lemonade-sails Posted January 13, 2013 #1 Share Posted January 13, 2013 This is my first ever trip report so please, be kind! I spent so much time over the years reading/researching/learning all I could on Cruise Critic. I lived vicariously through your reviews and took notes of all the answers to the important questions. Because Cruise Critic helped me so much in the years/months/weeks leading up to our trip I wanted to return the favor and give my review for you to read. I hope you find it entertaining, informative or at least better than a kick in the pants ;) I could probably write two pages or more giving you the background information on us - but I won’t. The important information is that my DH and I are high school sweethearts, and this trip was really like a second honeymoon for us. We couldn’t afford a cruise when we got married and it’s been continually in the back of our minds (well MY mind anyway). We would tease each other about when we’d finally (if ever) have the opportunity to go. We thought we’d be too old to enjoy ourselves. Well, so many things fell into place to make this trip possible for us. So, after 16 years of marriage and 7 (not a typo) kids, we were headed for our adventure aka MOMMY AND DADDY ARE GOING ON A CRUISE!! Rewind . . . In July of 2011 we booked Navigator of the Seas for the first Saturday in January 2013. A seven day Western Caribbean cruise to Cozumel, Georgetown Grand Cayman, and Falmouth Jamaica. It seemed forever away. Because we were so far out from sail date - we had our choice of cabins. I quickly secured an E2 portside center hump cabin (I told you I had learned a lot from CC). And that was it. Another bonus to us booking so far out was that if something came up (life) we could cancel without penalty before final payment date. I was so excited with just the knowledge of actually having a cruise booked. I alerted both sets of grandparents and asked them kindly if they would babysit for us. Both sets agreed. A few weeks later I called to check on the availability of a corner aft cabin on deck 7. It wasn’t showing available online but I thought I’d take a chance. It was open so I snagged it for $50 more per person. Ta Da!! I showed my DH many of the photos of the great balcony from CC. He was impressed. (Thanks all!!) I enjoyed watching Voyager on the NOLA port cam every week. I continued to research and began a list of things that I thought were important. Tips and tricks from the rest of you. In the summer of 2012 we scored two price drops. One was a $400 savings and the other was $140 for a residency discount. Whoo Hoo! I was pretty excited. I officially joined CC and started posting here and there. After over a year of waiting, final payment was nearing and I was eager to secure one of the sets of grandparents to stay with the children. With that complete, we made final payment a few days early. Whew! It was actually happening. That’s when I got nervous . . . The reality of final payment hit me hard. There was no backing out - just moving forward. I was nervous about leaving the kids, I was afraid we may not like cruising afterall - I had such huge hopes about this trip. It was easy to dream about it over the years because I didn’t really know if it would happen. But I trudged on. I reserved parking off-site at Fulton Place. I also secured travel insurance for both of us. Thanksgiving came and went. December was busy and Christmas flew by. Before I knew it, after waiting 500+ days, we were in the single digits and I hadn’t even started packing yet! Even though we were driving to the port, I wanted to travel light so we decided against a full suit for DH for formal night. I was packing dresses and he was packing dress pants and suit shirts - we thought we’d do the buffet on formal nights or room service. Plans changed when I recieved a dress in the mail from a kind CC member who had posted on the recycling clothing thread. THANK YOU!! There is an amazing bunch of very generous women over there!! We packed the suit and ties at the last minute and were set to go. Grandparents arrived and we spent a couple of days visiting. Finally the morning of the cruise arrived. I used packing tape to affix some luggage tags we printed at home onto a case of water. I had gotten good reports back from others that water was getting through so I thought I would take a $2.50 chance. We're water people! We loaded the car and kissed the kids goodbye. No turning back now - except for when we got a block away and had to return home for some sunglasses!! I checked our documents about three times as we left the neighborhood. We were officially on vacation! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Molly Doble Posted January 13, 2013 #2 Share Posted January 13, 2013 I am enjoying your review just waiting on the rest :) Tania Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARCruisinNana Posted January 13, 2013 #3 Share Posted January 13, 2013 I love your review so far. Very interesting and easy to read. I look forward to being on Navigator next Sunday:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamer976 Posted January 13, 2013 #4 Share Posted January 13, 2013 I'm in! Sounds like this will be one fun review. Thanks so much for taking the time to "share with others".:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jv_nyc Posted January 13, 2013 #5 Share Posted January 13, 2013 Love your review so far - we're on NOS for this same itinerary on Saturday!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhoenixCruiser Posted January 13, 2013 #6 Share Posted January 13, 2013 Excellent start! ### Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemonade-sails Posted January 13, 2013 Author #7 Share Posted January 13, 2013 Ack! People are reading this!! Hi everyone!! We don’t live far from New Orleans - about 1.5 hours. I had planned to leave the house around 8:30 or 9AM but it just didn’t happen that way. Plus we had to return for the sunglasses I mentioned. I think we got underway just after 11am. I mentioned before that I had pre booked parking. We chose to park at Fulton Place based on reviews I had read here and cost savings. We used Airport Parking Inc. and paid $8.00 per day for ‘rooftop’ parking plus 12% tax and a $5 service charge. In all it was $67.72 for the week. Now, I had googled this garage and looked at it on Google Earth and I couldn’t for the life of me tell if people actually parked on the roof of this garage. It didn’t look like it - I was a little puzzled about it. We used our GPS and the address for the garage and found it quite easily. I did not get a picture of our first sighting of the ship as we came in on the freeway. We could barely see the top of it and, if anyone knows the freeways and traffic of New Orleans, distractions are not good! Anyway, I think I blurted out "I see our ship!!" and got a little teary eyed. We pulled up to the garage entrance off of Convention Center Blvd. and were met by a man I believe may have been the owner. He thanked us for pre-reserving our space in the garage and he was very friendly. A woman took our email receipt and gave us a small white slip of paper with a barcode on it. This is IMPORTANT. Leave it on your dashboard and do not lose it! They told us to ‘go all the way up’ and park. So we began to drive up level after level. We passed lots of open spaces and then heard some of the men working at the garage telling us to just park wherever. We grabbed an open space at random by the elevator. Note that I did not see any parking that was actually on the roof. So our car was covered all week. We were pleased with Fulton Place and would use them again! We were met at the car by a porter who helped load our luggage and our water. I don't recall whether I attempted to make a mental note of what floor we were parked on. This will come into play at the end of our trip. (Imagine that!) We rode the elevator down and waited out on the sidewalk for the next shuttle. There were several people waiting with us. Finally the shuttle arrived, the man loaded our luggage, I gave him a tip and we boarded the shuttle. The ride to the port was easy and uneventfully short. Except that the driver passed all the doors. We were wondering a bit about where she would drop us off when she pulled around behind the port building and next to the ship. We got off and were met by more porters who handed out luggage tags. We decided to check two bags with the porters and we carried two onto the ship with us. We made our way into the building and into the back of the “general” line. I believe it was about 12:45 at this time. The line was pretty long but it did move. We had to show our licenses and birth certificates to a woman at the door immediately before the security area. Then we wove our way through the lines to the metal detectors. It seemed like the metal detectors were going off A LOT! We joked about what was wrong with people who couldn’t get prepared properly. Finally it was our turn. We had no laptop with us - just two handbags, a camera bag and a small purse. We loaded it all onto the belt. We even removed our belts. I went through the detector and IT WENT OFF!! I couldn’t believe it! The security man immediately asked me if I was wearing a watch - which I was! So I removed it and apologized for being “THAT lady” and went through again. Sheesh! We collected our things and got in the back of the actual check-in line. That lined moved pretty quickly and soon we were up at the counter. Because we don’t have passports it seemed to take the agent a little longer with our check in process. We filled out the health questionnaire - with our own pens (thank you very much!) and soon we were given our sea pass cards and sent on our way. We stopped at a little concession stand and bought a sea pass lanyard $4. We wasted no time in turning the corner, up the escalator and onto the ship on deck 4. We put our sea passes into the machine and smiled for our picture. We declined a welcome aboard photo. I believe we were onboard about 2 pm or around there. We headed straight for our cabin. Oh my goodness that hallway is loooooong. I had been warned though, so I was expecting it. Navigator of the Seas cabin 7688 We brought along some Clorox wipes and my husband got to work cleaning. Yes, we do this at hotels too. I got to work putting our sheets on the bed. And, yes, we do this at hotels too. We like the idea that our pillowcases and sheets are clean for sure! I was a little nervous about bringing them - I didn’t know how it would affect our room steward. I wouldn’t even mention it here except that there may be others like us who would like to bring sheets from home. A queen sized sheet set and two pillowcases didn’t really take up that much room for us and was absolutely no issue with the room steward. I just put them over the top of the sheets that were there - easy! So, just to recap, I set the metal detector off and I brought sheets and wipes!! If you can forgive me, keep reading. If not, sorry. Because we had boarded so late we decided to skip the Windjammer and headed to the Promenade Cafe instead. We grabbed a couple of sandwiches. My husband had a prosciutto sandwich and I had a ham croissant. I'm sure we had something to drink too. In fact, this may have been when I started my shocking addiction to hot chocolate. I'm suffering through a little withdrawal right now, actually. Muster drill was sometime in here - uneventful but cold. We got there early and it paid off as we used the other passengers for wind breakers. Up next . . . Our connection back home, sailaway and our first raffle! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TipsyT Posted January 13, 2013 #8 Share Posted January 13, 2013 More! More! More! We're heading out this Saturday on the same itinerary and love reading anything about the NOS. Thanks for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemonade-sails Posted January 13, 2013 Author #9 Share Posted January 13, 2013 I love your review so far. Very interesting and easy to read. I look forward to being on Navigator next Sunday:D Thanks for the kind words. I think you'll enjoy Navigator! I'm in! Sounds like this will be one fun review. Thanks so much for taking the time to "share with others".:D Hi!! Thanks for joining in! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemonade-sails Posted January 13, 2013 Author #10 Share Posted January 13, 2013 I am enjoying your review just waiting on the rest :) Tania Thanks for reading along. Hopefully will have the next installment done soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemonade-sails Posted January 13, 2013 Author #11 Share Posted January 13, 2013 Love your review so far - we're on NOS for this same itinerary on Saturday!!!! Thanks! So wish I was going with you! Excellent start! ### Thanks so much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemonade-sails Posted January 13, 2013 Author #12 Share Posted January 13, 2013 More! More! More! We're heading out this Saturday on the same itinerary and love reading anything about the NOS. Thanks for sharing! Lucky you! Not sure I will finish before then. This is a lot of work!! Waiting on some more photos to upload! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coolcruise02 Posted January 13, 2013 #13 Share Posted January 13, 2013 Great start, can't wait for more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbri Posted January 13, 2013 #14 Share Posted January 13, 2013 Great start! Looking forward to the rest! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blivey Posted January 13, 2013 #15 Share Posted January 13, 2013 So excited to see your review. We leave on Navigator March 2. Looking forward to seeing more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mtsublueraider Posted January 13, 2013 #16 Share Posted January 13, 2013 Looking forward to following this thread! Great pictures! Would love to see that aft balcony for sure... And... I NEVER thought of putting a luggage tag on a case of water! HA! I think we have a winner. I may try this as well. Not much of a gamble. Also never thought about our own sheets. That actually could make a big difference. I'm not concerned about them being clean, but the ones at home should be much softer! THANK YOU for your hard work. I also have a reservation at fulton street parking but didn't even think about "roof top". I wasn't sure if that airport parking site was legit or not.... great news! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexkrn46 Posted January 13, 2013 #17 Share Posted January 13, 2013 Nice review so far, keep it coming! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonnaK Posted January 13, 2013 #18 Share Posted January 13, 2013 awesome review...love your sense of humor and style of writing! can't wait to read more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare BillOh Posted January 13, 2013 #19 Share Posted January 13, 2013 Muster drill was sometime in here - uneventful but cold. We got there early and it paid off as we used the other passengers for wind breakers. I like to say I can learn something in every review and here it is. I've not yet done a cold muster. Normally I try to not get there too early, but don't keep anyone waiting to avoid getting trapped behind bodies in the heat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookworm72 Posted January 14, 2013 #20 Share Posted January 14, 2013 This is my vey first post I usually lurk. But I am so happy that I am not the only one who brings Clorox wipes and sheets on a cruise! My husbands knows that vacation does not start until we wipe down and put our sheets on the bed. It may be strange to some but as they always say its your vacation! Love the review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemonade-sails Posted January 14, 2013 Author #21 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Great start, can't wait for more! Great start! Looking forward to the rest! Thank you both!! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemonade-sails Posted January 14, 2013 Author #22 Share Posted January 14, 2013 So excited to see your review. We leave on Navigator March 2. Looking forward to seeing more! Yay!! This is why I wanted to write the review. I loved reading reviews before we left and there aren't that many of Navigator. Looking forward to following this thread! Great pictures! Would love to see that aft balcony for sure... And... I NEVER thought of putting a luggage tag on a case of water! HA! I think we have a winner. I may try this as well. Not much of a gamble. Also never thought about our own sheets. That actually could make a big difference. I'm not concerned about them being clean, but the ones at home should be much softer! THANK YOU for your hard work. I also have a reservation at fulton street parking but didn't even think about "roof top". I wasn't sure if that airport parking site was legit or not.... great news! Another yay! I got the luggage tag on the water idea from Cruise Critic. As far as the sheets go, they looked clean and they were very soft - I think it may be just a peace of mind thing for us. Either way, the bed was very, very comfortable. We had no problems at all with the Airport Parking website. Make sure you bring your email confirmation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemonade-sails Posted January 14, 2013 Author #23 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Nice review so far, keep it coming! Thank you!! awesome review...love your sense of humor and style of writing! can't wait to read more. Thanks for the compliments :D! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemonade-sails Posted January 14, 2013 Author #24 Share Posted January 14, 2013 I like to say I can learn something in every review and here it is. I've not yet done a cold muster. Normally I try to not get there too early, but don't keep anyone waiting to avoid getting trapped behind bodies in the heat. Bill, thanks so much for commenting! If I remember correctly the Captain said it was 52 degrees. And it was cloudy and breezy out there. This is my vey first post I usually lurk. But I am so happy that I am not the only one who brings Clorox wipes and sheets on a cruise! My husbands knows that vacation does not start until we wipe down and put our sheets on the bed. It may be strange to some but as they always say its your vacation! Love the review. Ahhh - you de-lurked for me!! Thank you! We feel the same. In fact the sheets and wipes were in our carryon backpack so it was the first thing we did upon reaching the cabin. Well, besides oohing and ahhhing at the balcony. I do the sheets and he does the wiping. Works out good for us! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
live2cruise2011 Posted January 14, 2013 #25 Share Posted January 14, 2013 I thought i was a paranoid mom because i travel everywhere with my wipes... I have a child with heart disease that has a very weak immune system.. Yes I am that mom that will walk into the teen club and wipe everything down before my kid touches it... (wouldn't want to end my vacation early with a life flight off the boat) sheets.. now there is a new idea for me... will have to do that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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