The September 9 Eastern Caribbean cruise on Navigator of the Seas was our honeymoon and the first cruise for both of us. Although we were new to cruising, we were very deliberate in selecting cruise company and ship, and the research paid off. We're both 33 years old, child-free, and while we're occasional social drinkers, we are in no way partiers. We wanted a cruise that had all of the good stuff and none of the bad stuff.....fun but not insane, all ages but not a horde of kids, lots of activities but the flexibility to relax in peace and quiet when we want. And, for the most part, Royal Caribbean and NOS were exactly what we were looking for.

Boarding was fast considering the quantity of people at the port. We got in our first line at 11:45 am and were on the ship shortly before 1pm. The lines were long, but the employees kept things orderly by batch processing the flow.....letting each area fill up to a certain point then halting the flow so people wouldn't get trapped on escalators or pinned into corners. It allowed the lines to really be lines instead of random milling about, which decreased the number of queue jumpers, especially going through security. Of course there will always be queue jumpers, especially those who came off the elevator and felt they were so special they didn't have to walk to the back of the line. (Note to those who somehow feel magically entitled: You're not. Be an adult, find some manners, and wait your turn in line). We had our pre-printed Set Sail, and I certainly recommend using one. Once we got through security, our line for the registration desk was significantly shorter than those who just had the RC booklets. We received our Sea Passes in no time and were in line for ship.

We had a fabulous balcony cabin, 8630. It was just past the hump, which we felt was a perfect location. The only thing on our floor besides cabins was Royal Caribbean Online, which was rarely used and very quiet, so there wasn't a lot of extra foot traffic on our floor. We were really close to the elevators, but enough rooms away that we never picked up any noise from them. And the location of the online lounge meant we had neighbors on both sides but not across the hall. And having cabin floors above and below us instead of public areas further increased the serenity of our area. We were so impressed with location of our room that we plan on booking the same room on our next NOS cruise. Read more