Cruise Ship Reviews : Royal Caribbean International Reviews
miftogo17 saw things this way:
Very disappointing, January 9, 2017
Reviewer: miftogo17
Pros: Evening shows
Cons: Food and service
Date of cruise: December 23, 2016
Departure port: Miami
Region visited: Caribbean - Southern
Cabin category: Balcony
Everything was a disappointment. Overall impression is that they are trying to save money on everything - rather than provide the best possible experience. The quality and variety of food was below any expectations. Breakfast was especially poor - on the level of a mediocre hotel breakfast. Service was also very bad. I tried to call room service - waited for 50 (!) minutes, and nobody even answered. The MyTime dining was a lie - we were given the same dinner time at 6 p.m. every day and could not change it to anything else no matter how many times we tried. The floor in the Windjammer Cafe was constantly sticky. The cafe was closed in the most inopportune time - when everybody was returning to the ship from ports. Their "snack food" the same as lunch, only cold (leftovers). No champagne for the New Year Eve celebration (!!). Filet mignon in the specialty restaurant was burnt as the charcoal. No night time chocolates on the pillow. No bathrobes. No moisturizer/shower gel in the cabins. No dance lessons. No bridge game. Very poor choice of merchandise for sale. Everybody I talked to on the ship was really disappointed and complained about something. After this experience it is highly unlikely that I will ever consider cruising on Royal Caribbean again.
pressuredeli saw things this way:
Great value for the price paid, July 31, 2015
Reviewer: pressuredeli
Pros: Refurbished in 2014, spacious cabins, specialty dining
Cons: Windjammer is too small for the number of people on board
Date of cruise: July 19, 2015
Departure port: Galveston, TX
Region visited: Caribbean - Western
Cabin category: Jr. Suite
Cabin number: 9238
Good for children: Yes
Good for teenagers: No
We booked a group of 21 including two Junior Suites. The suites were spacious and the balconies are large enough to lounge and enjoy being outdoors with more privacy than is found in the pool area. The main dining room service was superb, as usual, but we found the food to be less than stellar on some nights. The Windjammer buffet had decent food, basically what you would find in a run of the mill casino buffet anywhere, but it could get extremely crowded and often one whole side of the buffet was shut down, causing even more congestion. The Cosmopolitan night club was an exciting and fun option for late hours entertainment. However, the quality of most of the onboard entertainment was just terrible. The shows in the main theater were hardly attended at all because of the poor quality. Some of the comedy acts were very good, but the Broadway review was horrible. Royal Caribbean needs to up their game when it comes to live entertainment. The Promenade was difficult to navigate at times between shoppers and people stopping to take photos. Cruise ship casinos are notoriously tight, but the slots on Navigator seemed to be set on zero payback. Everyone in our group avoided the casino after the first night because of this. Children below teenage years seemed to be well entertained and accommodated. However, there did not seem to be many options to keep teenagers busy. I often saw groups of them hanging around the pool deck or outside of the many bar areas trying to get adults to buy them alcohol. There is an arcade on board, but it must not be very appealing to teenagers as I saw mostly younger children in there.
May Cruise saw things this way:
Enjoyable cruise, May 24, 2014
Reviewer: May Cruise
Pros: Sports activities
Cons: Disembarkation
Date of cruise: May 12, 2023
Departure port: Galveston, Texas
Region visited: Caribbean - Western
Cabin category: Inside
Cabin number: 8535, 8235
Good for children: Yes
Good for teenagers: Yes
This was the first time our family cruised from Galveston, Texas. We were in Texas for a wedding and combined it with a RCCL cruise. The Navigator of the Seas was refurbished a few months ago and looked great. Food and service were above what we expected. The sports activities were enjoyed by our teens and the children's program was fun for the young ones. Music was typical of western area and the Caribbean. We would have liked just one classical venue but none was to be had. Pace of the cruise was kind of hectic. Ports not enjoyable. We would like to just relax at a beach without being gouged by transport prices and fees for beach access. Our family enjoys hanging with locals and just getting a flavor of the different places without the tourist hype. We did feel safe. The cruise went smoothly. Embarkation was fine. Disembarkation was very slow. Galveston was smelly and the Strand was not too interesting. Children liked the Railroad museum. All in all, everyone had a good time. On the value scale it rates a 6 out of 10. We have had much better value on Holland America in our past Mexican cruises...albeit without the same level of sports activities. Royal inside cabins are smaller than Holland America's.
bigeandm saw things this way:
Fantastic job done by the cruise director and staff, December 6, 2012
Reviewer: bigeandm
Pros: Staff made the cruise enjoyable
Cons: The spa staff was terrible
Date of cruise: November 24, 2012
Departure port: New Orleans
Region visited: Caribbean - Western
Cabin category: Balcony
Cabin number: 6636
Good for teenagers: Yes
Jimmy the cruise director was great, he has terrific energy and was a blast. He was also very personable and talked to everyone. His staff was also terrific. The waitstaff in the main dining room were great, especially Vishwa and Bogdan. They were fun and made our experience quite memorable. The stateroom was spacious and very well set up. The food in the Windjammer buffet was okay. I have to give kudos to the staff because they worked their butts off. The ship had an outbreak of a stomach virus and about 110 people were infected. So the staff had to serve everyone in the buffet and no one was able to serve themselves. It was kind of inconvenient but the captain and staff did a great job of controlling it. The ship was very spacious and you never felt crowded. Cozumel was terrific, there were plenty of activities and shopping available. In Grand Cayman we visited and laid out at Seven Mile beach. It was nice and clean. Falmouth Jamaica was our least favorite. Once outside the port gates it was like a giant flea market with everyone trying to sell you something. We had a personal guide who did a great job shielding us from the locals trying to sell us stuff. We visited a few local churches and stopped and eat in a dive bar but the food and atmosphere were terrific.
karenmullens saw things this way:
A nice experience, November 8, 2012
Reviewer: karenmullens
Pros: So much to see, you couldnt get bored
Cons: Disappointing food, just nice but nothing more.
Date of cruise: June 1, 2011
Departure port: rome
Region visited: Europe
Cabin category: Balcony
Cabin number: 8343
Good for children: Yes
Good for teenagers: Yes
This was only our second cruise (first with MSC) and departed from Civitavecchia (Rome. Seven nights to Turkey via Greece. I really enjoyed both cruises. I love the ability to JUST relax. We hardly bother with the entertainment or bars but enjoy our food, excursions and just lying on the bed reading or sitting on the balcony watching the world sail by. I know, we are boring! But if you want more from your holiday then it's all there. We did see the excellent ice skating show and parts of a couple of shows in the auditorium. All really great. I took plenty of daily walks around the ship and loved watching the adventurous people climbing the WALL and playing assorted games in the area to the back of the ship. I spent days, literally, looking for the door that would allow me access to the bow of the ship..found it finally. And every day I watched a movie or two in the tiny little theater hidden away downstairs...mostly I was alone, because I reckon no-one else knew where this was. I HATE DRESSING UP so I was one of those daggy ones who didn't when we went to the dining room. I was neat and presentable, but nothing like some of the overdressed people in full formal regalia that presented themselves for a meal every night. How did they pack all that stuff We had room service for dinner the first night due to illness..pretty bad. The food in the dining room was only average. Like another reviewer, we were on a table stuck in a corner at the back of the room so we didn't see much of what was happening around us. Our waiters were nice, even nicer towards the end of the seven days because thats when the tips were due, I suppose. The food was often not really hot and small portions (thank goodness for the Promenade cafe downstairs) and seemed to be much the same each day although RC would dispute this. (I have run and owned restaurants and generally have sympathy for waiters and chefs and food businesses, I know it's not easy) I have to say that the food on the MSC Cruise was better. But honestly, for what you pay for the cruises these days, it IS value money. I loved being able to stand on the internal balconies and look up the promenades and watch the nightly goings on. Getting on and off the ship was really quite easy. If you are not going on a paid excursion, once you figure out that there's another gangplank to disembark, your laughing...First one off and last one on. My television did not work very well, especially the interactive stuff about the ship. Nor did we have the ability to prebook our shore excursions. I wanted to ask staff about the excursions before booking but the lines at reception were always too long. The talks in the auditorium were too late as I'd already booked. A couple of the shore excursions were pretty poor. The tour around Messina pathetic. Overall though, because I DIDN'T HAVE TO COOK OR CLEAN but could just relax, I enjoyed the cruise..In fact I'm off again in 27 days, so could recommend cruising to everyone.
TimCurry saw things this way:
Great Ship, would take it again anytime., December 1, 2011
Reviewer: TimCurry
Pros: Comfortable, with great service
Cons: Common areas got crowded, too many things for sale blocking walkways
Date of cruise: November 20, 2011
Departure port: Ft. Lauderdale
Region visited: Caribbean - Western
Cabin category: Balcony
Cabin number: 6222
I was impressed with our overall experience on board. Our cabin was slightly bigger than equivalent ones we'd had on other ships/cruise lines and the balcony also felt slightly larger. I was surprised with how much storage space there was for a cruise ship cabin -- and believe me, we brought a lot of stuff. But we found a place to hide everything away and the room wasn't a mess. I was quite disappointed with the dining room, however. We were placed at a table off in a remote corner of the dining room and didn't get the experience of the grandeur of the gorgeous dining area. Moreover, our waiter was humorless and inattentive. The food in the main dining area was mediocre, so there wasn't anything keeping us coming back to the dining room for future meals. We got better food at the Windjammer cafe upstairs and didn't need to deal with waiting on waiters who didn't seem to have time for us. We had a completely different experience the two times we dined in Portofino, one of the specialty restaurants on board. The service was impeccable and the food was top-notch. Our server, Rebecca, and the manager, Jennifer, were friendly, attentive, and couldn't have made us feel more at home and special. Their recommendations were spot on and the overall dining experience there was the perfect leisurely, yet quality, vacation meal. I also was happy to see that the guest services staff was much more friendly and ready to resolve issues than on other ships I've taken. Without exception, everyone at guest services that we spoke with was friendly, accommodating, and, when they couldn't resolve our issues directly, they made adequate compensation. For example, we didn't get flowers and fruit we'd ordered before boarding, so they gave us a free bottle of wine to make up for it and made sure we were not charged for the items we never received. I couldn't have asked for more. Even with the poor service we received in the dining room, the overall service by the other people on the ship made up for it.
eajack saw things this way:
Poor boarding experience, great food, mediocre entertainment, nice ship, December 1, 2011
Reviewer: eajack
Pros: Food
Cons: Boarding
Date of cruise: November 20, 2011
Departure port: Port Everglades
Region visited: Caribbean - Western
Cabin category: Outside
Cabin number: 2596
Good for children: Yes
Good for teenagers: Yes
Perhaps it was a make-shift boarding arrangement since this was the ship's first cruise out of Port Everglades for the winter season, but the traffic was backed up something fierce, the luggage had to be unloaded in the rain and the main building was somewhat removed from that area.
AnthVick saw things this way:
Just back from RCCL Navigator Cruise - It was great!!!, July 1, 2011
Reviewer: AnthVick
Pros: Attitude of the staff, outstanding waitstaff and room steward(ess).
Cons: Condition of ship, definitely could use some maintenance.
Date of cruise: June 19, 2011
Departure port: Civitavecchia
Region visited: Europe
Cabin category: Balcony
Cabin number: 8316
Overall, we had a fantastic cruise! The staff was the best I've ever seen on a ship! The ship is looking it's age. There's peeling paint and rust in the cabin bathrooms. One drawer fell out when I opened it. The lead singers didn't sing well together (to put it nicely). We actually covered our ears a couple of times. The guest talent was just so-so. The other dancers and singers were very good. The ice skating show was fantastic. The food was normal fare. There was always plenty on the buffet. We had breakfast and lunch in the dining rooms once and both were okay. Nothing special. What WAS special was the salad 'bar' in the dining room for lunch. You point to what you want in the salad and a staff member makes it for you. We heard SEVERAL people singing it's praises. Embarkation and Debarkation in Civitavecchia was effortless. When we arrived by train from Rome, there were LOTS of people waiting to get on the train (from the cruise), but when we came back, we got off the ship in the first round (7 a.m.), picked up our luggage and got on an empty train. We bought the BIRG ticket which includes the day free on the metro in Rome, and arrived in plenty of time to check in our hotel (close to the train station) and get out in Rome by 10:30 a.m. or so.
Windsong37 saw things this way:
This was our first cruise and overall it was a wonderful experience., October 8, 2010
Reviewer: Windsong37
Pros: Treated like royalty by the staff, particularly our waiters Damaciano and Moises
Cons: Smoke coming from the bars and the casino onto the Promanade Deck.
Date of cruise: September 17, 2010
Departure port: Civitavecchia, Italy
Region visited: Mediterranean
Cabin category: Balcony
Cabin number: 9652
Good for children: Yes
Good for teenagers: Yes
Balcony stateroom was terrific. Highly recommended. Despite the size of the ship and the number of passagers, we never felt overwhelmed by the masses. There are many areas on the ship where you can feel peace and quiet. The food was wonderful in the main dining room, so there was no need for us to upgrade to the specialty restaurants. The theater entertainment was great...much better than expected. Quality entertainers and wonderful costumes, etc. RCL has figured out how to pamper their clients. We have no complaints.
john saw things this way:
It was a pleasant cruise and we had excellent service and food, October 7, 2010
Reviewer: john
Pros: We had a wonderful variety of menu selections, good variety of entertainment
Cons: The smoke filtering from the bars onto the Promenade made it unpleasant.
Date of cruise: September 17, 2010
Departure port: Rome
Region visited: Mediterranean
Cabin category: Balcony
Cabin number: 6260
We have cruised 10 times before and the 12-day itinerary in the Mediterranean was very good. The staff was very accommodating, the food excellent and they had a nice variety of activities and entertainment to choose from. We had an outstanding waiter that went way beyond his duties to serve us. It's a beautifully designed ship and never seemed crowded with its many areas to relax or do activities. It was easy to get from one point to another. The arrangement of the closet in the cabin was awkward with the door blocking the cabin if it was open, just annoying when two people were trying to dress at the same time. They were very organized getting people off and on for port excursions and for debarkation at the end of the cruise at the early hour of 6 a.m.
Navigator of the Seas reviews
Average customer rating:
4.1 / 5
4.1 / 5Average Rating based on 10 Reviews:
Value For Money
Cabin Design
Entertainment
Fitness Center
Food Quality
Ship Maintenance
Spa
Specialty Restaurant
Staff and Service
Cabin Design
Entertainment
Fitness Center
Food Quality
Ship Maintenance
Spa
Specialty Restaurant
Staff and Service
4.40
4.20
3.80
3.80
3.90
4.40
3.80
4.00
4.30
4.20
3.80
3.80
3.90
4.40
3.80
4.00
4.30
miftogo17 saw things this way:
Value For Money
Cabin Design
Entertainment
Fitness Center
Food Quality
Ship Maintenance
Spa
Specialty Restaurant
Staff and Service
Cabin Design
Entertainment
Fitness Center
Food Quality
Ship Maintenance
Spa
Specialty Restaurant
Staff and Service
3
4
2
3
1
3
4
1
1
4
2
3
1
3
4
1
1
Very disappointing, January 9, 2017
Reviewer: miftogo17
Pros: Evening shows
Cons: Food and service
Date of cruise: December 23, 2016
Departure port: Miami
Region visited: Caribbean - Southern
Cabin category: Balcony
Everything was a disappointment. Overall impression is that they are trying to save money on everything - rather than provide the best possible experience. The quality and variety of food was below any expectations. Breakfast was especially poor - on the level of a mediocre hotel breakfast. Service was also very bad. I tried to call room service - waited for 50 (!) minutes, and nobody even answered. The MyTime dining was a lie - we were given the same dinner time at 6 p.m. every day and could not change it to anything else no matter how many times we tried. The floor in the Windjammer Cafe was constantly sticky. The cafe was closed in the most inopportune time - when everybody was returning to the ship from ports. Their "snack food" the same as lunch, only cold (leftovers). No champagne for the New Year Eve celebration (!!). Filet mignon in the specialty restaurant was burnt as the charcoal. No night time chocolates on the pillow. No bathrobes. No moisturizer/shower gel in the cabins. No dance lessons. No bridge game. Very poor choice of merchandise for sale. Everybody I talked to on the ship was really disappointed and complained about something. After this experience it is highly unlikely that I will ever consider cruising on Royal Caribbean again.
pressuredeli saw things this way:
Value For Money
Cabin Design
Entertainment
Fitness Center
Food Quality
Ship Maintenance
Spa
Specialty Restaurant
Staff and Service
Cabin Design
Entertainment
Fitness Center
Food Quality
Ship Maintenance
Spa
Specialty Restaurant
Staff and Service
4
5
4
4
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
4
4
5
4
5
4
Great value for the price paid, July 31, 2015
Reviewer: pressuredeli
Pros: Refurbished in 2014, spacious cabins, specialty dining
Cons: Windjammer is too small for the number of people on board
Date of cruise: July 19, 2015
Departure port: Galveston, TX
Region visited: Caribbean - Western
Cabin category: Jr. Suite
Cabin number: 9238
Good for children: Yes
Good for teenagers: No
We booked a group of 21 including two Junior Suites. The suites were spacious and the balconies are large enough to lounge and enjoy being outdoors with more privacy than is found in the pool area. The main dining room service was superb, as usual, but we found the food to be less than stellar on some nights. The Windjammer buffet had decent food, basically what you would find in a run of the mill casino buffet anywhere, but it could get extremely crowded and often one whole side of the buffet was shut down, causing even more congestion. The Cosmopolitan night club was an exciting and fun option for late hours entertainment. However, the quality of most of the onboard entertainment was just terrible. The shows in the main theater were hardly attended at all because of the poor quality. Some of the comedy acts were very good, but the Broadway review was horrible. Royal Caribbean needs to up their game when it comes to live entertainment. The Promenade was difficult to navigate at times between shoppers and people stopping to take photos. Cruise ship casinos are notoriously tight, but the slots on Navigator seemed to be set on zero payback. Everyone in our group avoided the casino after the first night because of this. Children below teenage years seemed to be well entertained and accommodated. However, there did not seem to be many options to keep teenagers busy. I often saw groups of them hanging around the pool deck or outside of the many bar areas trying to get adults to buy them alcohol. There is an arcade on board, but it must not be very appealing to teenagers as I saw mostly younger children in there.
May Cruise saw things this way:
Value For Money
Cabin Design
Entertainment
Food Quality
Ship Maintenance
Specialty Restaurant
Staff and Service
Cabin Design
Entertainment
Food Quality
Ship Maintenance
Specialty Restaurant
Staff and Service
4
3
4
5
5
3
4
3
4
5
5
3
4
Enjoyable cruise, May 24, 2014
Reviewer: May Cruise
Pros: Sports activities
Cons: Disembarkation
Date of cruise: May 12, 2023
Departure port: Galveston, Texas
Region visited: Caribbean - Western
Cabin category: Inside
Cabin number: 8535, 8235
Good for children: Yes
Good for teenagers: Yes
This was the first time our family cruised from Galveston, Texas. We were in Texas for a wedding and combined it with a RCCL cruise. The Navigator of the Seas was refurbished a few months ago and looked great. Food and service were above what we expected. The sports activities were enjoyed by our teens and the children's program was fun for the young ones. Music was typical of western area and the Caribbean. We would have liked just one classical venue but none was to be had. Pace of the cruise was kind of hectic. Ports not enjoyable. We would like to just relax at a beach without being gouged by transport prices and fees for beach access. Our family enjoys hanging with locals and just getting a flavor of the different places without the tourist hype. We did feel safe. The cruise went smoothly. Embarkation was fine. Disembarkation was very slow. Galveston was smelly and the Strand was not too interesting. Children liked the Railroad museum. All in all, everyone had a good time. On the value scale it rates a 6 out of 10. We have had much better value on Holland America in our past Mexican cruises...albeit without the same level of sports activities. Royal inside cabins are smaller than Holland America's.
bigeandm saw things this way:
Value For Money
Cabin Design
Entertainment
Food Quality
Ship Maintenance
Spa
Specialty Restaurant
Staff and Service
Cabin Design
Entertainment
Food Quality
Ship Maintenance
Spa
Specialty Restaurant
Staff and Service
5
5
5
5
5
1
5
5
5
5
5
5
1
5
5
Fantastic job done by the cruise director and staff, December 6, 2012
Reviewer: bigeandm
Pros: Staff made the cruise enjoyable
Cons: The spa staff was terrible
Date of cruise: November 24, 2012
Departure port: New Orleans
Region visited: Caribbean - Western
Cabin category: Balcony
Cabin number: 6636
Good for teenagers: Yes
Jimmy the cruise director was great, he has terrific energy and was a blast. He was also very personable and talked to everyone. His staff was also terrific. The waitstaff in the main dining room were great, especially Vishwa and Bogdan. They were fun and made our experience quite memorable. The stateroom was spacious and very well set up. The food in the Windjammer buffet was okay. I have to give kudos to the staff because they worked their butts off. The ship had an outbreak of a stomach virus and about 110 people were infected. So the staff had to serve everyone in the buffet and no one was able to serve themselves. It was kind of inconvenient but the captain and staff did a great job of controlling it. The ship was very spacious and you never felt crowded. Cozumel was terrific, there were plenty of activities and shopping available. In Grand Cayman we visited and laid out at Seven Mile beach. It was nice and clean. Falmouth Jamaica was our least favorite. Once outside the port gates it was like a giant flea market with everyone trying to sell you something. We had a personal guide who did a great job shielding us from the locals trying to sell us stuff. We visited a few local churches and stopped and eat in a dive bar but the food and atmosphere were terrific.
karenmullens saw things this way:
Value For Money
Cabin Design
Entertainment
Fitness Center
Food Quality
Ship Maintenance
Staff and Service
Cabin Design
Entertainment
Fitness Center
Food Quality
Ship Maintenance
Staff and Service
5
5
4
3
2
4
4
5
4
3
2
4
4
A nice experience, November 8, 2012
Reviewer: karenmullens
Pros: So much to see, you couldnt get bored
Cons: Disappointing food, just nice but nothing more.
Date of cruise: June 1, 2011
Departure port: rome
Region visited: Europe
Cabin category: Balcony
Cabin number: 8343
Good for children: Yes
Good for teenagers: Yes
This was only our second cruise (first with MSC) and departed from Civitavecchia (Rome. Seven nights to Turkey via Greece. I really enjoyed both cruises. I love the ability to JUST relax. We hardly bother with the entertainment or bars but enjoy our food, excursions and just lying on the bed reading or sitting on the balcony watching the world sail by. I know, we are boring! But if you want more from your holiday then it's all there. We did see the excellent ice skating show and parts of a couple of shows in the auditorium. All really great. I took plenty of daily walks around the ship and loved watching the adventurous people climbing the WALL and playing assorted games in the area to the back of the ship. I spent days, literally, looking for the door that would allow me access to the bow of the ship..found it finally. And every day I watched a movie or two in the tiny little theater hidden away downstairs...mostly I was alone, because I reckon no-one else knew where this was. I HATE DRESSING UP so I was one of those daggy ones who didn't when we went to the dining room. I was neat and presentable, but nothing like some of the overdressed people in full formal regalia that presented themselves for a meal every night. How did they pack all that stuff We had room service for dinner the first night due to illness..pretty bad. The food in the dining room was only average. Like another reviewer, we were on a table stuck in a corner at the back of the room so we didn't see much of what was happening around us. Our waiters were nice, even nicer towards the end of the seven days because thats when the tips were due, I suppose. The food was often not really hot and small portions (thank goodness for the Promenade cafe downstairs) and seemed to be much the same each day although RC would dispute this. (I have run and owned restaurants and generally have sympathy for waiters and chefs and food businesses, I know it's not easy) I have to say that the food on the MSC Cruise was better. But honestly, for what you pay for the cruises these days, it IS value money. I loved being able to stand on the internal balconies and look up the promenades and watch the nightly goings on. Getting on and off the ship was really quite easy. If you are not going on a paid excursion, once you figure out that there's another gangplank to disembark, your laughing...First one off and last one on. My television did not work very well, especially the interactive stuff about the ship. Nor did we have the ability to prebook our shore excursions. I wanted to ask staff about the excursions before booking but the lines at reception were always too long. The talks in the auditorium were too late as I'd already booked. A couple of the shore excursions were pretty poor. The tour around Messina pathetic. Overall though, because I DIDN'T HAVE TO COOK OR CLEAN but could just relax, I enjoyed the cruise..In fact I'm off again in 27 days, so could recommend cruising to everyone.
TimCurry saw things this way:
Value For Money
Cabin Design
Entertainment
Food Quality
Ship Maintenance
Specialty Restaurant
Staff and Service
Cabin Design
Entertainment
Food Quality
Ship Maintenance
Specialty Restaurant
Staff and Service
5
5
4
3
5
5
5
5
4
3
5
5
5
Great Ship, would take it again anytime., December 1, 2011
Reviewer: TimCurry
Pros: Comfortable, with great service
Cons: Common areas got crowded, too many things for sale blocking walkways
Date of cruise: November 20, 2011
Departure port: Ft. Lauderdale
Region visited: Caribbean - Western
Cabin category: Balcony
Cabin number: 6222
I was impressed with our overall experience on board. Our cabin was slightly bigger than equivalent ones we'd had on other ships/cruise lines and the balcony also felt slightly larger. I was surprised with how much storage space there was for a cruise ship cabin -- and believe me, we brought a lot of stuff. But we found a place to hide everything away and the room wasn't a mess. I was quite disappointed with the dining room, however. We were placed at a table off in a remote corner of the dining room and didn't get the experience of the grandeur of the gorgeous dining area. Moreover, our waiter was humorless and inattentive. The food in the main dining area was mediocre, so there wasn't anything keeping us coming back to the dining room for future meals. We got better food at the Windjammer cafe upstairs and didn't need to deal with waiting on waiters who didn't seem to have time for us. We had a completely different experience the two times we dined in Portofino, one of the specialty restaurants on board. The service was impeccable and the food was top-notch. Our server, Rebecca, and the manager, Jennifer, were friendly, attentive, and couldn't have made us feel more at home and special. Their recommendations were spot on and the overall dining experience there was the perfect leisurely, yet quality, vacation meal. I also was happy to see that the guest services staff was much more friendly and ready to resolve issues than on other ships I've taken. Without exception, everyone at guest services that we spoke with was friendly, accommodating, and, when they couldn't resolve our issues directly, they made adequate compensation. For example, we didn't get flowers and fruit we'd ordered before boarding, so they gave us a free bottle of wine to make up for it and made sure we were not charged for the items we never received. I couldn't have asked for more. Even with the poor service we received in the dining room, the overall service by the other people on the ship made up for it.
eajack saw things this way:
Value For Money
Cabin Design
Entertainment
Food Quality
Ship Maintenance
Specialty Restaurant
Staff and Service
Cabin Design
Entertainment
Food Quality
Ship Maintenance
Specialty Restaurant
Staff and Service
4
3
3
5
4
5
5
3
3
5
4
5
5
Poor boarding experience, great food, mediocre entertainment, nice ship, December 1, 2011
Reviewer: eajack
Pros: Food
Cons: Boarding
Date of cruise: November 20, 2011
Departure port: Port Everglades
Region visited: Caribbean - Western
Cabin category: Outside
Cabin number: 2596
Good for children: Yes
Good for teenagers: Yes
Perhaps it was a make-shift boarding arrangement since this was the ship's first cruise out of Port Everglades for the winter season, but the traffic was backed up something fierce, the luggage had to be unloaded in the rain and the main building was somewhat removed from that area.
AnthVick saw things this way:
Value For Money
Cabin Design
Entertainment
Fitness Center
Food Quality
Ship Maintenance
Spa
Specialty Restaurant
Staff and Service
Cabin Design
Entertainment
Fitness Center
Food Quality
Ship Maintenance
Spa
Specialty Restaurant
Staff and Service
4
3
2
4
4
3
5
4
5
3
2
4
4
3
5
4
5
Just back from RCCL Navigator Cruise - It was great!!!, July 1, 2011
Reviewer: AnthVick
Pros: Attitude of the staff, outstanding waitstaff and room steward(ess).
Cons: Condition of ship, definitely could use some maintenance.
Date of cruise: June 19, 2011
Departure port: Civitavecchia
Region visited: Europe
Cabin category: Balcony
Cabin number: 8316
Overall, we had a fantastic cruise! The staff was the best I've ever seen on a ship! The ship is looking it's age. There's peeling paint and rust in the cabin bathrooms. One drawer fell out when I opened it. The lead singers didn't sing well together (to put it nicely). We actually covered our ears a couple of times. The guest talent was just so-so. The other dancers and singers were very good. The ice skating show was fantastic. The food was normal fare. There was always plenty on the buffet. We had breakfast and lunch in the dining rooms once and both were okay. Nothing special. What WAS special was the salad 'bar' in the dining room for lunch. You point to what you want in the salad and a staff member makes it for you. We heard SEVERAL people singing it's praises. Embarkation and Debarkation in Civitavecchia was effortless. When we arrived by train from Rome, there were LOTS of people waiting to get on the train (from the cruise), but when we came back, we got off the ship in the first round (7 a.m.), picked up our luggage and got on an empty train. We bought the BIRG ticket which includes the day free on the metro in Rome, and arrived in plenty of time to check in our hotel (close to the train station) and get out in Rome by 10:30 a.m. or so.
Windsong37 saw things this way:
Value For Money
Cabin Design
Entertainment
Fitness Center
Food Quality
Ship Maintenance
Spa
Staff and Service
Cabin Design
Entertainment
Fitness Center
Food Quality
Ship Maintenance
Spa
Staff and Service
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
This was our first cruise and overall it was a wonderful experience., October 8, 2010
Reviewer: Windsong37
Pros: Treated like royalty by the staff, particularly our waiters Damaciano and Moises
Cons: Smoke coming from the bars and the casino onto the Promanade Deck.
Date of cruise: September 17, 2010
Departure port: Civitavecchia, Italy
Region visited: Mediterranean
Cabin category: Balcony
Cabin number: 9652
Good for children: Yes
Good for teenagers: Yes
Balcony stateroom was terrific. Highly recommended. Despite the size of the ship and the number of passagers, we never felt overwhelmed by the masses. There are many areas on the ship where you can feel peace and quiet. The food was wonderful in the main dining room, so there was no need for us to upgrade to the specialty restaurants. The theater entertainment was great...much better than expected. Quality entertainers and wonderful costumes, etc. RCL has figured out how to pamper their clients. We have no complaints.
john saw things this way:
Value For Money
Cabin Design
Entertainment
Food Quality
Ship Maintenance
Staff and Service
Cabin Design
Entertainment
Food Quality
Ship Maintenance
Staff and Service
5
4
5
5
5
5
4
5
5
5
5
It was a pleasant cruise and we had excellent service and food, October 7, 2010
Reviewer: john
Pros: We had a wonderful variety of menu selections, good variety of entertainment
Cons: The smoke filtering from the bars onto the Promenade made it unpleasant.
Date of cruise: September 17, 2010
Departure port: Rome
Region visited: Mediterranean
Cabin category: Balcony
Cabin number: 6260
We have cruised 10 times before and the 12-day itinerary in the Mediterranean was very good. The staff was very accommodating, the food excellent and they had a nice variety of activities and entertainment to choose from. We had an outstanding waiter that went way beyond his duties to serve us. It's a beautifully designed ship and never seemed crowded with its many areas to relax or do activities. It was easy to get from one point to another. The arrangement of the closet in the cabin was awkward with the door blocking the cabin if it was open, just annoying when two people were trying to dress at the same time. They were very organized getting people off and on for port excursions and for debarkation at the end of the cruise at the early hour of 6 a.m.
