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

[Rogueperson]

FREE!!!!!!!!

At least I can make it to the headliner show.

 

Fortunately, Netflix and Hulu worked well enough to allow me to binge watch pretty much the entire season of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina which is actually a pretty good show.  

 

We now return to the normally scheduled program.

 

 

[FionaMG]

So, Blue Bay...

In Portuguese, the expression which corresponds to "not my cup of tea" translates literally to "not my beach" and that is exactly how we felt about Blue Bay. It just wasn't the right type of beach for what we like to do, which is go for long walks along the beach at the edge of the water. Blue Bay is a small, more intimate beach, which appeared to have good snorkeling as there were lots of folks doing so and the water was so clear that we could see the fish from above the surface. We also found the sand was coarse and there were lots of stony areas on the beach and rocks everywhere in the water. All in all it was a disappointment for us but the lady we sat next to in the WJ at lunch raved about it, so it all depends on what you like. 

We also met the resident iguana.

As for the "tour" itself, I booked it during a promo at a price that was cheaper than we would have paid to go by taxi. Taxi cost is $30 each way and beach entrance is $8 per person, so it really was just a bus ride to the beach. The guide did try to provide commentary but he was rubbish. I'm sorry if that sounds harsh but I was a tour guide myself in my younger days and this guy just didn't cut it. Poorly prepared disjointed commentary and his life story on the return trip. 

Edited November 29, 2018 by FionaMG

[FionaMG]

Taxi prices from port. Prices are per taxi for up to 4 people. 

[FionaMG]

In the afternoon we had planned to go for a wander around town and do some shopping but the weather was having a really bad hair day. See that big black cloud in the picture..?

[FionaMG]

So, LOTS of rain this afternoon which meant no decent pics could be taken of the town. 

However, I have a little trick up my sleeve.

We stopped in Curaçao about this time last year on our Serenade cruise and I stll have some pics on my tablet so here are a couple of them and we can just pretend they were taken today. 

[new2crus]

Do you have the MDR menu for tonight?

[FionaMG]

Tonight's MDR menu, which was again somewhat underwhelming. 

We both had the charcuterie starter, which was fine.

For mains I had the veal medallions, which were also fine, and Fernando had the linguine with clams. He didn't care gor it; said they had been too heavy-handed on the wine.

Dessert was cheesecake and dark chocolate brownie, both good.

[new2crus]

Thanks, love the pictures of the food. I agree, the MDR menu does not look that great.

[NateUpNorth]

How are you finding disembarkation at the ports? We have a couple of morning tours booked and that's the only thing that causes me any stress once the vacation begins!

[Rogueperson]

Greetings from Bonaire.  This is today’s cruise compass.

 

 

I’m feeling almost 100% finally.  

[Luckynana]

Enjoying the posts! We did the ABC Islands last year; we're doing it again on Silhouette next November. 😊  

[NateUpNorth]

On 11/27/2018 at 11:30 PM, FionaMG said:

It's a bit battered but hopefully you will be able to read it ok.

 

 

 

 

Having a brain cramp here.

Arrival is showing 8AM, so is that actually 9AM local time? 

Or does the Compass go by Island time?

 

[Rogueperson]

Due to us being delayed by not finding the tent, we missed our scheduled Bonaire Vista Tour by 5 minutes.  When i found the tent, there was no one there presumably to lead people to the first bus.  They easily accomodated us on the next bus an hour later.

 

 We found a great gelato and coffee shop downtown.  They had a thing called an Icicino.  Its pretty much just blended ice, coffee and a little cream.  Its amazing.

 

Afterwards, we saw pretty much the entire island.  I got a good sample of photos here.  Bonaire Vista Tours was quite good for the price we paid (35/person)

 

 

 

 

[Rogueperson]

7 minutes ago, NateUpNorth said:

 

Having a brain cramp here.

Arrival is showing 8AM, so is that actually 9AM local time? 

Or does the Compass go by Island time?

 

Compass should be on ship time.

[FionaMG]

Ship time and island time are the same, since we put the clocks forward an hour.   

Haven't seen any issues with getting off at the ports. The captain announced that we were fully cleared at 7 am this morning. 

[NateUpNorth]

18 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

Ship time and island time are the same, since we put the clocks forward an hour.   

Haven't seen any issues with getting off at the ports. The captain announced that we were fully cleared at 7 am this morning. 

 

Extremely helpful!! Thank you!!

We have Woodwind at 8:30 in Bonaire so that gives us a good buffer to clear the ship and get over there.

Same thing with Aruba - we have Sailaway booked at 9:30 with the Compass showing clearance at 8:30.

 

(so basically when you got on the ship they advanced the clocks an hour at some point? google says it's 2:00 in Miami and 3:00 in Bonaire/Aruba)

Edited November 29, 2018 by NateUpNorth

[Rogueperson]

27 minutes ago, NateUpNorth said:

 

Extremely helpful!! Thank you!!

We have Woodwind at 8:30 in Bonaire so that gives us a good buffer to clear the ship and get over there.

Same thing with Aruba - we have Sailaway booked at 9:30 with the Compass showing clearance at 8:30.

 

(so basically when you got on the ship they advanced the clocks an hour at some point? google says it's 2:00 in Miami and 3:00 in Bonaire/Aruba)

unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a rhyme or reason.  Some ships don’t change time and remain the same and others will decide to stay with local time.  It can be confusing given the propensity of smart phones to be too smart and erroneously correct the time.  My wife and I had two different times earlier this cruise and we did nothing.  I forced it when they announced the time change and it over corrected an additional hour.

 

I learned that in addition to turning on airplane mode, I also turn off adjust time automatically 

[NateUpNorth]

9 minutes ago, Rogueperson said:

unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a rhyme or reason.  Some ships don’t change time and remain the same and others will decide to stay with local time.  It can be confusing given the propensity of smart phones to be too smart and erroneously correct the time.  My wife and I had two different times earlier this cruise and we did nothing.  I forced it when they announced the time change and it over corrected an additional hour.

 

I learned that in addition to turning on airplane mode, I also turn off adjust time automatically 

 

I have recently just been googling port authority ship docking schedules, but very grateful people on board are confirming the times I've found. Thanks to both @Rogueperson and @FionaMG for doing this live thread!!!

[Rogueperson]

So after the tour, we asked our tour guide for a good place for lunch of local cuisine.  She did not have a good answer for what local cuisine was. She basically said its caribbbean food with a dutch twist, but could not give me examples beyond that.  After probing, she did mention that this restaurant has iguana and goat.

Menu

 

 

so lunch ended up being Iguana Soup.

 

Goat Stew

 

and red snapper.

 

 

 

Everything was wonderful, but we had to bow out because we had Chef’s Table tonight.  Of course, I will have photos of that.

 

We also saw this on our way back

 

This cruise isn’t over yet.  I’m gonna make the best of my remaining time.

[wannalottadough]

1 hour ago, NateUpNorth said:

Extremely helpful!! Thank you!!

We have Woodwind at 8:30 in Bonaire so that gives us a good buffer to clear the ship and get over there.

Is that for next week? We are on that tour also for Dec. 12 @ 8:30

[NateUpNorth]

6 minutes ago, wannalottadough said:

Is that for next week? We are on that tour also for Dec. 12 @ 8:30

 

Yes it is.

Have you gone over to the roll call? There are several of us on this cruise that will be doing Woodwind!

[wannalottadough]

2 minutes ago, NateUpNorth said:

 

Yes it is.

Have you gone over to the roll call? There are several of us on this cruise that will be doing Woodwind!

I've been lurking haha, We are signed up for the meet and mingle but we're traveling with two other couples who will also be on woodwind. Not sure if they've signed up for M&M though, I'll check it out

[FionaMG]

2 hours ago, NateUpNorth said:

(so basically when you got on the ship they advanced the clocks an hour at some point? google says it's 2:00 in Miami and 3:00 in Bonaire/Aruba)

Yes, that's right. I think it was the night when we left Labadee. They made announcements and left the information in the cabin along with the next day's Compass.

They did the exact same thing last year our Serenade cruise to the southern Caribbean and they gave us the hour back on the very last night.

[bobmacliberty]

Rogue - Glad to see that you're back in the saddle again.  Sucks being sick on a cruise.  Looking forward to your impressions of Chef's Table.

[sayvan]

4 hours ago, FionaMG said:

Yes, that's right. I think it was the night when we left Labadee. They made announcements and left the information in the cabin along with the next day's Compass.

They did the exact same thing last year our Serenade cruise to the southern Caribbean and they gave us the hour back on the very last night.

 

 When we did this cruise last year the time change came on the sea day in the middle of the day.  Same on the return as well.  Lost a complete hour in the middle of the day without the help of Tequila!