My Navigator Review, w/kids, RFS, part 3

[Maria65]

Ports: Wow, we loved Labadee! What a difference a year makes. No one hounding us for tips for chairs, the mats were free, everything was perfect. My 11 year old daughter had her hair braided for $40, with our own comb. It wasn't too painful, it stayed in, and no lice. She was very pleased with it. Lunch was great. My kids found a tidal pool on the far side which was fun to explore and discover little fish. My husband took the girls through the shopping area, aggressive but okay, friendly tone to everything. I appreciated the afternoon clouds which cooled things off a bit. Lovely day.

Jamaica: Very glad I booked on our own with A-Z Jamaica Planners. The ships tours cost more and you're stuck with large groups of people. We had our own driver and van and enjoyed sightseeing, the pottery studio and river tubing. That Wassi pottery studio is quite small but the workers were so nice to our children. Each once of them got to take a turn behind the wheel and make a souvenir. The pottery work is beautiful and it's probably a good thing I left my credit card onboard the ship. The River Tubing was great fun, a little scary at first, but our guide kept my little one out of dangerous areas. The water is crystal clear and this is exhilarating and relaxing at the same time.

Cozumel: We went early to Chakanaab by cab and they moved our royal dolphin swim from noon to 10am. The park was empty before the tour busses arrived. My husband and the three oldest girls did the dolphin swim. They had a nice small group, only 8 people. This was worth every penny. The snorkeling was a disappointment in comparison with last year. The water was clear but for some reason there were a lot less fish this time. It was still a pleasant way to spend the day but if I ever go back to Cozumel, I'll book a reef snorkelling trip.

That sinking feeling...what we have to leave the ship? No, say it ain't so. It all went by so fast. Just when I was all relaxed and settled in too. We hated saying good bye to our waiter Henry, what a good man. He really seemed to care that we have the best of everything. Our head waiter was great too, and we had no problem tipping him generously as well. Our cabin steward did his job invisibly but well, no complaints.

Debarkation, never fun. People were lined up in the dismissal area before their tags were called which made it hard for us to get to the exit when it was our turn. RCI could do better with crowd control here. The line for customs was long but we got out and to the airport to rent our car with enough time for us to drive out to the Everglades Safari Park on the Tamiami Trail. This is a nice little tour is you have a few hours to kill in Miami. The drive is easy from the airport. The kids loved the airboat ride and seeing gators. From there, it took us about two hours to drive to West Palm Beach where we had an evening flight home.

All in all, we had a fabulous vacation. The service was impeccable, the ship is gorgeous, the people for the most part were congenial (just a few rude people trying to push on to elevators before we could get off), and I could not have asked for more.

[shopngolf]

Hello...thanks for the review. We leave on the Navigator this Saturday with our 5 and 7 year old. We are soooo excited!!! In Labadee, we were going to do the water park--any comments on that? My 5 year old also wants her hair braided....was there waits for that?
We plan on doing the dolphin encounter in Jamaica as our kids are too young for the one in Cozumel. We would have liked to do the river tubing...any kids younger than yours on this? and can they ride on your lap? :eek: (that is their dad's lap)
We don't have plans for Cozumel...anything we should do?:confused:
What about Cayman's...did they tell you right away that you were not stopping? We haven't heard that we are not so really hoping we still are!!
Anyway, this is our first cruise...any tips as fars as the kids go would be appreciated!:)

[Maria65]

We did the water park on Labadee on our last cruise and just didn't think it was worth doing again. If you have very agile and athletic kids they'll be fine, but at 5 and 7 they may be too young to really enjoy it. There was no line at all for hair braiding, plenty of available stations. Definitely bring your own comb because they do lots of heads of hair every day and you just don't know who may be carrying lice. My daughter needed to hold my hand at times because they do pull pretty hard but once it was over she was fine. There was a toddler being braided who screamed bloody murder throughout. She did look cute when it was done but not worth the ordeal in my book.

Our river tubing group was just my family and a couple so I didn't see any other kids. My youngest was seven and she loved every minute of it. I think they'll let you do whatever you want as far as having a child on your lap. I just held on to the rope on her tube so we were linked together.

Yes, we knew right away that we weren't going to Grand Cayman. They made it sounds as if it'll be awhile yet but who knows.

For Cozumel, taking a cab to Chakanaab is easy and there's a nice little beach for kids. It's a safe place to explore on your own so you may want to just get a cab and go where you please. The island is pretty small so you can't get lost.

As for kids, most seem to love the kids club, just make sure they get whatever rest they need. The late night party cost money ($5/hr/child) and if you have an excursion planned the next day, it's better to skip it and get them to bed early. Encourage them to try things off the adult menu, it's fine to mix and match between the adult and kids menu by the way. There are kid friendly items like fruit salads, shrimp cocktail, soups, ravioli and your waiter will be happy to get them whatever they want to try. I brought a bottle of hand sanitizing gel and encouraged the kids to take a squirt each time they went out the door. Keeping everyone healthy is a big deal when you're traveling with kids.

[Jasonm921]

kids that young may have a problem with some of the activities in the water park. Some of the items such as the iceberg rock climbing is rather difficult. Paradise Beach in Cozumel has the same things for 5 dollars.

[Maria65]

There's so much fun to be had just playing in the water at Labadee, you don't really need to pay extra for the water park experience. Go across to the far side and let your kids explore in the tidal pools. Adventure Ocean is also in operation on the beach so they could take part in that or you could do the family activities together. There are also some paths to explore and see some ruins.

The water park is hard to because it's in deep water and everyone has to wear a life jacket. My kids who are on our pool club swim team found it hard to swim with a life jacket on. There are some kids who have no trouble hoisting themselves up on the icebergs but a lot of kids struggle to get up on the equipment.