DunkelBierJay

gold
except the pic looks like Navigator

gold
except the pic looks like Navigator

That's one of the reasons I'm not on Facebook!

http://www.theonion.com/article/shelling-royal-caribbeans-ms-allure-sinks-carnival-56448

The lack of unlimited money and time to be on a ship

The lack of unlimited money and time to be on a ship

I know Nick Vitani and his wife are booked, but unsure of anyone else. 
I'm getting married that day so I'll be missing this sailing. 

One idea is to use an app called Marine Traffic...you can track ships by name and position...there may be a delay in what you see, but it may help you estimate when to wake up and watch the ship arrive. I have used it successfully in my geekdom.

My pleasure. I am excited for you going on Navigator for the first time. It has many similarities to Freedom class, but is more intimate, and the crew is fantastic. The AC in the gym worked well, and I hope it does for you too. Don't forget to check out the peekaboo bridge just in front of the fitness center. You can access it from the forward side doors in the Solarium. This feature is lacking on Freedom class. Out of the four classes I have sailed, Voyager class is my favorite followed closely by Empress.
If you haven't seen Matt's post about Navigator hidden secrets, here you go:
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2016/05/19/top-10-royal-caribbean-navigator-of-the-seas-hidden-secrets

This is merely an FYI...
I was at a Technical conference this week in Vegas and happen to meet the CIO for RCCL, Mike Giresi (Only been CIO for 18-24 month), only had a few seconds with him, expressed some of the overall concerns that have been voiced on  this forum, and he seemed genuinely concerned, he said he has a priority list he was working on, seems like ship board automation and the new APP are highest, but he has the web site on his list and that he was working on it.

Thanks Spiegeje, much appreciated. A hot tub inside the main part of the gym is a first for me cant wait to try it out and the cool down spot as if the Navigator is anything like the Indy there was no air con working in the gym on all our cruises on her 

The gym on Navigator is every bit as good as the gym on Freedom which I assume is the same as on Indy. It is almost imperceptibly smaller.
My favorite cool down spot was one of the stationary bikes on the starboard side...incredible views every time.
Yes, I recall a hot tub in the middle of the gym between the aerobics room and the locker rooms.

While the ceiling effects on the Meraviglia's promenade look cool, the only advantage I saw that this ship had over Harmony was the tap with Murphys Stout on it. Despite this huge (to me) feature, I would book Harmony first.

While the ceiling effects on the Meraviglia's promenade look cool, the only advantage I saw that this ship had over Harmony was the tap with Murphys Stout on it. Despite this huge (to me) feature, I would book Harmony first.

If you were on Bus 3, you are one of the cool kids

We actually just decided to cancel our excursion and stay on board the ship in Falmouth, and then put those funds towards doing a jet ski tour in Labadee. Feeling really good about that decision, and looking forward to playing some putt putt and (hopefully) trying out the Flowrider without having to deal with huge lines.

Shuttles can be a good option. Here's one to consider...https://www.goportcanaveral.com/services/fly-snooze-cruise.php
You can also consider a one-way car rental...both Hertz and Budget are very close to the port. There are also several hotels close to it.
Last time, we stayed at the Residence Inn and used the Hertz one-way rental option as it is in the hotel parking lot. We used the Hertz shuttle from the hotel and were on board about twenty minutes later.

Shuttles can be a good option. Here's one to consider...https://www.goportcanaveral.com/services/fly-snooze-cruise.php
You can also consider a one-way car rental...both Hertz and Budget are very close to the port. There are also several hotels close to it.
Last time, we stayed at the Residence Inn and used the Hertz one-way rental option as it is in the hotel parking lot. We used the Hertz shuttle from the hotel and were on board about twenty minutes later.

I find towel clips for deck loungers to be worth their weight in gold...

I find towel clips for deck loungers to be worth their weight in gold...

We're excited about it. Today the price went up to 2000 CAD for a garenteed balcony, Yesterday we paid less than 1200, that's a big jump for one day!
Plus they gave us our room today, not obstructed! I'm also happy because many of the rooms look straight down at a roof, ares does not.
 

For me the big perk is to get in a shorter line at boarding, if you get there early it's not that big of a deal but still nice.
The top tier event was nice too, they had lots of free drinks, tables full of different flavours, just walk up and grab one.
And although not much but the balcony discount did save me some money on upcoming cruises.
Plus you can feel all high and mighty. On the last group cruise I was platinum for the first time and made a point to tell all these pathetic gold members how important I now was, lol. The term 'Gold lives matter' was thrown around more than once.

Thanks all for taking the time to reply and your input has been a great help to us. I spoke with Royal Caribbean on the phone today and they have told me that we can avail of priority boarding on disembarking the ship. I just need to speak to Guest Services once we board the ship and they will help us make our 08:35am flight. She said we would be allowed to disembark at 06:45am and as we are doing the self assist disembarking we should be through customs within 30mins.
However to be on the safe side we have also booked the 11:25am flight with Southwest. If we don't make our 08:35am flight we can just claim it against our travel insurance. 
Glad to hear that Southwest are a great airline as we haven't flown with them before.
Thanks for letting me know about the $15 fee. 

We recently visited Nachi Cocom during a Empress stop in Cozumel. We disembarked and walked through the cruise port to the taxi stand and immediately took the 15-20 minute $17 US drive south to the day resort. The cost was $55 per person with an $11 per person deposit. We received a confirmation upon booking which we printed out and took to the resort.
Our driver dropped us off at the entrance and we were warmly greeted by the staff member who took our picture and briefed us on the process. We were then directed to the reception area in the restaurant where we paid the remaining balance and were introduced to our waiter for the day and taken to our palapa not far from the pool. We had two beach chairs, and the option to buy some extras. We chose the floating beach mat for $7 for the day. Later I purchased a massage in the nearby massage tent for a much more reasonable cost than on the ship we were sailing.
The complimentary drinks were cold, delicious and plentiful. Our waiter, visited us often and took great care of us. Our ship was set to sail at 6:30, so we left a little before 4 in order to do some souvenir shopping in the port. To get a cab, all we needed to do was let our waiter know what time we wanted to leave, and he handled all the details. I left him a generous tip, told him we would be back and thanked him for the great service.
I am certain there are other spots on Cozumel where once can have a great experience. We chose Nacho Cocom because of it's reputation as a quieter and more low key destination.
 

An alternative is to pay the $15 fee to have them automatically check you in and assign you a boarding number.  This is what I usually do on cruises simply to avoid having to remember to do online check-in.