A different Birthday celebration! 3 Days on Navigator of the Seas including Coco Cay!

[danp2482]

Day 3:

 

Nassau

 

 

 

 

For those that read the Symphony review, you know that we’ve been fortunate enough to have ported there a handful of times so now we tend to stay on the ship and enjoy lighter crowds while onboard.

 

 

We woke up on day 3, got ready and headed up to the vitality spa to use the gym which is deck 12 aft. A lot of people posted how upset they were with how the renovations affected the gym on navigator and how they ruined it. I will say, the gym was a bit small and the ceilings were very low! I felt like I was going to hit my head on the ceiling as I used the elliptical. Nichole knocked out a quick 4 miles and I used an elliptical. Even thought the gym is small and cramped, it seemed like all the equipment was new and it all worked. We headed back down to the room to get cleaned up and head to breakfast. I grabbed some pics of the sport deck and solarium pool on the way back!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We grabbed breakfast at WJ and then head to the WJ bar where (you guessed it) Herbert was waiting for us! He cracked a few jokes and put 2 fresh squeezed OJ screwdrivers in front of us. He also made us iced lattes.  As I ate breakfast, a 2nd screwdriver showed up and then a 3rd! My intention was not to get buzzed during breakfast but my man Herbert was a bad influence! We finished up breakfast and headed out to the main pool. Dumbo was showing poolside and Nichole wanted to see it. We grabbed a few in water loungers and took in the movie.

 

After that we headed into the solarium and grabbed a couple of loungers in the shade. Nichole grabbed a quick nap and I headed to Lime & Coconut to people watch.  I went back after about an hour and we headed back to WJ for lunch.

 

We headed back out to the solarium and relaxed a bit. Around 3 we headed back out to the main pool to relax and get a decent spot for the belly flop competition.

[danp2482]

Day 3:

 

Nassau

 

 

 

 

For those that read the Symphony review, you know that we’ve been fortunate enough to have ported there a handful of times so now we tend to stay on the ship and enjoy lighter crowds while onboard.

 

 

We woke up on day 3, got ready and headed up to the vitality spa to use the gym which is deck 12 aft. A lot of people posted how upset they were with how the renovations affected the gym on navigator and how they ruined it. I will say, the gym was a bit small and the ceilings were very low! I felt like I was going to hit my head on the ceiling as I used the elliptical. Nichole knocked out a quick 4 miles and I used an elliptical. Even thought the gym is small and cramped, it seemed like all the equipment was new and it all worked. We headed back down to the room to get cleaned up and head to breakfast. I grabbed some pics of the sports deck and solarium pool on the way back!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We grabbed breakfast at WJ and then head to the WJ bar where (you guessed it) Herbert was waiting for us! He cracked a few jokes and put 2 fresh squeezed OJ screwdrivers in front of us. He also made us iced lattes.  As I ate breakfast, a 2nd screwdriver showed up and then a 3rd! My intention was not to get buzzed during breakfast but my man Herbert was a bad influence! We finished up breakfast and headed out to the main pool. Dumbo was showing poolside and Nichole wanted to see it. We grabbed a few in water loungers and took in the movie.

 

After that we headed into the solarium and grabbed a couple of loungers in the shade. Nichole grabbed a quick nap and I headed to Lime & Coconut to people watch.  I went back after about an hour and we headed back to WJ for lunch.

 

We headed back out to the solarium and relaxed a bit. Around 3 we headed back out to the main pool to relax and get a decent spot for the belly flop competition.

 

[danp2482]

Sorry about the double post guys! It's been a couple hours and I don't think I can remove the second one!

[danp2482]

The belly flop competition is hit or miss depending on your contestants and activities staff. This one was pretty good and everyone had a blast.

 

 

 

 

The cruise was winding down…the weekend getaway cruise is awesome but just when you really start enjoying yourself, its over! We didn’t want to call it a day yet so we grabbed a daybed at lime and coconut and enjoyed the sunshine as we left Nassau.

 

 

Although we had thought we’d do MDR for dinner, Nichole suggested we go to the WJ and see what they had to offer before completely writing of WJ for dinner. We usually do MDR every dinner except a few specialties so this would be a shock if we didn’t even see the MDR!  We lounged a bit longer and then headed downstairs to get cleaned up. We hit the WJ on the way and along with all the offerings from night 1, the specialty offerings were seafood and some asian dishes.

 

We got cleaned up in the room and when I asked where dinner was going to be, Nichole said the desserts she saw at WJ were the deciding factor. We headed upstairs but my one caveat was that we sit at a table and not the bar!

 

We made it upstairs, had dinner and then agreed Dessert would be at the bar with espresso martinis. We made our way to WJ bar and you guessed, Herbert and Dylan were waiting for us.

 

 

We had a few drinks with them and found out from them when they were leaving the ship and returning. We hope to catch these two characters again!

 

 

 

It was the last night on the ship and we had a few things we wanted to check out so we said "see you soon" to our new friends and headed down stairs for the perfect couple gameshow.

 

 

[danp2482]

The perfect couple is quite like the belly flop competition. The contestants and host can make or break it! It can be hilarious or boring and everything in between! This sailings perfect couple show was just average. Not crazy funny but not dull either.  It was 11pm and the awesome 80s party started in 15 minutes. We were trying to push through that and then we were going to go to the cosmopolitan club to party and listen to DJ Jerome spin!

 

Nichole suggested that we just head up to cosmopolitan club right at 11 because we've seen the 80s party a few times and even though we enjoy it, we were both fighting to make it a late night. I agreed and we headed upstairs. When we got to cosmopolitan club, there was a decent amount of people! We made it a point to make it there this night because DJ Jeromes style and music choices were definitely more aligned with ours. Unfortunately, we were disappointed. I can't fault the DJ, he played the crowd and they seemed to be enjoying the same 90s hip hop/crowd favorite type stuff that the scratch DJ played the night before.  We just didn't expect that from him because his style had been so different every other time we saw him that cruise.  We gave it a little time to see if he would mix it up. I was ready to party all the way into Miami if he changed up his music programing some. Unfortunately we waited a while and no change so we called it a night.

 

 

[danp2482]

Day 4:

 

Debarkation day

 

We awoke around 7am. We quickly got cleaned up, while I was getting cleaned up I heard Nichole cursing and she let me know our flight for 3pm was already delayed 4 hours. Ouch, I knew it was going to be a long day! We packed up the rest of our stuff and headed upstairs to WJ for one more breakfast. We both just grabbed something light, grabbed a cappuccino from Herbert and gave him a hug. We finished up breakfast, headed to the room, grabbed our bags and were off the ship around 8:15.  We were though customs very quickly and out at shared ride before we knew it. We ordered up an Uber and headed back to Coral Springs to meet MIL and Lilly Bear!  We waited out the delay at MIL house. We did actually depart just over 4 hours later than expected. Finally made it home to our house by midnight. It was a great weekend getaway with just one minor hiccup at the end!

 

I'll be back with final thoughts on the ship!

[danp2482]

Final thoughts:

 

The Ship:

 

Navigator is awesome. I've been fortunate enough to sail on a bunch of ships, including Symphony and Navigator may be my favorite. The size is manageable, the layout is good, the decor in the main areas was beautiful. The amplified pool deck with lime & coconut is awesome. I love what they did with the main pool area and the entire layout and vibe. Never felt too crowded! Lime & coconut is awesome and the outdoor bar area with high tops and beds was a great idea! Wish I grabbed a few drinks there in the evening. Since it's been amplified recently, the ship is in great shape. It was almost like being on a new ship! Don't get me wrong, I love the Oasis class ships but on the Navigator and Mariner, things just seem more relaxed!

 

Coco Cay:

 

I was on Coco Cay a few weeks before the expansion opened. I never saw Coco Cay pre construction so I have no comparison. I can only compare being able to use the upgrades vs not. We had a great day on CC before the expansion opened but I think the expansion hit the mark! There is so much to do there. Whether you want a relaxed beach experience, party at the lagoon, water park attractions, snorkeling, water sports it's all there! I've been to Disney's Castaway Cay and Coco Cay is currently blowing Castaway Cay out of the water.

 

The Cruise:

 

We had a great time. The length was a little short. I missed my sea days. I love 7 day sailings! I think my sweet spot for a shorter is 4 days! Staff was wonderful! We witnessed some of the other cruisers being rude to crew members and having no consideration for others around them. We also saw a few incidents of people not participating in "washy washy" which I'm sure happens all the time but I noticed it a lot more on this sailing.

 

It was a great weekend and we're looking forward to doing something like this again soon!

[actuarian]

On 8/4/2019 at 2:41 PM, danp2482 said:

 So if you’re interested in a midship interior (which is our go to category) you have to book the virtual balcony which they sometimes charge significantly more for.

The mid-ship rooms only have virtual balconies on decks 9 and 10.  On decks 6, 7 and 8, they are cat. 1T promenade-view interiors, which have a bit of extra space but the promenade-view is a matter of personal preference. 1T's often cost less 4U's.  Those three decks and deck 9 also have a lot of interior cabins that are right behind the mid-ship elevators (example, cabin 9329).  Those cabins may be technically called aft but they are close enough to mid-ship that they would satisfy my wife and me.  However, we prefer the promenade-views and they are very well priced although, like I said, they are not for everyone.

Edited August 10, 2019 by actuarian