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Navigator Mar. 1, 2019 - 9 Nights Southern Caribbean


twangster

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3 hours ago, twangster said:

I'm sure you are all getting tired of so many photos so I'll stop soon but here are a few more...

Erm nope... not tired of them at all! Absolutely fantastic photography and thanks for sharing ? 

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Day 8 - Sea Day Galley Tour

Part of the Crown and Anchor benefits for Diamond Plus or Pinnacles this free galley tour is always a great way to learn some behind the scenes secrets.

For example the MDR menu is set by the Food and Beverage Manager along with the Activities Manager.  They can change it from time to time however the actual entrees are fleet standards.  Apparently the menus displayed in the Royal app are out of sync with the ship and in some cases are way off the actual menus for each day. 

One of our Sous Chef Brian will take us around today.

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Preparing fruit plates.

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Navigator received some galley updates during the refresh.  This is a new dishwasher that can accept just about anything and it performs a rinse, wash, dry and polish.  In the past clean items would have to be hand polished to remove water spots.  Now it's fully automated.

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They simulate a health inspection as a step to get ready for the real thing.

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Some of the food prepped in the kitchen works on a 4 hour time control plan.  Detailed logs are maintained.  Food has to be kept at specific temperatures in different phases of the 4 hour windows it goes through.  There are several check points and if the right criteria is met food is discarded.  It's not saved for the next day in the Windjammer or fed to the crew, if it crosses a threshold it's discarded.  

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Our baker getting bread ready.

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Some danish and pastries are not made on the ship.  They are loaded pre-made and baked on demand.

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Protein cooking station

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The butcher spends the most money of anyone in the galley.  On a daily basis the meats cost between $10,000 to $15,000.  On a nine night cruise like this corporate gives him or her around $100,000.00 to spend on the cruise.  That's just the meat and doesn't include other items.

These elevators are dedicated to the galley use.  They run down to the food stores in the lower decks and bring food to all levels of the dining room.

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Even the loading of the bread basket is carefully planned:

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Beverage station


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Navigator participates in Diamond happy hour in the MDR.

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Every time you take one of these tours you learn a little bit more.

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@twangster what was in the jet pilot drink?  I will be on Adventure in July, and my husband flew fighters in the AF.  Adventure does not have the Bamboo lounge, but I would love to order one for him as a joke.

Never mind I googled it.  Not sure if the recipe is right, but if it is, I am not sure how you can stand up after 1 of those.  The recipe calls for 3 types of rum and Southern comfort, plus cran, pineapple and OJ.  

 

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1 minute ago, Pima1988 said:

@twangster what was in the jet pilot drink?  I will be on Adventure in July, and my husband flew fighters in the AF.  Adventure does not have the Bamboo lounge, but I would love to order one for him as a joke.

 

All Bamboo Room drinks are made by hand pouring the individual ingredients into each drink.  I doubt other bars would know of them particularly on a ship that doesn't have a Bamboo Room.  The drink menu lists the ingredients or you can try googling it.  I'm not sure if it is a common drink or a concoction created just for the Bamboo Room.   

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Meal with an Officer

Lunch today is in Jamies Italian courtesy of Crown and Anchor for members over 340 points.  Several tables were set aside for us and a number of Officers joined us.  I sat with the Hotel Director.  The Guest Services Manager and other officers such as the Inventory Manager were present.   

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The menu is from Jamies but not the regular lunch or dinner menu.  I'll cover that in another post.


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Red or white wine was offered along with sparkling or still water.

Meat plank to start.


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Tomato Brushetta


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Truffle Tagliatelle.  Very good.

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Raspberry Sorbet for dessert.  Intense flavor.  Very good.


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Our Hotel Director is finishing up his current contract then will take a vacation break.  When he returns he will move to CocoCay where he will live and become the manager on the island.   The pier is getting very close to being finished.  CocoCay and Labadee are managed and operated like they are ships.  Each ship has revenue goals and operating costs that are allocated to that ship.  CocoCay is no different so in that sense he will operate and manage CocoCay just like he does in his role as Hotel Director.

I didn't have a great Jamies experience on Harmony but it was fantastic on Anthem.  This meal lived up to my Anthem experience and I'm really glad they used Jamies Italian for this event today.  The flavors in the meat plank, bruschetta and Tagliatelle are great and I can see myself coming back for more meals here.

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18 minutes ago, cbnsoul said:

Seems like Jamie’s is kinda light on tables - awful lot of open space

I prefer that actually.  Rather have some space around me and not be crammed in eating dinner with other people inches from me.  I estimate seating for around 60 right now.  They can add more chairs and tables if they start to sell out.  

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Chops Grille

Also located in the Windjammer opposite of Jamie's Italian.  

I took these photos back in Curaçao when the ship was empty.  I was offered a 30% discount off the $49 onboard rate for dinner that evening.  That doesn't always happen.  

Chops was refreshed receiving new carpet, new chairs, drapes and some new decorations.

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Lunch menu:

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Dinner Menu:


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Kids menu:


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Desserts:


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El Loco Fresh

Pool side deck 11.

This has become a favorite lunch spot on many days.  Instead of heading into the Windjammer I've found myself coming here for a quick bite.

It's very popular and it took some time to get photos without lots of people in them.  In fact i had to wait until night time to get a wide angle shot like this:

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Like the Windjammer there are hand washing stations at each end.

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They have some pre-cooked options such as Chicken or Cheese Quesadillas and Chicken or Beef Burritos which I'm not a huge fan of. 

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For me the soft tacos are the reason I come here.

The tacos are made in a taco press right on the spot. 

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The initial soft taco station is staffed and based on your request they will put a taco on a plate then add which ever meat you request.  Choices are chicken, beef or pork.  


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Moving along they have self serve rice, beans, chili beef and cheese sauce.

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Nachos are also available.   


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Then you head over the topping station and load up your nachos or tacos with all sorts of goodness.

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The guacamole isn't bad.  It may not be the best guac I've had but it's not terrible either.

All in all it's a nice quick spot to grab a bite especially when hanging out around the pool.

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Day 9 - Sea Day Theater Tour

Another benefit of the Crown and Anchor Society you always learn something in these backstage theater tours.

First of all, the Metropolis Theater is no more.  Like other ships the fleet is moving to the standard branding of "Royal Theater"

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The theater got more than just a new name.  Some new tech was installed and the theater received some TLC like all public venues did during the refresh.

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Some new shows were installed during the break.  A new cast joined to perform them.  The tour today is led by the dance captain, the vocal lead singer and the lead sound and lighting technician.

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After introductions and some general Q & A were invited on stage.

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Here is where the head pieces for the "Showgirl" production are stored.  They are very delicate and cost in the thousands each.


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Costume and 'dressing room'.  I use that term loosely because this is just a small space behind the front stage where the cast run off and on executing a costume change in seconds.
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More 'Showgirl' costume storage on the other side.


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Spectrum will also receive a version of 'Showgirls'.  While Navigator has five showgirls in the cast, Spectrum will have eighteen.  


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Voyager class was the first that expanded the theater to include the fly away system where set pieces including walls and curtains can be lifted into the ceiling.  The stage is on deck 2 and this fly away space extends upward to the bottom of deck 6.  Prior to Voyager class the space above the theater was used for other purposes.  Any walls, curtains or set pieces have to brought in from the sides or rolled up on older ships.

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The Captain just made his noon announcement.  We are on schedule for a normal arrival.

You may recall we changed time on Day 3 after leaving Labadee.  I have been waiting for the card on my bed instructing to change time back.  It never came.  As it turns out daylight savings time ends on the US mainland tonight so we are not changing time, rather we are letting the US mainland catch up to us.  

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Bridge Tour

Another benefit of the Crown and Anchor Society is a tour of the bridge.

The central cockpit.


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Here you can see the vaulted ceiling behind the cockpit that used to contain the windows for the Peak-A-Boo-Bridge.


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Found a screen dedicated to the water slides.  Water is heavy and the holding tanks for the slides has to be accounted for.  During an emergency the bridge may need to control the water.

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New bridge technology was added to Navigator during the refresh including the Oceanstar system.  This system has the ability of receiving signals from three GPS type systems, the US GPS constellation, the European Galileo constellation and the Russian GLONASS constellation.  By combining the three system there is improved resiliency and accuracy.  The positioning system can hold the ship to within 1m of target.   


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When the ship finished dry dock they sailed out of Freeport and the ship spent the first day and night at sea.  They were re-calibrating engineering data relative to weight distribution given the new structures that were added during dry dock.  Engineers on board placed sensor tanks at various locations and recorded data as the ship was maneuvered.  

The bridge wing station.

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The view aft.

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The view forward and the camera for the virtual balcony system near the top of the window.

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This display illustrates the various holding tanks that contain different liquids.  From fuel to fresh water to waste tanks they are all monitored since the ballast they create is vital to maintaining the proper ship attitude. 
 

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Navigational chart display.


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19 hours ago, twangster said:

The pub was also refreshed with new chairs, resurfacing the floor and new modern ceiling fans.  

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I think Playmakers has had an impact on the pub.  It is still a popular spot when live musicians are playing but many times on this cruise it's been mostly empty while Playmakers is packed.

Looks like the bar top has also been resurfaced.  Great improvement throughout!

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On 3/8/2019 at 2:55 PM, twangster said:

Cruise Compass will be emailed to @Matt once I have them all.  He will post it here:

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/cruise-compass?ship=280

They had a comedian on day one during the welcome aboard show who also did a late night adult only session.  Once the cruise compass posts you'll see all that.

Thanks!

Thanks!  I really, really appreciate i!  They have definitely changed a bit.  We are really looking forward to our March 29 cruise after reading your great blog!!

Michelle

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On 3/3/2019 at 7:03 PM, twangster said:

That is exactly what I use it for.  The nearest access point is down the hall a couple cabins.  In bed the ship wifi is very weak.  The travel router does a good job of boosting the signal so I have full coverage in my cabin.

What travel router do you use?  How much to get one?

Karen In Tampa

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On 3/8/2019 at 2:55 PM, Sweety said:

Love your name!

Thanks Sweety!  You are my 3rd post!  We are just going to cruise our way to retirement!  Ha!

This is the best cruise blog group!  We feel like we are a tiny part of each person's cruise that we too can enjoy while waiting anxiously until our next cruise!

We are sailing on Navigator March 29th.  We got very excited again today after reading all the cruise compasses Twangster posted!  And of course more of Twangster's wonderful pics of the ship too!  

Michelle

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@twangster thanks again for taking so much of your time to blog and periscope from your cruise. I can't wait to sail on Navigator in April. Your photos and videos and insights have been really helpful. This will be my first Royal Caribbean sailing and I'm delighted I chose Navigator. ? 

I've shared links in a few FB groups to some of your content, and many people have expressed their thanks to me for sharing... so I'll extend their thanks to you too. 

Wishing you a safe trip home today. ? 

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Twangster...

Do you know if they’re added the computer port during the remodel of the ship for the App to work eventually?...I just read this on another thread:

         iMessage has worked for me on both Harmony and Quantum.  I had heard that it's because the new App is going to use the same port (not ship port) as iMessage uses so they can't block it.  Plus, I think they realize there really is no harm in allowing it.   Just connect to the wifi on airplane mode and you should be able to send iMessages assuming your phone knows that the other phone is an iPhone (aka it sends blue text bubbles instead of green)

It would be great news if I could use iMessage for free to keep in contact with my kids on the ship.  

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