Navigator of the Seas

So back in October me and my partner set sail on the Navigator of the Seas for a 7 night cruise, this was our first time on this ship (but not with Royal Caribbean). As usual for Royal Caribbean from Southampton, the check-in process was seamless and boarding commenced at 11am, we were in the first group to board so was on the Royal Promenade by 11.10am. (I still dont understand why P&O make it such a drawn out process?)

Walking down the Royal Promenade is where you will find Royal Caribbean’s Wine Bar Vintages – with the classic car outside, the pub, Sorrentos -where you can get complimentary tea and coffee 24 hours a day, pizza, sandwiches and cakes. There is also Sabor (the Mexican specialty restaurant).This is where also the parades and parties take place and on our 7 night cruise on the first night we had a circus parade, then later on in the cruise we had the 70’s party and also the Rule Britannia party.

The voyager class of ships also have Studio B – the ice skating rink, and the show was repeated throughout the cruise to allow everyone to have the opportunity to see the show, just need to look out in the cruise guide for the choice of times and what time the free tickets become available to queue up for.

Dining options – the windjammer (buffet restaurant) which is open for breakfast, lunch, dinner and all meals in between. The main dining room is open for waiter service breakfast, and then for dinner. There is also the restaurants with the cover charge – Johnny Rockets (hardly ever open), Chops Grille (i will write about next time), Sabor and Giovanni’s (which is the Italian restaurant). We had booked to be on mytime dining in the evening and after speaking with the head waiter a couple of days into the cruise (he had to bring my partner the following days menu) it transpired that they still operate the mytime dining as 1st and 2nd sitting despite it being called mytime – my advice would be to prebook your dining times before boarding if you know when to eat, especially if you want a smaller table as a sign was put up to advise there were no more tables left at certain times.

On the Navigator of the seas is the adults only Solarium (however this was not policed and always had lots of children in it), mini gold course, rocking climb wall, flow rider, the main pool had a life guard on duty and there was also life jackets for the children. If you like going in the hot tub to relax – for a quieter one not out on the top deck is the one thats in the gym and unless you have been in there you wouldn’t know it was there.

We had an inside cabin on deck 3 which was adequate for us and nice that there was a small sofa for an additional seating area. The shower was a glass fronted one, so no horrible little shower curtain.

Entertainment in the evening – so as well as the ice show, parade, parties, there was also the shows in the theatre – their own singers and dancers, comedian, magicians. You also had singers/musicians in the other bars (the pub, Boleros, starlight lounge). Then there was also quizzes, karaoke etc. I would say the only downside was that there wasn’t enough seating in the bars.

And whilst we had a good cruise – the downsides for me were: With Royal Caribbean they charge for the shuttle buses and in Gijon and Bilbao these were charged at 10 Euros and paid by cash only. There is also an 18% service charge on all bar drinks if you do not have a drinks package, the staff on guest relations (but thats another story).

Have a good couple of weeks

Kerry

xx