Death by 1000 cuts!

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 42

Review summary

I have cruised 4 times before traveling one Royal Caribbean or the Navigator of the Seas. I really enjoy cruising as a vacation. However, this trip left a very bad taste in my mouth. First, the positives. The ship it's quite beautiful very well appointed for younger traveller. The shows were very entertaining and the food was quite nice. It should have been a fantastic vacation but it was not. We traveled out of Galveston and followed all the recommendations for how to board the ship. We were on our feet for 2 hours and 55 minutes before we reached our state room. Most of that time was spent in an air conditioned areas with temperatures in the mid 90's. We traveled to Cozumel Mexico where they try to charge you $30 a person or more to swim on the beach. Every traveler I spoke with talked about how the locals did everything they could to rip you off. And that set the tone for the entire trip. Royal Caribbean tried to reach in my pocket at every turn for the entire trip. If you want an aged New York strip steak at chops restaurant it will cost you 35 dollars extra to make the reservation plus they will charge you another 12 or 18 for the meal. That approach to dealing with travelers was consistent throughout the trip and was immortalized by having the captain of the ship hawking DVDs on the last day of the cruise while explaining how to leave. My dining room waitress began asking for 10 star evaluations after day 4. And the begging continued every night until we got off of the ship. I witnessed a member of the staff mocking an elderly passenger who was concerned about something at the poolside. He rolled his eyes and made fun of the man behind his back and this gentleman was in charge of Guest Relations. One associate cruise director, in charge of a game show, was stern and no fun at all while hosting a game on board ship. During the game she took a phone call and spoke loudly while the rest of us sat in silence. At one point she said on her phone conversation "I've gotta let you go on old fart is trying to cheat." The man was simply trying to get a game card. On the night we arrived two porters were arguing over luggage. It was already 7 o'clock and I had checked my bag at noon. .They were fighting over who was being the most lazy. I peeked into the holding room to see if I could find my luggage and they suggested that I was to blame for all the luggage being late and ordered me to leave. I was standing in a public area. On one occurrence, I ordered a specialty drink from The bar. The bartender was unfamiliar with 1 of the drink specials they advertise. In attempt to figure out how to make my drink she spoke to another bartender who informed her I was saying the wrong drink. He then told me three more times I was ordering the wrong drink. He even opened up the drink specials book and pointed to the drink he was talking about. I took the book from his hands, flipped the book back 2 pages and showed him the drink that I wanted. He then suggested I had not been saying that drink special and that the confusion was entirely my fault. At the buffet, I witnessed three young men joking, giving each other hi fives, and grabbing their own groins while also handling the food. I also had not experienced shore shopping like this before. there was a person on board ship who provided maps and suggested places to shop. It was like QVC on steroids everyday all day. shopping ran on at least one perhaps two of the television channels 24 7 while on board the ship. we were told by Royal Caribbean that the prices were amazing. However, a quick internet search showed that Amazon full virtual a everything at a better price. I was put off by the fact the ship staff would tell us blatantly false information. I did by some jewellery while in Grand Cayman. The same jewelry was for sale on board the ship. The clerk in charge of the jewelry shop told me over and over that they had the best prices and after several minutes of painful negotiations I was told the price they were offering was too low to even make. the Royal Caribbean offer was simply three times as high as I paid for the same exact jewelry. They were trying to rip me off amber lane directly to my face. The entire experience was quite off putting. I guess I just expected a higher degree of professionalism with the staff. These are but a few of the problems I had dealing with the personnel on board the Navigator of the Seas. If you ignore this portion of my review and still decide to take this trip I would suggest you book your excursion trips through Royal Caribbean directly. Royal Caribbean places people who buy from them at the front of the line for departure. While this may not seem very important it can to take an hour or more just to get off a ship this size. Additionally, the excursion I purchased through in Jamaica left without me and then refused to provide me with any assistance to get to our location. The instructions I received never stated there was a specific time for departure just at the buses would begin running at a set time. When I arrived 45 minutes after the buses were to begin they were all gone. And the excursion company refused to help me. My only choice was to spend an additional $50 for a taxi cab drive and they were not sure they could bring me back. The moral of the story is don't book excursions with third party vendors. In summary, facilities great service terrible. And when you are paying for the service it ruins the vacation.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Onboard Activities

Entertainment

Children's Programs

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Ports of call

Galveston, Texas

Cozumel, Mexico

George Town, Grand Cayman

Falmouth, Jamaica

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