emmy
01-23-2005, 06:11 PM
Ship:
This ship is truly amazing and all the adjectives just do not do it justice. It really has to be experienced. Some of my favorite spots on board were of course the Promenade since it was a real people-gathering place. Loved the parades and entertainment that took place in this area. Café Promenade was great and the Two Poets Pub seemed busy all the time. Best picture taking spot has to be the Helipad on Deck 5 especially at sailaway. You have to walk on deck 4 all the way to the front of the ship and then go up the flight of stairs to deck 5. Don’t miss this spot! Also the Metropolis Theatre is amazing and seats 1400 people. There are a few spots on the first balcony that can be slightly obstructed by poles. The dining rooms visually are spectacular as is the atrium with its sculptures. My suggestion is to just wander around and try and see every area. We even went up to the 15th deck and checked out the Skylight Chapel. Very pretty spot.
Staff:
I have to comment on the RCI staff on board. Each and every one of them was very friendly always greeting you with a good morning or hello in the halls and public areas. This was so refreshing and I certainly appreciate the effort they made to make me feel welcome.
Entertainment:
The entertainment was very good. It was the first sailing of our cruise director Jeff Martin after coming off of Voyager of the Seas. Poor guy more than one time referred to the ship as Voyager but that was understandable. I enjoyed him as a cruise director.
We had the Coasters as a headliner entertainment on one night and they gave a very entertaining high-energy show especially considering the ages of these guys. Another headliner was Mark Preston one of the original members of the singing group “The Lettermen” He did do some of his old songs like “Put your head on my shoulder” and Shangri-la, “Hurt so bad” and “Going out of my Head/Can’t Take my Eyes off of You”
I enjoyed the first production show very much as it featured Broadway tunes and it ended with songs from Mama Mia which I have seen at the theatre so that was my favorite.
We attended the Love and Marriage Game and as usual it was very entertaining. I always love that show. As well the Adult Karaoke was amazing and we had some excellent singers. It was truly professional. Even the host remarked more than once that this was the best Karaoke he had been to.
Of course as everyone says the Ice Dance show really is not to be missed. The tickets for the show went on sale in the morning of the first day at sea and there was indeed a long line but it went very quickly. We went to the show on the Tuesday evening, as there was not any headliner or other scheduled entertainment that evening. We all enjoyed it very much.
The Promenade parades are fun to watch and happen on two nights. They have great colorful costumes and the entertainers walk on stilts.
Port of Call:
This was a western Caribbean itinerary that included Labadee, Cozumel, Jamaica, and Grand Cayman.
Labadee: This was my first time at this port and I liked it very much. It is so beautiful and quite a photo op from the ship and from the beaches. We decided to walk to Hideaway Beach through suggestions I had read on line. It is the farthest beach to the left when you get off the tender. The water was beautiful and calm. The day was very hot so sitting on the edge of the water with a drink in hand and a floating mat was just about all I could handle. It was so relaxing.
We enjoyed the BBQ lunch that the RCI employees put on. They had hamburgers, hotdogs, chicken, ribs, various salads, fresh fruit and cookies and some cake desserts. It was a very nice day.
There are great photo ops of the Navigator as you are leaving by tender and from the beach itself.
Jamaica:
This was also my first visit to this island. I had booked on line a tour with Ionie McBeam. She met us promptly at the pier and ushered us to her air-conditioned van. There were about 12 of us. Our first stop was at Dunn’s River Falls. I really enjoyed this climb up the falls and did not find it hard at all. You just had to be careful but it was most enjoyable.
After our stop there she took us for a ride through Fern Gully and made various stops to see such locals as the Spice man and the Fire Man. Of course with every picture that was snapped they looked for a tip.
She proceeded up to Shaw Gardens area for a photo op of the ship. Now I had heard many, many glowing reports about Ionie on line but in my opinion her tour was nothing out or the ordinary. I was disappointed and expected more. She hardly said anything or commented unless you asked a specific question. I would not go with her again. This was the opinion of others in my tour who has also read all those glowing reports. I basically flipped a coin as to who to go with either Ionie or Peat Taylor.
Grand Cayman:
We also booked a tour on our own on the Internet with Nativeway. After some delay in the beginning we made our way to their van and they brought us to the marina and the boar. There were 30 people on the boat about half and half Navigator passengers and passengers from Carnival Triumph. It took about 25 minutes to reach Coral Gardens for snorkeling and we stopped first there because it was very busy at Stingray City Sandbar. We then proceeded to the Sandbar and it was in complete contrast to the year before when we had gone about the same time of year.
Last year the water was like glass and so calm. This day it was not and had many waves and it was a rough ride out. The tour itself was very good and everyone should experience this place at least once.
After we arrived back at the marina those that wanted to be dropped off at the 7 mile beach all got into one vehicle and my hubby Rick and I went to the public beach for about 1 ½ hours. The driver agreed to pick us up at a designated time. There were about 12 of us that went there. There was no admission and there were washrooms and change facilities but no places to buy a drink. An ice-cream truck did come by in the parking lot so we grabbed and ice cream cone. The beach was so beautiful with long white sandy beach and beautiful warm very blue water.
Cozumel:
We had been to Cozumel last year so this time we decided to do some shopping in the morning. We took the cab from the ship into town and that cost about $6.00 and had the taxi driver drop us off at Los Cinco Soles. I purchased a few things here and we started walking and shopping along the way until we got to Carlos ‘n Charlie’s where we went in and had a drink. We mainly wanted to check things out to see what it was all about. Now we were there about 1 pm so it was still early so things were relatively calm but we did get the idea of what goes on. We did enjoy ourselves and are certainly glad we made a stop there. We checked out the gift shop and bought some t-shirts to take back home.
Disembarkation:
Now this part I was worried about since I had a 12:50 flight out of FLL and the ship sailed into Miami. I requested early disembarkation and received pink colored tags. Now I was aware that white was one of the first colors to be called so I was leery when I saw the pink colored tags. I made a quick stop at the Guest Relations desk and asked about the pink tags and he said this was the LAST color to be called.
Now they let you fill out the information on the interactive TV as to what time your flight is and from this information they decide what color tags you get. Well I selected the earliest time and still got the wrong colored tags.
The Guest Relations person simply changed my tags to an early color, which was Orange, and it was the second color to be called. White colored tags were called at about 7:20 am and our color Orange was called at about 7:35 am We made our way out, found our luggage and went through customs and were putting our things into the cab by 8:15 am. We arrived about 25 minutes later at the FLL airport and the cost of the taxi was $57.25 to be exact. It was about 8:45 am now and we inquired about an earlier flight but with 4 of us traveling they only had 3 seats so we sat and waited patiently for our 1 pm flight.
I was very pleased with the disembarkation process and really sweated about how this procedure would go. It was very easy to find your luggage on the carousel.
Some highlights:
The friendliness of the staff was quite refreshing. Kudos to RCI for this!
No problem with chair hogs around the pool area. Not many smokers either at least not that I noticed. The smoking areas poolside were more defined and people seemed to adhere to them. Only real smoke I noticed was in the casino and that is to be expected. Also in the lounges as long as you sat in the non-smoking side you were fine.
Noticed that the bar servers do not go around with trays of drinks around the pool like they used to at least not as much. Am not sure of the reason for this. I remember them walking around with Love Connections, Mango Tangos and Pina Colada’s much more frequently. I saw this mostly on embarkation day.
The dining room is truly stunning.
We had wonderful sunny hot weather just the way I like it.
Highly recommend this class of ship and especially the Navigator. She is a stunning, beautiful, amazing, fantastic ship. Not enough adjectives to describe her. Royal Caribbean did not disappoint in any way, shape or form. Looking to book the next one.
One other note I would like to thank my sister Madeline and Doug as well as new found CC friends Mitch (Chloe Girl) and Veronica for being great tablemates and for helping to make this cruise one we will all never forget.
If you have any other questions please do not hesitate to e-mail me at
emmysoo1@shaw.ca
Emmy :)
This ship is truly amazing and all the adjectives just do not do it justice. It really has to be experienced. Some of my favorite spots on board were of course the Promenade since it was a real people-gathering place. Loved the parades and entertainment that took place in this area. Café Promenade was great and the Two Poets Pub seemed busy all the time. Best picture taking spot has to be the Helipad on Deck 5 especially at sailaway. You have to walk on deck 4 all the way to the front of the ship and then go up the flight of stairs to deck 5. Don’t miss this spot! Also the Metropolis Theatre is amazing and seats 1400 people. There are a few spots on the first balcony that can be slightly obstructed by poles. The dining rooms visually are spectacular as is the atrium with its sculptures. My suggestion is to just wander around and try and see every area. We even went up to the 15th deck and checked out the Skylight Chapel. Very pretty spot.
Staff:
I have to comment on the RCI staff on board. Each and every one of them was very friendly always greeting you with a good morning or hello in the halls and public areas. This was so refreshing and I certainly appreciate the effort they made to make me feel welcome.
Entertainment:
The entertainment was very good. It was the first sailing of our cruise director Jeff Martin after coming off of Voyager of the Seas. Poor guy more than one time referred to the ship as Voyager but that was understandable. I enjoyed him as a cruise director.
We had the Coasters as a headliner entertainment on one night and they gave a very entertaining high-energy show especially considering the ages of these guys. Another headliner was Mark Preston one of the original members of the singing group “The Lettermen” He did do some of his old songs like “Put your head on my shoulder” and Shangri-la, “Hurt so bad” and “Going out of my Head/Can’t Take my Eyes off of You”
I enjoyed the first production show very much as it featured Broadway tunes and it ended with songs from Mama Mia which I have seen at the theatre so that was my favorite.
We attended the Love and Marriage Game and as usual it was very entertaining. I always love that show. As well the Adult Karaoke was amazing and we had some excellent singers. It was truly professional. Even the host remarked more than once that this was the best Karaoke he had been to.
Of course as everyone says the Ice Dance show really is not to be missed. The tickets for the show went on sale in the morning of the first day at sea and there was indeed a long line but it went very quickly. We went to the show on the Tuesday evening, as there was not any headliner or other scheduled entertainment that evening. We all enjoyed it very much.
The Promenade parades are fun to watch and happen on two nights. They have great colorful costumes and the entertainers walk on stilts.
Port of Call:
This was a western Caribbean itinerary that included Labadee, Cozumel, Jamaica, and Grand Cayman.
Labadee: This was my first time at this port and I liked it very much. It is so beautiful and quite a photo op from the ship and from the beaches. We decided to walk to Hideaway Beach through suggestions I had read on line. It is the farthest beach to the left when you get off the tender. The water was beautiful and calm. The day was very hot so sitting on the edge of the water with a drink in hand and a floating mat was just about all I could handle. It was so relaxing.
We enjoyed the BBQ lunch that the RCI employees put on. They had hamburgers, hotdogs, chicken, ribs, various salads, fresh fruit and cookies and some cake desserts. It was a very nice day.
There are great photo ops of the Navigator as you are leaving by tender and from the beach itself.
Jamaica:
This was also my first visit to this island. I had booked on line a tour with Ionie McBeam. She met us promptly at the pier and ushered us to her air-conditioned van. There were about 12 of us. Our first stop was at Dunn’s River Falls. I really enjoyed this climb up the falls and did not find it hard at all. You just had to be careful but it was most enjoyable.
After our stop there she took us for a ride through Fern Gully and made various stops to see such locals as the Spice man and the Fire Man. Of course with every picture that was snapped they looked for a tip.
She proceeded up to Shaw Gardens area for a photo op of the ship. Now I had heard many, many glowing reports about Ionie on line but in my opinion her tour was nothing out or the ordinary. I was disappointed and expected more. She hardly said anything or commented unless you asked a specific question. I would not go with her again. This was the opinion of others in my tour who has also read all those glowing reports. I basically flipped a coin as to who to go with either Ionie or Peat Taylor.
Grand Cayman:
We also booked a tour on our own on the Internet with Nativeway. After some delay in the beginning we made our way to their van and they brought us to the marina and the boar. There were 30 people on the boat about half and half Navigator passengers and passengers from Carnival Triumph. It took about 25 minutes to reach Coral Gardens for snorkeling and we stopped first there because it was very busy at Stingray City Sandbar. We then proceeded to the Sandbar and it was in complete contrast to the year before when we had gone about the same time of year.
Last year the water was like glass and so calm. This day it was not and had many waves and it was a rough ride out. The tour itself was very good and everyone should experience this place at least once.
After we arrived back at the marina those that wanted to be dropped off at the 7 mile beach all got into one vehicle and my hubby Rick and I went to the public beach for about 1 ½ hours. The driver agreed to pick us up at a designated time. There were about 12 of us that went there. There was no admission and there were washrooms and change facilities but no places to buy a drink. An ice-cream truck did come by in the parking lot so we grabbed and ice cream cone. The beach was so beautiful with long white sandy beach and beautiful warm very blue water.
Cozumel:
We had been to Cozumel last year so this time we decided to do some shopping in the morning. We took the cab from the ship into town and that cost about $6.00 and had the taxi driver drop us off at Los Cinco Soles. I purchased a few things here and we started walking and shopping along the way until we got to Carlos ‘n Charlie’s where we went in and had a drink. We mainly wanted to check things out to see what it was all about. Now we were there about 1 pm so it was still early so things were relatively calm but we did get the idea of what goes on. We did enjoy ourselves and are certainly glad we made a stop there. We checked out the gift shop and bought some t-shirts to take back home.
Disembarkation:
Now this part I was worried about since I had a 12:50 flight out of FLL and the ship sailed into Miami. I requested early disembarkation and received pink colored tags. Now I was aware that white was one of the first colors to be called so I was leery when I saw the pink colored tags. I made a quick stop at the Guest Relations desk and asked about the pink tags and he said this was the LAST color to be called.
Now they let you fill out the information on the interactive TV as to what time your flight is and from this information they decide what color tags you get. Well I selected the earliest time and still got the wrong colored tags.
The Guest Relations person simply changed my tags to an early color, which was Orange, and it was the second color to be called. White colored tags were called at about 7:20 am and our color Orange was called at about 7:35 am We made our way out, found our luggage and went through customs and were putting our things into the cab by 8:15 am. We arrived about 25 minutes later at the FLL airport and the cost of the taxi was $57.25 to be exact. It was about 8:45 am now and we inquired about an earlier flight but with 4 of us traveling they only had 3 seats so we sat and waited patiently for our 1 pm flight.
I was very pleased with the disembarkation process and really sweated about how this procedure would go. It was very easy to find your luggage on the carousel.
Some highlights:
The friendliness of the staff was quite refreshing. Kudos to RCI for this!
No problem with chair hogs around the pool area. Not many smokers either at least not that I noticed. The smoking areas poolside were more defined and people seemed to adhere to them. Only real smoke I noticed was in the casino and that is to be expected. Also in the lounges as long as you sat in the non-smoking side you were fine.
Noticed that the bar servers do not go around with trays of drinks around the pool like they used to at least not as much. Am not sure of the reason for this. I remember them walking around with Love Connections, Mango Tangos and Pina Colada’s much more frequently. I saw this mostly on embarkation day.
The dining room is truly stunning.
We had wonderful sunny hot weather just the way I like it.
Highly recommend this class of ship and especially the Navigator. She is a stunning, beautiful, amazing, fantastic ship. Not enough adjectives to describe her. Royal Caribbean did not disappoint in any way, shape or form. Looking to book the next one.
One other note I would like to thank my sister Madeline and Doug as well as new found CC friends Mitch (Chloe Girl) and Veronica for being great tablemates and for helping to make this cruise one we will all never forget.
If you have any other questions please do not hesitate to e-mail me at
emmysoo1@shaw.ca
Emmy :)