River Navigator Review

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Vantage delivers again!!

Review for Europe - Black Sea Cruise on River Navigator
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Hydrokitty
6-10 Cruises • Age 80s

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Sail Date: Jun 2014

This was our sixth trip with Vantage, thirds on the Navigator......and all in the same cabin!!! We started in Prague with the pre-trip extension and it was a highlight of the trip! Prague and Bratislava are both beautiful and our group of 24 really bonded in the first 24 hours or so. Navigator has been remodeled since our last trip on her, and she looks beautiful, although I hate the new name of the Lounge......Rat Pack Lounge? Really???? But it seemed a lot more spacious than before and there was ample room for the on board entertainment, which there didn't use to be. Our cabin was comfortable as usual and the walk-in shower was a big relief after 5 nights struggling in and out of deep bathtubs in hotels. Plenty of storage space, especially now that I have a Vera Bradley hanging vanity case......what a find THAT was. Our cabin steward was excellent and fearless.....he came right away the afternoon I found a spider as big as my fist on the outside of the door for our french balcony.....and he didn't even laugh at me for standing on the bed pointing at the door!

We were divided into 3 groups and I love the way they did it: Blue group were people who did the pre-trip extension; Green group those who were doing the Danube from Bonn to Constanta and the Yellow group those who boarded in Budapest and did not do the pre-trip. Only negative to that is that all three groups tended to stick together and not mingle a lot. The ports we visited ranged from wonderful to okay, but only because in some of them there just wasn't a lot to see and do. We did one optional on the cruise and that was the puszta tour to see the Hungarian cowboys. I know I read reviews of this tour from people who said the horses were thin and seemed mal-treated. While we saw absolutely no evidence of abuse or mal-nourishment, I would not book it again because it just wasn't worth the money. Those who went to Tito's Palace met the Prince and Princess of Bulgaria! As for the food, I thought it was great. I read previous review from vegan who had trouble finding food to eat. What a shame, because our trip had one of the best vegetarian cooks on the planet!!! I had no trouble finding many choices for breakfast from cold Muesli to yogurt and fruit and for lunch the salad bar and cold fruit soups were to die for. Dinner always had a vegetarian menu and there was only one I didn't care for and that was nobody's fault....sometimes you just don't care for a recipe and this was one of those times.....and the chef made me something else!!

Cabin Review

Cabin A-1

Wi-fi in the cabin was fine except for one day when we were in the Iron Gates. There was a small fridge in the room loaded with drinks and snacks for purchase, which I removed to make room for my own snacks and water. The water on the ship is safe to drink!! We were given bottles of water when we left the ship for excursions, but otherwise there was no need for bottled water. Only thing I didn't find was the I-Pad charger, but I didn't really miss it because my Kindle wouldn't have fit it anyway. There were two US plugs, one in the bathroom and one at the dressing table, so charging camera and kindle was no problem at all.

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