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Navigating to CocoCay May 17th-20th 2019


Andrew72681

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The months I’ve spent stressing out over CocoCay being open in time are now officially over. We’re now 10 days from our cruise on Navigator of the Seas. As our first RCCL Cruise was on Harmony we’ll see how a smaller “Amped” ship handles my expectations. 

 

We’ll cover one particular aspect of the trip each day till departing (Ship, Room, plans etc..) 

Since @Matt added this cruise does this count as my first group cruise ?

 

Now to get through the next 10 days. 

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Once we started to hear of the upgrades being placed on Navigator during its Dry-Dock we decided we had to give it a try. With a week long cruise this past December, another one this December, and a land based week this July we knew we wouldn’t be able to squeeze in another long cruise. We’ve also used up my daughter’s week of “vacation” from school. This left us with the three day itineraries that just started on Navigator. As we’ve done the three night on Norwegian Sky before this cruise should be leaps and bounds above that ship. Once we settled on a date I called the Club Royale/Mlife Rewards partner number to book the sailing. As many have learned, dealing with the casino program is a struggle on a good day, trying to explain partner benefits is an even bigger challenge. After way too much time explaining, my Mlife number had been added and my $125 OBC credit had been added to my account.

 

9 More Days

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8 days to go

The Ship- When Navigator’s upgrades were first announced it became clear I needed to try this one out. As all my recent cruises have been on big and new ships this would be a chance to see if smaller ships work for our family. The last time I was on a short cruise on an older ship it was pretty much an unmitigated disaster. Too many college kids, ship with no amenities, and I managed to dislocate my kneecap while on the “lazy” river at Atlantis (I’m sure that place is cursed.)

Having a young daughter waterslides are pretty much a must, which up until recently were tough to find on Royal Caribbean Ships, and even more so on smaller ships. Well, that changes with Navigator. I won’t rehash all the details @matt has thoughtfully laid out over the last few months, but the Blaster and the Riptide are right up our alley. 

The Bamboo room and To Dry For are also sure to be hits with my wife and daughter as even the Punny names of the styles and drinks had them laughing the other day. 

Our one concern is whether Navigator can handle the crowds on a completely full sailing. One thing we noticed on Harmony was that the wider ship made a bug difference around the pool deck. Currently no rooms are available today and that probably won’t change as they’ve added select media members and luminaries ?to the sailing.

 

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7-Ports

Not much to say for a three night cruise. But there’s one important thing..... Perfect Day at CocoCay. Really the only reason for booking this sailing was that we were pretty sure we’d be there not long after the second phase of CocoCay was opened. When Matt posted the updated timeline and that he’d be part of a media sailing, we knew we’d be safe. 

We’ll be spending Saturday at CocoCay, including a few bonus hours that they tacked on last weekend. A new 8pm departure means plenty of time for fun in the Sun and dusk on the island. 

After CocoCay we’re heading off to the cruise port that everyone has been to a million times, Nassau. There’s nothing that hasn’t  already been said about Nassau, whether good or bad. 

 

There’s no Number 7 Jersey so will go with the double 7.

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-6 Excursions

With only two stops and one being Nassau we only purchased one excursion through Royal Caribbean. 

On CocoCay we went back and forth between a Cabana and the thrill waterpark full day pass. As everything is new to us at CocoCay we decided the full day Thrill Waterpark pass was our best bet as Addie (8) is a huge fan of waterslides. Also, since we got a tall kid she’s more than tall enough for all of the slides. She’s most excited about the DareDevil’s Peak slide, my wife on the other hand is not quite as excited about it. 

For our day in Nassau we’re using an old points trick I normally reserve for Atlantis. As a frequent traveler we’re lucky to have large stashes of points. Normally I use Marriott points for a day stay at Atlantis. We go “check-in” when the ship docks, they say the room isn’t ready then we get our wristbands and go on our way. 40k Marriott points is a much better deal than 150-200 per person as an excursion. 

This time though we’re trying a place that at this time doesn’t offer day passes which hopefully means a bit quieter and more subdued. The Grand Hyatt Baha Mar looks like a beautiful property and has only been open for about a year. It’s only 20,000 World of Hyatt points which seemed like a steal for the four of us. Hopefully before we have to head back to the ship our room will be ready and I can check it out. 

6 Days to Go

 

 

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5- Room

Since we were such fans of the Junior suite from Harmony we decided we’d head in that direction this time as well. This time we’ll have one more person on Harmony though so the room might be tight. Luckily, it’s a short cruise, so hopefully won’t be too bad. 

We vacillated back and forth between Deck 10 and Deck 7, each had their disadvantages (Deck 10 is below the windjammer and Deck 7 is a partially obstructed view) but we settled on Deck 10. As there’s two early port days, the windjammer noise shouldn’t impact sleep very much. 

In the end we chose room 1394 for this trip, this will be first aft balcony, which hopefully will provide great views as we back into CocoCay on day 2. It’ll also be a tough choice between sail-away on the balcony or on the Helipad.

As the Capitals have retired number 5, we have to take it old school, the “Secretary of Defense” Rod Langway 

 

 

 

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We have room 1388 (corner aft) for our Dec cruise.  It isn't a Jr suite (booo - couldn't talk the shipmates into that price), but we decided we'd love the extra balcony space. I'm looking forward to what your impressions of the impact of the Windjammer are for your location.

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23 minutes ago, SpeedNoodles said:

We have room 1388 (corner aft) for our Dec cruise.  It isn't a Jr suite (booo - couldn't talk the shipmates into that price), but we decided we'd love the extra balcony space. I'm looking forward to what your impressions of the impact of the Windjammer are for your location.

Will be sure to comment on the noise. As our past points from NCL don’t do us any good on RC, the double points that come with the junior suite we’re a factor. 

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As we left Harmony less than thrilled with the Main Dining room options, and weren’t even fully on #TeamCK (I know blasphemy) we decided on a short cruise it was definitely time for the Ultimate Dining Package. Since we’ve booked the package has been updated to the Unlimited Dining Package. Overall, that won’t change much for us besides maybe getting some wings from PlayMakers when we come back onboard. Currently our plan is as follows

Day 1- Embarkation lunch at Chop’s and dinner at Jamie’s Italian. Jamie’s was such a big with my eight year old daughter that she tried to plan a trip to London to visit one of the land based locations. 

Day 2- After a very long day at CocoCay, Hooked will be our preferred option. This one gets mixed reviews, so am definitely not ruling out s last minute audible to Izumi (no hibachi on Navigator, just sushi and hot rocks)

Day 3- even though we will have been there on Embarkation Day, we’re planning to head back to Chops for our final dinner onboard.

Now back to packing as I need to have everything ready and in a suite case in case I don’t make it back from Oklahoma City. I’m not sure what I was thinking with planning a trip to tornado alley with a flight that gets me in less than 24 hours from when my flight to Florida leaves. Push come to shove, can always meet the family in Florida and just have my work suitcase as an extra.

As there’s no number 4, we’ll improvise with number 43 both  my wife’s and @Lovetocruise2002 ? favorite Capital, Tom Wilson

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19 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Actually, Tom Wilson is probably one of the more tolerable ones...?

Jamie Oleksiak probably thinks otherwise. You must be coming around on Wilson. I think I can on Crosby a bit, but Malkin’s another story. He’s like a Carnival Cruise, everyone says its ok but from the outside it just sucks 

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3-the key

I’ll start day -3 with the following disclaimer. 

I know this is a very polarizing topic, if you don’t believe the key is a potentially valuable tool and is “taking benefits away” this isn’t going to be a blog entry for you. Feel free to skip ahead or check out @twangster ‘s great pictures from Ovation. 

Not long as the key was rolled out almost fleetwide, we decided to add the key to this sailing for several reasons. First, being a short sailing getting to the fun part of the weekend faster is key. Secondly, on a short sailing the cost benefit analysis leans more heavily towards it making sense. An embarkation lunch plus WiFi almost makes the package a wash for the four of us even if we don’t use any of the other benefits. 

We’ll definitely use the priority seating when it comes to Showgirl and the ice show, and depending on timing we’ll hopefully get to use the reserved flowrider time. With the new Pier at CocoCay making it easier to get back and forth, even if the reserved Flowrider time is in the early afternoon we may head back onboard then head into the Waterpark again. After sailing on Harmony, my daughter took a huge liking of the Flowrider and won’t let us book a ship that doesn’t have one. 

We will potentially look at the Key for our August sailing as well, provided that the cost comes down, we were able to get it for this sailing at 19.99 per person per day. 

Getting down to crunch time, less than 48 hours till the flight leaves.

 

 

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If anyone needs yet another reason to not fly in the day before, remember that even when you fly into the day before that doesn’t even always work. Got a text message while at lunch that Southwest had cancelled our 4:35 pm flight. So rushed to gather our options called the A-list number and got the four of us on the 11:05 flight. Means taking more time off work and school but less risk of not getting there. 

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On 5/12/2019 at 5:46 PM, SpeedNoodles said:

We have room 1388 (corner aft) for our Dec cruise.  It isn't a Jr suite (booo - couldn't talk the shipmates into that price), but we decided we'd love the extra balcony space. I'm looking forward to what your impressions of the impact of the Windjammer are for your location.

Same here but other corner on Mariner.  When is your cruise?

OP looking forward to cruise.  Your stateroom will have some great views. Safe travels

 

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Haven’t even left for the trip yet and already missed a day of pre trip blog posting. Yesterday was a blur with a work trip and then getting our flight cancelled. Thank goodness for Southwest A-list status as it got us right through for rebooking. I had a random encounter on the plane home yesterday, sat behind Oliver North of Iran-Contra fame from the 80s. 

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2 packing- packing is a very personal experience so I’ll keep this short. I managed to pack in about five minutes, clothes all rolled and ready to go. My wife takes hours which I’ll never understand, so I’ll stop trying. 

We did add something new this trip, we upgraded our basic Gecko bag to an upgraded backpack. It’s a great bag to carry everything onto an island and will keep everything dry even if submersed. 

Also, since we’re carrying on and the original plan was to arrive late, we had sunblock delivered from Amazon right to the hotel.

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1 travel day story

Well, we’re finally here, travel day. After the cancelation I spoke of earlier it meant sitting in traffic before heading to the airport. Once there though everything went smoothly and we took off right on time. During the flight though a group of six girls in their twenties loudly talked through the whole flight. At one point we had to remind them that a child was in front of them as the language was out of control. 

We tossed back and forth the idea of renting a car, but in the end just decided to Uber down to Miami and over to the cruise port. 

For this stay we decided on a property we hadn’t tried before, the JW Marriott Marquis Miami. It was the nicest of the properties closest to the port that also can ne paid for with a Marriott Annual Free night certificate. 

 

There was a 25 dollar per night “Destination fee” but it included the entire game area downstairs with Virtual Bowling, football, golf school lessons, and more. We checked out the concierge lounge in the evening but it was already past the evening  hors d'oeuvres time frame so I can’t comment on the quality of those. From our room we could even catch a glimpse of the aft of empress of the seas  

Overall, the common areas are very well taken care of, but it still pales in comparison to the room we were given. When we arrived they let us know that we had been upgraded to a Bay view corner suite, which featured 1.5 bathrooms, separate bedroom area, and even an office area. The bathroom is gorgeous and well appointed with a separate water closet, bathtub, and huge steam shower. Amenities were nearly full size from Apothecary. 

Tomorrow’s the day, can’t wait to board navigator. Don’t imagine I’ll be up early to watch the ships come in.

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38 minutes ago, MrsFL said:

My husband and I leave next Monday on Navigator.  I can't wait to hear all about your cruise!

Yeah, I admit it, I’m a bad live blogger, trying to fit in everything on Navigator and CocoCay and trying to write it all out while doing it was impossible. Will get it all hammered out today or tomorrow. 

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On 5/20/2019 at 10:03 AM, Andrew72681 said:

Yeah, I admit it, I’m a bad live blogger, trying to fit in everything on Navigator and CocoCay and trying to write it all out while doing it was impossible. Will get it all hammered out today or tomorrow. 

 

2 hours ago, Matt said:

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The delay is because you encountered Shotsberg ?

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Embarkation Day Part 1-as usual I couldn’t sleep as I was ready to run to the pier as soon as the sun came up. Unfortunately I’d have to wait until 10 o’clock to check in at the pier. We grabbed some breakfast at the Hotels Concierge lounge, or more specifically the family did as I never eat as I’m rearing to get going and get onboard. While the lounge at the property is on the 36th floor with great views, breakfast is on the 2nd floor with basically no view. 

Once 9:45 arrived  requested our Lyft XL to the port which was 18.51 and was a suburban so plenty of room for us and our bags. It worked out great as the driver was around the corner so we waited less than a minute. Total time to Terminal A was only 12 minutes, and we passed right by the Intercontinental property so many of you like. At that time of the morning the departing crowd had left and the incoming crowd was probably still sleeping or working so they’re was zero traffic. There was no wait to unload our bags, and we quickly made it past a slew of porters offering to take our carry on bags. 

Terminal A from the second you pull in is in a class of its own, the drop off area is full covered so provides lots of shade for those hot Miami afternoons. Once you hit the doorway you’re right in front of the beautiful Propellor-mobile that looks like something I’d have loved over my crib as a baby. Within a few steps we were escorted over to a red carpet and into the elevator towards the suites-pinnacle check-in/ waiting area. The area itself is well appointed with comfortable couches and chairs where each guest is checked in. Rather than the traditional waiting in line, a representative comes to you for check in and to verify that your picture works. About 3 minutes after arriving in the area we were all checked in and asked to wait until they got the B2B cruisers off and back on. The area has refreshments while you wait but there wasn’t much waiting. 

We also saw a RC luminary as Super MARIO was on this cruise with us  

At about 10:45 a representative came out and let us know that they were finishing up a coast guard drill but we’re going to start boarding. However, guest related services would not open till 11 which meant some waiting to drop off our carry on luggage, but no big deal. My wife walked our luggage to the theater while my daughter and I went to hook to secure our dinner reservations. We had already purchased the ultimate dining package so it was a simple two minute conversation to secure Jamie’s, Hooked, and Izumi for the three nights. 

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Once we had given up our backpacks and carry on luggage, we walked the promenade before heading to Chops for our Key Lunch. 

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Playmakers

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To Dry For

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Bamboo Room Menu

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We also got to walk to through the Solarium which unlike Harmony has its own pool not just hot tubs  

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We arrived to Chops at about 11:20 and they weren’t yet ready for lunch. I’d prefer if they just started letting people in for lunch as it would cut down on some of the traffic and rush once 11:30 hits. 

We were promptly seated but that’s where the delays start. It took quite a while to get drinks, then to get orders in, and even longer to get lunch. Hopefully they’ll get the program refined as they don’t seem ready to serve 100 guests all at once. 

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It took till almost 1 o’clock to finish lunch, but that want a big issue as since there was a coast guard drill the rooms wouldn’t be ready till 2 o’clock. We then took time to change and headed for the pools and slides. After some fun in the sun and trying out the new slides for the first time we walked down to our room on Deck 10. It was timed perfectly as right as we hit the steps there was an announcement that rooms were ready. 

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