Want to know what are the best and worst cabins on Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas? You’re in the right place!
Navigator of the Seas is a great ship with some fantastic cabins. However, there are some rooms that are a little noisy, in awkward locations or have obstructed views.
Read on to find out which Navigator of the Seas cabins to avoid, and how to pick the best room on the ship for your cruise.
Always choose the best cabin…
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Navigator of the Seas room categories
Navigator of the Seas is a Voyager-class cruise ship with 15 different cabin types to choose from. The cabins can be broken down into four categories: inside, outside, balcony and suite.
Navigator of the Seas Inside Cabins:
- Interior Stateroom – Sleeps up to 2 or 4
- Promenade View Interior Stateroom – Sleeps up to 2
- Interior with Virtual Balcony – Sleeps up to 2
Navigator of the Seas Outside Cabins:
- Ocean View Stateroom – Sleeps up to 2 or 4
- Spacious Ocean View Stateroom – Sleeps up to 2 or 4
- Spacious Panoramic Ocean View Stateroom – Sleeps up to 4
- Ultra Spacious Ocean View Stateroom – Sleeps up to 6
Navigator of the Seas Balcony Cabins:
- Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony – Sleeps up to 2 or 4
- Spacious Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony – Sleeps up to 2 or 4
Navigator of the Seas Suites:
- Ocean View Panoramic Suite (no balcony) – Sleeps up to 6
- Junior Suite – Sleeps up to 4
- Grand Suite (1 bedroom) – Sleeps up to 4
- Grand Suite (2 bedrooms) – Sleeps up to 8
- Owner’s Suite – Sleeps up to 4
- Royal Suite – Sleeps up to 5
Royal Caribbean’s suites come with not only more space but also a huge list of extra benefits. You can see those here: Royal Caribbean Suite Perks.
For a lot of people, an inside stateroom will be plenty – especially if your priority is just enjoying the destinations you’re sailing to, and you don’t feel like you need much room.
However, if you have the budget for it, there are some staterooms and suites which are much, much bigger.
Navigator of the Seas room sizes
The cabin sizes on Navigator of the Seas vary a lot. The largest suites are almost twelve times the size of the smallest staterooms!
There’s also some variation with cabins of the same type. Certain Interior and Ocean View cabins are 60% bigger than others. However, before you get excited about the possibility of booking a huge cabin, many of these are wheelchair-accessible cabins and so they’re only available for the people who need them.
If you do want a large cabin, there are some very big outside staterooms and suites to choose from. The Ultra Spacious Ocean View Stateroom, for example, is absolutely huge with over 300 square feet of space, yet it doesn’t cost that much in comparison to the suites or balcony staterooms.
Here are the sizes of Navigator of the Seas rooms, from smallest to largest:
- Interior Stateroom – 160 to 256 sq ft
- Interior with Virtual Balcony – 160 to 256 sq ft
- Ocean View Stateroom – 161 to 276 sq ft
- Promenade View Interior Stateroom – 167 sq feet
- Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony – 198 sq ft
- Spacious Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony – 203 sq ft
- Spacious Ocean View Stateroom – 211 sq ft
- Junior Suite – 277 sq ft
- Spacious Panoramic Ocean View Stateroom – 283 sq ft
- Ultra Spacious Ocean View Stateroom – 328 sq ft
- Grand Suite (1 Bedroom) – 381 sq ft
- Ocean View Panoramic Suite (No Balcony) – 406 sq ft
- Owner’s Suite 506 sq ft
- Grand Suite (2 Bedroom) – 547 sq ft
- Royal Suite – 1260 sq ft
Navigator of the Seas Deck Plan
When choosing the best stateroom for your cruise, the Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas deck plan can give you lots of useful information such as:
- Where your cabin is located
- The size of your cabin and balcony in square feet
- What types of extra beds are provided e.g. sofa beds or Pullman beds
Click here to see Navigator of the Seas Deck Plans
Picking your own stateroom, or letting the cruise line decide
When you book a Royal Caribbean cruise online, you’ll often see two prices, which look like this…
Royal Caribbean usually gives guests the choice to select their room for an extra fee. If you opt not to choose your own room, you’ll be assigned what’s known as a ‘Guarantee Cabin’.
What’s a guarantee cabin?
A guarantee cabin guarantees that you’ll receive a cabin in that category (e.g. interior stateroom) or higher (if you’re lucky enough to be upgraded).
The benefits of choosing your cabin number:
- Choose your preferred location on the ship
- Book two cabins next to each other
- Avoid undesirable cabins
Booking multiple cabins
If you want interconnecting cabins that have a door between them, you will have to pay to pick your own room.
If you just want cabins next door to each other, you can opt to let Royal Caribbean choose your room and request that your cabins be close together. However, there’s no guarantee that they will be.
Tip: For a family of four, it’s sometimes cheaper to get two interconnecting cabins than to get one cabin that sleeps four.
If you have adjacent balcony cabins, you can ask your stateroom attendant to open the balcony dividers to create one large balcony. You do not need interconnecting rooms to do this. If you’re friendly with your neighbours, the partition can be opened, as long as everybody agrees.
Navigator of the Seas cabins to avoid
One of the main reasons why people choose their own cabin number on a cruise is to avoid ending up in one of the worst rooms on the ship.
If you choose a cabin that’s in a noisy location, a long walk from anything or has an obstructed view from the balcony, it can put a real downer on your trip.
Here are the cabins to avoid on Navigator of the Seas…
1. Noisy cabins
2330 to 2358, 2630 to 2658: Cabins at the aft end of Deck 2 are the closest to the ship’s engines and so you may experience some engine noise and propeller vibrations in these cabins. They are also beneath the main dining room.
2240: This cabin is right next to the Royal Theatre so you may expect some noise during performances and rehearsals.
Tip: If you only want one cabin, avoid the cabins with interconnecting doors. Cabin doors are never as soundproof as walls, so you may be able to hear your neighbours.
3540 and 3240: These cabins are located right next to public bathrooms.
3600 to 3616: These cabins are beneath Boleros bar and so there may be noise until the small hours.
6575, 6577, 6579, 6581, 6583, 6587, 6589, 6591, 6593, 6595 and 6597: These Promenade View Interior Staterooms are located directly above Playmakers Sports Bar & Arcade. Aside from the fact that people on the promenade on Deck 6 and your neighbours can see right in, these cabins have also been reported as being noisy until after midnight as people gather, chat and sing outside the Sports Bar.
1248 to 1305 and 1548 to 1605: These staterooms and suites are located directly beneath the pool areas. This could mean that you can hear some noise from deck chairs being dragged across the floor in the morning. Early risers should have no problems here, though.
2. Cabins that are a long walk from anything
9465, 9467, 9469, 9471, 9473, 9475, 9477, 9479: These cabins are a really long way from the elevators. All cabins right at the back of the ship are far from the elevators, but this problem is made so much worse on Deck 9, because you have to walk right to the end of the ship and then go back on yourself to reach your cabin!
On the deck plan below, you would have to follow the red line to take you from the nearest elevator to your cabin. This distance is about 500 feet, which is a really long way if you struggle with walking or are carrying a child.
3. Cabins with obstructed views
Aft cabin and suites: Aft balconies are the ones right at the back of the ship that look out to where the ship has been. On most cruise ships, aft balconies offer the best views of all. This is not so on Navigator of the Seas!
Due to the design of the ship, the aft cabin balconies aren’t at the rear edge of the ship. There’s an extra area between the balcony and the end of the ship. This means that steel structures partially obstruct your view looking out and completely obstruct your view when you look down.
Whilst the view from the aft balconies seems to be less than ideal, these cabins actually get great reviews online. One advantage of the aft cabins on Navigator of the Seas is that the balconies are much larger than standard balconies on the port and starboard sides.
If you do want to go for an aft balcony, I’d recommend choosing a corner one for the biggest balcony space and the least obstructed view.
This video shows a corner aft Navigator of the Seas balcony room…
For more staterooms to avoid that aren’t specific to Navigator of the Seas, don’t miss this guide: 13 Royal Caribbean Cabins To Avoid.
The best deck on the ship
Many people ask which is the best deck on Navigator of the Seas. In fact, there isn’t one deck that’s the best, but there are three decks that are particularly good if you want a quiet room that’s not too far from the action.
Decks 7, 8 and 9
If you’re looking for a nice quiet room on Navigator of the Seas, you can’t go wrong with Deck 7, Deck 8 or Deck 9. All cabins on these decks only have other cabins above and below them. This creates a buffer from the noise of the public areas.
It also means that you can avoid taking the elevator as from this midship location you can walk up to the open decks or down to the restaurants and bars.
Best rooms on Navigator of the Seas
The best cabins on Navigator of the Seas are very much down to personal preference. For some people, the cheapest inside cabins are the best. Others prefer a spacious room with panoramic windows. Whereas for some cruisers, a balcony is an absolute must.
Here are some Navigator of the Seas rooms which you should look out for as they offer something special…
BEST INSIDE: Interior with Virtual Balcony
One of the main drawbacks of booking an Interior Stateroom is the fact that you can feel like you’re missing out on the experience of watching where you’re sailing. But the Interior with Virtual Balcony staterooms go some way to addressing that.
Sure you’re not getting natural sunlight, but you are still getting an amazing view – and it helps you to at least tell how early/late it is in the day. You get the same view as you would from a Balcony Stateroom, just without the feeling of fresh air.
Take a look at this video to see what this stateroom type looks like…
The only drawback is if you wanted to cruise with the kids – the Virtual Balcony staterooms can only sleep two guests. If you’re travelling with more than two guests, a Promenade View Interior stateroom will be a better choice.
BEST OUTSIDE: Spacious Panoramic Ocean View Stateroom
The windows in outside cabins vary in size. On some ships, you’ll have just a small porthole above the bed. On Navigator of the Seas, however, the windows in many of the cabins are very large indeed.
I particularly love the window in this Spacious Panoramic Ocean View Stateroom. There are various different Spacious Panoramic Ocean View Staterooms on Navigator of the seas – they come in different shapes and sizes, so be sure to study the deckplan carefully of you want to find one of the largest ones.
BEST BALCONY: Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony
There are two types of balcony stateroom on Navigator of the Seas – standard and spacious. Whilst you may expect the spacious one to be better, and in some ways it is, I just don’t think that the extra space is worth the extra price.
In fact, with the spacious balcony cabin, you get only five square feet more space in your room and four square feet more space on your balcony. That’s not even enough room for an extra chair, so you probably won’t even notice that your room is any bigger.
Be sure to look at the price difference before you make the decision to upgrade to a spacious balcony.
BEST SUITE: Royal Suite
The Royal Suite is the top suite on any Royal Caribbean ship. On Navigator of the Seas, the Royal Suite sleeps up to five people and, at 1260 square feet, it is more than twice the size of any other suite on the ship.
Of course, a photo would never do this suite justice, but take a look at the video below to see what you can expect from the Royal Suite with its private hot tub on the balcony and baby grand piano.
Navigator of the Seas vs. Mariner of the Seas
Navigator of the Seas has a sister ship, Mariner of the Seas. These two ships are very similar and have similar itineraries, but depending on what you like to do on board you might find that one is better than the other.
If you need any help in deciding which of these ships is for you, then be sure to check out my detailed guide to Mariner of the Seas versus Navigator of the Seas.
Find more info on Navigator’s cabins and features
If you have a question about rooms on Navigator of the Seas, you’ll find lots of helpful cruisers in Facebook groups. Three groups that I would definitely recommend that you join are:
- Navigator of the Seas Cruisers – past, present and future
- Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas
- Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship Cabins
Have you cruised on Navigator of the Seas? I’d love to hear your opinions in the comments below, whether on the Navigator of the Seas rooms to avoid, or just the features and experience of the ship in general.
Related posts:
- Royal Caribbean Ships by Age
- Royal Caribbean Drink Package Guide
- 3 Ways to Get Free WiFi on your Royal Caribbean Cruise
Jenni Fielding is the founder of Cruise Mummy. She has worked in the cruise industry since 2015 and has taken over 30 cruises. Now, she helps over 1 million people per month to plan their perfect cruise holidays.