Navigator April 18th Review with Pictures!

[BillOh]

Great review!

 

Can you tell me how to get to the front of the ship? I always say I'm going to go there and never do!

 

Go outside on deck 4 I believe it is and walk as far as you can forward and up a small flight of stairs. On very windy times, its roped off and closed.

[Puffinater]

Great review. Thanks for posting.

[nhnycgirl]

Thanks for posting! We're excited to be on NOS this summer and love seeing the recent photos.

[will773]

Go outside on deck 4 I believe it is and walk as far as you can forward and up a small flight of stairs. On very windy times, its roped off and closed.

 

I also found a more secret way to get there. If you go into the Ixtapa lounge on deck 5, go immediately to the right and there will be a door. It doesn't look like you will be able to go through it, but you can. I think there were three sets of doors but once you were through them, you just go to the left and you are right out front. This way, you avoid having to walk up the steps from deck 4.

[will773]

will773,thanks so much for the kind response. Those things are so minor, I can't see them making any difference to us. We don't watch much tv but since we are in an OS the tv is pretty big anyway and swivels so you can watch from bed or couch! Love your pix! Deb

 

They really are minor. But that is the only possible way that you would be able to tell that this isn't the newest ship in the fleet. She really is in great shape!

[will773]

First Day at Sea (Cont.):

 

Okay, I'll finish my review now! I am still off from school today, so I got to sleep in some more! I'm still rocking a little bit.

 

Another one of my favorite places on the ship (any place on the ship seems to be my favorite... :rolleyes:) was the Viking Crown Lounge. It was awesome to be able to sit up there and see pretty much the entire pool deck, as well as the water out the front and off both sides of the ship.

 

View from the Viking Crown Lounge

 

I also love the blue and golden signs by the pool that have the name of the ship. When I was on the Oasis, I didn't see one of these. To me they are a signature of Royal Caribbean.

 

Navigator of the Seas

 

I was also able to find the peek-a-boo bridge. It is on deck 11, and you have to go through the solarium to get to it. There is a small walkway that leads out to the front of the ship, and then there is a little dip down that is covered so that you can look into the bridge.

 

View of the Bridge

 

After some more walking around, we played some bingo. Unfortunately, they had completely sold out of the machines, so we were at a bit of a disadvantage. As you can probably guess, we didn't win anything.

 

We had a pre-dinner show, All Access. I didn't really care for this show too much. It was very strange because it was half in Spanish. I think that the majority of the audience was very confused as to the purpose of this. At one point, they cast was finished a song and no one clapped, because we had no clue what was going on. This was a disappointing show in my book.

 

Metropolis Theater

 

After the show, we enjoyed another beautiful sunset, and then went to dinner. Tonight was formal night, and I think was also the captains night, but we didn't get our pictures taken with him.

 

Another nice sunset

 

Next up: Labadee, Haiti

[will773]

Labadee, Haiti

 

This was the first time that me and my grandparents have ever been to Labadee. My aunt was there about 25 years ago, so the only thing she recognized was the beach.

 

I woke up pretty early because I wanted to watch us dock. It seemed as though there must have just been a storm, as when I got up on deck, it was soaked, there was a nice big rainbow, and a big storm cloud in the distance!

 

Pulling into Labadee

 

There was a nice rainbow

 

We pulled in forwards, then spun a 180 and moved into the dock

 

Labadee was beautiful. It was must more mountainous than I expected it to be.

 

View from our balcony

 

We ate some breakfast in the Winjammer before getting off the ship. My zipline ride wasn't until noon, so we didn't have to rush off the ship. I had seen pictures of ships docked in Labadee, and couldn't wait to get the perfect picture of the Navigator!

 

This is from the dock, but I wound up finding a better place to get pictures!

 

Once we got onto the island, we went straight ahead to the beach. We went there because my grandparents and aunt wanted to be able to see my coming down the zipline. We didn't realize until later that you are unable to swim on this beach, so don't go there if you want to swim. I went off to sign up for my zipline, which was off to the left when you get on the island.

 

 

Coming up: The rest of Labadee

[will773]

Labadee (Cont.)

 

I signed up for the zipline a little early. So I was able to walk around the island a little bit. I was trying to find a place to get a soda, but there was nothing to be found. I passed the suite only beach and found a nice place to be alone. If you go past the suite only beach, there is a little trail that says it leads to the old bell tower. At the top of that, there are some trees, but there is a gap in the trees where you can go and sit out on the rocks with a panoramic view of the beaches, mountains, and the ship.

 

View from the rocks

 

When I went back to the sign up area to get ready for my ride on the zipline, they called everyone for the 12:00 session to get their seat/harnesses on. After everyone was done, we all went down into a gathering area to let us know what it is we were going to be doing. As I'm sure most of you know, you have to do a smaller zipline to get yourself acquainted with the different positions. The three positions are normal, starfish, and torpedo. We were all told to do the torpedo position, as that is the hardest one.

 

View from the top of the little dragon

 

After we all got down the little zipline, we boarded jeeps for the ride up to the top of the mountain. Our tour director said that we had officially entered Haiti, as we had gone outside the security gate. The ride up was pretty bumpy, and the tour guide said that most roads in Haiti are like this.

 

The ride up to the top of the mountain.

 

Once at the top, we had to cross a narrow bridge to the platform where the ziplines were. The view from up here was simply fantastic. There was a 360 panoramic view of giant mountains, beaches, the ship, and water as far as the eye can see.

 

View from the top of the platform

 

By the time I was done with the zipline, it was around 1:15. We then got some lunch and went to the cove for a dip in the ocean. For those that are interested in doing the Dragons Breath Flight Line, I would recommend doing it early. Because I wasn't done until after 1, I felt that we had little time to eat lunch and still have enough time to relax at the beach.

 

We then got back on the ship, for a 4:00 sail away.

 

Getting back on the ship

 

I love seeing the mountains past the ship

 

Next up: Rest of the day

[will773]

Labadee (Cont.)

 

After watching a little bit of sail away from Deck 12, I went into the Windjammer for some food.

 

View from Deck 12

 

I was lucky enough to get a table right next to the windows, right in the back of the ship.

 

View from my table.

 

I noticed that when we were pulling out of ports was when the ship was rocking the most. I guess this was due to the slower speeds, but it was very noticeable. There was only one night that I was getting a little uneasy in the stomach. I think that was day 2. We were in the theater and the boat was really swaying.

 

Another thing that I liked to do was go into the future cruise sales area and look at all the models that they had. They a Majesty and a Monarch model, a Radiance model, a Vision model, and a Voyager model. I'm not sure what models are on other ships, but on the Oasis, I only saw and Oasis model and a Freedom model. It would be nice to have one model of every ship class to let passengers know what the cruise line has to offer. There were catalogs for all different classes (Radiance class through Oasis class). These catalogs, as well as the worldwide cruises catalogs went very quickly.

 

Voyager model, located right in the middle of the room

 

We had another nice sunset and then went to dinner.

 

Sunset from deck 12

 

Another view of the sunset

 

Tonight at dinner, all of the waiters and assistant waiters and waitresses sang us a song. I can't remember what the song was called, but I think it was in Italian. Some of them really didn't look like they wanted to be singing, but oh well, they had to!

 

Singing a song

 

Next up: Falmouth, Jamaica

[seaofwonder]

Great review Will!

 

Thank you, and Bill, for the info re getting to the front of the boat!

[will773]

Great review Will!

 

Thank you, and Bill, for the info re getting to the front of the boat!

 

Thank you for the positive feedback! I love to read reviews, and this is the first cruise that I have taken after discovering cruise critic. I wasn't really sure what to write about, so I hope it's not too rambly.

 

Well I have to do some homework now :mad: BOO SCHOOL!!!! I'll finish my review a little later.

 

Hope everyone is enjoying! :)

[dfa1]

Great photos & entertaining review. I booked one of the new cruises in Jan next year since they decided to scrap the Mediterranean sailings. I haven't been on Voyager class in several years, and I am very excited to sail one again.

[Ander026]

Great review Will,

 

I just got off the Freedom also doing the Western Carib. I will be sailing on the Navigator in December. Can't to hear what you thought of the rest or your cruise.

[will773]

Falmouth, Jamaica

 

I was very excited, but a little nervous about going to Falmouth. I have never been to Jamaica before, and neither have my grandparents, so this was a new experience. I was nervous though because I knew that Falmouth was not a finished port. We pulled into Falmouth at 9:00am, so I got to sleep in a little bit. I can comfortably say that the port is definitely not finished yet. Most of the buildings are up, but there is nothing inside them. They were still putting the roof on one of the buildings. The port does look like it will be very nice once it is finally completed. I think this was the general consensus between most passengers.

 

View as we backed in

 

They were still putting the roof on this building.

 

There was a nice courtyard where there were some people selling things

 

The highly promoted court house. I don't see what's so special about it...

 

Once we got off the ship, we went over to the tour area to get our tour bus to the beach. As we got off the ship, every passenger was handed a drawstring bag that said historic falmouth on it.

 

These are the bags that we received

 

Sign welcoming us to Falmouth

 

Next up: Our excursion

[will773]

Chukka Beach Break and Lunch

 

Our excursion started with a short tour of Falmouth. I thought it was cool, but my aunt said it made her feel a little uncomfortable going from the luxury and extravagance of the cruise ship to the poverty of Jamaica.

 

This was one of the main streets in Falmouth

 

This was the oldest church in Falmouth. It was interesting because our tour guide said that Jamaica has the most churches per square mile than any other place on Earth. I found that pretty interesting.

 

We arrived at Good Hope beach around a half and hour later. When we got there, they grouped everyone together to let them know how the day was going to go. They gave everyone slips of paper with numbers on them. Whoever had the red number would win a free float for the day. Guess who won, my grandmom! She was very excited because that's exactly what she wanted. They then gave everyone their lunch tickets and we were then free to relax.

 

Good Hope Beach

 

The beach itself was very nice. White soft sand beautiful water. The only bad thing was that it was pretty windy, so the water was pretty rough and would spray in your face. Lounge chairs were provided, and they had additional straight back chairs and floating mats available for rent for $5. There was a house that they had a bar and gift shop in. You could go upstairs and they had a large patio with sofas that were very comfortable. There was also a very nice view from up there.

 

Up on the top of the house

 

It was very nice up there

 

View from up top

 

Next up: Departing Falmouth

[will773]

Departing Falmouth

 

Okay, I'll finish my review now! Sorry it's been taking so long...

 

After we were finished at the beach, we got back on the bus for the short ride back to the port. It was much shorter on the way back, because we didn't have to do the tour.

 

View of the ship as we got back to the port

 

I personally only encountered one Jamaican man who was a little pushy and was trying to get some money. Right past the security line, as we were about the re-board the ship, there was a guy that wanted to have us take pictures with him. After we took the pictures, he wanted money. We didn't have any, so we just walked away.

 

As we began to pull away, there was a large group of port workers that came to the dock and threw a little sail away party. They seemed very happy that we were there and they were dancing around and playing music. It was a nice ending to the day.

 

 

 

We were already facing the right direction, so pulling out of port was very quick. In less than ten minutes, we were already pretty well offshore.

 

 

Of course, I took a picture of this sunset too!

 

 

This night was also the Love and Marriage Show, which was HILARIOUS. The elderly couple won, as usual, but this is really an entertaining show. The midnight buffet was also this night, however it had rained pretty hard and was very windy, so they moved all the food into the Windjammer, and cancelled the poolside party.

 

I love all the different food sculptures!

 

Next up: Our last day at sea...

[will773]

Last day at Sea

 

This was the first time that I had been on on a cruise where the last day was a sea day. On the Disney cruise, we were in Coco Cay, and on the previous Navigator and Oasis cruises we were in Nassau. I have to say, it was very nice to have the last day on the ship to really relax and make the most of the last day. The pool deck was very crowded today, but again, I was always able to find a chair.

 

The hot tubs were always packed! It was so hard to find a spot in one

 

There were also some issues with the elevators. On Wednesday (Labadee), everyone noticed that one of the elevators was making a screeching noise, like one side of the elevator was rubbing against the elevator shaft. It was not a good noise. Another elevator in that same bank always seemed to be stuck on deck 12 as well, so getting an elevator in the port side aft elevator lobby proved to be difficult most of the time.

 

They finally had a maintenance person working on the elevator

 

There was also a very long line for the rockwall today. Good thing I did it a different day.

 

The line looked about 20 minutes long; not too bad, but I didn't have to wait at all when I went

 

On the pool deck that day, they had the World's Sexiest Man Competition, also won by BIG (the winner of the bellyflop contest), as well as the Pool Olympics, won by the guys (woohoo!). It was a very close race and fun to watch.

 

The day went by quickly, and we had another sunset!

 

I like these, can't you tell?

 

I was up pretty late this night, as I wanted to take in as much of the ship as I could.

 

I like when everything is all lit up at night

 

I also walked around a little bit and looked at some of the art on the ship. There were a couple of really large paintings that took up multiple decks. I was unable to get a picture of the entire thing, but I got some of it.

 

These were very nice

 

Up next: Disembarking the Navigator

[will773]

Disembarkation

 

Disembarkation is always the worst! I kept saying to myself, the only thing that was getting me through that day was knowing that in less than 2 months, I would be back there and getting on the Allure! WOOHOO.

 

Anyway, I was up earlier than I needed to be. We signed up to disembark around 9:45, but the Windjammer was only open until 8:30 I think, so we had to hurry up and eat before they closed. I had a while to be able to walk around and see what other ships were in port. There were two Princess ships, Crown and Grand (I think the Grand, that's the one with the big lounge on the back, right?), Carnival Freedom, Celebrity Constellation, Oasis, and of course, Navigator.

 

Carnival Freedom from our balcony

 

Oasis was only partly visible

 

We were now off the Navigator! SAD!

 

Our flight wasn't until 3:00 so we had a lot of time to kill. My grandparents wanted to take up over to Dania Beach, because they liked it there. They had a nice pier that we thought you could walk out on, but you had to pay $2. Lame.

 

We got to FLL airport and got some sushi because we were hungary. It was actually pretty good. As they scanned our boarding passes, they said that we had an equipment change, and that everyone had been assigned new seats. That wasn't so bad, except I like to have a window. I sat in the window anyway and luckily the lady that was supposed to sit there didn't mind, and just sat in the aisle. I was also very lucky that I was on the left side of the plane, which faced the port as we flew over it. and I got some great pictures of the ships from the air.

 

I was so happy to get an arial view of the port!

 

Bye bye Navigator!

 

An overview of the whole port on Saturday

 

Next up: Review by categories

[madra2112]

Will, those shots from the plane are stunning, particularly the two of Navigator - She was our first ship, and will always be special to us. Beautiful photos, well done.

[will773]

Categories

 

Now that I've gotten the day by day review finished, I thought that I would do a further review by category.

 

Ship Condition: As I have stated several times before, the Navigator is in really great shape. There was an occasional odor in the hallway, but It did not last long. The Promenade was very well kept, as well as the hull of the ship, which was being painted as we were boarding.

 

The Navigator is still a GREAT looking ship

 

Service: I thought that the service was okay. We had one guy in the Windjammer that was not very helpful at all. Other days they were great. Our room steward's name was Aura, and she was very nice. The only problem that I had with her was that she was almost too visible. I felt like every time I wanted to get back to the cabin, she was there doing something. Not a big deal, just a little awkward. Our MDR service was fantastic. We sat at table 545. Our waiter was Eric, from Trinidad, and our assistant waitress was Johna, from the Philippines. Maybe it was because we got along so well with our table mates or what, but they really liked us. They said that we were their happiest table. When I went to get my picture with Johna, she told me to put it on Facebook, and she wrote down her name for me to find her. We are now officially Facebook friends!

 

This was Eric

 

This was Johna

 

Food: I thought that the food was very good. The french fries in the Windjammer were the best french fries that I have ever had! They were so crunchy and were just delicious. All the MDR food was excellent as well. I didn't take any pictures of my food, I'll have to remember to do that when I'm on the Allure.

 

Cabin: My aunt and I were in cabin 9646, and my grandparents were in 9644. I thought that the cabins were very nice. Very comfortable couch and a nice large balcony. My parents were just on Carnival in February and had the skinniest balcony! They were jealous of ours. The beds were very comfortable too. Also note that the cabins are alternating, so my grandparents cabin was the exact opposite of this one. There is no bed by closet or balcony issue, just bed facing right or left. This shouldn't ruin anyone's vacation though.

 

Our cabin, 9646

 

Entertainment: Most of the shows were very good. The ice show was the same as it was almost 6 years ago, but I didn't recognize any of the other shows. As I said earlier, the Ballroom Fever show was a bit strange and hard to understand. All Access was very good. I missed the comedy show, but heard that it was good as well. The Love and Marriage and Quest Game Shows were also very fun to watch. The Farewell show was a little corny for me, but still fun nonetheless.

 

Stage during the farewell show

 

Other passengers: Overall, the other passengers on the ship were very nice. I did notice though that no one really just said hi. When I was on the Oasis, almost everyone I passed in the hallway would ask how I was, or at least just say hello. I did not see that very much on the Navigator. Also note that this was still Spring Break time. It was my spring break, and there were lots of kids on the ship. Most of the kids were older teens, most probably older than 16, and most were up very late, like me! They were not too loud though, in my opinion.

 

Am I missing anything? Let me know!

 

I hope everyone liked my review! I had such a great trip, and can't wait till I get on the Allure!

 

[will773]

Oh, and I forgot to add, all of the pictures that I decided to post can be found at this link. I have some great pictures of the Jewel sailing out of Port Everglades, as well as sailing next to us the next day.

 

http://s1118.photobucket.com/albums/k604/Will77W/Navigator%20of%20the%20Seas%20April%2018th%202011/?start=all

 

Hope you all enjoy!

[reallyitsmema]

Great job, Will! I really enjoyed your review.:)

[Niquein99]

FANTASTIC review!! :D We'll be on Navigator in December. And thanks so much for posting pics of the Chukka Beach Break with Lunch. I was thinking of doing this excursion, and now after seeing your pics of the beach, I'm definitely going to book this excursion for our December Navigator cruise! :)

[will773]

Oh. I also forgot to mention that due to a computer glitch in the Royal Caribbean towel renting/returning machines on the pool deck, you are now looking at the proud new owner of one (1) new Royal Caribbean beach towel!!!!!!!!! :D Okay, not that exciting, but still fun!

 

If anyone has any other questions, feel free to ask and I will try to answer.

[BuckeyeMan]

First Day and Departure (Cont.)

 

I was very excited to be able to go out to the very front of the ship. This quickly became one of my favorite places on the ship. It was so great go be able to go out there and stand at the front of the ship, especially when the ship is moving, because you are the only one out there, and there is nothing there but water rushing past.

 

Front of the ship. It looks like it's smiling, doesn't it? :)

 

I called my dad, and he said that he was able to find a webcam website where he was able to control the webcam. He was able to zoom in and I stood on my balcony waving my bright red Phillies shirt. He saw me! He was laughing really hard but that was so cool! I will have to find a good place to stand when I am on the Allure in June!

 

We had the muster drill at 4:30. We had to go to D22, which is the Nutcracker Dining room on deck 5. Our table was also on deck 5, so when the drill was over, I went to go check out the location. It was in a great location, right inside one of the little bump outs, and right next to the railing.

 

Our table.

 

After that, I explored the ship some more. I really missed having the FloRider, which I LOVED on the Oasis. If there is one thing that Royal Caribbean to retrofit onto the Voyager class ships, it would have to be a FloRider!

 

I was on deck 12, port side, front of the ship for sail away. I was on the phone with my mom and she swears that she also saw me, but this time was on Portfever.com.

 

 

 

 

Truly the best feeling! We are going out to sea!

 

 

Our first sunset!

 

The first night at dinner is always a little awkward until everyone gets talking. Luckily, our table mates were VERY good! We really hit it off. They were a family from North Carolina that were on their first cruise. Two parents, a daughter, Leah (17), and a son, Matt (16, same as me). They were very friendly and very talkative. We had to tell them that they were allowed to order as much as they wanted from the menu and they were amazed! After dinner the first night, I took Matt and Leah out for a tour of the boat. Leah wanted to go out to the front of the ship so that she could do the whole Titanic thing, and they both wanted to find the ice rink. While we were walking around, Leah found one of her really good friends from school. They had no clue that they were both even going on a cruise, let alone the same one!

 

 

Went to the welcome aboard show. Not really much to see there. Just an introduction to the cruise director staff and entertainers. Our cruise director was Mike Hunnerup (spelling?), and his activities manager was Rich, and there was also a woman named Calia (maybe Kahlia? Again with the spelling). They were all very good, and it was fun to get to the shows a little early as Mike and Rich always had a funny dance routine that they did.

 

Next up: First Day at Sea!

 

Way too funny. I think you were at the same table as us on the same cruise only we had the early seating. Hope we didn't leave the table too messy. Sure looks like table 545. I know we had the same waiter, Eric. He was great.