Navigator Review (3/31 sailing) Part I

[emen822]

Here is a little background. This is my third cruise, second on a voyager class ship, first doing the Western Caribbean. I was travelling with my husband and two daughters, ages 11 and 13. I have all the compasses from the week but not in my hands right now so I will try to remember as best I can.

FRIDAY

We left New York on in the morning around 6:00 a.m. for our 8:30 a.m. flight. No problems. In fact, we landed 1/2 hour early in Fort Lauderdale but we basically sat on the runway for the 1/2 hour because there were no gates available. When we got off, there was a man standing there with my name. We had hired a limo at the last minute to pick us up as a surprise. We used Millenium Limo and had a bentley limousine take us to the Intercontinental in Miami. The limo cost was $95, plus tax and gratuity. The ride was nice and we were tired from a long morning so it was nice to just relax and not have to drive ourselves. When we got to the Intercontinental, we checked in and asked for a view of the bay. That was going to cost $30 more so we decided not to. We had lunch at one of the restaurants onsite and that was very good. Then I went back up to the room to relax a little and then walked over to Bayside. Since we had a late lunch, we just went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dessert. I was very happy with the hotel because of the location and it was very clean. I would definitely stay there again but I do wish they had balconies.

SATURDAY

In the morning, my husband woke up early to go see the ships. The Voyager was also in port with the Navigator. We walked over to Bayside again because my girls wanted to get some hair clips at Claires. Then we came back, put our luggage tags on and headed downstairs. One of the porters met us and took our bags. My husband tipped him but meanwhile, he just wheeled them outside to someone else who would then put them in the taxi. So we ended up tipping one guy $6 just to wheel them out the door. LOL Then we tipped the guy who put them in the taxi and the taxi driver. Oh well. You live and learn. I wasn't about to start complaining when we were headed towards the Navigator. We pulled up and tipped another porter and then headed onto the ship. We got right on, no problems and went to the Windjammer for lunch. After lunch, we were able to finally get into our room. I had booked aft 1390 and was very excited to see the room. I was a little nervous reading some reviews lately that the waters were a little rough. Once we saw the room, we were all very happy. It is much bigger than a regular D1 and the balcony is HUGE. They explored the ship a little and I stayed inside to unpack. We met Mairius, who was our stateroom attendant and he was great all week. We went to the muster drill outside and that was pretty quick. Then we went to get ready for dinner. At dinner, we met Arlene and Raja who would be our waiter and assistant waiter all week. The service was excellent. For dinner, I had shrimp ravioli in a lobster sauce, which isn't something that I usually eat but it was delicious. Sometimes I get a little daring when on vacation, but sometimes that isn't always such a good idea. More on that later. The waters were rough and we were rocking and rolling in our aft cabin. I don't think we went to any shows that first night.

SUNDAY

When I woke up the next morning, my face was a little blotchy and very itchy. I was so upset because I am the one who does all the planning, researching, everything ... and here it was, day two, and I was a mess. So I said to my husband that I was going to the doctor. When he heard that, he knew I was serious since I am not a doctor-lover. :) (Meaning he knew something was REALLY wrong for me to want to see the doctor.) So I made my way down to the medical facility on deck 1 and saw the doctor. He said that maybe I ate something that I was allergic to. So maybe those delicious shrimp ravioli wasn't the best thing for me to eat. He gave me two prescriptions and some cortisone cream and I was on my way. After two hours or so, my face was much better and the itchiness was gone. I was waiting to see what the damage would be but it was only $144. Best $ I ever spent. We also had our meet and mingle in the Cosmopolitan Lounge. As always, it was nice to put a few faces to screen names and then see them throughout the week.

MONDAY

Today was our first port stop at Labadee. This is like a little piece of paradise. We tendered off the ship around 10:30 and the wait was a little long. I think we had to wait about 20 minutes or so. The guys working the tenders said that there were no lines from 8:30-10:00 so we were leaving the same time as everyone else. We headed over towards the right side, where the water park stuff is. My girls and my husband made reservations for 1:00 and had a great time. The cost was $15 per person for an hour. Just before that we had lunch at the bbq. That was also very nice and very organized. We left around 2:30 and the tender line was long but it went quick. My husband yet again felt queasy from the tendering. We were definitely rocking and rolling while waiting to get off the tender boat. Once we sailed away from Labadee, the seas were smooth.

 

More to come. I'm going to get my compasses from my hotel room because it's annoying not remembering what shows we went to on certain nights. I can tell you that the Beatles show was AWESOME and so was the Quest. There was a new production show that we saw the opening night and I wasn't crazy about it. It was a lot of latin dancing. There was also a comedian that I missed and my husband said he was hysterical. I'll have more details in a little bit. Any questions, fire away.