Cheapo Dad's Trip Report on the Navigator of the Seas (Maybe with few pictures added)...

[harryfat1]

7 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

Great to see this review Harry!  I always love your pictures, even if they are just pictures of rocks.  I agree with @perfect match, you're the OG when it comes to mooring line shots.  I especially like how you've included a decimal point in your anal scale value. 😜  Since this is just a 4 day cruise, I won't try to find my old spreadsheet that tracked posts for your trip reports. 😁

Hi Bob,

 

It's been almost 6 years since we met and you made the spreadsheet.  You were still in Ohio at the time. Glad to be talking to you again.

 

So how was your Hawaii/Alaska cruise? Did you end up bringing everything and the kitchen sink camera equipment and becoming THAT GUY at every photo opt with the biggest camera/tripods while the rest of us were using 5-year-old cell phones hoping we can capture that one little dot in the middle of the ocean as evidence we saw wildlife on our cruise?

 

Yeah, this will be a "short" trip report (well, at least by my typically long-winded history) since it's only 4 days.  The December cruise will be 8-night Caribbean holiday cruise so that will be the big one.

 

Yeah, had a bit of rounding on the 9.2 scale.  Depending on the day/particular cruise, it could be 9.1774 or 9.2258.  We may need a spreadsheet to track that like tidal conditions...

[harryfat1]

7 hours ago, Kellie in Texas said:

@harryfat1 I'm only two paragraphs in to your introduction and I'm already hooked. 😄 And we have zero plans to cruise on Navigator, but I'm still reading!

Thanks.  Didn't realize my marketing department of one is that persuasive.

 

You can skip the port info but maybe the food pictures might be worthwhile as now RCI has the standard menu for all the cruises. 

 

Spoiler alert -  not a big fan of the changes. I will try not to sound like some old crusty dude - Back in the old days when I was sailing with RCI, they had much better...

[Another_Critic]

1 hour ago, Foodluvr said:

Keep posting! There are a lot of us out here that look forward to your threads. Would be nice to have the links to some of your previous reviews for the folks that are not familiar with them.

 

There are links in his signature.

[Another_Critic]

29 minutes ago, harryfat1 said:

And this is before Travolta did his Saturday Night Fever gig that we still dance to in the 70s party on every RCI sailing...

 

I'll be on Liberty next month and Saturday Night Fever is one of the shows.

[harryfat1]

6 hours ago, Rusty_lock said:

I'll be enjoying.  I'm doing this exact itinerary this Monday.  As long as Hilary doesn't mess things up.

Hi,

 

Yeah, we were all talking that we missed the hurricane by exactly 2 weeks as we would be boarding this coming Monday like you.

 

So what time is your boarding time?  I haven't cruised with RCI since 2017 and now they have implemented the check-in time when we were at San Pedro.  I was going to post these pictures later on but think they will benefit you now.

 

San Pedro uses the "tent city" concept where you are only allowed inside the tent if your check-in time is one of the 2-time slots listed or else they make you wait outside.  Not sure what they will do if there's a pouring rain outside.

 

After luggage drop off, you arrive at "tent city"

 

 

If your check-in time slot is at 10:30 and 11, they allowed you to be inside the tent city.  We had the 11 AM check-in and this was taken at 10:30 after I parked the car

 

 

This is the tricky part.  If your check-in time isn't 10:30 or 11, they make you wait outside at the other line (see red arrow).  On a good weather day, not a big deal to be outside for awhile but if it's raining buckets, not sure if they will just let you in regardless of the time.

 

 

This is what inside of the tent city looks like as you have to go through security and general check-in screening

 

 

Here is what the "other side of the tent city looks like after all the security is done

 

 

Now you are inside the regular terminal and you do your normal photo/passport check and they re-took all our on-board pictures as the ones I uploaded wasn't good enough for them

 

 

Hope this helps in the boarding process.  Let me know if any questions prior to Monday.

 

Have a great cruise...

[The Fun Researcher]

I agree. Your pictures suck. 😉

[harryfat1]

2 hours ago, NHProud said:

@harryfat1  Always happy to read your trip reports.  Your photos are exceptional. 
We were on this same itinerary and ship last October.  I’ll let you be the judge if we got a good deal.  The cost of the cabin was $129 pp for a guaranteed interior cabin .  Now , we would never have done this except for the 3 points we needed to reach Diamond. We never got off the ship because we’ve been to those ports .  We took the train so no flying so it was probably a good deal. 
 

Hooked was the best meal in my opinion. 

Oh, yeah, $129/pp is dirt cheap. October is off-season as many kids are back in school but that is still a fabulous deal.  With 2 kids still in school, I can't travel in off-seasons like you can. 

 

But I get motion sickness at the drop of the hat so I need at the minimum a Promenade view cabin to "see something" when the ship is moving or else I will be tossing cookies.  Been there/done that for the inside cabins.  Will be glad to pay the extra to know where I will be.

[The Fun Researcher]

It’s also pretty cool to have a bean counter with a sense of humor.  👍🏼

[harryfat1]

2 hours ago, Foodluvr said:

@harryfat1 You just made my night!   Your Cheapo dad trip reviews are fantastic! Reading and so informational. Doesn't hurt that I might be a recovering numbers addict too!

 

Keep posting! There are a lot of us out here that look forward to your threads. Would be nice to have the links to some of your previous reviews for the folks that are not familiar with them.

 

If you don't get another cruise planned soon, I might start campaign to send you back on the water just for the enjoyment factor of the posts that come out of it!

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for the high praises.  Hope I won't disappoint like many Hollywood movie sequels that people think shouldn't even be made.

 

I think someone already pointed out that my old trip reports are linked under my overly long-signature section.  Haven't updated for this report yet but you already know where this one is.  

 

Thanks,

 

Harry

[harryfat1]

18 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

I'll be on Liberty next month and Saturday Night Fever is one of the shows.

Oh, very nice.  I have been on the Indy and Freedom but not Liberty.  

 

RCI has the 70s dance fever crowd market locked up.  Think this is the baby boomer market that is retiring now/already done so and going on cruises to listen to the songs they grew up with.

 

Years ago I was on the HAL sailing and the band director asked the audience if they love the "big band era" and thunderous applause went up.  Eh?  That era is a bit too early for me. That's for the OLD folks.

 

Now with RCI playing music from the 70s and 80s at their street parties, does that make me "old" now that the cruise line is playing my era of music?

[harryfat1]

15 minutes ago, The Fun Researcher said:

I agree. Your pictures suck. 😉

Yeah, if I were you, I would be on the phone or emailing CC customer support and demanding a refund of your annual subscription fee at CC as these trip reports are failing in the standards similar to the MDR food...

[The Fun Researcher]

4 minutes ago, harryfat1 said:

Yeah, if I were you, I would be on the phone or emailing CC customer support and demanding a refund of your annual subscription fee at CC as these trip reports are failing in the standards similar to the MDR food...

Love it. :-). Can’t wait to see more of your post. Laughing out loud here.

[harryfat1]

Pre-Cruise Preparation:

 

This is mostly for the newbie cruisers to Royal (or cruising in general) as I will discuss on some aspects of cruise preparation.

 

Experienced cruisers can skip this section or if you are not a 9+ anal scale cruiser, you can skip it as well. 

 

Being a Finance person, I’m not the most tech savvy or tech loving person out there.  I still prefer laptops and hard copy printouts to do my pre cruise planning/cruise pass printouts but the cruise industry is pushing toward the usage of the Phone app which I’m not really a big of.  We cruised last year on Princess Cruise and that App is bad beyond belief.  It is no surprised it’s averaging a 1.6 out of 5 on the App Store.

 

The Royal Caribbean app is better rated at 3.7 but that’s not exactly great as I typically won’t download any app rated less than a 4 but there’s no option here.

 

So after you have downloaded the app, you need to create an account and then link your booked cruise to the app.  In the beginning, there’s not much “to do” as it’s pretty generic info about your ship and your itinerary. Go ahead and explore around as if you are new to RCI, the app has enough info on it to get you familiar with names like “Windjammer”,“Café Promenade” and “Chops” that people here on CC talk about it all the time but if you never cruised (with Royal), the app will get you familiar with the names.

 

Besides, it adds excitement to your upcoming cruise as you eat your plain turkey sandwich at lunch at work dreaming about your upcoming cruise vacation. Which by the way is what you might end up eating at the blah food at some of the venues but that’s a totally different discussion.

 

After you have made the final payment for the cruise, start checking on when to do the “check-in” either online (my old man's preference) or via the phone app (the younger generation’s preference). It should open up around 45 days prior to sailing. I’m sure if I’m incorrect on my exact date, someone will correct me in less than 3 minutes. But the date will be displayed in both places so just set a reminder on your calendar to log into your account the first date you can check in and select a time slot that works for you.

 

I know what you are thinking – this dude is anal beyond help. Who cares what time I select?  I will just show up when I want and they will let me on the ship after I get there, right?  Yes and No. 

 

In the “old days” when I last cruised in 2017, that was the plan to just show up early and stand in line to wait for the door to be among the first group to board the ship.  Now the current policy is you have to select a time slot on the App/Online and you can only board at or after the stated time slots.

 

See my response #30 above on the process.

 

Do you want to be inside the tent city at 10:30 or stand outside?  I rest my case.

 

 

If you are the anxious type that wants to start your vacation early like me, you will want the early time slot so you can board early.  Set a reminder on your calendar to do so on the first available date. Ok, fine, because you are not 9.2 anal so you refuse to follow my suggestion and instead do it on the second available date instead - don't come crying to me if you are outside in line...

 

The closer you get to the sailing date, the earlier time slots will be gone and you will be forced to board later.

 

The check-in slot is within a 30-minute window like 11 to 11:30 AM or 11:30 to 12 noon and so on. When I tried to reserve our time slot, the first available slot of 10:30 was no longer available so 11 AM was the earliest available slot for us.

 

 

This is a few days before the cruise and you see only after 1 PM slot is available

 

 

[Rusty_lock]

1 hour ago, harryfat1 said:

Hi,

 

Yeah, we were all talking that we missed the hurricane by exactly 2 weeks as we would be boarding this coming Monday like you.

 

So what time is your boarding time?  I haven't cruised with RCI since 2017 and now they have implemented the check-in time when we were at San Pedro.  I was going to post these pictures later on but think they will benefit you now.

 

San Pedro uses the "tent city" concept where you are only allowed inside the tent if your check-in time is one of the 2-time slots listed or else they make you wait outside.  Not sure what they will do if there's a pouring rain outside.

 

After luggage drop off, you arrive at "tent city"

 

 

If your check-in time slot is at 10:30 and 11, they allowed you to be inside the tent city.  We had the 11 AM check-in and this was taken at 10:30 after I parked the car

 

 

This is the tricky part.  If your check-in time isn't 10:30 or 11, they make you wait outside at the other line (see red arrow).  On a good weather day, not a big deal to be outside for awhile but if it's raining buckets, not sure if they will just let you in regardless of the time.

 

 

This is what inside of the tent city looks like as you have to go through security and general check-in screening

 

 

Here is what the "other side of the tent city looks like after all the security is done

 

 

Now you are inside the regular terminal and you do your normal photo/passport check and they re-took all our on-board pictures as the ones I uploaded wasn't good enough for them

 

 

Hope this helps in the boarding process.  Let me know if any questions prior to Monday.

 

Have a great cruise...

I have a 10:30 check in time... but I received a text message and an email from Royal telling me not to arrive until 12:30

 

I'll be hoping for the best and trying to be patient.

[George C]

Great pictures, love navigator sailed her 3 times in grand suites, navigator was also our first ice show , now don’t want to sail any ships that don’t have that. 

[The Fun Researcher]

8 minutes ago, George C said:

Great pictures, love navigator sailed her 3 times in grand suites, navigator was also our first ice show , now don’t want to sail any ships that don’t have that. 

Yes, missed the ice show on both the Anthem and the Quantum this year.  Both were the only times we haven't had an Ice show onboard

[harryfat1]

2 hours ago, Rusty_lock said:

I have a 10:30 check in time... but I received a text message and an email from Royal telling me not to arrive until 12:30

 

I'll be hoping for the best and trying to be patient.

I wonder if that's to spread out the people as they know their tent city can't handle a lot of people and don't want people to be out in the rain.

 

Are you guys still sailing away at 4 PM or they have delayed the time to later in the night to accommodate a more gradual boarding process? 

 

The San Pedro cruise terminal isn't equipped to seat that many people. This is the only seating area.  It's not like FLL where they can have thousands of people sit inside the terminal.

 

I also wondered if the Navigator docked at Ensenada today (Saturday) instead of Sunday as originally scheduled. By tomorrow night they could be soaked and the tours may not be able to come back to the ship on time if a big storm hits.

 

[harryfat1]

2 hours ago, George C said:

Great pictures, love navigator sailed her 3 times in grand suites, navigator was also our first ice show , now don’t want to sail any ships that don’t have that. 

Yeah, the ice shows are RCI's signature shows.

 

I don't know if they have drone pre-show on all the ice shows nowadays across the fleet but I like that.  Also, the Navigator ice show is less about themes (like silly Monopoly) and more about technical skating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

2 hours ago, The Fun Researcher said:

Yes, missed the ice show on both the Anthem and the Quantum this year.  Both were the only times we haven't had an Ice show onboard

But don't the Quantum class ships have 270 entertainment venues that replace the ice show?  

[harryfat1]

After selecting the time slot, you will need to complete the travel document info on the App and take a picture that is similar to a passport picture but it was basically useless as they re-took our pictures at the cruise terminal anyway as they didn’t like the ones we uploaded via the App.

 

A few weeks prior to cruising, you will be able to print your luggage tags from the online account as well as the set sail pass.  Which is similar to the boarding pass to get on the plane.

 

You will need the set sail pass to board the ship.  Being anal, besides downloading it on my phone, I printed hard copies of the pass for the entire family.  Just being paranoid about not able to access my phone for whatever reason at the port.  Yeah, yeah, I know, but the anal scale of 9.2 is no joke…

 

I bet I am not the only person here on CC that brings a hard copy as a backup. If anyone else prints out hard copies of the set sail pass, leave a comment below. We anal people need to unite.

 

Up to 2 days prior, you will need to complete a health questionnaire to see if you are well enough to cruise.

 

There are other things on the App that will self-populate as your cruise nears.  I think the names of the entertainers started showing up about the week prior to sailing.

 

Screen shot of the App:

 

 

 

[dani negreanu]

Harry, thank you for your entertaining report. Feels like the "old times", before the "dreaded C".

 

I'm ALWAYS printing my boarding passes... for flights too...

[Badatz2]

Harry, I am with you and Dani, I always bring hard copies of anything essential, vouchers, tickets itineraries, policies, etc

[h20skibum]

Yeah, I am here catching up on your thread.  I am way behind on important things, like keeping up on CC.  Just shipped my grandson back to California, so now I have more time on my hands.

 

I was going to comment on “tent city” but I will leave any of those jokes to you.

 

Keep up to good work.

[LuCruise]

11 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

 

Yeah, this will be a "short" trip report (well, at least by my typically long-winded history) since it's only 4 days.  The December cruise will be 8-night Caribbean holiday cruise so that will be the big one.

 

..

From this statement and looking at your signature, I put 2 and 2 together.  Are you on the xmas Odyssey?  Is so, we just missed being on the same cruise as we have the new year's one booked.  First time cruising that time of year as our son is starting university and we wanted him to be able to come.  I see from one of your other posts that your boys are in college..  Makes sense as they grow up. 🙂

 

Edited August 20, 2023 by LuCruise

[bobmacliberty]

11 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

So how was your Hawaii/Alaska cruise? Did you end up bringing everything and the kitchen sink camera equipment and becoming THAT GUY at every photo opt with the biggest camera/tripods while the rest of us were using 5-year-old cell phones hoping we can capture that one little dot in the middle of the ocean as evidence we saw wildlife on our cruise?

 

I'd give our Hawaii/Alaska cruise a 7.13 out of ten.  We had a few issues but overall had a good time.  We especially loved staying on Kauai after.  And I'm glad we stopped in Lahaina one last time.  I'm still heartbroken about the fires. 

 

I decided to leave my photo gear at home and just use my phone (Lightroom app, shooting in RAW so I can at least edit).  There were a couple of times that I wished I had my 70-200 lens, or my nifty 50 1.8, but lugging that stuff all around would not have been fun.  I can't remember the last time I used my "real" camera.  Are you and your wife still using cameras or are you now phone people?