Navigator of the Seas Review

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Review for the Western Mediterranean Cruise on Navigator of the Seas
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ssmhawaii
First Time Cruiser • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Aug 2009
Cabin: Junior Suite
Traveled with children

Just off this Rome-Sicily-Athens-Turkey(Ephesus)-Crete. A total waste of time.First, these are not great ports. Sicily was 100 degrees, and only had a 2 1/2 hr drive each way for 45 minutes on MT Etna or a vist to an ampitheatre in a tourist town that closes 12-3 pm. This gives you an hour for sites and barely an hour for shopping which is limited. The port town is awful.Our kids stayed in town and the highlight was a car on fire. Athens was fine, but all tours sold out very early, forcing us to find a taxi/pseudo guide. Kusadasi was the best stop, and the highlight. Great town and the ruins of the town of Ephesus were outstanding. Crete...why even stop. Dock and off around 8am, and on the ship around 1pm, with a 55/pp trip to a crowded beach the only main option, and a riun site, which we did, which was very poor compared to Ephesus.

As per the ship...crowded!!! The 3 small pools were never accessable in any daylight hour. You don't want to walk the periphery unless you are prepared for the gauntlet of cigarette smoke...awful. All outside decks were loaded with smokers, which was allowed. THe food was poorer than any other cruise we ever were on and the buffett often had no seats.

Another thing I never read about Royal Carribean (our first, usually Princess), was the limited access for the kids to the things they brag about. Ice skating...most days it is open only for 2 hours, with the exception, the last day at sea. Same with the rcok climbing and in line skating. You book with the expectation these are 6-10 hours a day and easy access. Not so. When open, the rock wall was 30-45 minute wait. Skating was a parking lot and often they ran out of common sizes. It was laughable the inline "dog walk" (about a 40 ft narrow oval) was closed due to "wind". I checked...ship was at 20 knots and wind speed 8-10 on the monitor. It's a ship at sea for goodness sake!

Cabin Review

Junior Suite

Cabin JS

I am filing a grievence with RC on cabin 6394. It was sold as a Junior Suite and in reality was an obstructed ocean view. I complained on the first day and got nowhere, claiming I should have been warned it had a 30ft "maintaince deck " directly off the suite, which had workers 3-5 at a time varnishing other railing the removed, on ladders, etc. I have 30 photos if CC is interested in them.

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