Navigator 6 Night Trip Journal with Pictures

[sml3]

I hope this doesn't happen to us. No change yet though and we leave Saturday. I've been to Coco Cay and was hoping to be going to Laberdee. I was wondering why the itinerary changes this month from stopping at Falmouth to now going to Ocho Rios. Does anybody know?

 

 

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

[BBT]

Good review. I enjoyed the pics a lot. I was on Navigator for the Jan. 15 7 nighter and your review made me wish I was still cruising. I took about 300 pics, and you have a few similar to mine, but yours came out better.

[GSuitesailing]

Thank you for your review. It has been wonderful. Love seeing all your pics and reading your day by day journey. Looking forward to the rest.

[terpfan101]

I hope this doesn't happen to us. No change yet though and we leave Saturday. I've been to Coco Cay and was hoping to be going to Laberdee. I was wondering why the itinerary changes this month from stopping at Falmouth to now going to Ocho Rios. Does anybody know?

 

That should be a good thing as Ochos Rios is much closer to popular spots like Dunns River Falls and its a bigger city.

[Newbcruiser1]

Thanks for all of the messages! I love reading these photo reviews when people do them so I like to return the favor! :)

In terms of the Navigator going to Ocho Rios this month rather than Falmouth, it's possible that Falmouth is already scheduled to have 2 ships in port (their maximum). The Navigator was a late add-on for the Caribbean as it was supposed to be sailing Europe and was brought back for whatever reason.

Anyway my apologies for the delay in getting the last day up. I will try to finish it tomorrow so stay tuned and thanks for reading!

Also if anyone has any questions, I do still have the compasses here and can try to answer as best I can.

[sailingawaysoon]

I love your reviews, especially the food pics. Can't wait to read the next installment.

[Cupcrazy]

Great pictures! Thanks for posting.

[judimarg]

Great Review! Thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks for taking the time to post it.

[richrhon1]

Great review. Quality of the pictures was some of the best i have seen in pictoril review. Excellent job. I felt like i was there.

[Newbcruiser1]

Day 6 - February 3, 2012 - At Sea

 

Being the last day, we woke up bright and early around 7:45am and got dressed and headed to the pool. There were already a few people out, but we got great seats in the front row beside one of the pools which were luckily shaded under an overhang. The forecast today was supposed to be cloudy but we were lucky enough to see a decent amount of sunshine.

 

 

I took a quick trip down to Café Promenade for some frozen decaf mocha’s for my mom and I using our other crown and anchor buy one get one free coupon, and then we headed to the Windjammer for a quick breakfast which was great, as always. Breakfast in the Windjammer is always a cruise favorite for me!

 

 

The Walk for Wishes in support of the Make a Wish Foundation took place at 10:45am, and they raised about $2100 through the sale of $10 t-shirts. A lot of people took part in this 1 mile walk around the jogging track with the captain and his officers. It was great to see. Hopefully a deserving child will get a nice wish out of it.

 

 

 

 

 

[Newbcruiser1]

At 12pm there was an ice carving demonstration on the pool deck which was great to watch. It was fun having everyone guess what it was while he was working on it!

The Sexiest Man Competition took place at 1pm and was hilarious! They had the men jump, roll over, and "kill a crocodile" (towel) which really made it funny to watch!

[Newbcruiser1]

Some more pictures from the Sexiest Man Competition:

 

I made a quick trip into the Windjammer for some lunch which I devoured before taking a picture (mashed potatoes, a mini turkey wrap, some salads, a turkey burger patty, and spinach frittata) and then made one last trip to the frozen yogurt machine. - hey, it’s low fat, right?

After lunch I finally braved the chilly pool water and went for a swim or two. I was really surprised that the pool deck wasn’t busier than it was. This cruise was the least crowded of any of my cruises to date, from the pools to the theatre and lounges, despite sailing with 3222 passengers. In the late afternoon there was a Merengue and belly dancing class poolside which I watched from deck 12.

 

 

Reflections in the Viking Crown Lounge windows:

The beginning of the sunset:

[Newbcruiser1]

There was another parade, this time circus-themed at 5:30 which I watched from our window before getting ready for dinner and starting to pack. It was better than the first parade.

[Newbcruiser1]

Tonight’s show was the second singers and dancers production show, “All Access” which was the best show of the cruise - much more lively than the others. They also showed part of the “Cruise in Review” DVD prior to the show, and crew members from different departments came on stage afterwards for a standing ovation from the audience. I have videos of the DVD and the crew members however I've been having difficulties getting them to upload to YouTube, so I'll post those once I can get them up there.

Here are some All Access pictures:

 

 

 

We ate in the main dining room again, and I had the Moroccan Spiced Chicken Salad, onion soup, and shrimp tempura (it was supposed to be shrimp and mahi mahi but I requested only the shrimp). My food was delicious, but my Mom wasn’t crazy about her New York Strip Steak as it was very tough so she sent it back and the head waiter brought her turkey instead, which she enjoyed. For dessert I had the banana and crunchy nut parfait (which isn’t actually a parfait - more like a slice of frozen custard, but still delicious, nonetheless) and coffee ice cream.

 

 

 

 

 

[Newbcruiser1]

 

 

After dinner we headed to the game show “If You Know it, Dance it” in the Ixtapa Lounge on deck 5. This was the first time we’d seen this game and it was a lot of fun once they rounded up enough people to play. We got yellow Royal Caribbean rubber bracelets for participating.

I stayed to watch a bit of karaoke and have one last drink, a margarita, before heading back to our room to finish packing, fill out our customs form and complete our guest satisfaction survey. I didn’t get to bed until around 1:30am which made for yet another short sleep.

 

[Newbcruiser1]

Day 7: February 4, 2012 - Fort Lauderdale - End of Cruise

We woke up early at 6:15am to find that we were already back in Port Everglades. After packing our last remaining items, we headed up to the Windjammer for one last breakfast. I, of course, crammed all of my favorites onto my plate in a last ditch effort to enjoy one last huge meal before post-cruise depression set in. We noticed all of the stateroom attendants were in the hallway already, waiting for people to leave. We told ours that we would be coming back soon to pick up our luggage and he was fine with that and told us to take our time. What a contrast to my cruise last summer on the Allure where they kept calling me to get out before the "vacate cabin" time listed on the papers given to me.

 

 

 

I took a quick walk around deck 12 hoping to see the sun rise, but thanks to the overcast skies it was nowhere to be seen. I took some last minute pictures of the area which are grainy due to the overcast skies.

 

We met up with the Liberty yet again:

 

 

We had a clear view of the Oasis:

 

 

Lots of ship traffic today, including container ships:

 

 

Not many people were leaving yet but the big lot outside the terminal was full of taxi's waiting to whisk people off to the airport:

 

 

 

 

We then headed back to our room to pick up our luggage for express walk-off and we left our room around 7:45am. We didn’t have any trouble getting an elevator down to the gangway on deck 4, and we were off the ship soon after that. The line at customs wasn’t more than 10 minutes, and after a bit of a trek through the lot and bypassing of the shared shuttles to the airport for $10 per person (more than a taxi would cost for 2), we were in a taxi on our way to the Fort Lauderdale Airport, at a cost of $17 including tip.

 

Luckily the lines at the airport were minimal and we were checked in, through security, and waiting at our gate by 8:40am, plenty of time before our 11:45am flight. We probably could have slept in a little later but we felt better being at the airport early before it got too busy. Unfortunately our flight was delayed due to mechanical problems, however they did not inform us until 12:30 when they said that a mechanic was about 30 minutes out. They then told us that they had to wait for a part to arrive but the plane would be fixed. At 2:45 they started to give out $15 meal vouchers to each passenger and told us to be back at 3:30 as the plane should be leaving around 4. After a quick run out through security to Chili’s for a chicken sandwich to go, I ran back to the gate to find no further updates.

 

We again waited until 5:30, at which time we were told that the plane’s crew was unable to fly due to having exceeded their allowable hours for the day and that we’d have to wait for a new crew to be flown in en-route to Montego Bay. This wouldn’t be until 12:30am, and we’d then be en route to Toronto.

 

We were again given meal vouchers, this time for $25 each and told to be back at the gate around 11:30pm. We waited for a while until around 7:30 and then headed over to terminal 4 to the Burger Bar for some burgers, wings, sweet potato fries, and milkshakes. Everything was delicious.

 

After arriving back at the terminal at 9pm, we realized security was closed up and we could not get to our gate. The security man at the exit told us that our flight had been cancelled and to go out to the airline’s desk where we’d be given a hotel voucher. After waiting in line for 45 minutes, we were in a shuttle on our way to the Comfort Suites for the night with instructions to return for 5:00am for a 7:00 flight.

 

The hotel wasn’t very nice but it was better than sitting in the airport all night. We were unable to get our checked luggage back so we had nothing with us - no clothes, no toiletries, etc. The hotel was kind enough to provide us with toothbrushes and toothpaste so at least we had something.

 

We didn’t get to bed until around midnight, but I was unable to sleep thanks to the stress from the day (and the ridiculously loud air conditioner), and at 4:20am, we were up bright and early to catch the shuttle back to the airport. Again there was some miscommunication and very long lines, however our flight finally left at around 7:30am with the applause of those onboard. 30 hours after disembarking the ship, and after 13 hours in the airport followed by a brief hotel stay and more time in the airport, we FINALLY arrived home at 11:45am. I have never been so happy to get home after a vacation. It was a bit of a bitter end to a great trip!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Newbcruiser1]

Some Random Observations:

- We heard strange elevator-style music piped into our room one day and could not figure out where it was coming from. It turned out if the announcement switch is turned to “on”, there is constant music playing! Luckily we figured out how to turn it off before going to guest services and embarassing ourselves!

 

- I saw a woman tasting the pool water by dipping her finger in and licking it…. Yes, it’s salt water, and no, I wouldn’t recommend trying it! Blech!

 

- I also saw a child sitting in the pool and licking the salt off of his feet - same YUCK there!

 

- The service wasn’t as good on this cruise as I have had on past cruises, and I didn’t feel like we came across anyone that went above and beyond and was deserving of the “WOW Cards” provided at check-in. The activities staff, however, were outstanding and did a great job! In retrospect, we should have given the cards to them!

 

- This cruise was the rockiest one yet in terms of feeling the ocean. I'm unsure whether the stabilizer's being cut off rumors are true, but it certainly felt like it. There was constant side to side rocking and jerking, as well as the occasional loud "fluttering bang", particularly felt in the theatre.

 

- This cruise also had the strongest winds I've ever had on a cruise, so that could explain some of the motion felt.

 

- The ship is 10 years old now, but was in excellent condition. There were a few missing elevator buttons, a few carpet stains in the cabin hallways, etc, but nothing that would prompt me to complain or ruin my vacation - just random little things that you'll notice if you're looking out for them. The ship was very clean however.

 

- No norovirus or anything that we heard about - very lucky considering the issues on Princess lately. We were prepared with a mini can of lysol that we used to spray the handles, phone, remote control, etc when we arrived in our stateroom, as well as mini bottles of hand sanitizer which we used after touching the serving utensils and sitting down in the buffet. You can never be too careful.

 

Overall we loved our cruise despite any service gaps or other issues. Having just completed 5 eastern and western Caribbean cruises, I think I'm ready to move on to other geographical areas and other cruiselines for a change of pace. I'll definitely sail with RCI again in the future, but probably not for my next cruise as I'd like to compare the services/product to other lines, and frankly the menus, shows, etc are getting a little bit redundant.

 

[BoxerLuver]

Thanks for the info, we are going on the 6 night at the end of Feb:)

[LidoBoy]

Nicely done. Thank you for the time and effort in putting this online. I agree with your comment about RCL becoming a bit redundant. After 14 cruises with RCL we are searching for something new. Likely Celebrity since we can transfer our loyal Royal standing to an advanced customer program on Celebrity. Good luck on finding something new.

[Newbcruiser1]

Nicely done. Thank you for the time and effort in putting this online. I agree with your comment about RCL becoming a bit redundant. After 14 cruises with RCL we are searching for something new. Likely Celebrity since we can transfer our loyal Royal standing to an advanced customer program on Celebrity. Good luck on finding something new.

 

You are very welcome!

 

We too, are considering Celebrity for our next cruise. I think that's next on my list of lines to try! :) Do let us know what you do next - I'd love to read a comparison of the 2!

[seastar2]

Thank you for a great review.....I will be sailing NOS in March and this review gave me some incite into the ship and her venues. My ports will be different but have been many of the islands already.

 

Looking forward to a relaxing cruise....:cool:

[Sunebeach]

Bring some $$$ if you want your picture taken with these guys:

 

 

yeah, the DH handed them 3$ one dollar for each of the guys on stilts and the look they gave us almost had us running away...gesss...it was just a picture for crying out loud! You didn't take the picture...so why get upset for 3$...

[Newbcruiser1]

Bring some $$$ if you want your picture taken with these guys:

 

 

yeah, the DH handed them 3$ one dollar for each of the guys on stilts and the look they gave us almost had us running away...gesss...it was just a picture for crying out loud! You didn't take the picture...so why get upset for 3$...

 

 

Yikes. I would think that's plenty for a picture - the same as I would have given! Maybe my tip should be to avoid them rather than to bring $$ then! ;)

[Newbcruiser1]

My official review has been posted in the more typical review format! It can be viewed here:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=97139

[lady_mac]

Thank you for your review. I'll be sailing on Sunday so I'm excited.