Trip Report – 1st Royal Caribbean on Navigator of Seas (6/21/15) compared to 4 previous Disney Cruis

[ScottJayhawk]

Trip Report – 1st Royal Caribbean on Navigator of Seas (6/21/15) compared to 4 previous Disney Cruises


Day 0 and Before


I’ll start with a disclaimer: we are a Disney family through and through. DVC members, 10 Disney World trips in 9 years and 4 Disney cruise’s in 2.5 years. Am I probably bias toward Disney, yes. Will this report and comparisons be fair? Yes I believe so. No, really. I will try to be very fair – I want to like Royal Caribbean, or any other option because I like to have options when traveling.


The details: 7 night Navigator of the Seas Sail Date 6-21-15 out of Galveston visiting Cozumel, Belize, Roatan.


Cost – I won’t spend much time on cost. It was cheaper than an equivalent Disney cruise but for Summer 2015 out of Galveston there isn’t a Disney cruise so it’s not a fair comparison anyway. But I know enough about Disney cruise pricing to know this cruise was cheaper – not A LOT cheaper, but cheaper and this is also an older ship, though recently refurbed.


Excursions – I won’t do much comparison on excursions, I will comment on them but they are almost all operated by 3rd parties on both Disney and RC so the excursions are essentially the same regardless of cruise line.


Pre-boarding communications/emails/website – I love the DisneyCruise website, it’s easy to use and I’ve always found Disney’s pre-communication to be excellent. Royal Caribbean’s sucks. They kept sending me emails “reminding” me to do this or that but I had already done it – and when I did get something of interest that I wanted to click on I was sent to their home page often and rarely a page on the website related to the content of the email. It was very frustrating.

WINNER: DISNEY


Before I get to Day 1, a rough start for RC….2 days before the cruise I got an email stating that the Dinner Theater I had signed up for had only been shown for this sailing due to a glitch and I should not have been allowed to book it. The email apologized and told me I could get 25% of a premium dining restaurant by calling or replying to the email. I replied to the email and never got a response. The letter also said I’d be contacted on board to make other arrangements – I had a voicemail stating contrary information – the vm said due to lack of guest sign ups the Dinner Mystery Theater had been cancelled and I could make reservations at Giovanni for 20% off upgrade charge only. So I have conflicting stories and offers, but essentially just a have a disappointed family.

 

[ScottJayhawk]

Day 2 (Part One)


Slept pretty good – beds not bad, not great. Sorry to say it again, Disney beds are better.


Breakfast – headed to the Windjammer for the breakfast buffet, and again it was a mass of people struggling to find a place to sit and nothing special in terms of food selection or quality. Rather meh for breakfast.


1st room service experience – my son ordered lunch from room service, it was relatively quick (they told him 40-45 minutes but it was 20 minutes) and he said the sandwich was very good, cookies so-so. We may give it a few more tries so stay tuned.


Pools – went to the pool today for a short time, 2 pools both bigger than Disney so that’s good but no slides, that’s lame. They are salt water pools – the salt level was very high. We have a salt water pool, as do some friends and I can tell you that the salt level was very high.


Flowrider – obviously a win for RC as Disney has no such thing. We rode it once, it was pretty cool. We may do it again, may not – it’s a long line for a short a ride.


More from Day 2 coming soon…..

 

[verygfy]

Enjoying your comparison so far. As a fellow Disney fanatic I am excited to hear your review of RC also.

 

[papertraveller]

Looking forward to more. We're sailing on our first RCL trip later this year (the bonus: an itinerary Disney doesn't match), but I'm still itching to book my next Disney cruise!

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

I figure this one is coming out pro Disney. Instead of going on vacation and enjoying it the poster went on a trip looking for the exact same thing he finds on DCL. Apples and oranges should not be compared. if you go anywhere with the attitude of "I would rather be at x" x will always be better.

And Disney's IT is better? LOL. i guess if you like Mickey swimming but it's generally horrid. Sure RCCLs has issues, but Disney's IT is just a disaster IMHO. They drove me to travel agents just so I won't have to do much on that website. .

 

[ldo]

could you please post what movies (if any) they played in the theater on seas days and what ones in the pm on the outdoor screen, if you recall. thanks, Elaine

 

[llachance]

My husband and I will be traveling on the Navigator on the 5th of July. As a platinum cruiser on Disney and a "gold" on RCCL I expect to find more differences then similarities. That said the cost of my RCCL cruise is right up there in price. I too have gotten the annoying emails to sign up for things that I have already signed up for - so just delete them. My husband wanted to try the flowrider which is the reason we are making this trip. We have 2 disney cruise in our future already

We are on My Time Dining but I have been able to sign up for the same time every night. Would still prefer set dining. Doing our excursions through RCCL because it is just easier (in my mind). Have heard "foo foo" drinks are really expensive unless you get the specials so it will be good for my "health". I am looking forward to a different experience and will report back. BTW - just because someone seems to be reporting negatively it really doesn't mean that it is negative they are reporting their experience. If you read some of the other boards experiences, as being reported above, are frequently the "norm"

 

[ludari]

I'm looking forward to the rest of your trip report. I too prefer DCL, however I am booked on the Anthem of the Seas early next year out of New Jersey.

 

[ScottJayhawk]

Day 2 (Part Two)


Went to Johnny Rockets for dinner – the $5.95 upcharge for all you can eat was WELL worth it! Great meal! Excellent drinks and shakes – but another separate charge.


The show tonight was ballroom dancing – didn’t go. Why? It was ballroom dancing.


Did go to the late night adults only comedy show – very funny.


Service has been very friendly everywhere we’ve been but continue to notice a lot of little things and small touches that are lacking – stains in napkins, stains on the floor, some fixtures that are crooked, trim that needs painting, etc… all pretty little things but they are plentiful.


Day 3


Did breakfast before our excursion today – almost impossible to find a table at Windjammer (the buffet), food once again rather bleh.


Getting off the ship was the normal pain in the *** on cruise ships – a lot of people trying to fit through a small space in a short time – just doesn’t go smoothly. The dolphin swim was excellent! But like I said, excursions are mostly the same regardless of cruise line.


Back to the ship things were pretty dead which was nice, pools not too full but frustrating that flowrider and rockwall were both still closed. Also a note that the flowrider and rockwall are closed a lot.


Dinner – we went back to main dining tonight, we DID have our same servers – which we have now learned is the case if we arrive at our dinner MY TIME time apparently. The good news is that the food was better tonight, but the service was very slow in contrast to excellent service and lousy food the first night.


Show tonight was an Elvis Impersonator – wasn’t our cup of tea so we didn’t go but at least there were two showings tonight.


We did room service again for some late night treats, again pretty quick and tasty. Steak sandwich is very good.


Day 4


Another very rainy morning, when the thunder/lightning accompanied it that slowed down the tenders quite a bit and although it wasn’t terrible, RC didn’t handle it great in my opinion. On Disney cruises when we’ve met in the theater or any large area before heading out to the shuttle/boat/etc… they have always had someone from the entertainment staff there with a mic keeping some level of entertainment while waiting. On this morning, knowing everything was going to be delayed, RC did make a few vague “thanks for your patience announcements” but that was about all. Eventually we made it off the shop and on the tender over to Belize City for our excursion. Hells Gate River Tube Float was excellent despite the light rain all day.


Back to the ship, quick change of clothes and back to main dining – same servers. Same results – good food (actually excellent food, best so far) and less than stellar service; very friendly yes but slow.


Tonight’s show was the ice dancing. This is something is another strike against Royal Caribbean in my opinion. This ship has an ice rink – that’s cool, and having an ice show is cool but tickets are required and although they are free and only handed out during a few short select windows of time. So bottom line, you have to work hard to get the tickets and be a little lucky. Why not have enough shows and give more people a chance??? Then, to make it more frustrating there is no show in the main theater tonight – only the tickets only that not everyone can get ice show.


Stateroom attendant continues to be outstanding, our DD age 8 (9 in a 3 weeks) continues to enjoy the kids club – but it has issues – I’ll cover those later.


Day 5 coming soon….

 

[ScottJayhawk]

I figure this one is coming out pro Disney. Instead of going on vacation and enjoying it the poster went on a trip looking for the exact same thing he finds on DCL. Apples and oranges should not be compared. if you go anywhere with the attitude of "I would rather be at x" x will always be better.

I believe I covered this in my opening remarks but it wouldn't be a message board if someone didn't chime with a comment like this.

And Disney's IT is better? LOL. i guess if you like Mickey swimming but it's generally horrid. Sure RCCLs has issues, but Disney's IT is just a disaster IMHO. They drove me to travel agents just so I won't have to do much on that website. .

The DisneyWorld website has been a mess for a long time, but improving in my opinion. But I've always found the DisneyCruise website to be excellent for research. And I was actually talking about the entire pre-cruise experience not specifically IT.

 

[ScottJayhawk]

could you please post what movies (if any) they played in the theater on seas days and what ones in the pm on the outdoor screen, if you recall. thanks, Elaine

No movie theater on The Navigator of the Seas, I know several RC ships do have theaters, not this one. Tonight (Day 4) they are showing Jupiter Ascending, last night 50 First Dates, sorry - I don't recall the others; nothing brand new or even recent DVD releases. They are showing Cinderella tomorrow night.

 

[Frozen2014]

Great that you've been able to do so many family vacations. Am enjoying your comparison so far. The Royal ships vary a lot, but intersting hearing your comparison.

 

[ScottJayhawk]

Day 5

Honduras this morning! Once again we woke up to thunder/lightning and heavy rain. It came and went, sun tried to sneak through but never really did.


To Windjammers for breakfast again – once again the same food and the same craziness and big challenge finding a table.


Went down to get off the ship and it was REALLY raining so we waited a few minutes – it did lighten up a bit before we went for it. We quickly found the line up spot for our zip line excursion and it had moved to allow us under cover while we waited. Short wait, on to the bus and a short ride into the jungle; again, not talking too much about excursions but this one was again amazing – last 3 lines were in the POURING DOWN RAIN, but that just added to the experience. Quick ride back and some at the port shopping (finally stopped raining).


Back on board, relaxed a while then to dinner. Once again the service was slow and the food was just okay again – disappointing. This actually is becoming a theme, the service and attitude of many employees is declining as the cruise goes on – except our stateroom attendant, very friendly still!


Sorry, I’m a few days behind and forgot what the show was – I think more ice dancing maybe so no main theater show. Whatever the option, it didn’t appeal to us.


Day 6

Sea Day

Finally sunny. The pool deck was packed as expected. Of course the pool areas being jam packed crowded is a common site on Disney as well I will say that this ship has felt crowded a lot. Seems crowded everywhere, even just walking around. Disney ships (and we’ve always sailed sold-out cruises) never seem crowded except for the expected times (lining up for dinner, shows getting out, pools) but never just everywhere.


Did the main dining room sit down for breakfast, excellent OJ, okay service and pretty good eggs benedict.


We played bingo again, still expensive, still fun but the high-energy fun of Disney Bingo and not quite as expensive either.


We did Brassiere 30 (main dining room) for lunch –it was much better than the same old crap at the buffet but again service only okay.


Spa day for my wife and I, they were right on time, very friendly and the massage was very good.


Formal night for dinner, service a little better but still lacking, lobster and prime rib were good tonight I must say. Show was a standup comic, we was good not great.


We did order 4th meal from room service and they forget 3 things, they did get them back up pretty quickly however and the food was good.


Day 7 – See Day 6, Sea Day, Bingo, madhouse at Windjammers. Sorry, losing enthusiasm for my trip report and need to share some additional overall thoughts and not much new to report.


Disembarking – we got our instructions for disembarking and one last issue is that we are supposed to be out of our room by 8:30am (which is the same time breakfast service stops) but then we are supposed to go to our designated waiting area until our luggage tag number is called, our time is last – 10:00am. So we sit around for 90 minutes waiting to be called??? That sucks.


SUMMARY and ODDS/ENDS


Wifi did (as you’d expect) vary throughout the week but overall was very good (couldn’t stream video or anything) most of the time.


Paid upgrades everywhere. I knew that RC was different in terms of upgraded restaurants (more than just Palo and Remy) and even on menu upgrades and sodas but I wasn’t expecting (nor did I care for) the constant hard sell going on. A sign advertising the upgrade restaurants, sure – many signs, fine. Employees around everywhere to sign you up on day 1, okay that’s fine it’s the first day and people don’t know I guess. But a constantly posted person at the entrance to the Windjammer (free buffet) with a clipboard reminding people as they walk by that reservations are available – that’s a bit much. But what really put it over the top was the guy walking through Windjammers (where it’s impossible to find a seat most of the time if I didn’t mention that) like a carny pushing the upgrade restaurants. Really RC? That’s pretty lame.


No soda – if you a quick price compare don’t forget $19 PER DAY PER PERSON if you want more than water, lemonade and tea to drink for 7 days. That adds up. We didn’t do it and not having soda kinda sucked. We don’t drink a ton normally, it’s kind of a treat on vacations – but not this one, not at $19 per day!


Movies - no movie theater on board the Navigator of the Seas (expect the poolside screen) which is a bummer, we enjoy watching movies on the Disney ship. And on the Disney TV you get every Disney movie, ever all on demand, all free. On RC, 105 movies for $12.99 in HD, that’s it. Relatively new releases but another chance to get a few bucks from you.


Services on TV – it’s very cool that you can make reservations for excursions (I assume it works okay) via your TV and you can order room service from the TV, which is cool.


Dress code for dinner – we really like that Disney officially went to a true casual (even shorts on the acceptable list) policy. It’s vacation; it’s vacation in the Caribbean after all. I will say we had no issues with probably being dressed down 1 level vs the suggested attire and were never the least dressed down by a few levels for sure. I know this is a hot button topic on the boards so I’ll leave it at this.


Kids Club – this is certainly an area you’d expect a Disney runaway winner…… and it is but for our daughter (8 almost 9 which I think I mentioned already) she did really like it. For me it has some flaws, it’s not simply open all day, and late night. It’s open in windows, usually 9am – Noon, then 2pm – 5pm then 7pm – 10pm. After 10pm it’s $7/hr per kid. And if you’re late picking up for any of those closings after a 15 minute grace period you are charged $1 per minute. One day our daughter who is a self-signer (meaning she can sign herself out) as indicated in 3 places was not allowed to sign herself out and we had voicemail after returning to our room, we picked her up at 12:26, so $11 of late fees. I told them I didn’t feel we should pay that since it was their failure to allow here to sign herself out that caused the late fees. The girl seemed to kind of agree but I never really got confirmation of if I would be charged but it hasn’t shown up on our statement so far as I view it on the interactive TV menu so I guess that’s good. Also, the check-in/check-out process is slow and not well organized.


Employees – overall everyone was friendly for the most part, never anybody rude but sometimes less than great. One thing we did note with some consistency were some little things that as we saw it happen a few times we thought to ourselves, that wouldn’t happen on Disney. A few times there employees on the elevator, maintenance usually, which I understand but getting off or on in front of guests seems like customer service 101, you always yield to guests in my opinion. And I saw a lot of employees using the public restrooms, just struck me as odd that I saw it as frequently as I did.


Perhaps worth noting – I did hear a guest commenting that this is his 18th cruise (not all RC) and that RC is just “okay” and the food has gone way downhill in the last few years since they introduced the upgraded dining options.



CONCLUSION


Disney is better, pure and simple. Yes, it’s an opinion. I think it’s a very common opinion however. I don’t think anything was night and day but at nearly every turn, Disney was better. Absolutely worth the extra money – and that gap is rather minimal on the newest big RC ships – especially after getting nickel and dimed to death by RC.


The RC cruise was fine, not disappointed in it, but it’s a step below Disney, no question about it in my mind.

 

[mareed]

No soda – if you a quick price compare don’t forget $19 PER DAY PER PERSON if you want more than water, lemonade and tea to drink for 7 days. That adds up. We didn’t do it and not having soda kinda sucked. We don’t drink a ton normally, it’s kind of a treat on vacations – but not this one, not at $19 per day!

Soft drink package on RCL is only $4.50 or $6.50 per day (child/adult). You can see at http://media.royalcaribbean.com/content/shared_assets/pdf/menus/beverage_packages.pdf.

As someone who has sailed DCL and RCL, I enjoyed reading your comparison, and agreed with some, but not all. For comparable cruises that I've checked, the price difference has been huge and for me RCL is about 90% of the Disney experience so while I will be cruising with Disney in the future, I anticipate cruising much more frequently with RCL.

 

[ScottJayhawk]

Soft drink package on RCL is only $4.50 or $6.50 per day (child/adult). You can see at http://media.royalcaribbean.com/content/shared_assets/pdf/menus/beverage_packages.pdf.

As someone who has sailed DCL and RCL, I enjoyed reading your comparison, and agreed with some, but not all. For comparable cruises that I've checked, the price difference has been huge and for me RCL is about 90% of the Disney experience so while I will be cruising with Disney in the future, I anticipate cruising much more frequently with RCL.

That must not have been one of the packages they were promoting at every corner I turned on the ship the first 2 days. Never saw that, just the $19/day and up packages. Still pretty pricey IMO, especially when included on Disney, for a family of 4 that starts to eat away at that 10% savings.

 

[DnA2010]

Really enjoyed your write up, thank you.
I have only done 2 of the bigger ships (Oasis and Freedom) and found the total opposite to your report- so much to do, so many food options (Park Cafe ) great shows, easy processes, no crowds, great main dining room food etc...
We don't drink pop (soda) so that wasn't an issue and we also haven't watched any tv or movies on the ships (Royal or Disney) so those weren't a factor for us either...
We recently did the Disney Fantasy and it was indeed an outstanding experience...service and cleanliness were miles above Royal, we preferred the food on Royal (found the Fantasy food a bit bland) and loved the Aquaduct, but DD found the pools very small (we named them kid soup) and missed the variety of Oasis.

Price-wise our Royal cruises were really reasonable, even given the fact our DCL Fantasy cruise was booked VGT...our Freedom cruise was $600 each (this was inside, 2 people) and our Oasis (veranda) was $2500 for the 3 of us I believe, still a lot cheaper than our VGT ($3600ish) with DCL

I hope to do Disney again but the prices really have scared us off...was looking at Alaska- Aug 31st on Disney is $4800 for the cheapest interior (2A, 1 kid, 11) and $1400 all taxes in including drink plan for Norweigan!

I might stay away from the smaller RC ships though, I have read reports like this one.

 

[mareed]

That must not have been one of the packages they were promoting at every corner I turned on the ship the first 2 days. Never saw that, just the $19/day and up packages. Still pretty pricey IMO, especially when included on Disney, for a family of 4 that starts to eat away at that 10% savings.

Just to clarify, for me, RCL is 90% as good as Disney as far as quality/experience, but is about half the cost on cruises I've checked, so for me most of the time we'll be with RCL. My RCL experience has been 3 cruises on Navigator out of Galveston, with another future cruise on Navigator and 2 future cruises on Liberty. Yes, the convenience of Galveston port is a big plus for me! For another comparison, I cruised Carnival once out of Galveston and most likely will not sail with them again as they were probably only about 40% as good as Disney regarding quality/experience. RCL is a very close second to Disney for me.

 

[61maris61]

Haven't posted on here since our Disney cruise (Wonder) 2 yrs ago, out of Galveston, by the way. We've done mostly Royal cruises, one Princess, one Celebrity, a long ago Carnival one, two Disney (4 day Dream, 7 day Wonder). I prefer Royal, but I'm not a soda drinker, I like (but don't love) Disney, and most Royal ships I've been on were at least in as good shape as Wonder.

Disney can't be beat for the quality of shows, I personally liked Royal's food better, meeting Shrek & friends on Royal doesn't compare to meeting Mickey and princesses.

Bottom line: Royal is usually much cheaper, but to me, any cruise is a good cruise. I'd do Disney again if the price is right (and a lot depends on our 6 yr old DGD!), but its hard to justify paying more for a 4 day Disney than a 7 day Royal cruise.

 

[Frozen2014]

Sorry that your Navigator cruise didn't live up to what you've had on Disney.
One question...you mentioned a few times you went to the Windjammer for breakfast and it was busy and food wasn't great. Doesn't the Navigator have other complimentary breakfast/lunch locations (e.g. Cafe promenade)?

 

[eskimoinparadise]

Interesting review, and I agree on some points (especially the Windjammer - Cabana's food/selection is much better - although finding a table at peak times is an adventure on either line ). However, Navigator is newer than either the Magic or Wonder (by about four years). The Flow Rider was just installed during her recent re-fit, and my guess is they haven't worked out all the kinks in that yet. The "Refresh" drink package ($8 Adults/$6 kids) can be pre-ordered (as can the ice show tickets) before you board and is usually the one being hawked on boarding day (usually outside of the windjammer). In more than 25 RCL cruises, we have never encountered anyone working the tables in WJ hawking upcharge anything. Signs for purchasing specialty dining packages are (in our experience) only seen directly outside of the specialty restaurants (which unfortunately for the OP are located just outside the entrance to the WJ), or advertised in the daily schedule. As we found out on our last (9th.) Disney cruise (this May) Disney's Palo is now more expensive per person (Just upped the cover charge to $40/pp) than either of the specialty restaurants on Navigator.