We joined the cruise on the Navigator of the seas on 25th October 2009 for 5 nights. We arrived at the terminal at 10.30 am and the check in was fairly good, but we could not get any food on board until 12.00 midday and could not get into our room until 1.00 pm. Luggage arrived by 5.00 pm. We have been on 3 cruises with RC before (Mariner and the Legend)and always promoted RC for cruises,but we were very dissapointed that the standards had dropped on this cruise. Ironing was not returned by 5.00 pm the next day as stated and we had to telephone to chase this up, to be met with a very hostile response. We had to return meals in the dining room as they were cold and not up to standard, steak was tough. We enquired about the Crown and Anchor reception and was told there wasnt one, with no help from the loyalty officer at all. The excursion we took at Maderia was terrible, it was supposed to of been 4 hours, but turned out to be over 5 hours, with most of that time qeueing or waiting for the guide to eat his lunch, so we missed our lunch back on the ship. Entertainment and parades were on a par with Butlins except for one night when there was a Beatles tribute band which was good. The worst thing was room service - thought we would treat ourselves to breakfast in our room on the last day at sea, so ordered full English with cereal,toast etc. When it arrived late at 9.40 am there was no milk for the cereal, so the man went off to get it, while he was gone we checked the rest. When lifting off the lid to our expected full English - we were met with ONE FRIED EGG!. We telephoned room service who said they were very busy and we would have to go to the back of the queue and it would be another 30 minutes. We said dont bother and went to the Windjammer. We complained about our trip and the room service to customer services and had to write everything down. We were told someone would contact us to discuss - but no one did. So much for 2 way feedback! Generally we found the boat not big enough for the number of people, there was no pool management and people reserved sun beds with towels and left them there for hours. Pool areas were manic. We waited for a quiz and the rep forgot to turn up. I have written to RC as of course they value our feedback, unfortunately they are not so good at feeding back to us or offering any kind of compensation - so watch this space!
We had a deluxe balcony cabin. When we entered there was a strange musty smell, which we got used to as the week went on. Overall the cabin was looking a bit tired, especially the carpet. The balcony was just big enough to fit 2 chairs on it and a very tiny round table, just big enough for 2 cups, so not big enough to lie down sun bathing, just room enough to sit. The bathroom was compact, but clean with complimentary shower gel and towels provided. The bed was comfortable. Our room attendant was really good and very friendly.