Navigator of the Seas Review
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My husband and I were wanting to see the Baltic and this cruise itinerary was appealing and met our expectations. St Petersburg, Tallinn, and Bruges were particularly enjoyable and not all itineraries of the Baltic go to Bruges, so this was a bonus. The weather cooperated all but 2 days, so we were fortunate. The dining room food was perfectly fine for us and the service was great. The food and service in the Windjammer was satisfactory and on the last day, the manager asked for our opinion and suggestions for improvement which we did. That evening, we were surprised to receive thank you snacks delivered to our cabin from the manager which we thought was an added touch.
We only took two Royal Caribbean shore excursions because they're overpriced usually and the quality has degraded compared to external shore excursions. The price of the transfer to Heathrow was more expensive than a cab for two; the price of the transfer is way out of whack. We used TJ Travel shore excursions for 3 ports of call and they were excellent, we highly recommend them. The Royal Caribbean shore excursion in Oslo was disappointing because the guide did not use a microphone so we couldn't hear him in the Viking Museum. We had 25 minutes in the Viking Museum, 21 minutes of which was used by the guide to explain the 3 ships which we couldn't hear, and 4 minutes to go to the toilet and see the rest of the museum, hardly enough time. At the Vigeland sculpture park, the guide proceeded to explain almost each statue in detail. Royal Caribbean's shore excursion manager did call me to ask for my comments and although the guide was very knowledgeable, my suggestion was for the guide to use a microphone and to spend more time in the Viking Museum and less time explaining each statue in detail at the park. He appreciated my comments and he said he would forward them to the company for improvement. The Royal Caribbean shore excursion in Bruges was fast-paced and okay. We initially couldn't hear the guide during the bus ride so we had to shout a few times from the back of the bus to indicate we can't hear. The guide was knowledgeable and we only had 1 hour of free time in Bruges which is not enough and should be extended.
See separate cabin review.
Cabin Review
Interior Stateroom with Virtual Balcony
We have sailed on Navigator of the Seas previously. When we got access to our cabin at 1 p.m., we discovered that the virtual balcony and the heating was not working. I called the cabin attendant and even though he doesn't start until 3 p.m., he answered and he said he would notify Maintenance. I called Maintenance 4 times that day and evening and finally, someone replaced the heating element in the ceiling and we had heat, but still no virtual balcony. Finally the virtual balcony was fixed that day or the following day, only to break two more times during the cruise. There was a lack of hot water for showers and by the 7th day, I complained that morning about the virtual balcony not working again and no hot water in the cabin in the mornings. When we got back to the ship at 7:30 p.m., no repairs were done. I called Maintenance and no response so I went down to the customer service desk to complain and I learned that there was no record of my calls for maintenance throughout the cruise thus far. We had been ping ponged between the cabin attendant, Maintenance, and the customer service desk. I asked the customer service desk why have a Maintenance button on the phone if it's not going to respond and log the calls. A supervisor finally came to the cabin with a plumber to address the hot water where we explained that we were getting room temperature or cold water showers every morning, except for one day. The next morning we got hot water, but subsequent days we were back to the same issue. We were told to run the water for a period of time and I said I think running the water 5 minutes before the showers, followed by 2 showers are more than adequate to indicate there is a problem with the delivery of the hot water. We never had this issue when we sailed this ship previously or on other ships. The issue that took me over the edge was when the virtual balcony was not working again and we didn't have hot water, but then the toilet didn't flush. We were not informed that maintenance was being done in the upper floor so the system was shut down. I went down to the customer service desk again, let loose, and finally we spoke with the desk manager. We explained all of the issues, including loose hinges, a drawer not working properly, and an uncomfortable mattress, and she wanted an opportunity to do any repairs. The repairs were completed that day with the exception of the hot water not being fixed throughout the cruise despite attempts, but by then, we were on our last days on the cruise. I asked for financial compensation which was granted.