Navigator of the Seas Review
Rating by category
Additional details
We were looking for destinations out of the ordinary. I called this the European Kiss... Ports of call that we would not normally choose, yet wanted to explore. Certainly filled the bill for us. We would give this cruise an Excellent Review but there were a few exceptions that kept it from a 5 star.
Our initial on-board experience felt like an onslaught of timeshare salesmen. We barely arrived on the ship and were greeted with people hawking the beverage packages, trying to take our picture, up-selling restaurants and dining packages. Really? It was not the way to start a cruise and it continued each and every day - including our poor dining staff having to try to get us to leave them for a meal somewhere else on the ship. During the cruise I enjoyed a spa special and was, again, pushed to buy products i didn't need or want... It spoiled what was a wonderful experience... Having spent my life in sales, there are more considerate ways of up-selling that RC should be thinking about if they want 5 star reviews from professionals.
With the exception of France, we felt our tour guides were well versed and easy to understand. Our French guide, Marc, was almost impossible to understand. His accent was so deep that we struggled to understand what he was trying to say at each stop. This was heightened when we toured the D-Day locations. There was no attempt to use a whisper system and we traveled long distances without being able to hear him. We were a very large group of 50 people... I could have done the tour on my own had I realized just how awful it would be with him as our guide.
Cabin Review
Oceanview Stateroom
Bathroom - larger than anticipated. Shower pressure and water temperature were a pleasant surprise. Absolutely no issues with it.
Bed - firm, but very, very comfortable. We slept well each night (except the last night), sheets were smooth and comfy.
We had two large closets with plenty of hangers. My only complaint is that there was NO FULL LENGTH MIRROR... My sil's room had one, we didn't. why not?
The drawers were stained and not working smoothly. I hesitated putting any of my clean clothes in them...
With all that said, our cabinet attendant, Janal, did an outstanding job of keeping our room clean, stocked with towels - and made the most delightful towel animals for us to enjoy.
Port Reviews
Cherbourg
We chose to see Mont St. Michel. Our tour guide, Marc, was almost impossible to understand. His accent was so deep that we finally quit listening to him during the bus ride to the site. Once there, we were on our own. This is such a popular site that you just can avoid the jam of people. But, we certainly loved all that we experienced. I would have given this a very good review, but for the lack of ability to understand our guide.