AJSkarbo Posted November 28, 2021 #1 Share Posted November 28, 2021 Hello all! This is not my first time sailing Royal but this is the first time I am going to attempt a live thread. A little about me. My name is AJ and I am going to be travelling with my mom. This will be my mom's first cruise AND we board on her birthday so she is very excited about that. As far as I know, our sailing is the 3rd sailing for the Navigator since the re-start not counting the test cruise. I grew up in Southern California but moved to Texas about 9 years ago for work. I still come "home" at least once a year to see friends and family and help my mom who has mobility issues. I saw that the cruise was leaving on my moms birthday and figured it would be a great birthday and Christmas gift. We are departing on Monday out of the San Pedro Cruise terminal. We have opted to drive to the port from San Diego and park in the port parking for $18/day. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJSkarbo Posted November 28, 2021 Author #2 Share Posted November 28, 2021 To answer some of the common questions: I booked while there was no single supplement so I got us each our own cabins. I will be in a virtual balcony. I paid for a GTY inside then bid $40 total for a RoyalUp to the virtual balcony and got it. Right now my mom is in a regular inside. However, I had not anticipated how her mobility issues have worsened in the year and a half since I have been back so we will be requesting to move her into an accessible cabin once on board. I have no idea if they will be able to, but it doesn't hurt to ask. Without knowing what capacity we are sailing, I convinced her to bring her walker to help her get around on board. We both purchased the DBP for $44/day on sale a couple weeks ago. I know I will get my monies worth because I am a good drinker on cruises. My mom is not a big drinker but she thinks between the alcohol and non-alcoholic beverages she will make good use of it. I do have one device surf and stream as a TA perk but I do not plan to use any up charge restaurants or purchase any other packages. I do plan on spending some time in the casino to use up some OBC I have. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
long4acruise Posted November 28, 2021 #3 Share Posted November 28, 2021 Enjoy your cruise and precious time with your Mom celebrating her birthday! Looking forward to your review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jragland Posted November 28, 2021 #4 Share Posted November 28, 2021 Hope you both have a wonderful cruise! We will be aboard with you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billslowsky Posted November 28, 2021 #5 Share Posted November 28, 2021 I've done this itinerary on Carnival. Catalina is really nice but mobility issues may limit you. There is a paratransit service available. To be generous, Ensenada is a dump. One time we took a winery tour from the ship. The tour of Cetto was very good and well-run. Then they take you to some smaller place where you get hit on for tips for an "authentic native performance" and to buy lousy wine and souvenirs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Tree_skier Posted November 28, 2021 #6 Share Posted November 28, 2021 Enjoy, I'll be following along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJSkarbo Posted November 28, 2021 Author #7 Share Posted November 28, 2021 2 hours ago, long4acruise said: Enjoy your cruise and precious time with your Mom celebrating her birthday! Looking forward to your review. Thank you! We are really excited. Me to be back on the water. And mom to be on her first cruise. Hoping to get her addicted like I am! 1 hour ago, billslowsky said: I've done this itinerary on Carnival. Catalina is really nice but mobility issues may limit you. There is a paratransit service available. To be generous, Ensenada is a dump. One time we took a winery tour from the ship. The tour of Cetto was very good and well-run. Then they take you to some smaller place where you get hit on for tips for an "authentic native performance" and to buy lousy wine and souvenirs. We don't plan to get off in Ensenada. We hope to get to see Catalina but that will depend on her pain and mobility that day. If we spend all 4 days on the ship, that is A-ok with me! 2 hours ago, Jragland said: Hope you both have a wonderful cruise! We will be aboard with you! Awesome! And thank you! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare binro01 Posted November 28, 2021 #8 Share Posted November 28, 2021 I will be going on this cruise on April 4th 2022. Looking forward to your updates. Please post the entertainment schedule if you get a chance 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashland Posted November 28, 2021 #9 Share Posted November 28, 2021 (edited) 4 hours ago, AJSkarbo said: Hello all! This is not my first time sailing Royal but this is the first time I am going to attempt a live thread. A little about me. My name is AJ and I am going to be travelling with my mom. This will be my mom's first cruise AND we board on her birthday so she is very excited about that. As far as I know, our sailing is the 3rd sailing for the Navigator since the re-start not counting the test cruise. I grew up in Southern California but moved to Texas about 9 years ago for work. I still come "home" at least once a year to see friends and family and help my mom who has mobility issues. I saw that the cruise was leaving on my moms birthday and figured it would be a great birthday and Christmas gift. We are departing on Monday out of the San Pedro Cruise terminal. We have opted to drive to the port from San Diego and park in the port parking for $18/day. Port parking ...I thought it was $20 per day. We'll be doing the 7 night on Jan 17th (my Birthday)...So excited to drive to our home port. Edited November 28, 2021 by Ashland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suzyluvs2cruise Posted November 28, 2021 #10 Share Posted November 28, 2021 3 hours ago, AJSkarbo said: Hello all! This is not my first time sailing Royal but this is the first time I am going to attempt a live thread. A little about me. My name is AJ and I am going to be travelling with my mom. This will be my mom's first cruise AND we board on her birthday so she is very excited about that. As far as I know, our sailing is the 3rd sailing for the Navigator since the re-start not counting the test cruise. I grew up in Southern California but moved to Texas about 9 years ago for work. I still come "home" at least once a year to see friends and family and help my mom who has mobility issues. I saw that the cruise was leaving on my moms birthday and figured it would be a great birthday and Christmas gift. We are departing on Monday out of the San Pedro Cruise terminal. We have opted to drive to the port from San Diego and park in the port parking for $18/day. Have a great time! We did the test cruise and parking is $20/day. The ship is amazing. What a great birthday gift for your mom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonsai3s Posted November 28, 2021 #11 Share Posted November 28, 2021 AJ see you tomorrow! Happy Birthday to your mom! We are currently onboard the Navigator. Last week, 1875 passengers, 471 children. This week, 2533 passengers, 379 children. Anticipated for tomorrow, 1575, 133 children. There are 11 accessible cabins but guest services cannot/unable to tell how many will be vacant tomorrow. Guest services said to check with them when you board. Happy Sailing! 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruzDayz Posted November 28, 2021 #12 Share Posted November 28, 2021 Have fun, I'm going too. It's not a big deal but parking is now $20 a day. Take your parking ticket with you as you now pay at a kiosk at the end of the cruise. Saves time walking back to the car to get your ticket. You then insert the paid ticket at the unmanned gate to exit. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Californian Posted November 28, 2021 #13 Share Posted November 28, 2021 Hope you both have a wonderful cruise. We will be on the ship in a couple of months. If you get the chance, would you post a copy of the each day's cruise compass, please? Thanks! It's much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coralc Posted November 28, 2021 #14 Share Posted November 28, 2021 6 hours ago, AJSkarbo said: We both purchased the DBP for $44/day on sale a couple weeks ago. I know I will get my monies worth because I am a good drinker on cruises. My mom is not a big drinker but she thinks between the alcohol and non-alcoholic beverages she will make good use of it. Thanks for the info about the DBP. That gives me hope that the price will go down to a reasonable level sometime before our sailings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJSkarbo Posted November 28, 2021 Author #15 Share Posted November 28, 2021 (edited) 5 hours ago, binro01 said: I will be going on this cruise on April 4th 2022. Looking forward to your updates. Please post the entertainment schedule if you get a chance 🙂 I will! I plan to post the cruise compass daily as well depending on internet reliability. 4 hours ago, Ashland said: Port parking ...I thought it was $20 per day. We'll be doing the 7 night on Jan 17th (my Birthday)...So excited to drive to our home port. It may be $20. Either way since we are only a 3 hour drive, much better to park conveniently. 4 hours ago, bonsai3s said: AJ see you tomorrow! Happy Birthday to your mom! We are currently onboard the Navigator. Last week, 1875 passengers, 471 children. This week, 2533 passengers, 379 children. Anticipated for tomorrow, 1575, 133 children. There are 11 accessible cabins but guest services cannot/unable to tell how many will be vacant tomorrow. Guest services said to check with them when you board. Happy Sailing! Thank you so much for looking into that for me. I anticipated this weekend being high numbers due to it being a short weekend cruise. Glad to see it should be a little less than half for our trip. And THANK YOU for checking about the accessible cabins. Guest services will be the first stop on the way to lunch. Can't wait to "sea" you tomorrow! 1 hour ago, Californian said: Hope you both have a wonderful cruise. We will be on the ship in a couple of months. If you get the chance, would you post a copy of the each day's cruise compass, please? Thanks! It's much appreciated. As internet is reliable I will! 1 hour ago, Coralc said: Thanks for the info about the DBP. That gives me hope that the price will go down to a reasonable level sometime before our sailings. Be sure to check in with your roll call! That's how I found out about the price dip! Edited November 28, 2021 by AJSkarbo Spelling 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJSkarbo Posted November 28, 2021 Author #16 Share Posted November 28, 2021 COVID tests were negative! So we are planning to leave San Diego around 8am to give plenty of time for traffic along the way! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newmercies Posted November 28, 2021 #17 Share Posted November 28, 2021 We're also onboard tomorrow! Finished our covid tests, completed the health questionnaire and printed backups of all required documents. All that is left for us is packing. Hope to run into you and your mom onboard. Sea you soon! Melinda & Steve 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJSkarbo Posted November 28, 2021 Author #18 Share Posted November 28, 2021 2 minutes ago, newmercies said: We're also onboard tomorrow! Finished our covid tests, completed the health questionnaire and printed backups of all required documents. All that is left for us is packing. Hope to run into you and your mom onboard. Sea you soon! Melinda & Steve Same here! Thankfully not too much needs to be packed for such a short trip! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare EllieinNJ Posted November 29, 2021 #19 Share Posted November 29, 2021 Have a great trip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imola Posted November 29, 2021 #20 Share Posted November 29, 2021 Thinking of booking this ship for February. Does it leave out of San Pedro? Also where were folks able to get their Covid test with the short turn around. I hope everyone has a wonderful cruise with calm seas. Happy Birthday to your Mom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashland Posted November 29, 2021 #21 Share Posted November 29, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, imola said: Thinking of booking this ship for February. Does it leave out of San Pedro? Also where were folks able to get their Covid test with the short turn around. I hope everyone has a wonderful cruise with calm seas. Happy Birthday to your Mom. Yes...RCI has always sailed out of San Pedro. Walgreens does it in 24hrs. Edited November 29, 2021 by Ashland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonsai3s Posted November 29, 2021 #22 Share Posted November 29, 2021 1 hour ago, imola said: Thinking of booking this ship for February. Does it leave out of San Pedro? Also where were folks able to get their Covid test with the short turn around. I hope everyone has a wonderful cruise with calm seas. Happy Birthday to your Mom. If your question is regarding b2b, rccl provides free swab test the day before turn-around. Results in about 2 hrs via email. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imola Posted November 29, 2021 #23 Share Posted November 29, 2021 11 minutes ago, bonsai3s said: If your question is regarding b2b, rccl provides free swab test the day before turn-around. Results in about 2 hrs via email. Somehow I was thinking Long Beach but guess that is Carnival. Sorry I clear about the test. I meant with only 48 hours prior to boarding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DesireeC03 Posted November 29, 2021 #24 Share Posted November 29, 2021 This is so sweet - love that you are celebrating your Mom!!! Enjoy every second. And if you see Dinesh at Playmakers please tell him that Desiree says hi - he makes the best Chocolate Martini in case you or your Mom are inclined. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJSkarbo Posted November 29, 2021 Author #25 Share Posted November 29, 2021 11 hours ago, DesireeC03 said: This is so sweet - love that you are celebrating your Mom!!! Enjoy every second. And if you see Dinesh at Playmakers please tell him that Desiree says hi - he makes the best Chocolate Martini in case you or your Mom are inclined. I've never had one so I will have to give it a try! With the drink package there is nothing to lose! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now