My B2B on the Navigator, 9/16 - 9/30/2006

[Alexis]

We did a B2B on the Navigator. The Western Caribbean on September 16 and the Eastern Caribbean on September 23. It was a great two weeks on her. We do not do tours anymore as we have been to these ports many times. This review is only about certain things on the ship.

Our embarkation was smooth and very organized. The best one we ever had. We arrived at the pier at about 10:30 and waited behind the bridal parties to board. The bridal parties board ahead of everyone else. Once the line started to move, it was just minutes before we were on board. They took our Set Sail pass, checked the Charge card and off we went.

The Windjammer had their buffet lunch ready at 12:00 and it was good with a large variety of foods. We ate breakfast and lunch there everyday. It was very good and I had no complaints about the food at all. We never had to wait on any long lines.

The passengers favorite person on board is Nestor. (Not sure about the spelling.) He is the official greeter to the Windjammer in the mornings. He was introduced at the final show as the peoples favorite employee on the Navigator. You MUST say “Hi” to him as you enter, and you better say “goodbye” when you leave. :D

We ate in the dining room every night. We had main seating at 6:00, late seating was at 8:30. We found the food to be quite good. The only complaints at our table were about the steaks. They were a bit tough and grizzly. I never received a dish that I did not like, so I was happy. We had fabulous waiters, assistant waiters and GREAT head waiters on both of our weeks. Our table mates on both weeks were so friendly and nice. We had a great time dining with them all. Everyone should be as lucky as we were to have such enjoyable company to eat with. The Navigator does not have smart casual nights listed anymore for dinner in the dining room. Just formal and casual. So men, leave those sport jackets home..

I can truly say that most of the people on the Navigator dressed very well for dinner each night. On formal nights everyone looked formally dressed. The ladies wore a mixture of different dressy outfits, the men seemed to mostly wear suits. There were tuxes on men and boys, but I would say the majority wore suits. Everyone looked very nice.

On regular nights, most people dressed very nicely and many ladies wore everything from very dressy clothes, to Capri's. There will always be a few in dirty sneakers and ripped T shirts, but very few.

The Promenade had lots of shops, a Wine bar, a Pub with live entertainment and is a great place to sit and watch the world go by.

Also on the Promenade is the Café that has free hot tea, hot chocolate, coffee, pizza, cookies, cakes and sandwiches available 24 hours a day at no charge.

Next to the café is the Coffee bar and Ben and Jerry’s where both charge a fee.

I did not use the specialty restaurants, room service or Johnny Rockets so I can not comment on those.

I found Shane the CD to be very pleasant and did a good job speaking at the shows and all with updates on the ports and activities. Someone had posted on here that they did not like his laugh and it really got to them?? Several of us cruising had read that post and waited to hear it. We never heard anything like that at all. When he emceed the shows I thought he was good. His staff were all really nice and they handled the activities we saw very well. We do not do the pool deck activities so I do not know about them. But, if you only want to see them, go up to the Viking Crown lounge on Deck 14 and you get the best view for the “Belly Flop contest” and such spectacular sporting events. :eek:

We attended both the Repeat Cruiser parties and the Platinum and Diamond parties each week. Captain Sullivan attended them all and introduced members of his staff. He is a very visible, down to earth and friendly person and is always walking around the ship saying "Hello" and chatting with passengers.. The Captain told us he is on the Navigator for 14 weeks and then off for 14 weeks when Captain Bang returns and takes command.

The Captain also attended the Meet and Mingles parties. At the Meet and Mingles they

serve finger foods, have a raffle and gave each guest a RCCL water proof holder to be worn around the neck. They officially last about 45 minutes or so.

We had an E1 cabin, 8320 middle of the hump, on Deck 8. Our cabin was the middle of the hump and has as good of a view as one could get. I was concerned when we first saw it as it was right opposite the doorway to the hall. Not in it’s own hallway as the Brilliance hump cabins were. There was a whistle coming in the cabin door that was caused by air moving when we sailed. I put a folded beach towel on the floor up against the door and it stopped. I did this every night and no more whistle. There was no noise at all from the people coming and going by our room from the elevators. I would book it again on another cruise.

The bathroom has sliding doors on the shower, so no friendly shower curtain to grab you from behind. :p

We got bars of soap, a shower cap, a scrubby, shampoo, cream rinse and body wash gel.

I didn't care to much for the new set ups on the beds. Pillows and spread all in white There are so many pillows on the bed that the cabin attendant has to leave the biggest ones on the couch at night. The pillows were way too hard and the heavy quilted thing in between the duvet is so heavy it is hard to sleep under if you fold it down as we do.

Disembarking on “turn around day”

(the day one cruise ends and the other cruise starts.)

We were instructed to meet in a certain place on the ship for an officer to come and escort us off. We were also told what to bring with us.

We were all escorted off the ship by the officer. This is usually done after the last passenger gets off, but I believe we were taken off before that on this ship. The officer took us though to customs/immigration and we waited our turn to go through. We then returned to the ship. It was pretty fast and organized. We had to wait on line for just a little while before going through.

Disembarking on the last day of our cruises.

We choose to do the express luggage with Delta.

For $10 Each, they give you your luggage tags, airline tickets and boarding passes on the last night. You put the ships colored tag on your luggage, the airline tag, and put them in the hall. I used the TSA locks, (after permission was given to me at the Rochester airport to use them) and my luggage was locked the whole trip.

On the last morning, we were eating breakfast at 7:02 when they called our color, Lavender. (Lavender is the color for all Express luggage handled by the airlines.) The paper they gave us said we would be called between 7:30-8:30, but they were clearing very early.. We left the Windjammer and went down to stand on line to leave the ship. It took about 45 minutes and we went through customs, immigration. We retrieved the luggage from the carousel, had a baggage handler take it for us to the Delta area and off we went. Since we had the boarding passes already, we did not have to do anything but show up at the gate and board the plane. We got a cab immediately and went to the airport.

Doing the Express luggage with the airlines was the best thing that ever happened after a cruise. The luggage was in Rochester with us when we landed.

My few complaints were.

The elevators are terrible. Slow, and not enough for all the people on board after shows and such. They wiz by you empty, but do not stop??? When they do stop they are all packed with people. Be prepared to walk the stairs or you will not get where you are going in time. Take any elevator you can and ride it up and down until it gets to your stop. That is the only way you will be able to get in one.

Very dirty balcony glass made it hard to see the water. Others commented on that too from other areas of the ship.

The computers on board are soooo slow that you will eat up time faster than you think. At .50 a minute, they are making good money on them.

All in all, the Navigator is a beautiful ship and has a great crew.

I will be happy to answer any questions if I can.

[PhoenixCruiser]

Congratulations on making Diamond status Alexis :D

 

I sure wish RCCL would have decided to move the Navigator to the West Coast, oh well, I'll get over it :)

 

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[Alexis]

Congratulations on making Diamond status Alexis :D

 

I sure wish RCCL would have decided to move the Navigator to the West Coast, oh well, I'll get over it :)

 

###

 

Thanks. I actually won't get to use Diamond until November 2007. The Empress does not have a Diamond lounge so that's out. :o But, more money off on the JS Balcony is good. :D

There were so many rumors about it going there. The Captain was supposed to have announced that on board on at one time. :confused: Next thing you know, it is off to another place.

[PhoenixCruiser]

Alexis one thing that I found interesting in your review is your bathroom toiletries. You received more than the normal soap and combined shampoo/conditioner do you think that was because you were Platinum?

 

We have 5 E2 cabins booked on the Jewel and I need to let my family know what to expect :D

 

Thanks again!

 

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[cyscopup]

Hi Alexis,

Welcome to the "Diamond Club", Lori & I made it last month. It is a terrible shame Empress does not have the concierge lounge as that is our next several cruises. B2B2B in December and Bermuda in May. Oh well at least the next two have one though.

Glad you had a good time on Navigator. Maybe one day in the future we will bump into one another again.

[Alexis]

Alexis one thing that I found interesting in your review is your bathroom toiletries. You received more than the normal soap and combined shampoo/conditioner do you think that was because you were Platinum?

We have 5 E2 cabins booked on the Jewel and I need to let my family know what to expect :D

Thanks again!###

 

Hi PhoenixCruiser,

No, I believe that might be what some cabins get. The soap/shampoo thing on the shower wall was not filled at all. I assumed it is not used anymore. But, I could be mistaken. :confused:

 

cyscopup[/b]]Hi Alexis,

 

Welcome to the "Diamond Club", Lori & I made it last month. It is a terrible shame Empress does not have the concierge lounge as that is our next several cruises. B2B2B in December and Bermuda in May. Oh well at least the next two have one though.

 

Glad you had a good time on Navigator. Maybe one day in the future we will bump into one another again.

 

Hi cyscopup,

Thanks. I don't feel any different. :D

Now that we can't go from one Roll Call to another to visit, I can't come over and tell you and Lori to enjoy that Empress. My husband and I talk more about that next cruise than the one we just got off.

I am already in the searching mode for hotels and such. We went around and stopped at some on our port day in San Juan last week for rates. Can't do airline tickets yet until 330 days out. I am chomping at the bit waiting.

Unless they have added a concierge lounge, there is none according to the boards. I never paid attention when we all sailed her.

Let me know how the trip was on your return and what has changed since Dec. of 2004. I already know you will both have a ball.

Correct, maybe some day we may sail together again. It is a small world.

Good to "see you again".

Alexis

[gypsygirl]

First of all, thanks for the great review. We're sailing on the Navigator November 4th so I'm always excited to read about her. Just in case we may be able to take a b2b cruise someday, I wondered if they have a laundry on board. (do it yourself?)

[Alexis]

First of all, thanks for the great review. We're sailing on the Navigator November 4th so I'm always excited to read about her. Just in case we may be able to take a b2b cruise someday, I wondered if they have a laundry on board. (do it yourself?)

 

Sorry, but no RCCL ship has a self serve laundry. They have laundry and dry cleaning service for a fee. We used it three times on this cruise and they do an excellent job. ;)

 

Here is the price list.

Self-Service Laundry facilities are not provided onboard any Royal Caribbean International ships; however, full laundry and dry cleaning services are provided :

 

SHIPBOARD LAUNDRY SERVICE

* All prices are in US. Dollars and are subject to change without notice.

 

MEN WOMEN

Shirt/T-Shirt: $2.50 Blouse: $3.50

Shirt (dress): $3.00 Dress (wash): $5.00

Underwear: $1.20 Skirt: $3.50

Jeans: $3.00 Nightgown: $3.00

Pajamas: $4.00 Swimsuit: $2.00

Handkerchif: $0.75 Slip: $2.50

Shorts: $2.50 Housecoat: $3.50

Bathrobe: $3.50 Hosiery: $3.50

Pants (wash): $3.50 Slacks: $3.50

Sweatshirt: $3.00

Socks: $1.00

 

PRESS ONLY - 50% of cleaning prices SHIPBOARD DRY CLEANING SERVICES * All prices are in US. Dollars and are subject to change without notice.

 

MEN WOMAN

Suit: $7.00 Evening Gown: $8.00

Pants: $4.25 Dress $7.00

Jacket: $4.50 Silk Blouse: $5:00

Sweater: $4.00 Silk Dress: $8.00

Coat: $7.00 Skirt $4.50

Tie: $2.00 Suit: $7.50

Shirt: $3.50 Blouse: $4.00

Shorts: $3.00 Scarf: $2.50

Vest $2.50

Silk Pajamas: $4.50

 

PRESS ONLY - 50% of cleaning prices Please note: We do not provide irons in the staterooms as they constitute a fire hazard.

[cruizinmimi]

Alexis,

 

Thank you so much for your review. When I heard you say that Nester is still the greeter in the WJ, it brought back a flood of wonderful memories. He is truly a great assest to rcl. I looked forward to seeing him every morning when we were on the Navigator. My grandson loved him too.

 

Sounds like you had a great time and welcome to the Diamond Club status. Now you must work on that Diamond+:D

 

Linda

*****

[emen822]

I was searching the boards to see if you posted one and I had missed it. I was going to post a message to you but didn't want to think you had a stalker. ;)

 

Glad to hear you had a great b2b cruise. I hope to be able to do that one day. For now, we cruise when our girls have time off from school.

 

We are looking forward to the Navigator.

I have to ask - was there a henry sighting? I can't wait to look for him. I cracked up reading all the posts about him as I had no clue where all those avatars were coming from. :D

[Cruising89143]

Alexis, thanks for the great review. Glad that you enjoyed yourself. I just love this ship and will miss it this year but I'm sure that I can struggle with going on the Jewel!!;) :)

[Cruising89143]

Alexis, was the Krooze Comics still on board the Navigator?

[Alexis]

Alexis,

 

Thank you so much for your review. When I heard you say that Nester is still the greeter in the WJ, it brought back a flood of wonderful memories. He is truly a great assest to rcl. I looked forward to seeing him every morning when we were on the Navigator. My grandson loved him too.

 

Sounds like you had a great time and welcome to the Diamond Club status. Now you must work on that Diamond+:D

 

Linda

*****

 

I just loved Nester. When we were on there I mentioned to his boss that he was a great asset to RCCL. His boss told me a family walked in one day, (none of them smiling), and would not say anything to Nester as he greeted them. On their way out he jumped in front of them and asked, "why didn't you say Hello to me?"

Well, they never passed him again without responding to him coming and going. And, his boss said they smiled every time they saw him.

He is the morning sunshine in the Windjammer.

 

I was searching the boards to see if you posted one and I had missed it. I was going to post a message to you but didn't want to think you had a stalker.

Glad to hear you had a great b2b cruise. I hope to be able to do that one day. For now, we cruise when our girls have time off from school.

We are looking forward to the Navigator.

I have to ask - was there a henry sighting? I can't wait to look for him. I cracked up reading all the posts about him as I had no clue where all those avatars were coming from.

 

LOL

I saw so many Henry's in all different colors. They are let out early around 6 am and then at about 6 pm at night for their exercise. They are so cute. That was the first picture I took on the ship. henry staring at me outside my door. Even my husband got into the "There's another Henry" sightings.

 

Alexis, thanks for the great review. Glad that you enjoyed yourself. I just love this ship and will miss it this year but I'm sure that I can struggle with going on the Jewel!!

 

Alexis, was the Krooze Comics still on board the Navigator?

 

Hi cruisingator2,

No I did not see them at all. I too loved them on the Adventure in 2001. All in all, the Navigator is a wonderful ship, with a great crew. Everyone says "Hello" wherever you go.

I think the Jewel will not be too hard to take. I am sure she is beautiful too. You will just have to book the Navigator again.

Captain Sullivan was fabulous. The crew had nothing but nice things to say about both him and Captain Bang. They all seem happy and that says a lot about the command.

I figure after hearing so many nice things about Captain Bang, I will have to do the same if I want to meet him.

[sgttami]

Welcome Home!! And Welcome to Diamond!!!

 

Sounds like you had a good trip but I know the disappointment of not getting those "little perks" for doing a B2B (your other post)...

 

I never knew about "Henry" but OMG when I saw them on the Explorer last month..I was like "That's Henry!!!"...too funny...

 

We don't tour in port anymore either. When we go on 10/20 (Explorer) we'll just be going over to St. John to see our friends...and that's enough for me!!!

And we've never been to Labadee so that might be a quick run to check it out....

 

Glad you had another good getaway....(we're also thinking about Empress for 11/07)

[njoyndride]

Hey Alexis - Glad you had a great time on your second week! I thought you'd come back with lots of good tales about doing a back to back. I'm bummed they didn't do more for you two. How was your weather on the 2nd leg? I was so prepared for hurricane weather or at least substantial rain and other than Miami and two minutes in Cayman not a drop. It was great meeting you and Walt.

[golferkinda]

Alexis, please tell me more about how you did your luggage with Delta the morning of disembarkment. Did the cruise ship arrange it, or did you arrange it with Delta? For $10.00, it sounds like the way to go.

[Alexis]

Welcome Home!! And Welcome to Diamond!!!

 

Sounds like you had a good trip but I know the disappointment of not getting those "little perks" for doing a B2B (your other post)...

 

I never knew about "Henry" but OMG when I saw them on the Explorer last month..I was like "That's Henry!!!"...too funny...

 

We don't tour in port anymore either. When we go on 10/20 (Explorer) we'll just be going over to St. John to see our friends...and that's enough for me!!!

And we've never been to Labadee so that might be a quick run to check it out....

 

Glad you had another good getaway....(we're also thinking about

Empress for 11/07)

 

Glad to see you met Henry. Isn't he just the cutest thing on board? :D

Gee, that would be nice to finally meet you. It is a great itinerary. ;)

[Alexis]

Alexis, please tell me more about how you did your luggage with Delta the morning of disembarkment. Did the cruise ship arrange it, or did you arrange it with Delta? For $10.00, it sounds like the way to go.

 

There are three airlines that do this and I can only remember two. :o

American and Delta definitely have this service.

For $10 a person, you can sign up for it during your time on board. It was well worth it to us not to have to drag luggage around.

They have the forms at the pursers desk if you do not receive one in your room with your Cruise Compass. We did a Saturday to Saturday cruise and the form had to be returned to the pursers by Thursday.

On the form, you give them your name, how many are traveling with you, your flight numbers, times, how many pieces of luggage you will be checking.

On the last night of the cruise, your cabin attendant will deliver the airline packet to your room. There will be the colored tags that RCCL gives you, the boarding passes for everyone (clear on through to your final destination), and the airline luggage tags. You put the colored tags on the bags, the airline baggage tags on and place them in the hall as you would normally do. People who use this service get Lavender RCCL tags. (we were given priority white ones, but did not use them because of the express service.)

We were called off the ship at 7:00 am. We went to the Delta Lavender carousel and got our bags. We had a porter take them to the Delta area where all the express luggage is lined up.

We went to the airport and our bags were on our plane when we landed in Rochester, NY.

We had a 4:10 pm flight, so we took this option because we were going to stay around Miami for the day. But, as luck would have it, it was raining pretty hard, so we just went to the airport and sat for the day.

Warning: Call the pursers desk and confirm you are getting the service on your last evening.. Our next door cabin neighbors saw us in the airport and told us they were never told that they had been rejected from doing the luggage Express. They did not find out until they called the desk to ask where their packet was. No one would give them an explanation as to why.

Any questions, just holler.;)

[Alexis]

hic cups ??

[Alexis]

more hic cups. :(

[golferkinda]

Alexis, believe it or not, I got busy at work and couldn't get back to you. Anyway, thanks so much. I did not realize that Delta was doing this also. We have a 2:30 flight out of Fort Lauderdale, even though we will disembark in Miami (long story). But we will definitely check this out. Thanks again.

[golferkinda]

Alexis, believe it or not, but I got real busy at work. Anyway thanks for the information. I didn't realize that Delta would do that like American Airlines. We are disembarking in Miami but flying out of Fort Lauderdale, (long story) so I hope it works for us. Thanks again.

[Alexis]

I see your name as posting again on here after I answered your question. It is not showing up under the last posting of mine. :confused: I have checked many times and I do not see your post. Try posting again if you had a question for me. ;)

[Alexis]

Where is page two? Or the postings that I know where posted on here for me yesterday. :confused:

 

EDIT: It is a Miracle. They just popped up with this postings.????????????

Where have they been hiding?

[Alexis]

Hey Alexis - Glad you had a great time on your second week! I thought you'd come back with lots of good tales about doing a back to back. I'm bummed they didn't do more for you two. How was your weather on the 2nd leg? I was so prepared for hurricane weather or at least substantial rain and other than Miami and two minutes in Cayman not a drop. It was great meeting you and Walt.

 

I just went back to check something I wrote and saw your posting. I somehow evidently skipped over it while posting replies and answering questions .:confused: Sorry about that.

Not getting anything for the B2B did not ruin our cruises by any means, but they are definitely cutting down in several places. I can also understand that with the tremendous waste we saw sitting in the halls every day on the Room Service trays. Plates and plates of untouched foods. What a sin. :(

Our second week was great. That is our favorite ports for shopping. Our weather was perfect until we reached Nassau. It rained all day. We still went out in it and managed to stay dry by staying under as many overhangs as possible. Miami on the last day had rain so we just gave up the idea of doing the Bayside again before leaving for the airport.. We had about an 8 1/2 hour wait for our plane. Now that was boring. We actually had a breakfast and a late lunch there while waiting. :o

Now I only have 390+ days until my next one. I will keep busy on my Roll Call. I have one person and myself. :D

See you on the boards. ;)

Happy Cruising,

Alexis aka another Pat