Navigator of the Seas - 9 Day Southern Caribbean- Another Sayvan Semi Live Report

[sayvan]

 

Ship taking on salt...

 

 

 

 

 

[sayvan]

It was a great sail out to the snorkel location...

 

 

 

Getting close to our spot....

 

 

 

As we were approaching our snorkel site we almost went head on into this guy.... we ended up tangled in his anchor line.... close call!

 

 

Next up... the snorkeling

[sayvan]

Once we were anchored we were provided with flippers and our snorkel gear and we were free to jump in and go... there was a guide who went in the water who would help identify what we were seeing and also help anyone who needed assistance. We would be in the water for about an hour and half... we had lots of time and basically we followed a course they had lined (not actual lines or ropes) out that took us along the coast line then circled back toward the boat... I used my GoPro while in the water and I had it set for video and a photo every ten seconds... the results were pretty good and I will post the videos once I have them ready...so lets go snorkelling!

 

Camera rolling and jumping in the water off the back of the boat...some folks jumped off the sides...

 

 

 

The water was crystal clear and I have to be honest the photos do not really show how clear it was...I am still trying to figure out my GoPro settings!

 

 

 

This shows how clear it was...

 

 

[sayvan]

Vanda swimming off...

 

 

The depth of the area was around 18 m or about 60 ft. if you are not familiar with the metric system.

 

 

 

 

Still getting adjusted...

 

 

[sayvan]

 

 

 

 

Its hard to see but all the little specs were fish...

 

 

[sayvan]

 

We had to be careful because there was a lot of fire coral in the area and the coral was very tall in some spots. This shot shows how close it was coming to the surface...

 

 

 

 

 

[sayvan]

 

 

 

 

 

[sayvan]

The coast ...

 

 

 

Snorkel selfie...

 

 

 

 

[sayvan]

There was a school of some kind of fish ...its hard to see but if you look carefully ..the dark area..

 

 

 

I need to learn to dive a little more when snorkelling

 

 

 

I followed this group for sometime..

 

 

[sayvan]

 

 

 

 

 

[sayvan]

We were now getting back to the boat and a very successful snorkel was coming to a close...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sayvan]

Once back on the boat we were ready for the sail back into the Marina... The water where we just finished our adventure..

 

 

 

 

Next up the sail back in and a little more from the town....

 

 

 

[Wilson]

WoW. Great shots.

 

I want to get a Go Pro before we sail in May on Harmony. Doing the Toro Verde zip line and want to have it for the ride. We are doing the Woodwind snorkel in Bonaire in Nov and want it for that excursion.

[ravensbad]

Enjoyed your pictures (and your entire review), they reminded me of our fantastic day in Bonaire a few months ago. If you are ever back in Bonaire (and book far enough ahead of time) I highly recommend a Woodwind snorkeling trip. They are amazing and you get a 4-5 hour excursion for only $65 per person. I wrote about my experience with them in my short review from our December cruise, here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=52348251&postcount=2

 

Bonaire is amazing, we can't wait to go back. Thanks for sharing your experience.

[sayvan]

WoW. Great shots.

 

I want to get a Go Pro before we sail in May on Harmony. Doing the Toro Verde zip line and want to have it for the ride. We are doing the Woodwind snorkel in Bonaire in Nov and want it for that excursion.

 

 

Highly recommend the GoPro. It is an amazing little camera. I have the Hero 4 Silver. You can take it anywhere!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[sayvan]

Enjoyed your pictures (and your entire review), they reminded me of our fantastic day in Bonaire a few months ago. If you are ever back in Bonaire (and book far enough ahead of time) I highly recommend a Woodwind snorkeling trip. They are amazing and you get a 4-5 hour excursion for only $65 per person. I wrote about my experience with them in my short review from our December cruise, here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=52348251&postcount=2

 

Bonaire is amazing, we can't wait to go back. Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

 

I had the same issue with Woodwind that you mentioned in your review... procrastination... they do book up fast.

 

We weren't disappointed with Compass tour though at all. The sail was very personal in the small group and having also been to the Great Barrier Reef I have to say the amount of coral and fish were very comparable. Bonaire is definitely one of my favourite stops on any cruise I have done. My videos show a much clearer and beautiful underwater world. I think what I need to do is get myself a little closer for the photographs the next time. I have to admit they warned us about the fire coral and I I was a tad paranoid!

 

 

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[ravensbad]

I think what I need to do is get myself a little closer for the photographs the next time. I have to admit they warned us about the fire coral and I I was a tad paranoid

 

 

I really liked the two areas that we snorkelled in because they both sloped from shallow to deep in most of the area. I mean it went from coral 1ft. from the surface to "I can't see the bottom" deep all in my field of view. This was good because if you wanted to get closer or felt comfortable in the shallows you could be shallower, if you wanted to be deeper you could do that too. There was definitely some huge fire coral that made me wary, glad you stayed away from that :)

[sayvan]

It was now time to make our way back to the marina and eventually Navigator. During the sail back to the ship we were provided with sandwiches, snacks, juices, pop and beer. As much as you wanted. The sail back took a slightly different route but for the most part it was similar...

 

Vanda was enjoying the ride back...

 

 

I just couldn't get over the the colour of the water in Bonaire...

 

 

I set the GoPro up for the ride back in, clamped it on the side on the boat and away we went...

 

 

 

I should add the the GoPro is not a great people camera ...its has quite the wide angle...lol..

 

 

[sayvan]

The sails were up and the boat was leaning...

 

 

 

My feet were crossed and with an ice cold beer in my hand, I sat back enjoying the ride....

 

 

 

A shot to the back of the boat..

 

 

[sayvan]

The sun was shining down as it had all day...

 

 

Navigator is off in the distance....

 

 

Coming into the Marina...

 

 

 

 

[sayvan]

The Marina parking lot....

 

 

 

 

 

Once off the boat, we had an option to stay at the resort or head back to town. We opted to head back to town and so we did. The driver of the bus was very accommodating as he not only dropped off those that wanted to go back to the ship, at the ship, but he then took the rest of us into town and dropped us off there. All in all, I have to give two thumbs up to Compass tours... they gave us a great memorable day!

 

We headed back to town and found a pub, some free WiFi, met up with some friends and had a few beers before making our way back onto the ship! Our selfie...

 

 

The market area in Bonaire is actually very interesting. It products that are sold there are unique and many are hand made. Vanda picked up some nice ear rings and some fragrance salts. When you get to Bonaire I recommend making sure you take a walk through this area (its just up the street from the ship, you cant miss it).

 

We made our way back to the ship and we were close to sail away time. We headed up to the pool deck and had a few drinks before getting ready for the evening...

[rclibertygirl5]

Can you please check if they are offering a discount to diamond plus on the beverage package and what the cost is? Thank you!!

 

 

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[sayvan]

After a few more drinks on deck 11 we headed back to our room to get ready for the night. Navigator had now departed Bonaire and was making her way toward Miami... you know that dreaded time when you still have a few days left on the ship but you know you're now on the downside of the cruise....

 

Each night before dinner, we would head down to the Promenade deck (5) and make our way to Vintages to have a few glasses of wine, people watch, chat with some of our dinner mates and then head off for dinner. We are not big fans of the shows so we do not usually go to see them. Especially, the production shows. I find them to be all the same and well mediocre at best. I can say that we did attend one for a bit and the singers on the this ship did not impress me at all... in fact, as harsh as this may sound, I am pretty sure they wouldn't make it past the audition stage of many if not all the talent shows we see on tv these days...

 

Tonight, I brought the camera with me for some of the night. I have to say we were very impressed with promenade and the street set up theme...

 

 

 

We had any time dining... As I mentioned before, we didn't eat at any of the speciality restaurants. I actually found the food in the main dining room to be excellent! With a 9 day cruise the menu was different every night and we never walked away disappointed.

 

Now the any time dining experience well that was something else. One would think that if your doing"anytime dining" then you should be able to go "anytime". We have done the your time before on Celebrity and NCL and frankly outside of day one we never had to wait on those lines. If I found a negative on Royal, this was it. We never could just walk up and have "any time". If you didn't make a reservation you waited...sometimes over an hour. Now, that being said, we didn't care because after all, what else did we have to do and its not like you could ever go hungry on a cruise ship, but I could see some folks were quite irritated by this.

 

Our situation actually ended up being quite unique for dining. The first night, we arrived asked for a table with other people and were seated at a table for 6. We had some great conversation and enjoyed everyone at the table. The second night on the ship we ended up with a table for just the two of us... the other folks we sat with the previous night also ended up at tables different from us but near us. We ended up visiting with them and all of us decided from that point on we would meet and eat together. We then set a 7:45 reservation for each of the remaining nights. We would have on the next night, 3 additional folks join us and as it was, they ended up sitting with us as well for the remainder of the cruise... So our "anytime" dining experience actually ended up being at the same time every night and with the same people at a table for 9!

 

Our table mates... One person missing...

 

 

Following dinner on this night we would head off to the adult game show Quest.... Wow... this was something I had never experienced on a cruise ship before. One of our friends from the table, Gary, was also in the Thriller dance routine that started off the show...video will follow. The game show Quest was an event like no other. This was held in Studio B where the skating rink is. The idea, as many of you may know, was that the studio was split into teams from the different seat sections. Each team selected some leaders and the task was then to find things from your section that the game show host would call out. For example, a pair of flip flops.... or a thong... or bra... or some guys underwear.... well you get the idea...teams were then awarded points for how fast they could find these things. I have to say... we actually had full on nudity on the floor from both men and woman... it was something to see.... and a lot of fun. I did take a number of pictures but frankly many I can't show!

 

 

 

Following the Quest, we all headed up to the Boleros for a few nightcaps...

 

 

Next up we face our final two sea days...

[sayvan]

Can you please check if they are offering a discount to diamond plus on the beverage package and what the cost is? Thank you!!

 

 

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Check your reservations.. they offered a discount prior to the cruise but there was no offer of a discount once the cruise started.

[Coralc]

I didn't check on the 9 night Navigator cruise, because we purchased the deluxe packages online in advance. On the 5 night cruise, the onboard D+ discount on the deluxe package was 30%. You had to ask for it, it was not offered automatically.