Being only 22, people questioned why someone so young would want to go on a cruise. This being my 3 cruise, I always answered, “give it a go before knocking it”. There is still the assumption that a cruise is for the elderly and the wealthy, but as anyone who has been aboard one of Royal Caribbeans new ships will know, these cruises are aimed at everyone. I hope to explain this in more detail in the rest of my review.

Navigator of the Seas is currently a member of the second largest (Voyager) class of ships in Royal Carribbeans fleet (I say currently as within the next 12 months, the new Oasis class ships are due to set sail, some 70,000+ tons heavier than the Voyager Class ships).

Rock Climbing Wall

Navigator has all the usual cruising amenities like a Theatre, top Class Restaurant, bars and a pool deck, however, its the other parts of the ship that really make the difference. By far, the most astounding of these is the Royal Promenade. A central street running down the centre of the ship spanning 4 decks, lined with shops and bars. During the night, the Royal Promenade is used to for entertaining with parades and shows. Other features of the ship include the nine hole mini golf course, rock climbing wall, casino, and Ice Rink!

So on with my holiday review. We departed Stansted early on the May 10th via Easyjet. The 1 hour 50 minute flight to Barcelona is usually uneventful, and already knowing the layout of Barcelona, we knew the aircraft would fly round the Harbour giving a fantastic view of the ship before landing. However, due to very thick cloud and rain, we actually landed in the opposite direction, and having taxied to what seemed like no where, we were told we would have to wait at least 30 minutes for stairs and coaches to get to aircraft so we could disembark, not the start we had hoped for for. After finally getting off the plane, got through the queues in the terminal, we spent half an hour waiting to find out where our bags were, what they didn’t say was the bags had already gone round and were mixed in with another flights bags!

Royal Promanade

So finally we got out of the airport, grabbed a few cabs and transferred to the port. After handing our bags to the staff (I always love this service. Leaving your bags with someone on the dock and get them delivered to your room). I get the feeling the next part is the reason why they do this. Walking into the check in area, there must have been all 3,400 passengers queueing! Why why why does every cruise line do this? Surely they can think of some other way of checking passengers in without the mile long queues? Still after about an hour and half to two hours we finally got checking in and made our way to the ship.

This is the first time you encounter one of the official photographers which seem to follow you round the ship! They line us up and take a welcome aboard photo which we get to see that night in the photo gallery on board. Now we finally get to board, it seemed like an eternity getting there but we did!

That’s when the whole holiday experience changes, we quickly forget the tiredness from having almost no sleep the night before, the problems with the flights the queueing, everything is forgotten. You feel like you have entered a completely different world.

Royal Promonade

We made our way straight to the Royal Promenade, as my Mum had already been on board, there were a few parts she was looking forward to showing us. Having cruised aboard the Carnival Destiny and Royal Caribbeans Grandeur of the Seas before, I had kind of got used to the layout of a ship. The main atrium linking to different parts of the ship. Not here though, Yes there’s an atrium, with lifts etc, but get out the lift on Deck 5 and your presented with something so much more incredible. As described earlier, the Royal Promenade is a promenade running through the middle of the ship. We took a slow walk down it and simply put, you just wouldn’t know its a cruise ship, or even know there was water below you, it just feels like an upmarket, indoor shopping centre with trendy bars! We walk past Cafe Promenade (and my favorite, Ben And Jerry’s Ice Cream), past the pub, Vintages and the Champagne Bar, and then, your arrive at the other atrium! Yeap two! In the middle of this atrium is a bridge linking to the entrance to the main Dinning Room and a massive light decoration.

After taking in some food and drink at the Cafe Promenade, I thought I’d take a look at my cabin and have some time out. We had actually been given a free upgrade to and Ocean view stateroom with a balcony. As expected, the room was spotless and very well presented. A queen sized bed, with dressing table and sofa. A couple of big wardrobes and bathroom with shower. Out on the balcony was (very wet) couple of chairs and table. My room was on deck 10, a few balconies down from the bridge, in fact close enough that I could easily see what was going on on the Bridges wing.

I thought I’d get an hours rest before we departed and hoped the weather would clear up. It didn’t. I ventured out onto the balcony to watch as we departed. There was a great little moment as we passed Navigators sister ship Voyager of the Seas, where passengers came out onto their balconies to wave good bye, and in many cases, shout as well! It also seemed like the crew wanted to make a point out of us passing another Royal Caribbeanship as both ships sounded their horns. I guess this is the way the crew say good bye to each other and gives a sense that despite Royal Caribbeans size, its a very close nit company. I carried on watching until we got out to sea, before it simply got too cold and wet to carry on. I also got to meet my cabin steward, Dominic. I have a lot of respect for the people working aboard cruise ships, not only spending months away from family and working almost 24/7, but also for the effort they put in, at every point of the cruise, wherever you are on board, you are treated as royalty.

This again was shown a few hours later at dinner where we met out waiter Ray and assistant waiter Clive. The service these two gave us for the entire 5 nights we were on board was second to non, I really would love someone to find another restaurant on the planet where the waiters give you a service like this. The best being how they remembered our tastes, like taking our wine order on the first night and remembering who had red and who had white wine, then setting the table the next night with the correct glasses or being able to look at the menu and recommend what they thought I would like. They got it right every time too!

This might be a good time to mention food. One word perfect, I cannot fault in any way. From dinner in the main restaurant to the buffet breakfast at Windjammers. The selection and quality was second to none. I’d love to meet the bloke that couldn’t find something he’d like for breakfast in Windjammers!

We only got a chance to try one of the premium restaurants on board, which was Johnny Rockets. An American themed diner with jukeboxes and REAL milkshakes made in front of you. Although I perhaps didn’t feel the burgers were quite at the level of the food around the rest of the ship, the entertainment was great. Every thirty minutes or so the waiters and waitresses would dance! My favorite being Night Fever!

We managed to catch one of the Broadway shows while on board too, its the only time I’ve been to a theatre since I left primary school! And wow what a performance, bearing in mind the theatre is at the front of the ship which always seems to be the worst area for ship movement, the performance was spectacular, although I did feel a little sorry for the drummer who seemed to stand out a mile from the rest of the band! I liked the idea of the moving stage too.

The only other “show” we really saw was the Bon Voyage Parade on the first night. This was performed along the Royal Promenade. Another spectacular show, although, this was one of the few times you noticed that there were over three thousand people on board with everyone trying to line the Promenade to see the Parade. Well worth the squashing though!

One of my favorite bits of the lot though was the drinking, there is simple an incredible amount of places you can get a drink on board. I quite liked the cosiness of the Pub, felt like home! We actually went to the Champagne bar before dinner each night for a couple of cocktails. Amazingly these were only $6.95 (or around £4) which is very cheap. Not quite what I expected for a cruise ship!

The pool decks were another popular destination for me! After the poor weather in Barcelona, things really started to improve when we got into Marseilles. The Solarium was very impressive and quiet. This was the only time I ventured into one of the swimming pools as it was a little in the shade and a little nippy. I was also off put after I went for a swim with my phone in my pocket! So I ended up with a nice squidgy N95, and even though this was just the second day of the cruise, I had already lost over 100 photo’s (well actually they survived on the memory card, the rest didn’t though!). I did find though, the room key is water proof! The Jacuzzis are also very nice, specially in the no kids aloud solarium, very easy to waste a few hours.

Another area to talk about, and is another unique feature to Royal Caribbeans newest ships is Studio B, the ice rink. Just a couple of sets of double doors open into a 2 deck ice rink, with seating on three sides and a couple of bars. The show was a round 45 mins long and was the first time I had ever seen an ice show. As with all the entertainment on board, it was sensational. Very well timed, great music and a lot of fun. Its just not something you’d expect, being hundreds of miles out at sea watching an ice skating show!

I think the same applied on the sports deck. The nine hole mini golf course is at the rear of the ship with panoramic views, at it just seems a little odd, playing mini golf when there’s just no land around! I have to admit, I didn’t attempt the Rock Climbing Wall, it did look fun, but we just didn’t have the time. We did get a couple of games of basketball in though. Most exercise I’ve done in a long long time.

Bridge

There is one major downside to cruising though, specially on the shorter 5-7 night cruises, and that’s the time you get in ports. We arrived in Marseilles early Sunday morning, in fact so early, we were docked before I even woke up! Although the weather was overcast, it was starting to warm up. So we made the decision to stay aboard and rest. We made our way up to the pool deck and grabbed a couple of sun beds. Unfortunately, while I was getting a bit of sleep, the weather changed, the sun came out! I say unfortunately as I wasn’t wearing any sun cream! So having decided to give up on the sun bathing for the day, I went exploring round the ship and found area that not publicised that much. On deck 11 is a small area to the front of the ship that has a windowed area looking into the bridge. You can watch the crew at work! Theres also a nice diagram explaining what each of the screens and controls does. We came to this area to watch the ship depart Marseilles. It did look like very little was being done to control the ship, but I am sure there were bits we couldn’t see where more was being done.

So off to Cagliari Sicily. We arrived in roasting hot sunshine, so thought we’d take a walk through the town. By the time we made it to the town, a 2 minute drive from the ship, the heavens had opened once again! Still carried on for an  hour or so before the rain got so heavy we decided just to go back to the ship. Another wash out, and I’m sure there’s a lot we missed in that town and I would love to go back and visit properly.

Palermo was an improvement. Still some poor weather but we managed to book the Panoramic tour. A couple of hours being told about some of the old buildings around the city, pretty much the usual stuff. The thing I noticed the most though was the traffic! I’d hate to drive there, not even the police were capable of controlling it. We got half an hours rest where we were ment to be given a chance to taste some of the local foods, which seemed odd as we were served tea, coffee and doughnuts!

So back to the ship and we set sail back to Barcelona. Arriving back in port early on the Thursday morning. We went on to spend a couple of nights in Barcelona doing some sight seeing, but that’s for another review.

I came back from this holiday with a mixed view. I am very much the explorer, I’d much rather spend my holidays exploring new places than sitting on a beach, but I do appreciate some quiet time. A holiday like this is ideal, lots of exploring to do with still the option to just rest whenever you want. We were let down by the weather which ment we couldn’t appreciate the cities we were visiting. There is no faulting the ship, its simply incredible and well worth the extra a cruise holiday costs! I don’t think you will find anywhere else on the planet where the staff treat you in such an amazing way. From the second you step aboard you are treated as royalty. This was my third cruise and I am already starting to save up for the next one, hopefully a trip to Fort Lauderdale and a Caribbean cruise aboard the Oasis Of The Seas after in launches next year.

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