NAVIGATOR Trip Report with PHOTOS--March 12, 2017

[ansugabe]

Formal night!

 

I have always loved formal night. It's really one of those long-standing cruise traditions that reminds me of The Love Boat.

 

Wait a minute, are you telling me you have actually watched The Love Boat?? The Love Boat is my ALL TIME favorite television show! I think I can attribute my love of cruising to that show! I always wished I could be Vicki Stubing. What a dreamy life.

[kwazi07]

Wait a minute, are you telling me you have actually watched The Love Boat?? The Love Boat is my ALL TIME favorite television show! I think I can attribute my love of cruising to that show! I always wished I could be Vicki Stubing. What a dreamy life.

 

Hahaha, yes. It's on occasionally and I kind of enjoy it. It's so cheesy but entertaining! We actually watched some episodes the night before the cruise :)

 

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[kwazi07]

Hi Andy - enjoying your review! One question - did you or your siblings spend any time in the kids / teen club? If so - how was it? And if not - any particular reason? 5 nights seems short to fit in everything navigator has to offer!!!

 

 

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No, we didn't. My brother was never one for kids clubs--I don't think he has ever been to one. My sister did the one on Carnival and really liked Adventure Ocean on Enchantment and went every time, but now she's too old for AO and didn't want to be with "the big kids" (she's very small for her age).

 

I did the 'tween' club on Carnival in 2012 but didn't do anything on EOTS or this cruise. I feel like you need to be there a lot to feel like you're part of it, and I enjoy spending time around the ship anyways. It's nice because you have a lot more freedom on a ship than on a normal vacation.

 

Also, it was too short...but we still did almost everything onboard! We did miss a parade, but we did all of the active stuff. Not much relaxing time though. Our next cruise will definitely be 6 or 7 nights.

 

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[easyboy]

Enjoying your review and nice photos.

[kwazi07]

Enjoying your review and nice photos.

Thank you!

 

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[kwazi07]

We honestly really like doing trivia on cruises and our first trivia game was today--the morning trivia. It was general knowledge trivia, and fairly well attended. It was run by Marcya who was a little snarky and never seemed fully awake in the morning. She was nice, but not my favorite of the cruise director staff. Sadly, we didn’t win.

 

After trivia we spent some much needed relaxation time in the room and balcony. I was a little peckish so I ran down to the Cafe Promenade to get some iced coffee.

 

 

 

Dreary, windy weather.

 

We decided to try lunch in the MDR--something we had never done on a cruise. We got to the dining room around 11:45. My sister decided to eat lunch at the Windjammer with my dad, so it was just my mom and me. We ended up being seated with three young couples: one from Miami (had a nice talk about UF vs. FSU), one from Australia (talked about food allergies, of all things), and one from Norway (didn’t talk much). You could tell on everyone’s faces as we sat down that we did not expect to sit with others, but it wasn’t too bad.

 

Now on the food. I mainly wanted to go to the MDR to try the Tutti Salad bar and it did not disappoint. My salad had romaine, onions, tomatoes, egg, fresh mozzerella, chicken, and honey mustard dressing. I know the honey mustard dressing is a weird addition but I am a sucker for all things honey mustard.

 

 

Also, I tried the beef and avocado fajitas. They were tasty, but I wished there was more avocado. Sadly I did not get a photo of the fajitas, I forgot!

 

Finally, dessert was served from a buffet line in the middle of the dining room. There was a chocolate fondue as well as some other cakes and mousses. I really liked the chocolate fondue, but the other desserts were on par with the Windjammer.

 

Overall, lunch in the MDR was nice and relaxing and a nice change from the crowds in the Windjammer.

 

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[kwazi07]

Sorry for few posts, but I have lots of work to do...curse you AP Chem! More posts tomorrow as it's Fri-yay! (I hate myself).

 

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[Clarea]

Sorry for few posts, but I have lots of work to do...curse you AP Chem! More posts tomorrow as it's Fri-yay! (I hate myself).

Where do you go to school?

[ansugabe]

 

I was a little peckish so I ran down to the Cafe Promenade to get some iced coffee.

 

 

I've never heard that term used before. Now I'll use it all the time with a British accent.

[carnivalbuny]

Thanks for all the info, Andy! we're leaving tomorrow am to drive down to FL. Cruise starts Sunday. Can't wait!

[krazy_dave]

I can't thank you enough for your review. We will be on this same itinerary in just two more days. BTW, forget the AP chem, your future is definitely going to be spending your time cruising and writing reviews!

[kwazi07]

Where do you go to school?

I go to a high school near St. Pete, FL.

 

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[kwazi07]

I've never heard that term used before. Now I'll use it all the time with a British accent.

Haha! I forgot where I heard it but I use it all the time :)

 

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[kwazi07]

Thanks for all the info, Andy! we're leaving tomorrow am to drive down to FL. Cruise starts Sunday. Can't wait!

Have fun! That's so exciting! Kinda jealous of you right now...

 

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[kwazi07]

I can't thank you enough for your review. We will be on this same itinerary in just two more days. BTW, forget the AP chem, your future is definitely going to be spending your time cruising and writing reviews!

No problem! You'll have a great time.

 

I wish that's how it would work...but I gotta work hard in school to be successful in the future so more cruises will be on the way :)

 

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[kwazi07]

Oh, I forgot to add something. After we went to the trivia game my mom heard that they were giving our Tanzanite studs if you go to the gemstone talk in the Star Lounge. I'm not a fan of port shopping talks--I thought we learned our lesson on Carnival!

 

Luckily, the shopping lady, Erin, was pretty informative and didn't seem to push specific stores as much as they did on Carnival (but Diamonds International was still mentioned). But we were just waiting for the Tanzanite earrings, which we didn't get a voucher for until the end. But they did hold a raffle at the end. If you want to win some stuff and get the earrings without the shopping talk come in as late as possible. I'm pretty sure her "assistant" (one of the dancers from the show, I'm pretty sure his name was Sam) stood at the front counter passing out raffles tickets and info until the end of the seminar. You did however have to wait in line for your "freebies" at the end...Erin also distributes "VIP shopping cards" along with freebies. That line was much shorter than the line for just the free stuff than the dancer had.

 

I hate shopping talks.

 

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[Clarea]

I go to a high school near St. Pete, FL.

Reason I asked is that our daughter teaches AP Chem in a HS in Bradenton.

[2CruzAddicts]

Awesome review Andy. I don't usually read blogs but yours is not only informative but entertaining. You have a very fun but mature writing style. Our first ship was Explorer which is Navigator's class sister and her and Adventure remain our favourites. Nice to remember the same "firsts" as you are describing them. Keep up the good work - I'm hooked waiting for your next post. You have a promising future as a travel writer lol.

[kwazi07]

On our way out of the dining room we saw my dad and my brother, who told us that my brother just signed up for the sushi making class in Izumi. My brother is a HUGE fan of sushi so he was very excited, to say the least.

 

We decided to go up to Izumi to watch a little of his sushi class before the 2pm ice show. They set up little pre-portioned amounts of sushi ingredients, including the authentic sushi rice. Again, my brother is a huge sushi nerd and knows what goes into good sushi and he said this was very good. They made California rolls, tuna rolls, tempura shrimp rolls, and one other type (I can’t remember).

 

 

 

 

Rolling the sushi.

 

My brother's California roll.

 

After a few minutes watching the class, we went down to deck 3 to Studio B for the “Ice Dancin’” show. The theater wasn’t too crowded, especially after reading many reports saying “get to the ice show early!”. I think it was probably the crowd onboard. I don’t think many of the college students were all that interested in seeing shows, as the theaters were usually 60-75% full.

 

 

The ice show was very good! Since we live near Tampa, we visit Busch Gardens (a theme park) quite often and they have an ice show as well. I enjoyed the one on the ship more because it was longer, and seemed more athletic and less focused on storytelling. The show has a slow start, but overall it was very enjoyable!

 

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[kwazi07]

Reason I asked is that our daughter teaches AP Chem in a HS in Bradenton.

Wow, that's pretty cool! Small world isn't it?

 

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[kwazi07]

Awesome review Andy. I don't usually read blogs but yours is not only informative but entertaining. You have a very fun but mature writing style. Our first ship was Explorer which is Navigator's class sister and her and Adventure remain our favourites. Nice to remember the same "firsts" as you are describing them. Keep up the good work - I'm hooked waiting for your next post. You have a promising future as a travel writer lol.

Thank you so much for your comments! I really enjoyed Navigator and I loved being on a "mega mega" ship for the first time!

 

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[kwazi07]

After the show we tried to do the afternoon trivia again. It was much more busy than the morning one, and the questions seemed to be easier. It was run by “Papa” Rolando (sp?) from Brazil who was pretty friendly and somewhat funny. Sadly, we didn’t win but came very close!

 

Earlier in the day my sister and I had saw a selfie scavenger hunt listed in the Cruise Compass. I was a little tired by this time in the day and almost didn’t do it, but my sister made me feel bad and I gave in. Boy, am I glad I did! It was honestly such a fun activity. It is a little stressful, but I had so much fun. Basically, you are given a list of things to take selfies with, and you have to look for them around the ship. Some are easy, like taking a selfie at the Windjammer. Others are a little trickier and you really have to know your way around the ship. I'm not going to post any of the photos on here, so no one has an unfair advantage (they probably use the same lists on each cruise).

 

We were SO CLOSE to winning, but someone else playing found a item on the list that was worth 20 points and easily pushed them to the win! I’m not going to say what it is, but it is something that is NOT listed on the deck plans ;) But we did win an impromptu contest set up by Adam (another cruise director staff member, pretty funny and from Saskatchewan) for the most awkward selfie!

 

Once we were done with the scavenger hunt we hauled our sweaty selves up to our room to change quickly for dinner. Our parents and brother were having drinks in the Viking Cro--I mean, Cosmopolitan Club--so we went up there (does anyone know why the VCL isn’t referred to as the VCL on some ships? We even overheard one person on boarding day looking at the deckplan and saying something about how they were disappointed there was no VCL!). I played checkers for a little with my brother before we went to dinner around 5:35. We found that going to dinner five minutes or so later gave us better service, as we seemed to be a little ‘behind’ the other diners so our waiters spent more time with us.

 

Tonight was the pimento menu in the MDR, and it was not my favorite of the menus. I decided to go with the chef’s selections, which was the strawberry bisque, garlic tiger shrimp, and sticky bread pudding.

 

The bisque was good but more of a dessert, but I kind of expected it. It was something different that I wouldn’t normally try, so there’s that.

 

The shrimp was just average to me. I LOVE garlic and this wasn’t garlicky enough to me. But I did like how the shrimp was butterflied. Also, our waiter brought us an extra plate of shrimp (I forgot to mention that on the first night we were brought a plate of seafood pasta to try). I liked it when he offered us more food...it gave us an opportunity to try something new!

 

After we ordered dessert, they did the napkin twirling and waiters singing thing. Nothing like this happened on Enchantment, and on Carnival they took it a little too far with a conga line and bringing us up to dance with the waiters. But I liked it...another one of those things you can only see on a cruise!

 

 

I LOVED the bread pudding. The ice cream had melted a little--okay, a lot (it must have been plated before the ‘show’), but it was sweet, a little heavy, but just so good. It had a caramelly flavor, which was better than the super custardy bread pudding that was found in the Windjammer.

 

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[kwazi07]

After dinner we went back to the room to wash up and saw our new towel animal.

 

 

We decided to take a walk around the ship and my sister and I eventually ended up playing mini golf with my mom. Let’s just say I did not play my best :( We skipped the headliner show tonight (reVoiced, an a capella group).

 

We got really close to Cuba. I wish it was a sunnier day so the view would have been clearer.

 

 

 

On the way back to the room we watched this game that the Adventure Ocean kids were playing on the basketball court. Basically, the counsellor would tell a kid to run, and they would scream while they ran. Once they stopped screaming they had to stop. It was so weird but hilarious to watch. I guess they wanted them to get their screaming and running out of their system for the night!

 

We had planned on going to the Love and Marriage show that night, because it was really fun on Enchantment. It wasn’t particularly late (10:15), but for some reason I was VERY tired that night and just wanted to sit on the balcony a little and read. I was disappointed at first, but I think it was more FOMO than anything else--I didn’t have any regrets later. The game was actually recorded and broadcasted on the TV later on. We saw the winners in the elevator one day and it was kind of a funny moment--they were a hilarious couple!

 

So that’s the end of day 3! Up next: a day in sunny Cozumel!

 

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[Arzeena]

What a fantastic review! Thanks for taking the time to post.

Good luck with AP Chem:D

[leinhto]

Love your review and accompanying pics.

 

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