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He is entertaining but he won't play any requests unless he is tipped

That's interesting, because every cruise we've been on with Phil he's asked for requests and played almost all of them without a tip requirement. The only ones he didn't play were songs he didn't know or songs that you can't do on a piano very well.

I definitely recommend seeing Phil in the Schooner bar if he's there. I think we spent every night there until closing when he's been on the ship.

Not sure if the bartenders are still the same, but Bela and Antoniu (Tony) were at the Schooner bar both of our last cruises and they were amazing. Our kids were with us and Bela and Tony kept tabs on them all day.

Jim, we spent every night with Phil and the best bar staff on the ship! Bubba came down one night and sang with him.

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I knew that the porter line would be quicker, but still went to get our luggage first and deposited hubby and kids by the door. Waited in porter line for about a half hour to get a porter, then about 15 minutes to get through customs. I really think all of this would be much better if people followed the disembarking schedule and didn't just try to leave whenever.

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Porters were much quicker! We were #19 and were about an hour behind schedule being called. And we were outside waiting for hubby to get back from getting car around 12:30.

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We really didn't... But I knew to get a porter, so it was a bit shorter. There were several people in line who weren't following the numbers and freely admitted it.

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Mary Anne... I think we (me, hubby and two boys) shared a cab with you to Nachi.

Cheryl

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Gweedo... I have them and will post them all. Hopefully this week.

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The only drinks I saw them not making us sign for consistently were sodas. Bottled water was hit or miss. For drinks, we signed each time. Wine in MDR was usually for one glass... Even if you had more than one.

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When we went through customs around noon, all the lines were open. The problem was there was no separation between the luggage pick up and the no Porter line.

And there's never any policing of who gets off first that I've seen. I visited with several people who self-disembarked but didn't check in to get a pass. So they crowded the lines at the beginning.

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We'll type up our review of the cruise later, but my son was less than impressed with the number of times the MDR piano player played Let It Go. He had to play it for orchestra this year and was hoping to get away from it ;-)

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Unfortunately, we're disembarking this morning... :(

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If you do not take the time to settle down in the Schooner bar with Phil, you are missing a great evening

That's for sure :-) next week, we will be there every night except maybe his night off!

We've already told the kids to look there first if they need to find us after dinner ;-)

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Here's who is on our cruise leaving on Sunday as an example. I don't know if they normally list the band like Bubba Feathers when they send out these emails.

Also featured onboard the Navigator of the Seas:

-Rick Corso, Comedian

-Billy Prudhomme, Juggler

-Tribute to the Temptations, Tribute Act

-John Joseph & Johnny B, Comedy Variety

-Rick Starr, Comedian

-PAPA T, Pub Guitarist

-Phil Anderson, Schooner Bar Entertainer

We leave on Sunday and will at least pass by the pub to see how papa t is... But we will spend the nights with Phil in the schooner bar. We went to see him in Dallas a month or so ago when he was on "leave".

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I just bought my kids' replenish packages online for Navigator and there was not the extra fee.

I'm so disappointed that Phil probably won't be there in August for our cruise. We missed many a production show just to sit and listen to Phil as well as closing the Schooner Bar down a few nights.

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Off topic - Just curious what sort of silly liquor law Texas has that enables some, but not all, of the liquors to be available.

If I remember correctly, it's that they can only serve alcohol that has been bought in Texas and thus had the taxes paid on it. Since a majority of the alcohol is bought elsewhere in bulk or something, they can't serve/sell it within 12(?) miles of the coast.

Cruiserdude... here's a link to a review with a bazillion (okay, maybe not that many) pictures.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1984388

wc's other half here... Also, they did have "observer tickets", but you had to purchase those onboard. So the inlaws and kids got tickets to actually interact with the dolphins, and the other 4 of us got observer tickets that got us to all the rest of the stuff, but on the "sidelines" at the dolphin experience.

Phil is a blast to listen to, he plays a good variety of music, loves to let people sing and just generally encourages everybody to have a good time, exactly what a piano bar should be to me.

You can find some video of him on youtube which will give you some idea of his performance but the video/audio in them isn't as good as hearing it onboard.

search for Phil Anderson Piano Bar and several will show up.

 

Hope this helps, my wife and I loved it enough that we stayed until closing every night he was in there.

Exactly this :) When we went on the Mariner in 2012, it was just hubby and I, and we frequently stayed until closing. It felt like "home". If we had a piano bar like that close to our house, we might be broke ;)

We'd talked up our whole "Schooner Bar" experience to my parents and inlaws (they'd both been before, but we were really saying how much fun we'd had) and then we got someone who was the exact opposite. It put a "dent" in our cruise (okay not really) to not have "our spot". ;)

Cpt. Claus must not be a woman. :D

 

Sorry, ladies.

When my dad was teaching me how to drive a standard transmission vehicle, he commented that I drove better in reverse than going forward.

Not sure what that says about anything ;) Although, he does say that my mother taught me how to drive. **curtsy**

See, they're just not going to please everyone with "Mexican food" because we all have our preconceived notions of what it should be like. Even if you said "Mexican food from Mexico" you'd have all these different types. Then you throw in those from TX, NM, AZ, CA and our "variations" add that many more variations. Not saying they shouldn't have those types of food, just that I know when I read reviews or go to a new restaurant anywhere, I can't go in with too much of a preconceived notion that it will be exactly the way I like it (or picture it).

It's kind of like barbecue... that opens up a huge discussion over what's "REAL BBQ". ;)

Are your parents on the 3/30 cruise? If so are they active CC users?

Shekim, they are on your cruise, but they aren't cc users. I've posted on your roll call about their price drops. :-)

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On your Sea Pass card it shows

 

Dining Room: Sapphire - Deck 4 (or whichever floor you have)

Thanks... I hoped it was like that as opposed to different table numbers on different floors. My parents cruise at the end of March so I want to give them as much "prep" about stuff that's changed before they get there.

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