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Navigator of the Seas

Independence of the Seas

Brilliance of the Seas

Jewel of the Seas

Rhapsody of the Seas

Serenade of the Seas

Vision of the Seas

Anthem of the Seas

Freedom of the Seas

Harmony of the Seas

Voyager of the Seas

Adventure of the Seas

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Allure of the Seas

Liberty of the Seas

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Mariner of the Seas

Grandeur of the Seas

Oasis of the Seas

Ovation of the Seas

Odyssey of the Seas

Wonder of the Seas

Quantum of the Seas

Enchantment of the Seas

Spectrum of the Seas

Radiance of the Seas

Kusadasi

We were supposed to sail from Southampton to Boston, New York, Port Canaveral and Miami. However, we were called on th Friday afternoon before the Monday cruise and told that due to storms in the Atlantic we would now go to Le Havre, Brugges and then Miami. Not quite the same appeal! We were offered a full refund if we cancelled but as booked the flights ourselves and non refundable hotel rooms in Miami we would have had to claim through our travel agent so we had no choice but to go. Having been to France and Belguim on numerous RC cruises, we were really not looking forward to the cruise even with the $200 OBC for the changes and 20% off what we paid for this cruise towards another. I did ask if there were really storms in the Atlantic or whether it was an excuse to have further repairs to the Ship after last weeks accident with the stabiliser making a large hole in the hull. I was told it was fully repaired. When we checked in on the Monday, I was told it was actually repaired this morning after people had disembarked. 

However, at the lifeboat drill the Captain said due to a gap in the storm we would now go to Gran Canria, Coco Cay, Port Canaveral and Miami so things looked better. 3 rough days at sea, due to storms was not too bad, have had worse in Iceland! Gran Canaria was ok, then it got warmer as we cruised towards Perfect Day Coco Cay (RC's private island). That morning the sea turned choppy and I had a feeling the tenders wouldn't be able to get us ashore. Unfortunately the captain soon came on and told us the same. We promptly turned around and left what looked like a building site (lots of work going on for next year) and went to Freeport Bahamas. Lots of shops but not much else. Worth noting that RC were charging whatever they could for excursions on Coco Cay, even for floating mat which seemed a rip off. I guess they want us to pay for the island for them. At this point it became a case of guess which port we are going to next. 

Then we went to Port Canaveral which was great. We had originally booked a tour of the space centre but was then told that due to immigration it would not be possible to have a guided tour and instead they would just take us there and we had to get around ourselves. At this point we were so used to changes we didn't care. So, we spent the day at the Space Centre at our leisure before heading to Miami.

Cabin was good, central location which helped make the rough seas feel not as bad. We had to ask for bath robes and toiletries. Surprisingly our crown and anchor free gifts were in the cabin - normally I spend 2 days chasing. I was due a free gift for reaching 240 points on my June cruise so asked the diamond concierge about it. Was told I would receive it later in the cruise but did not. There was no sign of him the last few mornings in the lounge and he ignored the note I left for him. Thanks Ken! Emailed when I returned and it was posted out to me but not a good example of how to treat loyal customers. 

Food was very good. Slow setting up in the Windjammer for lunch and sometimes food was cold as had been left out whilst setting up. Staff very friendly and helpful. Was disappointed they only had the UHTmilk which tasted awful. Shops were the usual overpriced expensive items and the usual $10 tat sales. Lots to do during the day and evening though. 

Lessons learnt - never assume where you book is where you are going. Book refundable rooms if making your own plans for the start or end of your cruise Pack a mixture of clothes as some people were caught up with the change if destination and climate.

Transatlantic cruise - with daily itinerary changes

Was due to sale to Boston/New York/Florida but with big seas in the North Atlantic the captain decided to change the itinerary(twice).There was a lot of people who decided not to travel,it was mentioned 1000 and i would just like to thank them all.The latest itinerary took us from Southampton to The canaries and on to the Bahamas and Florida with flat seas and clear sky’s 75/80 degrees for the six days at sea across the Atlantic.With only 2200 guests there was no need to change nationality  to get a bed and all the bars and restaurants were easy to use.The food was fantastic and the level of service throughout the cruise was superb and on top of clear sky’s,flat seas,stunning food and fantastic service we received £250.00 from cruise 1st,$310.00 dollars on board spend and 25% off our next cruise and missed spending a fortune in Boston and New York.The staff in all departments were properly the best I’ve encountered with a special mention to Sweden and Benjamin our two excellent waiters where nothing was to much trouble.So i would just like to say what a fantastic cruise and thank you to all the people that cancelled which made it such a great crossing.

Mystery tour

Oh, Mr Porter, what shall I do? I wanted to go to Boston and New York and they've taken me on to the Canary Isles....OK, it doesn't rhyme or fit the tune, but it sums up what happened to us on our first experience of cruising.

My wife and I decided two years ago to blow our savings on a cruise down the Eastern Seabord of the USA. Royal Caribbean International were advertising a 13 night cruise leaving from Southampton in early November, calling at Boston, New York, Port Canaveral and Miami - all places we had never visited, but would very much like to see. We took a deep breath and booked, then waited as the months crawled by, getting excited at the prospect of the Big Adventure ahead. Two weeks before departure, I went in to hospital and we had to miss the sailing. Insurance paid for most of the financial loss, so when an identical cruise was advertised last February, we decided to tempt fate and book up again.

This time we were both fit and well as the day of departure arrived. Unfortunately, as it turned out, the ship wasn't in quite such great shape. Newspapers carried the story of a catastrophic failure of one of the stabilsers which caused hull damage and resulted in the cruise before ours being curtailed for emergency repairs. Then came the storm warnings. Late on the Friday before Monday's sailing our travel agents contacted us to say that because of adverse weather conditions in the Atlantic, the ship would not be calling into Boston, New York or Port Canaveral, but instead would spend time in Belgium and French ports before taking a southerly route to Miami.

With someone else booked to move into our house the next day to dog-sit, and goodness knows how much already spent on return air-travel, overnight stays and car-hire, we felt we had no choice but to continue with the cruise, even though we had zero interest in spending time in Bruges or LeHavre. (No offence, Belgium and France, but we have visited you lots of times before.) Our disappointment was utter, and there was little excitement left when we went on board The Navigator for our first cruising experience.

Things appeared to look up when, just before sailing, the Captain came on the Tannoy to say that - reponding again to weather changes - we would now be sailing direct to the Canary Isles, then crossing the Atlantic to the Bahamas for a day's water sports and sunbathing on a tropical island before going to Port Canaveral. (Back on the list).

Nine happy days at sea allowed us to work up an appetite for the day of snorkling and coral reef exploration we were promised on Coco Cay, the RCI's private island paradise in the Bahamas. Crossing the Bay of Biscay was pretty choppy as the broken stabiliser was still not working, but the seas soon calmed down to a light swell. The crew were magnificent, the onboard entertainment excellent, and because so many people had cancelled at the last minute, we virtually had a waiter each. Life on board was relaxing and fun-packed, and our spirits rose. Sure, we had missed meeting our old friends in New York, and we never got to see Boston, but the sun was shining, the southern breezes were balmy, and there was that delicious day of water sports in the Bahamas to look forward to. 

The Day arrived, and the whole ship's complement lined up to disembark, larded in sun cream and already dressed in swimming gear. Announcement over the Tannoy: "Because of the swell, tenders are not prepared to put out from the island. We will not now be spending the day on Coco Cay but will divert to Freeport for a few hours on Grand Bahama." More dashed hopes. More cancelled excursions. But still, there was a guided tour of the Everglades at Port Canaveral to look forward to tomorrow, wasn't there? Well, no, actually, becuase later that day, after a rather uninteresting few hours on the quayside at Freeport, we had the message that all guided tours booked for the next day were off because of "immigration difficulties." 

So far, of the four excursions we had booked, none had or would now take place. As a last ditch effort to have some fun somewhere, we booked a shuttle ride to Magic Kingdom. Been there before, and it costs an arm and a leg, but, hey, we're on holiday. The ship docked in Port Canaveral. The shuttle bus made it to the Magic Kingdom. We had five hours in the park - just time for two rides and a ten-minute show - then back to the ship. Or so we thought. The coach broke down on the way back. We waited forty minutes in a gas station for a replacement bus, and ended up back at the ship seconds before it sailed, missing half of our last meal on board because we were so late back, and having to wear the same clothes we had worn for a sweaty day in the seething Disney park.

Short of actually sinking mid-Atlantic, it is difficult to see how anything else could have gone wrong on this voyage. We have never cruised before - is our experience typical?

Oh, Mr Porter!

Done this cruise many times with Royal Carib on this ship and other Royal Carib ships but usually early October never had any problems lovely cruise with good weather USUALLY!!!!

This one was a nightmare where do i start?

Sailed from Southampton on Friday night 26/10/18, entering the bay of biscay the seas were rough and it was very windy slight movement felt onboard, during Saturday seas still rough and still windy during late night Saturday early Sunday a loud bang was heard and the Bravo emergency call for the crew was heard with crew members running from bars etc, somewhat panic!

Ship diverted to Vigo and docked there Saturday night early Sunday morning whilst assessment of damage was carried out, it appears that one of the stablisers had damage causing the ship to take water onboard flooding lower areas.

The ship stayed in Vigo all day Sunday and left Monday at 4pm after having water pumped out of ship for hours, from Vigo it went to Gran Canaria which was ok then onto Tenerife which was a saints day celebration so hardly any shops were open, from Tenerife we sailed for three days back to Southampton. with seas a lot calmer but could still feel movement of the ship.

Out of five ports of call originally planned we visited only three ports missing Maderia and Lanzarote lots of passengers very dissapointed. Worst of all was the lack of clear information from the captain it all seemed to be hushed up and rumours of the problems running rife and scaring some first time cruisers who many said they would not cruise again and therefore losing out on the 25% furture cruise discount.

Very dissapointed with RCCL only offering a measly 25% refund of original cruise fare and 25% off future cruise, i think 40% minimum should be offered as refund and still 25% off future cruise.

Basically out of a 10 day cruise 6 days were at sea with outdoor pools hardly in use and passengers bored out of their heads.

My thoughts are that the Navigator is due refurbishment i think in March or April next year and RCCL is hoping it will last till it goes for refurbishment, ship looking very tired and shabby in places, menu's in dining room falling well short of pervious standards and entertainment poor apart from Perry Grant.

We are Diamond Plus members and seeing recently that standards are dropping although the staff as always are terrific. 

Come on RCCL we've spent thousands of pounds with your company give us some decent discount on what was a dissasterous cruise!

Navigator (nightmare) of the seas

See belowThis truly was a disaster. My wife's 50th birthday treat, a weeks cruise.  My wife was either angry or in tears for the week.

Everything was going well until the first day proper when going to use the bathroom it was flooded.  Not convenient when needing the toilet. Let that one slide after staff came round rodded the pipes and staff cleaned and sterilized. 

2 days later went for breakfast. Asked a member of staff for some toasted white bread. Curtly informed that "its over there" I then explained that there was non only brown and got the same reply and he walked off. So I wandered around the Windjammer restaurant until I found some was brought out

The very next day I went to the cafe on the Royal Promenade. Many things were on offer Pizza Rolls that had been made up by the staff behind the counter.  I asked if they could make me a cheese and tomato roll as I didn't like the ones they had made. You can guess the answer...No. They did offer to make a turkey roll. I don't like turkey. 

At dinner ate nothing while wife ate due to not liking fatty foods lamb etc.  Should mention the day before had an excellent mushroom soup.

Woke up the next morning at 0645hrs by noise of machinery outside my cabin door. On getting dresssed to find out what the hell was going on, I found a maintenance worker rodding the pipes again.  My neighbour in the next cabin was outside his cabin door and informed me that he had gone to use the toilet and found it flooded.  I went inside my cabin and found the same. Due to previous incidents my sense of humour was really being tested. Wife at this point broke down in tears and wanted to go home. I would have left the ship if my car hadn't been at Southampton. I enquired as to moving to another cabin but was assured that all other cabins were taken.

Went to the windjammer restaurant for breakfast and spoke to asst manager and informed him of incidents.  He said he would arrange to have a nice fillet stake available in the main restaurant for me the next evening as an apology. I thanked him.

The next evening in the main restaurant was not offered the steak so again ate nothing.

I have saved the best until last. The last day of the cruise (yesterday) My wife went to the toilet only to find  that she could not flush.  The reason being that there was no water in the toilet.  I then had to fill the toilet with water from the tap in the bathroom using the kettle. Finally I was able to flush the faeces away. I reported the matter and the problem was fixed.  

Staff at the front desk rang up and as we had suffered we would be be given a 20% credit off our next cruise. I refused this, I was then offered a steak dinner, I refused this and was then as a last resort offered a bottle of wine.  I nearly exploded. 

Last night i was woken by what I thought was water sloshing about.  I got up out of bed to find not only had the bathroom flooded yet again but that it had spilled over the protective lip of the bathroom and was now soaking the carpet.

I got dressed, the good lady was fuming and I was a touch more than angry, I stormed down to the front desk only to find my neighbour forcefully explaining that for the third time this week and by far the worst flooding had happend. 

This was at 0200hrs local. I had an early call booked for 0600hrs. Staff offered both of us other rooms and explained they were ones with a balcony. As that was going to make a difference to the cruise experience. My wife and I then packed and moved everything up one floor and to the other end of the ship.  

Best thing about this cruise was getting off the ship.  The who thing was a complete disaster. 

I was assured by my booking agent that Royal Carribean were a first rate cruise line. I was badly misinformed.  This was our first and will probably be the last cruise I will ever go on. Is there a decent cruise line out there I wonder. I doubt any compensation will be forthcoming as an apology. I certainly wouldn't accept any discount or pay for any cruise that Royal Carribean would offer unless it was gratis for ruining my wifes 50th birthday present. (I will inform if they offer this but don't hold your breath).  As soon as I can I will post pictures and video on You tube. They may say I am lying but no matter I would tell them to have a look at the maintenance mans log and it will confirm.

APPALLING

This is our 12 cruise and we have sailed with different cruise lines but this is our second time with RC. We choose this cruise as a taster cruise for our friends, the itinerary was perfect for a first cruise.

Embarkation was very quick, we arrived at the port at 11am, our cases were taken from us straight way, we then checked in and we were onboard within 15 minutes, RC are one of the best cruise lines that organise the embarkation perfectly, just make sure you complete the check in details online.

Once on board we had plenty of time to explore and get our bearings on where everything is, a very easy ship to get around. Our rooms were ready at 1pm and our luggage had arrived at the cabin door.

Dinner in the MD was excellent, we had great waiters and nothing was too much trouble, some of us had more than one starter, which was never an issue, we also ordered extra veg with our meals and again there were no issue with this. The food always arrived in good time, good quality and hot. We never had to wait for drinks. We ate at chops grill one night, steak is to die for but to be honest we all loved the MD so didn’t book any other speciality restaurants.

We didn’t attend any of the shows so can’t comment on these, but there is one show that is in the schooner bar, Perry Grant, he is a much see, so funny and great sing along.

Disembarkation was very easy, we did the walk off with our cases.

Overall the ship is a little tired but the staff are awesome and hard working. The ship is the right size if you don’t like queues.

Great cruise

For our fifth cruise my wife and I chose a trip from Southampton calling at Bilbao and La Coruña, Spain then Cherbourg and Le Havre, France.  The ship did not sail until 7pm, so I didn't feel quite as worried booking the overnight flight into Heathrow scheduled to arrive more than twelve hours earlier.  

Our transfer to Southampton included a pre-cruise excursion stopping at Stonehenge--one of those places that I always wanted to visit, but never thought that I would.  I must admit that I would have enjoyed the ride through the idyllic English countryside a lot more without the jet lag.  But that was part of the plan--maybe we would have a burst of adrenaline arriving in Europe and be able to catch up a bit as the first full day of the cruise was spent at sea.  That didn't quite happen; our internal clocks seemed to be off the entire trip.  But I guess that's part of what makes travel so interesting.  

I'm not really sure why I am writing this at all.  I read a lot of these reviews and many just seem to nitpick about so many things.  Unless something is very bad, very good or maybe just a bit odd, it doesn't seem worth mentioning.  Our cabin was as typical as one might expect.  I don't have anything to nitpick about.    

We ate all of our dinners in the main dining room.  The first night we sat at a table that was in a very warm part of the room, so they moved us to a more comfortable one for the rest of the cruise.  The food was, as expected, usually pretty good, but nothing to email home about.  We did have the beef wellington one night, just so we could compare it with the beef wellington we were planning to have at one of Gordon Ramsey's restaurants in London before we returned home.  (Guess whose dish won.)  

At our first port we got a surprise.  It was some kind of holiday and entrance to the Guggenheim Museum was free (or as our non-English speaking cab driver told us, "no dinero!)  Actually, we were just planning to take some pictures of the Puppy sculpture outside and not go into the museum at all, but it was a nice bonus. 

Most of our time in the ports of call was spent very leisurely, drinking coffee at outdoor cafes.  We did stop to eat some octopus in La Coruña and had some macarons in Le Havre. 

Our one purchased shore excursion was the trip through the idyllic Normandy countryside to Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery--another one of those places on the bucket list.  It was a sobering venue and well worth the price.    

While I have been quite well-traveled domestically for decades, for much of my life I didn't even want to travel at all internationally.  After retirement, this all changed; we applied for our passports almost immediately.  And a few years ago we discovered cruising--another thing that for years I had disdained.  

This was only our second European trip.  I found it much more difficult finding English speaking Spaniards in the places we stopped than in our previous travels.  In fact, the predominantly British passengers were also hard to understand with all their dialects and accents (not even counting the fact that many of them were also drunk!).  Due to the facts that my wife is a smoker (and I quite often sit with her in the smoking area of the ship) and a lot of our on board time was spent in the casino, we kept running into a lot of the same people.  I really enjoyed this aspect of the cruise.       

As far as all the bells and whistles of the Navigator of the Seas, we have never and will never try the flow rider or climb rock walls.  We did try to play miniature golf once, but it was very windy.  The late night comedy show we attended was entertaining.  

After the cruise was over we took a train into London and spent the weekend there before returning home.  We visited some sites we missed on our first visit there a couple of years ago like Trafalgar Square and Greenwich.  We really enjoyed the Thames Clipper River Bus.

Another Fine Cruise

The ship is great for you if you like to sit around most the day doing nothing but reading books or listening to poor songs on the radio.

The ship has scarce entertainment, mostly starting late night (10:30,11:30) and to be honest it isn’t worth staying up for. You get corny comedians quoting jokes from every generic comedy show, tribute shows that are absolute cringeworthy, overall the entertainment is very poor and it is not a lot to be missed if you choose to not go like I have the last few days.

Out of the 7 days I sailed, 3 of those the swimming pools were out of order due to maintenance and when they were back up and running they were absolutely stone cold, nobody was going in them due to the temperature of the water.

The food in the “main dining room” is the same stuff you’d get in the self serve buffet, all that is different is the fancy presentation, the unacceptable wait times and the main difference, the food is cold when you have it in the main dining room.

As for the “shopping mall” you get 3 shops, selling overpriced perfumes, watches and other overpriced gimmicks such as hoodies and caps (utterly stupid merchandise) there are no shops where you can buy refreshments or snacks, no off duty shops to purchase anything. It is abismal.

The atmosphere feels like that of what I imagine the titanic to be like during the descent into the ocean, it feels as if we are all sailing to our impending doom, everyone is miserable, it is honestly the worst experience I have had in a long time.

The ship is unsafe, my partner got trapped in a “sensored” door which shut on here abruptly as she was walking through (this is being taken further one off the ship) which led to sitting in the medical room for a couple of hours.

 I will never be returning to this cash grab of a ship, I feel like the company is more concerned about extracting all the pennies they can out of you whilst on board instead of actually putting anything together to entertain you whilst you are with them. Considering you pay them all the money, we then had to fork out €70 for a shuttle bus, every other cruise liner organised these things for you.

Royal Caribbean are a joke and they do not deserve the money they ask for, go with other cruise liners you will get a lot more value for your money and feel appreciated instead of feeling like a walking piggy bank that the company will try to shake out every last penny from you.

Extremely bad

Just returned from a short Stages cruise on Navigator of The Seas,

Found good and bad points on board, I will start with the good.

Embarking the ship was easy arriving by taxi we waited a short while, the were passed via security check  onto check in  and on board, only to find no cabins were ready very little seating area, lunch was served in the Windjammer which was excellent but this quickly filled up, and seats here also run short, so it was eat up and back on your feet walking around looking for seats, cabins were opened at 1:30 pm but when we found ours it was still  being cleaned, the luggage was also missing, and this never arrived till after 5pm..

Cabins were good but lacked a few home comforts no Shower Gel, Shower Caps, Hair Dryers etc.

Crew were very good always a smile and tried hard to please, with exception of customer services,   wifi desk , and the excursion desk.

The excursion desk were  no help , give no information  and  failed to arrange shuttle busses in port.

We were allocated first sitting for dinner but told we there were no reserved tables and it was first come first served! So we dined in the Windjammer.

The bars were VERY expensive at $8 a pint! With the result not many used them.

Entertainment was first class with big star names like Michael Ball, Collabro, Bobby Dravro and a host more, only problems there were long queues for each show, with seats for some shows reserved for VIPs and shows often over run and clashed.

On return to Southampton we were given breakfast and luggage unloaded with great speed as the ship had a very short turn round.

One last point my wife was taken ill and we had to visit the medical centre twice , the staff were very good, but for the size of the ship was worried it was under staffed!

Stages Cruises

Wanted a longer cruise outside the school holiday. Never been to the Canaries before.  The ship was Beaty with a lot of decoration and art. Clean and good taken care of. Our incide cabin had everything we needed and a lot of places to store our things, perfectly located on deck nine between the two lifts. Our stateroom attendant Ida did a Great job and kept it clean and was so nice to us all the time. Had read so many reviews about the need of upgrade, but that was not my experience. Always chairs available outside and it was never difficult to swim in the three pools or find a place in one of the jacuzzi.  

The food was very good. Specially impressed by the food in Windjammer that had a lot of choices. Also had very nice food in the MD and very good service thanks to Luise and Felix. Did take the Galley brunch and visit the kitchen and can understand how much work it is for the people in the kitchen and for the waiters to serve all the passengers.  Also had some meals in chops grill and Giovanni as part of a prebooked 5dinner package.

The entertainment was overall very good with some extra memorable experiences as the ice-show, the Barricade boys, Perry Grant and Craig Halliday. Cuddly was a very good as entertainment manager.  

Only one bad experience; with the spa treatment with a big pressure of bying products, so don’t think I will take any more spa treatments in the future.

Did very excursion wit RCCL in Lisbon and Agadir. The Hippo Hippo tour with Anna in Lisbon was fantastic fun and let us see some of the major places. I don’t think We would like to go by our self in Agadir but had an very nice guide and did not felt unsafe during the excursion. I also think they was so pushing selling things in Agadir as earlier experience in Morocco. 

The best excursion we had was in Lanzarote with Lanzarote Experience. We had a group of 13 with our very nice guide and driver Angela on the whole day trip called grand tour. We was able to see the Timanfaya National Park, wine growing area, cactus garden, Cuevas de los Verdes and Jameos del  Agua.

We also had a tour in La Corunna with Hercules tours, a two hour tour around the city. The other places as Vigo, Las Palmas and Madeira we just walked around the city, easy from the chip.

Will recommend Navigator and the Canaries.

Very nice cruise to the Canaries

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