Navigator 6 Night Trip Journal with Pictures

[tmoret]

Thank you so mush for taking the time to do this and add photos. We have sailed on the navigator years ago and book for this april! Glad to see she is still a great ship.

[poblead]

fabulous review thanks!!! I am interested in knowing what kind of camera you are using!! :)

[Newbcruiser1]

fabulous review thanks!!! I am interested in knowing what kind of camera you are using!! :)

 

I'm using a fuji finepix waterproof camera - 10 megapixels which I bought a few years ago on a cruise. It's funny because I noticed that a lot of my pictures look grainy this time around and was thinking I might need to start looking at a new one. I do like this one as I don't have to worry about it in the rain or around beaches/pools though - it comes in handy for that.

[Puffinater]

Great job with the review and pictures.

[will773]

Love the review!

[Newbcruiser1]

Day 5: February 2, 2012 - Labadee, Haiti

 

We woke up bright and early at 7:45 today with an ETA of 9am in Labadee. We had been asking our MDR waiter, Piotr which morning the chocolate breakfast would take place, however he had been unable to find an answer for us. As we were up early, we decided to head there today for a change of pace from the Windjammer, and to our surprise, the chocolate breakfast was today. I had caramel-chocolate banana waffles (which had all of 2 tiny slices of bananas on them) as well as a chocolate milkshake and some melon. The service was extremely slow - I’m not sure why, but the assistant waiter had to take our order and the table next to us was pretty mad at the slowness as well.

 

 

 

 

We finished breakfast just in time to take some pictures and make our way off the ship shortly after 9:15am.

 

 

 

 

[Newbcruiser1]

 

The Liberty of the Seas could be seen out in the distance:

 

 

 

Labadee is the best port to take pictures of the ship from:

 

 

 

The weather was beautiful - sunny, and it was the first day that had minimal wind. We docked in Labadee shortly before the Liberty did, giving us time to walk over to our favourite beach (between Columbus Cove and Barefoot Beach) before it got crowded. Usually they have a little tender running from the pier to the beach but due to the fact there were 2 ships in today, it wasn’t running. It took us about 10 minutes to walk there, and a very friendly man brought our chairs to a nice shady spot for us when we got there. We tipped him a couple $$$‘s and I watched the Liberty pull into port while taking a dip in the nice calm water, and then spent some time reading and exploring Labadee.

 

 

 

[Newbcruiser1]

 

 

 

 

The Liberty turned around and docked parallel to the Navigator:

 

 

[Newbcruiser1]

 

 

 

Some random Labadee pictures:

 

 

 

 

[will773]

Love Labadee! Great pics!

[Newbcruiser1]

Here is the other side of Labadee, where Adrenaline Beach is - this beach has a lot more waves, signs warning of various sea-creatures, more rocks in the sand, etc. It is recommended for sunbathing but not for swimming. Unfortunately a lot of people didn't seem to discover the sandier, calmer beaches on the other side and spent the day complaining about the rocks. So if you're looking for somewhere with nice, soft, sandy beaches, no fish, and no waves, stick with the beaches to the RIGHT side of Labadee when exiting the ship (just past the private Barefoot Beach for suite guests), not the left side!

Adrenaline Beach:

We stayed at the beach between Columbus Cove and Barefoot Beach. Columbus Cove is also nice and sandy with no rocks, however it is farther to get to and has more children due to the aqua park:

Around 1:00, we went to have lunch - the line wasn’t horrendous despite the 2 large ships being in port together, and we had no trouble finding a shaded picnic table to eat at.

 

 

[Newbcruiser1]

After another dip in the ocean and some more reading, I headed back to the ship around 4:00. It was pretty neat to see the Navigator and her “cousin” the Liberty side by side.

On my way upstairs, I stopped at Café Promenade for a mini ricotta and olive tapenade sandwich - it was somewhat unremarkable. I then went up to deck 11, returned my towel (I still think they should have a towel return station when returning from port), and grabbed a frozen yogurt by the pool. I got a kick out of seeing the Liberty beside the Navigator - it looked a bit like a mirror image.

[Newbcruiser1]

A shot of Labadee from Deck 12:

I then went down to the helipad for sail away, which involved an awesome horn battle between us and the Liberty. The captains seemed to be having a good time! It was neat watching us slide out from the tight spot along the pier, behind the Liberty, and then cruise right by it.

Hurry Up... they're untying the ship:

 

Bye Liberty, see you in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday!

 

 

 

 

 

[Newbcruiser1]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Newbcruiser1]

 

After watching as we sailed away, I went back to the room to get ready for the evening, which was the second formal night. Tonight’s show was Paul DiMuzio, a juggling/comedy act. He was very good but it was a little boring only having the one performer.

For dinner in the MDR, I had eggplant and olive tartare, followed by mushrooms in puff pastry, and the fisherman’s plate (consisting of a lobster tail and 4 shrimps) for dinner. Piotr was nice enough to offer a second lobster tail which we shared as well. This lobster actually tasted better than that in Portofino on the first night of the cruise. For dessert they had the dessert sampler, however we only wanted the flourless chocolate cake from it so we asked Piotr for 2 of those - he brought us 2 orders of 3 though, for a total of 6! Yikes! Needless to say we could only eat about 1.5 each because they were so sweet. We also had cherries jubilee which was pretty good.

 

 

 

 

 

[Newbcruiser1]

 

At 11pm twas the 70’s party in the Royal Promenade which I opted to watch from our window. It looked like a good time. I remember reading on Cruise Critic that some people found the party a bit inappropriate for children - there were in-fact topless men pole-dancing, so those who have kids may need to use some discretion in deciding whether to take them or not, but it was nothing over the top.

The train:

 

 

Blurry photo evidence of the pole dancing men:

 

 

 

After the 70’s party was the late night comedy show with Rick Corso. The show was great and he was very funny, but it was only 30 minutes long - probably just as good as I was so tired that I was falling asleep. I went to bed around 1am and had a very short sleep in preparation for our last day of the cruise! And we had another towel friend tonight:

 

[believer33323]

We were there in late December and liked Labadee. It was very relaxing. We were a little taken by some of the vendors along the road to the beach area. While they were very kind they were also some very pushy. We did purchase a couple items. One hangs on our wall of a painted metal type of tree of life. Only paid 25.00, great deal since I paid about 100.00 for a similar type of wall decor from Naples, Florida. We did not try to chew them down since I figured I had more money than they probably would ever have. The main shop just before the dirt road to the beach was very nice and had some nice stuff. (and nothing made in China)

[jerryb48]

Newbcrusier 1 ....

 

I have a question pertaining to Platinum coupons you mentioned using. Were they found in your cabin when you arrived? I am an Emerald member and will become a Diamond member after I go on my cruise in March. No coupon book was mailed to me, so I was wondering how you got yours.

 

btw. Great job with the review and pics.

 

Thanks,

Jerry

[newcruisergal]

Wow, thanks so much for this great review and all the wonderful pics! DH and I sail on Navigator in 2 weeks, and this is getting us SO excited!!!

 

Had decided to skip the specialty restaurants this time, until seeing your pictures of Portofino...forgot the awesome bread basket, and the seafood skewer...and the dessert sampler!!! Might need to rethink this decision.

 

Also am dying for a Johnny Rockets burger and the sushi from WJ looks awesome.

[terpfan101]

Wow! Navigator & Liberty at Labadee together? Is that typical? Does anyone know if it's typical for the Allure/Oasis to have company at Labadee?

[Daghis]

I have a question pertaining to Platinum coupons you mentioned using. Were they found in your cabin when you arrived?

I'm not the OP, but in my experience, the coupon books have always been waiting in our cabins for us after we boarded.

[believer33323]

We are only Gold on our 2nd trip we had coupon books waiting for us when we first got into or cabin.

[Newbcruiser1]

Newbcrusier 1 ....

 

I have a question pertaining to Platinum coupons you mentioned using. Were they found in your cabin when you arrived? I am an Emerald member and will become a Diamond member after I go on my cruise in March. No coupon book was mailed to me, so I was wondering how you got yours.

 

btw. Great job with the review and pics.

 

Thanks,

Jerry

 

Jerry, Our coupon books were waiting in our cabin when we boarded as well as a letter with the dates of the Crown and Anchor parties (none of which we went to because the times didn't work with our schedules). You should have your Emerald books in your room in March!

 

Wow, thanks so much for this great review and all the wonderful pics! DH and I sail on Navigator in 2 weeks, and this is getting us SO excited!!!

 

Had decided to skip the specialty restaurants this time, until seeing your pictures of Portofino...forgot the awesome bread basket, and the seafood skewer...and the dessert sampler!!! Might need to rethink this decision.

 

Also am dying for a Johnny Rockets burger and the sushi from WJ looks awesome.

 

Portofino was great - we went to Chops last year on the Liberty so we wanted to try something different. The steak was to die for in Portofino - so tender! Unfortunately I wasn't a fan of the Windjammer sushi - it looked better than it tasted. It was extremely vinegary (much like grocery store sushi) so I didn't eat any again for the rest of the cruise. The Johnny Rockets burger was delicious though! :) Totally worth the $5 cover charge, in my opinion!

 

 

Wow! Navigator & Liberty at Labadee together? Is that typical? Does anyone know if it's typical for the Allure/Oasis to have company at Labadee?

 

I think it happens periodically that 2 ships are in port on the same day. I don't know if the Allure and Oasis are ever docked with another ship though. Fortunately it didn't seem horribly crowded despite having 2 large ships in - there were plenty of chairs and food to go around! :)

[Ander026]

Great Review.

 

I was on the Navigator back in December last year a few weeks after the TA. It was great to see Falmouth finished since the last time I was there was in April on Freedom.

 

Just to let you know on our 6-night we were supposed to go FLL-Sea-Laberdee-Grand Cayman-Ocho Rios-Sea. But instead we went FLL-Sea-Grand Cayman-Ocho Rios-Sea-Coco Cay. According to the original schedule we were supposed to be at Laberdee with Allure. I was so hoping to get some close pics of an Oasis Class ship.

 

Great photos by the way.

[Ander026]

Wow! Navigator & Liberty at Labadee together? Is that typical? Does anyone know if it's typical for the Allure/Oasis to have company at Labadee?

 

I was on the Navigator back in December. I booked the Navigator when I was on the Freedom back in April. At that time the Navigator was originaly scheduled to be at Laberdee at the same time as Allure. Weeks later they changed our schedule to visit Grand Cayman first instead and finish with Coco Cay on the last day.

 

Day Original Updated

1 FLL FLL

2 Sea Sea

3 Laberdee Grand Cayman

4 Ocho Rios Ocho Rios

5 Grand Cayman Sea

6 Sea Coco Cay

7 FLL FLL