Anyone ever been on a cruise before?
- Thread starter brandon
- Start date
Original_Intent
Member
- Joined
- May 18, 2007
- Messages
- 9,381
Did one for my honeymoon 17 years ago. My wife was a travel agent and said that Norwegian Cruise Lines is one of the nicer ones (best bang for buck).
It was definitely the best vacation of my life, and not just because it was my honeymoon.
Carnival i hear is the cruise line to go on if you want a party cruise. NCL would be more reserved although there were girls sunbathing topless on the private island that we stopped at.
The cruise we did was the Eastern Caribean, 7 days, and stops at Jamaica. Grand Cayman, Cozumel and one other stop I don't remember the name.
I would check out Vacationstogo.com (I think that's it) they send me emails all the time and if you have a flexible schedule and can go on short notice you can get 75% discounts.
http://www.vacationstogo.com/
Also, recommend you get a cabin towards the middle of the ship (not aft or bow) being on a side is nice for a window of if you have the money even a balcony.
Good luck and have fun! Our ultimate dream vacation is a 14 day cruise of the Mediterranian (sp?)
It was definitely the best vacation of my life, and not just because it was my honeymoon.
Carnival i hear is the cruise line to go on if you want a party cruise. NCL would be more reserved although there were girls sunbathing topless on the private island that we stopped at.
The cruise we did was the Eastern Caribean, 7 days, and stops at Jamaica. Grand Cayman, Cozumel and one other stop I don't remember the name.
I would check out Vacationstogo.com (I think that's it) they send me emails all the time and if you have a flexible schedule and can go on short notice you can get 75% discounts.
http://www.vacationstogo.com/
Also, recommend you get a cabin towards the middle of the ship (not aft or bow) being on a side is nice for a window of if you have the money even a balcony.
Good luck and have fun! Our ultimate dream vacation is a 14 day cruise of the Mediterranian (sp?)
constituent
Member
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2007
- Messages
- 13,724
Don't go. It's cool at first, but then you see the same f*n people over and over and over and over and over... Great way to ruin the perfect vacation, imo.
coyote_sprit
Banned
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2008
- Messages
- 4,148
Nope and I never intend to go on one.
specsaregood
Member
- Joined
- May 21, 2007
- Messages
- 39,143
Most people tell me that cruises are for people that like to drink and eat.
brandon
SINO
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2007
- Messages
- 15,414
specsaregood
Member
- Joined
- May 21, 2007
- Messages
- 39,143
Yeah but if you drink enough then you won't remember those same people.
constituent
Member
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2007
- Messages
- 13,724
hahah, if you drink enough... you can't drink enough, imo.
Last edited:
GunnyFreedom
Member
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2007
- Messages
- 32,882
Does it count if the ship was gray, and constantly launched and landed helicopters and hovercraft? 
EgwaTlvdatsi
Member
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2008
- Messages
- 175
Having gone on a cruise, as well as being born and raised on the "great" plains, it wasn't much different. The only differences were; Brown, blue, with a sprinkling of greens were changed to blue, more blue, and more blue; Instead of great open spaces, it was a large hotel with a tiny gambling establishment, lots of liquor (a necessary commodity IMO). There was nothing I found fun about the trip, oh, ok, seeing the flying fish for...um...the first second was interesting. Only when we landed at Cozumel did it get interesting...
For the most part, if you like being trapped on a box with a small town of people, as well as you like getting drunk, then it's just for you. However, if you're not like that, then you're going to be bored, more bored than you have ever imagined.
I'd suggest spend the money on an airline ticket, you'll have more time to have fun and you might even have more money to spend whereever you go. Hell, drive somewhere, at least you can stop at any place that looks interesting and you'd see a lot more than you would on a boat...
For the most part, if you like being trapped on a box with a small town of people, as well as you like getting drunk, then it's just for you. However, if you're not like that, then you're going to be bored, more bored than you have ever imagined.
I'd suggest spend the money on an airline ticket, you'll have more time to have fun and you might even have more money to spend whereever you go. Hell, drive somewhere, at least you can stop at any place that looks interesting and you'd see a lot more than you would on a boat...
angelatc
Member
- Joined
- May 15, 2007
- Messages
- 50,703
I won a cruise once. Had a blast. I'd go again in a heartbeat.
angelatc
Member
- Joined
- May 15, 2007
- Messages
- 50,703
Actually, if you're drunk enough, they hide when they see you coming.
- Joined
- May 10, 2007
- Messages
- 11,277
My parents recently went and they had an awesome time.
This was their first cruise, but the tips they got from the forums at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/ were invaluable to them. They were doing the activities at cruise stops that only the veterans knew about.
This was their first cruise, but the tips they got from the forums at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/ were invaluable to them. They were doing the activities at cruise stops that only the veterans knew about.
pacelli
Member
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2007
- Messages
- 11,161
I wrote this the day after I got back from the last cruise I took with Royal Caribbean (RC). Prepare for a long read if you are really interested in all of the details. I tend to believe that more details are better than fewer details when making a decision to spend several thousands of dollars on a vacation, so I'll be long-winded. I included a lot of details that you'll never read in a typical review, little things that start irritating you after spending a week on a cruise.
Incoming wall of text.
Embarkation
Upon arriving at Leonardo Da Vinci airport in Rome (via transcontinental flight from the US), we took a private car to the port. It is approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes from the airport to the port in Cevittavecchia [sic]. Once getting to the port, your bags are checked in as soon as they are unloaded. The bags are taken on-board and delivered to you later that night.
After you get to the port, you walk into a large white tent-like structure. There are no bathrooms in this area, so make sure you go before you arrive. Anyways, you see the huge Navigator behind the tent, but are greeted by a large crowd. We stood in line for approximately 30 minutes going through the line. You finally get to a RC representative. They are quite friendly even though I was in a poor state of jetlag! The primary goal of this 'first contact' is to get your SeaPass and your room number. The SeaPass is a small plastic card that you will use every single day, many times a day, for the rest of your cruise. The RC representative promptly asks for a credit card. The information from your credit card is put on the SeaPass card, and this stands as your account with the ship for transaction. Any time you wish to buy a drink, purchase food, buy anything on the ship, leave the ship, or enter the ship you are asked for your SeaPass.
I might as well tell you right now-- the SeaPass card is a blessing and a curse. It is nice to avoid carrying cash, BUT it is very easy to rack up a very large bill if you are not careful. The currency on the ship is in US dollars. Each time you buy a beverage (you must pay for all alcoholic beverages on the ship), you are given your card back in a little leather portfolio with a pen and your receipt. There is a line for "Additional Tip". Notice that? Yes, there is an added gratuity fee added in to each thing you buy. I've got 2 receipts in front of me-- here's one for "1 Sprite- 1.95; Gratuity 0.29; total 2.24". Here's another one for 1 Bud Light in a bottle (their cheapest beer)-- "1 Bud Lt Alum - 4.25; Gratuity 0.64; Total 4.89". Unless you have money to burn, draw a line through the "Additional Tip" section. The prices themselves are a total gouge, and you aren't allowed to buy liquor at a port & bring it onto the ship (they search bags and confiscate it).
After getting your SeaPass you then stand in another line (took us 10 minutes to get through) in which at the end of the line you surrender your passport to ship personnel. You get your passport back on the second to final night of the cruise while seated at dinner. Finally, you are in-line to get on the ship. This final line is designed to take your picture, encode the picture on your SeaPass account (not shown on your physical card), and get you on-board. They also confiscate your luggage and tell you that one of their porters will take it to your room immediately-- yeah right. Not allowed to take your luggage up yourself. You then board elevators and go to your room.
The Room
Once you arrive in your room, if you have been traveling for long, you probably want to take a shower and change into clean clothes. Unfortunately, you don't yet have your bags that were checked in earlier! Not to worry, as soon as you lie down to shake off the jetlag, your room steward knocks on your door and greets you, asking if everything is OK in your room (as if to rub it in your face that you don't have your bags). We immediately asked about our bags, and were told that it could take "any minute or a few hours" to receive them. Luckily, they leave the bags outside your door, so you don't have to stay in your room the entire time. I chose to leave the room and explore the ship. I came back an hour and half later and our bags were there.
We chose a balcony room which, in retrospect, was worth every penny. The balcony was a very convenient way to get some air and enjoy the view privately. Privacy is very difficult to find on a cruise ship. Each balcony is separated by a locked door with frosted plexiglass. You can see the silhouette of your neighbors and hear them if they are out on their balcony. There is a rail which you can lean over and look into other balconies or the sea below.
The room was clean and had a queen-sized bed which was comfortable. The bathroom was small, clean, and functional. It had a storage shelf underneath the sink, and a small 3-shelf mirrored medicine cabinet next to the main mirror. The shower consisted of a pod-like plexiglass structure. Throughout the entire trip, I never had an issue with a lack of hot water. My only concern with the bathroom was the water which came from the sink faucet. Quite frankly, it smelled terrible but was not discolored, and tasted extremely salty. I suspect it was poorly desalinated sea water or worse. At no point did we get sick from it. Luckily, the shower water was completely clean and had no odor or foul taste.
We never ordered room service. As long as we didn't have the "Please Do Not Disturb" card in the entry slot on the outside of the door, our room was always made up with fresh towels. There are 2 time periods that your room steward makes up your room-- between 9am-12pm and between 6pm - 9:30pm. These times coincide with breakfast and dinner times.
There was a small refrigerator and TV in our room. I found the TV useful for news. There were 2 news channels-- BBC world and CNN world.
There were US and European outlets in the room.
The Navigator in General
There were approximately 5000 total people on-board the ship. The Navigator is enormous! While there are different banks of 4 elevators, I found that walking the stairs was a faster option. Areas to explore are scattered on different decks, with the Royal Promenade on Deck 5, and the pools, main eating, and walking areas on Decks 11/12. The windjammer/jade general admission cafe & portofino & chops restaurants are on Deck 11, all in the same area.
Ship announcements were given in English and Italian. On the first and last day of the cruise, the ship announcements were frequent, loud and highly annoying. But in the middle of the cruise, announcements are very infrequent and completely tolerable. There is a speaker in your room, and you can turn the speaker off so you aren't woken up by a blasting voice. You figure this out quickly on your own.
There is an internet area on Deck 8, as well as a network jack in your room. I didn't bring my laptop, and avoided the internet area since I overheard people complaining about how slow (and expensive) it was. They do offer cell phone service on the ship, but at $8.00 a minute with my carrier, I didn't bother with it.
The Pool Experience
On days where the ship is scheduled to be "Cruising" (rather than docked at a port), the pool area is much more crowded and lounge chairs somewhat difficult to find. There is an adult-pool area which is a welcomed respite from the larger family-oriented area that is full of loud, splashing children. The added bonus to the adult-pool area is that there is a separate bar and padded lounge chairs. Chairs on the very top deck as well as in the family-pool area are your typical unpadded chairs.
Towels are given 1-per SeaPass, and your room number is written on a clipboard. There is no return towel log-in procedure, however, you simply walk up and throw them in a bin. This was frustrating at first, until I figured out a way to get more than 1 towel per day. Just walk into the Gym on deck 11, enter your appropriate bathroom, and help yourself to towels. There is no check-out procedure. There is also a very large and deep jacuzzi in the gym area which was never full of people.
Privacy on the top decks is non-existent when on the lounge chairs. Many sunbathers pack the chairs, as well as empty chairs with towels on them. While RC indicates that saving lounge chairs is not permitted, people seem to disregard it. It is possible to find a couple chairs together in the shade or the sun, but be prepared to walk around for more than a minute or two at peak times. You will most likely be 6 inches away from a stranger while you are sunbathing.
There are also some jacuzzi's around the pools. The jacuzzi's around the family-pool area are standard 4-person sized, whereas the 2 jacuzzi's in the adult-pool area could comfortably fit 8 people. The pools themselves are not large enough to swim laps, and are often crowded with people. I found them more useful for cooling off and treading water. Water temperature in the pools is highly variable. On 2 days, the water was very warm; on the other days the water was ice cold.
There are always RC bar staff walking around the chairs with a tray full of mixed drinks. They are fairly pushy on the first night, targeting you individually and shouting "yummy yummy!". Honestly, it bordered on harassment. It was actually pretty funny to see how they were trying to sell them. I believe they cost a total of $5.89 each, which is put on your SeaPass card. But after the first night, they seemed to calm down with the pushiness and just walked around saying 'bar drinks, bar drinks'.
Bars
I like to drink on vacations, so I wanted to just give a word about the bars. I read reviews about people having problems getting service at them. On the first night, getting a drink was a problem. The bars were all crowded and the bartenders were clearly overwhelmed. 2 bartenders per bar, and over 30-40 people in line (actually, it was more of a crowd gathered around the bar). Each person had to go through the SeaPass procedure, so even if you were ordering a bottle of beer, you'd have to wait a couple minutes for the payment to be processed once the bartender took notice of you. The bartenders would often say, "Who's next?" which led to a lot of people butting in line. However, I was persistent, leaned in to the bar, and made eye contact and a little gesture to the bartender and got served quickly. If you just sit there sheepishly and do nothing, they won't give you priority, and you might never get served.
They have a number of different drinks available and seem to be pretty knowledgeable about mixed drinks. They didn't skimp on the alcohol content of the mixed drinks, and I never felt like they ripped me off by feeding me water. Halfway through the cruise, the "Latino Bar" ran out of limes and said they could no longer make Mojito's. One employee lied to us and said they would re-stock on limes when they docked at the next port, which they did not actually do.
Beers included Bud, Bud Light, Beck's, Michelob Ultra, Stella Artois, Heineken, and a few others which I didn't sample. Wines are very extensive but also expensive. I'm not a wine person, but I did see wine lists being passed around in the restaurants.
Food
Food is an interesting scenario on the Navigator, and the quality is HIGHLY variable on where you go on the ship.
I've read a number of reviews complaining about the temperature of the foods, "Food just isn't hot enough". I went armed with this knowledge, so I expected it. Eating in the Windjammer buffet, food was cold if selected from an easily-accessible part of the tray. I always took my burgers, fries, and portions from the rear of the tray and while it was not hot, it was not uncomfortably cold for me.
We chose to eat Breakfast and Lunch buffet-style in the Windjammer Cafe and had a pretty wide selection of various breakfast and lunch foods. You didn't have to pay extra for the buffet-style foods. Coffee, iced tea (unsweetened), lemonade, and water were available by walking up to the drink station. There were separate stations for sugar/cream as well as food condiments (which were available in small packets like you'd find in a fast food place).
Things get very busy in the Windjammer around lunchtime. I felt like I was in a herd of cattle. People are getting in each others ways, bumping into each other, and kids running around. Food is getting dropped all over the place. Lines were fairly long and food disappeared fast. There are plenty of tables with 2 and 4-person seating, but also plenty of people at this peak time. As I said, privacy is tough to find. Often we'd end up sitting with people we didn't know, because there weren't any additional chairs. Then you have to deal with the bullshit small talk every time you eat. And you're not allowed to bring food out of the cafe (that didn't stop us from smuggling it past their guards in our bags).
The windjammer staff were always there replacing empty trays or adding new food to depleted trays. I found the quality of some of the lunch foods to be more of a stomach filler than enjoyable. For instance, the pasta and pasta sauce were poorly made and undercooked. However, the burgers and fries were fine. I guess it is pretty tough to fuck up burgers and fries.
There is free, self-serve soft yogurt available which you put on a cone. 2 stations are in the windjammer cafe, and 1 station near the family-pool area outside. Having worked with soft serve in the past, I can tell you that they were not making their mixture properly. Thus, at all stations the soft serve is very thick and comes out EXTREMELY SLOW. I could make an average-sized cone in 45 seconds (normal time is less than 8 seconds). The lines were always long at the yogurt stations. Once a station ran out of yogurt, it turned into a messy depository of empty cones, leaking softserve mix, and other trash items. It seemed that the staff did not refill the machines enough to meet the demand.
Another important note about the windjammer buffet: they take down all of their food and close their doors around 4:30 in the afternoon and don't put any back up until later in the evening. You are not informed about this policy, so you end up learning the schedules pretty fast. Funny how you pay thousands of dollars to go away on vacation and forget about schedules, and are forced into learning a new schedule just to meet your basic needs. At this point your only option for food before dinner is to go down to deck 5 and get something at the royal promenade. Sandwiches and pizza are free and Ben & Jerry's ice cream costs extra.
There are 2 dinner times which are listed on your SeaPass card (along with your assigned restaurant). You either get 6:15 or 9:15. We got 9:15 and assigned to the "Swan Lake" restaurant, which was fine because we are night owls.
Swan Lake, our assigned restaurant, was a mixed bag. The food was good, but not excellent. Each night was a different menu.
I've seen a lot of rave reviews about the waiters and waitresses at the assigned restaurants. "Assigned restaurant" means that the dinner is included for free-- which is one of the only "free" things you get on the cruise. I think it is a toss-up on the individual waiter. Our bread/water waiter was great and quickly learned what kind of bread everyone preferred, and made sure to always keep us fully stocked. On the other hand I found our main server to be a royal pain in the ass.
She would often argue with you to order something other than what you told her you wanted on the menu(Duck Consommate "oh thats just water, you don't want that"), and if you wanted extra food on the side (or anything different on your plate other than what was on the menu), we'd get a great deal of attitude.
A quick story- I had asked for pasta underneath my shrimp one night (the main course was 4 shrimp- that's it). She just brought the shrimp. I kindly asked her about the pasta, and she quickly grabbed my plate and ran off with it without a word. She brought it back with some cold, congealed rigatoni in less than 10 seconds, and left without a word again. I was immediately suspicious. One of my friends at the table, who was seated in the direction that the waitress ran off to, told me that "I just saw her throw your food on top of someone's used plate". Needless to say, I didn't eat that dish, and the running joke in our party for the rest of the trip became, "If you complain, she will poison you." Nobody else in our party had this particular problem with the server, and it only happened once, but I felt you should know about it. Be very careful if you complain about the food, or are too demanding, because you might get more than what you ask for.
In order to eat in their more upscale restaurants (Chops/Portofino), you must make reservations and pay an additional entry fee. Make sure that you double check your reservations by physically walking to the restaurant on the afternoon of the day you are scheduled to eat there. They had gotten our reservations (and number of people eating) confused, and kept transferring us to different people when we tried to call on the phone to confirm ahead of time. With a little pressure in-person and a request to talk to the manager, everything was sorted out. The staff lied to us about seating arrangements, which seemed to be a pretty typical process.
That being said, the pay-extra restaurants are definitely worth every penny that you pay in additional fees, and you don't feel like they are trying to rush you out the door as soon as you sit down. The food is higher quality, and the waiters and waitresses are extremely friendly and willing to do anything to make you happy with your food. Portofino is a slower italian dining experience and they tell you ahead of time to allow 2 hours. I appreciated this disclaimer, and was prepared. During those 2 hours, you are "allowed" to order as many dishes as you want and can modify your main dishes to your stomach's desires.
Chops is more of a grill and meat based menu. All of their beef tasted great, but make sure you order it 1 grade above how you normally like it cooked. I like mine cooked medium, and I ordered it well done. It arrived medium. One of my friends had to send his steak back twice because it was undercooked.
Everyone in the party ended up having gastrointestinal problems at some point during the trip, but these self-resolved with dramamine and a day in the room. Nobody had to visit the cruise doctor (then again we had 2 physicians in our party). I noticed that all of these GI problems occurred when the ship was cruising against the wind when there were whitecaps on the water. Because the ship is so tall, it's engines must run full blast against strong winds, and you do experience an uncomfortable swaying sensation during these periods of bad weather, especially if your cabin is located higher on the ship. This isn't something the ship has any control over, obviously, so I'd recommend bringing plenty of dramamine, and other medications for stomach concerns. I also took along some Compazine which is an additional nausea medication available by prescription from your doctor. I didn't notice any patterns of type of food eaten and the timing of the GI problems, but can't be 100% sure to rule out the possibility of food poisoning.
Excursions
There are various excursions offered by RC at each port, each taking anywhere between 4-6 hours; costing anywhere from $48 per person to $119 per person, depending on which one you take. Our party was large enough that we found it cheaper to book private tours with a single tour guide at each port, so I can't speak to the quality of RC-guided excursions. We did this ahead of time through our travel agent.
Overall
I personally would rate this cruise as a 4 / 10. I'd probably go with RC again at some time in the distant future if I wanted to go on a cruise, but was turned off by the crowds of the ship, the waitress experience, and the high prices of things which I think should be part of the included price. I think this is more of my aversion to cruises in general (this was my first in 15 years). Your mileage may vary, and I hope it does!
Incoming wall of text.
Embarkation
Upon arriving at Leonardo Da Vinci airport in Rome (via transcontinental flight from the US), we took a private car to the port. It is approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes from the airport to the port in Cevittavecchia [sic]. Once getting to the port, your bags are checked in as soon as they are unloaded. The bags are taken on-board and delivered to you later that night.
After you get to the port, you walk into a large white tent-like structure. There are no bathrooms in this area, so make sure you go before you arrive. Anyways, you see the huge Navigator behind the tent, but are greeted by a large crowd. We stood in line for approximately 30 minutes going through the line. You finally get to a RC representative. They are quite friendly even though I was in a poor state of jetlag! The primary goal of this 'first contact' is to get your SeaPass and your room number. The SeaPass is a small plastic card that you will use every single day, many times a day, for the rest of your cruise. The RC representative promptly asks for a credit card. The information from your credit card is put on the SeaPass card, and this stands as your account with the ship for transaction. Any time you wish to buy a drink, purchase food, buy anything on the ship, leave the ship, or enter the ship you are asked for your SeaPass.
I might as well tell you right now-- the SeaPass card is a blessing and a curse. It is nice to avoid carrying cash, BUT it is very easy to rack up a very large bill if you are not careful. The currency on the ship is in US dollars. Each time you buy a beverage (you must pay for all alcoholic beverages on the ship), you are given your card back in a little leather portfolio with a pen and your receipt. There is a line for "Additional Tip". Notice that? Yes, there is an added gratuity fee added in to each thing you buy. I've got 2 receipts in front of me-- here's one for "1 Sprite- 1.95; Gratuity 0.29; total 2.24". Here's another one for 1 Bud Light in a bottle (their cheapest beer)-- "1 Bud Lt Alum - 4.25; Gratuity 0.64; Total 4.89". Unless you have money to burn, draw a line through the "Additional Tip" section. The prices themselves are a total gouge, and you aren't allowed to buy liquor at a port & bring it onto the ship (they search bags and confiscate it).
After getting your SeaPass you then stand in another line (took us 10 minutes to get through) in which at the end of the line you surrender your passport to ship personnel. You get your passport back on the second to final night of the cruise while seated at dinner. Finally, you are in-line to get on the ship. This final line is designed to take your picture, encode the picture on your SeaPass account (not shown on your physical card), and get you on-board. They also confiscate your luggage and tell you that one of their porters will take it to your room immediately-- yeah right. Not allowed to take your luggage up yourself. You then board elevators and go to your room.
The Room
Once you arrive in your room, if you have been traveling for long, you probably want to take a shower and change into clean clothes. Unfortunately, you don't yet have your bags that were checked in earlier! Not to worry, as soon as you lie down to shake off the jetlag, your room steward knocks on your door and greets you, asking if everything is OK in your room (as if to rub it in your face that you don't have your bags). We immediately asked about our bags, and were told that it could take "any minute or a few hours" to receive them. Luckily, they leave the bags outside your door, so you don't have to stay in your room the entire time. I chose to leave the room and explore the ship. I came back an hour and half later and our bags were there.
We chose a balcony room which, in retrospect, was worth every penny. The balcony was a very convenient way to get some air and enjoy the view privately. Privacy is very difficult to find on a cruise ship. Each balcony is separated by a locked door with frosted plexiglass. You can see the silhouette of your neighbors and hear them if they are out on their balcony. There is a rail which you can lean over and look into other balconies or the sea below.
The room was clean and had a queen-sized bed which was comfortable. The bathroom was small, clean, and functional. It had a storage shelf underneath the sink, and a small 3-shelf mirrored medicine cabinet next to the main mirror. The shower consisted of a pod-like plexiglass structure. Throughout the entire trip, I never had an issue with a lack of hot water. My only concern with the bathroom was the water which came from the sink faucet. Quite frankly, it smelled terrible but was not discolored, and tasted extremely salty. I suspect it was poorly desalinated sea water or worse. At no point did we get sick from it. Luckily, the shower water was completely clean and had no odor or foul taste.
We never ordered room service. As long as we didn't have the "Please Do Not Disturb" card in the entry slot on the outside of the door, our room was always made up with fresh towels. There are 2 time periods that your room steward makes up your room-- between 9am-12pm and between 6pm - 9:30pm. These times coincide with breakfast and dinner times.
There was a small refrigerator and TV in our room. I found the TV useful for news. There were 2 news channels-- BBC world and CNN world.
There were US and European outlets in the room.
The Navigator in General
There were approximately 5000 total people on-board the ship. The Navigator is enormous! While there are different banks of 4 elevators, I found that walking the stairs was a faster option. Areas to explore are scattered on different decks, with the Royal Promenade on Deck 5, and the pools, main eating, and walking areas on Decks 11/12. The windjammer/jade general admission cafe & portofino & chops restaurants are on Deck 11, all in the same area.
Ship announcements were given in English and Italian. On the first and last day of the cruise, the ship announcements were frequent, loud and highly annoying. But in the middle of the cruise, announcements are very infrequent and completely tolerable. There is a speaker in your room, and you can turn the speaker off so you aren't woken up by a blasting voice. You figure this out quickly on your own.
There is an internet area on Deck 8, as well as a network jack in your room. I didn't bring my laptop, and avoided the internet area since I overheard people complaining about how slow (and expensive) it was. They do offer cell phone service on the ship, but at $8.00 a minute with my carrier, I didn't bother with it.
The Pool Experience
On days where the ship is scheduled to be "Cruising" (rather than docked at a port), the pool area is much more crowded and lounge chairs somewhat difficult to find. There is an adult-pool area which is a welcomed respite from the larger family-oriented area that is full of loud, splashing children. The added bonus to the adult-pool area is that there is a separate bar and padded lounge chairs. Chairs on the very top deck as well as in the family-pool area are your typical unpadded chairs.
Towels are given 1-per SeaPass, and your room number is written on a clipboard. There is no return towel log-in procedure, however, you simply walk up and throw them in a bin. This was frustrating at first, until I figured out a way to get more than 1 towel per day. Just walk into the Gym on deck 11, enter your appropriate bathroom, and help yourself to towels. There is no check-out procedure. There is also a very large and deep jacuzzi in the gym area which was never full of people.
Privacy on the top decks is non-existent when on the lounge chairs. Many sunbathers pack the chairs, as well as empty chairs with towels on them. While RC indicates that saving lounge chairs is not permitted, people seem to disregard it. It is possible to find a couple chairs together in the shade or the sun, but be prepared to walk around for more than a minute or two at peak times. You will most likely be 6 inches away from a stranger while you are sunbathing.
There are also some jacuzzi's around the pools. The jacuzzi's around the family-pool area are standard 4-person sized, whereas the 2 jacuzzi's in the adult-pool area could comfortably fit 8 people. The pools themselves are not large enough to swim laps, and are often crowded with people. I found them more useful for cooling off and treading water. Water temperature in the pools is highly variable. On 2 days, the water was very warm; on the other days the water was ice cold.
There are always RC bar staff walking around the chairs with a tray full of mixed drinks. They are fairly pushy on the first night, targeting you individually and shouting "yummy yummy!". Honestly, it bordered on harassment. It was actually pretty funny to see how they were trying to sell them. I believe they cost a total of $5.89 each, which is put on your SeaPass card. But after the first night, they seemed to calm down with the pushiness and just walked around saying 'bar drinks, bar drinks'.
Bars
I like to drink on vacations, so I wanted to just give a word about the bars. I read reviews about people having problems getting service at them. On the first night, getting a drink was a problem. The bars were all crowded and the bartenders were clearly overwhelmed. 2 bartenders per bar, and over 30-40 people in line (actually, it was more of a crowd gathered around the bar). Each person had to go through the SeaPass procedure, so even if you were ordering a bottle of beer, you'd have to wait a couple minutes for the payment to be processed once the bartender took notice of you. The bartenders would often say, "Who's next?" which led to a lot of people butting in line. However, I was persistent, leaned in to the bar, and made eye contact and a little gesture to the bartender and got served quickly. If you just sit there sheepishly and do nothing, they won't give you priority, and you might never get served.
They have a number of different drinks available and seem to be pretty knowledgeable about mixed drinks. They didn't skimp on the alcohol content of the mixed drinks, and I never felt like they ripped me off by feeding me water. Halfway through the cruise, the "Latino Bar" ran out of limes and said they could no longer make Mojito's. One employee lied to us and said they would re-stock on limes when they docked at the next port, which they did not actually do.
Beers included Bud, Bud Light, Beck's, Michelob Ultra, Stella Artois, Heineken, and a few others which I didn't sample. Wines are very extensive but also expensive. I'm not a wine person, but I did see wine lists being passed around in the restaurants.
Food
Food is an interesting scenario on the Navigator, and the quality is HIGHLY variable on where you go on the ship.
I've read a number of reviews complaining about the temperature of the foods, "Food just isn't hot enough". I went armed with this knowledge, so I expected it. Eating in the Windjammer buffet, food was cold if selected from an easily-accessible part of the tray. I always took my burgers, fries, and portions from the rear of the tray and while it was not hot, it was not uncomfortably cold for me.
We chose to eat Breakfast and Lunch buffet-style in the Windjammer Cafe and had a pretty wide selection of various breakfast and lunch foods. You didn't have to pay extra for the buffet-style foods. Coffee, iced tea (unsweetened), lemonade, and water were available by walking up to the drink station. There were separate stations for sugar/cream as well as food condiments (which were available in small packets like you'd find in a fast food place).
Things get very busy in the Windjammer around lunchtime. I felt like I was in a herd of cattle. People are getting in each others ways, bumping into each other, and kids running around. Food is getting dropped all over the place. Lines were fairly long and food disappeared fast. There are plenty of tables with 2 and 4-person seating, but also plenty of people at this peak time. As I said, privacy is tough to find. Often we'd end up sitting with people we didn't know, because there weren't any additional chairs. Then you have to deal with the bullshit small talk every time you eat. And you're not allowed to bring food out of the cafe (that didn't stop us from smuggling it past their guards in our bags).
The windjammer staff were always there replacing empty trays or adding new food to depleted trays. I found the quality of some of the lunch foods to be more of a stomach filler than enjoyable. For instance, the pasta and pasta sauce were poorly made and undercooked. However, the burgers and fries were fine. I guess it is pretty tough to fuck up burgers and fries.
There is free, self-serve soft yogurt available which you put on a cone. 2 stations are in the windjammer cafe, and 1 station near the family-pool area outside. Having worked with soft serve in the past, I can tell you that they were not making their mixture properly. Thus, at all stations the soft serve is very thick and comes out EXTREMELY SLOW. I could make an average-sized cone in 45 seconds (normal time is less than 8 seconds). The lines were always long at the yogurt stations. Once a station ran out of yogurt, it turned into a messy depository of empty cones, leaking softserve mix, and other trash items. It seemed that the staff did not refill the machines enough to meet the demand.
Another important note about the windjammer buffet: they take down all of their food and close their doors around 4:30 in the afternoon and don't put any back up until later in the evening. You are not informed about this policy, so you end up learning the schedules pretty fast. Funny how you pay thousands of dollars to go away on vacation and forget about schedules, and are forced into learning a new schedule just to meet your basic needs. At this point your only option for food before dinner is to go down to deck 5 and get something at the royal promenade. Sandwiches and pizza are free and Ben & Jerry's ice cream costs extra.
There are 2 dinner times which are listed on your SeaPass card (along with your assigned restaurant). You either get 6:15 or 9:15. We got 9:15 and assigned to the "Swan Lake" restaurant, which was fine because we are night owls.
Swan Lake, our assigned restaurant, was a mixed bag. The food was good, but not excellent. Each night was a different menu.
I've seen a lot of rave reviews about the waiters and waitresses at the assigned restaurants. "Assigned restaurant" means that the dinner is included for free-- which is one of the only "free" things you get on the cruise. I think it is a toss-up on the individual waiter. Our bread/water waiter was great and quickly learned what kind of bread everyone preferred, and made sure to always keep us fully stocked. On the other hand I found our main server to be a royal pain in the ass.
She would often argue with you to order something other than what you told her you wanted on the menu(Duck Consommate "oh thats just water, you don't want that"), and if you wanted extra food on the side (or anything different on your plate other than what was on the menu), we'd get a great deal of attitude.
A quick story- I had asked for pasta underneath my shrimp one night (the main course was 4 shrimp- that's it). She just brought the shrimp. I kindly asked her about the pasta, and she quickly grabbed my plate and ran off with it without a word. She brought it back with some cold, congealed rigatoni in less than 10 seconds, and left without a word again. I was immediately suspicious. One of my friends at the table, who was seated in the direction that the waitress ran off to, told me that "I just saw her throw your food on top of someone's used plate". Needless to say, I didn't eat that dish, and the running joke in our party for the rest of the trip became, "If you complain, she will poison you." Nobody else in our party had this particular problem with the server, and it only happened once, but I felt you should know about it. Be very careful if you complain about the food, or are too demanding, because you might get more than what you ask for.
In order to eat in their more upscale restaurants (Chops/Portofino), you must make reservations and pay an additional entry fee. Make sure that you double check your reservations by physically walking to the restaurant on the afternoon of the day you are scheduled to eat there. They had gotten our reservations (and number of people eating) confused, and kept transferring us to different people when we tried to call on the phone to confirm ahead of time. With a little pressure in-person and a request to talk to the manager, everything was sorted out. The staff lied to us about seating arrangements, which seemed to be a pretty typical process.
That being said, the pay-extra restaurants are definitely worth every penny that you pay in additional fees, and you don't feel like they are trying to rush you out the door as soon as you sit down. The food is higher quality, and the waiters and waitresses are extremely friendly and willing to do anything to make you happy with your food. Portofino is a slower italian dining experience and they tell you ahead of time to allow 2 hours. I appreciated this disclaimer, and was prepared. During those 2 hours, you are "allowed" to order as many dishes as you want and can modify your main dishes to your stomach's desires.
Chops is more of a grill and meat based menu. All of their beef tasted great, but make sure you order it 1 grade above how you normally like it cooked. I like mine cooked medium, and I ordered it well done. It arrived medium. One of my friends had to send his steak back twice because it was undercooked.
Everyone in the party ended up having gastrointestinal problems at some point during the trip, but these self-resolved with dramamine and a day in the room. Nobody had to visit the cruise doctor (then again we had 2 physicians in our party). I noticed that all of these GI problems occurred when the ship was cruising against the wind when there were whitecaps on the water. Because the ship is so tall, it's engines must run full blast against strong winds, and you do experience an uncomfortable swaying sensation during these periods of bad weather, especially if your cabin is located higher on the ship. This isn't something the ship has any control over, obviously, so I'd recommend bringing plenty of dramamine, and other medications for stomach concerns. I also took along some Compazine which is an additional nausea medication available by prescription from your doctor. I didn't notice any patterns of type of food eaten and the timing of the GI problems, but can't be 100% sure to rule out the possibility of food poisoning.
Excursions
There are various excursions offered by RC at each port, each taking anywhere between 4-6 hours; costing anywhere from $48 per person to $119 per person, depending on which one you take. Our party was large enough that we found it cheaper to book private tours with a single tour guide at each port, so I can't speak to the quality of RC-guided excursions. We did this ahead of time through our travel agent.
Overall
I personally would rate this cruise as a 4 / 10. I'd probably go with RC again at some time in the distant future if I wanted to go on a cruise, but was turned off by the crowds of the ship, the waitress experience, and the high prices of things which I think should be part of the included price. I think this is more of my aversion to cruises in general (this was my first in 15 years). Your mileage may vary, and I hope it does!
Last edited:
constituent
Member
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2007
- Messages
- 13,724
wow, great review pacelli!
Similar threads
