DDaley Posted October 7, 2022 Report Share Posted October 7, 2022 Boarding Navigator today! I am so excited to get to sail a Royal ship and not have to take a flight to do so. We are driving up from San Diego around 11am today after my husband gets off work. I have only seen 3 or so blogs from sailings on this coast so figured some additional pics/findings couldn’t hurt. Itinerary This mini 3-night sailing only stops in Ensenada, BC, Mexico. We had originally booked the following 4-night sailing to Catalina on the day bookings opened for these itineraries but after our 2+ week Greek honeymoon I had to switch us to the weekend to give our poor vacation days a chance to recover!! One and a half days off is way easier to swing than the 5 vacation days the original sailing would’ve required. Day 1 - Friday - Departs Los Angeles Day 2 - Saturday - Ensenada, BC, Mexico Day 3 - Sunday - Cruising Day 4 - Monday - Returns to Los Angeles Who’s Going - my husband (Adrian) and I (Daryl) Cabin Ocean View Balcony 1832. I am excited to be on deck 12 with easy Lime & Coconut access. I also put in a bid for a GS that was slightly above the “weak” segment so we’ll see! (This is lifted directly from my last blog as the details are exactly the same! ) Pre-Purchases We grabbed the DBP for a fairly high $75 pp/pd but I will be happy to not have to think about it. We are heavy water drinkers and the ability to grab bottles anywhere really helps when you’re also drinking enough to ensure maximum beverage package usage! We have two dinners reserved, night 1 at Izumi and night 3 at Jamie’s. I have been on ships with Izumi three times but this will be my first time there, I will definitely be trying the She’s a Geisha cocktail I’ve heard so much about! Excursion I booked a third party excursion through ATV Ensenada that departs from town and rides up into the mountains and back. Royal offered an ATV excursion but you had to take a bus out to the Guadalupe Valley to ride and I much prefer getting to ride right from the port area. As native San Diegans we’ve both been to Ensenada a bunch of times before but never up in the mountains for a sweeping ocean view! That should be enjoyable. We took a similar tour from Georgioupolis in Crete this summer and I loved it so much I knew I had to seek out ATVs while we were in Ensenada. Mostly I am excited to try the two Navigator-only water slides since we’ve been on the Perfect Storms on Oasis and Freedom. I love water slides! It’s cruise day!! WAAAYTOOO, Skigoofy, Yesiamthere6 and 6 others 8 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruising to Retirement! Posted October 7, 2022 Report Share Posted October 7, 2022 35 minutes ago, DDaley said: Boarding Navigator today! I am so excited to get to sail a Royal ship and not have to take a flight to do so. We are driving up from San Diego around 11am today after my husband gets off work. I have only seen 3 or so blogs from sailings on this coast so figured some additional pics/findings couldn’t hurt. Itinerary This mini 3-night sailing only stops in Ensenada, BC, Mexico. We had originally booked the following 4-night sailing to Catalina on the day bookings opened for these itineraries but after our 2+ week Greek honeymoon I had to switch us to the weekend to give our poor vacation days a chance to recover!! One and a half days off is way easier to swing than the 5 vacation days the original sailing would’ve required. Day 1 - Friday - Departs Los Angeles Day 2 - Saturday - Ensenada, BC, Mexico Day 3 - Sunday - Cruising Day 4 - Monday - Returns to Los Angeles Who’s Going - my husband (Adrian) and I (Daryl) Cabin Ocean View Balcony 1832. I am excited to be on deck 12 with easy Lime & Coconut access. I also put in a bid for a GS that was slightly above the “weak” segment so we’ll see! (This is lifted directly from my last blog as the details are exactly the same! ) Pre-Purchases We grabbed the DBP for a fairly high $75 pp/pd but I will be happy to not have to think about it. We are heavy water drinkers and the ability to grab bottles anywhere really helps when you’re also drinking enough to ensure maximum beverage package usage! We have two dinners reserved, night 1 at Izumi and night 3 at Jamie’s. I have been on ships with Izumi three times but this will be my first time there, I will definitely be trying the She’s a Geisha cocktail I’ve heard so much about! Excursion I booked a third party excursion through ATV Ensenada that departs from town and rides up into the mountains and back. Royal offered an ATV excursion but you had to take a bus out to the Guadalupe Valley to ride and I much prefer getting to ride right from the port area. As native San Deigns we’ve both been to Ensenada a bunch of times before but never up in the mountains for a sweeping ocean view! That should be enjoyable. We took a similar tour from Georgioupolis in Crete this summer and I loved it so much I knew I had to seek out ATVs while we were in Ensenada. Mostly I am excited to try the two Navigator-only water slides since we’ve been on the Perfect Storms on Oasis and Freedom. I love water slides! It’s cruise day!! My Husband and I just got off the Navigator on Friday September 30th from a 7 day cruise! Our second cruise on Navigator since the remodel. We love this ship so very much! We did not go to Ensenada this last time so interesting to hear more about Ensenada. We did book a Grand Suite this time with some remaining future credits along with cash and since our 38 Anniversary and since we had our honeymoon on a cruise ship doing this exact itinerary meant in June of 1984 this meant the world to us and my 60th birthday celebration too! I'll keep my fingers crossed for your possible upgrade! Our first cruise on Navigator in a suite we had a casino discount in March 2019 that enabled us to upgrade to an Owners suite. It was awesome too! We have been in the Balcony before on Navigator and of course loved it also. Actually 95% of the time we are either in a balcony or Jr. Suite so this was extra special for the occasion which is not our norm but was very special. Absolutely hands down our favorite of all Suite lounge up next to the viking Crown Lounge! I assume everyone has their favoites also. This ship with all the wonderful specialty restaurants is extra special to us. We had the ultimate dining package and were in a food coma for half the cruise. We book a dining package whether we cruise balcony or suite. We knew we were in trouble after having lunch at Giovannis and then we had over a 2 pound Lobster for each of us on the first night at Hooked while looking out to the water which is a little different than Symphony. They have all my favorite restaurants except 150 and the Hibachi selection at Izumi. The package last September when we booked at a much lower than it is presently so very fortunate with this one. No worries we did not go hungry for sure. Now 1 new favorite and 1 old favorite to us I must tell all of you. First my husband and I are San Francisco Bay Californians at heart and live in Atlanta Ga now. My favorite is wine. My husband likes it all... Well they have a new Women of Wine meaning 7 wineries that are run by Women from all over the world. The Sommelier gave us a brief overview and then a projector was set up with the women owners and wine masters showing and explaining their journey with each of their wineries along with a plate of various cheeses and fruit of sort. It was brief but very informative and very interesting It was by far the best plated presentation of a wine tasting with around 30 to 40 people in the side of the dining room since there is not a vintages on this ship. I sincerely recommend to a wine lover this tasting should not be missed. I did not see this on the Symphony in May or we would have done this for sure, but they did again say this was new. Also our old, favorite Chef's Table is on the Navigator. We did this once before. First, the location is on a perch above the second floor dining room with a huge round table for the 12 of us. Lots more conversation can be had around a round table and we feel the best wine ever at a chef's table that we have been too. Of course if you have the ultimate dining package and only incur the additional $50 cost instead of the normal $100 or more sometime so there was no doubt. We did this back in March of 2019 also. The other unique thing about our chef's table was this was our second time having the chef's table on the last night of the ship. Our first time we found out that we had not used our onboard credit yet on the last day and I called and set us up! We said if we come back we are going to do this on the last day. Well when we came back this time and first got on the ship we made all our dining reservations with the package and the last day was the only day open for the chef's table. I think the chef's table on this ship is definitely not a secret. The one downside to these two wonderful events is they both fell for on the last day since the wine event was only on the last day. So we were feeling no pain after dinner. Thank gosh we had packed before the wine tasting event.... So be aware. I will say being at the chef's table makes you so happy on the last night you don't have a chance to get too sad at least that's how I always feel even with specialty dining also. Just my happy place. The one thing that was mentioned about a month ago about the disembarking is no joke. It makes no rhyme or reason. This did not help for suites but everyone should carry their luggage off if you can. We did and saw some suite friends still waiting on their luggage when we finally got down there. We sure couldn't figure out what they did or didn't do because this was very smooth for everyone getting on. The very last thing if you are like us and have a plane to catch especially getting back to the midwest or east coast look into their excursions for after the cruise with the airport drop off to LAX. We did the LA highlights and Rodeo drive including Beverley hills for 5 hours in the most comfortable coach bus that had a great bathroom too! We went inside the area of the Dolby theatre and I walked the stairs that the actors and actresses do that get pictured coming into the Academy Awards, Hollywood walk of fame, walked rodeo and Melrose, and way way too many landmarks to miss. Also the excursion was only $98 so cheaper than even lyft if we had been in the car ourselves. When we knew our flight was later getting out we were happy, but after the taxis and ubers wanted anywhere from $100 to $180 we settled with a large Lyft with another girl who was dropped off close to our hotel for $50 for her and $70 for us. We stayed at the awesome Hotel Maya right on Long Beach Harbor next to the Queen Mary. It was awesome. The bridge lit up at night with so many beautiful colors. So wish we were as lucky as Twangster to stay in the Queen Mary overnight. Bill and I still talk about it. We truly thank you again Twangster for those awesome pictures we will never forget. I know you are probably tired of this long winded spill but I must say one more. We got there on Wednesday afternoon and our ship left on Friday because I wanted to go to Catalina Island. We could just walk over the bridge get on the ferry Thursday and spend the day. That very was a yacht ferry if there ever was one. It was smooth gorgeous seats and the hour flew by. There is so much awesome sights and history at Catalina between the movies made there, the hollywood A list coming over, Marilyn Monroe marrying there at 15 to Wrigley mogul who owned the island and had the Chicago cubs spring training there for 25 years. Also lots of World War II secret training of underwater new scuba equipment, diving, and more. Needless to say we had a ton of fun. The ports have a different wonderful vibe than the carribean ports to us too. If you ever get to that side of the world to cruise you won't be disappointed! Happy Cruising Daley and Happy Cruising Everyone! Michelle KristiZ, IRMO12HD, WAAAYTOOO and 3 others 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDaley Posted October 7, 2022 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2022 Boarding was so easy. Arrived around 1:45 after some LA traffic and basically walked right on. Went straight to the cabin to drop our bags before hitting up the Lime and Coconut for our first drink. DBP on board was $99pp/pd! After that was straight to the water slides, of course. Both were fun and worth a try at least once! No water up the nose like on the champagne bowl on Oasis class. The line for the two person raft was muuuch longer than the mat ride, I recommend hitting the raft ride first upon opening or at least first when you're gonna ride both. That way while you're waiting forever in the icy stair tunnel, you're still dry! The mat line is super quick so you're not as susceptible to the cold. Cabin 1832, bed is the “correct way” Departure from this port isn't exactly glamorous but it's still cool to see all the container ships getting loaded. Skigoofy, WAAAYTOOO, KristiZ and 2 others 3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CravingaCruise Posted October 7, 2022 Report Share Posted October 7, 2022 Looking forward to your blog! We're on her in Jan/Feb and it will be our first time on her. Enjoy your cruise! Have a drink for us! DDaley 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruising to Retirement! Posted October 8, 2022 Report Share Posted October 8, 2022 2 hours ago, DDaley said: Boarding was so easy. Arrived around 1:45 after some LA traffic and basically walked right on. Went straight to the cabin to drop our bags before hitting up the Lime and Coconut for our first drink! Straight to the water slides, of course. Both were fun, no water up the nose like on the champagne bowl. The line for the two person raft was muuuch longer than the mat ride, I recommend hitting the raft ride first upon opening! Cabin 1832, bed is the “correct way” Enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDaley Posted October 10, 2022 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2022 Well as it turns out the Surf and Stream is not great on deck 12 forward which was where our cabin was located. I got way better service mid deck but after losing a post before uploading it I gave up on the Live portion of this blog, oops!! We are home now and had a great time! I will add some more recap photos in the following posts. On Friday after boarding/muster/excessive water sliding we had reservations at Izumi. I ordered two sushi rolls but actually received three since our waiter really wanted me to try the Tataki roll. It ended up being my favorite one! So happy he did that. The Izumi Ryu Futomaki roll was the most impressive visually but the least impressive flavor-wise. The mochi ice creams were so tasty too, especially the mango one. I will definitely be back at Izumi on future ships! How cute is this chopstick holder? I usually make one from the paper wrapper they come in. I love gadgets and things that serve only one purpose! After dinner we hit up Navigator Dunes for a round of mini golf. Always fun and a challenge when you refuse to put down your cocktail as you go along. My one-handed swings became pretty accurate by the last hole! We had planned to see the ice skating show but decided to call it a night early. Henry was there to see us off to bed! haha KristiZ, Yesiamthere6, Sweety and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDaley Posted October 11, 2022 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2022 Day two we were in Ensenada! We woke up around 6 and the ship was still in motion but you could see the sun starting to rise above the mountains along the coast. We docked around 7:30 and were clear by 8:15am or so. The port is also a shipping port so we got to watch this MSC ship get filled up as the day went on. When we left at 6pm it was towering with containers! Our excursion was set for 9:30am so we went up to the Windjammer for breakfast and had no problems finding seats. We learned later to never start picking up food until you've reviewed the back area since all the best stuff is at the International Cuisine station. We were met by our tour guide by the black pedestrian bridge near the port entrance and were whisked off immediately in a van to the ATV shop a few blocks away. We ended up getting a private tour! The shop offers several tours and while there were other guests riding at the same time as us, no one else chose the Mountain Tour at 9:30. Our guide Enrique was great. Halfway through the tour you get access to a large open dirt area to tool around in and after he saw how good my husband was, the back half of the tour was a LOT faster. I had the gas pressed down all the way (pedal to the metal, if you will) several times to try and keep up! It was super fun and had some great sweeping ocean/city views, I highly recommend ATV Ensenada. The tour starts in town and you wind your way up into the mountains and then off road for a long portion. The off roading trails are vast! You could easily get lost roaming around in there without the guide. I spy the Navigator back at the port! The tour lasted a little over 2 hours and they would've driven us back to the port but we asked after some good al pastor and were rewarded with a drop off at Señor Poblano's instead. After 2 al pastor tacos and a cerveza we wandered up the street to the ever-popular Papas and Beer and watched some of our fellow ship passengers get tossed upside down by the waitstaff. Always entertaining to watch to say the least. After finally giving into a street vendor for the purchase of one woven "I'm on a boat b**ch" bracelet for $5, we headed back to the ship for some drink package usage, and of course a trip or two down the slides. We ended up forgoing a lengthy trip to the MDR for Caribbean night in the WJ. The curry was AMAZING. After dinner we spent some time in the casino and doubled our $40 slots budget on the I Free Games machine. Turns out I do indeed heart free games. A new friend was awaiting us upon our return to the room! He's kinda got a badass MC vibe. KristiZ, IRMO12HD, WAAAYTOOO and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDaley Posted October 12, 2022 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2022 Our final day was a sea day and we stayed south of Ensenada chasing the sun all day. It was pretty gloomy but not tooo cold, mid 60's, and the sun finally came out a bit in the afternoon. We woke up around 7 and headed to breakfast in the Windjammer, the potato croquettes were amazing this morning if I recall. We snagged two chairs on deck 12 facing the pools after our jaunt to the WJ assuming everything would start filling up quickly! Aside from the packed walking track, the cool temps kept a lot of the chairs open till around 1pm. We had a perfect vantage point for both the belly flop and sexiest man competitions. Not sure why but it was specifically stated that it was a men's belly flop competition although I have definitely seen women compete in the past! Bundled up in Royal blue Currently the big screen is a bit sickly green with some splotches Winner of the belly flop mid dive Perfect sun shade for awhile. We had been sitting in the arched bed thing on the left but this ship has no pillows in any of them! I liked sitting in one on Oasis but with no back support it's a rough go. After hanging out nearly all day + you guessed it, a trip down both water slides, we headed back to the cabin to hang on the balcony for a bit and shower before our dinner at Jamie's Italian. Our server was fantastic and had some great recommendations for us. We ordered the Arancini risotto balls which were sooo good and the Ultimate Garlic Bread certainly can't rival 150CP's but was still pretty tasty. The real standout was the one our waiter said we had to try - the Chianti-braised short rib oh my god it was so tender, it fell right apart with only your fork! The tiramisu was wayyyytoo orange for my liking, and the Epic Brownie should just be labeled Brownie but overall we had a fantastic meal with great service. At dinner another couple was looking over at us a lot and eventually their waiter came over and offered us some of their Moet & Chandon! Couldn't say no to that! On the way out we thanked them again and she said she had received it free in her cabin and that they'd had their fill. So nice! After dinner we headed down to the casino and ended up just $4 under even! Not bad for two nights! We walked out of the casino and outside onto the deck, continuing forward and up the stairs for a nighttime helipad view. Unfortunately it was too cloudy to see any stars but we did spy 2 other ships on the horizon. This totally cool guy was waiting to help us with our packing! Robert M, KristiZ, WAAAYTOOO and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDaley Posted October 12, 2022 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2022 On disembarkation morning we docked around 6am and we finished packing up the last of our items. Since it was only 7 and we didn't have to vacate the room until 8 we headed to the Windjammer bag-free. We were planning on just getting a plate and bringing it to a table outside since we knew it would be a madhouse in there but we found Jamie's open and empty so we grabbed a perfect window seat in there. Definitely check the specialty dining places if they're inside the WJ and tables are scarce! They had Homer Simpson donuts this morning! Cloudy deck timelapse heading back to the room. Left our sweet room attendant a tip via our new friend! We left the room at 7:45 and were waiting inside the terminal for passport facial scans by 7:56. The line looks pretty long but we were back in the car and cruising out of the lot by 8:15am! We had a great time even which such limited time to enjoy everything. We missed both the ice and Showgirls headliner shows due to being overstuffed at dinner, oops. I would definitely sail Navigator again, the slides alone were worth the trip to me! I was sad this ship has done away with the daily cruise compass. I think I could've requested them from the stateroom attendant but for such a short sailing I didn't really feel the need to. One last thought was that I loved having this European outlet adapter since it greatly expanded our charging capabilities! With 2 phones, 2 Apple watches and an Insta360, two outlets just don't cut it for an efficient night of charging. EvergreenCruzers, KristiZ and Yesiamthere6 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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