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Royal Caribbean International

MV Navigator of the Seas

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Reviewed by: Kathy R.
# previous cruises: 4
Date of Trip: July 26, 2003
Itinerary: Caribbean - Western

We had a wonderful time on this ship. We found the ship to be beautiful and well run. The staff that we dealt with were helpful and polite. The ship was full, but the large number of places to go and things to do kept the public areas from being crowded.

Our air arrangements were through RCI. They met us at the airport and took us to the pier. We arrived in Miami at 2:30 and were told to get our luggage. We got a porter who took us to the RCI bus. RCI checked us in on the bus because of how late it was. We waited on the bus for a while before leaving. If you fill out the documentation on their web site, be sure to print it and have it available. Otherwise, we would have had to fill out the form again on the bus. We finally got to the ship about 4:30 just in time for the muster drill. : - )

There were four of us - my husband and myself, our 21 year old daughter, and her 23 year old girlfriend.

The Navigator has many public areas. The Royal Promenade is a gathering point on the ship. It has four shops and several classy looking bars open to the promenade, with tables placed outside them. Along the promenade is the Promenade Cafi with pastries, cookies and dessert type foods all day long, Sprinkles soft ice cream stand and Ben and Jerry.s Ice Cream bar as part of the Promenade Cafi bar. There is a small stage for live music. The entire length of the Royal Promenade is decorated in a festive, tasteful way. The windows on three decks of rooms overlook it. Flags and decorations for different themes are changed during the week.

There is often live music at night. The Captain's Reception was held here. We walked into the promenade in formal dress and were handed a glass of champagne. We met the Captain and the promenade was filled with people enjoying champagne and the evening. Later there was dancing as part of the reception. Two parades were held here during the week.

Every night there is a good crowd of people there to mingle, enjoy the music and bars and have fun. This area is alive with people much of the time.

On this large ship, the Royal Promenade is a gathering place from which people can flow to other areas of the ship. The aft end of the promenade accesses the Centrum and another atrium is at the forward end. At the center of the promenade, a staircase goes down to the casino on the fourth level. There are six elevators at each end and graceful marble or carpeted staircases, as well as traditional stairways beyond the elevators.

Were the elevators crowded? Sometimes - depending on whether the Metropolis theatre show was just over, or if people were pouring back onto the ship after excursions. Were there enough elevators? Most of the time, but I don't know if you can have too many, ever! The elevators are fast, but sometimes would stop at every floor. I rode the elevator alone a few times, though. Every ship I have been on has been this way. We walked the stairs at times - it's good exercise!

I also especially liked the Crown Viking Lounge for the view of the ship and the ocean, and the Schooner Bar, with its grand piano, elegant wood decor and sailing ship theme. Lastly, I enjoyed my own balcony enormously!

There are two pools next to one another on the 11th deck. There are two hot tubs in this area. There is also a solarium pool. There seemed to be adequate chairs around the pools, but there was chair saving going on, anyway. There were lots of children in the pool area, but I did not see them in the hot tub with a sign for Adults Only.

The casino is large and busy when it is open. I only played the slots machines and did not win. My husband timed me and it took me just 26 seconds to lose each dollar. I had a good time, though!

We had dinner every evening in the dining room. The dining room is on three levels with a center chandelier that was beautiful. We did not eat at either of the specialty restaurants, so I cannot comment on them. Our waitress, Sonia from Portugal, and our assistant waiter, Marcelo from Chili, provided excellent service. The food ranged from good to excellent. Sonia was always ready to bring something else if anyone did not like what they had ordered. Our table mates had special dietary needs and she dealt with all the special requests very well. Only on one night was the service slow after the waiters sang and danced. The kitchen seemed to have a problem getting dessert on the way that night.

We ate breakfast and lunch at the Windjammer. The traffic flow was not especially smooth, but people managed to get all they needed. We always found a table, and often found a table by a window, even though the Windjammer handled a large number of people. I found the food to be good, but not excellent. There was a large variety of food to choose from and the servers replaced the serving dishes as needed. They did a good job of clearing tables so people could sit down to eat at them again.

We ate once at Johnny Rockets on a day at sea. We had just a ten minute wait and then were seated by the railing outside. The setting was perfect and the food was great.

Our cabin was on the 8th deck near the center of the ship. We had a balcony, which we enjoyed very much. The bed was made up into a queen size bed. The closet had many hangers and had a collapsable rod that we folded down to double hang shorter clothes. There were shelves and cubbies on the sides of the closet for storage. There were two rows of drawers on the vanity for storage. The mirror had storage on both sides. Our large suitcases easily slid under the bed.

The bathroom was small, but well designed. The shower had rounded shower doors, which were a big improvement over a shower curtain. The water stayed in the shower. The curved door made the shower easily large enough for a full size person, but it would not be too roomy if a person were much plus sized.

Our balcony had two chairs and a small table. We were on the starboard side and Explorer of the Seas passed us as she was leaving Miami and we were still docked. What a sight! Coming into Grand Cayman, I saw the Millenium approaching from another direction. I enjoyed sitting on my balcony and hearing the ship cut through the water.

Our room was quiet, but the balcony is not. We could hear conversations near us on all sides. Luckily, we often had quiet times on the balcony.

We attended several shows. The Royal Caribbean singers and dancers performed twice and we enjoyed their shows. They are a talented group of performers. Several comics performed and some were funnier than others. Freda Paine was the featured singer, and her performance was excellent. She was not as well received as she should have been. I think the crowd walking out was just too young. Many of her fans waited to meet her after the show, though.

The ice skating show was excellent. It is amazing all the skaters can do on a small rink. This show is popular and you will need to pick up tickets in advance for it. I wish I could have gone twice, but it was "sold out."

Karaoke was fun. It was held in Studio B it is surprising how talented some of the cruise guests are. It was also very funny at times. On the last night, winners were chosen and they were given a medal and some kind of a prize.

Our first stop was Labadee, Haiti, and this was a beach stop. We waited in a long line for a tender, but the line moved quickly when a tender arrived. There were endless beach chairs and the barbecue was good. Our girls went parasailing and enjoyed it very much. My husband and I snorkeled. There were jet skis, a banana boat, a water park, kayaks and rafts to float on. It was a fun day.

Our next stop was Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Our girls wanted to do the dolphin swim, but it was sold out on the ship and they were also told this when the took a cab there. They went to Dunn's River Falls instead and had a good time. My husband and I went scuba diving through the Sea Trec shop on board. We were ferried to the dock to board the dive boat, and we had a small wooden boat that was not a dive boat and quite unsafe. The second dive was especially pretty with coral formations, but the boat was really awful. I later spoke with Sea Trec and the dive operator did not use the dive boat that RCI contracted for. We filed a report and gave them the pictures we took of the boat.

The next stop was Georgetown, Grand Cayman. We had arranged with the Divers Down dive shop there to take us to Stingray City. This is a different location than the Stingray sandbar. We were in 12 feet of water and the stingrays swam to us to be fed. This was a very cool experience.

We next stopped at Cozemel, Mexico. Our girls went to the Tulum Mayan Ruins and liked the excursion a lot. My husband and I dove again. The water was the very clear and we saw lots of fish and coral. This dive boat was very good and we had two good dives.

We were not involved in child care, but the ship had Adventure Island for children and I heard that babysitting was available in the evening.

Our girls enjoyed the night life on the ship and especially seemed to like the Dungeon. There was always something going on late into the night, they said.

There were many families with lots of children and teenagers. The children and teenagers were not a problem for us. Since this is summer, we expected lots of children on this ship. I imagine when school starts, the mix of people would be different.

There were also single people and couples of all ages on this ship - from their twenties to their seventies or eighties.

We enjoyed our table mates. We would invite them over for dinner.