tdcackler

Also, here's a general overview of Labadee: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2016/06/16/labadee-guide-tips

Deep thoughts a la Jack Handy: 
Life really is a buffet of choices. Some tasty and some fowl. . . ?

As we plan our 2020 cruise, we asked our 9 year old if he wanted to go to new places on our cruise or have cool things on the ship. We explained that not every ship has water slides or laser tag. He said, totally seriously, "What about buffets? Do they all have buffets?" We assured that any ship we take him on will have a buffet.
#priorities

As we plan our 2020 cruise, we asked our 9 year old if he wanted to go to new places on our cruise or have cool things on the ship. We explained that not every ship has water slides or laser tag. He said, totally seriously, "What about buffets? Do they all have buffets?" We assured that any ship we take him on will have a buffet.
#priorities

As we plan our 2020 cruise, we asked our 9 year old if he wanted to go to new places on our cruise or have cool things on the ship. We explained that not every ship has water slides or laser tag. He said, totally seriously, "What about buffets? Do they all have buffets?" We assured that any ship we take him on will have a buffet.
#priorities

As we plan our 2020 cruise, we asked our 9 year old if he wanted to go to new places on our cruise or have cool things on the ship. We explained that not every ship has water slides or laser tag. He said, totally seriously, "What about buffets? Do they all have buffets?" We assured that any ship we take him on will have a buffet.
#priorities

We do our best.

The parents should be commended for bringing that child up right.... Well done

As we plan our 2020 cruise, we asked our 9 year old if he wanted to go to new places on our cruise or have cool things on the ship. We explained that not every ship has water slides or laser tag. He said, totally seriously, "What about buffets? Do they all have buffets?" We assured that any ship we take him on will have a buffet.
#priorities

You can check if a shuttle is provided, but Lyft is hard to beat from a convenience standpoint.

We went to Cabbage beach last year in December, prior to this trip we did and excursion through Royal where we paid $85 per adult, and $55 per child to go to the beach on Atlantis.  When we got there we had a beach chair and a towel and it was the same beach that Cabbage beach is on.  When we went back last Christmas and I saw the rock formations in the water I knew where we were, and I felt pretty ripped off!  The beach itself is great, it cost us $16 one way for four people in a taxi, only complaint was the amount of vendors going up and down the beach.  They were not rude at all, and you just had to tell them "no thank you" once and that individual would leave you alone.  You could rent chairs for the whole day for a reasonable price, I would gladly go there again with the kids, did not feel pressured or harassed whatsoever!  

I am from Nassau, I live in Canada. I am actually currently in Nassau for Christmas vacation. I am very sad, upset to read all the comments on this post. 
Yes the Port needs a serious make over and it was recently announced they are going to fix it up etc etc. 
There are many things to see outside of downtown Nassau. Also is perfectly safe to walk in the downtown area during the day. My father is a lawyer and walks to courthouses almost everyday, in downtown Nassau and had yet to be robbed in 20+ years.
There is a beautiful beach on Paradise Island, called Cabbage Beach (see attached picture) You don’t need to access it though Atlantis Day Pass there is public access for free. I go to it ALL the time.
Nassau is not perfect, yes it has crime. I am sure the town you live in, is not perfect and has crime too. 
 

Oh how I would love to be a Diamond with the Crown and Anchor!  Currently we are at Platinum and with our cruise in March we will be at Emerald. Hopefully we will be breaking the Diamond level by the end of the year.  We will both be doing cartwheels at that point!  

I mean... there is this... https://www.patreon.com/RoyalCaribbeanBlog ?‍♀️?

Watch out...Matt will be adding gratuity for us members shortly if we keep asking for benefits.?

Final Thoughts 
 
I wanted to give a few weeks in between returning and reflecting on my thoughts from the cruise and hopefully avoid some of the recencey bias. 
All in all I’d have to agree with @Matt that Harmony is my favorite ship out there, but that does not mean it’s without fault.
Even with the numerous elevator banks they’re programmed erratically which seems to lead to overcrowding. I’d prefer the system like in many hotels where you select where you are going and people get grouped together.  Also, the lack of common sense by elevator crowders often causes me to want to develop a pop up cardboard cut out that looks like an at capacity elevator. 
The main dining room food was among the worst I’ve had, I’d compare it to our early days of cruising on Carnival and well below Norwegian. Temperature was bad, food was bland, and even the choices were subpar. 
Specialty restaurants- in contrast to the MDR, this one leans towards Harmony over NCL, we had great meals at the Specialty Restaurants, with Jamie’s Italian being the standout. So much so that my eight year old wants to book a flight to London to visit the landslide Jamie’s Italian locations.
As others have mentioned signage is pretty poor, as someone who seemingly lacks a sense of direction, those little signs and indications of where I am are very helpful. I hear they’re doing away with it in the future, but in the hallways on Norwegian, fish on the carpet always point towards forward. 
Embarkation and Disembarkation- this will be an interesting one to compare once the new Norwegian terminal in Miami opens in 2019. Our experience embarking the ship and getting back on and off at ports was much smoother than any ports on NCL. We’ll be in the new Port Miami Terminal purpose built for Norwegian Encore next fall, only a couple of weeks after its opening. 
Shows and Entertainment- At the top end I’d give this one to Royal Caribbean for the broadway shows, but on daily activities I’d give a slight edge to NCL, mostly because of serendipity, with things like trivia relegated to pubs, and bars we wouldn’t stumble upon activities. On NCLs getaway and escape, they’re held in the atrium where we’d often stroll into an event. 
Pools and outdoor activities- other than the main dining room category this one is the biggest landslide. The Harmony had plentiful pools, decent water slides, and the flow rider was our favorite discovery. The Perfect storm water slide was fun, but the others were rather slow. Norwegian Encore is slated for great looking water slides to go along with a Go Kart Track, and laser tag, so this one might flip next year. 
Cabin- viewing mini-suites and junior suites in the same category, we much preferred the junior suite on Harmony, the closet being the differentiating factor. Having a walk in closet is a luxury we’d love to have every time. There was plenty of storage throughout the room. The bathroom however was  smaller than we expected with some wasted space in the middle of the room. We also sorely missed the second sink for when everyone is getting ready at the same time. 
 

 
So in Conclusion- we’d never hesitate to book either line, which after four cruises on NCL we thought we’d stick there. Partially because of the latitudes program, but also because of the included added values. However, I think we’ve gotten to a point where it’s just worth paying for the additional space, priority embarkation, etc.. A lot of that is probably because as a frequent business traveler I’m used to boarding first, so why go back to the back on vacations. 
So we may be Loyal to Royal, we’re also Feelin’ Norwegian. 

Funny, that's the same thing my employer said when I inquired about health insurance....    I told him I was diamond but he was not impressed.  Must be a Disney cruiser...

I hear that being Diamond entitles you to a free download of the podcast, but I'm not sure. ?

Day 5 - Aruba
The WiFi still isn’t great, so no pictures until I get back home.
After sleeping awfully last night, I slept in a bit late and didn’t wake up until 9:15. For some reason, my allergies always get bad in desert climates, so as soon as we docked in Aruba, I started getting stuffy. I grudgingly made my way down to the Windjammer and grabbed some breakfast. Then my mom and I got off the ship to meet my dad at 10:30 at diamonds international since he had already gotten off the ship before us. After some shopping (most of the stores were closed because of Christmas), we went back to the ship to grab some lunch for our 1:30 trikes tour.
We booked the tour through Aruba trikes and had a blast. It was a fun way to see the island, and we loved our tour guide Ramses. He was originally from the Netherlands and he spoke SEVEN different languages.
We didn’t finish the tour until 6:30 so we were stuck with my time dining. We were happy they could fit us in, but we still missed our normal wait staff. Our assistant waiter during my time dining was pretty good, but none of us were a huge fan of the head waiter. We understand how much harder being a my time dining waiter is, so we didn’t hold it against her that much.
I stuck with the kids vegetables for my appetizer (they were forgotten at first), my mom got her French onion soup again, my grandmother and her friend got ceaser salad, and my dad got the bay scallops. He was the only one to try something new and he said they were delicious. The portion size was a bit small, though.
Then for the main dish I got another kids grilled cheese which was fine. My parents got the coq au vin which they thought was pretty good and my grandmother and her friend got the prime rib which they also enjoyed.
For desert, my grandmother and I tried the brownie. We both enjoyed it. My dad got the citrus berries cheesecake which he liked more than yesterday’s cheesecake, and my mom and grandmother’s friend got their favorite again - the apple pie.
After dinner we ran to the 9:00 show and barely made it in time(dinner took forever). The show tonight was called, Now and Forever, which just showcased the singers and dancers doing broadway songs. The show was pretty good. I especially liked the part at the end where they did a compiliation of ABBA songs.
When the show ended we went back out to Aruba and caught a taxi to ride around and look at Christmas lights. Since we only had an hour before we needed to be back on the ship, we couldn’t go to black mountain which is where they said had the best lights because it’s an hour round trip to get there. Instead we just rode around the downtown area. The lights were pretty nice, but nothing spectacular. We really liked our taxi driver, though.
We got back at 11:15 and got back on the ship. Then I just met up with friends and hung out with them until 1.

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As you can tell, I have not expanded this system terribly yet.  I probably should copy C&A statuses!

That's awesome!

Look what my Grands gave us for Christmas.  We can't wait to use it!!

Exactly.  It's annoying, but for me, not that serious as I'd much rather wait 5 mins for an Uber than pay far more for a less desirable trip in a cab.

We like Go Shuttle and have used them many times in varies airports to get to our hotel.  They have an app that is easy to use.

Reading this update to Navigator makes me feel so much better. I've cruised a couple times in the past with my parents about 10-12 years ago as a young teen. Being the only one with experience, I was tasked with leading the charge on finding a vacation for my group of friends. Most haven't been out of the country, none on a cruise before. No pressure, right?
I find cruising to be a great value for cost. Got a great deal on the 5 night from April 7-12th with stops in Nassau and Labadee. Being that we are all in our mid 20s, we didn't really have the budget for one of the big, new ships in only 6 months of planning, maybe for 2020. But, I wanted them to be as impressed as I was my first cruise. Nothing better than the face of someone seeing how massive and impressive a cruise ship really is the first time pulling into port.
Looks like Navigator will get a great new update just in time to set sail. 130 days out-very excited! First time on here and like I said been a decade plus since last cruise so things have changed I'm sure. Any tips/ideas from the experts would be greatly appreciated! I've done a lot of research and planning, but I'm sure there is something I haven't thought of.