Rare APDMOM Posted March 28, 2016 #1 Share Posted March 28, 2016 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..... 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 More sharing options...
mrpayroll Posted March 28, 2016 #2 Share Posted March 28, 2016 Looking forward to more. We are on NOS in April.:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarea Posted March 28, 2016 #3 Share Posted March 28, 2016 Following.:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goneclear Posted March 28, 2016 #4 Share Posted March 28, 2016 Great concept for putting together a review. Nav is one of our favorite ships. Will be sailing her again in April so will be following your daily review. Thanks for taking the time to post your experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riclop Posted March 28, 2016 #5 Share Posted March 28, 2016 Thanks for starting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Keith1010 Posted March 28, 2016 #6 Share Posted March 28, 2016 You are off to a quick start and I look forward to the rest of your review/report. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KirkNC Posted March 28, 2016 #7 Share Posted March 28, 2016 Thanks for your report. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
utopiahereicome Posted March 28, 2016 #8 Share Posted March 28, 2016 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 More sharing options...
Rare APDMOM Posted March 29, 2016 Author #9 Share Posted March 29, 2016 Thanks to all who are reading along! I have day one organized, I hope! So, here it is.... My View - Day One: 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 More sharing options...
Rare APDMOM Posted March 29, 2016 Author #10 Share Posted March 29, 2016 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... APDMOM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare APDMOM Posted March 29, 2016 Author #11 Share Posted March 29, 2016 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 More sharing options...
Rare APDMOM Posted March 29, 2016 Author #12 Share Posted March 29, 2016 Rooms were ready at 1 p.m. and we got our first look at the Navigator version of our favorite aft balcony... Room 7388 The inside was pretty standard for an E1 balcony cabin: After dinner, our son's bed was lowered too. We asked Betty, our Room Attendant, to keep it down for the week. 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 More sharing options...
Rare APDMOM Posted March 29, 2016 Author #13 Share Posted March 29, 2016 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: 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: 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: Behind those mirrors are cabinets with more storage: APDMOM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare APDMOM Posted March 29, 2016 Author #14 Share Posted March 29, 2016 Cabinets in the bathroom: 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: APDMOM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare APDMOM Posted March 29, 2016 Author #15 Share Posted March 29, 2016 (edited) On with My View of day one: 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. I am clearly not a "selfie" pro... LOL! But here is our family relaxing and cruising! We had our first towel animal waiting for us: Another view of 7388: APDMOM Edited March 29, 2016 by APDMOM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare APDMOM Posted March 29, 2016 Author #16 Share Posted March 29, 2016 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 More sharing options...
Rare APDMOM Posted March 29, 2016 Author #17 Share Posted March 29, 2016 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 More sharing options...
Clarea Posted March 29, 2016 #18 Share Posted March 29, 2016 Very nice photos! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare APDMOM Posted March 29, 2016 Author #19 Share Posted March 29, 2016 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 More sharing options...
PamJack Posted March 29, 2016 #20 Share Posted March 29, 2016 I love reading this! Can't wait for more… We leave on Navigator on Saturday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrlddst Posted March 29, 2016 #21 Share Posted March 29, 2016 Following along.....[emoji4] Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JalenR Posted March 29, 2016 #22 Share Posted March 29, 2016 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 More sharing options...
Paulette3028 Posted March 29, 2016 #23 Share Posted March 29, 2016 Hoping you can let me know who was the Activity Manager on your sailing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare APDMOM Posted March 29, 2016 Author #24 Share Posted March 29, 2016 Hoping you can let me know who was the Activity Manager on your sailing. Marvin from Jamaica (don't know his last name). :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkvillain Posted March 29, 2016 #25 Share Posted March 29, 2016 Great review! Looking forward to the rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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