Navigator Mini-Review 12/5/22 4 night

[RainforestRoomer]

Took my wife, 3 year old daughter, mother-in-law, and two besties (who are Celebrity Elite, first time on Royal) in 3 consecutive balcony cabins (2 of which connected). We sailed on Allure earlier this year, and many years ago we did a 4 night out of LA on Monarch, so this was our 3rd Royal cruise. Have also sailed Celebrity and Disney once each in past years. Wanted to see if Navigator would be a good lower-price option for us in the future without having to fly to Florida and this sailing was pretty cheap when I booked it. CC board was instrumental in my research, so wanted to leave my thoughts here for anyone who cares!

 

GOOD:

• The iSkate ice show is INSANE, the skaters INCREDIBLE. Wife was glad we came just for this. Makes the one on the Allure look quite sad in comparison
• Stateroom attendant, Anne, was awesome. Best we've ever had
• Rooms felt big and new. We were in 1832-1834-1836 on deck 12, forward. These rooms were added during the amplification in 2019. Loved being up high. Showers were hot with perfect pressure
• MDR was overall, excellent. We skipped night 3 to do Chops as a date night, and the rest of our party found that to be the worst night by far in the MDR. MIL ordered the Chops filet on the final night and she really enjoyed, but it didn't really seem to resemble the cuts we had had the night before in Chops
• Escape room was fun, but not necessarily worth $20 a person IMO. It was pretty difficult and our room of 10+ people didn't finish by the buzzer but we were so close the attendant let us complete it anyway. Also seems like an odd activity for a ship since so many people are repeat cruisers - this is not a repeatable activity, but I suppose its footprint is extremely small
• Windjammer breakfast and lunch was consistently good, but often was a real chore to find a table. Having two uninspiring ports (Catalina, Ensenada) definitely contributed to it being more crowded on port days. Felt bigger than the WJ on the Allure, which we avoided like the plague after trying once since there was always a huge line
• Jamie's Italian for lunch was an excellent value at $15.99 per person; truffle pasta was really great as was everything else we tried. We did this on embarkation day at noon right after boarding, which was perfect. We got to enjoy a leisurely, fantastic meal while outside in the WJ what appeared to be thousands of people were fighting for food and seats
• Main stage singers and dancers were super talented
• The Bamboo Room is easily the best bar onboard. Bartender Caleb knows what's up
• Ship orchestra and Frequency band were top-notch
• The Blaster water slide was surprisingly fun and we did it twice even though it was (to our California blood) freezing outside
• Thought the Christmas decorations onboard were really elegant and beautiful
• MIL loved the food and ate what for her is a ton of food, which we were excited about since at home she basically eats one egg, a piece of bread and some air each day

 

MIDDLING:

• Adventure Ocean for the 3 year old. She was very excited to go for the first time, but the club itself was pretty bare, and the only playspace was a small rock climbing wall that's beyond her ability at this age. Ship also has no playground area or playground-esque equipment (Allure had that on the Boardwalk), so on cold days the only entertaining option for a kid her age was the club. The counselors couldn't have been nicer and she had fun going, but it was just basic crafts and some toys for them to play with. Would easily become boring over a longer trip. When we were on Allure she was still 2, so I didn't get to check out AO there but now I'm curious to see if it's bigger and more interesting
• Activity scheduling was not great, IMO. Lots and lots of trivia sessions. One night the only options for dancing after 9PM was the silent disco, which we realize many people enjoy, but we do not
• Windjammer desserts are always a vast variety every day, and they're mostly mid to bad. There was always something good enough (and the rum balls/cream cheese balls were fab), but we found this on Allure too. The shipwide desserts - WJ, Park/Promenade Cafes, were all kind of odd and just not good. This is really a positive because it's hard enough to not gain weight on a cruise ship
• After having a pretty poor experience with Chops on Allure, we tried it again here for our date night sans kid since we're not huge on seafood or sushi. It was better than it had been on Allure in the spring, but the steak still wasn't *great* - I don't know. I've had many better filets at Walt Disney World than I've had at either of my Chops experiences. The menu is also extremely basic. Would love to see a little more adventure in the options. On Allure we loved 150 Central Park, and if I had had that option here we would have gladly taken it again. So Chops was good, not great, and IMO not worth $50 per person for the privilege

 

BAD:

• Not RC's fault obviously, but it was too cold. Won't ever sail this time of year out of LA again unless they start heating the pools, which I feel like they could easily do and make a lot of people happy!
• Loudspeaker on our balcony (1834) playing muzak at all hours of the day. Don't recall having one of these on our Allure balcony and it *really* sucks since I love to just chill on the balcony and don't necessarily need Maroon 5 songs to help me do it
• The port is a disorganized mess. Getting on the ship and getting off was stressful and messy, with people everywhere and very little direction. A wheelchair mixup between the check in folks and the boarding folks resulted in a lot of upset people being told they'd need to wait an hour to be taken on the ship if they needed to be wheeled
• We saw one production show, Ballroom Fever, and it was so ghastly we couldn't finish it. Stupefying choice after stupefying choice for costumes, scenery, staging, songs/arrangements. The cast was phenomenal, and I really wish they had better material to showcase them. We skipped the Showgirl show as a result
• I know this is discussed all the time, but the coffee card sucks and I should have looked into it before buying it. We never get one-shot coffee drinks, so the card's value plummeted immediately. Lesson learned!
• Casino smoke smell permeated into the middle of the Promenade from the stairwell leading down to it
• Our Celebrity Elite besties were disappointed that the spa had no thermal suite option, no spa cafe, and the solarium wasn't covered (things they knew going in of course, but found it impacted their enjoyment more than they expected)

 

All things considered it was a fun cruise, but I don't think we would be willing to book Navigator again until our daughter is older. We don't have the budget to cruise a lot but would like to do one a year going forward, and for now I think Disney will be a better fit (despite the wide gap in pricing). I'm always checking Oasis class pricing though - I'm sure we'll get back on one of those within the next few years. We found we were really missing some of the things Allure had that Navigator didn't.

[bonsai3s]

Agree...Anne, cabin steward, was the best we've had in a while. (We were in 1830 last week, 7n sailing.) 

 

* The pools were heated...lots of people swimming.

[RainforestRoomer]

16 minutes ago, bonsai3s said:

Agree...Anne, cabin steward, was the best we've had in a while. (We were in 1830 last week, 7n sailing.) 

 

* The pools were heated...lots of people swimming.

 

Anne is the best!

 

That's wild about the pools. Maybe something broke? Every time I touched them they were ice cold and only saw a handful of people (mostly kids) get in. Now the hot tubs were people soup just about 24/7! There was even a very rowdy 3AM hot tub horde in the Solarium one night that was so loud it woke all of us up on deck 12.

[bonsai3s]

17 minutes ago, RainforestRoomer said:

 

Anne is the best!

 

That's wild about the pools. Maybe something broke? Every time I touched them they were ice cold and only saw a handful of people (mostly kids) get in. Now the hot tubs were people soup just about 24/7! There was even a very rowdy 3AM hot tub horde in the Solarium one night that was so loud it woke all of us up on deck 12.

We spoke to a lifeguard and told him "passengers must be happy now that the pools are finally heated"...(yes, they told us the pool heaters were broken last year)...the lifeguard said "We prefer the water cold, we don't have as many passengers to watch". 

[Coralc]

1 hour ago, RainforestRoomer said:

 

Anne is the best!

 

That's wild about the pools. Maybe something broke? Every time I touched them they were ice cold and only saw a handful of people (mostly kids) get in. Now the hot tubs were people soup just about 24/7! There was even a very rowdy 3AM hot tub horde in the Solarium one night that was so loud it woke all of us up on deck 12.

The pool heaters were broken when Navigator first made its California sailings. There were a lot of people in the pool in September. We don't go in the pools or hot tubs. The hot tubs were packed on both sailings.  I thought they had been repaired, but maybe not. 

[Biker19]

12 hours ago, RainforestRoomer said:

Stupefying choice after stupefying choice for costumes, scenery, staging, songs/arrangements.

Welcome to CC and many of the non-Broadway shows on many ships - don't go there for a story line.

Edited December 10, 2022 by Biker19

[Cruising89143]

Showgirls is much better than the Ballroom show. Agree about the ice skating show. We were on both the Freedom and Symphony last month and the ice show 1977 on the SYM was not good at all. As a matter of fact other than the Aqua Theater show ‘Hiro”, the rest of the entertainment was not that great. 

[DukeASUGirl]

On 12/9/2022 at 8:12 PM, RainforestRoomer said:

GOOD:

• The iSkate ice show is INSANE, the skaters INCREDIBLE. Wife was glad we came just for this. Makes the one on the Allure look quite sad in comparison

 

My daughter's former coach just finished a 9-month contract skating on Harmony, and when we told her we will be going on Navigator in May, she told us that she LOVES the Navigator show. She says it's one of her favorites, and that if she ever does another Royal contract, she wants to join that show.

[jcc1025]

We were on this cruise as well and from past experience knew the performer in the Pub, Darla Fox. We were there every night. Several other guest were also there every night and it was the most fun we have had. We are Diamon+ and like the shows but it was a party every night in the pub. It was cool but that's what you get in the area this time of the year. Going to be 81 on Christmas day so its just a dice roll when we sail here in the winter. We have been on the ship a couple of times since they returned to the west coast and really like it, the crew was great. 

[neverbeenhere]

my opinions  

 

Ice show -great (been many times) 

ballroom - total scrap

showgirls past present future- well the singers are good enough . (The show is just a exercise in quick change) 

 

I’ve heard people rave about Darla- not my cup of tea. 

[George C]

I haven’t done navigator recently but did sail her 3 times in grand suite and always loved the ship , agree on the ice show but I do like it on all rccl ships . 

[RainforestRoomer]

On 12/21/2022 at 2:39 PM, jcc1025 said:

We were on this cruise as well and from past experience knew the performer in the Pub, Darla Fox. We were there every night. Several other guest were also there every night and it was the most fun we have had. We are Diamon+ and like the shows but it was a party every night in the pub. It was cool but that's what you get in the area this time of the year. Going to be 81 on Christmas day so its just a dice roll when we sail here in the winter. We have been on the ship a couple of times since they returned to the west coast and really like it, the crew was great. 

 

We enjoyed Darla's sets a few times and spoke with her by the elevators one night. She's very talented and very kind and she definitely drew a crowd!

[fac429]

On 12/9/2022 at 7:12 PM, RainforestRoomer said:

The Bamboo Room is easily the best bar onboard. Bartender Caleb knows what's up

I probably spent half my cruise (not an exaggeration) in the Bamboo Room when I was on the ship in October.  I believe Caleb was also working then (I'd remember him if I saw his face) but Raj was the main bartender at the time.  He was about to take a well deserved break to go home for a while, so Sabrina (my favorite waitress from the cruise who was in the Schooner) had been promoted to bartender in the Bamboo Room.  Raj was awesome. 

 

I was always surprised that the Bamboo Room wasn't more crowded than it was for most of the cruise.  It's a great bar with very good drinks.  Maybe it's the lack of music?  (Raj kept saying that they were coming "tomorrow" to fix it, but never did- started to think he was just messing with me and they never had music in there.)  From time to time there would be a decent number of people in there, but more often than not it was just me, my buddy and maybe a couple of other folks.

[kathylynnt]

Can any of you give me any information about the "Laser Tag" activity onboard the Navigator?  Is it free?  Do you need to sign up anywhere to do it, or just wait in line? We're going in a week and have 3 little kids who would love to participate.

Thanks,  Kathy

[Biker19]

Just now, kathylynnt said:

Can any of you give me any information about the "Laser Tag" activity onboard the Navigator?  Is it free?  Do you need to sign up anywhere to do it, or just wait in line?

All the details should be in your planner under activities.

[kathylynnt]

Thanks, we haven't looked that over yet.  We plan to do the registration tomorrow.  

Kathy

[RainforestRoomer]

2 hours ago, kathylynnt said:

Can any of you give me any information about the "Laser Tag" activity onboard the Navigator?  Is it free?  Do you need to sign up anywhere to do it, or just wait in line? We're going in a week and have 3 little kids who would love to participate.

Thanks,  Kathy

 

It was free on our sailing, and yes, you have to sign up in advance using the app/planner.

[kathylynnt]

Thank you! I'll get right on it.

Happy New Year!

Kathy

[MikeBayAreaCa]

Is there a Starbucks on board and is it included the the DBP?

[imola]

1 hour ago, MikeBayAreaCa said:

Is there a Starbucks on board and is it included the the DBP?

Yes there is but it is not included in the package.  You can use your Starbucks gift cards or app to pay there but not your reward stars.  Although they say you will gain your reward stars to your account.  You can use the package at the Promenade Cafe and they make great drinks as well.

[Ashland]

The ice show on Navigator is by far one of the best. Can't wait to board her again Jan 20th.

[imola]

1 minute ago, Ashland said:

The ice show on Navigator is by far one of the best. Can't wait to board her again Jan 20th.

Going to miss you once again as we don't board until February 10th.  Have a great time with smooth seas.

[Ashland]

2 hours ago, imola said:

Going to miss you once again as we don't board until February 10th.  Have a great time with smooth seas.

We keep passing each other. You have a happy, healthy and safe cruise.