Rome & Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas

I want more information

Rome & Eastern Mediterranean - RCL Navigator of the Seas

We hosted a small group of 16 on this 7-night cruise to the Eastern Mediterranean on the Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas. We sailed round-trip from Rome with port calls in Sicily, Ephesus, Athens and Crete. We added 2 nights in Rome and a full-day visit to Florence before the cruise. The art, archaelogy and history on this 10-day itinerary were amazing. We booked our cruise, airfare, transfers and pre-cruise hotel all through Royal Caribbean. Our cabin was balcony cabin 9346 for this cruise.

Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas

Cruise Review & Photos

May 2012

We hosted a small group with 8 couples on the Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas. This 7-night round-trip eastern Mediterranean cruise salied from Rome and made port stops in Italy - Sicily (Messina), Turkey - Ephesus (Kudasi), Greece - Athens (Piraeus) and Crete (Chania). We spent 3 nights in Rome pre-cruise at the Hotel Clarion. We booked our cruise, airfare and pre-cruise hotel all through Royal Caribbean. They did a wonderful job for us and for everyone in our group. When one couple missed a connecting flight in Germany, Royal Caribbean was right on the spot to escort them to their alternate flight to Rome. After 2 days in Rome and a day in Florence - it was time to start our cruise!

The Royal Caribbean transfer to the port took a little longer than we expected - over 2 hours via bus ride from the Clarion Hotel. The trip took longer because we made 3 hotel stops to pick up other cruisers in downtown Rome. Royal Caribbean did a great job as host at the Clarion Hotel. But they really need to redesign their schedule for transfer from the hotel to the ship. Check out time at the hotel is 10 am. The bus doesn't leave the hotel until 12:30 pm. That left a large group of impatient and hot clients waiting in the lobby for over 2 hours. The departure time really needs to match the check out time at the hotel. Our tip - go across the street from 10 am to 12:30 and have a gelato or a beer until the bus is ready to leave.

This itinerary is all about history, art, ancient ruins and archaelogy. The lower sections will cover our stay in Rome and the historical ports. Let's jump right to the beautiful Navigator of the Seas to start this report.

Here are Roger and Kris Beck from Utah. We enjoyed the late dining option with Roger, Kris, Marina, Melanie, Kent and Nea. Our other 8 friends enjoyed dining together at the same table on the early dining option. Janean and I thoroughly enjoyed our dinners with recaps of our day's adventures. We think we are becoming early birds - we'll probably look for early dining on our next cruise.

Our group was in 8 total cabins on the Navigator - 5 balconies (9346, 8572, 8574, 8576 and 8578) and 3 inside cabins (9347,8385 and 7349). Our balcony cabin 9346 was a category D2 Superior Oceanview with a Balcony. This category had a little extra room over the standard balcony, a great view and was very comfortable as home base for exploring these historical ports.

Sunsets from our Balcony were incredible.

This was our first sailing with the signature Royal Caribbean interior promenade. We loved relaxing, shopping, meeting friends and people watching in the beautiful promenade area.

Janean enjoyed a maniicure at the spa.

Here are Dan & Janean with the Navigator!

The Navigator of the Seas is in the Voyager Class. She features the classic multi-story interior promenade. There is plenty to do and see onboard including a rock climbing wall, the adults only solarium, pools, hot tubs, fitness center, ice skating (and ice skating shows), miniature golf, golf simulator, basketball, jogging tracks, casino for the big kids and specialized kids' venues for 3 different age groups.

This is a wonderful home for exploring ports in the eastern Mediterranean.

The promenade is a great gathering place featuring a pub, ice cream shoppe, shopping and parades during the cruise.

The Two Poets Pub in the Promenade was one of our favorite hangouts.

This has to be the urinal with the best view on the 7 seas - sorry... I had to post it... 5 star view.

Rome & the Vatican

Pictured here are Dan and Janean at the bottom of the Spanish Steps. It was the perfect time of year with all the beautiful flowers in spring bloom.

Our room at the ClaridgeHotel. It had easy acess via cab to the downtown highlights. Cab fare was about 7-8 euros to the colisseum or to the Pantheon area.

If you cruise to or from Rome, you should really consider adding 2 or more days pre-cruise or post-cruise to visit highlights in Rome. A group of 8 of us hired Rome In Limo to provide a full day van tour of Rome and the Vatican. Our driver Nicola was wonderful. He was professional, prompt, flexible and very informative about the sites we visited. Our group rated Nicola a 10 out of 10 for the Rome & Vatican tour. You can find their website here: http://www.romeinlimo.com/

Nicola shared very interesting bits of information everywhere we traveled. Rome has the best water in the world. There are fountains everywhere. The nozzle looks like a "nawz" or nose... that's where the word came from. Also if you put your finger over the bottom of the nozzle in Rome, the spout rewards you with a stream of fresh water.

Rome gastronomy options are amazing. Fresh food, paninis, gelato, beer, wine... the options are amazing. Even the simple paninis are displayed as a work of are in Rome.

Our 2 hour visit to the Vatican and the Vatican museums felt rushed. There is so much art, beauty and history here, we recommend at least 4 hours for your visit to the Vatican - and a full day if you can fit it into your schedule.

Dan took the picture below in St. Peter's Basilica. It is a photo of the statue of Jesus and the 3 disciples. We are not sure what the apparition was flying across the right side of the screen!

We finished our Rome tour at the Vatican. It was hot, so we strolled along in the shops near the Pantheon. You have great food, drink and shopping options along these cozy little streets.

One tip - it gets hot in Rome and the beer looks really inviting. Ask the price BEFORE you order. This giant mug was delicious, but I felt like the barkeep saw a tourist coming when he gave me an 18 euro bill for this one beer. There are lots of reasonable options - just ask the price before you order - "quanto costa?"

We made a visit to the Pantheon and stumbled upon a Catholic Cardinal. We're not sure what the event was about, but it was really cool to see the Cardinal.

Pictured below are Kent, Nea, Janean and Dan - 4 proud grandparents of our first granddaughter - Marley!

Marina & Melanie also had an up-close-and-personal hand-to-hand battle with a couple of Romean Gladiators in the square at the Pantheon.

And of course, when you visit Rome, make sure you visit Trevi Fountain and toss a coin into the fountain. This will assure that you will return to Rome for another visit

This cruise sailed round-trip from Rome.

Day Trip to Florence

We also used Rome in Limo for a full-day visit to Florence. The Florence trip wasn't as seamless due to parking issues with our larger van and less guide assistance on that leg of our trip. The tour was advertised to start in the centrally located St. Lorenzo Market followed by a visit to the Accademia Museum. Since parking was an issue, we were dropped off at Ponte Vecchia and left on our own for the day in Florence. We hadn't prepared to tromp around Florence on our own. We never found the St. Lorenzo market, we got lost searching for the Accademia museum and one couple in our group was separated from everyone else. The Rome In Limo service in Florence was not up to par. We still recommend Nicola and Rome In Limo for Rome - they know Rome and they are fun and professional.

Cheers from Florence!

Nicola drove us to an excellent location for the photo op. From this vantage point, you can see the Arno River, Florence, the Duomo and Ponte Vecchia in the background.

Up close - the "Ancient Bridge" - Ponte Vecchia and the sales shops in Florence.

The must see in Florence is Michaelanelo's David in the Accademia Museum. It can get busy, so go early. Nothing on the web can do justice to the impression you will get in person.

There is a copy of the David statue in a square in Florence. Another copy is under construction at the Accademia Museum. We're not sure where the next copy will be going...

Port Call in Athens

Our stop in Athens was our 5th day of the cruise. We booked an independent and private tour with Private Greece Tours - website: Private Greece Tours. This was, by far, a better tour than our other privately booked tour. We had the privilege of having Nikos Loukas, the owner, as our guide. He was so informative and professionally polite. His English was impeccable and his knowledge left me wondering if he had a teaching background. In Europe the tour guides (guides who drive tours) cannot be guides in the ancient sites and the ancient site guides cannot drive you around the city. This is why we booked a private guide at the Vatican separate from our Rome tour. This being said, we did not feel like we missed anything important. Nikos dropped us off at the Acropolis (because he was not allowed to take us in) and gave us his fold out map of the site. He taught us so much about the hill before dropping us off and made sure we knew the sights that were a "must see". His map ended up being a tourist attraction in and of itself. Nikos was very clear that this was our tour and we could go and see whatever we wanted. Prior to the cruise Nikos and Janean exchanged emails and two things we wanted was an authentic Greece Gyro and to see the Archeological National Museum. He delivered big time on the Gyro. Unfortunately the museum had not started their summer hours so he posed a couple of options for us, again noting it was our tour, since we were on a time limit and had to be back to the ship at a specific time. Since we felt rushed at the Vatican we learned to take it easy so we opted not to go to the museum and take a bit more time shopping and seeing all the other wonderful things he was able to show us. We were not disappointed! We got to see the Acropolis (with all the wonderful building arenas), the temple of Temple of Olympian Zeus, Panathenaic or Kallimarmaro Stadium which hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, House of Parliament with the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (we got to see the changing of the guards), St. Georges Church at Lycabettus Hill, the highest spot in Athens, and then down to the historical Plaka neighborhood which included the Agora where we had our authentic Greek Gyro. As you can read, we didn't miss out on much by not going to the museum. Thank you Nikos for a wonderful tour! We'd like to go back some day and hire his services to take to some of the outlying areas that he also offers tours of.

Janean and Nikos. His van had plenty of room, was clean and air-conditioned (and we needed it!). Do you like Nike? Welll this photo below is the Temple of Nike at the Acropolis.

Nikos dropped us off at the Acropolis (because he was not allowed to take us in) and gave us his fold out map of the site. He taught us so much about the hill before dropping us off and made sure we knew the sights that we had to see. His map ended up being a tourist attraction in and of itself.

Kris Beck coached Dan on how to take a photo with the sun peaking through the ruins. Dan was really proud of his rookie photo with the sun, the flower and the Olive tree at the Parthenon.

This is the back side of the Erchtherion Temple with the sun and an Olive tree stratically placed for an awesome photo.

In front of the Parthenon. From left to right: Kent, Nea, Janean, Roger, Kris, Marina, and Melanie. Dan was behind the camera.

Front view of the Erechtherion. Dan and Janean

Down off the Acropolis we stopped at the Temple of Zeus. This was destroyed by Turks and Romans to be used as materials for other temples. You can't really see just how massive these columns are. Looking at it in person made me think it would have been easier to start from scratch.

On the trail up to St George's Church; the highest point in Athens. Way in the back there is Kris, then Roger and in the front is Janean.

Looking out over the city of Athens. If you look close, you can see the Acrpolis Hill between the pole and the antenna. One thing you won't see in this concrete jungle is someone mowing their lawn on Saturday morning.

Almost to the top. Thighs were really burning at this point.

A souvenier for Dan's friend George hanging out at St. George's Church.

A nearly perfect replica of the Pantheon. This is Temple of Hurcules down in the Agora.

Nikos promised to stop at a place that served the best Gyro's in Athens. He was right! Dan and Roger gave it a "two thumbs up".

One of the Greek beers that Dan tried.

The Olympic Marathon man in front of the Olympic stadium.

Changing of the guard in front of the House of Parliament. These are actual military soldiers. It is considered an honor to be assigned to this position and only the best of the best even get nominated.

Port Call in Crete

Crete is famous for it's knives and steel craftsman. Dan purchased these in Crete for our son. The bartering process in Crete is involved and usually ends with a ceremonial toast.