Overview: Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas From Galveston

I had prepared this cruise for seven months. A buddy and I who had previously cruised with Carnival and Superstar ended up keen to try out Royal Caribbean immediately after hearing so quite a few good matters about the beauty of the ship, high-quality of foodstuff and support, and so forth. For the next time, I amazed my retired mom and dad by getting them with us (the former calendar year I experienced surprised them with an Alaskan cruise which I will evaluate later on), and they had been unquestionably giddy with pleasure when they identified out that they would once all over again be traveling aboard Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas, which they claimed was their preferred ship of 13 other cruises they had taken. With the ship new out of dry dock for upgrades, were being set to go to some brand-new locations none of us had ever visited: Roatan Island, Honduras and Belize Town. Expectations were being large.

Then cruise time arrived. Even though I am not ready to say that we experienced a Undesirable time on this cruise, I feel it is fair to say that our anticipations have been a bit deflated, rather substantially from the moment we arrived at the Port of Galveston. Allow for me to take you by way of the significant and very low lights of life on the substantial seas aboard Navigator of the Seas.

The Highs

Our eating experience– Most surely the ideal company we acquired on the ship was in the major Sapphire Dining Space, which is devoid of a doubt the most magnificent eating area I have found on a cruise ship. Strolling into the eating home is like entering a regal opera household entire with grand stair case and three ranges of dining with windows on every single aspect. Our two servers ended up incredibly attentive, noting my stage-mother’s choice of generating her own ice tea with two eyeglasses of ice, 2 tea bags and some incredibly hot water, which was waiting around for her just about every night time immediately after night time 1. I could fault her for remaining a “tea snob,” but then I might have to look at myself in the mirror with my Starbucks in hand turning my nose up at Folgers. All of us loved the wide range of meal alternatives and assumed the food stuff was of incredibly significant top quality, with assistance running like clock do the job. It was truly a pleasure to dine each and every evening.

In this article we are at evening meal. I am the goof-ball in blue.

The Cabin– Within cabin 7667 (Aft Port) was home sweet dwelling for our week at sea. My mom and dad had been right following door in 7669. For an inside cabin, there was loads of area to stow all of our stuff and have a completely clear space to move in. I would say the mattress was a little bit difficult, but it is all about your desire as my mate and traveling husband or wife Jay (the person in purple) claimed his was just proper. Sufficient closet and drawer area authorized us to each individual have adequate space to unpack. Our steward services was also top-notch, re-stocking and tidying up twice everyday.

The ship– Navigator is unquestionably a attractive ship. Of take note is the Royal Promenade, a collection of shops, restaurants and bars running aft to forward giving cruisers the come to feel of strolling down a cobblestone street even though at sea. I endorse the Two Poets Pub for some good ambiance and persons-observing. The main atrium is attractive, and the different lounges and bars are built with a very stylish but comfy sense. The pool deck is also outstanding, featuring two key swimming pools flanked by a number of warm tubs, some of which are shaded. For the most portion there are a lot of chairs both in and out of the shade, but if your cruise is total you experienced far better get there early to snag a single. We also thought the nightclub overlooking the pool deck with its floor-to-ceiling home windows extra a awesome contact to the ship’s choices. The ship’s on line casino is also fairly decent, but considering that smoking cigarettes is allowed in there, you might arrive out smelling like an ash tray.

Overlooking the Royal Promenade

The Grand Atrium

Beverage Bundle–A few of us on this cruise experienced the quality bundle for $55 per day, but considering that my father only drinks beer, we received him the simple package. At initial glance, this bundle might seem a little bit dear (Royal Caribbean’s beverage deals are some of the most pricey at sea), but general we obtained our money’s worthy of. What I specifically preferred was that generally nothing on the drink menu was off limitations small of the super premium stuff. You could even opt for Gray Goose vodka at no more demand. The flip aspect here is the bar provider (see down below).

Theatre Leisure–If you at any time locate oneself on Navigator of the Seas, don’t miss the ice-skating exhibit. It is great and was much improved than I thought it was likely to be. We also liked the Elton John impersonator, the bar aptitude show and the adult sport present.

The Lows

Embarkation/Debarkation–The phrases fiasco, nightmare, eternity and disorganization come to intellect for each. This was arms-down the WORST embarkation/debarkation process I have ever knowledgeable, and my dad and mom who had been on 13 prior cruises agreed. We must have anticipated this when Royal Caribbean sent us out an e-mail prior to the cruise instructing us to get there at particular times based on the deck on which our cabin was found. As it occurred, we experienced flown into Houston, and our transfer dropped us off right at the time we have been meant to be there, which was 12:30 p.m. We did not move foot on the ship until eventually just about 2 p.m, as we were stuck two diverse traces, each of which were very gradual-going. This is undoubtedly not the way you want to commence your holiday vacation, and really several smiles were being to be observed in the safety and check out-in traces. Head you, I entirely anticipate a little bit of a wait examining in, but this was just ridiculous. I think the longest wait I have ever professional prior to this was 30 minutes tops. I absolutely expressed my dissatisfaction to the test-in woman.

Debarkation was basically just as bad. Given that we experienced a driver ready for us, we opted for the self check-out and ended up given a particular time and spot to meet up with. We have carried out this on other cruises with negligible ready, with customs officers boarding the ship to obtain types. In the previous, we have basically just walked off the ship. Not this time. When we arrived at the appointed location we then waited a different very good 45 minutes just to be permitted to disembark. At the time off the ship, guess what? An additional line, yet another 45 minutes to go through customs. I finished up being a billed an additional wait around rate by my driver, thanks to Royal Caribbean and the Port of Galveston.

Bottom line–I will never cruise from Galveston, Texas again as they plainly do not have the means to deal with the quantity of people today that cruise ships have. Mainly, Royal Caribbean left a adverse 1st impression and a detrimental final impact.

Provider–Aside from our servers at meal, support in the bars and lounges on this ship was regular at ideal and surely not what I am accustomed to on a cruise. Although some bartenders were standouts, it typically took endlessly to get a drink and often you felt as if you had been a trouble to the bartender or server. The worst services was possibly at the pool bar. Some could possibly say that I am too demanding, but when I shell out my hard-acquired revenue on family vacation I want decent assistance. Time period. I didn’t seriously get it on this cruise. My mom and dad also commented that “points just weren’t the very same on this cruise” as their preceding encounter on Navigator of the Seas.

Young children, young children, young ones– Ok, I am possibly going to get some eye-rolls for this, and perhaps for some it wouldn’t be a damaging, but there ended up just too a lot of young children taking more than the key pool region on this ship. As with anyplace else, parents are partly to blame in this article, allowing their small monsters to run amuck and splash some others in the main pool, but I fault Royal Caribbean for not imposing pool regulations. On past cruises, kids were not even authorized in very hot tubs, but they were in this one. Granted, there is an grown ups-only pool and incredibly hot tub, but the difficulty is that there is not any enjoyment there (not that the entertainment at the principal pool was nearly anything to compose property about).

We did not take part in any excursions on this cruise, so I won’t be able to communicate to their quality. We did listen to different responses that the excursions were being over-priced and not well worth the income. One excursion was even about an hour late and experienced to be shipped to the ship by boat as it was departing Honduras.

The verdict–If I had to select concerning Royal Caribbean and Carnival, I would in all probability go with Carnival centered on earlier ordeals. I am not fully closed to supplying Royal Caribbean an additional probability, but they would have to entirely WOW me to hold me coming back again.