NAVIGATOR Trip Report with PHOTOS--March 12, 2017

[Jennylyte]

Read on some other threads there is a Beatles Tribute band are they still onboard. Leaving on Friday for our vaca.

[kwazi07]

Read on some other threads there is a Beatles Tribute band are they still onboard. Leaving on Friday for our vaca.

They weren't listed as performers in the main theater and I don't recall seeing anything in the Compass about them. Maybe they're off the ship or just perform on the nine nights?

 

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[Jennylyte]

Thanks guess we'll see when we get there. By the way, love your post

[kwazi07]

Love your review and accompanying pics.

 

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What a fantastic review! Thanks for taking the time to post.

Good luck with AP Chem:D

Thank you both so much!

 

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[Clarea]

Wow, that's pretty cool! Small world isn't it?

Sure is a small world!

 

Thanks again for an excellent and fun review.:)

[Sea and Me]

Andy you did a great job with your review. I felt like I was right there with you. Great pictures. You write very well, would you happen to be in AP Literature?? :)

[kwazi07]

Andy you did a great job with your review. I felt like I was right there with you. Great pictures. You write very well, would you happen to be in AP Literature?? :)

Thank you! Not done yet!

And no, I'm in AP Lang, but I'll be in Lit next year!

 

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[kwazi07]

Sure is a small world!

 

Thanks again for an excellent and fun review.:)

Of course!

 

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[bigsky]

Your review on the bus ride in Nassau made me laugh. We road it a few times back going to the zoo as well. I think the ride was the most entertaining part of Nassau. We did enjoy the zoo though! Sketchy is one way to describe it. I think it was bus 10? The driver picked up friends along the way. I think we took the long way around! One of his friends drank a beer in a paper bag. They were all funny to listen to. Yes, a cheap way to go! We went on the Allure, and it does have a short stop. If you go again, your family could try Blue Lagoon. We had a beautiful beach to ourselves! Took some cheap blow up mattresses and did some snorkeling. BBQ included was good. We've also gone to Atlantis which was fun! Not our fav stop, but just a few suggestions if you guys go back.

Enjoying your review!

[kwazi07]

Your review on the bus ride in Nassau made me laugh. We road it a few times back going to the zoo as well. I think the ride was the most entertaining part of Nassau. We did enjoy the zoo though! Sketchy is one way to describe it. I think it was bus 10? The driver picked up friends along the way. I think we took the long way around! One of his friends drank a beer in a paper bag. They were all funny to listen to. Yes, a cheap way to go! We went on the Allure, and it does have a short stop. If you go again, your family could try Blue Lagoon. We had a beautiful beach to ourselves! Took some cheap blow up mattresses and did some snorkeling. BBQ included was good. We've also gone to Atlantis which was fun! Not our fav stop, but just a few suggestions if you guys go back.

Enjoying your review!

Thanks for the suggestions! If we're back in Nassau we'll check it out, as we're not really into shopping or Atlantis.

 

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[kwazi07]

DAY 4 - COZUMEL

 

Cruise Compii

 

 

 

 

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[kwazi07]

Again, we got up at 6:30 as we are early birds. It was still dark as we were pulling into Cozumel. But as we got closer it was brighter and we got to see Cozumel for the first time in five years!

 

 

Our first cruise was on the Carnival Paradise, and it was cool seeing her in Cozumel with us. We really dwarfed her!

 

Hmm, who could this be...

 

The (in)famous Carnival Triumph!

 

Breakfast at the Windjammer was average again. I have been getting congee with rice every morning--it was one of my new favorite things I tried!

 

We ended up getting off the ship around 9am, ship time. There was quite a line on Deck 1 when we were trying to disembark, but we found out that it was mostly a line for buying water bottles. We moved to the left of that line and were off the ship in seconds.

 

Love this ship!

 

While we were walking down the dock we began to notice just how cold and windy it was! Living in Florida, we’re extremely warm blooded and it being 68 degrees and windy made us really doubt our beach day, but we still decided to go through with it. So we walked through the port area and made our way to the taxi stand, where there was very little line.

 

 

We shared the taxi with a couple going to Mr. Sanchos. It was a quick 15 minute ride to Paradise Beach, and only $15.

 

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[kwazi07]

Before the trip we had considered going to Nachi Cocom or Mr. Sanchos, but we eventually decided on Paradise Beach because we didn’t want to spend the whole day at the beach (we wanted to go to a Mexican restaurant we had visited last time, and shop a little). Once the taxi dropped us off, we walked straight into the beach area.

 

 

I was hoping he was getting coconuts to drink, but there were no coconuts on the menu. Disappointing...

 

Initially, we decided to sit on the beach under the palm trees for a little while waiting for the beach to warm up. The beach area was gorgeous and the water was blue but still too cold and too windy for swimming. My sister really wanted to swim in the giant pool so we decided to move to the chairs surrounding the pool. Luckily, the pool was heated.

 

A far cry from the pool onboard!!

 

 

While we were swimming a waiter came by and collected the $3 per person fee to use the facilities and gave us a wristband. He also informed us of the $10 per person required spending, which we may or may not have had plans to not meet (insert winky face, darn 6 image limit)

 

So after swimming for an hour or so we were a little hungry, so we decided to order some food. We wanted to save room for lunch, so we just got some guacamole, and virgin pina coladas and daiquiris. The drinks were good, but a little overpriced. The guacamole was guacamole. It’s kind of hard to mess up, but tasty nonetheless. I actually really enjoyed the chips which were thicker than the usual tortilla chips you have back home.

 

Didn't notice camera lens was wet!!!

 

Chips and guac.

 

On food and beverages alone, we only spend around $20 but my mom did buy a towel for $18 from the gift shop as we had somehow forgotten to bring towels with us. So I’d say we spend our fair share. We did have to be a little insistent with the waiter to bring our check after we finished our food instead of later on.

 

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[kwazi07]

Again, wet camera lens!! So annoyed...

 

 

 

After sitting in the pool for a little more and walking on the beach a little, we decided to leave. Overall, the beach area was beautiful and the pool was nice as well. But, I have the first world problem of being sick of the beach. We live a little over five minutes from the beach, and while it was relaxing, it honestly wasn’t anything we couldn’t have done at home. I think if we’re ever back in Cozumel, we’ll visit some of the ruins or just stay on the ship.

 

The taxis were readily available at the beach. We saw on the sign that a taxi to downtown was $15, but maybe I misread it as when we got our of the car he asked for $23, saying that it was $15 back to the pier plus $8 from the pier to downtown. Whatever, we weren’t about to start an argument.

 

The driver dropped us off at the Forum Shops area. My mom and sister wanted to get their earrings from Tanzanite International, so we went there. We actually had three coupons, so I got one and gave it to my little brother to give to his girlfriend (middle schoolers these days). The salesman was actually quite pushy and kept talking about zero imperfections and perfect clarity, even though Erin at the shopping seminar had the helpful tip of saying that inclusions don’t matter as long as you don’t see them...(note slight sarcasm).

 

After grabbing the studs we walked to the main plaza area on the main strip. We looked in the shops for a little, where my sister and mom found a few things they wanted. I'm more of an onboard shops kind of guy.

 

MSC Divina and AIDAluna also in port today.

 

 

 

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[kwazi07]

Cute dog running around the plaza area.

 

For lunch on our Carnival cruise we went to this place called Palmeras completely spontaneously and we LOVED it. We vowed to come back one day because their refried beans were just so amazing. So we were really looking forward to trying it again this trip.

 

Complimentary chips and pico de gallo.

 

Apparently Diet Coke is called Coca Cola Light in Mexico?

 

I ordered the tampiqueña steak, which was really tender and had a good flavor. The beans were good and rich, but not as amazing as I remember them being. The chicken taco on the upper right was okay, but a little dry. The guac was tasty, and the rice was good but...rice.

 

The day before, my dad and brother had made reservations to do a SCUBA excursion in Cozumel. It was so windy when we were walking down the dock that my mom remarked they might cancel the excursion or my brother might get sick (he got seasick both in Grand Cayman when snorkeling and in the Keys doing the same thing!).

 

So my mom, my sister and I were enjoying a relaxing lunch with this awesome window seat with a breeze.

 

So I hear this beeping horn honking over and over, getting closer and closer. I turn around like "what the f-" when I see my brother and dad on a scooter (not of the Razor variety, I mean the Honda type)!!

 

Apparently, their diving excursion WAS cancelled so they decided to rent a scooter to ride around instead. They had spent the last hour looking for us, going as far down as Punta Sur!

 

So they hopped through the open floor to ceiling window and crashed our lunch, even taking some of our food! The compulsive planner in me was freaking out that things are not going according to plan, but looking back it was pretty funny.

 

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[kwazi07]

My dad found a tequila store he wanted to buy some tequila at, so we walked down there while he rode the scooter. I decided to sit across the street with the scooter on a small pier while they were in the store, where I got some nice pics.

 

 

 

 

After my parents had bought their tequila, we decided we were done for the day and wanted to get back on the ship.

 

We were a little miffed about paying $23 for a short taxi ride (where is Uber when you need it?) so we decided to ride one by one on the scooter the way back to the port. It took a little longer, but was an adventure! Admittedly, I had to close my eyes at some points, but it was a cool way to fly past Cozumel!

 

Back to our home away from home! One of my favorite pictures of Navigator I took.

 

 

While we were gone Freedom docked next to us...maybe see you in March 2018?!

 

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[kwazi07]

Somehow my phone snapped this pic in the X-ray machine back onboard...even when off?

 

We dropped off what we had bought in Cozumel at the room and sat on the balcony and relaxed for a little. Got some pics of Freedom (I like checking out other ships).

 

 

 

 

 

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[kwazi07]

After a while of sitting on the balcony, we decided to try again at the afternoon trivia again. This one was run by Marcya as well.

 

At the past few trivia games we had been seeing the same people over and over again, and we eventually made two trivia friends! They actually live across the pond from us in Tampa, and they were so nice (Jack and Heather, if you’re reading this, hey!). Meeting new people on cruises is one of our favorite things.

 

Sadly, we did not win again…

 

We were going to go swimming, but instead we chose to go back to the room for a little to see if we could catch any pier runners as we were about to depart. There weren’t any, but there were LOTS of drunk college kids waiting in the giant line to get back on the ship...I don’t think the people on Freedom thought highly of us as their passengers were much more sedate!

 

 

Before dinner my mom and I decided to try the 2000s music trivia, again held in the far too crowded Schooner Bar. I love music from the early 2000s--I feel like it was the soundtrack to my early childhood! I thought we were doing really well in the game, which we were. We did get close...we came in second after Jack and Heather, which made us feel a little better about not winning. The prize was a little lame--Royal Caribbean highlighters.

 

It’s time for dinner!

 

The menu tonight was shiitake, which I have not had before. I really enjoyed the meal that night.

 

For a starter I had the seared beef carpaccio, which was really really tasty but a little small portion. Oh well, at least it saved more room for food later on!

 

I ordered the chicken gyoza dumplings for the entree. I really enjoyed them, and they had a good flavor. The shiitake mushrooms on top were a nice addition. The portion was a little small, but luckily Dickson came around with another plate of dumplings, which my brother and I shared.

 

Finally, to finish off an otherwise light meal, I ordered a super rich dessert. I cannot remember the exact name, but it was a very dark chocolate cake with a molten center. It is similar to warm chocolate melting cake on Carnival, for all of the people who have been on Carnival and loved the stuff (like me) or people who have never been on Carnival and curious what all of the hype is about.

 

I also have a picture of my sister’s chicken breast she ordered almost every night from the classics menu. She’s kind of a picky eater, but the chicken was actually pretty good.

 

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[leinhto]

Marcya is still keeping it live.

After a while of sitting on the balcony, we decided to try again at the afternoon trivia again. This one was run by Marcya as well.

 

At the past few trivia games we had been seeing the same people over and over again, and we eventually made two trivia friends! They actually live across the pond from us in Tampa, and they were so nice (Jack and Heather, if you’re reading this, hey!). Meeting new people on cruises is one of our favorite things.

 

Sadly, we did not win again…

 

We were going to go swimming, but instead we chose to go back to the room for a little to see if we could catch any pier runners as we were about to depart. There weren’t any, but there were LOTS of drunk college kids waiting in the giant line to get back on the ship...I don’t think the people on Freedom thought highly of us as their passengers were much more sedate!

 

 

Before dinner my mom and I decided to try the 2000s music trivia, again held in the far too crowded Schooner Bar. I love music from the early 2000s--I feel like it was the soundtrack to my early childhood! I thought we were doing really well in the game, which we were. We did get close...we came in second after Jack and Heather, which made us feel a little better about not winning. The prize was a little lame--Royal Caribbean highlighters.

 

It’s time for dinner!

 

The menu tonight was shiitake, which I have not had before. I really enjoyed the meal that night.

 

For a starter I had the seared beef carpaccio, which was really really tasty but a little small portion. Oh well, at least it saved more room for food later on!

 

I ordered the chicken gyoza dumplings for the entree. I really enjoyed them, and they had a good flavor. The shiitake mushrooms on top were a nice addition. The portion was a little small, but luckily Dickson came around with another plate of dumplings, which my brother and I shared.

 

Finally, to finish off an otherwise light meal, I ordered a super rich dessert. I cannot remember the exact name, but it was a very dark chocolate cake with a molten center. It is similar to warm chocolate melting cake on Carnival, for all of the people who have been on Carnival and loved the stuff (like me) or people who have never been on Carnival and curious what all of the hype is about.

 

I also have a picture of my sister’s chicken breast she ordered almost every night from the classics menu. She’s kind of a picky eater, but the chicken was actually pretty good.

 

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[kwazi07]

Marcya is still keeping it live.

 

 

 

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Ahh, Marcya [emoji23]

Each of the CD staff members each have their own little style...I liked them collectively more than Cuddy 😏

 

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[cruiselover04]

 

We dropped off what we had bought in Cozumel at the room and sat on the balcony and relaxed for a little. Got some pics of Freedom (I like checking out other ships).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Cool that you managed to take these photos. We're on the Navigator in 16 days followed by the Freedom TA and I can see our hump cabin. Thank you!

 

Jenni

[kwazi07]

After we finished dinner my sister and I went back up to the room to change into pants to go ice skating again. I think I liked ice skating more than the rock wall and about even with the Flowrider. It was fun to be able to see improvement in how well we could skate after just two days of skating. The novelty of skating on a ship was pretty cool too!

 

I wanted a sandwich and coffee from the Cafe Promenade, so I went up there while my mom played the 70s music trivia. I stopped by halfway through, and people seemed pretty annoyed that it was only disco music and not any classic rock or 70s country. DeeDee, who ran the game, actually had to get pretty defensive when people were getting mad at her about it!

 

By the time the game was over it was time to go to the 8:30pm “Now and Forever” show in the main theater. We got there just in time. Embarrassingly, I fell down the steps in the theater. I was just walking down the stairs in the mezzanine like usual, until I felt myself falling and hit the ground! No major injuries, but embarrassing nonetheless!

 

The show was very good, I’d say an 8/10. All of the singers were great and the dancers were all on point. The only thing I wish they had was some more recognizable Broadway songs. I recognized most of them, but they’re not my favorite musicals (there was a Mamma Mia finale, however).

 

After the show was over my sister and I went back up to the room to change for some night swimming. Mind you it was very cold and windy, so we just decided to sit in the hot tub. But I could not resist jumping into the pool when the seas started getting a little rougher! The pools were always cold onboard, even in the day!

 

I want to comment real quick on the programming of the movie screen by the pool. I was a little annoyed with the screen, to be honest. At night, they played some movies like La La Land and Moana--none of which I could watch, as they were always playing when at dinner or at a show. In the day, they always played these silent videos from the Chive of people doing stupid stuff and hurting themselves, AFV style. While it was silent and not a noise issue, I missed the nature videos and nice music they played in the day on Enchantment. When there wasn’t a band at the pool, it was a little too quiet, in my opinion. And the wipeout videos seemed a little trashy, to be honest.

 

Anyways, after swimming, we again went back to the room to change. I initially had planned on going to the 70s party on the Royal Promenade, as it was pretty fun on Enchantment. However, as the night went on I got more and more tired and a little nauseous--probably a combo of being overtired and the ship was moving a lot that night. I eventually decided just to call it a night and fall asleep while watching NCAA basketball.

 

My mom did still go to the party with my dad. She said it was fun and pretty busy, but it was annoying how they kept throwing stuff off the bridge over the promenade into the crowd. Apparently, it caused people to go crazy and some glasses were even broken!

 

So that’s the end of day four! Up next: our last day at sea!

 

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[kwazi07]

Sorry for no photos on this update...the only thing we got photos of in this section was us ice skating and they're not my phone. At the end of the report I'll include and miscellaneous pics or weird things I found on the cruise!

 

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[kwazi07]

Cool that you managed to take these photos. We're on the Navigator in 16 days followed by the Freedom TA and I can see our hump cabin. Thank you!

 

Jenni

Nice! Navigator is super fun, and I would LOVE to be on any TA, nonetheless Freedom. Have a great time, and enjoy the hump cabin!

 

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[ihopfar]

Before the trip we had considered going to Nachi Cocom or Mr. Sanchos, but we eventually decided on Paradise Beach because we didn’t want to spend the whole day at the beach (we wanted to go to a Mexican restaurant we had visited last time, and shop a little).

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We went to Mr. Sanchos on our last visit to Cozumel and are considering Nachi Cocom or Paradise Beach next time. Have you been to either of the others? If so, how does Paradise Beach compare? Were umbrellas on the beach readily available? An extra charge?

 

Thanks!

Brad