc at the small pier on the way back - it's like this was a rookie crew. I don't recommend this excursion

 

Labadee Haiti - we splurged on a Nelles Cabana - loved it - as always. Yes, it was $495. Didn't care. There was only 1 empty cabana on Nelles - so I think they have found their sweet spot on pricing - a balance between people complaining that none were available, and keeping it attractive enough where people will still buy it. My guess is that we will never see the lower pricing again - if you want the cabana - gonna have to pay. I bought 2 more large pieces of art. Love Haitian art.

 

Debarkation:

We asked for early departure because we had a 12 hour drive in front of us. We were given tags #42... argh.. went to customer service and exchanged for #3. What I found odd was that you had to actually fill in a request form for early number tags and walk it down to Guest Services - I remember the room steward collecting them before - and we requested early departure - but got #42 - 2nd from last. Not sure why they ask. But, anyways, we went to our assigned area at 7am - and joined a line snaking through the MDR on deck 4, out a side door, and right off the ship. Lots of customs guys on staff - we were in our car at 8:15am driving onto the highway.

 

Overall - a nice cruise. Didn't mind the smaller ship at all.

 

I'll add more as I think about it. Ask away, and I'll see if I can help.

Edited March 22, 2016 by Toddcan

[Clarea]

Well written review.

 

Odd that the ice show did not have any evening performances. Do they still hand out ice show tickets on Navigator, or do they use some other method?

[goneclear]

Nice review. Thanks for sharing. Navigator was our favorite ship. I say "was" because we have not sailed it since the dry dock that added cabins, Izumi, sabor, flow rider etc.

We will sail her again in April and see if we find the changes positive. We do love Izumi but hope the extra cabins do not make the ship feel crowded.

[The Fun Researcher]

Thanks for the review! What did you think of the promenade and pool deck overall compared to the freedom class? How would you compare freedom class to voyager? Did the navigator feel noticeably smaller?

 

Were the sandwiches and pizza ok at the cafe promenade?

 

How congested was the pool area? Pool temp ok?

 

Thanks

 

Dan

Edited March 22, 2016 by The Fun Researcher

[A&L_Ont]

Hi Todd. Great and thorough review.

 

It's funny that I see your review today because I am actually thinking about you. We're just hanging at barefoot Beach right now and I was thinking about your story of how you spoke patois with the local school children. I would have loved to have seen their reaction not to mention your kids. On a side note are off to Sabor tonight for dinner. We too love it there.

 

 

Hopefully the weather at home is kind. This one is for you.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[Keith1010]

Great review.

 

Thank you.

 

Keith

[Nccruiser01]

Thank you for the review. It's very timely since we'll be on the same cruise April 10th.

 

I do have one question. I know the RCCL website says two formal nights, but I read a recent review that said there was only one. Which is correct?

[The Sunset Glow]

Hi Todd, thanks for the review! Nice and concise:D Glad you had a great trip.

 

We are sailing on Navigator again on April 30th and I have some questions:

 

1) Did you notice if they have any Advanced FlowRider sessions (this ship typically doesn't and it drive my husband bonkers).

 

2) Do you still have to get advanced tickets for the ice show or is it just line up and FCFS now?

 

3) Did you notice if there was a bad smell at the aft of the ship? Especially on the port side? We were in a deck 10 aft JS before and the smell was horrid at times - especially where our must was. We could smell in on our balcony sometimes.:mad:

 

Thanks.

[Toddcan]

Well written review.

 

Odd that the ice show did not have any evening performances. Do they still hand out ice show tickets on Navigator, or do they use some other method?

 

They were handing out ice show tickets right outside Studio B on the morning of day 2 (first sea day). Yes, I found it odd that all of the shows were at 2pm or 4pm on the two sea days.

[Toddcan]

Nice review. Thanks for sharing. Navigator was our favorite ship. I say "was" because we have not sailed it since the dry dock that added cabins, Izumi, sabor, flow rider etc.

We will sail her again in April and see if we find the changes positive. We do love Izumi but hope the extra cabins do not make the ship feel crowded.

 

 

We did not feel crowded at all.

 

Didn't try Izumi, but you could go there with the dining package. Since it's a la carte pricing, the package offered a $30 pp menu credit if this was your chosen restaurant.

 

We didn't even make it anywhere near the flowrider area - in fact, Johnny Rocket's was as close as we got.

 

Again, LOVED LOVED LOVED Sabor. In fact, this was the first time that I actually tried Guac - and I fell in love.

[Clarea]

They were handing out ice show tickets right outside Studio B on the morning of day 2 (first sea day). Yes, I found it odd that all of the shows were at 2pm or 4pm on the two sea days.

Thanks Todd, so Navigator is still an advance ticket ship. Many ask about this.

[Toddcan]

Thanks for the review! What did you think of the promenade and pool deck overall compared to the freedom class? How would you compare freedom class to voyager? Did the navigator feel noticeably smaller?

 

Were the sandwiches and pizza ok at the cafe promenade?

 

How congested was the pool area? Pool temp ok?

 

Thanks

 

Dan

 

Promenade was smaller - could most certainly notice the difference. Seems like the Freedom Class has more Logo items. There seemed to be more jewelery and perfume shops on the Voyager class. I got a nice Eco-Drive watch though.. but I checked my prices before I left.. got a good deal (basically saved on the taxes and delivery compared to buying off Amazon). HOWEVER.. I must say that I would certainly sail on the Voyager class again - I could notice a difference in size in certain areas - but it did in no way adversely affect us.

 

Sandwiches at the Promenade Cafe were great! We had a light lunch there one day. Didn't try the pizza - but it looked fine. The coconut ranger cookies were awesome - perfectly done with the right amount of chewiness.

 

The pool area was crazy busy on sea days -but that was to be expected. It was spring break for a few colleges, so the bars were all 3-4 people deep.

 

Pool temp was "refreshing". Had no problem walking right in.. but I'm from Canada ;)

[Toddcan]

Thanks Todd, so Navigator is still an advance ticket ship. Many ask about this.

 

Yes, but you could still just line up at the show if you didn't have a ticket - once they sat people with tickets, they opened the no ticket lines up to enter. This was the same as other cruises we've been on. We only went to one show, but there were still ~50+ empty seats

[Toddcan]

Hi Todd. Great and thorough review.

 

It's funny that I see your review today because I am actually thinking about you. We're just hanging at barefoot Beach right now and I was thinking about your story of how you spoke patois with the local school children. I would have loved to have seen their reaction not to mention your kids. On a side note are off to Sabor tonight for dinner. We too love it there.

 

 

Hopefully the weather at home is kind. This one is for you.

 

 

Niiiice! Yes, the weather was perfect the entire cruise.

 

I still got to speak Haitian Creole with our cabana attendant, as well as the market vendors. Too many of them recognize me now - we've been here 5 times now, and when a bathing-suit clad tourist speaks Creole, they tend to remember that. :) As you remember, I lived in Haiti for 18 months when I was 20 - so I consider Haiti my second home country. That connection will never be broken. It's why I sail Royal.

 

Enjoy!

[Toddcan]

Thank you for the review. It's very timely since we'll be on the same cruise April 10th.

 

I do have one question. I know the RCCL website says two formal nights, but I read a recent review that said there was only one. Which is correct?

 

I had the same question. There was only one formal night. We skipped the MDR that night - going to Chops instead, so we didn't even pack formal wear. Didn't miss it :)

[Toddcan]

Answers in Red

 

Hi Todd, thanks for the review! Nice and concise:D Glad you had a great trip.

 

We are sailing on Navigator again on April 30th and I have some questions:

 

1) Did you notice if they have any Advanced FlowRider sessions (this ship typically doesn't and it drive my husband bonkers). Sorry - I didn't pay attention to the flowrider items on the compass.

 

2) Do you still have to get advanced tickets for the ice show or is it just line up and FCFS now? They handed out tickets, but you could also just line up - and wait for the ticketed people to sit. ~50 empty seats in our show

 

3) Did you notice if there was a bad smell at the aft of the ship? Especially on the port side? We were in a deck 10 aft JS before and the smell was horrid at times - especially where our must was. We could smell in on our balcony sometimes.:mad: We could smell sewer smell - but only faintly - and only in our bathroom, and only a few times - never on the balcony

 

Thanks.

[Toddcan]

Addition - Soot issue/problem exposed?!?

 

On our last sea day, we were sitting on the balcony (deck 7 aft), and I see this huge billowing cloud of black smoke just pouring out of the back of the ship - somewhere on deck 5 or below. It looked like someone started up a massive diesel engine, and the smoke/exhaust just poured out the back of the ship for approx 10 seconds. The cloud was huge, and covered the whole back of the ship. The ship was moving, but there is no breeze on the aft, so the soot cloud wafted its way onto everyone's balcony. I told my wife to get inside - it was like a cloud of miniature locusts - and we were the wheat.. lol. After it all cleared, the entire balcony, chairs, railing, floor was covered in soot - not solidly covered, but a nice spattering.

 

I immediately grabbed the room attendant, and gave him the bad news.. he sighed, and eventually cleaned it up - but we could not use the balcony for that afternoon, or the evening - there was a lingering fine black powder that you could not see very well, but certainly got on your clothes..

 

Perhaps this is the soot that people complain about from time to time? We didn't see any soot at any other time from the smoke stacks wafting down.

[Clarea]

Addition - Soot issue/problem exposed?!?

 

On our last sea day, we were sitting on the balcony (deck 7 aft), and I see this huge billowing cloud of black smoke just pouring out of the back of the ship - somewhere on deck 5 or below. It looked like someone started up a massive diesel engine, and the smoke/exhaust just poured out the back of the ship for approx 10 seconds. The cloud was huge, and covered the whole back of the ship. The ship was moving, but there is no breeze on the aft, so the soot cloud wafted its way onto everyone's balcony. I told my wife to get inside - it was like a cloud of miniature locusts - and we were the wheat.. lol. After it all cleared, the entire balcony, chairs, railing, floor was covered in soot - not solidly covered, but a nice spattering.

 

I immediately grabbed the room attendant, and gave him the bad news.. he sighed, and eventually cleaned it up - but we could not use the balcony for that afternoon, or the evening - there was a lingering fine black powder that you could not see very well, but certainly got on your clothes..

 

Perhaps this is the soot that people complain about from time to time? We didn't see any soot at any other time from the smoke stacks wafting down.

I'm curious if our Chief Engineer could comment on what this might be.

[The Fun Researcher]

Promenade was smaller - could most certainly notice the difference. Seems like the Freedom Class has more Logo items. There seemed to be more jewelery and perfume shops on the Voyager class. I got a nice Eco-Drive watch though.. but I checked my prices before I left.. got a good deal (basically saved on the taxes and delivery compared to buying off Amazon). HOWEVER.. I must say that I would certainly sail on the Voyager class again - I could notice a difference in size in certain areas - but it did in no way adversely affect us.

 

Sandwiches at the Promenade Cafe were great! We had a light lunch there one day. Didn't try the pizza - but it looked fine. The coconut ranger cookies were awesome - perfectly done with the right amount of chewiness.

 

The pool area was crazy busy on sea days -but that was to be expected. It was spring break for a few colleges, so the bars were all 3-4 people deep.

 

Pool temp was "refreshing". Had no problem walking right in.. but I'm from Canada ;)

 

Thank you!

 

Dan

[The Sunset Glow]

Addition - Soot issue/problem exposed?!?

 

 

 

On our last sea day, we were sitting on the balcony (deck 7 aft), and I see this huge billowing cloud of black smoke just pouring out of the back of the ship - somewhere on deck 5 or below. It looked like someone started up a massive diesel engine, and the smoke/exhaust just poured out the back of the ship for approx 10 seconds. The cloud was huge, and covered the whole back of the ship. The ship was moving, but there is no breeze on the aft, so the soot cloud wafted its way onto everyone's balcony. I told my wife to get inside - it was like a cloud of miniature locusts - and we were the wheat.. lol. After it all cleared, the entire balcony, chairs, railing, floor was covered in soot - not solidly covered, but a nice spattering.

 

 

 

I immediately grabbed the room attendant, and gave him the bad news.. he sighed, and eventually cleaned it up - but we could not use the balcony for that afternoon, or the evening - there was a lingering fine black powder that you could not see very well, but certainly got on your clothes..

 

 

 

Perhaps this is the soot that people complain about from time to time? We didn't see any soot at any other time from the smoke stacks wafting down.

 

 

When we were on Navigator last time there was a bad stench during our muster drill - so bad a few of us were green and nearly puking. Most had anything they could find covering their face.

 

Our muster station was on the outside, deck 5, port side aft (last station down). There was a big exhaust grill in the side of the ship about 20 towards the back with black smoke spewing out. I don't know what it was but it was disgusting[emoji35]

[riclop]

Thanks for the mini review.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for your report.

[larkwind]

We were on the starboard aft corner...regular E1 (kinda tight with 3; agree with the small closet assessment) and lovely balcony. The soot on the last sea day managed to sprinkle itself all over our drying snorkel gear and a couple of shirts. It shook off easily but we couldn't go out there w/o tracking it back inside. Betty had it washed off by the time we returned an hour later. It's super hard to scrub off feet!

Advanced Flowrider: I did see one time (maybe one other?) reserved for advanced. And there was a best of the guests "showtime" and a staff demonstration on the last afternoon. They had it open multiple hours each day.

This was the first cruise we have not used the solarium as our hangout--it was packed and noisy. I did go up at 7am one morning and enjoyed the peace with a cup of coffee. But we had a gorgeous balcony with lounge chairs, so we used that all week.

We did notice a lot of shaking the last night. Just went to sleep. Only noticed the sewer smell in the bathroom, most always but not overwhelming.

We like this size ship--not too big, not too small. Those aft corner balconies are dreamy and the family ov across the bow are super cool, too (had one once on deck 8, felt like a skinny 3 room suite).

Grand Cayman--2 tank dive: nice visibility and lots to see. Couldn't go down below 60ft bc our son is only jr ow certified so we didn't do the west wall, but other dive groups did. Afternoon on ship relaxing.

Jamaica--Reggae Hill excursion. Long bus ride, lots to see, pleasant place, had to move to keep in shade (they need some strategically placed palapas, the river was nice and cool (the description said falls to wade up but they've changed places so no falls--14yo was bummed), food was superb and plentiful. Port area shopping was nice, no hassles.

Labadee-- tried to buy the all day coaster pass but they were "sold out" and limiting to two rides (same all day price). So buy online if you really want multiple rides-- it's fun! Eventually settled at Nellie's Beach under a palm tree. DS and I snorkeled awhile and he continued, making a big circle around the edges and out to the ropes. Some coral by the cabanas and a few fish to watch in the grasses. He enjoyed it. Very pleasant day.

Overall a nice cruise but too short. I'd try to snag that room on a long transition cruise bc of the balcony!

Sea days--spent watching ds climb and play basketball (btw very good teen sports activities planned); watched NCAA bball tourney games up in quiet Boleros overlooking the crowded lido pools.

MDR and WJ food and service was up to RCCL's usual standards. DH discovered he liked the vegetable curry (mostly garbanzo beans) so I'm on a quest to find that/similar recipe.

Embarkation--no hurry, group 18, wish we had Global Entry to avoid the "disney" line for customs...lots of curves to keep you moving even though the line is crazy long. All went smoothly and were at the airport by 9:15am. Taxi $11/person.

[beachnative]

Where is parking for Terminal 29??

 

We usually sail out of Terminal 18 and parking is very convenient.

 

Thanks.

[Clarea]

Where is parking for Terminal 29??

 

We usually sail out of Terminal 18 and parking is very convenient.

 

Thanks.

Closest would be the Midport Garage, near terminals 19 and 20. There is a shuttle that runs from there to the terminal 29.