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

[Sea Dog]

On 8/23/2023 at 6:42 PM, harryfat1 said:

So, you get off the freeway and there’s a huge line of cars at the offramp trying to go straight because if you program your Google map to go to Berth 92 where the Navigator is docked, that’s where it tells you to go.  See the red arrow.  The only problem is every one of your fellow cruisers and their cousin are going the same route and the traffic is slow.

 

 

In order to bypass the lines, map it to USS Iowa Museum and you will go on the Blue line and bypass all the traffic jams of the red line as there's no traffic on the city streets and you can enter into the loop at the midpoint..

 

Yeah, yeah, my arrows suck. You try to draw with your feet and toes and show me your arrows look…

 

The Blue arrow will get you to USS Iowa and then you drive pass it for another few hundred feet and you will get to the luggage drop area.

 

Thanks for the tip as we will sail on her in October of 2024. Is Berth 92 always the one that Navigator will use? It's my understanding there are only 3 berths right?

[Coralc]

51 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

 

Thanks for the tip as we will sail on her in October of 2024. Is Berth 92 always the one that Navigator will use? It's my understanding there are only 3 berths right?

Pretty sure. They are not moving the large building and the tent. 

[harryfat1]

2 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

 

Thanks for the tip as we will sail on her in October of 2024. Is Berth 92 always the one that Navigator will use? It's my understanding there are only 3 berths right?

Yeah, as far as I know, RCI has always had that berth.  That was the same berth we sailed on the Mariner back in 2010.

 

Carnival will have 3 ships in the region by next year but they have the exclusive rights to use the Long Beach pier, which is like 8 miles from San Pedro.  The interesting about that area is the historical significance of the cruise terminal is a dome building that once housed Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose.  Next to that is the historical Queen Mary.

 

Here are a few pics from our 2012 Carnival cruise using the Long Beach Pier.

 

Yeah, the dome is the cruise terminal...

 

 

Very long straight gangway as the ship is docked far away

 

 

The historical Queen Mary next to the dome

 

 

But I'm sure you don't care about all this as you asked about berth 92.

 

The only other cruise berth in the area is perpendicular to it.  Celebrity or Princess cruises use them when their ships are not in Alaska during the summer seasons.

 

As a matter of fact, there was a Princess ship docked there when Google Maps took this satellite picture. The red area is where RCI ships would dock.

 

[Sea Dog]

4 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

Yeah, as far as I know, RCI has always had that berth.  That was the same berth we sailed on the Mariner back in 2010.

 

Carnival will have 3 ships in the region by next year but they have the exclusive rights to use the Long Beach pier, which is like 8 miles from San Pedro.  The interesting about that area is the historical significance of the cruise terminal is a dome building that once housed Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose.  Next to that is the historical Queen Mary.

 

Here are a few pics from our 2012 Carnival cruise using the Long Beach Pier.

 

Yeah, the dome is the cruise terminal...

 

 

Very long straight gangway as the ship is docked far away

 

 

The historical Queen Mary next to the dome

 

 

But I'm sure you don't care about all this as you asked about berth 92.

 

The only other cruise berth in the area is perpendicular to it.  Celebrity or Princess cruises use them when their ships are not in Alaska during the summer seasons.

 

As a matter of fact, there was a Princess ship docked there when Google Maps took this satellite picture. The red area is where RCI ships would dock.

 

Thank you so much that really helps me understand what he layout. I also think the history in very interesting so thank you. I like knowing the layout of a place I’ve never been to help me understand where I’m going even if it will be by taxi or Uber.

[bobmacliberty]

11 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

Remember the bridge in the previous post?  It would have been cool to get some pictures from there.

 

 

 

Thanks to Google Map's street view, here's the picture from the bridge.  

 

 

Yuck.  As you said earlier, you would have needed to stop on the bridge, but you also would have needed to get out of the car, walk to the chain link fence, and put your lens through one of the openings.  In doing so, you would surely have greatly upset some Angelenos.  Given the history of road rage in LA...

[Sea Dog]

10 hours ago, Coralc said:

Pretty sure. They are not moving the large building and the tent. 

 

I only asked because I've never been there before. No need to be snarky.

[harryfat1]

6 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

Thank you so much that really helps me understand what he layout. I also think the history in very interesting so thank you. I like knowing the layout of a place I’ve never been to help me understand where I’m going even if it will be by taxi or Uber.

Glad the info is helpful. 

 

Almost surprised that someone is actually reading this thread for informational purposes as we talk mostly about being anal and eating donuts...😜

 

The Carnival Cruise Terminal is just 7 miles down the road in Long Beach.  If we had kept going and crossing the green bridge, we would have gotten there

 

 

Do you plan to do much sightseeing in Southern CA pre or post-cruise?  We spent a week during Christmas in Southern CA so if you have some particular place in mind, I might have some pictures or other locals can chime in to help.

 

I'm never one to believe in the concept of "hijacking the thread" as we are all here to discuss fun topics and help each other out (as can be seen from my lack of focus to just talk about the Mexico cruise).  So anyone is free to ask questions if you need answers.

 

Yeah, if you arrive by Uber/taxi, you don't have to worry about parking.  I got to the pier around 10:20 ahead of our 11 AM check-in time.  Assuming you are able to secure either the 10:30 or 11 AM slot on the 45th day (staying up past midnight notwithstanding), you can time your ride from the hotel to the pier to arrive early to board the ship.

 

Per Biker, it sounds like San Pedro enforces the check-in time regularly so you don't want to be with the group standing outside and waiting for your time slot.

 

Barring a freaky west coast hurricane that makes its way up the coast, the LA region is typically pretty dry between the months of May to October - the rainy season typically starts after Halloween. 

 

It might be windy though as in the Fall time, you might experience some "Santa Ana winds" (Google that) that typically result in numerous wildfires you hear about in the LA region.  

 

I have sailed on the 7-day Mexican itinerary 3 times previously and the ship will likely experience some turbulence on the way back north around the Cabo region.  Going south is no issue as you are going with the current but coming back around the Cabo area, expect some motion.  Plan accordingly if anyone is sensitive to ship movement,

 

 

[Sea Dog]

1 minute ago, harryfat1 said:

Glad the info is helpful. 

 

Almost surprised that someone is actually reading this thread for informational purposes as we talk mostly about being anal and eating donuts...😜

 

The Carnival Cruise Terminal is just 7 miles down the road in Long Beach.  If we had kept going and crossing the green bridge, we would have gotten there

 

 

Do you plan to do much sightseeing in Southern CA pre or post-cruise?  We spent a week during Christmas in Southern CA so if you have some particular place in mind, I might have some pictures or other locals can chime in to help.

 

I'm never one to believe in the concept of "hijacking the thread" as we are all here to discuss fun topics and help each other out (as can be seen from my lack of focus to just talk about the Mexico cruise).  So anyone is free to ask questions if you need answers.

 

Yeah, if you arrive by Uber/taxi, you don't have to worry about parking.  I got to the pier around 10:20 ahead of our 11 AM check-in time.  Assuming you are able to secure either the 10:30 or 11 AM slot on the 45th day (staying up past midnight notwithstanding), you can time your ride from the hotel to the pier to arrive early to board the ship.

 

Per Biker, it sounds like San Pedro enforces the check-in time regularly so you don't want to be with the group standing outside and waiting for your time slot.

 

Barring a freaky west coast hurricane that makes its way up the coast, the LA region is typically pretty dry between the months of May to October - the rainy season typically starts after Halloween. 

 

It might be windy though as in the Fall time, you might experience some "Santa Ana winds" (Google that) that typically result in numerous wildfires you hear about in the LA region.  

 

I have sailed on the 7-day Mexican itinerary 3 times previously and the ship will likely experience some turbulence on the way back north around the Cabo region.  Going south is no issue as you are going with the current but coming back around the Cabo area, expect some motion.  Plan accordingly if anyone is sensitive to ship movement,

 

 

Haven’t decided if we will come in a day early or a couple of days early. I’ve got some friends in LA so we might try and hook up. The problem is they are not close to the port where we will probably stay. I also want to hit some good tiki bars there. We’ve done Disneyland 3 times there and want to maybe see the Queen Mary 

[harryfat1]

5 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

Thanks to Google Map's street view, here's the picture from the bridge.  

 

 

Yuck.  As you said earlier, you would have needed to stop on the bridge, but you also would have needed to get out of the car, walk to the chain link fence, and put your lens through one of the openings.  In doing so, you would surely have greatly upset some Angelenos.  Given the history of road rage in LA...

Oh, wow.  Didn't realize they had a green fence blocking the view.  

 

Never mind.  Maybe getting a picture of the bow of the ship from the back of the USS Iowa Museum would have been another interesting perspective as you seldom get to see the bow of the ship from another ship.

 

 

Yeah, people in Southern CA have killed for less than you blocking their road just to take a picture...

 

 

[harryfat1]

12 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Haven’t decided if we will come in a day early or a couple of days early. I’ve got some friends in LA so we might try and hook up. The problem is they are not close to the port where we will probably stay. I also want to hit some good tiki bars there. We’ve done Disneyland 3 times there and want to maybe see the Queen Mary 

If you are interested in the Queen Mary, you can actually stay overnight there as they made some of the older cabins to be like hotel rooms.  It's not cheap but if you want a special experience, that might be worthwhile.

 

As that's literally next door to the Carnival cruise terminal, people can hop on the Carnival ship the next morning after a night stay at QM.

 

If just a quick visit, it's like a small shopping complex in the area.  There's a little waterfront path to see the oceanfront and the Carnival ship docked for the day.  With 3 Carnival ships using the Long Beach terminal, chances are good you will see one of the ships docked during your visit.

 

The whole area is much nicer than San Pedro, which is a much more industrial port

 

View of the QM from the parking structure at Long Beach as Carnival cruise terminal at least has a covered parking structure

 

 

Carnival check-in - note the QM funnels in the background 

 

 

 

Sea walk area

 

 

Carnival ship sailing the 7-day Mexican cruise back in 2012

 

 

All the tanker ships lining up

 

[harryfat1]

Speaking of San Pedro, just saw the news today that they are looking to build a new cruise terminal in the nearby area.

 

https://www.cruisehive.com/port-of-los-angeles-to-increase-cruise-passenger-tariffs/109370

 

Of course, they will charge cruise passengers for it by raising the port fee.  Not like anyone can protest the port fees and taxes that are part of the cruise fare.

 

Has anyone besides me ever wondered how exactly how much you are paying at which port and get an itemized line-by-line explanation of what you are paying?  

 

For example, for our short 4-day cruise cruise of only 2 port stops, there's a port fee of $115.36 tagged onto each passenger.  There's never an explanation of which port charges what and what part is taxes versus port fees.  It's always just a number we blindly pay as it's mandatory.

 

Someone should file a class action lawsuit demanding each cruise line to provide a line-by-line detailed explanation of what we are being charged...Yeah, I know, not happening.

 

Anyway, a final note on San Pedro before we move on: while not nearly as good as the Fort Lauderdale webcam, they do have an online webcam for San Pedro that you can tell your friends about as you sail away.

 

As luck would have it, today is Friday and the Navigator is back in port after the 4-day cruise so we get to see her "live".  Well, technically, I get to see her live - you folks see a screenshot of her in port minutes/hours/days/weeks afterward, depending on when you read this. Is this 9.2 anal?

 

Actually, this is a very nice picture for a webcam cam as you see the different types of ships as well as the bridge in the background.  Jealous that I couldn't get this picture from my camera...

 

[harryfat1]

Onward and forward on the trip report

 

++++++++++++++++

 

Now that you are actually inside the cruise terminal, you go up to the check-in queue where the lady in the blue jacket stops you and asks for the size of your party as you wait for the next available agent.  The wait line was short waiting less than a minute before we were in front of an agent.

 

 

I like that they have a sign at the pole that says DO NOT go under the ropes.  Yeah, old people like me will likely hurt our backs in going under and thereby injure ourselves before even touching the ship

 

 

Time to whip out the phone that you had just put away at the security screen area or take out the hard copy printouts and let the nice people scan the info and also scan your passport.  They weren’t happy with the portrait pictures I uploaded for everyone and they did a re-take picture of everyone again at the terminal.

 

If you didn’t complete your health questionnaire within the last 2 days prior to sailing, you will be asked about your fitness to cruise but we did ours already and had no illness so we were all given the green light to move onto the next step.

 

In the old days, they gave you the cabin keys at check-in.  But the current system is you get them at your door.  This is a new concept to me as I haven’t cruised since 2017 but I knew about it ahead of time after watching enough YouTube videos on it. More thoughts on this after we get to the cabin.

 

After that is done, time to put away the passport but not the set sail ticket info as you will need that again upstairs.

 

[harryfat1]

Big smile to see the “To Ship” sign as you are almost there.

 

 

 

More RCI push to use the phone App.  On the small chance you haven’t downloaded the App by now, you can still download it at the terminal but then you would need to set up the account access and add in your cruise sailing info while standing at the pier.  Way too much work to be done at the terminal.  Do it at home prior to sailing.  You will thank me later.

[Sea Dog]

57 minutes ago, harryfat1 said:

If you are interested in the Queen Mary, you can actually stay overnight there as they made some of the older cabins to be like hotel rooms.  It's not cheap but if you want a special experience, that might be worthwhile.

 

As that's literally next door to the Carnival cruise terminal, people can hop on the Carnival ship the next morning after a night stay at QM.

 

If just a quick visit, it's like a small shopping complex in the area.  There's a little waterfront path to see the oceanfront and the Carnival ship docked for the day.  With 3 Carnival ships using the Long Beach terminal, chances are good you will see one of the ships docked during your visit.

 

The whole area is much nicer than San Pedro, which is a much more industrial port

 

View of the QM from the parking structure at Long Beach as Carnival cruise terminal at least has a covered parking structure

 

 

Carnival check-in - note the QM funnels in the background 

 

 

 

Sea walk area

 

 

Carnival ship sailing the 7-day Mexican cruise back in 2012

 

 

All the tanker ships lining up

 

 

That is an option but yes like you said it's not cheap.

[harryfat1]

Now I know the San Pedro boarding is second/third class citizens compared to the plush Florida cruise terminals.  For those who have never cruised from Florida, you owe it to yourself to sail at least once from Florida as that’s the gold standard.

 

Actually, I still need to sail out of Miami and Port Canaveral myself as I have only sailed from Fort Lauderdale and I have seen videos of how nice the other ports look.

 

Whatever you do, try not to make Alaska cruise boarding as your first cruise experience. If you are taking your first-ever cruise and you are doing the one-way southbound Alaska cruise to Vancouver, I feel bad for you as then you will assume that boarding from Alaska is the “norm”.

Boarding is Alasak makes you feel like a staff/entertainer boarding at the side entrance.  Nothing grandiose about it. No cruise line will ever show the Alaska boarding to their guests. 

 

Yeah, yeah, I know Alaska cruising is seasonal between May and September and they are not equipped for a big welcome but hopefully, the Alaska Southbound cruise is not your first and final cruise experience so you will feel the “wow” factor.

 

San Pedro seating area:

 

 

Fort Lauderdale cruise terminal (yeah, not exactly the same):

 

 

 

 

Then there's Alaska Day 1 boarding - going under a bunch of tunnel tents...

 

 

Big Day 1 Welcome Walk onto the Gangway...

 

 

Add insult to injury, it was raining as well so we got wet from the uncovered part of the boarding process...

 

[harryfat1]

That’s me in the red Hawaiian shirt taking a picture of my wife taking a picture of me…

 

 

So as we get to the upper part of the pier to board the ship, maybe a quick summary of the Navigator of the Seas is in order.

 

Per Wiki, the double occupancy is around 3,400 and the total capacity is around 4,000.  For the Newbie cruisers, the difference between the two numbers is that some cabins that have extra beds to accommodate the third and fourth person in the cabin are full.

 

For our cruise, I never got the official count on how many people were aboard.  But I did hear over the PA system on day 1 when they were trying to get the people to check in at the Muster Stations by saying of the 3,700+ passengers aboard, we still need the remaining 200 people to check in or else we can’t sail.

 

So for our calculation, we will just assume 3,700 was the passenger number.  Divide that by the 3,400 number, it is about 109% of double occupancy.  This makes for a pretty full ship as there were people everywhere at all the venues we attended.

 

Looking at the demographics, a lot of families with small kids as you see strollers everywhere.  With the local schools starting school soon in August, this was probably the last chance the family could vacation this summer before school re-starts so the ship was packed to the gills with families.

 

Back in 2019, the Navigator received the $115M upgrade or “amplification” per the marketing crowd.  It added the water slides/specialty restaurants/bars but the cabins didn’t receive much attention.

 

You can get the details on the amplification from various YouTube videos as many people gush over the new features.  But as someone who doesn’t eat at specialty restaurants or drink at the bar or plan on getting a haircut while on board, these improvements have little impact on my cruise experience. 

 

It’s like telling a Vegan that there are more meat options available on the menu – Yeah, that sounds great but…

 

[Biker19]

47 minutes ago, harryfat1 said:

You will thank me later.

Pro tip: RCI lets you have 15+ min of internet access while on the ship to download the app by clicking on the App or Play store on your device. Even if you already have the app installed, you can get internet access this way - some frugal folks can milk this to get some free access.

[harryfat1]

On 8/20/2023 at 2:33 PM, BIBPhotography said:

Hey Harry!  Good to see you are still around.  When I got inot cruising, your reports are what made me want to do it more!  Everytime I hear..."I like big butts. . . "  I think of you!  Glad to see youa re styill kicking!

 

The best part of the ship – the Aft.  As BIBPhotography mentioned previously, I have a preference/bias for large ships and hence bigger Aft.

 

Historically I tried to take pictures of the Aft of the ship but given the very restrictive itinerary stops of this sailing, I couldn’t get near a good picture. The piers in the west coast sailings are not set up like the Caribbean which has easier access to the Aft.

 

This is the first and only Aft picture I have from this cruise. 

 

 

But as I was looking at my old cruise pictures the other day since someone else was talking about the 2014 Allure cruise, I saw that I had an Aft picture of the Navigator from my 2014 Allure sailing as the Navigator was docked next to us. 

 

 

So as I combine present and past pictures of the Navigator while I queue up one of my favorite songs – Sing with me, Bib…(by the way, the gal in the black dress from the video was great)

 

 

 

 

[Fishfan0073]

1 hour ago, harryfat1 said:

Now I know the San Pedro boarding is second/third class citizens compared to the plush Florida cruise terminals.  For those who have never cruised from Florida, you owe it to yourself to sail at least once from Florida as that’s the gold standard.

 

Actually, I still need to sail out of Miami and Port Canaveral myself as I have only sailed from Fort Lauderdale and I have seen videos of how nice the other ports look.

 

Whatever you do, try not to make Alaska cruise boarding as your first cruise experience. If you are taking your first-ever cruise and you are doing the one-way southbound Alaska cruise to Vancouver, I feel bad for you as then you will assume that boarding from Alaska is the “norm”.

Boarding is Alasak makes you feel like a staff/entertainer boarding at the side entrance.  Nothing grandiose about it. No cruise line will ever show the Alaska boarding to their guests. 

 

Yeah, yeah, I know Alaska cruising is seasonal between May and September and they are not equipped for a big welcome but hopefully, the Alaska Southbound cruise is not your first and final cruise experience so you will feel the “wow” factor.

 

San Pedro seating area:

 

 

Fort Lauderdale cruise terminal (yeah, not exactly the same):

 

 

 

 

Then there's Alaska Day 1 boarding - going under a bunch of tunnel tents...

 

 

Big Day 1 Welcome Walk onto the Gangway...

 

 

Add insult to injury, it was raining as well so we got wet from the uncovered part of the boarding process...

 

I will agree those of us in Florida are spoiled.  We have 4 cruise ports to choose from.  We live in South Florida between Fort Lauderdale and Miami and have sailed out of these ports many times.  They have grown by leaps and bounds over the last 10-15 years.  Funny enough tho we are sailing on Mariner of the Seas in 2 weeks out of Port Canaveral.  This will be our first time sailing out of there.  This is about the time I start to get cranky at work.  Already in vacation mode and people trying to give me work aggravates me.  Don't they know I am in vacation mode.

[harryfat1]

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

Pro tip: RCI lets you have 15+ min of internet access while on the ship to download the app by clicking on the App or Play store on your device. Even if you already have the app installed, you can get internet access this way - some frugal folks can milk this to get some free access.

This is a superb Pro tip!   

 

So how does the mechanics of it work? 

 

I don't need Wi-Fi while on land as I have a cell phone connection on the data plan.  I only need Wi-Fi after the ship sails but how do I access the App Store without Wi-Fi to download the App that gives me free Wi-Fi? 

 

Isn't this a Catch-22 situation? The trick must be knowing when/where to download the App?

 

[harryfat1]

43 minutes ago, Fishfan0073 said:

I will agree those of us in Florida are spoiled.  We have 4 cruise ports to choose from.  We live in South Florida between Fort Lauderdale and Miami and have sailed out of these ports many times.  They have grown by leaps and bounds over the last 10-15 years.  Funny enough tho we are sailing on Mariner of the Seas in 2 weeks out of Port Canaveral.  This will be our first time sailing out of there.  This is about the time I start to get cranky at work.  Already in vacation mode and people trying to give me work aggravates me.  Don't they know I am in vacation mode.

I like how you start shutting it down two weeks out.  I thought I was bad at shutting it down mentally a few days prior to vacation.

 

My favorite method of making a billion dollars was to find a way to bottle the happy feeling you get when you walk out of the office prior to vacation.  With the car key in hand, you are excited as you know you will be gone for the next X number of days before having to come back to the rat race.

 

What I want to do is "bottle that feeling" and put it in a bottle of water and sell it for $2 (used to be a buck but we all know about inflation).  Anyone who buys the drink will have the exact happiness you experience in walking to the car from work just prior to vacation. 

 

The drink will be a big seller as who doesn't like that pre-vacation happiness/excitement? Since it's all-natural and has no added artificial flavors and no sugar or calories, I will be a billionaire in no time...

 

A final thought on work/vacation - pre-vacation new projects are OK as I will be in a good mood.  It's the first day back from vacation and greeted by over 100 work emails and have all the new projects dumped on you that is brutal.

 

I was surprised to read that Port Canaveral is now the busiest cruise port.  I would have thought either Miami or FLL would have that title. What caused the growth from that port? Not like Orlando is next door and people just wander over when visiting WDW or Universal?

[HappyTexan44]

The photo of the small cruise terminal reminds me of my local DMV.    In fact if someone had captioned that "Photo of our new DMV office", I'd have yawned.  

[Biker19]

36 minutes ago, harryfat1 said:

The trick must be knowing when/where to download the App?

No trick, when you open a browser on the device and go to the Voom login page there’s a link for both Play and App stores. Click on the appropriate one for your device and the timer starts on the free Wi-Fi. It won’t work on a laptop - only a device which would normally get the app from the store (I think the redirect to the store is what triggers the free Wi-Fi session). 

[CTCruiser76]

1 hour ago, harryfat1 said:

I was surprised to read that Port Canaveral is now the busiest cruise port.  I would have thought either Miami or FLL would have that title. What caused the growth from that port? Not like Orlando is next door and people just wander over when visiting WDW or Universal?

Not a scientific answer, but rather my observation .... It's because the RCCL ports are super easy. For the most part, you drop off your luggage right in the parking garage where you park....no shuttles like in Fort Lauderdale. They also use facial recognition....no need to have your passport out, if you did all the pre arrival stuff. Just walk down the hallway and they monitors give you the green light. 

[harryfat1]

1 hour ago, HappyTexan44 said:

The photo of the small cruise terminal reminds me of my local DMV.    In fact if someone had captioned that "Photo of our new DMV office", I'd have yawned.  

Good observation on the chairs looking similar to DMV chairs as they are the hard plastic types. Whereas the Fort Lauderdale cruise terminal seats are similar to the ones from the airport - those seats are softer and more comfortable to sit in.