My View: Navigator Spring Break and Cabin 7388

[APDMOM]

We only did one "excursion" on this cruise, and that was the "all day pass" for the dragon coaster for my DH and DS. DH was the driver and DS was the all day passenger (free). I highly recommend booking the all day pass in advance. It is not always available, so keep checking. At about $25 for just one ride vs. about $35 for the all day pass, you really can't go wrong with the all day pass. Sometimes a first-time rider will ride very slowly, and force you to ride slowly also. If you only have one shot at the ride, it will ruin your ride to end up behind one of these slow riders. With the all day pass, you are at least guaranteed a few great, fast rides.

 

I took a lounger on Adrenaline beach, facing the coaster so that I could take pictures. I had my turn on the coaster in November, so I got to take the pictures. DH rode the first one alone to get the hang of the brakes:

 

DH coming around the turn:

 

Speeding down the final turn:

 

This picture gives you an idea of the size of the car. DH is 6’4” and DS is about 5 feet tall:

 

On the way back, we stopped by the Adventure Ocean water play area:

 

 

APDMOM

[APDMOM]

We went back to the ship around 10:30 a.m. to take advantage of the quiet pool. It was great to have so much space and many empty loungers right by the pool. Lunch in the Windjammer was available until 4:30 today.

 

We were pleasantly surprised to find the Navigator version of Kümmelweck available by the hamburgers! DH had 2 and would have had more if he had noticed it sooner. Instead of sauerkraut, these had a slice of tomato with the roast beef. The roll was every bit as good as, if not better, than on Oasis. So, if you are a fan of the Kümmelweck, be sure to look for it in the Windjammer by the burgers. It is not available every day - for us it was only seen on Labadee day and maybe a couple of sea days. One day it had pork in stead of the roast beef, so it is not always the same. The pork was not as good.

 

Kümmelweck (sort of):

 

A few more views of Labadee:

 

 

 

 

 

APDMOM

[APDMOM]

Leaving Labadee in our wake:

 

 

 

After sailaway, we found a seat at the pub to watch the parade. We got the last table available at about 3:30 p.m. The parade was at 4 p.m. So, if you want to get a great seat, sit by the pub, but get there at least 30 to 45 minutes early. The theme of the parade was “Circus”, and it was more fun than the Dreamworks parade - at least to us. The music was great and it seemed like all the staff and crew members had fun putting on the parade:

 

 

 

 

APDMOM

Edited March 30, 2016 by APDMOM

[APDMOM]

A few more of the parade:

 

 

 

 

At the end of the parade they drop confetti:

 

 

APDMOM

[APDMOM]

During the parade, I noticed for the first time that this decorative ‘ball’ expands... I know, weird things fascinate my geeky mind:

 

 

Dinner menu tonight was Pimiento (I think) Chicken Marsala and Roasted garlic soup were the highlights for me. The waiters sang and danced for us tonight. They were quite an impressive group:

 

 

 

The Headliner show did not interest us, as it was a singer impersonator of artists who are not our taste in music. So, we went to the photo package raffle. Now, I wish I could tell you that we won a great photo package at the raffle, but a guy standing right next to me won instead. So, back to paying for our photos… We ended up buying two - our boarding picture, and one of us in Labadee (total of $30 with our C&A discount).

 

It was truly a great day in Labadee. DH took 6 rides on the coaster, without much waiting in line. After the 6 rides, we felt like he got great value for the ticket. I read on another review of our cruise that the lines got long after lunch, so be sure to ride early if you can.

 

We spent a quiet evening on our balcony with a great view of Dominican Republic and the stars over Navigator of the Seas. Not a good picture, but here is the moon above the Windjammer, as seen from our balcony:

 

 

 

APDMOM

[APDMOM]

I am sorry Tapatalk does not allow me to post tips in red...

 

It is time to step out of this dream world to cook dinner. I will be back with day 4 later, as I am ahead of schedule... Yeah! [emoji3]

 

 

APDMOM

[APDMOM]

The toiletries you have are not the "top tier" shampoos, conditioner, etc. They are the new ones given to anyone not D+ or Pinnacle, or in a suite. ....K.O.

 

Thanks for the info! I hope it is now standard fleetwide. I will pack shampoo for Allure, just in case :)

[APDMOM]

A little entertainment from the dining staff, while you wait for day 4:

 

[YOUTUBE]2D_M2GeBPrM[/YOUTUBE]

[APDMOM]

My View: Day 4 - San Juan, Puerto Rico

 

Early morning lighting on the Promenade:

 

I started the day with an attempt at a workout. It was a comedy of errors as the wind tried to steal my shirt during a walk…. at least I caught the sunrise while trying to walk on deck 4:

 

 

Since the wind was not cooperating, I decided to wrestle with the bike in the fitness center. I am not used to a gym, and my basic recumbent bike with all of 6 buttons at home serves me just fine. I started pounding buttons, and like any well deserving type A self-sufficient blonde, I refused to look for instructions and only managed to turn the little TV on and off... Then I discover the instructions on the little display bar and it is asking my age... Oh, great! I probably typed in I am 99,435. Well, after the button assault of the bike, I finally got it set to at least show a bit of progress. Now, at home I have my fan blowing at full speed to cool me down. The Navigator fitness center has no such thing. In fact, it seemed like it doubled as a sauna. I was drenched in no time, and called it quits after 15 minutes. Mission aborted - I will stick to climbing stairs and resume my low-tech fitness routine at home... I tried, I really tried... With all that, I forgot to take pictures of the gym.

 

 

 

APDMOM

[APDMOM]

So, in stead of exercising, let’s take a walk through the Solarium:

 

 

 

 

 

Since I did burn 90 calories and lost about 7 pounds on technology stress in the gym, I decided it was a good day to use my BOGO coupon for a Starbucks Cappuccino.... make that two.... grande.... with Caramel. Now I am on familiar terrain... Not because I frequent Starbucks (it is not in the cruise budget), but because I watched "You've got mail" more times than I care to count, and memorized the ordering routine. I don't really drink both cappuccinos at once - I refrigerate one in the cabin for the next day... Are you catching the drift of my cruise budget?

 

Nothing like a cappuccino with this wake view early in the morning:

 

 

 

APDMOM

[APDMOM]

Around noon, we could see we were nearing San Juan. The flag was getting raised, and the pilot was coming by:

 

 

 

If you want to get good views of the fort while sailing in, choose a port side balcony. We had to kind of zoom through the obstruction.

 

 

 

 

 

APDMOM

[APDMOM]

We waited for the crowds to leave again, then disembarked leisurely. There were two other ships in port with us - AIDAvita and Seven Seas Mariner:

 

 

Our ship view from shore. The green arrow is pointing to the circle opening on the side of our balony, the one featured in my daily “My View” picture:

 

With the late arrival to San Juan on this itinerary, the port was abuzz with activity and traffic was at a standstill. We tried to catch the free trolley at stop number 14, but one was just leaving - chock full. We walked on a bit to stop number 13, where we could wait in the shade. By the looks of the very slow moving traffic, we could tell our chances of catching the free trolley were slim. Here is DH looking for the trolley:

 

Even in the shade, we were roasting. After 20 minutes and no sight of the trolley, we decided to call it a day. Our previous visit to San Juan was early in the morning, when it was cooler and very quiet. In fact, the trolley was near empty that time, and more pleasant than walking over the hills in the heat. Hindsight, we should have taken the $10 per person one hour tour, in stead of trying to pinch the pennies for a free trolley... We will plan on that for next year, when we will arrive late again on Freedom.

 

It was very nice to have the pool and hot tubs virtually to ourselves again! We do love enjoying the quiet ship while in port. Look at all those empty loungers!

 

What do you do for a late lunch in 7388? Enjoy a glass of wine (Aldi wine, if you are on my cruise budget) and Promenade Cafe sandwiches on the balcony:

 

 

 

APDMOM

[APDMOM]

A few more views of Old San Juan from our balcony:

 

 

 

 

 

APDMOM

[APDMOM]

We opted for a Windjammer dinner, since we napped a bit too long for our assigned 5:30 p.m. dinner. (Basil) I was disappointed that I missed the crab cakes, but will be sure to make up for it on Allure in a few weeks!

 

We got off the ship one more time to take pictures of the ship at night.

 

It was very close to full moon. AIDAvita was in port with us. Too bad it was not Aida Luna - as these pictures of the moon over the ship would be more meaningful…

 

 

Navigator at night:

 

 

The juggling show was fairly impressive, and, as Mike Price said, it would have been even more impressive if you were a juggler. We are not jugglers though, and the comedy was not our style. After 30 minutes he had still only juggled balls and pins, with nothing more interesting. It got pretty boring, so we left the show. I cannot give a fair judgement of the show as a whole. I have, however, seen at least two jugglers on Royal who were more entertaining with greater variety.

 

Another quiet balcony views of San Juan at night:

 

 

APDMOM

[APDMOM]

That's it for today... time to organize day 5. I will be back with more tomorrow night. Thanks for "cruising" along!

 

 

APDMOM

[Mom.to.2]

Thank you!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[APDMOM]

I have to agree with you that the production shows last week on Navigator were just awful! Dance Fever had people walking out in droves. The show had zero plot and made no sense at all. It was just a bunch of random dances, many of which were repeated. The costumes looked like they were from the 70's, and the singers were painful to listen to. What bothered me the most that the entire show was performed to a pre-recorded music track instead of with the live orchestra. One of the things we enjoy the most about RCI is that unlike some other cruise lines, they still use live musicians with their shows. Very disappointing to DH and I. Other than the entertainment, we really liked the ship and were considering booking her again for next March. Now however we are rethinking this as we just don't see ourselves wanting to see anything except for the ice show again. The ice show by the way was awesome - saw that twice!

I am glad I'm not the only one. I put it in my feedback to Royal and hope they will find better singers... since when did screaming in harmony replace singing? :eek: I look forward to some better entertainment on Allure. We are also booked on Carnival in November - after a few years with only Royal, I would be interested to see how their entertainment compares now. This past week's Royal shows were worse than anything I have seen on other ships... except the ice show. That is always a hit!

[mcroadman]

Hi, Mary,

 

I would definitely e-mail the dining room request to rcldining@rccl.com and explain the situation. We were on deck 4, right next to a wall, which really helped block other sounds. It was table 477, but I am sure they move the numbers around. When you e-mail them, include your booking number, sailing date and name. You can also call the RCI special needs dept. to let them know of your concerns. Once you are onboard, go to the dining room to see where your table is, and whether it will work for you.

 

They had some assistive listening systems available for some shows, but I do not need one, as I thankfully have full hearing in one ear. I have most trouble when I am in a crowd. Ask at the special needs dept. if they can reserve you some seats close to the stage. I hope it works out so that she can enjoy the whole experience! [emoji846]

 

 

APDMOM

 

Thanks Apdmom. I appreciate the input and advice. Your review is just dreamy! We are counting days and enjoying the planning as we gaze longingly at the photos here!

[APDMOM]

After a long, busy day at work, I need this review to remind me why I work so hard... [emoji846]

 

My View: Day 5 - St Kitts

 

 

 

APDMOM

[APDMOM]

Leading up to St. Kitts - A cloudy start to the day:

 

What is better than a wake view? A wake view with a rainbow:

 

Remember that BOGO Cappuccino? Here is my second day “chilled” Cappuccino… still as good!

 

An island on the way to St. Kitts:

 

 

 

APDMOM

[APDMOM]

Approaching the St Kitts area is beautiful:

 

 

 

 

 

Pilot means we are close!

 

 

 

APDMOM

[APDMOM]

Since I had done an island tour here before, and we are not into the beaches, we spent another quiet day on the ship. Oasis of the Seas was already docked when we arrived, and we also shared the port with Costa. Costa was docked at an industrial looking port.

 

 

 

 

 

APDMOM

[APDMOM]

The docking process... We love watching "the workings" of the ship. We noticed that everyone is cleared from the dock, including Royal photographers, to make the docking process safe. The gates were closed to the port, and the disembarkation of Oasis passengers was put on hold until we were safe and secure:

 

 

 

DH - looking over from our round opening:

 

 

 

APDMOM

[APDMOM]

Port area: We took a quick walk to see if we could find free wifi. There was a shop with ‘free’ wifi, but you have to spend $10 on merchandise to use it. Although that was reasonable, we did not find anything we wanted to buy, so we went back to the ship. We enjoyed being without any connection this week!

 

 

 

 

Back on the ship and into the elevator… We had no worries that it was Wednesday already. I find this cruise was one of the most relaxing experiences, as we knew it would only be 7 weeks after this cruise that we would board Allure. So, we did not feel pressure to ‘do everything’.

5.24

 

 

 

APDMOM

Edited March 31, 2016 by APDMOM
typo clarify

[APDMOM]

Okay, Tapatalk keeps crashing. I have been trying to post the next segment on there 3x, but it is not working right now. I will organize day 6 a bit, and hope they sort out the issue. Hopefully, I can come finish up day 5 and 6 later tonight.

 

I only use Tapatalk, since they post the full picture, not just a thumbnail...