Navigator of the Seas - May 19-26 (Cabo, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta)

[DukeASUGirl]

45 minutes ago, AZSwissGal said:

We had the same waiter / assistant (Meckinson and Clive) on our April 28 seven night cruise and I agree they were wonderful, including greeting us by name after the first night.

 

In Mazatlan we did a non ship excursion and actually enjoyed that.  We were driven out into the countryside to some of the villages out there and got see some of the arts and crafts, like making tiles, adobe bricks for building houses and stopped at a bakery where we bought some yummy pastry fresh out of the wood oven for dirt cheap.  We did spend a little bit of time driving through the city and ate at a beach front restaurant.  There were only four of us on this excursion, another mother /daughter duo.  I was surprised they didn't cancel the tour.

 

In Puerto Vallarta we did a ship's tour.  My daughter had wanted to do the horseback riding tour you guys did.  Unfortunately for her, I was over the age limit:(  We were very disappointed in the first part of the excursion (too much selling). Also there were too many people.  Two buses full and what really irked us, the mixed Royal and Carnival passengers on this tour.  It improved with a lunch at a beachside restaurant and got better with a tequila tasting and a show depicting some of the history.  The show was actually pretty good.

 

Sorry I kind of hijacked your review.

Hijack away! I'm glad to read it. 

 

Wish we'd planned something like you did for Mazatlan. That sounds really nice!

[DukeASUGirl]

1 hour ago, AZSwissGal said:

We had the same waiter / assistant (Meckinson and Clive) on our April 28 seven night cruise and I agree they were wonderful, including greeting us by name after the first night.

 

They would even greet us by name when they spotted us in Windjammer for breakfast. One night, it was busy when I was placing my allergy pre-order for the next day, so they had us circle it on a photocopy of the menu, and then we left it on the table. The next morning, Meckinson saw us in the Windjammer and told me that the moussaka wouldn't be his choice (he finds it a bit dry), so he took the liberty of placing a special order for the salmon and the steak for later that night, and would bring all of them just in case.

 

He was so attentive!

[Linsifer]

21 hours ago, JaynBNA said:

I'm on this cruise in late September and am looking forward to your review. Did the same route on NCL Bliss in 2019.  

How was the Bliss?  My daughter, son-in-law, 4 year old son and his family are sailing her to Alaska in August out of Seattle.  First cruise for my son-in-law and grandson. 

[Linsifer]

22 hours ago, DukeASUGirl said:

I'm going to do this in sections.

__________________________________

 

Embarkation/disembarkation:

 

Port of Los Angeles - San Pedro has to be the worst cruise terminal I've ever sailed out of in the US. The entire process was just so chaotic compared to other terminals I've been to. Probably the smoothest I've ever experienced was Port of Long Beach (Carnival), but have also enjoyed the process in Seattle, Port Canaveral, and Miami. Houston was okay, but still better than San Pedro.

 

We had the 10:30-11 check-in time, and our entry to the terminal kept being blocked by people trying to enter early for their 1 pm check-in. We literally stood for 20 minutes at the curb trying to flag down a porter while people who just arrived would get one immediately. Porter after porter kept skipping us.

 

My mom was in a scooter, so we did get taken out of the long lines inside the terminal once we got to the front to be able to enter the building, but even getting to the entrance of the terminal was a process with rude people who kept trying to enter 2 hours early.

 

But once we got on the ship, it was much better. We skipped the safety briefing until closer to sail time and headed straight for the Windjammer because our hotel didn't include breakfast.

I like San Francisco terminal.  But it’s on Princess and a lot closer drive for us. San Pedro Terminal was okay for us, though.  Embarking and once disembarked it was fine. We self-assisted OFF the Navigator, which should have been seamless.  It wasn’t.  But that was the ship’s problem.  Long line and mixed in with passengers who had assisted luggage help.  The gal supervising our line had no idea what was happening.  Seemed overwhelmed.  Last time we disembarked off a Princess ship, we carried our own luggage off and it went t quickly and smoothly.  That was the point, I felt.  Oh well, maybe it was a fluke getting off the Navigator. 

Edited May 29, 2023 by Linsifer

[Linsifer]

21 hours ago, DukeASUGirl said:

Entertainment:

 

This is where Royal positively sparkles.

 

Go see iSkate on the first night and at least 1 or 2 more times. They had 2 shows on Night 1, 2 shows on Night 4, and 1 show on the afternoon of Day 7. We missed the first seating on Night 1 because of dinner, but made it to the 9:15 seating. We skipped it on Night 4 because dinner was running late and the later seating wouldn't get out until 11 pm - but we had a very early shore excursion (and were also losing an hour of sleep anyway due to a time change), so we decided to just go see it on the last afternoon instead.

 

SO good. It really is a fantastic production! (We were originally supposed to sail on Harmony last fall because my daughter's coach was taking a hiatus from the rink to skate in the Harmony of the Seas shows, but we had to cancel our cruise because the hurricane made it impossible for us to get to Port Canaveral - Delta canceled our flight and couldn't reschedule us in time. Royal gave us Future Cruise Credit, but we wouldn't be able to use it before Jaclyn's skating contract ended, so we decided to just go on a ship closer to home instead of flying.) Her coach told us that Navigator's iSkate is her favorite show of the entire fleet, so we knew it would be good. But it really did blow us away. And we're a skating family, so we watch competitions and skating shows all the time!

 

As for the Royal Theatre, our favorite production show was Showgirl. I watched it twice (due to a miscommunication, my daughter didn't end up going with us to the 8 pm, so I insisted she come with me at 10:15) because it was that good. On the whole, the men are stronger dancers than the women, but that's a bit of an unfair comparison because a portion of the time the women are reduced to just walking in a straight line with showgirl feathers on her head/back. The can-can number was amazing!

 

I also really liked Ballroom Fever, especially Nastya and Dima (the professional ballroom couple from Ukraine). I'd taken a master class with them many years ago, back when I competed on the collegiate level, so it was fun to see them perform again. Take their cha-cha class! It was at 11 am on the Cabo day, before we got to port.

 

I also enjoyed Oh What a Night (the Franke Valli tribute show), which was flown in from Vegas the morning before (met the ship in Puerto Vallarta). But my dad thought it needed less "humor" and more songs. I heard that same complaint from several other people.

 

The main comedian Angelo Tsoukalis was funny, but the "physical comedy" unicycle guy was kinda meh.

I agree with you regarding the entertainment!  Loved Nastya and Dima.  And everything else you mentioned.  They can keep the unicycle rider.  Wasn’t funny at all in my opinion.  And I agree with your dad, the Frankie Valle group could have left out the “humor” and just add more songs.  I was disappointed they left out Ragdoll.  My husband liked the ice skating show the best of all. He’s not much of a song and dance guy, but,loved the ice skating. 

Edited May 29, 2023 by Linsifer

[Linsifer]

15 hours ago, Ashland said:

Sorry you had a bad experience at San Pedro. It's our home port (45 min drive) and we sail as often out of it as we can. Perhaps it makes a difference as we use the suite check in line and it couldn't be easier. Our most recent cruises were January 2022, October 2022 and January 2023. Have to skip January of 2024 but we're booked again for February 2025. 

 

So glad RCI has returned to our coast and hoping they'll stay. And I certainly agree the iSkate Reach For The Stars is the best ice show fleetwide.

Embarkation was a cinch for us, as well.  And we’re Gold.  Disembarking for self-assist was a bit chaotic, though. That was more the ship’s problem though.  Once we got off the ship, it was easy peasy in the terminal. 

[Ashland]

2 hours ago, Linsifer said:

Embarkation was a cinch for us, as well.  And we’re Gold.  Disembarking for self-assist was a bit chaotic, though. That was more the ship’s problem though.  Once we got off the ship, it was easy peasy in the terminal. 

Disembarking has always been easy for us off Navigator in San Pedro. We carry our own bags off and usually parked in the first row of the parking lot right across from the terminal gate...in our car and a quick easy drive home usually by 9 or 9:30am.

[DukeASUGirl]

5 hours ago, jcc1025 said:

I understand that a new terminal out at the end of port area is in the works so that they can support bigger ships...So I think the port experience will get better, especially as the new San Pedro warf project finishes next year. 

 

Okay, that is really good to hear! My husband hated San Pedro so much he doesn't want to sail Royal out of CA anymore and would rather do Carnival out of Long Beach, but if there are improvements in the works that could change things. I liked Carnival - don't get me wrong. I just liked Royal better, and he agreed on all points but San Pedro. Haha

[DukeASUGirl]

3 hours ago, Linsifer said:

Embarkation was a cinch for us, as well.  And we’re Gold.  Disembarking for self-assist was a bit chaotic, though. That was more the ship’s problem though.  Once we got off the ship, it was easy peasy in the terminal. 

If it was just me and DH (or even maybe with the kids), we would have done self-assist, but that really wasn't an option with my parents.

 

The disembarkation was so chaotic, both on and off the ship for us.

[DukeASUGirl]

29 minutes ago, DukeASUGirl said:

 

Okay, that is really good to hear! My husband hated San Pedro so much he doesn't want to sail Royal out of CA anymore and would rather do Carnival out of Long Beach, but if there are improvements in the works that could change things. I liked Carnival - don't get me wrong. I just liked Royal better, and he agreed on all points but San Pedro. Haha

 

But maybe this is a moot point, because the kids have requested "can we please do somewhere else besides Mexico?" (Both cruises they've been on have been Mexico, as well as a couple of beach vacations.)

[JaynBNA]

13 hours ago, Linsifer said:

How was the Bliss?  My daughter, son-in-law, 4 year old son and his family are sailing her to Alaska in August out of Seattle.  First cruise for my son-in-law and grandson. 

Bliss is a great ship, enjoyed the smoke free casino, Vibe Beach Club and among other things. I'm a more frequent NCL cruiser. 

[jcc1025]

18 hours ago, DukeASUGirl said:

 

Okay, that is really good to hear! My husband hated San Pedro so much he doesn't want to sail Royal out of CA anymore and would rather do Carnival out of Long Beach, but if there are improvements in the works that could change things. I liked Carnival - don't get me wrong. I just liked Royal better, and he agreed on all points but San Pedro. Haha

I get it. You have to do what is best for you, vacations should be fun. I hate Carnival and refuse to sail with them so I am knid limited between Royal and Princess in the LA areas and we have some status on Royal and like the purks so will put up with the dock. If you can get the ealiest check in at 10:30 it is not so bad. Happy cruising ahead. 

 

18 hours ago, DukeASUGirl said:

 

Okay, that is really good to hear! My husband hated San Pedro so much he doesn't want to sail Royal out of CA anymore and would rather do Carnival out of Long Beach, but if there are improvements in the works that could change things. I liked Carnival - don't get me wrong. I just liked Royal better, and he agreed on all points but San Pedro. Haha

 

[Tree_skier]

On 5/29/2023 at 9:06 AM, DukeASUGirl said:

Medical clinic:

 

Wish we didn't need to utilize this area of the ship, but we did. Daughter ended up having an allergic reaction to a package of cookies she bought at OXXO in Cabo. She bought 2 flavors, and of course the ingredients were in Spanish. One package clearly read safe, but for the other, it seems that the actual "contains" warning (the "may contain" read safe) was sort of hidden under the flap. You had to actually break the seal to be able to fully read it, which you can't do until you've bought it. So that's why I missed the "CONTIENE: nuez" portion of the label.

 

That was entirely my fault for not catching it in the store, but she still shouldn't have just ripped into the package in the cabin without rechecking the label. But she'd already consumed two packages of the orange flavor safely, so I guess she assumed the strawberry one was also safe.

 

Within moments of eating the first cookie, she complained that her lips and tongue felt weird, which is always an early warning sign. My husband just wanted to give Benadryl and watch, but I grabbed the package and then clearly saw "contiene nuez" and my heart sunk. So we epi'ed.

 

I dialed 911 on the house phone as he was injecting her, but he told me to hang up. Within 10 seconds, we got a call back from the bridge asking if everything was okay. They told me to bring her to the medical clinic and asked if we could walk her or if we needed a wheelchair. I didn't want to wait for the wheelchair, so we walked, but of course the elevators were the slowest they ever were the entire trip.

 

She was quite pale when we arrived on Deck 1, but her color returned within the next 20 minutes. Her oxygen was always good, which doctor and nurses attribute to the quick injection of epi. They observed her for about 90 minutes, then discharged us with Benadryl and prednisone. 

 

They were all concerned that it had been the ship's food, but we assured them it was not. We made the mistake of buying packaged food in Mexico.

 

About an hour later we all went to see the final showing of iSkate: Reach for the Stars. Real fun final day at sea.

 

But the doctors and nurses were very nice and helpful. They didn't have a Spanish speaker in the clinic at the time to translate the package label, but a stop at Guest Services confirmed that "nuez" is walnut, which is actually the last nut she reacted to (again with the stupid cookies - she was SO much better about reading labels and avoiding baked goods when she was younger, but now that she's a teenager she seems to have lost her brain).

 

We went to lunch after the skating show, and when she sat down at the table in the Windjammer, she had a plate full of cookies. Seriously?! 

I'm glad everything worked out ok and your daughter was fine.  How much did they charge for the medical visit?

[DukeASUGirl]

5 hours ago, Tree_skier said:

I'm glad everything worked out ok and your daughter was fine.  How much did they charge for the medical visit?

 

No clue! I signed paperwork acknowledging that there would be charges (although it never said what), and the nurse said that the invoice would be sent to our cabin (and we assumed added to our onboard account), but nothing ever arrived before we disembarked. We've received the "final statement" via email and it didn't include it, either.

 

We figure it's probably still coming, but have no idea. We do need that paperwork so we can submit to insurance.

[DukeASUGirl]

On 5/30/2023 at 7:32 PM, DukeASUGirl said:

We figure it's probably still coming, but have no idea. We do need that paperwork so we can submit to insurance.

 

We have been off the ship for a week and a half now, and still no bill for the medical center. Very odd.