My experience with Royal Up to Owner's Suite

[Shari]

I am officially spoiled now.  Our experience in an Owner's Suite on Navigator of the Seas was fantastic.  The only issue was the main dining and the kitchen (more on that later).  This was my first experience in a suite that included the suite lounge and concierge.  My friend and I took full advantage.  We are both Diamond so we used our drink vouchers outside of the Suite Lounge Happy Hours.  We utilized the Suite Concierge a couple of time and he was fantastic. He was able to find out if the spa had any port day specials in advance of that port day so I had my first massage on this cruise and would recommend it to anyone.  The spa even gave us an extra $10 off of the special rate.  The Suite was so awesome and spacious (too bad this was only a 7 night cruise).  Since we were 2 friends I took the sofa that made into a bed and it was very comfortable (for only 1 person as I would not recommend for 2 people due to the raised area in the middle).  Now for the only down side to the cruise.  The host staff (specifically those at the computers) was awful.  We had My Time Dining and the first night they tried to sit us at a completely awful table (2 women together and I know this to be true because there were 2 women at that table when we left).   The next table was barely better but was not so out in the open that we accepted it.  The prime rib was so tough it was inedible (others around us complained too).  Our waiter noticed that we were not happy so he quietly informed his boss (the person in charge of that area, Jude).  Jude came over and asked us what was wrong.  We told him, he said to let the people up front that we were to be seated in his area the rest of the cruise and he took care of us.  The next morning we ordered Main Dining room service and it was a disaster.  My friend ordered an omelet with ham, cheese, and mushrooms with toast and the 2 sides being sauteed mushrooms and cheesy grits.  She got delivered a Smoked SALMON and mozzarella omelet with warm bread (no toasting) and no sides.  The server came up 2 more times and the order was never totally correct (the cheesy grits he brought were shredded cheddar cheese and no grits).  That evening in the main dining Jude asked us about our day and we told him what happened at breakfast. He went and got the head of room service, that person took our order for the next morning and personally brought it up.  We had no more room service issues and we did order dinner one night (with the help of Jude again).  Jude even sent us a dozen chocolate covered strawberries for our issues.  We took care of Jude at the end of the cruise, he truly was awesome and made up for the first night dining and morning breakfast.  All in all I would definitely sail in a suite again and hope I get another chance.  Thank you to everyone who answered my questions when I won the Royal Up.

[ScottD]

2 minutes ago, Shari said:

they tried to sit us at a completely awful table (2 women together and I know this to be true because there were 2 women at that table when we left). 

I'm glad it all ended up working out, and that overall the cruise was nice! I am confused about the above quote- they tried to seat you at a bad table because you were two women dining together? 

[tonyfsu21]

24 minutes ago, Shari said:

I am officially spoiled now.  Our experience in an Owner's Suite on Navigator of the Seas was fantastic.  The only issue was the main dining and the kitchen (more on that later).  This was my first experience in a suite that included the suite lounge and concierge.  My friend and I took full advantage.  We are both Diamond so we used our drink vouchers outside of the Suite Lounge Happy Hours.  We utilized the Suite Concierge a couple of time and he was fantastic. He was able to find out if the spa had any port day specials in advance of that port day so I had my first massage on this cruise and would recommend it to anyone.  The spa even gave us an extra $10 off of the special rate.  The Suite was so awesome and spacious (too bad this was only a 7 night cruise).  Since we were 2 friends I took the sofa that made into a bed and it was very comfortable (for only 1 person as I would not recommend for 2 people due to the raised area in the middle).  Now for the only down side to the cruise.  The host staff (specifically those at the computers) was awful.  We had My Time Dining and the first night they tried to sit us at a completely awful table (2 women together and I know this to be true because there were 2 women at that table when we left).   The next table was barely better but was not so out in the open that we accepted it.  The prime rib was so tough it was inedible (others around us complained too).  Our waiter noticed that we were not happy so he quietly informed his boss (the person in charge of that area, Jude).  Jude came over and asked us what was wrong.  We told him, he said to let the people up front that we were to be seated in his area the rest of the cruise and he took care of us.  The next morning we ordered Main Dining room service and it was a disaster.  My friend ordered an omelet with ham, cheese, and mushrooms with toast and the 2 sides being sauteed mushrooms and cheesy grits.  She got delivered a Smoked SALMON and mozzarella omelet with warm bread (no toasting) and no sides.  The server came up 2 more times and the order was never totally correct (the cheesy grits he brought were shredded cheddar cheese and no grits).  That evening in the main dining Jude asked us about our day and we told him what happened at breakfast. He went and got the head of room service, that person took our order for the next morning and personally brought it up.  We had no more room service issues and we did order dinner one night (with the help of Jude again).  Jude even sent us a dozen chocolate covered strawberries for our issues.  We took care of Jude at the end of the cruise, he truly was awesome and made up for the first night dining and morning breakfast.  All in all I would definitely sail in a suite again and hope I get another chance.  Thank you to everyone who answered my questions when I won the Royal Up.

Not sure what you are getting at with the seating two woman thing but I’m really glad to hear a recent Royal up (suite level) victory because they are few and far between these days. 

[smokeybandit]

I think one has since gone on vacation, but Navigator had one of the best 1/2 punches in the fleet between Suite and Diamond concierges between Dudley and Denzil

[BigKarl]

Just getting off Navigator for my Dec. 11th Cruise and I can say that the Prime Rib was very poor quality in the Main Dining Room.  The next night wasn't any better.  We had Chicken Parm. and the Chicken was very dry and mine had gristle throughout. I was given another and given extra sauce to mask the dryness of the breading on the chicken. There was laughter in the dining room the next night because of the "Jumbo Coconut Shrimp" which actually was not butterflied as it usually is prepared and was half the size of a Cocktail Shrimp !  This was in no way the fault of any staff member on board and we assured them that there were 10's all around for service and we left an extra tip for each one at the end of our Cruise.

Other than food (which was very poor quality at every venue) we had a great time and I will be back on board for BtoBtoBtoB cruises on Navigator starting Jan. 8, 2024. Thankfully "I only eat to live and not live to eat" so I manage to find a snack or two to suffice. 

Maybe I will see some of you onboard?

[Shari]

2 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

I think one has since gone on vacation, but Navigator had one of the best 1/2 punches in the fleet between Suite and Diamond concierges between Dudley and Denzil

We had Denzil and he is absolutely great.

 

[Shari]

4 hours ago, ScottD said:

I'm glad it all ended up working out, and that overall the cruise was nice! I am confused about the above quote- they tried to seat you at a bad table because you were two women dining together? 

That is exactly what I meant.  It happens way too often.  Most women will not speak up.  I am not one of them and neither is my friend.  There were plenty of tables available and we were moved very quickly.  In fact where we were moved to we could see open table that were already set by the windows and they only seated couples (men/women couples) when they did seat someone there.

 

[smokeybandit]

52 minutes ago, Shari said:

We had Denzil and he is absolutely great.

 

He was the first concierge we ever had when we decided family cruising was going to be our thing. He sure didn't do anything to dissuade us from becoming suite snobs.

[BigKarl]

14 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

He was the first concierge we ever had when we decided family cruising was going to be our thing. He sure didn't do anything to dissuade us from becoming suite snobs.

Only thing that dissuaded me from being a suite snob is my wallet  

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

15 hours ago, Shari said:

That is exactly what I meant.  It happens way too often.  Most women will not speak up.  I am not one of them and neither is my friend.  There were plenty of tables available and we were moved very quickly.  In fact where we were moved to we could see open table that were already set by the windows and they only seated couples (men/women couples) when they did seat someone there.

 

I’m still confused at what you mean!  Are you saying they discriminate against 2 women dining together? 

[bretts173]

The people seating were terrible because you didn't like the table they gave you? Sorry but the rest of the review is pointless.

[Shari]

1 hour ago, bretts173 said:

The people seating were terrible because you didn't like the table they gave you? Sorry but the rest of the review is pointless.

That was just night 1.  On the last night we were escorted to the section that we had been dining in all week and there were no tables open, they were still all occupied with the early seating diners.  We were taken back to the host station and we said that we would wait patiently until our usual waiter's section had an opening.  A few minutes later they took us back to another waiter's section and we said no we wanted our usual waiter (we had a tip envelope for her) so they took us back to the host station.  Finally, they took us to the section that we had requested.  As we were sitting there we saw at least 3 other tables of people seated in sections that were different from where they had been sitting all week and their waiters MOVED them to their sections.  So no it was not just a table we didn't like it was many people having issues especially on the last night.

 

[Keanoknick]

It's completely normal to sometimes get different wait staff when you have My Time Dining.   

This is the exact reason we always choose a set dining time,  usually the early seating, to ensure we have the same wait staff the entire cruise.

[Shari]

9 minutes ago, Keanoknick said:

It's completely normal to sometimes get different wait staff when you have My Time Dining.   

This is the exact reason we always choose a set dining time,  usually the early seating, to ensure we have the same wait staff the entire cruise.

Yes it is normal.  However in this instance we requested a certain area and showed up just before our 6:45pm reservation time (the first time available for MTD) and said we could wait until it was available.  Also the head of that area had put a notation in our reservation for where to seat us.