Navigator of the Seas: December 4-9, 2010
I need to get back on track with my trip reports. We took a short three night cruise on Monarch of the Seas out of Port Canaveral in July and I never got a report written and have forgotten most of the details, but we had a very good time. Did have a good non-ship snorkel excursion to Cannonball reef with Bahama Divers in Nassau. Thanks to Bonnie Buchanan for the very nice OBC with this cruise. And, before I forget, thanks for OBC on Navigator, Bonnie.
For the Navigator we flew down on USAir to FLL on the 3rd. I had gotten a room at the Hyatt Place in Dania Beach through Priceline for a total of $75 with all taxes included in that – a great room and good location. Rented the car through priceline as well – I get almost everything I can through priceline now – the prices you can get seem better than anything else.
On the morning of the 4th , we went to Bonnett House – which was very interesting and they had an orchid show going on there in addition to the normal stuff at the House. We returned the car to the rental car center at FLL and then made the mistake of taking the rental car shuttle bus to the pier – free but we should have just grabbed a taxi. The shuttle bus was full of people taking different ships and the driver stopped at a Princess ship and the Oasis before going to Navigator. The Princess pier was OK but at the Oasis pier it was a madhouse. We got caught in gridlock and it took at least twenty minutes after letting everyone off to get moving again. At the Navigator pier, we were let off a hundred yards or so from where the luggage was being loaded. At first no porters approached us and we just took our bags and put them with others obviously waiting to be loaded. I just walked away but the wife hung back apparently worrying about whether this was right place or whatever. A porter then approached her and started the spiel – I walked back to deal with him and he gave us the “I am the person responsible for making sure your bags get to your room speech.” It is a completely bogus scam with these guys but I had a $5 bill ready to go and gave it to him with a smile and thanked him – I just pay the grease and move on. Other frequent cruisers call me a wimp for that but to me it just is not worth the aggravation of even thinking about it – I just call it my insurance policy.
This was the 432nd cruise of the Navigator which entered service in December 2002 and is Voyager class – we generally prefer Freedom class of the two classes (which are somewhat similar) but we got a good deal on this cruise and the timing worked. On this cruise there were 3103 guests, 1227 crew, for a total of 4330. I know this detail because I took a picture of a board on the bridge which had this information when we were on a bridge tour.
We had a Junior Suite for this cruise which was as big as we could want. Our cabin steward whose name I cannot recall was very good and we had no problems of any kind. We did Chops Grille the first night, using our 2 for 1 coupon in the Crown & Anchor book. The dinner was really great – although we ate way too much. We did anytime dining in MDR – usually 6:30 but one night we did 7. No problems. We were asked what kind of table we wanted and we said a table with others was fine and we met some interesting and nice folks this way. When we have done anytime dining on Royal Caribbean we have had good waiters and I have been told that the waiters like getting the anytime diners because they have to pre-pay gratuities so the waiters are assured of getting a full amount of tips. On the galley tour the executive chef who did the tour told us that all the other ships in the fleet have really been hit hard by the launch of Oasis and then Allure. He said that those ships had each grabbed a big percentage of his best cooks and waiters (most recently Allure) and getting the new folks trained was a huge hassle for him. He gave an interesting tour as he was very candid in everything.
The gym and equipment was in good shape and looking good. My only complaint is that they often turn off the sauna at night so it is not at all hot first thing in morning when it is turned on – maybe it is partly because of liability concerns, but the ships also do not seem to let the steam room or sauna get properly hot enough. I got a haircut the first afternoon – I tend to find myself doing this on all of our cruises because I never have time to get one in the rush of getting ready to go. I wish I could remember the woman’s name who did it because she did a great job. She was from New Zealand and had a very interesting personal story. It only cost a little more than twice what a trip to “Bubba’s” costs me – and yes, my regular barbershop is “Bubba’s”.
We are Diamond Plus on Royal Caribbean which gets us tours of the Galley, Bridge, and Theater, plus the free drinks in the Concierge Lounge – which on this cruise was moved to Cloud Nine – one of the lounges up in the Crown Viking area on Deck 14. The Concierge was Carlos M – cannot spell his last name right now – who seemed a little frazzled with the number of people in the lounge but was very friendly and the bartenders in the lounge were great. The other Diamond Plus advantage that we enjoy is the reserved seating for the ice show (they may have it for the shows in the theater but we never used that). One thing about sitting in the Concierge Lounge is that we share with almost all the other people there a love of cruising and travel generally, so you have something in common that you love to talk about – makes it easy to meet people and have an enjoyable conversation.
Partly because we have some background in theater through high school and college years (a rather distant memory) we enjoy the production shows more than others might. We are always impressed with the talent of the ship’s companies although the shows themselves may not use the talent as well as they might. The ice shows are really enjoyable and the wife usually goes at least twice – I only make it once but enjoy them very much. The headliners on this cruise were enjoyable – very talented folks – but nothing I really can recall right now.
We did a tour of the ship art on board; the art auctioneer did it and it was very interesting. The wife took a second tour he did which covered different art on the ship and she enjoyed them both very much – I enjoyed the one but it was enough for me. Royal Caribbean no longer uses Park West which has gotten a lot of bad press and been sued a bunch. This auctioneer seemed more straightforward and less showy than the Park West auctioneers I have seen on board but I have no idea about deals or prices or anything about the art they are selling.
Although we generally believe that with a little work you can set up a non-ship excursion to do the same thing as a ship excursion cheaper and possibly better – we seem to be taking more ship excursions on our cruises. This cruise, after the first day at sea, we were in Grand Cayman. We took the “Cultural Express” excursion and it was very enjoyable. We first went to Pedro Castle which is a historical site and it was very interesting. We then went to the QE II Botanical Gardens which were very impressive. After the excursion, we had planned to snorkel at Eden Rock where the Paradise Restaurant is but the water was way too rough and just had lunch at Paradise Restaurant and then toured the Museum.
We also did a ship excursion in Cozumel the next day. We had planned to take a snorkel excursion but the sea conditions were too rough and they were canceled, so we did the Mayan Ruins and Beach Break excursion. We had a great guide – “Nacho” – not sure if that was his real name, but he was an excellent tour guide. We went to San Gervasio to see the Mayan ruins there. In all our trips to Cozumel, we always had headed for the water and had never seen San Gervasio. It was more interesting that we had expected and Nacho did a great job of explaining things. Of course, a good tour guide can make the town dump fascinating. After San Gervasio, we toured around the island with commentary before winding up at Playa Mia Beach Club. We ordered lunch before the wife learned that a snorkel boat trip was leaving – so she left on the snorkel boat and I had lunch (which was very good) and had them box hers up for when she came back. The snorkel trip was not getting back until long after the tour bus was leaving to go back to the pier so I found Nacho and told him that we were leaving the tour and gave him his tip. Without supervision, I found a lounge chair on the beach and for some reason was unable to stop them from bringing me margarita’s - certainly wasn’t my idea to have that many. They were giving a great rate on the dollar and even after exhausting the free drink coupons Nacho had given us, they were not very expensive. Also, for unknown reasons, I have no recollection whatever of what they did cost.
Next cruise is Serenade out of San Juan in February!
