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McCartney5

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Hey everyone! We will be celebrating my husband being home from a 12 month combat deployment in June with a 4 night cruise out of Miami to Nassau & Cococay. Naturally, I’d love for things to move smoothly & it be a wonderful vacation for us. We have 3 kids (10,8 & 6). Currently booked in room 8500 on the Navigator but now worry about ship movement. We’re a roller coaster, thrill seeking family but motion sickness may get to us if it’s bad at the front of the ship. Thoughts?? Also, a bit confused about My Dining. Are we still in the main dining room? Can we make reservations for My Dining at 5:30 on our cruise planner? On a 4 night cruise, will there be a formal night? Lastly, are cruises in mid June insanely crowded & should we expect long lines at slides? Any & all info, tips/advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks so much in advance!

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14 minutes ago, McCartney5 said:

Hey everyone! We will be celebrating my husband being home from a 12 month combat deployment in June with a 4 night cruise out of Miami to Nassau & Cococay. Naturally, I’d love for things to move smoothly & it be a wonderful vacation for us. We have 3 kids (10,8 & 6). Currently booked in room 8500 on the Navigator but now worry about ship movement. We’re a roller coaster, thrill seeking family but motion sickness may get to us if it’s bad at the front of the ship. Thoughts?? Also, a bit confused about My Dining. Are we still in the main dining room? Can we make reservations for My Dining at 5:30 on our cruise planner? On a 4 night cruise, will there be a formal night? Lastly, are cruises in mid June insanely crowded & should we expect long lines at slides? Any & all info, tips/advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks so much in advance!

I can help a little with your questions, but first let me pay my debt of gratitude to your husband and family for his/your service.  Without it, and millions others we would not be free to share ideas on this forum, let alone actually go on cruises which everyone on here loves to do.

With regard to your stateroom on the Navigator I would say you have nothing to worry about.  The ship is huge and has built in stabilization.  Unless there is unusual weather you won't know you are on the water the vast majority of the time.  I will say a few years ago my now deceased beloved brother had his last cruise on the Carnival Magic which is a similarly sized ship with similar stabilization.  He was in a wheelchair and the only handicapped staterooms were all the way forward on deck 2 or 3.  He wasn't kept awake by the movement but rather the sound of the ship cutting into the surf.  It was a constant pounding even during calm weather.  However, that was deck 3 you are on deck 8.  I didn't look at the deck plan to see how far forward you are.  He and his wife were all the way to the front.  I don't think you have anything to worry about in that regard.

There is a section of the mail dining room that is for 'My Time Dining'.  Not sure about when you can make reservations and it may be a little difficult the first night, but should be fine after that.  We love RCCL, but typically choose our trips based upon what is best in given situation.  We are on the Carnival Breeze next month (my wife want to go to Grand Turk) and are working out the details of our 'My Time Dining' as well.  We had planned to do the standard early seating, but two of our ports are noon to 7 which would cut into our port time.  Hopefully you can work out what you need, and hope we can do the same.  I see a potential snag there.

I'm sure the ship will be full, but they pretty much always are, and for the most part, they are built to handle crowds.

I hope this helps a little.

 

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To help prevent dealing with long lines at the slides (if they happen at all), board the ship early (11am-ish), bring swimsuits, sunscreen, etc in your carryon, and slide to your heart's content on embarkation day.  The slides might not open until around 2pm, but you'll have time to take care of other things on the ship before then like registering your kids at Adventure Ocean.  Not all the other passengers will be on the ship yet, bring swim gear in their carryon and/or realize the slides are open then.  If lines are bad later in the cruise, at least you would have enjoyed them already by then.  

I'm not sure about formal night on your cruise, but I recommend looking for a Cruise Compass on the blog site for the same ship and similar itinerary.  You'll see the suggested dress code for each day.  Also, you can see what time the slides open on embarkation day.

Have a great first cruise on Royal!!!

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You can make your My Time Dining reservations right in the cruise planner, or in the app once you are on the ship.  I always make mine ahead of time on the cruise planner, and occasionally change them later on the app if needed.   My Time Dining may not be available as early as 5:30, however.  It varies by ship.

If the times you want aren't available on the Cruise Planner, you can try making reservations on the app or right at the dining room.  You can also just show up when you want to eat. There will be a line for people without reservations - you will wait a little longer without a reservation, but you'll still be able to eat.  I'm just still not sure that the My Time Dining room opens that early.  You can check when you get on the ship.

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10 hours ago, McCartney5 said:

Hey everyone! We will be celebrating my husband being home from a 12 month combat deployment in June with a 4 night cruise out of Miami to Nassau & Cococay. Naturally, I’d love for things to move smoothly & it be a wonderful vacation for us. We have 3 kids (10,8 & 6). Currently booked in room 8500 on the Navigator but now worry about ship movement. We’re a roller coaster, thrill seeking family but motion sickness may get to us if it’s bad at the front of the ship. Thoughts?? Also, a bit confused about My Dining. Are we still in the main dining room? Can we make reservations for My Dining at 5:30 on our cruise planner? On a 4 night cruise, will there be a formal night? Lastly, are cruises in mid June insanely crowded & should we expect long lines at slides? Any & all info, tips/advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks so much in advance!

You might want to check out the Cruise Planner for a similar itinerary of your ship.  That will give you an idea of the recommended dinner attire or activities that your family would enjoy.  The link to Cruise Compass is at the very top of this web page.  Have a great cruise!  And I also applaud your husband's service as a retired Army civilian employee.

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10 hours ago, RCVoyager said:

I can help a little with your questions, but first let me pay my debt of gratitude to your husband and family for his/your service.  Without it, and millions others we would not be free to share ideas on this forum, let alone actually go on cruises which everyone on here loves to do.

 

 

+1

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On 2/2/2020 at 5:42 AM, McCartney5 said:

Hey everyone! We will be celebrating my husband being home from a 12 month combat deployment in June with a 4 night cruise out of Miami to Nassau & Cococay. Naturally, I’d love for things to move smoothly & it be a wonderful vacation for us. We have 3 kids (10,8 & 6). Currently booked in room 8500 on the Navigator but now worry about ship movement. We’re a roller coaster, thrill seeking family but motion sickness may get to us if it’s bad at the front of the ship. Thoughts?? Also, a bit confused about My Dining. Are we still in the main dining room? Can we make reservations for My Dining at 5:30 on our cruise planner? On a 4 night cruise, will there be a formal night? Lastly, are cruises in mid June insanely crowded & should we expect long lines at slides? Any & all info, tips/advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks so much in advance!

Thank your husband for his service!

Happy cruising!

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On 2/2/2020 at 3:42 AM, McCartney5 said:

Hey everyone! We will be celebrating my husband being home from a 12 month combat deployment in June with a 4 night cruise out of Miami to Nassau & Cococay. Naturally, I’d love for things to move smoothly & it be a wonderful vacation for us. We have 3 kids (10,8 & 6). Currently booked in room 8500 on the Navigator but now worry about ship movement. We’re a roller coaster, thrill seeking family but motion sickness may get to us if it’s bad at the front of the ship. Thoughts?? Also, a bit confused about My Dining. Are we still in the main dining room? Can we make reservations for My Dining at 5:30 on our cruise planner? On a 4 night cruise, will there be a formal night? Lastly, are cruises in mid June insanely crowded & should we expect long lines at slides? Any & all info, tips/advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks so much in advance!

Just wanted to say Welcome Home to him and thank both of you for your service!
-Navy Vet

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thank you for your service! I did the same cruise last year on Navigator from Miami and this is what I found: 

Ship Movement and Rocking: We felt some light ship rocking our last night, but this was the only time we felt any movement from the ship. We popped a motion sickness tablet and were fine for the rest of the night. 

Dining: Yes, MTD is on the cruise planner! It is in the Main dining room and as a first time cruiser I thought it wasn't too shabby ? Great service and good food ! 

Formal nights: Formal nights are usually on the second day of cruises for 3, 4 and 5 night cruises, but the confirmed date will on your cruise itinerary. Cruise itineraries are printed booklets that are put in your room before you check in, so look out for it when you get there! Formal attire is not forced, and I didn't want to bring an expensive dress with me, so I ordered a cheap cocktail dress off of Amazon- worked fine! 

As for cruising on Navigator in general, this is a good mid-size ship for first time cruisers. It can get crowded and noisy during the sail away party, but otherwise this is a great ship! Safe cruising! 

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