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tamtot

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    Hurricane Matthew

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted

    We are supposed to leave on Friday from Port Canaveral on Majesty.

     

    I've been cruising for a long time, but have never encountered this situation!

    Of course I do NOT have travel insurance, but we haven't invested all that much into this 3 night cruise, so we'll be ok.

     

    But has anyone ever had a cruise canceled due to weather? Or would one imagine they would just delay the sail date? I'm trying to wrap my head around the possibilities :-)

    Review Liberty Of The Seas 3/6 -3/13 2016

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted

     

    THE SPA: My wife loves to go to the Spa, especially on Sea Days. She booked a massage the day we got on the ship. She loved it, it relaxes her and allows her to really enjoy the trip. BUT this time the lady who worked on her might have made a big mistake. After her great, long , wonderful massage the lady pushed, really pushed, like to the point of not taking NO for an answer when trying to sell the products they use. My wife said she politely told her no, no thank you as many times as she could before telling her NO in a not so polite manner. My wife actually says she is considering NOT getting any more massages because it took away from her relaxation having to fight off the pushy sales lady. They need to realize that she can also lose that money in the Casino just as easily !

     

    I found the trick to stop the upselling is to write "NO PRODUCT UPSELLING" on the form they make you fill out before you go back for your massage. Works every time. This last time was the first time they tried to upsell me on coming back for 2 more treatments, and they pushed it heavily. Next time I will write that on my paper as well.

    There's nothing relaxing about a pushy massage therapist.

    NAVIGATOR OF THE SEAS Review Feb 28-March 5

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted

    March 1 - GEORGETOWN, GRAND CAYMAN

     

    Docked bright and early in Georgetown, Grand Cayman. We had booked with Acquarius Sea Tours after reading great things over on the port boards. ($50 per person. Quite a deal) We were off the ship and headed to our meeting place by 8:45-9:00ish. Our meeting time was 9:15. I started to get nervous (it's what I do) when I saw tons of tour groups lined up at various places, but couldn't find our man with the Acquarius sign. Not to fear, Captain Mario showed up just a couple of minutes later, and within a couple minutes had us all organized and ready to go. He was such a great guy, made everyone feel comfortable and made us laugh several times. Funny guy. Anyway, I noted especially how great he was with the younger kids who were more nervous.

     

    We had three stops: Stingray City (went here first to beat the crowds), Starfish Point, and then snorkeling. I was fascinated that he actually has names for some of the stingrays, and knew their temperaments and what not. Having no desire to touch any sort of sea creature, I was content to stay on the boat and snap pics of our party while they fed, held, and kissed a stingray. I was also impressed that Captain Mario had a waterproof camera (that took great pics, btw) and was happy to take pics of everyone, and then send us the pics for free!

     

    It was a quick ride over to Starfish Point. It had started to rain at this point, but not too hard, so everyone was game to hop out and see some starfish. I broke my own rule and touched these guys, no slime involved. It was pretty cool to see them just hanging out in their natural habitat.

     

    He took us a little further, and we had the most AMAZING snorkeling experience. This was all of our favorite part of the day. It just amazes how much gorgeous sea life is right below the surface. We saw tons of gorgeous fish, and I even saw a pretty decent sized stingray over there. (Must admit, that sent me a little closer to the boat. No Steve Irwin fate for me, please.)

     

    In between stops they served water, fruit punch, and a slice of cheese pizza. We didn't bring our own snacks, but I would highly recommend bringing granola bars just to have.

     

    This tour probably lasted 3 1/2 hours. We all loved it!

     

    Back to the ship for a good long nap.

     

    Tonight's dinner was CHOPS. It was phenomenal. I mean just beyond. For starters, our waiter didn't go into a depression that we weren't having alcohol, which was nice:-) His name was Cajetan, and he won our hearts in no time. Lots of laughs. And the food? Goodness, where do I start? The three cheese toasted onion soup was a perfect starter. Our table loved the jumbo shrimp cocktail, and we enjoyed trying the black pepper bacon appetizer. But the star of the show was the Filet Mignon for sure. Cooked to perfection, and served with whatever sides you wanted. (We chose asparagus, mashed potatoes, and creamed corn). They also brought out 5-6 sauces to accompany your steak. It's right up there with Ruth's Chris (minus the sizzling plate) in my book.

     

    On to the Schooner to people watch. Did not disappoint; and the crowd keeps growing.

     

    March 2: FALMOUTH, JAMAICA

     

    I'm not sure why, but this was my hardest port to plan. Just couldn't find anything that grabbed me. I never book a shore excursion through the ship, as I find I can generally find a better deal and more efficient tours elsewhere. (Did I mention my dream job would be to be a travel agent? I love researching any and all things travel. ) At any rate, I ended up booking us for the Red Stripe Beach shuttle at a cost of $29/per person. I gather there's no other way on to that particular stretch of beach. As it turns out, it was money well spent. We left out on the 8:30 shuttle, arrived to a pretty empty beach, and proceeded to relax. They had staff on hand to help you with chairs, food, drinks, etc. Our fella helped us choose a spot with both shade (for the guys) and sun (for us), and we were set.

     

    Three of us opted for a beach massage by Shurla. Or was it Sharla? Either way, she was AMAZING. Far better and WAAAAAY less expensive than my ship massage. $30 for 35 minutes. HIGHLY recommend.

     

    You could also purchase internet access for $5 per device. This was a godsend for my cousin who had problems connecting onboard the ship and needed to check on her kids back home.

     

    We also had delicious jerk chicken and pork, both served with fries (just ok) and cole slaw. I want to say the meal was about $9-10. Not so bad.

     

    Headed back to ship. Men napped. Sandy and I hung out in the library (we are party animals like that) - working on a small scrapbook/journal with supplies I had brought along to document our cruise. It was more fun than it sounds. I have a cute little ZIP printer that prints using bluetooth, so we were able to print a few pics from each day to put in there. My mind just doesn't remember the details the way it used to, so this was helpful. And fun.

     

    Dinner was in the dining room tonight. Can't remember what we ate, but had a great time catching up with our new friends!

     

    March 3: LABADEE, HAITI

     

    I haven't been to Labadee in years, and I was stunned at how different it is now. (For the better). DH and I had booked the first jet ski tour of the day, so headed over for the 10:15/10:30 tour. This is one of our favorite things to do each cruise, and this was no different. We love to go fast:-) (Talladega Nights anyone?) Finished that little joy ride up and then headed to the tram to get a little tour of the island. We landed at "Adrenaline Beach" in the shade. (I might or might not have fallen asleep after my massage yesterday, forgetting about the massage oil, and getting a little crispy in the process). Anyway, that spot in the beach was central to restrooms, food, and the Dragon's Tail Coaster. WHICH WE LOVED! It's $25 to ride once, or $35 for all day. So obviously All Day is the best way to go. There was never a line, and we rode over and over. That sucker is exciting:-)

     

    Headed back to the ship when they made us (close to 4, I think?). Took a little walk up to the Helipad, which was deserted. Such a nice, quiet place to take in the beauty.

     

    Tonight's dinner (remember, I had 4 speciality meals to use up!) was back to CHOPS. Cajetan was so excited to see us. He brought all his friends back to say Hello, and took great care of us again. He taught us some of his napkin folding tricks. Handed me a pepper shaker and did some fancy napkin thing and put it on my head and deemed me the Statue of Liberty:-) And the food was just as good as last time. He surprised us with some lobster, so it took the quality up a notch:-) I forgot to mention desserts. They were all great. We had Red Velvet Cake, Mud Pie, and my personal favorite was the cheesecake. We were sad to say goodbye, and so hope to see him on a future CHOPS somewhere down the line.

     

    MARCH 4: SEA DAY

     

    I am so sad this is our last day, but soooo happy to have a sea day at the end of the journey. This really is brilliant, and perhaps my favorite itinerary to date.

     

    We slept in a little, got room service, and then headed to Schooner for some trivia. It was embarassing how poorly we did, but it was fun trying.

     

    We wanted to have our final dinner in the dining room with our friends, so we used our 4th specialty meal at Sabor. I was the only one excited to try this place. Turns out none of us really enjoyed it. Not sure why? I suppose Mexican food is pretty subjective. Don't you think everyone sort of has their favorite local Mexican restaurant fav? Anyway, it was a bit of a let down for us, but I'm glad we tried it. I will say the homemade guacamole was good, and the queso appetizer was great. The rest was just fine for us.

     

    We decided to go up and watch people on the Flowrider. You know how you see the same people over and over, and imagine their stories and perhaps give them nicknames? (Are we the only people who do that?) Some of our favs were Flow-riding:-) so that was a hoot. Then we watched a really enjoyable set of dodgeball games, with people of all ages playing.

     

    As I'm typing this it occurs to me we did a lot of watching, and not as much doing. Sounds lame, but it really was fun. And a woman's got to know her limitations:-) Played a little ping pong, went and played our $20 on the slots (which always makes me so mad at myself haha. Such a waste of money and it goes so fast.) Not cut out to be a gambler.

     

    Dinner in the MDR, the dancing waiters, the singing,etc. Just a nice ending to our week. Traded contact info with our tablemates, and headed to Schooner for a little singing. Ah, but this is when the call "OSCAR, OSCAR, OSCAR: came over the loudspeakers. Twice. Chester's (piano man) eyes got a little big, but to his credit he kept playing and smiling. Lots of activity on the outside deck, so DH headed out to see what was up. (Didn't realize at that time that call meant MAN OVERBOARD). Husband came back in and said the crew were throwing lighted life preservers in to the water.

     

    We tipped Chester and headed up to the top deck. It was quite an eerie sight, seeing all of the life preservers lit up so far out in the water. It was quite a windy night, so I'm sure everything drifted pretty quickly. So many people were on the deck, trying to peer over and hope to see sights of a human being to be rescued. After a few minutes, the Captain came on and announced that a man had jumped overboard, and the ship would be stopped while they searched. The coast guard had been called as well. I'd say about 90 minutes later, the Coast Guard helicopter was there searching. They also sent out a smaller boat of crew that went to each life preserver, I assume to see if the gentleman had grabbed onto one. It was just the saddest thing, but I was so impressed with how Royal Caribbean handled it all. I gather they searched until about 3 a.m. (this happened appx 11 p.m.), but he wasn't found. Just a sad way to go. My heart goes out to his family.

     

    So here we are. Finally. Are you people exhausted from all the reading yet?

    It was a really wonderfully relaxing cruise. We came home feeling refreshed and happy.

     

    NOTES:

    My two big regrets? Probably wasting money on the soda/water package, and definitely spending $165 on a ship massage. (Stick with the $30 beach massage)

     

    Also, I checked our account each day on the TV. I caught a couple of errors, so just be diligent to check it daily. Otherwise you're stuck in that massive line at the end of the cruise. Who wants to spend time in line, I ask you?

     

    I journaled all of our favorite things for each day. At the top of everyone's were snorkeling, CHOPS, and laughing. We just had so much fun. Can hardly wait to go again!

     

    Any questions, please ask. Thanks for sticking with me.

    NAVIGATOR OF THE SEAS Review Feb 28-March 5

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted


    Did you use Uber when you disembarked the cruise on final day? I leave on the same ship this Saturday and am considering using this app for the first time. (Especially since I was sent a 20.00 credit for my first use)

     

    We did not, but only because there were taxi vans there as soon as we disembarked. I'm not sure if there were Uber drivers hanging around, but I MUCH prefer Uber to a taxi. Even our least favorable Uber experience (older vehicle,etc.) was so much cleaner and nicer than the taxi.

    NAVIGATOR OF THE SEAS Review Feb 28-March 5

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted

    I am looking to sail on this ship so was delighted to see your review. I am Diamond also so it would be interesting to hear your thoughts on the Diamond Lounge and any discounts offered etc.. Would Chops be the best speciality restaurant onboard? :)

     

    The Diamond Lounge was really nice, had a deck area that overlooked the basketball/dodgeball (so fun to watch) court. I can't recall the exact times, but I want to say 4:30-7:30? you could go in and get appetizers and free drinks. It was a bit crowded, but you could also make a plate and grab a drink to take back to your cabin. It was a nice perk, for sure. I will look through my papers and see if I can find the listing of all the discounts that were loaded to the Seapass card.

    NAVIGATOR OF THE SEAS Review Feb 28-March 5

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted · Edited by tamtot

    The cruisers: My husband and me (55 & 52, but we feel 30. Does that count for anything?) and my cousin and her husband (both early 50's) from Ohio.

     

    Feb. 27th: We flew from Atlanta into Fort Lauderdale. This is the first time we've cruised from Fort Lauderdale, and the airport was madness. We're used to Atlanta, so I thought I was prepared for anything:-) There were people everywhere, with very little rhyme or reason. No worries, we are on vacation and ready to relax!

     

    Trying to be hipsters, we used our Uber app for the first time (thanks so someone on these boards for the $15 off code) ; we were on our way to GalleryOne Doubletree Hotel in no time. This hotel was lovely; had a water taxi right outside, and was within walking distance of the Mall and several restaurants. We spent the day hopping on and off the water taxi, saw a wedding reception at the hotel (that's always fun people watching), grabbed a fabulous meal at Coconuts, then turned in early.

     

    Feb. 28th: CRUISE DAY! We called Uber again (we're JUSt that cool) and got a not so happy fella as our driver. Basically told us he hates his job. But by the time we got to the port (which took us at least 30-40 minutes) he was laughing with us. Joy is infectious, usually:-). Anyway, we left the hotel at about 11; I think 10:30 would probably have made the traffic not quite so bad. They also stopped us on our way into the port area, and made the driver and all of us passengers show i.d. I thought that was odd, but no harm.

    The lines were pretty long but moved decently quick. We are diamond and our traveling buddies weren't, but they let them come through the diamond line with us for check-in, which was kind. A quick stop for pictures, and we were onboard!

    We walked through the Promenade, made a quick reservation for Chops, bought the soda/water package (Spent way too much) then headed to the Guest Services desk to have our Seapass cards hole-punched so we could put on lanyards for the duration. Pretty helpful for me, since I lose stuff a lot. (Case in point, lost my fitbit the very first day on the ship). Anyway, upward and onward to the Windjammer. Food was good and it wasn't too crowded yet. The last cruise I was on had the Freestyle soda machines, so I was surprised that they didn't have them on Navigator. (But not disappointed, as there were always lines at the machines).

    Our cabins were ready at 1; we headed to Cabin 7624 (cousin had 6310). Loved our cabins. I was really happy with our location. Super close to elevators, but very quiet. Also really close to the library, which turned out to be quite the hot spot.

     

    I opted to go ahead and get my massage done since we had free time, and I was ready to de-stress. I called to schedule the appointment and was scheduled for 3 p.m. They tried to upsell a hot stone massage, etc. but I opted for your basic swedish massage. Wrote on the form that I preferred no product upselling, and they didn't push. HOWEVER, my massage therapist said since it was the first day she would give me free hot stones. I thought that was awfully nice. However, when she handed me the bill, it wasn't showing the 20% off that should have been on there as part of the diamond coupon perks. She said that I couldn't use the discount, since I had gotten the free hot stones. Not being one for conflict, I signed, tipped and left. But it was bothering me so I went to Customer Service. She spoke with the manager and had the 20% credited the next day. I only mention this as a tip, if something is to good to be true, apparently it is:-) I didn't know to ask if that would have negated my discount. I promise I'm not going to complain this whole review, but that left a bad taste in my mouth, and I wish I hadn't had the massage.

     

    Muster drill, then sail away. We popped into an outside booth at Johnny Rocket's and had shakes and watched the sunset. It was breathtaking. Had a wonderful dinner in the Main Dining Room, and met two really great couples at our table. We've never had tablemates that we clicked so easily with. Just great fun.

     

    Went to the late night comedy show. Stayed for about 2 jokes and were out of there (it was a little raunchy for our taste.) In all fairness, it was billed as raunchy, so we were warned. Stopped at the Schooner and listened to Chester the Piano Man, who was just so great. We really enjoyed him; and this became our go-to entertainment each night. (The crowds grew every night. He's clearly a hit).

     

    Feb. 29th: SEA DAY! I love that we started our cruise with a Sea Day! Had a fresh made omelette in the Windjammer and then went back to the Schooner for trivia. Charming host of trivia was Franky from Australia. Had such a good time, (didn't win), but he stuck around for bit afterwards and told us all kinds of fun ship life stories.

     

    Next up, the Ice Dancin' show. I have to say we really enjoyed this show. It's amazing how much they can do on such a small sheet of ice. Very entertaining, and the crowd was really into it. At 4 p.m. we headed to Bingo. (Did everything in the first day, apparently). We won the first game, but so did 5 other people, so the winnings weren't great but we sure did have fun.

     

    We had purchased the Specialty Dining package before we boarded (4 restaurants for $85 per person), so tonight we went to Giovanni's. It was good, but not great. I really enjoyed the Blue Cheese Gnocchi. Had the filet, but it didn't compare to Chops the next night. Also, our server was just ok. We found a couple of times (and this was one), that when the server realized you weren't drinking alcohol, there was visible let-down, shoulder shrug, disappointment. Which is a bummer, because we tend to tip well to overcompensate for just drinking soda or tea.

     

    That's it for now. Tomorrow I'll try to finish the rest of the review. Didn't realize I'd be quite so wordy!

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