Today was our second sea day and it was even better than yesterday. I guess it helps when it begins not docked in Galveston!
I couldn't help myself and once again woke up early, at 7am. I took the liberty of waking my wife and daughter up so we could get going. Pro tip for all the husbands out there, don't wake your sleeping wife up because you really want to go to the Windjammer.
After getting ready we had breakfast at the Windjammer, which featured the usual selection of breakfast foods. I, of course, opted for the omelette station and we enjoyed a gorgeous view of the ocean with our meal.
We dropped my daughter off at Adventure Ocean and this time were given a beeper just in case there were any issues. We hadn't gotten one before so not sure why now but didn't end up needing it.
My wife and I spent some time walking around the ship some more, including checking out the Peek-a-boo bridge. The peek-a-boo bridge is a window where guests can look in and spy on the ship's bridge. It's up on deck 11 and offers a great view of the bridge's operations.
We also booked my wife a massage package for later today (making up for waking her up early I suppose). She went with the special of the day, which is a five service spa pack that includes back massage, facial, ankle & foot massage, exfoliation and some other relaxing things for $139.
At 10am we had a tour of the galley that Royal Caribbean invited us to partake in. Full disclosure: Royal Caribbean provided this galley tour for free to members of the media. Everything else, including the cost of the cruise, airfare, spa treatments and restaurants have been paid by me.
We met with the head chef for Navigator of the Seas and he took us through the galley on deck 4 to see how food is prepared. It's an impressive operation and very refined. For cruise geeks like me, it provided some cool insight.
After the tour my wife and I headed back up to pool deck for drinks and sun. Interesting side note, we first got a drink at the Sky Bar and got Margaritas for $10 each. We then went down to the Solarium to get another round of drinks and they were $1 cheaper. The tidbit to takeaway isn't that I was drinking at 10:45am but the discrepency in price. I guess it does pay to shop around!
At 11:30am I had another media tour of Navigator of the Seas' bridge. As cool as the galley tour was, the bridge tour was even cooler because we got to see how a ship like Navigator of the Seas works and meet the Captain!
Lunch today was at Izumi, the sushi restaurant on Deck 14 that is new to Navigator of the Seas as part of her revitialization. Izumi used to have a cover charge but now has no cover charge, and just charges food a la carte.
I'll save the full review of Izumi for a different blog post but I will note that there is a different menu for lunch and dinner. The lunch menu has just sushi, whereas the dinner menu has an expanded sushi menu and non-sushi items as well. Moreover, there are no sushi specials during lunch.
I liked my lunch at Izumi, and being a sushi lover, I found their sushi to be of good quality overall. The tuna roll pieces I recieved were small in size but the signature rolls I ordered definitely measured up. And unlike Giovanni's Table yesterday, Izumi was busy!
Next up I had an opportunity to see a functional virtual balcony! Like many of you, I was excited to see one "in the flesh" and this was another Royal Caribbean tour for the media. We saw the two possible views the virtual balconies have and had some time to talk with the outside firm, Control Group, that designed them.
I have to say these virtual balconies are going to be really popular because they are pretty darn cool and the visual aspect is stunning.
While my wife went to get her massage, I took my daughter swimming. The air temperature was definitely warm enough for swimming, however the water temperature did not exactly match. It was fine once you got used to it but my daughter does not believe in slow adjustments, so I had to jump in.
We had a great time swimming and she loved splashing around in there. The pool wasn't terribly crowded either so it was a fun time for us both, although we did quickly towel off and run back inside the ship to warm up.
By now my wife was back and after I showered I took some time to take some dusk photos from the pool deck. I'm not a great photographer by any means but I thought I got a few decent shots. Plus I just love how Royal Caribbean ships look at night!
Prior to dinner I had the opportunity to talk to Tim, the lead developer for the virtual balcony project and spent the better part of an hour picking his brain about the virtual balconies. My discussion with him will appear in a detailed blog post in the days following my cruise but I have to say my takeaway is the virtual balconies are undeniably cool and let's just say what we see today isn't the end of virtual balcony development. Also big shout out to Royal Caribbean Blog reader Ronnie!
Some of you asked for photos of the R-Bar, which is my new favorite bar to hang out in. Their bartenders are fantastic, to the point you tell them what kind of alcohol and/or juices you like and they will whip something up just for you. Amazing!
Dinner was once again in the main dining room and it was Italian night. Food was great overall and once again my wait staff was fantastic. Our waiter, Daniel, is really quite funny and the guy is a pleasure to talk to, especially because you aren't sure what joke he has lined up next.
Tomorrow we are back on land and it's our first stop of Roatan in Honduras. My first time there and we have a taxi driver hired to take us around the island. It's a dock port and we are due in at 10. I will have a lot to report from our adventure there!
