Royal Caribbean Cruise Line
Navigator of the Seas Cruise Review
Eastern Caribbean

Tom Marcone
Age: 36
Occupation: Sales Manager
Number of Cruises: 1
Sailing Date: February 11th, 2006

I studied up on this site in preparation of my cruise on Navigator of the Seas to the Eastern Caribbean Feb-11. Honestly – what I read was 50/50 hated it / loved it. I had to chime in just to make myself and others feel better.

1st – me. I am a Sales Manager and travel more often than I want. I have been to Bourbon Street……8 times. Vegas - 10. LA – 10+. San Fran 15+ . Chicago20+. Orlando +++. Some people have been around the block….I am the block. I have eaten sushi in Japan and grits in Yazoo City, Mississippi. I like the best of the best but prefer to sit down and crack a cold beer with a local….. anyway,

What I realized after taking the cruise and re-reading the negative reviews is that out of the 3000+ people on the boat 2990 had a great time and the 10 sour pusses made a point out of posting an on line message. It was awesome. I had never been on a cruise before so my skepticism was obvious, especially after reading negative reviews. Was is ***** five Diamond – no. Was it a great time – YES!

Rather than bore you with some useless information – here are the highs and (maybe) a low of the cruise.

· Getting on – On the boat in the 30 minutes – at the pool bar in 32 minutes.

· Service – A+. This crew knows nothing but to be nice and attentive to you. As I learned – 6 months on the ship. SIX MONTHS! 7 days a week – 12-18 hours a day. They bust their ass and still smile like you are family. Anyone who appreciates service will love what they do for you.

· Food – B Good on the verge of very good but not Legal Seafoods or Smith and Wollensky’s. They had specialty dinning (add $20 pp) on board but we skipped it. Never had to upgrade. From what others said (at our table who upgraded) it was worth it but don’t jump into a reservation until you give the dining room a shot.

· Drinks – Plenty of them. 22 bars. – again TWENTY TWO! Great service and great selection of top shelf liquor to beer.

· Ship – AMAZING. It is like being in a F’n mall. I said about 20 times, “I cannot believe I am in the hull of a ship!” In addition, mini golf, whirlpools, rock-climbing, basketball – hell I played dodge ball and Ice-skated on a ship? You will not be bored – which I thought I might become.

· Ports of call – Fantastic. We walked to the fort in San Juan – great walk – bring sunscreen and be prepared to say, “MEOW”. St. Thomas we got bumped from the snorkel tour and ended up on the Dancing Dolphin snorkel tour. Check them out. Website is I think, dancingdoplhin.com. Great crew – most fun I had all week. In St. Maarten we took the Bubba Boat Fishing Tour. Be prepared for smelly hands (from the bait) and a rough sea. It was a blast – we caught some exotic fish and threw them back in the ocean like good tourists. In Nassau, we hit the Breezes resort. A lot of people were disappointed with the food (buffet shut down 10 minutes before we arrived) and it was cloudy but I drank about 22 beers and played volleyball on the beach for three hours. My shoulders still hurt!

The Bads
· Our bathroom was out of order for ½ a day. No sympathy or retribution (not that I asked) from the customer service desk.

· Tipping – you have a dictated tipping scheme. Not that I am cheap but I would rather through my waiter and assistant waiter some serious coin and skip the “head waiter” who spoke broken Italianglish and reminded me of my high school gym teacher. Also if you find a bartender who goes above and beyond - and I mean really mean beyond because they are all so good – take care of them and they will take care of you. Our fav was Zoro in the Wine Bar.

· My biggest complaint – getting off the ship. It sucked. I wanted to stay L!

Feel free to drop me an e-mail with questions or comments. There is so much more to say but…………..
 

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