Live: April 4th-8th 2022 on Navigator OTS: Spring Break 4 Night Catalina Island, Ensenada Mexico Cruise Out of Los Angeles CA

[binro01]

Good morning folks, I'm currently preparing for our Navigator of the Seas cruise leaving Los Angeles on April 4th 2022 and decided to do another Live thread! This should be an interesting one because I'm going to assume the ship will be pretty packed since this is in the middle of Spring Break for schools. My wife and I will be cruising with our twin High School seniors as well as my wife's aunt (this will be her first cruise), so I look forward to reporting what a 70+ year old's first time experience will be (She is very excited!)

This will be our 3rd cruise since the restart of cruising and our second one on Royal during that time. We just got off the Allure at the beginning of this month and are looking forward to see how one of Royal's smaller ships compare to the Oasis class Allure.

 

The UDP has been purchased on this cruise so expect to see some good food porn pics, but please be advised, since I have not heard great things about the Navigator's Internet access, I decided not to purchase the internet plan, but since it's only a 4 night cruise with 4 of the 5 days where I will have 5G cell reception and free data, I figured we can get by with a small dark period on our sea day on Tuesday. I will be sure to capture all the things and get right back to you once we are in Catalina Island the following day. (Maybe I just might purchase internet for just that one day...)
 
I also decided to do something new for this live thread that I thought would be interesting as well as the normal posting. I will be making a bunch of YouTube Shorts of this trip on my new YouTube Channel, so if you want to see some pretty cool short videos when they are posted. (less than 1 min teasers and fun stuff) feel free to subscribe to my channel. I will also post a link to the shorts here as well.

If you want to request a YouTube Short feel free to do so here! I will do my best to make one for you when I'm on the ship and give you a shout out. Any YT Short request made before we depart has a much better shot of getting my attention and on my to do list. 😛 

So without further adieu, here is an Itinerary Hype video of the coming Live Cruise to get everyone all excited about your virtual and my RL Spring Break vacation! Let's get this party started.
 

 

Edited March 28, 2022 by binro01

[binro01]

Flash update. We just won an upgrade to a Junior suite for our second room. Now we have 2 Junior Suites. And get this! This has to be the luckiest RoyalUp ever. The 2 junior suites are next to each other! What crazy luck! And we will also open up the balcony divider to get that extra big double JS balcony!

[binro01]

Just made my packing list for the cruise. This is a 4 night cruise so I will be packing light and all should fit in my carry on bag. We do have the 50 print or digital copy photo package, so the wife would like if I bring some nicer clothing to wear at night before I make a mess of myself when I eat.

We are also in a Junior Suite so there will be no need to bring shampoo, conditioner or moisturizer because of the upgraded bathroom amenities. I believe this should all fit with no problem. Did I miss anything? Should I cull anything off the list?

We are excited to head out soon, but before that we will be heading to Texas today for my wife's father's funeral. She has been in Texas for a bit now, and me and the boys are heading there today. We will be flying back home on Saturday, and then get ready for our cruise on Monday.

He was retired Navy, 20 years of service, so we are planning on doing a small memorial for him on our sea day. Nothing committed to the sea. Just some quiet time and stories about him as we watch the waves move by.
 

Clothing
Underwear	4
Socks	4
T-Shirts	2
Polos	3
Button Down	1
Shorts	3
Slacks	2
Swim Trunks	2
Swim Shirts	1
Light Jacket	1
Sandals	1
Swim Shoes	1
Belt	1

 

Toiletries

Toothpaste

Mouthwash

Deodorant

Cologne

Sun Screen

Electric Razer

 

 

Edited March 30, 2022 by binro01

[vacationlover_mn]

Sorry to hear about your father in law 😞

[binro01]

We have 5 negative COVID tests and finishing up our packing. We will be heading out to the airport very early tomorrow morning to hop a quick flight from Salt Lake City to LA on United Airlines, where we should arrive in LAX at around 9AM pacific time, then its off to the Port via an Uber.

 

We have an 11AM check in time, but we are in 2 Junior Suites, so we should be able to board close to when we arrive at the port.

 

We are so excited to give Navigator a whirl. There will be lots of posts, pictures, food porn (yes we have the UDP again!) and a bunch of short format videos @Sea Dog I hope I will do you proud with those.. Without my editing software, its going to be a bit of a learning curve with this new YouTube Short format videos, but I think it will be interesting for everyone to get short blurbs from the different restaurants, and activities going on. 

Talk to you all tomorrow when we are traveling!

Edited April 4, 2022 by binro01

[wherescynbeen]

Yay! We're taking this same cruise the first week of June. We've done this itinerary 4 times w/ Princess and Carnival but have never sailed with Royal Caribbean before at all so are excited to follow along with you this week! Have a blast!

Edited April 4, 2022 by wherescynbeen

[Coralc]

On 3/30/2022 at 9:39 AM, binro01 said:

Just made my packing list for the cruise. This is a 4 night cruise so I will be packing light and all should fit in my carry on bag. We do have the 50 print or digital copy photo package, so the wife would like if I bring some nicer clothing to wear at night before I make a mess of myself when I eat.

We are also in a Junior Suite so there will be no need to bring shampoo, conditioner or moisturizer because of the upgraded bathroom amenities. I believe this should all fit with no problem. Did I miss anything? Should I cull anything off the list?

We are excited to head out soon, but before that we will be heading to Texas today for my wife's father's funeral. She has been in Texas for a bit now, and me and the boys are heading there today. We will be flying back home on Saturday, and then get ready for our cruise on Monday.

He was retired Navy, 20 years of service, so we are planning on doing a small memorial for him on our sea day. Nothing committed to the sea. Just some quiet time and stories about him as we watch the waves move by.
 

Clothing
Underwear	4
Socks	4
T-Shirts	2
Polos	3
Button Down	1
Shorts	3
Slacks	2
Swim Trunks	2
Swim Shirts	1
Light Jacket	1
Sandals	1
Swim Shoes	1
Belt	1

 

Toiletries

Toothpaste

Mouthwash

Deodorant

Cologne

Sun Screen

Electric Razer

 

 

Add Sweatshirt or other warm top/coat. 

[Havin'fun]

Sorry about your father-in-law,

Looking forward to following along - safe travels!

[binro01]

At the airport. About to board on time. 
 

[binro01]

Doors closed! Looks like an early departure! And a free unexpected upgrade to first class. And I don’t even fly United much at all. 

[binro01]

8 hours ago, Coralc said:

Add Sweatshirt or other warm top/coat. 

Have a nice top coat with me.

[binro01]

Embarkation day lunch at Jamie’s.

[binro01]

 

Our Junior Suite balcony
https://youtube.com/shorts/u2z45xV_JYM?feature=share

[easyqueasy]

1 hour ago, binro01 said:

 

Our Junior Suite balcony
https://youtube.com/shorts/u2z45xV_JYM?feature=share

What room number is that? We were in a junior suite and it just had two chairs, no lounger. You can post after the trip so no one bothers you. Thanks!

[taglovestocruise]

17 hours ago, Coralc said:

Add Sweatshirt or other warm top/coat. 

We are getting hit with a hot streak this week in SoCal . Los Angeles and Ensenada 90+ by Thursday.  Even Catalina with is cool ocean breeze will hit mid 80'S. 

[britty1]

Thanks for the info

[bonsai3s]

On 4/4/2022 at 4:38 PM, easyqueasy said:

What room number is that? We were in a junior suite and it just had two chairs, no lounger. You can post after the trip so no one bothers you. Thanks!

JS with 2 chairs are usually connecting cabins...so the connecting door won't be blocked.

[binro01]

On 4/4/2022 at 4:38 PM, easyqueasy said:

What room number is that? We were in a junior suite and it just had two chairs, no lounger. You can post after the trip so no one bothers you. Thanks!

We have one lounger and 2 chairs that recline nicely and a table. Since we have 2 side by side Junior suites we have the barrier between us open. Giving us 2 lounge chairs and 4 recliner seats with 2 tables. 

[binro01]

A short video of hooked

 

[binro01]

iSkate 2.0 on Navigator 

 

[binro01]

DivaOfTheSeas was our headliner. Preforming a tribute to Whitney Houston

 

[binro01]

Yesterday morning at Catalina Island. Beautiful sunny 80 degree day!

 

[Sadebud]

Thanks for the videos!

[claireruth]

Thanks for sharing all of this!  My husband and I just booked the three day to Ensenada after we'll be in SoCal for a conference at the end of June.  It's our first Royal Caribbean cruise, and we're really looking forward to it!

[rockmom]

Thanks @binro01 for sharing all of these.  Can you confirm that the pool heat is still 'broken'?  It's been the case for at least 2 months now and I was hoping maybe they finally were able to get at least one pool working (other than the kiddie splash pad).  West coast waters are cold, especially in winter/early spring.  No one could get in the pool on my sailing in February, the water was like ice and guests were not happy. A few brave souls would try and get in, but would be right back out in a matter of minutes since it was like a Polar Plunge, lol. 

Edited April 8, 2022 by rockmom