Our Second time on Navigator

The first time we had The Key and this time we were in a Suite so we were able to get onboard easily and quickly, one of the first ones on the ship. We arrived at 9:45, they started letting everyone in at 10:10 and we were on the ship by 10:25.

I wish the food was a little better. We mostly ate in the main dining room, windjammer (buffet) and breakfast in chops (one of the suite perks). Service was excellent everywhere. The food in the main dining and windjammer was usually lukewarm to almost cold and in the main dining room it seemed like some of the plates are sitting out for a while, waiting for the staff to take the table. But the nice part is that you order as much as you want, multiple appetizers, entrees, one night I only ordered a bunch of apps. The wait staff is so accommodating. Breakfast for the suite guests in Chops, is from the same menu as the main dining room breakfast but everything is prepared in the chops kitchen and seemed much fresher. They will accommodate any special requests which they may do at the main dining as well. It’s a nice break from the chaos since it’s quiet and more intimate. The eggs Benedict were great. We had sushi one night at Izumi’s and it was the best mean we had the entire cruise. We eat sushi a lot so we are probably tough judges and I can say it was very fresh and the rolls were unique and tasty. And the prices extremely reasonable! $15-18 per specialty roll which is less than we pay at most of the sushi places we go to at home. My husband was pretty drunk by the time we had this meal and couldn’t fully appreciate it all but he loved it too.

We didn’t take part of a lot of the activities that were available, they just didn’t appeal to us either time we cruised on this ship. The pools are ok but the first time we were on this ship, I was with my kids, and I wish the slides were attached to a pool. They are completely separate on another section of the boat so we didn’t even bother with them. The lounge chairs in the pool were nice and laid there for a while. Even while on deck laying out I noticed that I burned/tanned a lot quicker than I do at home or anywhere else so I wonder if the sun is stronger because of the reflection of the ocean. We laid out a total of 4 hours the whole cruise and came back looking like we’d spent a week on the beach. Just something to be aware of.

We didn’t partake in any shows or anything

Didn’t utilize

Absolutely the best staff on Navigator! Both times! Staff is happy and so accommodating, it’s like they’re trained to say “yes” to everything! And they anticipated our needs which is amazing- automatically giving us extra bottles of water at one of the bars before getting off the boat on one of the hotter days in Ensenada. Automatically just bringing my husband another coors lt in the main dining room just as his was getting low. (We had the unlimited drink package.) I can’t say enough about the staff. Literally not a SINGLE complaint.

Awesome Suite! Very clean and well appointed. Bathroom is huge. Love the separate vanity area outside of the bathroom with lighted vanity mirror. Bed in suite is a lot more comfortable than in the other cabins. It’s an upgraded mattress and it makes a difference! The one we had last time in our balcony cabin was pretty uncomfortable and I woke up every morning with a sore shoulder. The suite mattress I slept very well on. The balcony was long and skinny and spans the entire length of the cabin. Only bummer was that even though there were two separate windows out to the balcony, only one opened. The one by the bed was just a window, not a door, and it didn’t open. I love the fresh breeze in the evening while laying in bed and we didn’t get that because of the closed window. It came in through the other door but we couldn’t really feel it from where we were laying. Only real complaint though was the TV. The size was great in the suite (much smaller screen in the balcony cabin) and even though we only wanted to watch tv a couple of times and before we went to sleep, it CONSTANTLY froze! It made it impossible to watch any of the live TV stations, which were abysmal to begin with. Pretty much just news and a couple of stations with old shows you didn’t really even know existed. And the movies you can pay to watch, not a good selection at all. We don’t watch tv much at home so it would have been nice to relax in the evening and watch something but it was impossible. I guess it’s the satellite that causes the freezing.

Both cruises we did on the navigator, getting off the shop was easy peasy because we had The Key the first time and the suite the second time and both had expedited disembarkation. 15 mins from cabin to car (we were parked in the pay lot right there near the ship).