GeorgiaPeach Sails the Atlantic on Navigator

[GeorgiaPeach51]

Morning.  Beautiful day in Miami.  We just went to the breakfast provided for Navigator guests.  Held in a large “salon” on the fifth floor.  Coffee/tea station, bagel and toast station, yogurt and muesli station, and a long buffet with the usual suspects…fruit, bacon, scrambled eggs, pancakes, potatoes.  Sufficient for the task, nothing to write home about.  Met some nice people from England, Sue and John, Rod and Sally, and were thrilled to see friends from a prior cruise, Jim and Karen.  
 

It is now 9:25 and we are dilly-dallying around till time to meet in the lobby to board the bus/buses.  Last night while sitting on the little balcony we heard ship’s horns at 6 and again at 7 and saw one ship sailing out of the harbor, but our distance-challenged eyes couldn’t tell what ship it was.  We can’t see the Navigator from our room, but we are excited that she is there waiting for us.

 

Boarding the ship day = Christmas morning when we were little kids.  How blessed are we all to get to do this!

[NCCruzQueen]

1 minute ago, GeorgiaPeach51 said:

 

 

Boarding the ship day = Christmas morning when we were little kids.  How blessed are we all to get to do this!

@GeorgiaPeach51

 

We are a few miles away and are just as excited as you and Rolf.  Giddily (not sure if that’s a word) excited.  
 

We will all be boarding Navigator shortly!

[Kwaj girl]

Waiting for y'all to join us!  We promise not to drink all the champagne before you get here...🤣

[Techno123]

1 hour ago, GeorgiaPeach51 said:

It is now 9:25 and we are dilly-dallying around till time to meet in the lobby to board the bus/buses.  Last night while sitting on the little balcony we heard ship’s horns at 6 and again at 7 and saw one ship sailing out of the harbor, but our distance-challenged eyes couldn’t tell what ship it was.  We can’t see the Navigator from our room, but we are excited that she is there waiting for us.

 

We were on Navigator just before Christmas and stayed at the MO - this was the view from our balcony 😁.

 

We walked around Brickell Key in the morning and could see where she was docked from part way round the island 😁 Hope you have an amazing time.

Edited May 5, 2023 by Techno123

[1982CruzStart]

Love your reports. Have a great cruise. 

[GeorgiaPeach51]

Continuing the trend, lucky us, embarkation was simple and smooth.  Remember the Sheet they gave us yesterday with details about checking out, breakfast, etc.?  In the upper right hand corner was a blue dot. I’m not sure what other colors there were, but they called the buses by color, two of them,  I believe.  So off we went, an orderly line of little ducks, boarded the coach with I’m guessing about 50 people for about a ten minute ride to the terminal.  They had not started check in yet, but did so within about 5 minutes of our arrival.  They very appropriately called the named suites first, then Diamonds, and I’m sure they must have called some other levels, but I was talking and didn’t hear the specifics.  Check in was super quick…they took our passports, BTW.  That was a first.  Got a chance to hug Beth and Crystal, friends from a previous cruise, and it made me happy to see them.  We are all excited to be on a ship again.  It has been a minute for all of us.
 

When you get off the bus at the terminal, I suggest that you have passport and boarding pass in hand.  The person is RIGHT THERE inside the door and you don’t want to have to scramble around haphazardly as we did, getting in each others’ way, trying to find said items as people line up behind you.  We had anticipated an escalator ride or something similar to get ourselves arranged, so now, after our experience, you can be like the Boy Scouts or whoever they are that are Always Prepared.  
 

First impressions of the Navigator.  She’s charming!  Cozy and seems functionally laid out.  We had lunch in La Veranda with friends, more people we are so happy to see again, and that was a great way to start the cruise.  Someone said the little Navigator is kind of like a country club, and I would agree….except some of my favorite people are people who cruise, and I’ve met a few fearsome people at country clubs.  🤪. 
 

One thing I really like about this little ship is that when you forget something and have to go back to your cabin it’s pretty much practically right there close somewhere.  I can remember being on a big Celebrity ship and realizing I had left something in the cabin and dropping my head and thinking I would rather dig a ditch in the sun than have to trudge all the way back to that cabin in a round trip that is at least the length of seven football fields.  Whatever I forget on this one, it will be easy-peasy.

 

here are photos of our cabin, 724, before we mess it up.  No luggage yet, at 2:45.  I’m on the balcony, amusing myself by writing to you and watching boats full of young folks blasting past with music I don’t recognize blaring, excited for a day in the sun with probably a year’s worth of beer in coolers somewhere.  Whew, so glad not to be you on the way home tonight…

[cwn]

Hope you have a great cruise! We love the Navigator! Have spent 149 wonderful days on her. Also like the Mariner a lot, but the new ships not so much… they are to big.

[Techno123]

OMG we were right next door in 726 - spooky eh 😂?

[red1head]

We love Navigator. Hope you have a lovely cruise. 

[WNcruiser]

@GeorgiaPeach51 I always enjoy your well written reviews. I was on Explorer right after you last year and your review was immensely helpful.

 

I look forward to meeting Crystal and Beth on our Iceland & Norway cruise in August. I hope one day our paths cross as you are always so positive! 
Bon Voyage,

 

Steve 

Edited May 6, 2023 by WNcruiser

[GeorgiaPeach51]

@WNcruiser  thanks for the kind words.  My way to pay back for all the lovely people who share info so we all can have more fun, not miss something great, save money, whatever.  I hope we do meet someday!  That’s one of the big benefits of writing about a trip…you just automatically meet wonderful new people.

 

When we last communicated I was sitting on the balcony.  Our luggage came quickly after that and we got down to it and got it over with, successfully hiding all things of importance from ourselves in nooks and crannies.  Subsequent days are guaranteed to find me muttering to myself as I search high and low for object x only to find, aha!, objects y and a.  Guaranteed that x will not show itself until we pack to go home,

 

we went to the Seven Seas lounge for pre dinner drinks last night, and had the lovely surprise of again meeting Ray and Katrina, friends from our very first R cruise.  So, that was fun, and after getting an update on Ray’s recent adventures, we came away with renewed gratitude for health and life and the chance to travel and enjoy being on this little planet.  Gosh, what a blessing!  Grateful for reminders so we don’t take it for granted.

 

We both had the Voyager cocktail and part of a second one and they were consistently made, which was nice.  On Splendor last cruise we had some spirits adventures where ingredients were maybe a little too enthusiastically poured with the result that some would cause your eyes to pour tears and lungs to momentarily cease to operate.  Requests for a do over were always gracious and brought more consistent results.

 

We had dinner in Prime 7 with friends.  Wonderful meal.  Service was good, if a little scattered, with food being delivered to the wrong person at the table a few times but that was quickly fixed.  Everyone enjoyed their choices.  Food was really excellent.  I did not take photos because I didn’t want to be that person in front of dining companions, but I will always take photos when it is just the two of us.  I had the chowder and smoked salmon, which I had never tried due to the name.  I’m not of fan of smoked salmon, gravlax…this is not that!  The salmon arrives with a dome and when it is lifted there is a lovely smoke that wafts out from under and there is a yummy salmon of the kind you think of as a dinner entree.  My husband had the lobster, which he, picky Connecticut boy that he is, loved.  He said it was cooked perfectly, and I was so glad because he always sends tough lobster back.  Our friends had chicken and the veal chop.  The chop was perfect and very tender, so success all around.

 

I couldn’t resist the popcorn sundae and since this is our only reservation in Prime 7 this cruise, so far, I wasn’t going to let the chance pass.  More in a minute.  We are on the back of the ship in a windy area and are relocating.

Edited May 6, 2023 by GeorgiaPeach51

[GeorgiaPeach51]

After our lovely meal, we discovered it was already 10 p.m.!  We wandered into the casino and hopped around on slot machines, finding one that liked us, to our utter astonishment.  We started with $100, got as high as $330, and ran for the hills with $200.  Such a rare occurrence.  We certainly are not big gamblers or high rollers by any stretch.  We may get brave and play roulette later.  I’ll let you know.

 

We are now in Freeport and do not intend to get off the ship.  We have been here many times and are really enthused about a day of doing a whole lotta nuthin.  We did pick up the Mensa quiz this morning and plan to play trivia and that will be about as much energy expenditure as we will do.

 

I will take photos of the little Navigator spaces today.  Because she is little, with lots of people on board it is harder to get photos without getting people, too.  She definitely does not seem crowded, I just try not to include people without their permission.

 

Breakfast, BTW, was nice, in The Veranda.  Love the tablecloths.  It was not crowded when we got there around 9.  I had my first cronut of the cruise, but it was the only one I saw in both the Veranda and the coffee bar, so that is worrisome.  I will be sorely disappointed if cronuts are not readily available every morning.  I am also a fan of sticky buns, but the ones they had looked dry and crunchy, therefore masquerading as sticky buns but impostors thru and thru.

 

Here’s breakfast and the area at the back of the ship and Freeport.  Uploading is fairly slow even though we are in port.  

[mrlevin]

That area behind Galileo's is a gem; we spent lots of time out there in both good and bad weather.  

[GeorgiaPeach51]

Forgot to congratulate our British friends on the coronation of their new king!  We lived in England during the Cold War, 1981-1984, when my husband flew A-10’s and was stationed at RAF Bentwaters.  I remember that all the wives in the squadron got together to watch Charles and Diana marry…it was a big day!  Fond memories of England.

[1982CruzStart]

Thanks GeorgiaPeach51. love your reports.

If you don't already do so use an app to re-size your photos to a smaller size and then they load much faster. Flossie009 kindly gave me this tip on the one cruise we were on at the same time and it has been a blessing. Even when posting in Antartica the pictures posted fairly quickly. The app is called Image size and i downloaded it when i was onboard Explorer so it must have been pretty small.  It is easy to use cuz even i can use it even after long periods ot time between cruises. 

Continue having a wonderful cruise. 

[GeorgiaPeach51]

We departed Freeport and she is swaying along slowly.  We stuck doggedly to our agenda today, which was blank save our 4:30 appointment to play trivia.  Lots of reading, a little dozing,   We had lunch at the pool bar, which was nice, with a sweet breeze.  We both had salad, with a few fries snuck onto the plate, and split a Cuban sandwich.  I had a margarita which was a little bland, but ok.

 

We only got 10 right out of 15 at trivia, so not our best showing. Elton John is older than King Charles and Hilary Clinton.  Who knew?  

 

We are sitting in the Galileo bar having a pre-show drink.  It will be our first Ray Solare show, so we are looking forward to seeing him.  So, the show at 6, then our first dinner in Compass Rose.  Tomorrow we have an early tour to Cape Canaveral, so it will be an earlier night for sure.

 

I keep being startled by how few people played trivia, and how few attend tea, etc., because I’m not used to the much smaller passenger count.    I am enjoying the little shimmy in the back of the ship, and the very slight tinkle of the bottles behind the bar rubbing shoulders.  Something about it is charming to me.  I might feel differently if our suite was low and in the back and I was trying to put contacts in or something.  Or sleep.  I’ll let you know more about the shimmy as we progress.  It’s definitely there, but I don’t know....I just like that she’s not a cookie cutter ship.  So far.

Edited May 6, 2023 by GeorgiaPeach51

[labonnevie]

7 hours ago, 1982CruzStart said:

 The app is called Image size and i downloaded it when i was onboard Explorer so it must have been pretty small.  It is easy to use cuz even i can use it even after long periods ot time between cruises. 

Second this. Used Image Size daily on our recent Explorer cruise (the internet was terrific most of the time) to text a couple of photos to family. It’ll take a 1.8mb picture down to 350kb. 

[rcandkc]

18 minutes ago, labonnevie said:

Second this. Used Image Size daily on our recent Explorer cruise (the internet was terrific most of the time) to text a couple of photos to family. It’ll take a 1.8mb picture down to 350kb. 

I downloaded it after reading these post but it’s not obvious to me how to use.  I’m not the most computer savvy. 

[Gilly]

I use the free Snapchat app to edit my photos when travelling - might be an alternative to have up your sleeve.

And @GeorgiaPeach51 I think of Navigator as "classic cruising" and especially love the proximity of everything.  I also believe the Navigator theatre is the best in the fleet!

[GeorgiaPeach51]

Below are photos of Galileo’s Bar and our Voyagers.  These drinks were perfect.  An earlier try in the theater during trivia was way too sweet…..so there is variation with how drinks are made on this ship.  We were hoping to find the consistency we found on the Explorer, but not so much, so far.

 

We loved Ray’s show!  Wonderful voice, entertaining and funny.  Thoroughly recommend. I know many of you have seen him a kajillion times, but we were charmed.

Dinner in Compass Rose.  Whew.  Long, drawn out affair.  Not sure why.  The room was busy for sure.  Not sure if the logjam was due to the kitchen or the staff, who were evidently working as hard as they could.  So this is a stating of facts, rather than a complaint.  It’s not like we had anywhere we needed to be, so we just waited it out, which was not hard since I love the company I am with.  Start to finish was just short of 2.5 hours.  We arrived at 6:35 and left a little before 9.  When people are clearly doing their best, it doesn’t help to fuss at them.  Our waiter apologized multiple times for the long waits, so it was what it was.  I had yummy risotto as an appetizer….they do risottos so well, no matter what kind it is.  Rolf had his previously tried and true lobster bisque with a lobster tail cut up and added.  There was a communication gap and the bisque arrived sans tail and a wait ensued as our flustered waiter tried to put the two pieces together.  All ended well and he was a happy camper. 
 

BTW, if I suddenly stop this it is because we have been summoned to exit for our Port Canaveral tour…

 

Back to bisque….when we left CR we had the pleasure of meeting Steve Q and Denise, and due my earlier trip report that mentioned the bisque/lobster tail combo, she ordered the exact same thing last night, end enjoyed it.  Both mentioned that it is filling, so be warned.  
 

It took almost 30 minutes to be approached for food orders, but the wine service was excellent.  I had Dover Sole, baked potato and spinach.  It was good enough but had obviously suffered from heat lamp storage.  Rolf tried the redfish entree, which he didn’t love.  He said it was different than the description.  All in all, I’d give it a C- meal.  Dessert was chocolate mousse and a vanilla cream something with a squishy berry filling.  Tasted good, but if squishy is not a texture you enjoy, I’d give that one a pass!

 

 

 

 

Edited May 7, 2023 by GeorgiaPeach51

[1982CruzStart]

16 hours ago, rcandkc said:

I downloaded it after reading these post but it’s not obvious to me how to use.  I’m not the most computer savvy. 

I consider myself computer illerate or barely literate so i feel your pain. If you open the app, at the top left hand corner is an image of what looks like 2 pictures on top of each other, click on it and it takes you to where you store your photos or you might have to browse to find where they are (it has been years since i first used it and it goes right to my photos).  click on the photo you wish to post and it should appear in the app. From there you can manipulate it to the size you want and the amount of the photo you want to post. I sometimes just want a small portion of the photo so you can crop the photo to suit you.  save it and it is then available to download onto cruise crtiic or wherever esle you want it. 

Not a detailed set of instructions but hope it helps to get you started. Once you get the hang of it, you will find it easy to use, i think. 

[ON cruiser]

Our gracious thread-starter GP reminded me, when we met returning from the Kennedy Space Centre tour, that anyone is welcome to post their views. So I will jump in.

 

Embarkation for my wife and I was generally easy; a short wait for a table at La Veranda by the time we arrived; yet food very good and service warm, welcoming, and efficient.
 

Lesson learned by us: arrive for check in after 1pm. Nobody behind us in check in line at 12:45 and by 10 minutes after we were seated for lunch, tables started opening up. 
 

On Saturday, I went on the Grand Lucayan resort and beach day tour. Nothing currently grand about that hotel; rather, only faded grandeur. Yet beach was lovely and clear. Had a lounger in shade, after 2 hours in and out of ocean, up for lunch. Ordered a hot-dog. Got it yet, when I put my plate down, a bird swooped in and made off with the hot-dog—lady behind me saw it happen. We had a good laugh and hotel staff replaced it—I guarded the replacement very carefully!  My wife had stayed on board and enjoyed the ship on Saturday. While I liked the beach, in hindsight I might also have stayed on.

 

Returned to ship; much enjoyed the pre-dinner show by Ray, a very talented man! 

As to dinners in Compass Rose, we are later diners (8, 8:15, even 8:30) so we’ve not yet had the problems which GP described. But, another lady at the resort yesterday described similar problems re long waits to order and get the food. She (this other lady) also dined about 6:30.
 

When in the bar for pre-dinner cocktails, we’ve taken to asking the bartender to call CR, to see how much longer we should wait. Last night we were told that people were still waiting to get a table as of 8:10, but a few minutes later the Maître’d called back to say they had a 4-top ( we’re cruising with another couple). Alas, we miss the show by dining late but “ya can’t have it all”. Food for us has been very, very, good, with lovely service.

 

Today (Sunday, May 7) we did the Kennedy space centre tour. Great day but lots of walking.  Others can describe it,  but we enjoyed it a lot. Back before 3pm, and the ship happily kept La Veranda open until about 3:10, which helped many—people poured into the buffet, many hungry and tired from a very  informative and intensive tour.

[broccoli robin]

I am very encourage by your reviews!

 

Thank you!

[RachelG]

Love the bird stealing the hotdogs story.  I think that there are some birds that do this for a living.  We were in St Thomas, sitting outside eating breakfast years ago, and a bird swooped down and stole an entire croissant from my son’s hand.  He was just under two at the time, and had such a wounded look on his face.  He said “bad bird”

[mj_holiday]

GP51 thank you for taking us along.  I am a Navigator fan.  From your picture of the closest it looks like they have upgraded the drawers (again).  We were on just after a drydock where they removed some drawers in the sitting area and added a narrow set of drawers in the closet.  Looks like it is now 3 long drawers which looks alot better.