Our family decided to try the Grand Suite luxuries on the Navigator of the Seas as our first experience with Royal Caribbean and our first experience leaving from Port Everglades. We flew into Ft Lauderdale on Friday, March 30th and stayed at the Hampton Inn North for the night--nice room, free airport and cruise port transfers--good value. Sailed March 31st, Easter Caribbean itinerary. The ship is beautiful and we had a good time, however, the process of getting on board was greatly disappointing and left us rethinking our decision. Arrived at the port at 10:30, left our luggage outdoors with the porters (which was our first head-scratcher)and headed to the terminal. Not much organization outside the building while we waited, but oh boy, what a surprise awaited us when we got inside! The place resembled a warehouse--concrete walls with a few random RCI posters stuck to the walls and a check-in desk that looked temporary at best. Exposed ventilation ducts, industrial lighting, noisy, etc. Chin up--we still had the "priority boarding" area for GS and above to look forward to..and what a WOW factor THAT turned out to be(and not in a good way)! After check-in, ALL passengers were directed to large lines of connected chairs to await boarding---our "priority boarding" area was a roped off area of about 4 lines of these pretty-disgusting looking chairs. Ugh! Our rows WERE called first to board, but not at ALL a good first impression of RCI, and everybody knows what they say about first impressions.

On Board a little after noon, we were told our cabins would be ready by 1:30--no big deal, we headed for lunch at Windjammer. Looking around the ship, we were impressed by the decor and especially the Grand Promenade. Beautiful! This ship really doesn't show it's age. Before going in to eat, we noticed it was raining outside, quite heavily, too. Nice buffet, good meal, and we were impressed by the number of choices.

Our cabin, our Grand Suite, was ready as promised and it was beautiful! Birthday decorations were in place on the door and in the room for my daughter's birthday to her great surprise. For our family of four, there was more than enough room and tons of storage space for our things. We knew our bags would be delivered at some point, so we kept checking back throughout the afternoon to see if they arrived. Alas, they did not arrive before dinner. We like to dress for dinner but were forced to enter the beautiful Main Dining Room for the first seating in very casual clothes. We weren't alone. Checking our cabin after dinner, our bags had arrived---four out the the six were WET! Not sure why some of the first bags to arrive at the dock were STILL not on the ship or at least under cover in their trolleys or a holding area by the time that rain came. First the warehouse, now this? Time to find out how our GS Concierge service worked. Quite well, it turned out. Concierge Karen Hernandez is wonderful! Her customer service skills are outstanding. Commiseration, free laundry service and a bottle of wine later, we left her lounge happy. She must have been inundated with similar problems that day, but never appeared frazzled---what a gem she is!The Sail Away "party" was another disappointment--they just kept coming on Day 1 for us. This ship seriously is not for families with children--this "party" was a dud and we left. Read more