Cheapo Dad's Trip Report on the Navigator of the Seas (Maybe with few pictures added)...

[harryfat1]

Here's the Avalon Pier - not as long as other Southern California piers like Santa Monica or Huntington Pier but it's charming

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

 

 

Dudes fishing at the pier

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

After the pier, we went over to the other side of the tender area as it was very wide open and provided some scenic cloud shots as well as the front cover pic.

 

People line up with their luggage to board the Catalina Express Ferry to go back to the LA/Long Beach area. It's $84 round trip and people can stay for a night or two at the local hotel down the road.

 

 

We are going to the other side of the dock

 

 

The City of Avalon welcomes you officially with a sign but I took the picture more for the interesting clouds in the background

 

 

These people must be very polite folks as they thank you as you are leaving with a sign above the walkway 

 

 

Wide open space

 

 

First picture of the trip report

 

[harryfat1]

A few more pics of Avalon and then we are done and heading back to the ship 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Coralc]

Beautiful photos Harry! I am surprised you didn't take any pictures of the beautiful tile murals on the walkway to the casino. I have photos of them in the album, but I don't seem to have any on the computer. 😊 We took a tour of the Casino last time were there. I don't remember if it was a movie theater then or not. Most of the tour was upstairs in the upper levels. 

Edited September 19, 2023 by Coralc

[harryfat1]

4 hours ago, Coralc said:

Beautiful photos Harry! I am surprised you didn't take any pictures of the beautiful tile murals on the walkway to the casino. I have photos of them in the album, but I don't seem to have any on the computer. 😊 We took a tour of the Casino last time were there. I don't remember if it was a movie theater then or not. Most of the tour was upstairs in the upper levels. 

 

Thanks for the compliment but I really didn't do anything special.  The weather and the scenery provided the backdrop and the Samsung Ultra phone did all the work.  I'm just the dummy on the other side of the phone who pushed the white button to take a picture and moved on.

 

If I had tinkered with f-stop/shutter speed/ISO/white balance settings at the "pro" mode, then at least I could take some credit for being creative in the pictures.  Instead, I'm just the dummy that has the "auto" setting and just points and shoots.  Too lazy/impatient/lack the knowledge to do anymore as I'm just a "volume shooter". 

 

Figured if I take 1,000 pictures on the cruise, at least 5 should be decent, and add in 300 more filler pictures and some dumb jokes/videos, and voila, we have makings for another trip report...🤪

 

Although I do wish CC software didn't dumb down the pictures as I believe the web page somehow reduces the resolution/file size to save money on storage.  The pictures in my file folder are typically more clear compared to the web page version.

 

I didn't see any murals.  Where were they?

 

You probably did the VIP tour to get the backstage view of things:

 

https://www.visitcatalinaisland.com/things-to-do/catalina-casino/

[harryfat1]

Alrighty, time to go back to the ship. 

 

I think they contracted out the sightseeing boat for the days the cruise ships are in town as they needed 4 tenders operating any given day (2 at each end) the tender we were on going back looks very nice with good seats like you would see at an excursion.

 

 

This is the inside of the tender. Check out the cushy seats.  

 

 

As most ships nowadays are docked at the ports, Grand Cayman is only other port I recall that needs a tender.  I had to go back to the archives to find this Grand Cayman tender picture from 2016.  Those seats don't look anywhere like these on Avalon.

 

 

Is anyone here with any tender boat pictures to share?

 

Maybe it was high tides or something as they were having problems hooking up to the Navigator in order to get a secure connection with the ramp so we just sat in our seats for a while.

 

No Mooring Line shot but how about an Anchor Line shot?

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

OK.  Finally made it back to the cabin.  Always nice to come back after being out and seeing the cabin all tidy up after a few hours away on excursions.  This is why I prefer the daytime cabin service versus the nighttime as you have more time to enjoy a nicely made bed.

 

Greeting us were our new pets for the day.

 

 

[harryfat1]

It was around 1:30 so time to grab some lunch.

 

Little Henry working hard cleaning the cabins

 

 

So is the piano man

 

 

 

[Coralc]

42 minutes ago, harryfat1 said:

I didn't see any murals.  Where were they?

 

You probably did the VIP tour to get the backstage view of things:

 

https://www.visitcatalinaisland.com/things-to-do/catalina-casino/

The tile murals are all along the left side of the walkway as you go towards the Casino. I have a nice one of the buffalos, but I am not going to dig out the photo album tonight. (pre-digital) Catalina is famous for their tile art. I can see them in the background in your photos on your walk. ☺️

 

History. In 1927, William Wrigley, Jr. built a tile and brick pottery on a beach located near Avalon, Santa Catalina Island. The new pottery became Catalina Clay Products, a division of Wrigley's Santa Catalina Island Company.

 

It probably was that tour. There are a lot of old photos. The ballroom is magnificent, and there is an old ice cream parlor setup, (no ice cream) where they used to have dances and such during Prohibition. It was really interesting. 

Edited September 19, 2023 by Coralc

[harryfat1]

 

 

Pretty empty Windjammer

 

 

 

My lunch

 

[harryfat1]

With many of the passengers still off the ship, windjammer was actually the quiet and peaceful place to eat. I actually tried their wok station where you select your choice of meat and veggies and they cook it up right in front of you. 

 

Typically the line for that station is prohibitively long so I always skipped it but with many cruisers off the ship, there was no real line to speak of

 

Pick what you want and the dude will put them in the pan and cook it for you

 

 

 

Part 2 of my lunch

 

 

Here's a short video of the food as I wanted to show the steam/heat coming out right after the guy finished cooking it

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

One thing about the Voyager/Freedom-class ship is I always noticed the narrow gap between the pole and the buffet station.  One day I won’t be able to squeeze in between those two.

 

 

A lot more food pictures today as I don’t feel as rushed without a long line of people behind me watching me take a picture of plates as people wonder why is that dude taking a picture of plates?  He has no plates where he comes from?

 

Remember what I said from Day 1 - skip these small plates at the dessert section

 

 

Instead, get the bigger plates in the hot food section.  Just tell yourself you are helping the environment by only using one plate for the 7 desserts you are eating instead of 2 smaller plates

 

[harryfat1]

Speaking of desserts:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

If you are on a diet, this is probably the buffet section for you…

 

[harryfat1]

Few misc. pictures and we are done with lunch

 

Sauces at the Windjammer:

 

 

You gonna to need lots of coffee to wash down those 7 desserts you just inhaled

 

 

Front of the Windjammer area.  This area is typically the least crowded as it’s furthest from the hot food that's in the back so if you need to find a spot, try here. 

 

At 2:30, it’s mostly empty as Windjammer will close at its odd 3 PM time instead of opening longer for people coming back from excursions.

 

 

 

[broberts]

1 hour ago, harryfat1 said:

resolution/file size to save money on storage

 

While I'm sure that downgrading saves on storage, transmission times and the very wide variety of user device capabilities were probably factors.

[harryfat1]

17 hours ago, broberts said:

 

While I'm sure that downgrading saves on storage, transmission times and the very wide variety of user device capabilities were probably factors.

Yeah, too bad some of the pictures are more fuzzy after the upload versus the original. Oh, well, maybe we would have better-resolution photos if we had upgraded to the CC premium annual membership plan... 

[harryfat1]

Always feels scary to put the phone over the railing to take these shots. Feel much safer when taken from an SLR as you have a neck strap around you and can reach out far over the ledge without fear.

 

 

Looking back at Avalon - has a bit of a European look?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

So now what?  Since we couldn’t do miniature golf on boarding day as it was too crowded, now is a good time to try.

 

Saw some dark clouds overhead but didn’t think about it much as we started playing as I also ignored the App where it says there's a chance of rain

 

While the Navigator doesn't have the biggest/best golf range in the fleet, it's still miles better than what we had on Princess Cruise last year.  Their version of the mini golf area is a joke/insult as they didn't even try to make it family-friendly. So if you are looking to go on a family cruise and looking at Princess, be sure you know what you are getting yourself into.  We did it for the Glacier viewing but the activities on board suck.

 

Princess Golf area (Really?)

 

 

RCI Golf area

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

And then felt some water on my arms and legs.  Huh?  We are not near any pool.  The nearest water is the shower thingy but that’s pretty far away (see picture from day 1)

 

 

Dang.  That’s not pool water.  That’s rain.  Time to put away the sticks and ball and run for cover.

 

The wife and the boys trying to show rain coming down

 

 

Yeah, it’s not a small misty shower as you can see the deck was all wet and all the sunbathers ran away from the deck chairs.  The weather app did say there was a chance of rain

 

 

[harryfat1]

Well, the original plan was to play golf and then back to the cabin to change so we can do the waterslide some more.  Didn’t want to do waterslide in the rain so we just went back to the cabin as my wife and younger son wanted to take a nap instead.

 

While they were resting, my older son and I went down to Royal Promenade at 4:30 to check out the dance lessons for the 70s party later that night.

 

 

 

One problem with the RP on the Voyager/Freedom class is that it's too narrow to hold these events.  Especially with RCI being greedy and setting up tables for the pub that extends out as part of the walkway. You see people darting between tables and the dancers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Recorded this video for my long time friend @dani negreanu as I know she is a big ABBA fan

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

After the dance lesson, I went upstairs to check the sail-away as the last tender was supposed to be at 5 PM to come back to the ship as the captain is leaving with or with you if you don't make that last tender at 5 PM to be back on the ship by 5:30.

 

The last tender just dropped off the last set of passengers as they were done for the day.

 

 

 

Parasailing

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Couple more pictures of Catalina Island before we sail away for Mexico

 

 

Has the Hawaiian Island feel to it from afar

 

 

Picture of Solarium that I never visited up close