Navigator of the Seas *LIVE* 11/23/2018 - 12/2/2018

[Rogueperson]

Airport is fairly light for us.  Only 1 person in  of us at baggage check in.  Security was a little slow with only 1 lane open, but fortunately it wasnt too crowded.  We made it to the gate with plenty of time to spare.

 

I found this shop here in BWI to be hilarious.  

 

Breakfast plans went awry so i ended up with Einstein Bagels here at airport.  The cool thing is that they finally merged with Caribou Coffee.  They had all closed in my area about two or three years ago.

 

Flight is on time still, so things are pretty much on track

[Rogueperson]

 Can I say thet I absolutely hate this without taptalk.  I cant put descriptions on photos.  Its just text and then photos.

[sid_9169]

1 hour ago, Rogueperson said:

 Can I say thet I absolutely hate this without taptalk.  I cant put descriptions on photos.  Its just text and then photos.

Welcome to the new, "improved" cruise critic...

[NateUpNorth]

Boarding Dec 6th, looking forward to photos and reports!

 

(If anyone happens to wander into the liquor store and grabs a snapshot of the price list for whiskey/scotch that would be amazing.............. 😁 )

[Kilmarlic]

Checked in early to the Holiday Inn at the Port. Older hotel but I LOVE the location. The energy at Bayside Marketplace is incredible. So many food options we're going to forgo the traditional turkey. Opting instead for an array of appetizers. (And maybe a few drinks)

[Gonflipin]

Sailing Navigator for a 2nd time in a month. (Sailed her last year). Can you please confirm that the Guitar Hero game is still at the entrance of the arcade? My 10 year old son thanks you!!!!! 

Edited November 22, 2018 by Gonflipin

[bonsai3s]

On Wednesday, November 21, 2018 at 10:45 AM, Rogueperson said:

Also, this will be our first diamond cruise.  A little background, I did 2 solo nine night cruises on Grandeur within a year to essentially hop over Emerald status.  That gave me 36 points in two cruises to give me exactly 80.  So I get to check out the Diamond Lounge this time!!!

 

Congratulations!

The DL was "standing room only" during the TA with the Viking Crown Lounge used as overflow. Plenty of seats on this current sailing. Enjoy and Happy Sailing!

[Rogueperson]

i The car rental was interesting.  We literally had no instructions whatsoever.  We check in, got sent downstairs.  When we get there, a guy just says “grab whatever car you want” and leaves.  We get to the car and there’s no key to be found.  We finally find someone who prints put our reservation.  The car apparently was upgraded to a full size.  The car is like real snazzy.  It freaks me out because it has a function that keeps the car in its own lane so when the wheel fights me, its odd.

 

We ended up in West Palm Beach to visit some friends of mine for Thanksgiving.  Pictures to come.

Edited November 22, 2018 by Rogueperson

[FionaMG]

19 hours ago, twangster said:

I would appreciate if you could report the onboard pricing for the deluxe beverage package.  I'm sailing her in a few weeks and I've noted some variance from ship to ship from $57 to $63 onboard.  

 

Considering using my D+ discount onboard vs. potential Black Friday deals (if any).

 

Thanks.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

 

6 hours ago, NateUpNorth said:

Boarding Dec 6th, looking forward to photos and reports!

 

(If anyone happens to wander into the liquor store and grabs a snapshot of the price list for whiskey/scotch that would be amazing.............. 😁 )

I have made a note with old-fashioned paper and pen, as I am more likely to remember that way.  

[FionaMG]

3 hours ago, Gonflipin said:

Sailing Navigator for a 2nd time in a month. (Sailed her last year). Can you please confirm that the Guitar Hero game is still at the entrance of the arcade? My 10 year old son thanks you!!!!! 

Added to list as well. 

[gzjax]

We are going Dec 21-30 on the same cruise. 2nd time on NOS, third time to ABC islands on different ships/cruise lines before. Looking forward to your report. Really interested in the movement of the ship with the stabilizer problem. Not for me but for my wife. Thanks!!

[FionaMG]

Our plan for today was to take the water taxi from Bayside to Miami beach, spend the day there and then complete the circuit on the water taxi. It mostly worked out. We arrived at the departure point in time to catch the first one. Nobody else on board, so it was like a private trip!

When we arrived at Miami Beach we enjoyed a long easy stroll to South Pointe Park and Pier and then along the beach. It was quite cloudy and we did catch a few drops of rain but it wasn't cold.

We had lunch at a beachfront place called Boulevard Restaurant. It was a bit pricey as is to be expected when you're paying for the location, but the food was good.

After lunch we made our way back to the water taxi pick-up point, where things went awry. The taxi's engine had broken down during one of the rides after ours. At that point it had 27 passengers on board!

Long story short, the taxi was grounded and we had to get an uber back. Not a big deal, stuff happens, but we're not sure we'll see a refund of the unused portion of our tickets and the additional cost of the uber. We're working on it and may have to go back to the kiosk in Bayside tomorrow morning before boarding Navigator. 

 

 

[Spunky946]

Following along.  On the 12/21 cruise

[FionaMG]

One outcome of the broken down boat was that we arrived back at the hotel (Hampton Inn Brickell) earlier than expected which gave me the chance to make use of fitness centre. For a hotel of this category, it's actually pretty decent; 3 treadmills, 2 cross trainers, a recumbent bike and a spinning bike, free weights and a couple of machines. It is located on the 6th floor overlooking the pool.

 

[FionaMG]

Dinner tonight was at Crust, another place recommend by locals on the Florida departures board. It mostly serves pizzas and pasta dishes. We had booked in advance as we were concerned it might be difficult to get in somewhere, with it being a holiday. We were greeted on arrival by one of the owners. Tonight they were offering free spicy pumpkin soup, possibly due to it being thanksgiving. Our food was tasty but the portions were huge, easily big enough for two or three people! And after the meal, the owner offered us a free glass of port. Definitely good value for money!

 

[Rogueperson]

You had a decent day FionaMG.  A couple of hickups.  

 

Our friend out in West Palm Beach essentially botched thanksgiving dinner.  By the time we got there, she said the main dish was toast, but had plenty of dumplings.  Then she proceeded to mess up the dumplings.  She was so stressed out and we’re like “we came to hang with you.  Dinner was good even though she was missing stuff, but we had a blast.

 

The Comfort Suites is okay.  Toilet was busted.  No maintainance guy on duty.  They gave us a plunger, I fixed ir, but it was harder than it should be.  Wifi here is cruise quality, except its free.  

 

 

Hey, i figured out how to type after attaching photo!!!!  I is smart.

 

I found out that the car rental place has a shuttle to the port!!!  Score.  That makes it much easier. We found a walgreens that was open today and picked up stuff we needed and couldn’t pack.  How the hell did we miss 100 bucks worth of stuff.

 

Plan for tomorrow.  Get breakfast somewhere, return car and then board ship.  I think we will aim for a noon or 12:30 arrival.  That way, our room should be close to ready when we actually board.

Edited November 23, 2018 by Rogueperson

[JamesEM]

Following along, looking forward to more reports and photos.

[Rogueperson]

Good Morning from Sunny Miami.  Why the heck am I up so early.  I got back to the hotel about 11:30.  Probably got to sleep at 1ish.  Up at 6:45.  

 

I lucked out because we got the last parking spot here at the Comfort Suites.  When I woke up, this is how the parking lot looked like.

 

I think they need more parking...

 

 

Here’s a picture of our room.  Its got a sitting area and separate bedroom.  I guess I missed the “Suite” part of Comfort Suites.  I’ll post the bedroom picture later.  Kat is still asleep bacause she’s sane. So what do I do now?

 

[Rogueperson]

The rest of the pics of our room.

 

 

[Rogueperson]

We made it down to Coral Gables 

 

 

 

I found this coffee shop last time I was down here.  They brew to order coffee here, including Hawaian Kona and Jamaican Blue Mountain!!!

[FionaMG]

Taking my cue from Rogueperson here are a couple of pics of our room here at the Hampton.

 

 

 

We are getting everything packed up and are then heading over to Bayside to meet the water taxi operator for a refund of yesterday's trip.

Then it'll be back to the hotel to pick up our stuff and take the 12 o'clock shuttle to the port.

Edited November 23, 2018 by FionaMG

[Rogueperson]

One downside of this coffee shop. They don’t grind coffee.  One of the things we bring on cruise is a french press.  For that i neef coarse ground coffee.  This place does not grind their coffee for you.  They just offer it preground.  Bleh.

 

Okay.  this is interesting.  Kat needed a Capital One ATM.  They actually have cafes down here.  I go the the counter and immediately tells me “we have nothing on the menu”. But you can get the complimentary stuff.  Odd. Unfortunately, they don’t have a grinder either.  hmmm

[Rogueperson]

Breakfast adventure was a success.  We found this hole in the wall next to a busy road in a somewhat industrial area.

This is the view from the restaurant.

 

 

This was breakfast

 

 

Two entrees, cuban coffee and cafe con leche, equals less that 15 bucks.  Amazing too.

 

[NateUpNorth]

26 minutes ago, Rogueperson said:

Breakfast adventure was a success.  We found this hole in the wall next to a busy road in a somewhat industrial area.

This is the view from the restaurant.

This was breakfast

Two entrees, cuban coffee and cafe con leche, equals less that 15 bucks.  Amazing too.

 

 

Wow, nice result. Now I'm hungry........

[Rogueperson]

We stopped off at Walgreens...  Again.  At this rate, i will have spent more money at Walgreens then my cruise.

 

Just need to fill up tank, return car and get shuttle to port.  Be there soon