Navigator New Years Cruise

[taglovestocruise]

Anybody onboard, how is the NYE celebrations going.  Is it crowded.

[taglovestocruise]

waiting to hear back from anyone on Navigator..

[EuroDate20]

DH and I are on the ship.  There's only about 1600 passengers on board.   Not crowded at all.   Elevators are not crowded.   Mood is subdued though, not as festive as during normal cruising.   Staff has been fantastic.  Cleaning and health protocols are being followed.   

[taglovestocruise]

1 hour ago, EuroDate20 said:

DH and I are on the ship.  There's only about 1600 passengers on board.   Not crowded at all.   Elevators are not crowded.   Mood is subdued though, not as festive as during normal cruising.   Staff has been fantastic.  Cleaning and health protocols are being followed.   

Looks like a very low passenger count for a NYE cruise.  Is WJ open for dinner.  We are sailing Jan 10th and are hoping some shows will be open.  Have to get our test done next Saturday, just found out 4 people from three family's  who were at our house for Christmas dinner now have Covid.   

[EuroDate20]

The Windjammer is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.   Saw a comedian last night at the Theater and there's a magician tonight.   I can give you further updates as the week progresses.

[taglovestocruise]

8 minutes ago, EuroDate20 said:

The Windjammer is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.   Saw a comedian last night at the Theater and there's a magician tonight.   I can give you further updates as the week progresses.

Great, Happy sailing

[imola]

18 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

Looks like a very low passenger count for a NYE cruise.  Is WJ open for dinner.  We are sailing Jan 10th and are hoping some shows will be open.  Have to get our test done next Saturday, just found out 4 people from three family's  who were at our house for Christmas dinner now have Covid.   

Sorry to hear about your contact with now Covid positive folks. Question... are the shows on this ship not open and available to go to?

[taglovestocruise]

1 hour ago, imola said:

Sorry to hear about your contact with now Covid positive folks. Question... are the shows on this ship not open and available to go to?

Heard the shows were open, late night comedy packed. WJ open for breakfast lunch and dinner.  All the covid positive folks from our Christmas dinner are asymptomatic, only found out by a random test as a joke.  No worries, no quarantine , no big deal..... as long as we pass the test next Saturday.  Covid probably came from our son who is a CBP agent in Arizona and under orders to not take a test..  

[Lorey2007]

What shows do you need to make a reservation for?

[Oxo]

26 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

Covid probably came from our son who is a CBP agent in Arizona and under orders to not take a test..  

Not to take a test???

[Biker19]

6 minutes ago, Lorey2007 said:

What shows do you need to make a reservation for?

Look at the RCI app for the current sailing- it should list the shows which need a reservation. 

Edited January 1, 2022 by Biker19

[Ramona760]

Taglovestocruise.. We are going on Jan 13th. Important question.. is the Adventure Oceans kids facility open? I'm glad to see there seems to be no cancelations of activities yet.. Please keep us posted! Thanks!

 

 

Edited January 1, 2022 by Ramona760

[taglovestocruise]

22 minutes ago, Oxo said:

Not to take a test???

Twice over the last 6 months.  Not official but from a official. 

[Oxo]

7 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

Twice over the last 6 months.  Not official but from a official. 

Very scary! Hope you all well and enjoy your cruise

 

[EuroDate20]

1 hour ago, Lorey2007 said:

What shows do you need to make a reservation for?

Just the ice show.  You can make those reservations on the app when you're on board.  It's not available for reservations beforehand.   Alot of your planning will be on the app, the printed Cruise Compass are not available.  

[bonsai3s]

21 hours ago, taglovestocruise said:

Anybody onboard, how is the NYE celebrations going.  Is it crowded.

Just now read your thread. We are onboard the Navigator.  Here's what I posted earlier.

 

Additional information regarding the Windjammer. (For most, this may be old news)

 

For the 7- night sailings, Navigator, there will be theme nights for dinner, per the Maitre D'...American, Italian, Creole, Silk (Indian), Chinese, and other European dishes.

 

* New Year's Eve...no balloon drop in the promenade. 3 simultaneous parties held in the Star Lounge  pool deck, and Studio B (Large and lively crowd  with free champagne...oh! and holiday hats, tiaras, beads/necklaces/leis)

 

* Initial expected number of passengers for this NYE sailing was 3,200...per guest servicez, due to last minute cancellations, it is now approximately 1,800 passrmgers.

 

[EuroDate20]

Adventure Ocean for kids is open.  Another passenger had a cellphone type device that she showed to me.  The device allows the staff to contact and text parents on such things as, "Is it okay if your child has a graham cracker?", etc.  She was very pleased with the program.

 

So far, it's been a great cruise!  The staff and service is wonderful.   They're cleaning constantly.   The ports are not crowded as in normal times.   Yesterday in Cabo, the Ruby Princess was also docked.  They must've had a light passenger count as well because not all the available tenders were used.  Weather has been perfect with mild warm days.  Puerto Vallarta is tomorrow. 

[bonsai3s]

Today was Mazatlan...beautiful and sunny...high 70's.

 

For those who love to walk. Here's what we did today.

 

Shuttle was provided from shipside to the cruise terminal.  We walked through the terminal/shops...then politely said "No gracias" to all those offering taxi service.

 

Immediately outside the wall/gate (more offering excursions), we crossed the street (use crosswalk on the left) and followed the "blue line" (actually 6 blue strips forming a clearly visible lines imbedded on the sidewalk) that takes you to the historical center of town.

 

At the end of the blue line is the corner of Carnivale and Calle Aleman. You have a couple of options when you get this traffic light.

 

1. Continue up Carnivale, for 6 blocks (4 long blocks, 2 short blocks), see the Fine Arts building, a small park, then right on Angel Flores...2 blocks and you'll see the Basilica of  the Immaculate Conception. You are now in Old Mazatlan. Approximate walking (leisurely) time from the cruise gate to the church...30 minutes.

 

Or option 2, if you LOVE to walk.  At the end of the blue line, turn left on Calle Aleman, walk for 10 minutes and keep right...keep going and you'll be rewarded with the stunning views of the beach/coast. There's a wide walkpath/promenade and we continued walking to the right...at the Mermaid statue, look down below the wall and you'll see a large public swimming pool built into the rocks...keep walking and you'll see the Cliff Divers. We turned around from here.

 

Back at the Mermaid statue, just past it is Angel Flores (street, look for the white arches) go left, you'll see colorfully painted buildings and homes...walk past Carnivale (you'll need to get back to Carnivale for the "blue line" and back to the ship)...and you'll see the church and Old Mazatlan.

 

* There are police officers, and volunteer expats (wearing blue shirts...helping walkers and not trying to sell anything) along the way.

[bonsai3s]

After a 3.5 hour delay, Captain James just announced:

 

* Navigator crew, .47%, less than half a percent, tested positive.

* Crew who tested positive were moved to quarantine quarters.

* Puerto Vallarta authorities have denied passengers from disembaking today.

* Capt. James apologized and said that the safety of passengers is his no. 1 priority...today will be another sea day...a letter, with additional details, will be sent to our cabins.

[JT1962]

9 minutes ago, bonsai3s said:

After a 3.5 hour delay, Captain James just announced:

 

* Navigator crew, .47%, less than half a percent, tested positive.

* Crew who tested positive were moved to quarantine quarters.

* Puerto Vallarta authorities have denied passengers from disembaking today.

* Capt. James apologized and said that the safety of passengers is his no. 1 priority...today will be another sea day...a letter, with additional details, will be sent to our cabins.

Sorry to hear that. It seems the local authorities are not abiding by the Federal Government’s decision to allow ships to dock, even with positive cases aboard.

[Hlitner]

On our Condo balcony at PV watching the ship leaving at noon.  The issue with the Mexican Federal Government saying (last week) that ships could call at Mexican ports is interesting and we posted, at that time, that we are talking about Mexico where things are not always as it seems.  The Federal government does control all the ports but outside the ports it is more likely the State Governor (in this case it is the State of Jalisco) that has much of the control.  So we are not surprised that ships with active COVID problems are being denied permission to bring their passengers ashore.  Since the cruise lines are not very transparent we may not ever know all the facts but one can speculate that at the very least the local authorities would want each passenger tested before they can come ashore.  I am assuming the RCI is not about to test each passenger every day (Viking cruise lines apparently does this on their ships).

 

One very interesting tidbit is that those of us who live and vacation in Mexico do not need any COVID test to fly into Mexico.  Folks are supposed to fill out a health questionaire upon entry but when we arrived here last Saturday nobody ever asked for any health info and there were no longer any temperature checks.  

 

Hank

[HBCcruiser]

12 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

One very interesting tidbit is that those of us who live and vacation in Mexico do not need any COVID test to fly into Mexico.  Folks are supposed to fill out a health questionaire upon entry but when we arrived here last Saturday nobody ever asked for any health info and there were no longer any temperature checks.  

True! 👆 We just flew back from Cabo. I am surprised the cruiselines are not suggesting that passengers pack Telehealth COVID Tests. Test in your stateroom - results in 20 min. - free to go ashore. 

[Seville2Cabo]

3 hours ago, JT1962 said:

Sorry to hear that. It seems the local authorities are not abiding by the Federal Government’s decision to allow ships to dock, even with positive cases aboard.

There was a Princess ship in Cabo yesterday flying the red flag and they were allowed to disembark.  Some locals not too happy.  

[mil76]

Onboard Navigator this week as well.  This cruise has been great.  No crowds anywhere, and we know first hand how bad NYE cruises normally are.

 

I can't give the crew enough praise.  Always upbeat and willing to do anything to make our experience wonderful, even though I know these small crowds hit their bottom line as well as RCL.

 

We have gone hours having the Flowrider to ourselves for stand up, as there are only 6 people on-board who qualify as "advanced" to do any stand-up sessions (and 3 of them are me and my 2 sons).   And to top things off, the Flow Widow won over $1000 on the slots while we were riding!  They are really strict about only allowing advanced riders to do stand up, to the point of two people having to take a lesson to get to the level of being able to do the stand up sessions.  There have been people coming and doing the boogie board test, wiping out as they try to start themselves, and then being told they can't do it.  Will be interesting to see how this one plays out, as people are not happy about being turned away.  No seam issues like other ships, but the jets are getting long in the tooth so it is hard to ride the very top of the wave.  Took me about a day to get used to it.  We're a long way from the Galveston Navigator cruises where the flow would slam little kids into the back wall.

 

We have unlimited dining, which has given us reason to discover Playmakers.  It has become our go-to venue for lunch, and the chocolate chip cookie concoction is now on our Mt Rushmore of RCL desserts. 

 

No big deal for for us missing PV today, they are giving us credit of one day's worth of our overall fare.  Had wonderful days in Cabo and Mazatlan, as we came in expecting the worst where we would be denied entry everywhere, so two out of three aint bad.  

[bonsai3s]

43 minutes ago, mil76 said:

Onboard Navigator this week as well.  This cruise has been great.  No crowds anywhere, and we know first hand how bad NYE cruises normally are.

 

I can't give the crew enough praise.  Always upbeat and willing to do anything to make our experience wonderful, even though I know these small crowds hit their bottom line as well as RCL.

 

We have gone hours having the Flowrider to ourselves for stand up, as there are only 6 people on-board who qualify as "advanced" to do any stand-up sessions (and 3 of them are me and my 2 sons).   And to top things off, the Flow Widow won over $1000 on the slots while we were riding!  They are really strict about only allowing advanced riders to do stand up, to the point of two people having to take a lesson to get to the level of being able to do the stand up sessions.  There have been people coming and doing the boogie board test, wiping out as they try to start themselves, and then being told they can't do it.  Will be interesting to see how this one plays out, as people are not happy about being turned away.  No seam issues like other ships, but the jets are getting long in the tooth so it is hard to ride the very top of the wave.  Took me about a day to get used to it.  We're a long way from the Galveston Navigator cruises where the flow would slam little kids into the back wall.

 

We have unlimited dining, which has given us reason to discover Playmakers.  It has become our go-to venue for lunch, and the chocolate chip cookie concoction is now on our Mt Rushmore of RCL desserts. 

 

No big deal for for us missing PV today, they are giving us credit of one day's worth of our overall fare.  Had wonderful days in Cabo and Mazatlan, as we came in expecting the worst where we would be denied entry everywhere, so two out of three aint bad.  

mil76...did you watch the "Love and Marriage" show last night?

The flowrider was mentioned...wink, wink...I can't repeat it here.