A Northern Summer(?) on Navigator

[flossie009]

Today was a sea day but unfortunately it was not pool deck weather ☔

 

The scheduled Country Fair was moved inside; spread around decks 6 & 7

 

The restaurant team were a lively crew

 

Destinations set some devilishly hard questions

 

The bar staff set numerous challenges from downing a shot to kissing a fish

 

Housekeeping were very popular ……. and joyously noisy

 

Dru tried to keep order

 

The raffle draw at the end had a good selection of prizes but sadly our tickets were not winners ☹️

 

 

A great time was had by all 😃

 

[Jlhalldc]

1 hour ago, flossie009 said:

Well, we made it out of Leith dock, in very calm weather

 

 

 

 

 

Plenty of room each side in the lock 🤔

“Nae bother, pal” or as our Captain might say “kanéna próvlima fíle mou”

 

The Haggis made it on board yesterday so David tried it last night in Compass Rose with the traditional accompaniments of neeps & tatties.

We both had delicious Scottish mussels to start.

A very enjoyable meal, sharing with @Jlhalldc

 

 

We are now on our way to Hamburg, arriving tomorrow August 25th and staying overnight.

 

Enjoyed your good company and my first taste of Haggis, which was surprisingly good. A challenge, I’ll bet, for the Regent chefs. Thanks for all you do for the CC community @flossie009 

[2012_Alaska_bound]

@flossie009 hope to be on a cruise with you someday.  Agree dinner with @Jlhalldcis fun!

[crusin7]

Good morning Hamburg!

 

[liptastic]

Thanks to you all for the great photos and daily updates.  This itinerary appeals to us for the future, especially on the Navigator 😊. Thanks, Jean. 

[flossie009]

For fans of the “Blackpool Boy”, we can report that Ray Solaire is back on board Navigator and will take over as CD from Dru Pavlov at the end of this cruise (Amsterdam on August 28th)

 

[crusin7]

We had an afternoon tour of Hamburg by land and sea.  It was a warm humid day with occasional showers.  We were shown Hamburgs highlights-even the Red Light area,  the city is quite large.  It is Europes third busiest harbor.  There are 3 cruise terminals in Hamburg.  We were in Altona, a bit far from city center.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 26, 2023 by crusin7
Pictures

[crusin7]

We took a boat ride on Lake Alster.  A man made lake formed by damming the River Alster.

 

 

Gorgeous lake estates

 

 

[marne-c]

1 hour ago, crusin7 said:

We had an afternoon tour of Hamburg by land and sea.  I

(snip)

@crusin7:  Did that tour require a lot of walking?  Debbie hurt her toe and is dragging.

 

—Marne 

[Gilly]

3 hours ago, crusin7 said:

We took a boat ride on Lake Alster

That's a lovely - surprising - part of the city.  Nice choice!

[crusin7]

Hi Marne. No the walking was minimal. Sorry I didn’t see this earlier. We were walking our butts off on our tour of Lubeck. 9,000 steps!  Beautiful city. 


 

Marzipan Cake. The city specialty 

[Mudhen]

Mmmmmm!

[crusin7]

More delights! 
 

 

 

 

Edited August 26, 2023 by crusin7
Photo duplicate

[marne-c]

12 hours ago, crusin7 said:

9,000 steps in Lubbock! 

 

 

Yeah, we did that too.  Debbie was really hobbling.  But we DID get marzipan for the folks at home.

 

 

--Marne

[flossie009]

Just catching up on our last few days on Navigator.

 

The first day in Hamburg we were on the same tour as @crusin7. Very picturesque but we didn’t find the guide to be overly informative.

 

Some photos inside the impressive St Michael’s church:

 

 

 

We also stopped near the City Hall; another impressive building, inside and out:

 

 

 

In the evening there was an extensive Deck BBQ and fortunately the weather stayed mainly dry for the event. 
The restaurant team had all options covered by setting up both outside on deck and also in La Veranda.

F&B brought various German foods & drink on board. David sampled the German sausage accompanied by a beer called “Hamburg Hell” 😱  He said it was heavenly 😋

 

The band and singers were originally scheduled to perform on deck but, because of the uncertain weather, that portion of the deck party was moved down to the Seven Seas Lounge.

 

 

[flossie009]

For our second day in Hamburg we chose an excursion to Neuengamme concentration camp. This was just one of an extensive network of forced-labour camps in use before & during WW2.

 

The site is now a memorial to all those thousands who perished under a cruel and inhumane regime.

It was a very poignant visit under leaden skies. We were fortunate to have a very knowledgable guide who gave us a very clear history of those dreadful times, but also afforded us plenty of free time to explore the artefacts and survivor testimonials at our own pace.

 

The Camp today - a memorial centre. Only the brick buildings remain, containing exhibitions & survivor biographies. The wooden huts were destroyed after the war.

 

A model of the camp as it was immediately after WW2

 

Contemporary records

 

Scrolls inside the memorial building which record the thousands who died in the camp

 

 

 

 

 

[flossie009]

It was sunny for our departure from Hamburg yesterday afternoon, and there were some very nice properties and beaches to be seen as we sailed along the Elbe

 

 

 

Krew Kapers last night had some great talent performing. Always a well attended and much appreciated performance towards the end of the cruise

 

 

.

 

 

 

[flossie009]

This morning we sailed into Amsterdam, arriving around midday.

It was an afternoon of sunshine and heavy showers for the last day of our cruise.

Bags are packed and out in the corridor.
The ship stays overnight in Amsterdam and we will be leaving in the morning for our short flight back to London.

It has been an excellent cruise and we are sad to be leaving the friendly Navigator.

We met some familiar faces, crew & guests, and made new friends as well 🙂

 

Till the next time …………

 

[labonnevie]

Flossie, thanks for all your posts. 
Any comments on the ship’s condition, carpets, upholstery, wood, etc.?

Thanks again. 

[crusin7]

Good Morning Amsterdam!

 

[flossie009]

7 hours ago, labonnevie said:

Any comments on the ship’s condition, carpets, upholstery, wood, etc.?

 

Everything was in good order.

As I reported in post #47, Navigator will be in dock from September 09 to 21 (after her next cruise ending in Barcelona)

We understand that some carpets are being replaced and the teak planking on the Pool Deck will be refreshed.

Our suite (deck 6) was very comfortable & well maintained. The bathroom is dated but that would be a major piece of work to replace all the suite bathrooms on the ship.

[flossie009]

We are now at Schiphol airport awaiting our flight to Heathrow.

The amount of walking we have done since check-in to reach the departure gate, we must be halfway there already 🤨

 

[Jlhalldc]

For a ship about to go into dry dock, Navigator is in very good shape. The crew keeps the interior well maintained, no scuff marks, peeling wallpaper, etc. We enjoyed our trip—excellent food and an awesome crew. And glad we got to meet Flossie & Co. in person! 

[Pies4u]

Schipol is, probably, the worst major airport in Europe! It certainly provided us with the worst post cruise experience last year. Shocking signage, awful customer service from check in and other staff plus you walk miles, go up and/or down stairs or escalators, if they are working! Only a helpful cleaner actually provided clear advice on where to go.

 

The whole place was shambolic, ridiculously over crowded and we vowed never to return from there again. I know it is due for extensive improvements, they may have commenced already, but it was simply dreadful.

 

Paris CDG runs it a close second but I’d avoid Schipol at all costs tbh.

[lprp]

3 hours ago, flossie009 said:

We are now at Schiphol airport awaiting our flight to Heathrow.

The amount of walking we have done since check-in to reach the departure gate, we must be halfway there already 🤨

 

Hope you get home safely and without delays.

Apparently there are “Technical Issues” 🤔 causing chaos to the whole UK flight network 😬.

We are about to leave for LHR, staying overnight for our 7:10am 😵‍💫 flight to Reykjavik tomorrow, 🤞hoping the situation will be remedied by then.

Safe travels.