Navigator of the Seas Review
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This cruise was my wife and my seventh Royal Caribbean cruise, and first since having children. We swapped to Disney for the previous 2 cruises since Disney sailed from Galveston for a time (Disney Magic), and we live around 45 minutes from the port. With Disney moving out of Galveston and Royal Caribbean bringing in a ship (Navigator of the Seas) that has a nursery and kids club for our 13 month and 3 year old, we decided to give Royal a try with kids.
We booked an Owners Suite, number 1330, the Hawaiian Suite, to give us a room with a bathtub and a curtain that would separate us from the kids so that when they fell asleep, we could stay up or sneak out on the balcony. There are two doors to the balcony on an Owner’s Suite.
The embarkation onto the ship was painless. We left after our younger DD’s morning nap and arrived around 11:15 am to drop off the luggage. We were eating lunch at the Windjammer by noon. There is a long road leading to the turn in for Terminal 1 (Carnival) and Terminal 2 (Royal Caribbean). The road backs up for around half a mile but there are multiple streets that turn right into old downtown Galveston. The area is a grid so a quick left and some stop signs brings you to the street you turn left on to pull into the terminal area.
Cabin Review
Owner's Suite
- Room = ordered a pack and play (crib) well ahead of the cruise and confirmed multiple times it would be set up upon arrival. Wasn’t there and so went to guest services, who stated earliest arrival would be 5 pm. By then our youngest DD missed her afternoon nap, making for a cranky customer and a rough first night. Could be due to room attendant who was kind of bad, considering we splurged for a suite.- Room Doorbell = spring break cruise, you’d expect some kids to ring it every once in a while. Turns out our main offender was a woman in her 40’s who was ringing it late at night (between 1 am and 3 am), which woke up our youngest DD and again caused a rough night. Our room attendant then informed us you can turn it off.- Room Side of Ship = don’t expect to enjoy your balcony out of Galveston with your room on the starboard (right) side of the ship. Sun was blazing after around 10 am and made afternoon enjoyment not possible. Also on the wrong side to view anything but ocean on all 3 stops. Somehow amazingly even on the trip back it was too hot to stay outside for long.- Room Balcony = from prior cruises with Royal Caribbean, one being in a Grand Suite, we skipped a stop and stayed on the balcony. There was a cleaning crew that came and scrubbed the glass and handrail daily. This cruise, the glass was so dirty you couldn’t see through it, the deck furniture left filth on your clothing, and each day they’d wash down the upper deck down onto your balcony. We had standing water each morning with cigarette butts, used straws from drinks, and even women’s hair (my oldest DD stated look, there’s a mommy hair one morning). So if you’re thinking of splurging for a balcony, don’t.- Room Inside Cleanliness = bathtub had to be cleaned by my wife and I prior to giving our daughters their first bath. My oldest daughter had various items in her hair after rough housing with her sister on the floor.