Navigator of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Dit was onze 4e cruise, eerder hebben we in het caribisch gebied gecruised. Dit keer wilden we iets anders. Het schip was zeer zeker erg mooi. Maar de service en het eten waren zeker veel minder. Je had het idee in een all-inclusieve hotel te zijn. Behalve dan dat het niet was. Drankjes waren zeer zeker erg duur. De service in de kamer waren ook gewoon minder dan andere keren. En het eten is zeer zeker op bezuinigd. Het was meestal gewoon niet lekker. Veel vet aan het vlees, en je moest opschieten van de serveerster anders werdt ze boos. Ook het personeel van de guest-balie, wilden niet echt meewerken aan een probleem die zei hadden gemaakt. Er werdt mij verzocht om als ik thuis was maar contact op te nemen met het boekingskantoor. Verder is het rookbeleid veranderd, erg jammer. Want je boekt een balkon-kamer op op je balkon te kunnen roken. Nu waren er heel veel mensen boven-onder-en naast ons die toch gingen roken en hun peuk in het water gooiden. Dit is volgens mij niet de bedoeling. Dus hef in ieder geval het rookverbod weer op. Ook bij het zwembad. Op eerdere schepen mocht je aan de ene kant niet, en aan de andere kant wel roken, geen probleem lijkt me, want we zitten ook nog eens allemaal in de buitenlucht. Als deze richtlijnen, dus minder service, minder eten, dure drankjes en het rookbeleid niet worden veranderd, zullen zeker minder cruises worden gemaakt. Ik heb natuurlijk met meerdere vakantiemensen gepraat. En ze vonden dit inderdaad allemaal het zelfde.

everything is great. The remarkable interior of the vessel. Easy clean cabin. Very tasty and varied food. Wonderful show especially the ice show. The friendly and attentive staff at all levels. Interesting excursions well organized.

The ship was great. Very clean, attentive cabin stewards and overall good service. You cannot beat the food. I was traveling with a child, so we didn't dine in the formal dining room because we were just too tired after a day in the heat and wanted a more relaxing come as you are atmosphere. The variety and freshness at the Windjammer Cafe was tremendous! My daughter really enjoyed the kids' camp on board and the hours and activities were great. The ports of call were all stunning, the excursions were great, and the tour guides were some of the most knowledgeable I have ever had. The tour guides really knew their stuff. I would suggest that they add more alcohol to the mixed frozen drinks. After the initial two sips, I was left drinking mix. I tested it out at various bars along the ship different nights to confirm. I don't mind paying $12 for a mixed drink, but not for mix; make sure to let the bartender know when ordering a drink. The excursions to Ephesus that include visiting the Turkish carpet companies - while the introduction to how they weave the silk from the silk-worm cocoon and watching the weaving process is really interesting, beware of the sales effort afterwards. I repeatedly said no, I was not buying a carpet. While I appreciate the customary practice to negotiate everything, I said clear no after no. When the gentlemen finally realized he was not going to make a sale with me, I was told to leave "his rugs in peace" and escorted out. I was also told that I would regret my decision for the rest of my life and how could I deprive my children of such a legacy. Really? Completely unnecessary. However, if you are in the market for a Turkish silk or wool carpet, then you should have no problem and the carpets are stunning. The pool side live music during the day needs to be revamped. Too many "elevator" type songs.

We like all traditional activities on board except we were isolated from the world due to without affordable internet service. all our e-machine kept off, including my wife and kids. I paid more than $4X for only about 30 minutes internet service, which is not even enough for my email checking. and there is no any printer can be used for our laptops. Today, we can not survive well without internet. SO IF YOU WANT TO KEEP YOUNG PP, YOU NEED TO OFFER FREE OR LOW FEE INTERNET FOR 7 DAYS.

Overall a great cruise and experience! (My rating and my two sons rating for this trip was 5 stars, but my wife gave it 3 stars, so this rating reflects the family average - if the system allowed half star ratings, ours would have been 4.5 stars) This was our families first cruise - with our two boys ages 19 and 15, both very athletic and in super shape. We are working professionals located in Silicon Valley, CA, with our oldest son in college and younger son a Junior in HS. We opted for two suites next door to each other on the deck 10, giving my wife and I some privacy, and my boys some independence in there own room. Our floor attendant opened the divider on the outside deck to allow quick and easy movement between the rooms - having connecting rooms would have been perfect, as we often do at hotels, but the cruise ship did not offer connecting rooms of the category we booked. However walking outside with the beautiful Mediterranean below, was a nice way to get between the rooms. Overall we were impressed with the suites - separate bedroom and living room area, and a small dining room. The big flat screen TV was connected to a DVD player, which allowed us to catch up on some shows and movies we missed during the busy work year. Our family meals each evening were always enjoyable. We dined in the humongous dining room 3 times, upgraded 2 nights to the speciality venus: Steak House, and Italian, and 2 nights in the cafeteria style dining hall. Considering the number of people on the ship, the food quality was quite good, and the offerings each night were diverse enough to suit all pallets. We also used the health club and spa most days, enjoying spa services on 3 of the nights. The spa experience equaled many we have enjoyed during our hotel based vacations. Not 5 star, but certainly 4 star. Hanging out at the pools turned out to be the number one attraction for by guys and I - I read many books on the to do list, and my guys started their summer reading, and girl watched. A lot of cool activities at the pool with a full range of experience to entertain (nice to take a break from reading to enjoy the sights and fun atmosphere). The single key feature of the cruise that really appealed to our family was waking up each morning in a new port (2 of the days/nights were spent making long crossings without a port of call). We loved not having to pack up our possessions and moving to different cities - past vacations. Being able to stay in one room, not pack up every few days, and have the "cities brought to us" is what sold us on taking future cruises. RC and their partners offer great variety for booking excursions at each port of call. We opted for afternoon excursions allowing the teens to sleep in: we would have lunch, exit the ship just after an early lunch, enjoy the sites, and then back on the ship by 4:00 or 5:00. Great way to see the very basics of Athens, Ephesus, etc, and get in some sunning/ exercising/ relaxing in the late afternoon, before dinner (we generally ate dinner around 9:00 each evening). Navigator of the Sea is a big ship with more than 3,000 people, so before booking a cruise be sure to consider the pros and cons of a bigger ship and all that it offers versus smaller ships. We investigated many smaller CruiseLines like Seabourn, Crystal and Silverseas, but opted for a bigger ship that would offer more for the teens. Our pre-cruise research led us to Royal Caribbean as a good balance of size/features and luxury. My wife was less happy overall with the size of the Navigator and the number of people, and the family agreed that as we did not take full advantage of the teen related activities (rock climbing, teen club, etc) that our next cruise would likely be on a smaller, more luxurious ship. BUT, Nav of the Sea was pretty high-end all things considered. My wife wants to try the next level up in luxury on a smaller ship, so we will likely cruise next summer on a smaller super lux ship, visiting the part of the Mediterranean we missed this past trip (Eastern Med included Rome, Palermo, Athens, Ephesus, and Crete) - next summer will do Western Med which includes Spain, France, etc. Perhaps we won't like the value - as the smaller super lux cruise ships are at least 50-100% more expensive for the larger suite category we desire. And as the Royal Carib experience was very good, we may end up back with RC, all things considered. But won't know until we try it. Thank you RC and Nav of the Sea for such a wonderful experience. Since this was our first cruise experience, we may not have wanted to ever cruise again had things not gone so well. But RC did a fabulous job in all the categories we cared about (for instance the ship had a full casino, but we don't gamble so that did not appeal to us - but its there if you are in to that type of entertainment). In a final, BTW - if you are from the US, and have a child who is not legal in the US (not yet age 21), but who will be legal on the cruise ship (age 18), DEFINITELY work out rules in advance, with respect to alcohol consumption. Our son is not legal in the US, but at age 19 had full access to booze on the ship, and we did need to make a family decision about when and how much, to help him find the right moderation point.

We have taken one cruise with Princess before, which was a brand new ship Diamond Princess, and our expectations for this older ship were low. But the service, food and entertainment were awesome. The only issue was that the drinks were too expensive, and there was no laundromat. But we drank wine on shore excursions and washed a few clothes in the room. Being vegetarians we thought food would be an issue but we found plenty of options. The shore excursions wih the Shire Excursion Group were great, a tad expensive but really convenient and well done. A little more time in Crete would have Ben nice, but all in all, it was awesome. We took two adjacent rooms, one for us and one for the kids, right in front of the ship with views te captain saw. Rooms were big and more spacious than in Princess. Would use royal Caribbean again.

I gave this cruise a four star rating! We sailed 7/21 thru 7/28/13. Ship was nice but since our last cruise was on the Allure of the Seas, it reminded me of a much scaled down version. The food was great! Chops Grill was the best! The crew was nice and pleasant! The Spa really needed a renovation! We are Spa babies and missed the more expanded facilities! Our favorite destinations were Messina. We took the tour that went to Taromina, the vineyard and the jewelry factory!! We loved this location. Athens was a big disappointment! Lots of graffiti on the buildings! We took the taste of Athens excursion. The jewelry shopping was great! Turkey was the best Ephesus was fantastic! Seeing all the biblical ruins and hearing the stories put everything in perspective. We did not get off in Crete as we were worn out from spending the previous week in Rome. Would recommend this trip!

From the moment I arrived at the cruise terminal there were friendly, knowledgeable and upbeat crew members to meet every need. I was on board within 35 min. With no long lines and waiting. Luggage was delivered to my balcony stateroom by mid-afternoon. This is a very large cruise ship but cleanliness was everywhere. Meals in the dining room were very good and after the first evening the staff knew all of us by name. I was part of a table of nine and we were friendly from the beginning with no awarkwardness. The shore excursions were the only experiences I found uncomfortable - and that was due to the heat and massive crowds. Ephesus was the best with the Turkish tour company very friendly and knowledgeable. Guest Relations Desk crew were very helpful and pursued my requests until a very satisfactory solution was found. I will definitely cruise with Royal Caribbean again, but on another itinerary. Michael from Wisconsin (age-75)

We had a great time...the people were attentive to our needs, very curious and thoughtful....the food: excellent, but what we enjoyed most was the option of having three pools. We spent most of our time in the adult pool area being that we did not bring our children with us. They would have enjoyed all the activities available and we are seriously considering having them come with us on the next one. The itinerary was just perfect for us and it allowed us to visit the places we wanted to see most, or relax on the ship since that is a vacation in itself. I am recommending cruising to all my friends.

We traveled as a family of 12, ranging in age from 8 to 74. The ship had activities for all ages. Our 8 year old especially enjoyed the Explorers Club and took part in all their activities. The rock climbing wall, ice skating rink and in line skating were also a hit. I was disappointed that there was not "formal tea" in the afternoon. That was one of my favorite activities on other cruise lines. We had a negative experience sending our bag of dirty clothes to the " $25.00 laundry". Many items came back about 3 sizes smaller! But all in all it was a fabulous trip and I would recommend it to anyone.

This was my first cruise and I never knew how great it would be until this cruise and I have already booked my next cruise. The service, price and whole experience was so wonderful. I have stayed in a lot of hotels and never had an experience even close to being on a cruise. Five stars for sure.

Really enjoyed this cruise. The ship is in good shape (we did the Oasis in November, so obviously nothing will compare) and the itinerary was great. Hired private tours in most ports (Athens, Ephesus, Sicily) and enjoyed the ports immensely - wish they would allow for longer days in port though. Generally you have to be back on board 1/2 hour before the stated deportation time on the itinerary and it's 1/2 hour between docking and deportation, so many of the days were very short. be careful in Crete, as the shuttle back to make that early afternoon deadline was full and getting back on time was very challenging. Definitely could change the Crete port to something else - its a nice enough little town, but nothing to write home about (no need for a tour here - just hop the shuttle into town and then take a long walk to a beach if you want). We had a balcony room and an inside room - the inside room felt very small, but was quiet and perfectly adequate. all the staff on board are amazing - even with the now mandatory pre-paid tips they still went out of their way to be nice and very helpful and all were very professional. by the way, even infants pay those pre-paid tips! Food was not at all great - nothing at all to get excited about, even in the specialty restaurants. One of the few cruises where I did not gain weight as nothing really seemed worth eating on the ship. Wish they would focus their menu more on local favorites from each port town - makes it more authentic and interesting. the food on this cruise was the exact same menu as the November cruise out of Florida. Our friends were on a similar trip on NCL - we ran into them in two ports - they enjoyed their cruise perhaps more than we did - better food, less "extra charges", and more/longer/better port stops. my teen daughter enjoyed the teen club and the kids club and arcade were popular. My 18 year old was lost - too old for the teen club and nothing to do. the pools were way too small for a 3000 person ship, and one was always closed on "at sea" days, making the water in the only open pool really disgusting really quickly. never enough deck chairs. biggest complaint about RCI on these last two cruises was the "added charges" - constant attempt to get you to spend more money on "extras" - not just alcohol, but specialty dining, ice cream, espresso at dinner, coffee and Starbucks, etc. etc. etc. We had the soda package, which saved money, but it did feel as though the people at the bar were resentful whenever you asked for a free soda. When I tried to ask the excursion people about the towns we were going to and "low-cost options" for getting into town, they were very, very rude and unhelpful - they work on commission, so telling you that the shuttle to Chania town in Crete is only a few euros was not in their best interest - so they just flat out refused to give me any info at all. About any port. unless I was buying an excursion, which I was not going to do. this was really, really annoying. One staff member actually told me that she had never been to town in that port - which cannot possibly be true! she told me to wait until I was off the boat and ask the tourist information at the port about my options!!!! We did run into the huge group RCI excursions in every port - I'm sure they were fine, but they were huge busloads of people following a person with a sign and listening on headphones to the canned and boring sounding "talk" of the guide - every one of those people could have downloaded a Rick Steve's free audioguide and hired a taxi and gotten the same exact tour for way less money. (maybe not in Turkey, as the interesting Ephesus site is very far from the port town). We liked Ephesus best of all the ports (again, we had hired private guides) but also really enjoyed Athens and the volcano and town in Sicily. Best gelato was in Taormino in Sicily! Apparently this is the Navigator's last summer in Europe and now she will be refurbished and sail out of Galveston. It will be interesting to see what ship replaces her in the Mediterranean.

We had a great time and experience. I would love to sail again with Royal Caribbean we were treated like royalty. My favorite time in the boat was diner time. Our waiter made the experience much greater and enjoyable.

Over all it was a rather relaxing experience. We were travelling with my parents in their eighties and our children just over 20. My parents enjoyed the journey, the staff where extremely friendly and despise my parents lack of English they found they could manage them self very well. Our children quickly bonded to other youngsters and they formed a group which I believe they still keep in touch with. Yes the food was excellent. the staff great. The ship was clean and well looked after.

This cruise was more than what we expected. Every employee was absolutely excellent in work ethic, helpfulness, and friendliness. Our steward and servers were top-notch and fun. The entertainment was good and enjoyable. The ship was superb in every way, too. I can think of nothing that we were disappointed by. We would definitely use Royal Caribbean again if we decided to do another cruise. Thanks for a marvelous voyage and experience!

We sailed on the Navigator of the Seas, June 2 from Rome. The food was, at best, so so and the shows were mediocre and the facilities were lacking in almost every respect. Along with many other features on the Navigator of the Sea, the internet system is hopelessly out of date. It's obvious that their system has not been updated since the ship was launched. I was very surprised to find that they do not have wireless in the rooms and all over the ship but only 4 or so "hot spots" on the ship. I have not seen this on a ship in at least 10 years. I needed to complete a contract once I got on board using Docusign which under normal circumstances would take perhaps 15 minutes. The internet on the ship was so bad that I spend literally 10+ hours and 3+ days of my vacation trying to use the antiquated system. I would get on their system and would be kicked off after 2 or 3 minutes without even getting onto the web and being charged 75 cents per minute. I would typically repeat this process 4 or 5 times before finally getting to use the EMail for maybe a minute or two before I was kicked off again. The assistant manager of the front desk, Steven, tried to help me and finally let me use the system they use in the back to finally use my software to submit my contract and reimbursing a fair amount of the useless minutes I had been charged for. During the last 3 days when I was trying to use the EMail to find out if my contract had gone through, I spent perhaps $150 on their internet with essentially zero results. I was so disgusted by this point that I did not even try to get reimbursed. We cruise once to twice a year and will never go on Royal Caribbean again. We have been on Princess, Carnival and Holland American. Never have I been so disgusted - my vacation was ruined.

We love this ship and it was very interesting to be among 67 different nationalities. The crew was excellent, the cabin with balcony fantastic and we enjoyed the itinerary. The shows very great and so was the food.

We take many cruises and this was the Best Ever. Mediterrian is smooth as glass, food great and got to visit Sicily, Greece, Turkey and Crete. No language barriers. Great Food ...very reasonably priced.

We had a fantastic time. Wonderful ice skating show in Studio B, and cirque de soleil performances in the Metropolis Theatre. No sea sickness, compared to another cruise line trip to the Bahamas. Great fish and lamb dishes; beautifully presented dishes and desserts. Extremely polite staff in dining rooms, hair salon, stateroom and the security person who checked on us while walking on deck at night. The carpets need replacing and the showers are too small. The art tour and auctions were interesting, but a long wait for home delivery. We were overcharged once on our bar bill, but it was corrected the next day, after talking to Client Services. It was nice to be able to check our bill daily from the stateroom TV. Client Services often had a long lineup. Hopefully, we will be able to try Royal Caribbean again. The price was right this time.

Navigator of the Seas is a great ship and the itinerary was fantastic. The staff is very friendly and efficient and every inch of the ship is clean and well maintained. I would highly recommend either the Mediterranean or Caribbean itineraries to anyone who wants to cruise in style and comfort.