Live and Having Fun! NOS Sept 16-23

[njoyndride]

We’re a party of 6, DH, MIL, FIL, BIL and SIL, this is our second time on Navigator and our 16th cruise with a mix of Carnival, Princess and RCCL.

Travel Day

Well it was just that, a travel day. Coming from the West Coast it’s pretty much an all day affair. We left from SFO at 6:40am landing in MIA at 3:05pm, the flight was direct and uneventful just the way we like it. Security lines was very short at that time of the morning and my wine poured into plastic containers and packed in my checked luggage made it though TSA no problem. They even opened one suitcase but the wine was still nestled there, right where I packed it.

It took approximately 30 minutes for our luggage to come out and we caught a cab to the Intercontinental Miami. I love this hotel. It was a great deal $114, through easy click travel dot com which actually allows you to make special requests so I requested a harbor view high floor. Last time they put us in my requested room right away, this time it was $25 for the upgrade, which they ended up not charging us in the end. These rooms look right at the RCCL pier and Bayside Marketplace. After checking in and getting situated we wandered over to Bayside and met with BIL, SIL and some CC friends. After a couple of cocktails and woohooing over our impending sailaway we parted and had dinner at Lombardi’s. It’s a very humid weekend, we opted to sit outside braving the humidity to watch the lightening storm to the Northeast. We don’t get “weather” in the San Francisco Bay Area so it’s exciting to us. By the end of dinner we were pretty much wiped out and walked back to the Intercontinental and relaxed until we couldn’t keep our eyes open. You’d think we’d be up late coming from the west coast but the 3:45am wake up was catching up to us.

[njoyndride]

Embarkation Day

Ahhhhhhh…….the day we’ve been waiting for.

I kept getting up during the night to take a peek out the window and at 5:45am I watched Navigator slide into view then into the turn bay followed by two Carnival ships. I tried to go back to sleep but you know how it goes when your ship is there calling you. So I sat on the 2 foot wide windowsill and watched the buses and taxi’s heading over the bridge to the port preparing to wisk all the passengers off and away. After a morning walk and some coffee we locked the suitcases back up, put on our luggage tags and called the bellman. There were plenty of cabs waiting at the Intercontinental. The hotel now has a shuttle starting at noon for Royal passengers as well. We needed a van as we had 4 of us and mega luggage, no problem they just pulled one out of the cab line and @ 11am we headed off to the pier.

Our luggage was out of the cab before we were, thank you porters, watched them load it into a bin (I just want to make sure my wine makes it :D ) and we headed into the terminal. As we came up the escalator there were 2 lines forming to go through security. We got into the shorter of the two only to find out it was for Diamond members, but wait we ARE Diamond, in fact this is our first with Diamond status. After being there for 3 whole minutes security opened and off we went to check-in, no lines for check-in as we were within the first passengers in the terminal. We were told boarding would start in approximately 10 minutes, no problem I think I can wait that long. By the time we walked to the line to head to the ship they started boarding. It was 11:30 and with big ole smiles on our face we walked across the gangway and on to this beautiful ship.

Our first stop was Guest Relations to pick up our Cybercabin kit and although we were reminded several times that our cabin wouldn’t be ready until 1pm we ventured there anyway met our cabin steward, Martin, who allowed us to stash our carryons in the closet until 1. Actually after meeting us he said come back whenever we wanted but we wanted to stay out of everyone’s way to allow the stewards to go about their work. FYI and to give a time perspective - My BIL and SIL who came to the port separately, but at about the same time, did not go through the Diamond line and boarded about 10-15 minutes behind us. We met the rest of our party in Windjammer for lunch and made our reservation for Portofino’s for Thursday night. Normally at this point we walk the ship and get our bearings but having sailed Navigator before she’s like an old friend and we already had our bearings. To my pleasant surprise, my first piece of luggage arrived at around 2:30 prompting my DH to make a couple of trips to the elevator lobby to seek the rest he was successful and we were ALL unpacked by 3:15. We attended the muster and got ready for sailaway, unfortunately with sailaway also came an intense lightening storm. Our party joined us on our balcony and after watching Carnival Triumph swing around in the turn bay and sail past we toasted to our good fortune as we quietly slipped down Government Cut.

We are in cabin 1394, a JS AFT. This is our first aft cabin on a Voyager class ship. I was always leery because of the structure; I spend a lot of time on the balcony looking at the ocean and was concerned that the obstruction would bother me. My good friend had a corner aft on our last cruise on deck 9 and loved it so much we thought we’d give it a try. The jury is still out on the obstruction but it is a trade off as this cabin has a HUGE balcony, which we’ve been enjoying immensely. The balcony is totally covered and about 15 ft. deep furnished with 2 lounge chairs with a small table and two regular chairs with a tall table large enough for 2 people to dine. On one side of us in the mirror JS 1694 is a new friend from CC who to our delight are on their 1st cruise, it is fun to chat with them and hear their excitement. Navigator has finished it’s bedding conversion and the linens are very nice. The new mattresses are still think compared to what we all have at home but by the mere fact they are new they are quite comfortable. Our room steward is Martin and he is great. We’ve had many types of stewards, from the stealth ones who do a great job but you rarely see them and ones that you swear live in the hallway. Martin is the later, he’s always around and in fact was in our cabin ½ dozen times with various goodies for us to get our cruise off to a nice start. Every time I asked for a little something he was back in 5 minutes. Never was my request denied in fact was met with a “it would be my pleasure Miss Sharon”. JS treatment, Diamond perhaps? Nah, I think we just got a gem of a steward.

We have early seating dinner, Nutcracker Dining Room a table by the window. Our waiter Jamel and his asst. (I’ll have to look at the name again) are friendly and attentive. Jamel is particularly enamored with my BIL and SIL who after living 3 years in Saudi Arabia picked up enough Arabic to threw phrases at Jamel off and on during dinner and pleasing him to no end. We also spotted our asst. waiter Savio from our last cruise on Navigator, he’s been promoted to waiter now and remembered us. The menu has changed and offered some pleasant surprises while keeping some standards such as the Vidalia tart, one of my favorites.

After dinner we made our donation to the casino, walked up to the helicopter pad to watch the lightening show in the distance and made it back to the cabin fairly early. No shows or parade tonight as it's time to catch up on sleep and get ready for the week!!!! :)

[raytownlady]

Thanks for posting! I love "while onboard" reviews. We are sailing on the Navagator in a few weeks and reading this just makes us more excited. Did you contact the hotel prior to checking in to request the harbor-view room or can I just do it when we register?

 

We'd heard that Graham Seymour is no longer the CD; is that correct?

 

Enjoy your cruise and I'll be watching for your next posts.

[hollyad]

Hi Sharon! I'm glad you are having fun. You will be missed this week. Enjoy the cruise!

 

Holly

[bnsilly]

Ahhh...I wish I was there:p

[masonpips]

We'll be you in 4 weeks (ONLY 4 weeks!). Thanks for the "live" review!!!!

[njoyndride]

Sunday Day at Sea

We enjoyed a slow morning today, we’re usually up early and in the hot tub with coffee but not today. We had coffee brought in by room service and enjoyed it on our balcony. What a treat. Room service only took about 20 minutes, not bad for 9am on the first sea day. It’s a beautiful sunny day with not a ripple in the inky blue water. It’s very humid without a wisp of wind, I think there will be some very sunburned people in their finery tonight.

We attended out Meet and Mingle at 11:30 today in the Cosmopolitan Lounge. As always it’s nice to put faces with the names. Captain Sullivan attended answering all our questions, a very personable man. He obliged us by taking a picture with our family. About ½ the 60 who signed up for the Meet and Mingle attended. They served appetizers and a tropical fruit punch, gave away the waterproof hard plastic holders and held an auction for the much-coveted Aquamouse. My SIL, jmacway, won the mouse…by the way she also won dinner with the Captain on our last sailing aboard Navigator!!!!! I think she’s blessed when she’s cruising…better book another one when she sails for Europe SIL!

The pool decks are absolutely packed today, while there are loungers available, by late morning there weren’t any in the popular areas around the pool or even above the pool on the next deck up. Being the weather is so good I’m not surprised. Today started with Cruise Director Shane Einspahr’s Morning Show, keeping Graham Seymour’s tradition of “drink of the day” sampling. He hosted with Bingo the Bingo Dog. It was good for a chuckle. When walking around the ship today I noticed how impeccably this ship is taken care of, I’m sure if I looked and looked I could find the spot on the carpet but all and all the ship is in tiptop shape.

Today’s activities were many including an interdenominational church service, FIL and MIL loved it, the Port and Shopping talk, Slot Tournament, BJ Tournament, Bingo, Digital Camera Seminar, Belly Flop and the Sexy Legs competition. Tonight is formal night and my laundry I sent out yesterday was finally returned at 3:30, yippee. We always have late seating and I didn’t even think about the return of DH’s shirts being around 5pm and eating at 6pm, phew made it. One thing noticeable about early seating is the dress is a wee bit less formal, I saw a handful of tuxes with most of the men being in suits. I saw more women in short dresses than long.

Dinner was good, all the plates are appropriately hot and our waiter and asst. waiter Vikas remembered our likes and dislikes from the night before. Ahhh….it’s good to be the queen. After dinner we circumvented the Captains party since we were full from dinner. While returning to our cabin I noticed those coming out of their cabins in tuxes and long dresses. We played a rousing game of mini-golf tonight where DH finally got his vengeance and beat me. I think I didn’t have enough wine LOL. We noticed for the second night in a row that the solarium pool was closed (netted off), I don’t remember this as we love to swim after dinner. The main pool is open and there were quite a few people swimming and hot-tubbing. For those football lovers, we got quite a full compliment of games today on the TV.

This evening is VERY humid…another thing I’m noticing about our balcony is there isn’t much air circulation so it’s pretty sticky out there. No problem mon we just keep the air up in the cabin and the door closed when we go out. Tomorrow is Labadee someplace we’ve never been. We arrive at 8am with the first tender being at 8:30. My plan is to jump on one of the first tenders, walk down to Hideaway Beach and secure shade for my very fair family. I think it’s going to be hot hot hot so the water should feel really great!

[Tall Guy 51]

Sharon. Thank you for the daily reports. Very imformative and l'm looking forward to the next installation. I'm glad your wine made it to Miami, but how did it fair at the dock? It will be my first with RCI after many trips with Princess. So any insights/hints you gleem over the next week, feel free to pass them on.

[LABCHICK]

Sharon keep the reviews coming. Love it. We'll be on the Navigator for the second time in Nov. Your reviews are getting me so excited . Judi :)

[Patty in NC]

Hi Sharon,

 

Thanks for the daily reports. My extended family will be traveling on the Navigator for Thanksgiving week. Several family members will be happy to hear that football was plentiful.

 

For our cruise, we all have cabins on Deck 10 across the back...but not the JS. Your cabin steward sounds great....can you find out if he will be on the ship at Thanksgiving?

 

Have a great time...and I look forward to reading the next installment.

 

Patty

[njoyndride]

Hi hollyad - I won't tell anyone you are reading this at work hee hee.

 

Patty - I'll ask Martin for you.

 

Tall Guy - No prob bringing wine aboard in my checked luggage. :)

 

We are at Labadee I'm waiting for pokie dh and then we're heading for Hideaway Beach. We arrived around 7:30 and the first tender was early at 8:15. It's sunny and warm already.

[Step1]

Sharon~ Thanks for the live posts! My husband & I will be sailing the middle of October:eek:

 

Enjoy Labadee today!!!

[TennisLover]

Sharon,

 

Thank you for taking time out of your vacation to tell us about the Navigator. We are very excited for our first RCCL cruise in February.

 

Can you check out the Schooner Bar and piano player? Any good? Will he/she be there in February when we cruise? Piano bar is huge on Carnival and there is a huge thread going on on that board now. Trying to find out how it is on RCCL ships, esp Navigator.

 

Can't wait to hear about Labadee. We haven't been there yet either.

 

Have fun!!!

[Golf18aday]

Sharon,

Thanks for sharing your vacation with us. We will be boarding the NOS this Saturday. Your reports have helped raise the excitement bar. We look forward your reports the rest of the week.

Safe Travels !

[emen822]

Glad you are having a good time and thanks for letting us experience the week with you. We will be onboard the Navigator in March. Can't think of any specific questions ... just hope you continue to have a great time.

;) :) :D

[dlwv99]

Glad you guys are having a great time. I was wandering if their was texas holdem poker on board.

 

Thanks

[masonpips]

This is so fabulous! Thanks so much for sharing with us!

[DonnaC1]

Thanks for your daily updates! We will be on NOS in December and I'm really getting excited reading about your adventures!

 

Donna

[KK_Cruisin]

Heya I hope you are having a blast! We cant wait to get onboard on Saturday. I have read for a while that they have done away with the horse racing, is this true? I never found anything concrete on it. I really hope they have the horse racing game on the ship still. :)

[njoyndride]

Labadee

Since we’ve never been to Labadee all we had to go on was CC ers description of the peninsula. We had been to Princess Cays and were not impressed at all. A lot of cement man made beaches etc. Labadee is pure natural beauty. We got off the ship around 9ish, no lines for tenders and headed to the island. I volunteered to commandeer shade for our fair skinned group so we immediately headed to Hideaway Beach which was ¼ of mile walk at the most. The shuttle goes there and in fact is where it turns around. We had a nice brawny guy move 6 loungers under a palapa and staked our spot for the day. When we arrived there was only ½ dozen people on the beach so we immediately jumped in the wonderful water to enjoy the solitude. Now I’d read mixed reports on water shoes vs. no water shoes. I’m no tenderfoot in fact the bottoms of my feet are similar to the bottoms of my shoes in the summer as I love to go barefoot and wear sandals. I definitely needed water shoes for Hideaway. There were others that didn’t have them and they had to bear a little pain to get over the rocks and out to where the bottom was more sandy. I was really glad I’d brought them with me. The water was lovely and it was definitely hot hot hot. By afternoon the water seemed like bath water so didn’t offer a refreshing dip as in the morning. The beach got pretty crowded by noon. We walked over to Dragon’s Breath point and you know it really does sound like a dragon breathing. We didn’t eat the bbq but the rest in our party did and said it was very good. We left the beach around 1 and headed to the market, while the vendors are talkative I didn’t find them intimidating in any way. I bought 2 small paintings for $5 so I’m very happy. We returned to the ship by 2 and it was a ghost town, just the way we like it. Time to get ready for Jamaica yeah mon!!!!!

Krystal - I'll check out the horse racing but I think you're right.

dlwv99 - there is poker in fact they've been holding tournaments at night

TennisLover - The Piano Guy "Dan the Man" is in Ixtapa haven't heard him sorry

[gypsygirl]

Your review is terrific. It's one of the best written ones I've read. We'll be on the Navigator in November. Can't wait!

[Catperson]

Hi Sharon, we will be in this cabin in December on the eastern route. How are you finding the cabin, is it in good condition, any problems with the connecting door and noise, any problems with cigarette/cigar smoke on the balcony, etc. Any hints to maximize enjoyment of our cabin? Is the balcony really that big? Tell me all!

Thanks, Karen

[MissT]

Great review! I can't wait!!! Is it our turn yet?:D

[njoyndride]

Ocheeeeeee

I love Jamaica. I know there are those that won’t get off the ship and are intimidated by the vendors. I think Jamaicans are lovely people making a living and have great stories to tell if you just take a moment to listen. We watched a gorgeous sunrise, had breakfast at Windjammer they got ready for our day. I had booked a private tour with A-Z Planners for the 6 of us. We docked just a little before 9am ship time (8am Jamaican) and were able to walk off the ship within 15 minutes. We met the rest of our group and headed out to the pink building. We had been told to just tell the people at the entrance of the building that we were waiting for an A-Z tour and they’d direct us. Sure enough they walked us out to the front of the building, told us wait and called A-Z to let them know we were there. We waited about 10 minutes and then Mickey our driver walked over and introduced himself. We had chosen a custom tour as we didn’t want to do the typical Dunns River and shopping thing and actually wanted to go in opposite ways at one point. I had told Belinda at A-Z when we were emailing back and forth and she said your driver is yours to do with as you please. PERFECT. We headed out through town with our first stop being the Wassi Pottery Factory. We went on the free tour where they explained how the clay is harvested locally what needs to be done to prepare it and headed inside to watch James make a vase in 30 seconds on his wheel. Pretty amazing. The rest of the tour takes you through the painting and firing process and ends up in their store. I wish I had brought more luggage!!! LOL I did buy two pieces that are worth the hassle carrying on when we fly home. We toured the Fern Gulley stopping at a shopping area at the top, usual stuff for sail but the vendors were very nice and a “no thank you” sufficed. I did buy a shirt and a necklace. We then drove up to Shaw Park for a view of the ship where there was an elderly man carving bird feeders out of coconuts, I negotiated one for $10 that had a family of birds carved on the outside. I felt I got a deal and the elderly man said you got a beautiful bird feeder and you don’t know how much the $10 means to me and now we are friends. Awwwwwwww….see why I love Jamaica.

We wanted to eat lunch off ship but didn’t want to go to any of the usual places. Belinda had suggested Spring Garden Café, while there was no view from the restaurant it specializes in seafood and jerk cooking. We invited Mickey to join us for lunch and he regaled us with stories about life in Jamaica….priceless. After lunch Mickey dropped dh and I off at Reggae Beach and took the rest of our party to Dunns River. The water was wonderful at Reggae, if you’re looking for lounge chairs and umbrellas this isn’t the place. There were plenty of trees for shade and picnic tables for seating but is a local beach popular on the weekends for Jamaican families. There are bathrooms, shower, bar and food. Everything one could need. We were going to stop at Soni Plaza, my favorite, but were tired and I was already happy with purchases for the day so we headed back to the ship. Mickey was a great driver as well as great company.

Tonight was the party on deck @ 11:30 with buffet. Just what we need MORE FOOD. It was also the Ice Dancing show and the night for the Love & Marriage show…we missed all of it as I can’t keep my eyes open. I wish I had discovered cruising when I was younger and could exist on 2 hours sleep. Off to Grand Cayman. We've been here quite a few times and done the sting ray/snorkeling etc. so just a nice relaxing day at the beach....or at least that's the plan.

Catperson - no noise issues at all, our neighbor smokes on their balcony and if the slider is open it will come in even when at sea so we merely close the door until he's done. Not a big problem. Yes the balcony is huge, I'll post pics upon my return.

MissT - you're almost there!!!!!!

Krystal - just to confirm...no horse racing :cool:

gypsygirl - you're so sweet, thank you

[njoyndride]

Grand Cayman

What a perfect day, the sun is shining, the sky is blue and it’s 86 degrees. Carnival Triumph is already in port and Freedom of the Seas came in right behind us. We got arrived at 8am and after a Windjammer breakfast headed down to the tender. There was no line, no wait and NO tender tickets used. A 5 minute ride later we were ashore and securing a cab to Sea Grape Beach. We went to this beach on our last trip to Grand Cayman and it offered plenty of shade under the Sea Grape trees and a beautiful span of beach. Ivan took care of the Sea Grapes and the beach now has a slope it didn’t have before but it was still beautiful. The cab ride was $5pp and at Sea Grape you can get a lounge chair for $10 and an umbrella for $5. While the area in front of the bar/restaurant was very busy with chairs side by side we wandered to the edge of their property (maybe 200yds) and had the area to ourselves. It was an absolutely perfect Cayman day in terms of weather in fact too perfect and after a few hours we were getting burned and had enough sun. There were plenty of cabs waiting on the road and we grabbed another $5pp ride back to George Town. We did some shopping however it was really crowded making navigating the sidewalks a little challenging. I wouldn’t want to be here on an 8 ship day. For those wondering Margaritaville is now open and in full swing in George Town. We sailed a little late after numerous calls for a late arriving passenger and it poured rain at the time we were leaving. Made me love my overhang on the balcony that much more!

Tonight was the second formal night and the Gala buffet. I won $185 at the casino and we took a nice warm leisurely stroll around the deck and out to the helicopter pad. The stars were outstanding like diamonds dripping right in to the sea. I think this is the thing I love most about sailing.

We have a nice late arrival in Cozumel and rumor has it that we will DOCK, yippee!!!!! :D