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

[lemonade-sails]

I just wanted to add my thanks. You did a great job with your review.

 

Your title is what grabbed my attention first - Mommy and Daddy sail on the NOS.

 

It so reminds me of our first cruise. Our first cruise was on the Grandeur and we also left our children home, all 10 of them. We had so much fun that the next time we cruised we took all of our children on the Navigator.

 

We are now looking forward to a 4 generation cruise this March on the Explorer. We will have 9 out of our 10 children, their spouses, our 1st grandchild and also my father:D

 

I hope that you are able to take your children along sometime.

 

Thanks again for your review. And I would vote for one picture of Mommy and Daddy:)

 

Hi!! Thanks for commenting! How many cabins did you have to book for your 4 generation cruise?? Sounds like a great time!

 

I hope we'll be able to take them along sometime too - possibly with the grandparents to help. Maybe some day!

[Rocknsoul]

It seems as though I'm having a problem with Photobucket - maybe I moved the pictures into an album and that's why they're not showing up. :( I wish we could go back and edit things.

 

I can't wait to read your review and see your pictures! Are you still moving with the ship? We were rocking for about four days after we came back!

 

Not this time! I have had cruises where I kept moving for days afterward, but for some reason, not at all this time. :)

[lemonade-sails]

I enjoyed your review. It is so refreshing to read a review from a new and enthusiastic cruiser. I hope you have an opportunity to sail with your entire family.

M

 

I think I had enough enthusiasm for everyone! Glad you enjoyed the review and thanks for your nice comments!

 

Loved your review and I'm glad you both had a wonderful time. My DH and I have loved cruising. We love it so much, that just like you, we wanted to take our kids along so they could experience it. This March we finally get to take them on the Brilliance. It will be my DH and I, my two DD, my DS and DIL, and my 15-month grandson. We can't wait! Thanks for the review. I looked forward to reading it each day.

 

Thanks!! Yes, we often found ourselves wishing the kids were there to see something or do something. I'm pretty sure they would love it. So glad that you are getting to share it with your kids! I hope you all have a wonderful time on the Brilliance!!

[sanditoes4]

I, like many of the others, also followed you from the first moment!!! I even subscribed to it after reading your opening post, I wasn't going to miss a moment, I got an email everytime you posted and I ran right to CC to see where I was going.....I mean where you were going next!!! :p

 

I had so much fun on this cruise with you.....soon I will book my own again. Thanks again!!!

[Lost_in_BC]

Thanks for the review. I chuckled through you kids tooth fairy story. Reminds me of my daughter. I'm pretty sure she knows, but no one talking about it. :D

[mtsublueraider]

 

We stayed on the pool deck and purchased a shirt for the Walk for Wishes.

 

Very interested in this! What time did they do it and how much were the shirts?

[mtsublueraider]

Thank you again for the great review. We are sailing on NOS 3/16 and this has been a great way of getting in the mood as well as picking up valuable information. We sailed on NOS a few years ago in the Med but my sister is going with us and this will be her first time on NOS. Your review and pictures are wonderful. Thank you for sharing.

 

 

We will be on her the week before you sail so we'll try to take good care of her! HA HA! Can't wait!

 

And yes, I'm inspired to write my own review when we return. Hold me to it!

[Iamthesea]

Sorry for the late answer! His name was John Perry & we thought he was great. The entertainment staff as a whole were really good.

 

Thanks! :) Are you planning on writing a review of the Navigator?

[tootts]

Thank you so much for taking the time to do your wonderful review, especially with just getting back and taking care of your family. I also echo the sentiments of the other posters - terrific job with both the pictures and day by day review. We will be on the same cruise in several weeks and you definitely added to the excitement & anticipation we are already experiencing:)

 

Take care and thanks again!

[lemonade-sails]

I, like many of the others, also followed you from the first moment!!! I even subscribed to it after reading your opening post, I wasn't going to miss a moment, I got an email everytime you posted and I ran right to CC to see where I was going.....I mean where you were going next!!! :p

 

 

I had so much fun on this cruise with you.....soon I will book my own again. Thanks again!!!

 

Awe! Thanks for the kind words. I hope some day we will get to go again too. :)

 

Thanks for the review. I chuckled through you kids tooth fairy story. Reminds me of my daughter. I'm pretty sure she knows, but no one talking about it. :D

 

I loved how he still got the money even though we were gone. Grandma was sure on her game that week! :)

[lemonade-sails]

Very interested in this! What time did they do it and how much were the shirts?

 

Hi! The Walk For Wishes was on the last sea day. The shirts were on sale from 10am to 12pm by the pool bar - where the band plays. They were $10. About 11am the captain and several other senior officers joined us on the jogging track to walk a mile. They took a group photo of us and there were a few brief minutes for pictures with the captain.

I can't remember how much $ was raised that day, but it was fun!

so

[lemonade-sails]

Thank you so much for taking the time to do your wonderful review, especially with just getting back and taking care of your family. I also echo the sentiments of the other posters - terrific job with both the pictures and day by day review. We will be on the same cruise in several weeks and you definitely added to the excitement & anticipation we are already experiencing:)

 

Take care and thanks again!

 

Thanks for that! I hope you enjoy your cruise! :)

[Blessedwith10]

Hi!! Thanks for commenting! How many cabins did you have to book for your 4 generation cruise?? Sounds like a great time!

 

I hope we'll be able to take them along sometime too - possibly with the grandparents to help. Maybe some day!

 

Well there are 15 of us sailing. Our one son and his wife cannot come along, which is very sad:(

 

We have 6 rooms booked, one being the Royal Family Suite. We don't actually need 6 rooms but it was cheaper to get a couple interior rooms than putting everyone in the RFS.

 

Stacey

[olesiabr]

What a great review! We are sailing the same itinerary in a few months and I had a question about the Fulton St parking: is it possible to just walk to the garage upon disembarking instead of waiting for the shuttle? We thought maybe one of us could just go get the car and pick up the rest with the luggage!

Thanks!

[lemonade-sails]

What a great review! We are sailing the same itinerary in a few months and I had a question about the Fulton St parking: is it possible to just walk to the garage upon disembarking instead of waiting for the shuttle? We thought maybe one of us could just go get the car and pick up the rest with the luggage!

Thanks!

 

Yes, I believe it's possible, but not sure how advisable it is. There is a lot of construction going on right now - may be done by the time you sail. I would recommend checking it out on Google Maps and seeing for yourself. We chose to wait. I didn't really want to split up because there were only two of us and I didn't want to be left standing on the curb by myself. And really, if it takes 10 minutes to walk to the garage, a few minutes to get to the car. Another five or more minutes to get out of the garage and back to the port - the shuttle would have been there by then. That's just how we figured it.

[rusjud]

I woke up at 6:15 am. I couldn't figure out why.

 

**Note** We did not bring an alarm clock with us. We just had a watch with an alarm. There were times that we missed just having a clock to look at on the desk, but we survived. There were only two outlets on the desk and we used them both. We did not bring a surge protector along and I thought we did fine. Remember though that we did not have a laptop with us so we only used the outlets for charging the phone and the camera battery once. **

 

I was able to fall back asleep and woke up again at 7:45.

 

 

I began each day by taking a picture of the day on the Compass. I learned this tip from someone here on Cruise Critic. Lots of people take pictures of the day of the week sign on the floor of the elevator. However, that didn’t work for us as we went whole days without stepping on the elevator and also I seemed to be taking pictures right away in the morning before getting dressed or leaving the cabin. So, it was very convenient to use the Compass to help me organize my photos for each day.

 

I took some pictures from the balcony and we showered and got ready for the day.

 

 

 

 

 

I never got over how big the ocean is. I had been to the ocean before, but never out in the middle of it. I could just stare out there all day. I took a lot of pictures hoping to be able to share it with the kids when we got home. The pictures are nice but it just isn’t the same as being there. It made me feel very small.

 

 

We had yet to meet our room steward. We knew they had turned down our room the night before but we didn’t see them at all. Not even in the hallway. So I left a note on the bed to ask for some extra towels and some ice and extra glasses for the bottle of sparkling grape juice we brought onboard. (remember we don’t drink alcohol). A note about the bottle - we had it in our carry on that went through the security scanner. They didn’t ask to see the bottle at all. No problem whatsoever. I also let them know that we had emptied the mini bar fridge and where we had placed the things.

 

 

 

Hi Lemonade . Love this review !!!! We are going on the Navigator in March and have a corner aft on deck 9 , so this is very interesting to us . Unfortunetly I can't see your pics . There is just an x where the pic should be . If you wouldn't mind sending me some of the balcony I would really appreciate it . They are so hard to find ! Thank you Judy . rusjud@hotmail.com . Back to reading

[lemonade-sails]

Hi Lemonade . Love this review !!!! We are going on the Navigator in March and have a corner aft on deck 9 , so this is very interesting to us . Unfortunetly I can't see your pics . There is just an x where the pic should be . If you wouldn't mind sending me some of the balcony I would really appreciate it . They are so hard to find ! Thank you Judy . rusjud@hotmail.com . Back to reading

 

Ahh - Photobucket still hates me. I don't know why the pictures aren't showing up - I didn't move them, I promise :(. Maybe they will come back like the others did in a day or so . . .

 

To address your question - I would recommend this website

 

http://voyager-class.com/pictures/cabins/aftbalconies/aftbalconies.html

 

The Deck 9 aft balconies will be very different from the deck 7 balconies. You should be able to find lots of pictures at the link above.

 

Have a great trip!

 

P.S. I just realized that I didn't take any really good pictures of the balcony itself - most of my pictures are looking off the balcony :)

[exitoffnine]

Hi Lemonade . Love this review !!!! We are going on the Navigator in March and have a corner aft on deck 9 , so this is very interesting to us . Unfortunetly I can't see your pics . There is just an x where the pic should be . If you wouldn't mind sending me some of the balcony I would really appreciate it . They are so hard to find ! Thank you Judy . rusjud@hotmail.com . Back to reading

 

Which corner aft on 9 do you have? We had one on the 1/12 sailing. Plusses and minusses but mostly plusses. If you haven't received any, I have some photos.

[renee1222]

I thoroughly enjoyed your review, Lemonade! Your family sounds a lot like mine! My husband and I just took our first cruise together, after 10 years of marriage and 5 kids. We cruised the Freedom in December and scored an Aft balcony (thanks to CC!). I failed at my first attempt on the rock wall, but tried again and was successful. It was not easy!

 

I am also a stay at home mom and could relate with you on so many things! I'm so glad that you and your hubby had a chance to enjoy a nice, quiet vacation together.

[lemonade-sails]

I thoroughly enjoyed your review, Lemonade! Your family sounds a lot like mine! My husband and I just took our first cruise together, after 10 years of marriage and 5 kids. We cruised the Freedom in December and scored an Aft balcony (thanks to CC!). I failed at my first attempt on the rock wall, but tried again and was successful. It was not easy!

 

I am also a stay at home mom and could relate with you on so many things! I'm so glad that you and your hubby had a chance to enjoy a nice, quiet vacation together.

 

 

We do sound a lot alike! :) And the aft balcony too! That's funny. It was strange because I knew so much about cruising from reading these boards, but had not actually done it myself.

 

I'm glad you guys had a chance to get away together too - I'm assuming you went without the kids? It was hard but so worth it. It was definitely a great vacation. I'm going to be living off of the wonderful memories for some time! And, my enthusiasm for cruising has rubbed of on the kids - one of our boys has started a 'cruise fund' of his own. :p

[The Sunset Glow]

Unfortunetly I can't see your pics . There is just an x where the pic should be.

 

Hi Judy, just wanted to let you know that when I look at this thread on my work computer I get those same red Xs. But when I look at it on my iPad, Microsoft Surface tablet or computer at home I can see the pictures jsut fine. It's strange but I believe it has something to do with the computer settings.:cool:

[debbs0723]

I'm loving your thread but somehow around page 3 I was not able to see pictures anymore... and I really want to see them. Any advice anyone?

 

Debbie

[debbs0723]

Oops nevermind. I went back and they worked this time. great review. we leave on march 9th, with our kids. that is the texas spring break. We are driving in from Houston. Decided to drive to NOLA rather than go out of Galveston on the Mariner.

[Ozzie52]

Thanks so much for taking so much time and trouble to write such a comprehensive and interesting account of your trip!

 

I'm going on Voyager in 2 weeks, so I was wondering what the general RC experience was like (have only been on one cruise before with Celebrity, so still a newbie).

 

I've picked up some good tips from your review (already have medicated hand wipes as I'm concerned about the Norovirus reported on previous trips). A separate email account is a good idea!

 

Your Day 1 photos are showing up fine but I can't see the Day 2 pics on the 4th page... in case you feel like putting them back in their original Photobucket folder;)

 

Hope you manage to get on another cruise with your children:)

[lemonade-sails]

Thanks so much for taking so much time and trouble to write such a comprehensive and interesting account of your trip!

 

I'm going on Voyager in 2 weeks, so I was wondering what the general RC experience was like (have only been on one cruise before with Celebrity, so still a newbie).

 

I've picked up some good tips from your review (already have medicated hand wipes as I'm concerned about the Norovirus reported on previous trips). A separate email account is a good idea!

 

Your Day 1 photos are showing up fine but I can't see the Day 2 pics on the 4th page... in case you feel like putting them back in their original Photobucket folder;)

 

Hope you manage to get on another cruise with your children:)

 

 

I know . . . I can't see them either and I never moved the Day 2 photos. Photobucket is killing me!! :o:(

 

I could post them again here, but then they'll probably come back :confused:.

 

Ahhh . . . the perils of review writing.

 

I'm glad you enjoyed the review - even with the missing pictures. Have a fabulous time on your cruise! :)