April-in-NC

Thank you for your review. We've only cruised once before, and this summer will be our first time on RC and our first time to the Caribbean. Your review had good notes and pictures!

 

From research, I know what we plan to do in Cozumel. However, both Belize and Roatan we are yet to decide.

 

I've read so many great things on CC about Butts Up in Belize--trying to decide between that and the ruins. My DH is a big guy, so the restrictions on zip-lining cause concern.

 

And snorkeling in Roatan...that DOES appeal to me! From your research, what made you choose your 3rd party operator? What were the good and bad points in your research (if you don't mind sharing)?

 

We loved the late night comedy show on our first cruise (Celebrity), and I hope to do that again! I've heard so many funny things about the couples show--glad to know that it's a hoot!

 

FINALLY, you have intrigued me about staying in the Houston area and seeing NASA prior to cruising. I will review what you've already posted, but if you have any tidbits to add, I would happily accept your advice :)

 

Thanks, again!

In Belize there were some bigger guys zip lining, I would email them about any height or weight restrictions. If he goes he will probably want to start breaking a little before they give the signal, the heavier you are the faster you go and the earlier you want to start to slow down for the end.

For Roatan I'm sure that if I had been able to stick to our original snorkeling tour we would have been happy. I chose Island Marketing because they had some of the better prices for a boat snorkeling tour and that excursion included ground transportation to/from the ship.

There is some excellent walk in snorkeling from parts of the island, but I wanted to get out to the reef itself.

The "bad" part of my research was that I didn't have enough time and a full laptop to do additional research after the excursion was cancelled. Plan B wasn't what I had hoped it would be at all.

As far as staying in Houston and doing NASA it seems like a good way to kill some time and we will try again if we sail from Galveston in the future. Be sure to check your hotel for discount coupons. We found a brochure in the lobby that would have saved us $5 per adult if I remember correctly.

We are leaving on the Navigator on January 25, so this is a very important question! Did they have limes on the ship? Our last cruise on IOS they had no limes and when I asked for one for my Corona the bar tender said no limes but you can have a lemon. Yuck. LOL

Sorry, I have no idea!

Do you have a copy of the compasses?

I do, I will try to remember to post them tonight when I get home.

Thanks for a great review!

 

 

 

Interesting...that "tube" in the middle of the Flow Rider wasn't there in April. Did they put that in so they could handle two riders at once?

 

 

 

 

I'm so sorry your Roatan day ended up being a bust.:( We fell in love with Roatan the first time we visited in 2007 (the port was just a chain-link fence area), and have had a great time on every visit. The snorkeling there is really some of the most amazing I've ever seen, because the coral is abundant and very shallow.

 

The area right by the port is a little scary, but if you get a driver and go over to the West End Village there are lots of small shops and restaurants, and you'll find work by local artisans in a safe environment. Just some things to think about if you go back. I hope you don't completely write off Roatan because of your experience on this trip.

The blue tube on the Flow Rider is there during peak times so two people can boogie board at one time. They don't use it for stand up surfing at all I don't think.

I'm not writing off Roatan, I was just really disappointed in our day there but that is the fault of the tour company and the hotel, not the port itself.

I was surprised at how much poverty was visible at the gates, usually the immediate port area is pretty commercialized and "Disney-fied" for the tourists. It was an eye opener for sure.

Make sure you're looking at air into Hobby (HOU) not Bush (IAH) when comparing air and Ground Transport options. Also worth considering is Alliegient Airlines into Daytona for Freedom. They don't show up on the regular booking websites, but if they fly from an airport near you, you might save more than the $550 in question on air for two. They usually fly from alternate airports and more likely to offer a direct flight.

 

 

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Allegiant is a very low cost carrier and has extremely limited flights (as in sometimes only one per day and not usually every day) so I would not recommend it for a cruise. If the one flight get cancelled you are screwed.

What is it about galveston that people dislike? Ive heard that alot

In my experience it is just the added "stress" of the logistics. The 45 minute+ trip from the airports to the pier. Finding a hotel, deciding where to stay (airport, Galveston or somewhere in between), ground transportation, etc.

There is just a lot of other headaches that other departure ports don't seem to have.

Flights are both about the same. I leave out of CO so for the most parts thats a draw. Other then TX is $100 pp cheaper. But thats part of the $550. What is there to do on sea days

Both are about the same:

-Rock Wall

-Flow Rider

-Ice Skating

-Pools/Hot tubs

-Trivia

-Art Auctions

-Spa

-Gym

The only sea day activity that I can think of that Navigator WON'T have is the cupcake decorating class.

I redid my math and its actually $550 difference not $1000 oops

Did you check flight times? Does one location offer better flight times/options than the other? That might help you make a decision.

Food

This is the most subjective areas of them all...

Sabor was awesome, the dining room was just okay and I had better food at the Windjammer.

DH hates buffets and loves the service in the dining room so we ate there more than I would have liked.

The food just doesn't have the flavor I would expect in most dishes and I had the most bland steak ever one night.

The meals I had in the Windjammer were very good with a lot more variety and options to customize (sandwich and salad toppings, nachos, etc.), that being said I do not have a sophisticated palate, I'm happy with pizza, burgers and fries most nights. lol

Speaking of pizza... There is no Sorrentos, but pizza is available in the Cafe Promenade and it was edible (as opposed to the pizza on the Majesty in August) but still not great.

You have to way back up that long pier to get them both

 

That's a good point that might make as a suggestion to RC's excursion departments. Years ago when we were in Cozumel on Navigator they had an "ok" beach excursion to Playa Mia resort. On its own, I would say it was just ok, but there was a Mexican cooking class held at the same location and those people had a great time and raved about it. They joined us on the beach for about an hour before the bus back, they said the view was nice while they worked. This is the only pic I could find, but the room was only 50ft from the beach.

 

I left the suggestion to the tour operators in their comment book and on Trip Advisor. I think that plaza used before is only for smaller groups and there were about 150 people from all the different ships in port in the same tour and it was just too much for the other space. :(

Do either you or your husband work on the west side? He looked familiar to me.

He used to work for Cardinal Health and he used to live in Dublin. We live on the east side now and he works near Easton.

Great thank you for the advice even Orlando is very expensive to get from the airport to the cruise port I just wasn't sure what things did you want to feed a and if the extra money was work one extra day at a port

Labadee is a beautiful beach day but not worth paying an extra $1000 for a cruise in my opinion.

I've been on both ships now and they are a lot alike in my opinion.

Navigator is a bit smaller overall, the promenade is shorter (doesn't have a Sorrentos, Cupcake Shop and maybe one or two fewer shops), there is no Dreamworks characters and no H2O/splash zone.

Both ships now have parades and flow riders and the other amenities are very similar.

As long as you don't have small children I would save the money and go on Navigator, just make sure you budget for ground transportation. Getting from Houston to Galveston isn't cheap and there aren't a ton of options.

Our last sea day was cool (too cold to use the flow rider or regular pools) and cloudy so I didn't do a whole lot. We tried the rock wall (I only got 1/2 way up) took pictures of the ship, napped, DH won a trivia game and packed up all our stuff.

Here are some general thoughts on the cruise before I get into the photo tour.

Ship

I can't compare to the pre-drydock Navigator, but the ship was in fabulous shape. I want a set of those cabin curtains for my house! The art was fun to look at and it was all just well done.

Crew

Everyone we interacted with was top notch. Friendly, fast, and eager to make you happy.

Entertainment/Live Music

The entertainment was hit or miss in the theater. The late night comedy show and the Love and Marriage show were the two best things we saw. The other shows were just "meh" and the last production show I almost got up and walked out because I was bored.

The live music was pretty good when we stopped to listen. I did notice some country music, but it wasn't "all country, all the time" like some reports. I heard a little bit of everything.

Sailing out of Galveston

Sailing out of Galveston is harder than it needs to be. The lack of inexpensive ground transportation for 2 people is just sad and I spent a lot of time researching to find something less expensive, but the cheapest I found was the RCI shuttle ($32 pp/each way).

We were slightly delayed by fog on our departure, and I can see how in the winter months Galveston has long delays if this is at all a frequent occurrence.

If I could do this itinerary from a different port I probably would. The fact that Texas is taxing the alcohol imports along with the other travel hassles makes it less appealing to me, but I'm sure locals have a different opinion.

I would say about 75% of the people we talked to were from Texas, and most of those from the Houston area, but they were a friendly bunch!

Weather

Obviously this will change from sailing to sailing, but we really lucked out on the weather. It was cold, damp and raining in Houston and Galveston all weekend and it was forecasted to be cloudy and a high chance of rain all week but it barely rained at all! We got a few sprinkles (not even enough to run for cover) in port and it was cool and cloudy on our last sea day but we were fortunate in the sunny skies we had.

Embarkation/Debarkation

We were about an hour and a half from the time we got in line at the port to the time we got on board. The Captain announced over 1,600 repeat cruisers on our sailing so that partially explains why the Gold line was so long and slow. Since this was our last cruise as a Gold member I guess it doesn't matter in the future. :p

Debarkation was slightly delayed, we were group 3 and we were 20 minutes late being called, but from the final "ding" to the shuttle bus was only about 35 minutes. Customs seemed to be fully staffed and on that day not giving everyone the 3rd degree.

Large Groups On Board

There were at least two groups on board, the Larry Taylor Band had a large group and a missions group was also on board. Other than having some extra bands performing we didn't notice any disturbances about venues being shut down for private events. If it hadn't been for the extra lanyards I probably wouldn't have noticed at all.

Thursday, January 15: Cozumel, Mexico

Back at our last Cozumel stop on Freedom we did a mini-sub excursion at Hotel Cozumel. While we were there we could hear the fun from another excursion that was going on at the same time, Salsa and Salsa so we decided to give that a try this time.

You can only do this excursion through RCI and once I saw how many ships would be in port we decided to book it early and not use our OBC.

The tour started at 10:30 with a 10:15 meeting time on the pier, so we got off around 9:00 to see if there were some souvenirs that were of interest. I was able to find some black clay pottery that I had not seen before that was really pretty. I also picked up a small 3-pack of vanilla to take back to family.

BTW, Allure was parked next to us and HOLY COW that is a large ship. This is the first time I had seen Allure (never seen Oasis) and I knew it was big, but it dwarfed Navigator. We saw the balcony for one of the suites and it was huge. It had several lounge chairs, a long table with chairs, a bar and it's own hot tub.

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I couldn't even get them both in one picture!

At the meeting spot they split us up into groups of 8 and put us in taxi vans for the quick ride to Hotel Cozumel. I was expecting the location to be the covered balcony on the beach, but we were in a large ballroom without windows. It was a big disappointment to "waste" such a beautiful day inside without fresh air or sunshine, but we still had a great time.

We were handed margaritas on the way to our tables, and during the course of the excursion we learned how to make 2 margaritas (on the rocks and frozen strawberry), 6 salsas and Guacamole before learning some Salsa dance moves. Non-alcoholic beverages were available for those who couldn't/didn't want to drink and they had a table set up to buy some of the salsa making tools, cookbooks and aprons.

Margaritas were free flowing, you just had to ask if you wanted more.

Supplies all set up on the table when we arrived.

The salsas we made were fantastic, my favorite was the green salsa made with roasted tomatillos.

As we left the tour we were given a sheet with the recipes so we could try to make them at home.

OH!

 

That said, off to read the rest!

I-O

I'm getting ready to go to lunch and I hope to continue working on the review during that time... Next up is Cozumel and Salsa, Salsa Margarita!

Following and enjoying your review. We will be on Navigator soon! Was there a set cover charge for Sabor or al a carte? Also how long was the tender ride in Belize?

 

 

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The whole tender process (boarding, traveling, unloading) probably took about 45 minutes each way if you were one of the first ones on the tender and one of the last ones off.

They didn't have tender tickets on Navigator.

This course is not the longest or the most exciting, but for the small additional add on cost it was worth it. I think there were 6 zips (including the training run) including two long runs over the river. There were two fairly long hikes up a set of stairs and dirt path, I’m out of shape and managed but I was out of breath by the time I got to the top.

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After we finished the zip lines we headed back to the parking area where we boarded the bus and they took us back to the headquarters for our lunch. Everyone got a home made chicken tamale and we could buy chips and beverages. Bottled soft drinks were $1 and beer $3.

We got back about 2 hours before the last tender, so we had time to do some shopping. There was a really neat "Made in Belize" shop that had wood products that I wanted one of everything.

I'm in the middle of writing up my review for the itinerary you are taking, we had a great time! The link is in my signature and I will be finishing up the review with a deck by deck photo tour so you can see different areas of the ship.

We crossed the stream/river 3 different times, the first time there was a rope to hold on to which was nice because the current was fairly strong. The next two times there was no rope and it was more difficult to cross. The extra crossings were shortcuts according to our guide, if we stayed to the land path it would have added more time to the trip and cut in to our time available in port.

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When we reached the cave entrance our guide tied the 6 tubes together and got us all situated before entering the current. The current was fairly swift, but no rapids to speak of, it was really neat going through the chambers of the caves and hearing how the natives thought the caves were actually the entrance to hell and if you made it through you were reborn.

After exiting the caves we floated on the river a little more as our guide pointed out things of interest in the trees (like a large orange iguana). When we reached the exit point we pulled the tubes out of the river and carried them a few yards down the path to the hut where we dropped off our equipment.

We then had few minutes to dry off and put our clothes back on, but there were no changing facilities that we saw so everything went on over our bathing suits. After changing we walked over to the zip line course and got our safety equipment, instructions and a quick training zip.

Thursday, January 15th: Belize City, Belize

Today’s excursion was Cave Tubing and Zip Lining with “Butts Up”. The tender process ran smoothly, we were one of the first people on the tender and the total time (boarding, tender and docking) was about 45 minutes. The ride itself was probably around 20 minutes.

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The dock area was a lot more commercialized as opposed to Roatan and it took us a few minutes to find the right meeting spot. We were immediately put on a bus and taken out of the immediate port area to get on another bus that would take us to the National Park. The guides were funny and told us a little about the country and areas we were driving through.

As we got closer the the park they took a head count on how many people were doing different excursions offered and they called that in to headquarters. By the time we arrived at the park they had different vehicles ready for us so that the different groups weren’t waiting on each other all day. Their ability to manage the real time logistics was impressive and was an unexpected bonus as it allowed us to get back to the port area a little earlier and gave us time to do some shopping.

We did the cave tubing portion first which did disappoint me a little as I would have to put on shorts over a wet bathing suit, but the zip line actually dried me out by the time we were done!

We walked about a quarter of a mile before we were given our life jackets and head lamps (our tubes were waiting at the cave, no need to carry them ourselves) and then we continued on walking. The trail was lined with pebbles/rocks to try to lessen the mud so you will want shoes with a good sole on them if you have sensitive feet like I do (no flip flops allowed).

We brought wine to dinner last week on Navigator. They put it in the chiller (white wine), opened it, served it and recorked it when we didn't finish the bottle. They kept it in the chiller so we didn't have to carry it out of the dining room and then back in the next night.

They put your cabin number on the label so they know who it belongs to if you have some left over.

Thanks for the review. I leave in April.

 

You said you took the RCCL shuttle and it left for the ship at 11:30. Was that the first bus to leave? I don't want to get back to the airport earlier than necessary.

 

Thanks

I'm fairly certain it was the first bus (our cards said Bus 1), plus we were on the first bus back to Galveston on Sunday and we didn't arrive until 10:50, so by the time the bus got down to the loading zone and the rep got people situated that would be about right.

You don't need to be there super early, but they do line you up in the order you get to the check in desk, so if you arrive later you could be on a later bus. I'm not sure how much time is between buses, maybe only long enough to load it up.

We are in the process of getting a refund for the excursion. Island Marketing did get confirmation from the operator and resort about the situation and they agreed that the tour we were provided was NOT what we were supposed to receive. They are refunding the deposit that was charged to our credit card and we are trying to work out a method to get a refund of the cash we paid to the resort.

Island Marketing is requesting our BANK information (not our credit card) to issue the refund and there is no way in hell I’m providing someone in a third world country my bank account number. At this point Island Marketing is trying to see if the resort can issue the refund to a credit card or another method that doesn’t include our bank account, and Western Union was listed as a possible solution but I have no idea how that even works.

I’m pleased that Island Marketing is working with us to make it right after the fact, but I’m disappointed that they won’t refund the full amount to our card right now and then deal with getting the refund back from the resort for themselves.

After returning to the port we did some shopping and I found some really interesting pottery made by the local women. It is still made by hand and different than anything I had seen before so I bought a vase and a Christmas ornament.

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The port area is safe inside the gates but outside the gates I did feel a little uneasy. There is a lot of poverty and kids running around asking you to come and look at stores. We were not pressured or accosted, but I was very aware of our surroundings and kept our wallets in front pockets with our hands in our pockets as an extra precaution.

There was a stand for those who want their passports stamped and wifi is available for a fee (I think it was $5) and I think there was a Duty Free store that would give you free wifi with a purchase.

I’m not ready to write off Roatan as a port stop, but we were very disappointed in our day there. Part of it was that I really wanted to snorkel the reef (second largest behind the Great Barrier Reef in Australia) and the Blue Channel. With those plans cancelled nothing would have lived up to those expectations.

I take responsibility for choosing the alternative excursion, but with less than 2 hours to make a decision I didn’t have time to go into full research mode and I wanted to avoid a ship excursion, but hindsight tells me it would have been better to be on a large boat getting to snorkel as opposed to what we elected to do.

We were told the best place to snorkel was around the gazebo so we headed that direction. We got in the water and it was so cloudy due to recent rain that we couldn’t see anything. We were interested in going out a little further, but the gazebo was really close to the entrance/exit to the marina and there were boats going in and out. I had no desire to risk getting hit by a boat to see some fish, so we got out and headed to the beach.

The resort did have free wifi in the lobby, so I spent some time on Facebook, iMessaged with my Mom and sister and just caught up with the post-game fun on social media. While I was playing online Andy got another snorkel tip from some guests of the hotel. Evidently by the rocks at the edge of the cove they saw a bunch of fish, so we were off to try that location.

The entrance was rocky and had a lot of sea weed so it was difficult to get situated. Once we got in we did see the fin of a Lion fish and a few other things, but again, we were right next to the boating channel and I just didn’t feel safe so we got out and headed back to the hotel patio.

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Our welcome drink was simply fruit punch (no rum) and we were not offered rum or a beer so while we were waiting to be picked up I sent an email to Island Marketing stating how disappointed we were with the excursion and how unsafe the snorkeling was.

They day wasn’t all bad, there were some monkeys that came to visit the patio and one of them let me pet them and we saw a peacock, plus the wifi was a nice bonus I was able to Facetime with my Mom to say hello. The patio area and pool was nice (not ritzy, but clean and comfortable) and they had shade areas of you wanted to get out of the sun.

We had a light lunch on the patio and the prices were reasonable. We split a grilled chicken club and fries, one rum punch and a bottle of water for $19 (US). While we were eating a bird that looked like a duck kept trying to steal our food and then nipped me on my big toe when it couldn’t get food. It was more annoying than painful and actually made me laugh at the stupid bird.