Mommy and Daddy Sail on Navigator of the Seas 1-05-2013

[lemonade-sails]

 

I believe you were observing traditional (assigned) diners going to their assigned tables rather than My Time diners picking their own tables. We were on the Navigator in December, and the left side of the Swan Lake Dining room was used for My Time Dining. The right side of the Swan Lake Dining room was traditional dining, and those with early seating would enter around 6.

 

Ahhh. Thanks for clarifying this for me! They had two signs in the lobby area - to the left said MTD with reservations and to the right said MTD without reservations. I had assumed that the whole Swan Lake Dining area was MTD. It makes sense now that you explained it.

 

We were very satisfied with MTD as far as having a table for two and still getting the same servers every night. There were only two nights that we were not able to eat in the dining room - only because we didn't want to wait for a 7:45 seating time. If we travel just the two of us in the future I think it's worth making the reservations to have a table for two every night.

[lemonade-sails]

Loving it--cant wait for the rest...

 

Thanks!

[TipsyT]

We're off to NOLA this evening and will board NOS tomorrow morning. Thank you for getting us even more excited with your wonderful review!

 

Trish

[lemonade-sails]

We're off to NOLA this evening and will board NOS tomorrow morning. Thank you for getting us even more excited with your wonderful review!

 

Trish

 

Trish, have a safe and wonderful trip!!

[BeancounterUSA]

After the show we went to Studio B to see about catching the BCS Championship game on the big screen. Well, it was pretty packed by then and the screen didn’t look all that big so we decided not to stay.

 

 

And what a great game it turned out to be! Roll Tide!

[lemonade-sails]

And what a great game it turned out to be! Roll Tide!

 

I have nothing to say about that . . . :p :rolleyes:

 

:D

[lemonade-sails]

We sat up on the helicopter pad and watched us getting closer and closer to Grand Cayman.

 

 

 

The Disney Magic was already there that morning. We took some photos and then headed for the Metropolis Theater to meet with our excursion group. There were lots of people already there so we moseyed on up front and took a seat. We waited for maybe 20 minutes while they called different groups to head down to the gangway.

 

We heard a very loud metal noise and realized it was the anchor dropping. Pretty cool.

 

They called our group and we went down to Deck 1 and through the crew area. Kind of interesting to get a look at the area of the ship down there. There were no pictures allowed. We made it to the gangway by the medical center and put our SeaPasses into the machine. The tender boat was there and a metal walkway had been extended for passengers to get into the tender. The tender was nearing capacity and we had to walk down to the bottom level to find a seat.

 

We motored away from the Navigator.

 

 

and around the front of the ship.

 

 

We passed the Disney Magic and arrived at the dock.

 

Again, we waited to get off the tender and finally made it ashore. The tender was rocking in the waves and it was interesting trying to get across the plank - for lack of a better word.

 

We skirted our way past the pirates who were there to take pictures with people. We just had zero desire to do that and no plans whatsoever to buy one of those pictures, but lots of people did stop and get pictures taken. We entered the port area and headed over to the meeting point for our excursion. We waited for awhile and applied sunscreen before heading to our bus to the beach.

[lemonade-sails]

We had a very entertaining bus driver. He gave a little commentary while taking us to the beach. He said that they drive on the left side. So “the left side is the right side and the right side is suicide!” He told us a lot of funny things about the Cayman Islands and the ride was relatively short. They dropped us off and gave us two tickets - one for the lounge chair and one for a free drink at the bar.

 

 

We found two chairs in the shade under some trees and spread our towels on them and sat down. There were umbrellas available for rent but I didn’t catch the price as we didn’t need them.

 

 

 

The beach was beautiful.

 

 

We could see our ship and the Disney Magic in the distance.

 

 

We relaxed for quite awhile taking pictures.

 

 

We attempted to get online with our phone but could not get the wifi to work. We didn’t pursue it.

 

We went into the water then. The beach was nice and sandy but once in the water it was very, very rocky. The waves were kind of big and the water would push us over sometimes and we would stumble on a rock. Some of the rocks were huge. We had to be careful.

 

There were huge fish very, very close to us. It freaked me out a bit at first. They seemed to swim slowly around us - it seemed as if they were looking for food or something. They were pretty.

 

We went back to our chairs and dried off for awhile. We went to the bar and got our free drink. Punch. It was okay - we didn’t finish them. Next time we most likely would not bother with the drink.

 

We went back into the ocean and messed around. We laid down by the shore and just let the waves rolls us around. We ended up laughing like a couple of kids. We did some more floating around in the water and then it was time to dry off for our trip back to port.

 

We used the outside shower there to rinse off. The bathrooms were very nice.

 

We had re applied the sunscreen once during our few hours there but my husband was looking a little pink at this time. We put our clothes back on over our suits and boarded the same bus we had taken to the beach. I believe the driver was the same man and, although he drove us around one new area, his commentary was exactly the same on the ride back - though in opposite order. Some of us thought that was funny.

 

We made it back to port and we ventured out of the area on our own a little bit. We took some pictures and then headed back inside the port. We found a shark-tooth necklace for one of our daughters - a special request. Then we headed back onto the tender and had a bumpy ride back to the Navigator.

 

We basically skipped lunch this day, so we visited the reservations desk of the MTD area and tried to make a dinner reservation for 6 pm. They did not have any openings so we had to take a reservation for 7:45. We went back to the room to shower and dress for dinner.

 

We were hungry from missing lunch and finished enjoying the sunset so we called to cancel our 7:45 reservations and headed off to the Windjammer for dinner.

 

On the way we stopped in the computer center to check email. We had mail!!

 

More good news about the kids, the games they were playing and how much fun they were having. Oh, and they missed us. Everyone was healthy and happy. We sent a quick email back. We were averaging 3 minutes on the internet each time so far. We were reading fast and then I was typing very fast in reply - I was not worried about capitalization or spelling. We would log off and then look at each other like "what did that email say?" It was funny.

 

We went to Deck 11 to go out of our comfort zones for dinner.

[lemonade-sails]

We interrupt this cruise review to share a short video of us leaving Cozumel. The late comers we had caught on video were not all that exciting so I added some music. Our kids like it, so I thought I'd share it.

 

 

 

 

[cathep]

Which shore excursion did you choose in Grand Cayman? I was originally thinking we'd do the stingray tour, but my husband loved your beach pictures enough that we might copy you.

[lemonade-sails]

Which shore excursion did you choose in Grand Cayman? I was originally thinking we'd do the stingray tour, but my husband loved your beach pictures enough that we might copy you.

 

Hi! It was called Seven Mile Beach Break at Tiki Beach. We enjoyed it. It was just a lazy afternoon. They dropped us off at the beach and told us what time to be back on the bus. It was not a come and go as you please situation. I think we ended up having 2.5 to 3 hours of actual beach time. The beach had two levels of sand - you can see in the picture of my feet that we are on the upper level - that is where the trees and shade were. While the place we were sitting at was quiet - the bar next door did have loud music and some kind of DJ or someone on a microphone. It didn't bother us though. Lunch was not included in the $44 per person price but they did have a restaurant on-site. We didn't eat so I do not know prices. There was a $67 per person option that included lunch so you could choose that if you wanted to. Like I said, there were outdoor showers for rinsing off and the bathrooms were clean. We had plenty of time to look around when we returned to port before the last tender.

[SHERRIFL]

I am loving your review! We leave in 14 days!! Do you by any chance remember if they have Sushi in the WJ at night? We loved eating in the Jade on the Freedom of the Seas at night but don't know if they have that on Navigator. :D

 

Also, how to you prebook the parking? What is the website.

 

Thanks!!!!

[lemonade-sails]

I am loving your review! We leave in 14 days!! Do you by any chance remember if they have Sushi in the WJ at night? We loved eating in the Jade on the Freedom of the Seas at night but don't know if they have that on Navigator. :D

 

Also, how to you prebook the parking? What is the website.

 

Thanks!!!!

 

Wait for it . . . ;)

 

P.S. The website that we used to reserve parking at Fulton Place is airport parking inc. There will be a drop down menu to choose an airport but you will choose NOP - Port of New Orleans and go from there. We chose the rooftop parking which was $8 per day and, like I said, our car was covered all week. The staff at the garage was friendly and the shuttle worked out well for us. We would use them again - that is, unless we take the kids along, in which case we may have our gigantic van to park and I'm not sure if it will fit in the garage :p.

[lemonade-sails]

Dedicated to SHERRIFL :D

 

 

 

I have never had sushi before. Never. I have always been a little leary of it - but tonight I figured I had nothing to lose.

 

Sushi for dinner - chopsticks and all. How fun!

 

You can see we didn't have a whole lot - we shared this.

 

I needed my husbands help with my chopsticks - I couldn’t get them apart .

 

My husband likes wasabi and grabbed about a tablespoon full for his sushi. The waiter came by and warned him to be careful with it. He soon found out why. It was stronger than any he had had before.

 

 

I also picked up some butter chicken, rice and fried fish.

 

The sushi was good. Now, I'm not an expert so I don't know if their selection is really that great or if someone who enjoys sushi at home will be disappointed in it. But, it is there and we enjoyed it.

 

 

Then we had a second plate of a more traditional dinner.

 

 

Steak and french fries for me.

 

Steak and mashed potatoes for him.

 

 

We then went to the Production Show for this night. There was only one show at 7:45pm.

 

I love this artwork outside of the Windjammer.

[SHERRIFL]

Thank you!!!! That is exactly what I wanted to know! Wahoo!~!! and thanks for parking info. Booking right away!~

[lemonade-sails]

 

Tonight’s show was a comedy juggling act with Adam Kario.

 

He was hilarious. We thought he was very good. He used a couple of audience members in his act.

 

 

This man was very funny and also a very good sport.

 

 

Then we headed to the pool deck to exchange our towels for dry ones. It was very, very windy on the pool deck. By this time in the cruise I thought it would forever and always be windy on the outside decks when we were moving. I just thought that was the way it was.

 

When we got to the towel exchange, they were out of clean towels so he asked us to come back at 9pm. What to do for 15 minutes?

 

We headed back to Windjammer for dessert. I think we only had one or two desserts in the Windjammer all week. We didn't think they were that great - and there were too many other 'real food' type things to eat. We did enjoy desserts in the Main Dining Room. They were very good.

 

 

Not our dessert, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take a picture of this huge pan of crawfish jambalaya.

 

 

Back to the towel exchange where we picked up four new towels. Two on each SeaPass card.

 

We headed back to the room and dropped off the towels.

 

Lots and lots of walking.

 

We found this turtle on our bed.

 

We headed to the theater for Lover’s Bingo.

 

Lover’s Bingo was a special game where you could get an extra bingo card for kissing your sweetheart when you paid for your bingo cards. They were also only playing one game. We paid $20 and got a machine and four paper cards. We had never used a machine before and were a little nervous about it.

 

Anyway, it was fun. I ended up standing (being one away from Bingo) but didn’t win. I think the prize was $300. Then we stayed for the Love and Marriage game show.

 

They started out by finding the couple in the theater who was married the longest. It was Richard and Ina - 52 years. I can’t remember the names of the other two couples. Thomas did a very good job hosting the game and we laughed a lot. The younger couple was a bit over the top. My favorite couple was the older couple. They were so funny and cute. The middle couple won. Of course, we were sitting in the balcony to avoid any possible chance that we would end up on stage.

 

We left the show and headed to the Cafe for a salami sandwich, pizza, coffee and water.

 

Then back to the cabin to go over the next day’s schedule. We decided we were going to try and cancel our Chukka Beach Break because my husband was so sunburned. His chest and legs were pretty red but his face wasn’t. We didn’t think it was a good idea to spend another afternoon in the water and sun.

 

After oohing and ahhing over the bright stars from the balcony, we headed to bed.

[lemonade-sails]

Thank you!!!! That is exactly what I wanted to know! Wahoo!~!! and thanks for parking info. Booking right away!~

 

Absolutely! You're welcome. And, remember, it's normal to feel strange and be scared about pre booking cruise parking at an airport parking website. Completely normal. Just make sure to bring along copies of your email receipt/reservation (I brought 2 copies :p) and do not lose that little white slip of paper they give you at the garage. They tell you to leave it on your dashboard, which is what we did. You will need it to get out of the garage when your trip is over.

 

Seriously, though, I worried about this whole parking thing when, in the end, it was a piece of cake - even if we didn't pay attention to exactly WHERE to find our car upon our return. More on that later.

[cathep]

P.S. The website that we used to reserve parking at Fulton Place is airport parking inc. There will be a drop down menu to choose an airport but you will choose NOP - Port of New Orleans and go from there. We chose the rooftop parking which was $8 per day and, like I said, our car was covered all week. The staff at the garage was friendly and the shuttle worked out well for us. We would use them again - that is, unless we take the kids along, in which case we may have our gigantic van to park and I'm not sure if it will fit in the garage :p.

 

That's a second thanks for the parking info. I only knew of 1 option before reading your review.

 

And I'm excited about sushi and super-strong wasabi!

[duncanmaria]

Absolutely enjoying your trip report! Great photos and commentary! Thanks so much for sharing.

[lhall85917]

I am loving your review! We leave in 14 days!! Do you by any chance remember if they have Sushi in the WJ at night? We loved eating in the Jade on the Freedom of the Seas at night but don't know if they have that on Navigator. :D

 

Also, how to you prebook the parking? What is the website.

 

Thanks!!!!

 

Sherri, we also leave in 14 days and that is Super Bowl weekend in New Orleans. Our roll call has had a lot of parking discussions, especially about Fultons. You may want to drop by our roll call before booking Fultons - they may not honor pre bookings or may send you somewhere else.

[Coralc]

Sherri, we also leave in 14 days and that is Super Bowl weekend in New Orleans. Our roll call has had a lot of parking discussions, especially about Fultons. You may want to drop by our roll call before booking Fultons - they may not honor pre bookings or may send you somewhere else.

 

If they haven't already pre-booked, it might not even be an option that weekend.

 

Very much enjoying your review. It is so interesting to hear from someone on their first cruise, and your photos are great!

[SHERRIFL]

If they haven't already pre-booked, it might not even be an option that weekend.

 

Thanks so much! It is not available! I had NO idea. I never put it together! LOL :eek:

[lemonade-sails]

Sherri, we also leave in 14 days and that is Super Bowl weekend in New Orleans. Our roll call has had a lot of parking discussions, especially about Fultons. You may want to drop by our roll call before booking Fultons - they may not honor pre bookings or may send you somewhere else.

 

Just checked out your roll call - I did not realize it was Super Bowl weekend. I agree that SHERRIFL will most likely be out of luck as far as making a new reservation.:( **I see she already checked and it was full**

 

I hope they will honor everyone's reservation for that weekend - at the price they reserved it for.

 

As I said, we were very satisfied with them and had no issues.

[jackietex]

Which shore excursion did you choose in Grand Cayman? I was originally thinking we'd do the stingray tour, but my husband loved your beach pictures enough that we might copy you.

 

The stingray tour is FABULOUS! I would definitely take it at least one time. We have done it twice, both time through Capt. Marvins, and I recommend them.

[lemonade-sails]

Very much enjoying your review. It is so interesting to hear from someone on their first cruise, and your photos are great!

 

Thanks! Glad you are enjoying it. It's a fun way to relive the memories!