The Fun Researcher
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Posts posted by The Fun Researcher
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1 hour ago, Coralc said:
What sort of camera and setup did you use for the turtle pics FR? They are awesome photos!
Thank you! Believe it or not, it's a very inexpensive GoPro type of camera. A Lightdow LD6000. WIth this camera you need to also purchase a micro SD card. I bought the camera a few years ago. I didn't want to invest the money into an expensive action camera because I wanted my kids to be able to use it and not worry about if they broke it or not. It has a waterproof case, and one of the strap attachments allows me to strap it to my wrist. That way I can turn it on, start the video recording, and swim freely and not have to hold onto the camera. Here's how I wear it when I'm snorkeling.
Those photos of the turtles are taken from running video that I took. (you can also take still photos with the camera, but that's much harder to do underwater) It helped that we were a little further from shore, away from where a lot of other swimmers were kicking up the sand from the bottom. Also, the sun was out and the turtles were closer to the water surface so there was more light from the sun, which always helps video and photos. (more light = better video) 🙂
I
Hope that helps,
Dan -
As requested, Time for Cruise Compass photos!
-Dan
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49 minutes ago, Ronaldo807 said:
We were on that Curacao tour (and cruise) with you. For anyone reading, the tour was $65 PP, but they only charged us $45 for our daughter. She is 7 so I'm not sure what the cutoff is.
Was your daughter the one who lost and found her apple watch? That was quite impressive.
Ronaldo807, It was fun sharing the day with you! No, that was not my daughter but that was the family sitting right behind us. We were sitting at the very front of the bus. For those wondering, a girl lost her Apple Watch that she had gotten for Christmas when she did the cliff jump. She was able to swim the 30 m back out to where she landed in the water dive down and find her watch!. Everyone was very happy for her. She was really out of sorts and obviously upset, rightly so. So happy for her.
Dan
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I do NOT like the height of that glass. Huge balcony? Yes. However, you can get better open air views from a ton of other locations on the ship. I would not want to be looking through glass all the time. Just my opinion though.
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1 minute ago, ShillyShally said:
Thanks so much! Guac available more than just the afternoon snack at windjammer is awesome as are some of the others - I get very creative when on board as we're vegan but we can make great concoctions just getting creative!
You'll be like a kid in a candy store. Some of that stuff would be great on top of some fries from Johnny Rockets which is now ala carte right next door! Now, why didn't I think of that when I was on the cruise last week? Was probably all the Long Islands. 😉
Dan
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1 hour ago, The Fun Researcher said:
I don’t remember seeing noodles, pasta, gravy, or chili at El Loco fresh last week, but there were some beans! Lol
Dan
I have to correct myself. Funny, I was looking through the photos I just posted and sure enough, Chili Beef is in one of them! Still, no gravy. Cheese sauce? Yup. :)
Dan -
48 minutes ago, ShillyShally said:
I loved the toppings available at the Blue Iguana on Carnival to add to other dishes so I expect I'd love the topping bar here too.
Lots of variety for the toppings. Here's some quick photos that I snapped from last week on the Navigator.
Dan
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Just reporting back on my experience with Irie tours as well. I captured it here in the Curacao portion of my review of our cruise. Highly recommended.
By the way, we also have our own snorkel gear that we brought, but they have it if you need it.
Dan
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I don’t remember seeing noodles, pasta, gravy, or chili at El Loco fresh last week, but there were some beans! Lol
Dan
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22 minutes ago, cot427 said:
Yes again to the compasses, Please!!!! Interested to see if yours, as your itinerary is a replica of ours on April 12th, while the March 1st and March 29 are different port order.
Also, the shorter sailing on March 10 didn't have the Celebrity Scratch DJ. So interested to see if they still do all the party stuff, especially the Red Ultimate Nightclub Experience in Studio B.
Also, did they assign your ice show based on your muster station?
Ice show was first come first serve. We showed up 35 minutes early for the first showing and the line ran from the Studio B doors to the elevators both port and starboard sides. Doors opened 30 minutes before the show, and even with the long lines there were plenty of seats available after the folks in line found their spots. I would highly recommend showing up before the doors open though.
If the Cruise Compass photos don't show up today, I will load my own, as I kept them all.
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Well, I've been to the islands that are on the Freedom's itinerary, and they are ALL fantastic.
Plus, the Freedom will be fresh out of drydock after being AMPED. The Navigator is AWESOME after it's AMPED drydock last month. We just returned Sunday from a 9 night itinerary that included the ABC's.
Be careful though, I personally wouldn't book the first or second cruise after the drydock. (The first cruise out of drydock is March 1st) The Navigator cancelled the first cruise out of drydock last minute because they ran behind on schedule.
When in March are you looking? The two times that the Freedom goes to the ABC's is March 8th, which is only the second cruise out of drydock. The next is March 22nd.
All that being said, I would go with the AMPED Freedom in a heartbeat. Lots more for the kids, great itinerary, and just a fantastic ship overall.
Dan -
After next month, the Navigator is only doing 3 and 4 night itineraries for the rest of 2019.
That may help make your decision.
Dan
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7 hours ago, molole said:
Do they have quesadilla? I will find out in person in a few weeks but want to know now. 😄
Yes, lots of them.
Dan
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49 minutes ago, Loyal2Royal83 said:
We enjoyed the ventriloquist Kevin Johnson. I have pictures of all 9 days of the Cruise Compass if anyone is interested in them.
How can I forget about Kevin Johnson! Can’t believe I forgot about him. Our whole family enjoyed that show. Thanks for the reminder.
Yes, please feel free to post the cruise compasses. I always like seeing those before an upcoming cruise on the ship we’re about to sail on
Dan
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7 hours ago, Gatortim1996 said:
I ate there more than one time
Nicely done, looks goooood.
Dan
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8 minutes ago, Tljcruiser said:
She said very few smiles and just a general sense of feeling like they really did not want to be there. I immediately thought about washy washy fellow in the windjammer and most all staff we had any type of extended conversation with.
Yes, Washy Washy is like a mini celebrity!! My father-in-law kept asking him when his album was coming out.
Bummer about the waterslides. We lucked out and they were running good for us. We were on them the first or second sea day.
Dan
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On 3/21/2019 at 12:00 PM, eroller said:
I think you have to be very careful specializing a ship for a specific market segment, whether that be short cruises or a specific region.
I tend to agree with this. However, judging how awesome the Navigator was for our longer 9 night cruise, I think it's in good shape for longer and shorter cruises. I'm just sad that they aren't keeping it doing the same itineraries that it's doing now. Would love to do more 9 night ABC cruises on the Navigator! To me, the fitness center and spa lost out in the battle of priorities for more passengers, long or short cruises. 😞
Dan
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1 hour ago, 3ITTravelers said:
Thanks for the great review! You mention your son is 11 going on 12. Did he go to Adventure Ocean? We’ll be on the 4/12 sailing and my son is almost 10. Was curious if your son went to AO and enjoyed it? Thanks in advance.
My kids did not make use of the adventure ocean on this cruise, but they have on all of the others dating back to 2014. They have always loved adventure ocean and they have ranged in ages anywhere from 7 to 17. They are just starting to grow out of it now. Believe it or not, my daughters are nice enough to allow their little brother to hang out with them and they did that a decent amount. Not sure how much longer that is going to last. LOL
1 hour ago, BrandFam4 said:Great review! We were on this sailing too. A wonderful cruise and ship indeed. And those very same broken elevators you mentioned made us use the stairs a lot! Not a terrible thing on a cruise with lots of food. 🤣
We were also on the 8th deck. We probably passed each other other many times!
Small world! Yeah I did not mind the elevators all that much either. I typically run every day at home but decided to take a break during the cruise, so the stairs were used a lot as a pseudo replacement. 🙂. . Also, it was very easy just to head over to the other bank of elevators. Attached is my son and I by the way getting ready for the zip line.
33 minutes ago, DrDani226 said:I'm glad to hear they let your son join in the escape room. I had thought the age limit was 14, not 12. I really wanted to take my son, but he is also just shy of 12 (he'll turn 12 the day after we return). However, he looks much older, so I may just give it a try:) Thanks for the review! We're looking forward to our April 12th sailing as well! We did this itinerary on the Navigator a couple years ago, which was one of our favorites, but are looking forward to the amped up ship.
They changed the age limit to 12 now. It doesn’t hurt to ask. That’s what we did, and they called back later saying that he could join us. We had a large group ourselves, so adding one more I don’t think was a big deal. Hopefully it’s not an issue for you. I think you will enjoy the renovated ship. I know we did
6 minutes ago, ShillyShally said:Agree! Thank you The Fun Researcher for your great review, so glad it turned out to be such a great trip for you all - she was my first RCCL ship in 2005 so it would be fun to revisit her and discover all that's new and I have loved Aruba since I visited in 2003 and been back a few times for land based vacations but wouldn't pass up the ABC ports for sure!
Thank you! Many happy returns!
👍🏼
Dan
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17 minutes ago, EmilyJay said:
Your sea turtle pictures are amazing!! We did snorkelling in Klein Bonaire and saw a baby turtle, but didn't catch a picture. Glad you had a wonderful time, we did the March 1st cruise and loved everything about the ship and itinerary, the ABC islands have now also become our favourite.
Was your Curacao tour a ship tour or one you found? I wish we'd done something like this for Curacao, you're pictures are great and it sounds like a lot of fun.
Thank you! The turtles alone made our day in Curaçao.
The only excursion we did through the ship was the zip line. We’re getting more and more adventurous with our excursions and we were in Curaçao all of the way until 11pm I think so there was little risk of not getting back to the ship on time. I believe the tour with Irie was around $65 per person. It was a good 6-7 hours. Highly recommend.
Editing to say that I loved your review from a few weeks ago! It got us really excited for our cruise!
Dan
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13 minutes ago, GalwayGirl03 said:
Awesome! So glad to hear your trip was great...17 more days for ours..can't come soon enough! Thanks for the pics!
7 minutes ago, cot427 said:So awesome to hear...glad you had a great time! I just came back from a weekend trip and am now in full on cruise mode...17 days as well! 15 if you count 2 days early in SoBe!
Thanks for your thoughts and the beautiful pictures!
Thank you.
Wishing you both a wonderful cruise as well!
Dan
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19 minutes ago, CRUISEFAN0001 said:
Great report!
Clearly you enjoyed the updated Navigator ship itself, as well as your cruise destinations.
Nice.
Thank you CRUISEFAN0001.
Yeah, it's a real struggle to find anything for us to complain about this cruise. I mean, I could mention that two of the three port side forward elevators weren't working all week, or that my wife's mushroom risotto wasn't that great, but that's about all I can come up with LOL.
It was one of those cruises where everything just lined up!
Dan
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8 minutes ago, KAZ35 said:
@twangster was there anything new or updated at The Schooner Bar? Or was it the same old look? Thanks.
-- Kim
Not Twangster, but I didn’t notice anything different last week. Maybe they updated the chairs but I couldn’t tell.
Dan
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Hi all,
Before I forget what we just did this past week+, I want report back about our cruise on the Navigator. As most are aware, the ship was just “Amped” last month with major renovations. We were on the ship in 2016 and loved it then, but this felt like a brand new ship!
Our party: Me, my wife, our kids 17, 14, 11, and my wife’s parents.
Rooms:
We had Deck 8 forward inside connecting rooms. My in-laws were next door in their own inside room. Carpet was new, with a new TV as well I believe. The rooms were pretty much the same as we remembered which means clean and well laid out. Love the connecting rooms, which means two full bathrooms and lots of storage space.
Embarkation/Disembarkation
Miami Terminal G – Arrived at 1:30pm to ZERO wait at security or check-in. Walked straight to our rooms and dropped off the bags and started exploring.
We self-disembarked around 9:30 am with no issues. Finished packing our bags in the morning, grabbed some breakfast and headed out with all of our luggage. No issues. Waited about 1 minute in line for customs.
The ship and activities
The Voyager and Freedom classes are our favorites already so that was a step forward, but the ship has been SOOO renovated that it felt completely new. The pool deck is amazing! Love the Lime and Coconut area and all the colorful variety of loungers, chairs, tables, etc… also love the solid loungers in the shallows of the main pools. There is a huge variety of loungers, hammocks, chairs, clam shells, you name it. Sure, there were chair hogs but we always found places to chill, with our favorite being above the Lime and Coconut. We never had a problem finding a spot in a hot tub either. The lighting throughout the pool deck at night is beautiful and provides a nice ambiance in the evening.
Both water slides were working, and both were fun. We all liked the face first version better, where you lay on the mat. It was just a little more thrilling for us. We also played Mini golf a few times and the course is nicely laid out, new, and with interesting obstacles.
The promenade is fantastic. We love the promenade on these ships. It provides that big central hub of activity, and makes getting around the ship super easy. LOVE the new Playmakers. There is a back room/ alcove area that has one of those large Jenga sets on one of the tables. We camped out there a couple of evenings and had a blast. The wings are great by the way. We felt that the shops are better laid out as well. Everything has a much more modern look to it. A little brighter, including the pub.
We did the Escape room on our second sea day with another very nice couple. We had a blast! It was challenging but not impossible. We got done with about 11:30 left on the clock. Even though our son wasn’t 12 (he’s 2 months away), they let him join us and he was helpful to have there. Can’t say that they would allow this every time, but they let him join us.
Our daughters both did the sushi making class on the third sea day and the rest of us sat down and ate the results for lunch. We’ve done the class before and always enjoy it. So, we had two plates like this:
Entertainment
This cruise really impressed us. The Journey band “Absolute Journey” was excellent. The comedian, Rondell Sheridan was excellent. The standout was the solo performer, Stephani Parker, who covered Whitney Houston songs and was the best voice we’ve heard at sea. Wow, is all I can say. The ice skating show, i-skate was a new rendition for us and it was our favorite version so far. The beginning opens with choreographed drones, which is just mesmerizing. The RCCL singers and dancers were good as well. I liked the energy of our cruise director Hugo. The RCCL live music in the promenade was very good, and the pub singer was very good. I think my daughter has a crush on him now. J This was the first cruise we didn’t go to the Schooner bar but it was full every night (as usual) and the singer sounded good as we’d pass by.
Food
We ate in the main dining room every dinner (my time dining). It was consistently excellent. We didn’t make use of the Windjammer all that much for lunch. The hand washing stations at the entrance are a nice addition, as is the new décor and seating. The Windjammer food was good, which is what I’ve come to expect. A lot of variety, and not impossible to find a place to sit, even for 7. We mainly used it for breakfast. We tended to have light lunches such as a small plate from El Loco fresh (which was so nice to have right at the pool deck), or a burger from Johnny Rockets (we much prefer the ala carte version like on this ship)
Drink cards were offered at least the last two sea days. They may have offered been earlier but I didn’t notice. We made use of them. The bar staff everywhere we went was friendly and made some good strong islands, I mean, Long Islands.
Ports of Call
Labadee was relaxing as usual. My son and I did the zipline (classic sit down version) and had a blast. Each of our kids have done it as they’ve “graduated” into being large enough for it. Our son was the last one.
We tend to chill out at Columbus beach for the day. Great beach with that great side view of the ship, and close to the restrooms and food. I am getting a little ho-hum about the basic BBQ offered for lunch. It gets the job done, but really doesn’t “wow” in any way.
ABC islands. This was our first visit to the ABC’s and we have a new set of favorite islands!!!!! Here’s what we did:
Bonaire:
Rented two small SUV’s from Hertz at the Divi Flamingo resort. This is a short 5 minute walk from the ship. This was our first time renting a vehicle on an island and driving on our own so I was a little nervous. It turned out to be great. There are a lot of one-way streets, and narrow streets, but as long as you take your time and pay attention it’s just fine. We drove up the coast for some snorkeling sites, and went past 1000 steps (very crowded) to Karpata and snorkeled there. Water was rough so we didn’t stay long but the snorkeling was excellent. Then we drove through the national park and the scenic overlook and then through the city of Rincon all the way back to near the airport where we ate at Kite City, a food truck on the beach that serves up AMAZING fresh fish, burgers and chicken (on real porcelain plates). My FIL said it was the best burger he’s even eaten, and he’s been around a while so that’s saying something. J After eating, we snorkeled at the beach out front of the food truck, which was a surprisingly good snorkeling spot, and the beach is beautiful. After that we made our way to the salt pans and the slave huts, then returned the vehicles and wandered back to the ship while grabbing some souvenirs.
Curacao
We took a tour with Irie tours, the “All West beach hopping tour”. Highly recommend it. The tour is in open air buses, which are painted very colorful. The open air was a wonderful way to travel. Unlimited beer, soda, and water is provided in a cooler in the back of the bus. This was an excellent tour with a good amount of time at each stop: A flamingo reserve, the Shete Boka national park, optional cliff jumping (40 ft), swimming with sea turtles (WOW!!), another nice beach (forgot the name) and a nice long break at Playa PortoMari beach, which is beautiful with great snorkeling.
The cliff jumping was a highlight, even though my wife’s butt is still paying the price. We all did it (except my FIL). It’s extreme, let me tell ya, but worth it IMO!
The sea turtles were the other major highlight for us. In all of the snorkeling we’ve done around the Caribbean, this was the first time we saw Sea Turtles, and lots of them. Love it!
PortoMari Beach
Aruba
We went with Jolly Pirates for snorkeling, drinks, lunch and the rope swing (which was a blast). The crew is excellent. The snorkeling was a letdown after being spoiled at Bonaire and Curacao, but the ship, the food, the rope swing and the drinks more than made up for it.
In summary, this was our best cruise to date!!!.
Fantastic ship, gorgeous weather, beautiful islands, great food and entertainment, and excellent service. I truly can’t say enough. Thanks for reading! Feel free to throw out some questions…
Dan
P.S. Sorry about the low quality of some of the photos, I had to screen grab them from videos :)
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To name a few of the things I most look forward to:
Escargot
Lamb Chops
Asian taco appetizer (First time I had them was last week, wow!)
Beef tenderloin
Beef Carpaccio
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My Time Dining - should expand to one more deck
in Royal Caribbean International
Posted · Edited by The Fun Researcher
OP, what time were you showing up for your MTD dinners? That makes a huge difference. Show up between 6:30 and 7:30 and the place is swamped, which is a result of how MTD is setup Folks seated earlier aren't done with their meals yet and folks keep showing up trying to find tables.
We don't necessarily enjoy starting our meals early, but we show up towards the earlier side of the dining window. Last week on the Navigator that was around 5:45pm, deck 3, and there never was much of a line at all. We stayed with our same table and waiters.
For those asking why some pick the same time every meal for MTD, I can tell you why we prefer it. Flexibility. First, we see where our table location is our first evening. If we don't care for the table, or the waiters, we ask for an alternate for the next evening when we are leaving dinner. Once we settle in on a table and servers, we tend to stay with that. In order to hold that table, we show up earlier in the dining window so as not to have that table sit empty before we show up. We also don't want to risk another group grabbing it because we didn't show up on time. If we decide we don't want to eat that early, we will let the dining room staff know, so that they aren't holding our table, and then we can show up later whenever we want without reservations and still get to eat in the dining room rather than be forced to the buffet.
Editing to add that we have always been a table of between 6, 7, or 10 so we take up an entire table just with our group.
Dan