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

[Clarea]

6 hours ago, Rogueperson said:

I discovered a major flaw on Navigator.  There is no 24 hour drink station!  At one point there was one available in the windjammer, but its closed now at 2:12am.  Bars are closed too.  The Cafe Promenade has food 24 hours, but no drink station.  At this hour, you can get Hot coffee, or water.

 

This is where Grandeur beats Navigator.  I’m fairly certain Anthem had a 24 hour drink station too.

 

Not uncommon for Cafe Promenade to only offer water and coffee. Every once in a while I see them offering iced tea also, but it's rare.

[FionaMG]

The clocks go back again tonight. There's a note about it in the Compass but they've got it slightly wrong. They say the official time change will occur at 2 am on November 2. I expect they'll make an announcement at some point during the day. I think when it went forward, the Captain announced it in his noon address.

[cruisinfromtampa]

On 11/30/2018 at 9:08 AM, Rogueperson said:

What everyone (including me) was looking forward to.  Chef’s Table.  the two things I was looking forward to Most on this cruise was this And the helmet dive.

 

This is the menu

 

 

 

I should also note that I got fairly drunk here. I drank more here than the entire cruise put together.  

 

 

 

 

 

This was the first time I’ve evet had a dessert martini.  I didn’t finish it.  I was pretty gone by the end of dinner.

 

 

Impressions.

 

Food and wine pairing has never failed to impress me.  This IS the best meal you can have on a cruise.  However, I have read other experiences to warn me that venue on Voyager class (and may Freedom class too?) was not able to accomodate this, so they make due somehow.  This is unfortunately true.  Chef’s table was held here.

 

 

 

If this looks familiar, it should.  Its the landing between deck 4 and deck 5 of the Sapphire Dining room.  We were pretty much out in the open.  This seriously detracted from the dining experience because it was difficult to hear the presentation of the pairing and course.  The sommelier will give a wine presentation first.  Then the executive chef comes out with his dish and gives a presentation of how he prepared each course.  They both were practically screaming to be heard over the normal background noise of the MDR.  Second slight failing.  We had a smaller table of 8.  They seem to have brought just enough wine for 1 glass per course.  I don’t think it mattered for our table, but previous Chef’s table gave refills of each course wines.  There didn’t seen to be extra here.

 

Would i do it again, heck yeah.  But I would prefer to do it ob another ship if i could.  Its too bad because I’m liking the Voyager class.

 

 

This is the same menu we had on Majesty in July.  We've done CT 4 times, on 4 different ships.  This was our favorite menu.  It's amazing that we ate the same things, but the plating was completely different.  You wouldn't even think they were the same dishes by look.

 

We felt the same about location on Independence.  The experience out in the middle of things just wasn't the same.  People walking around the landing didn't help either.

 

[Rogueperson]

10 minutes ago, cruisinfromtampa said:

 

This is the same menu we had on Majesty in July.  We've done CT 4 times, on 4 different ships.  This was our favorite menu.  It's amazing that we ate the same things, but the plating was completely different.  You wouldn't even think they were the same dishes by look.

 

We felt the same about location on Independence.  The experience out in the middle of things just wasn't the same.  People walking around the landing didn't help either.

 

 

In 2012, I did my first Chef’s Table on Carnival.  I was amazed and hooked and vowed with my wife that we would do Chef’s Table on all our cruises.  We sailed our first Royal Caribbean together on Independence.  When i inquired then, it was not offered on Freedom classes.  I see why now. I guess they just didn’t have the space available here.

[Rogueperson]

2 hours ago, FionaMG said:

The clocks go back again tonight. There's a note about it in the Compass but they've got it slightly wrong. They say the official time change will occur at 2 am on November 2. I expect they'll make an announcement at some point during the day. I think when it went forward, the Captain announced it in his noon address.

I wish i had read this earlier.  I too screwed up and set my clock backwards.  I missed the production tour because I was an hour off.  Almost missed my Izumi’s lunch reservation.

 

Nice lunch view.

[FionaMG]

I think quite a lot of people might have been confused about the time change because when you go back to your cabin turn in for the night the next day's compass is right there on the bed waiting for you. You glance at it and see the notice about putting the clock back "tonight" and you don't immediately realise that it's actually "tomorrow" night.

The Captain did announce it on his noon address.

[FionaMG]

We are having fabulous weather for our last day. The pool are is hopping and longers in the immediate area of the pool are hard to come by but there are plenty on the upper levels. There is a huge space on deck 12 at the very front of the ship with lots of loungers and no bar if you are looking for a quieter spot.

The flowrider has been busy this morning. Since this ship has only one flowrider they use an inflatable divider to create two sections for body boarding allowing more people to participate at busier times.

There are the usual "sales" going on on the Royal Promenade, buy 4 get 1 free, destination t-shirts 2 for $20,  and so on.

When we passed the t-shirt table the lines were five deep and some people had what looked to be a dozen t-shirts over their arms! It was pandemonium! 

[FionaMG]

Today's Compass

[Rogueperson]

Lunch at Izumi’s was decent.  I keep saying we won’t be back, but i come back.  As a Japanese restaurant, I find their price high for what you get.  Here’s the menu.

 

 

 I will pay similar prices on land to eat at a decent japanese restaurant but here the food so far is just mediocre.  This time, we noticed they had ramen and thats why we tried it for lunch as well as the octopus appetizer.

 

 

 

For dessert, I had the cruspy sesame balls.  This was probably the best thing i’ve had at Izumis, but at the sane time, this is a simple dish.

 

 

Impressions.  Octopus was interestingly delicious.  Dessert was great.  The Ramen, meh, its ok.  Chops and Giovanni gives far better value if you factor in the fact that this is an upcharge for your food, as we’ve all already paid for our food.  Here, the upcharge does not reflect the value.  Like Sabor, It’s got a lower price point at $25 per person but what you get isn’t really worth it, Whereas Chops and Giovanni’s Retail price point is higher, the food quality his birth higher than that.

 

Here is today’s and last cruise compass.

 

 

For much of this cruise, I have been content to take it easy. The Internet for the most part is stable albeit  slow.  This has been so far my favorite spot.

 

 

It’s pretty much the back corner Café Promenade.  I also noted that the Internet in this location seems to be fairly decent.

 

We are still not done yet. More to come later.

[Rogueperson]

Fiona, we must have crossed posted the compass at the same time.  Great minds think alike

[Johnamac123]

4 hours ago, FionaMG said:

The clocks go back again tonight. There's a note about it in the Compass but they've got it slightly wrong. They say the official time change will occur at 2 am on November 2. I expect they'll make an announcement at some point during the day. I think when it went forward, the Captain announced it in his noon address.

Did anyone else notice Fiona and the Cruise Compass state the office time change date is November 2, but I believe the correct date is December 2? Unless we are reading this inside some kind of Vulcan time warp....

[FionaMG]

10 minutes ago, Rogueperson said:

Fiona, we must have crossed posted the compass at the same time.  Great minds think alike

Haha, yes. You take better pics of it than I do though. 

[FionaMG]

4 minutes ago, Johnamac123 said:

Did anyone else notice Fiona and the Cruise Compass state the office time change date is November 2, but I believe the correct date is December 2? Unless we are reading this inside some kind of Vulcan time warp....

Yes, they got it wrong on the Compass. The Captain said in his noon address that the time change would take place at 2 am tomorrow, which is December 2nd.

[FionaMG]

NOT the winning bingo card at the win-a-cruise bingo. 😢

[FionaMG]

Say it isn't so.

[FionaMG]

All set for the circus parade.

[FionaMG]

The circus parade was fun but very short. They roped off the promenade to keep people from wandering into the middle of it while it was happening. We were stuck standing between the rope and the wickerwork plant pot thingy just outside the Café Promenade, but at least we had a good view.

There was no parade of nations with the crew members waving the flags from their respective countries, which was disappointing. I always enjoy that.

[FionaMG]

Last MDR menu. 😢

[FionaMG]

Starters:

Table mate's double shrimp cocktail 

Other table mate's lobster caprice  (don't know where that came from; it wasn't on the menu and I wasn't paying attention when she ordered)

Fernando's green lentil, which he said was good

My roasted beet and orange salad, which was nice but would have been better if the orange had been fresh instead of canned. 

[FionaMG]

Mains:

Table mate's roasted turkey. He said it was nice but the stuffing was weird.

Other table mate's ricotta and spinach quiche which she said was really good. 

My lamb shank, which very good too, tender and plenty of flavour.

I didn't bother taking a pic of Fernando's as he had the NY strip loin which I've already posted a pic of.

[FionaMG]

And last but not least, dessert. I had the royal chocolate cake and Fernando had the royal cheesecake, both of which were very good. In fact, Fernando and one our table mates ordered the cheesecake almost every night because they liked it so much. But another of our table mates ordered the profiteroles and said the dough was really not nice.

I have to say too I found the desserts in the WJ at lunch to be consistently good, as witnessed by the fact that I invariably had two every day. 

[FionaMG]

And so it's almost over. 

Our table mates are doing self assist departure as they have early flights. They will all be home before we have even boarded our transatlantic flight back to Lisbon.

The choice of post-cruise excursions, which we usually book, was very poor; only the Everglades and the Miami hoho bus, both at prices that we felt were over the top expensive for what is included. So we have a day room booked at the Pullman Miami Airport instead.

For now, the big bags are already packed and outside the stateroom door and we are making one last contribution to the casino before calling it a night.

[Rogueperson]

I will dispense with my dinner photos as Fiona has already posted much of what i had.

 

The Lobster Capresse was a card on the corner of the menu.

 

 

I put it on top because it actually did block the corner.

 

In addition i had the goat cheese tart.  Beet Salad and lobster capressi for appetizers.  Wife got the pasta and for dessert, i got the pavlova and profiteroles.

 

 

I was surprised that this time, the waiters did not sing leaving on a jet plane.  They’ve done that for so long, i don’t remember anything else.

 

I ended up at the Farewell show.  Sad I missed this comedian’s previous shows for being drunk.  I dont last long drunk.  

 

I will probably not post final impressions until monday.  Typing on my phone sucks, and i need to gather my thoughts beforehand. Also, this site has been numbingly slow loading and reliading as time goes by.  I hope cruise critic has an improved mobile access before i cruise again.

 

But as this is a live thread, we keep going until we leave the ship, so you’ll hear how disemkarkation goes.  If its anything like embarkation, we’re kinda screwed here, but i’m glad my flight isn’t until 3pm.  We plan to make breakfast tomorrow.  MDR is open till 8.

 

until later...

 

 

 

 

[carnivaladdix120]

I have SO enjoyed both of your live reviews! So exciting! We sail on 12/30 for the NYE cruise and can't wait! This is our first ever RC cruise (have done 22 with Carnival) and seeing all the beautiful pics really made me even more excited to try a new line. Thanks so much for keeping us updated and entertained! Sorry you ended up with the stomach flu and glad it didn't last too long. 

[Rogueperson]

It is about 10:15am. Still on ship waiting.  They just made a announcement saying the customs terminal is full.  Baltimore still wins as best cruise port.  Self disembark did not finish until almost 8.