Navigator 2022-23 Holiday Cruise Round Trip Miami

[cwn]

Edited December 22, 2022 by cwn

[cwn]

Well just lost the Text. I will try again.

[1982CruzStart]

have a super cruise. Looking forward to your reports. 

[cwn]

One more time….we are off on our next part of our holiday. Got off the Splendor on Tuesday and spent two nights at The Grand. Huge older hotel with a fabulous view or the Docks and inland waterway. 
We rented a car and drove down to Key West. We had not been there since a camping trip in 2007. The idea was to have a seafood late lunch, the weather had other ideas and opened up just as we got to the restaurant. There was no close parking so we headed back up the keys hoping it would stop raining before we past all the seafood houses. We did finally have a nice dinner but slightly wet. Yesterday we spent in the room watching the boat traffic and the turning around of a huge Carnival ship as she headed out.
 

The last time we did a Holiday cruise we had our three children and new daughter-in-law with us. It was a Canal cruise on the original Royal Princess. Now almost thirty years later two more in-law children and 7 grandchildren later, we are doing a Holiday cruise again….Alone! 
 

We tried to join the Splendor for her Canal cruise but never cleared the wait list. So a couple of months ago we bailed and joined the Navigator Holiday cruise. Several people are joining us that were on the  Splendor also.

 

It will be fun to compare the oldest and smallest of the fleet with the newest and largest!  We love small ships in general,  our all time favorite being Seabourns old three little sisters. We were on the Navigator for the 2018 WC and loved her.

We are now on board waiting for our suite. We were behind two bus loads but  checkin went fast.

 

Now just waiting to go to our suite. The ship looks great…..all decorated with red and green and a Ginger-house display outside the Navigator lounge. Looks like she has been redecorated.since the WC at least the public rooms. 

 

We will spend Christmas Day at our first port, Aruba and I will report as I can. Feel free to jump it anytime.

[cwn]

Just received the best Christmas present ever. Ray is our CD and the twins from India are are on board….Shamu and his bother. They are the greatest!.

[kjbacon]

Looking forward to this report!! We nearly took this very trip but switched to the splendor in February. Your comparison of the two ships will be of interest. Bon voyage and Happy Holidays!

[Techno123]

Ray is onboard for another 3 weeks (not that he is counting😜😜) just got off her this morning and now sitting in Miami airport. Have a great trip.

 

[Kwaj girl]

5 hours ago, cwn said:

Just received the best Christmas present ever. Ray is our CD and the twins from India are are on board….Shamu and his bother. They are the greatest!.

 

Shambu and Vishnu!  Please say hello to them for us.  We will join Navigator April 21, 2023 and hope they may still be onboard.

 

Sandy & Dana Wells 

[ronrick1943]

Have a great trip, hope you keep posting as I’m looking forward to reading your post.  We board a cruise in Jan 2023-looking forward to getting out to sea.

[GeorgiaPeach51]

Thanks for posting this!  Our next cruise is on the Navigator so I’m interested in your observations snd comparison to Splendor.

 

Joanie

[Snackdaddy]

21 hours ago, cwn said:

Just received the best Christmas present ever. Ray is our CD and the twins from India are are on board….Shamu and his bother. They are the greatest!.

Greetings,

 

We disembarked the Navigator yesterday and had a glorious time in the Caribbean.  The Navigator did not disappoint and the staff was amazing. Ray "How do you do?" Solaire was the best we have seen. He seemed to be all over the ship as well.  We had the pleasure of meeting Vishnu.  We mentioned him, among others, on our end-of-cruise digital survey. 

 

Happy cruising and take good care.

[cwn]

So far after barely 24 hours we feel like we have come home!!! Dick is so much happier on this ship. Ate at Prime 7 last night. It was packed…all tables filled by 7:15, but service was spotless and food wonderful. To my delight the restaurant actually had Holiday decorations inside plus a tree and Gingerbread house outside in the entrance.

[cwn]

If interest is how different ship handle things. At 6:45 every evening there is a celebration of Hanukkah. With a candle lighting.

To my knowledge there was no mention of that celebration on the last days of our Splendor sailing and Hanukkah had began.

There were Carolers strolling the halls when we boarded yesterday. Really set the mood with all the decorations .

 

 

Edited December 23, 2022 by cwn

[cwn]

Here is what is on offer today and a little bit about the ship. Dick went to the morning lecture and said it was interesting. We are going to Compass Rose lunch. It was our usual routine on the WC. The pool grill and LaVeranda is also open. 

[cwn]

It has been a great day…..really the Regent we love from pre Covid days.

Compass Rose lunch was great. Had the Leek Quiche that is served in the Splendor in Chartreuse. It was a staple for my lunch during the WC. 
 

Dick enjoyed the other speaker this afternoon and played Trivia. Do you know how long the Statue of Liberty’s nose is? That right Ray is leading it.

 

Went to the Welcome  Aboard Party and stayed for the early show. Ray is as good as ever. He sang several songs, told jokes and did a couple of numbers with his wonderful puppets. We usually don’t last to the late shows so it is nice to have sone early ones.

 

Dinner at Compass Rose …..tired one of the plant based starters, the Apple Tart, very good! As we were finishing a very good meal, Sambu saw us and came over and spoke with us. Then he went and got Rishnu. It is so good to see them doing well and hearing about their family. They are super young men!

[cwn]

Merry Christmas from the beautiful Regent Navigator!!  We are just now docking in  Aruba. It is a beautiful sunny day and the huge NCL Epic is docked beside us. After a very rocky 36 hours that Eve. Slowed us down, we are now still!

Christmas Eve was a day filled with activity in-spite of the ships movement. Dick went to listen to the two speakers, he is enjoying them with their  different talks.
 

We skipped Lunch as they had a beautiful Christmas tea. Dick went to Trivia and then we met in the NavigatorLounge  for Caroling and a Christmas sing along with our two Rays.
 

Before that Santa  visited everybody during the block party.

 

They had the traditional Christmas items in Compass Rose but we opted for Italian and went to Sette Mari. Good as ever.

 

Since itt was so rocky they postponed the production show until 6 tonight as a pre dinner show and did the Christmas show, as the late show. We managed to stay up for that and the beautiful Christmas Eve worship service held afterwards. Ray and a passenger pastor lead the service.

[cwn]

It has been a wonderful Christmas Day! Breakfast in bed (Dick goes to the buffet). Then we opened a couple of gifts and chatted with the kids (texting and picture sharing). The internet is OK for that.

Our traveling companions were happy campers because Santa found them!

We spent  the day on the balcony. It was breezy and shaded all day. A couple of drink orders from room service and a cheese tray and nuts mid afternoon kept us happy. No stores were open but boat traffic in the habit was busy. 
Dick went to Trivia and his team was second, yea!

At 6 we webtcto the production that was canceled last night..The theater is packed, the show was excellent. The lead male singer was very good, We will try to make a couple of the late shows the group was so good.

After  that we went to dinner in Comoass Rose.and had the Turkey. It was good but not what we are use to. 
Sone pictures follow…

[cwn]

The NCL Epic was docked nose to but with us today. She is huge! The two of us cook the whole pier! Forgot to mention that we don’t sail until 11 so there is dancing under the star tonight until we sail.

Edited December 26, 2022 by cwn

[Gilly]

9 hours ago, cwn said:

The NCL Epic was docked nose to but with us today. She is huge!

Norwegian Epic was in Kotor when we were there on Voyager recently.  We were berthed and she was at anchor, which meant a huge tendering operation for those on board and enormous queues well beyond the terminal gates for anyone waiting to return to the ship.  By the time it arrived, we were back on board and getting ready to sail - I can't imagine how different the city would feel with a ship that size in port.

 

Carolyn, I am so enjoying your reports.  Thank you for taking the time to share so many photos and stories from your trip.  Happy Christmas to you both (*all*  because we include the travelling companions of course 🙂 )

[1982CruzStart]

Thanks for sharing your trip with us. Photos and commentary are great. Continue having a super trip. 

[florida23]

We were on the Explorer last year and they gave us metal water bottles to fill and take on excursions. Are they doing that on the Navigator? We're out of Miami on Jan. 23rd to Barbados.

[cwn]

Yes they are using the metal refillable bottles and they have a glass bottle in the room they refill each day. Also they have filling stations in several places throughout the ship. They had the same time on the Splendor earlier in Dec. Fleet wide now.

[cwn]

Today was a stop in Willemstad, Curacao, the second of the ABC Dutch islands. It’s inner city is a UNESCO World Heritsge Site and is delightful. We have been here three times all with Regent and for the second time we were able to dock in the city just up from the floating bridge. 

The first time we were still diving and dove a wrecked ship and some coral gardens, one of the ships tours. Last time we rented a car and drove all over the island to some lovely small beaches. This time we did the History Trolley ride. It was a nice short tour of the historical part of old town. Well worth the tour to get sone history and an overview of the best parts to see. Only problem for me was it was way to early a start.(lol). We had breakfast in the Compass Rose. They were very busy.

 

We stayed in town and had a drink near the floating bridge thinking maybe it would open for boat traffic and we then could use the free ferry to get back across to the ship. But there was no boat fraffic so the ferry didn’t run.(it only runs when the bridge is open.) so we got a taxi back to the ship. Most stores were closed for Boxing Day, but Dick was able to add to our furry friends pin collection. 

Back at the ship I had a room service hamburger and sat on the balcony with my needlepoint. The bridge did finally swing open later in the afternoon. Dick was out and about till after Trivia(bad day)…..What color is a peacocks egg?

 

The ship is in port late again tonight so we went to the pool grill for dinner. They have the best pork ribs!

[cwn]

[cwn]

Floating bridge