Jump to content

My View: Navigator Spring Break and Cabin 7388


APDMOM
 Share

Recommended Posts

We just returned from an 8-day spring break cruise on Navigator of the Seas. It is not fun to see that our cruise countdown now says.....

 

countdown.pl?image=Beach-2&name=APDMOM&date=3-19-2016&text=Eight nights in the Eastern Caribbean!&ship=Navigator of the Seas

 

image_zps85ybzien.jpeg

 

I will be sharing "My View" regarding our cruise, including way too many ship pictures, the Compass, Adventure Ocean and Teen programs. Since I have to return to work tomorrow, I will set a goal to post one day of the cruise experience, every day this week, and hopefully finish next weekend.

 

We completed the 8-day Eastern Itinerary, but I will not be sharing much about the ports, as we only did one "excursion" (Labadee Dragon Coaster). I will post links to previous experiences in these ports, for anyone interested. This cruise was about relaxing and enjoying our aft balcony. I am still downloading pictures, but will post day 1 tomorrow, using Tapatalk. Hopefully, the process will be much easier than my previous experiences with Photobucket.

 

For those who skim-read reviews, I will try to put tips and pertinent information in red.

 

A little background on us:

We are a family of three, and all our daily spending habits are driven by a "cruise budget" lifestyle. This means, we have restricted our home life with rules like, "No eating out unless we have a gift card", and "No cable TV, ever," and "No Christmas, Birthday, Anniversary, etc. gifts at all." You get the picture... We love cruising so much that we give up a lot throughout the year to afford cruises. This was our 19th cruise. We are not brand loyal, and try different cruiselines, mainly looking at the ship, pricing, convenience to port, and our work schedules. However, Royal has the slight edge over other cruiselines for us... at least at the moment. :)

 

Planning:

We booked this cruise about 2 years in advance, when there was a real sale. We were able to secure one of our favorite cabins: Corner aft 7388. This is similar to Freedom class 7408. You can see many details about this "secret" balcony here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2285345&highlight=freedom

 

Stay before the cruise:

We drove down the day before, since I-95 can be so unpredictable. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Cruise/Airport. This was a last minute change from another Holiday Inn about 30 minutes from the port, as the room price for this closer hotel dropped about two weeks before our cruise. Tip: If you book a hotel, consider booking directly with the hotel and make sure there is no penalty for cancellation. We have saved much by looking for price drops closer to the cruise time. If hotels fill up before price drops, we at least have a guaranteed room at a price we are happy with.

 

This Holiday Inn Express was adequate for a pre-cruise stay with convenient shopping and restaurants nearby, including Carrabas, Panera, Burger King, McDonald's, Local Italian, Pizza, etc. There is also a Publix, Ross, Dollar Tree, and Office Depot nearby. It is only about 5 minutes from the port.

 

Well, I have to drive to work at 6 a.m., so I will close there for tonight. Thank you for reading along!

 

Until tomorrow night... :)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for posting, looking forward to the rest., we sail on Navigator in 3 more weeks.

My step-daughter and her husband have 7688 booked and are so excited about their first aft balcony, hoping you have pics of room to post, the balcony looks amazing in the few pics I have found through research.

I have a royal family suite (also aft but on deck 8) booked for me and the grandkids, 12 and 16, so also looking forward to your perspective on the teen program and AO.

Nothing worse than seeing that countdown clock say "sailed" and having to go back to work :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks to all who are reading along! I have day one organized, I hope!

 

So, here it is.... My View - Day One:

 

334a53aa561767e3e2570e4bc162cdc4.jpg

 

Cruise morning:

We prepaid parking at Park N Go and arrived there about 10:15. We got on the shuttle right away and waited only about 5 minutes before departing for the terminal. Terminal 29 is everything they say - remote, small, industrial looking, and hot. Since we were there by 10:45, it took about 15 minutes to check in. Seating was limited and we got a few of the last seats available. Embarkation started at 11:20. We were on the ship by 11:40. We ate lunch in the Windjammer, which was still pretty empty when we got there. This was our first cruise as Emerald, so I will be posting some experiences and questions about that a little later.

 

 

 

APDMOM

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After lunch, we went to the Star Lounge so that others could have seating at the Windjammer. We also visited the helipad, which can be accessed by exiting the Star Lounge, or from deck 4...

 

c000ce9d6c083a1145e3d2e87f347b08.jpg

 

0e00e65e265c69a2c3a2815ffe64be35.jpg

 

14c6df35a7a243f408b2758705035397.jpg

 

3093a0162b484ccddd6973bc28e23919.jpg

 

 

APDMOM

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It looks like I cannot change to font color on TapaTalk, so I will have to make separate posts for tips:

 

So far, I recommend parking at Park 'n' Go. You can prepay online to save even more. Our experience with them this time was excellent... more on that later.

 

Also, the Star Lounge is a great and quiet place to wait for rooms to be ready. You can just walk out the side door to reach the helipad too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rooms were ready at 1 p.m. and we got our first look at the Navigator version of our favorite aft balcony... Room 7388

 

b5c0788c0cfcda74f48cf91f6f68150e.jpg

 

18747cb7374db17b9f92e89363d55071.jpg

 

bb590e7a1230f1ebaa1d42e363286b90.jpg

 

b000222337f3727ce60f5e42bf8c21c2.jpg

 

The inside was pretty standard for an E1 balcony cabin:

50fd28c10a83cc6a9cf2d30642cd9586.jpg

 

After dinner, our son's bed was lowered too. We asked Betty, our Room Attendant, to keep it down for the week.

 

b17fffba8257b1ed86c789443308a4b5.jpg

 

Betty did a great job with our room and we never had to wait for her. She quickly memorized our schedule and always had the room ready when we returned from breakfast and dinner. We are early risers, and she said many people slept much later. So, our room was usually the first one she tackled.

 

 

 

APDMOM

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is probably a good place to post a couple of room tips and tricks...

 

We bought great magnetic hooks to hang extra stuff, like our hats and jackets:

 

1c555cab89fd274542c21a83a96e602f.jpg

 

cc7457eb9989f3f2e262b1ffad887128.jpg

 

I also hang a small flashlight on one of the hooks by my bed. I usually get up between 5:30 and 6, so I need that little flashlight to get dressed and out of the room without bothering my family:

a0e5c704a43b97c919a93f6a8d2966c8.jpg

 

One tip I learned at CC: Put a rag in the dish in the shower. That way you will not lose your razor through those slots. It also keeps the small bottles from slipping:

4328afdfc73f460bac251030ae334c05.jpg

 

Behind those mirrors are cabinets with more storage:

db837f15d3d0a0b7a420534c4cb5f0a0.jpg

 

5d9e62be0c5c868cc51b777a3d74b3e6.jpg

 

 

APDMOM

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cabinets in the bathroom:

 

dca6ef6fab91683991d1df79b7a2451c.jpg

 

5270896ba67e5ef64c30a27e17abb389.jpg

 

We love the location of room 7388... There is a huge space outside the door, and there is almost no foot traffic. It is indeed a quiet little corner on the ship:

 

2509bcea6e94eec2b59efc8bfde1d9aa.jpg

 

 

APDMOM

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On with My View of day one:

 

4be85756ed7a20cbcdb740b95b154bef.jpg

 

 

 

Our bags were delivered by 3:00 and we were completely unpacked and settled by the time of the safety briefing/muster drill. Muster drill was fun and easy, with comedy relief from the CD and our muster station "boss". Muster drill was at 5p.m. They let families with young children leave first, which I thought was very kind. It also made the dismissal less crowded. We waited until close to the end, as we wanted the stairs to clear out.

 

We had early dinner seating on deck 4 at a table for 4. We had e-mailed a request for a small table in a quiet area, to accommodate my moderate hearing loss. We had the perfect seating for this purpose. This was the best dinner experience for me, because I could hear my family well, and participate freely in dinner conversation. Deck 4 also seems much less noisy than deck 3, as we experienced during a couple of breakfasts in the MDR.

 

Tonight's menu was Mojo.

 

After dinner Entertainment:

We watched the poolside movie, "The Good Dinosaur". Although it was fun, we could not hear much of the dialogue, since there were teens around, being loud. I wish they would turn on the Closed Captioning for the outside environment. It was still a relaxing evening.

 

 

ae06e41d07f76d40bbef979fa7ae80f8.jpg

 

I am clearly not a "selfie" pro... LOL! But here is our family relaxing and cruising!

5409b66bab2d6abbd0218b3727807252.jpg

 

We had our first towel animal waiting for us:

97af18d0a2843d8599efaf32420b5ca5.jpg

 

Another view of 7388:

e203cd69525f644e6c37d6692a6e8ee9.jpg

 

 

APDMOM

Edited by APDMOM
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I will close for today with....

 

First impressions of the ship:

I like the Promenade Café on Navigator better than the one on Freedom, but my overall impression is that Freedom remains my preference over Navigator. Boleros on Navigator is too close to the smoking section in the casino and I could really smell the smoke while just sitting on the far end of Boleros. During sea days and peak "Casino" times, we could also smell it strongly on the promenade. It is noteworthy that this sailing was completely sold out, so that could be part of the reason it seemed so smoky. Fortunately, we had the great balcony, so the smoke did not bother me too much. My DH could not care less, as he does not get affected by smoke... he says I have "The Super Sniffer", so many people may not even notice the smoke. [emoji12]

 

I love that Navigator kept the beautiful chandelier in the MDR and that they have the digital photo browsing technology. It is so much easier than looking for your family among 100's of boarding pictures, etc.

 

So, this concludes day one. Unfortunately, I did not get many sunset pictures due to our 5:30 dining time...

 

Until tomorrow, when I will share My View of Day Two.... A day at sea.

 

Thanks to all who are reading along!

 

 

 

APDMOM

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am sorry about the smaller picture sizes... I used two different cameras and their settings were different. I will try to fix this for the rest of the review so that the picture sizes will appear more consistent

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very nice photos!

 

Thank you! I figured out the issue with the sizes and it should be more consistent tomorrow. I will repost the small room pictures at the very end of the review for those interested in the room pictures a bit larger than 24kb's... Yikes!:eek:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I will close for today with....

 

First impressions of the ship:

I like the Promenade Café on Navigator better than the one on Freedom, but my overall impression is that Freedom remains my preference over Navigator. Boleros on Navigator is too close to the smoking section in the casino and I could really smell the smoke while just sitting on the far end of Boleros. During sea days and peak "Casino" times, we could also smell it strongly on the promenade. It is noteworthy that this sailing was completely sold out, so that could be part of the reason it seemed so smoky. Fortunately, we had the great balcony, so the smoke did not bother me too much. My DH could not care less, as he does not get affected by smoke... he says I have "The Super Sniffer", so many people may not even notice the smoke. [emoji12]

 

I love that Navigator kept the beautiful chandelier in the MDR and that they have the digital photo browsing technology. It is so much easier than looking for your family among 100's of boarding pictures, etc.

 

So, this concludes day one. Unfortunately, I did not get many sunset pictures due to our 5:30 dining time...

 

Until tomorrow, when I will share My View of Day Two.... A day at sea.

 

Thanks to all who are reading along!

 

 

 

APDMOM

 

Did they take the chandelier out of some ships?!?!?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...