TravelingbeebryantRN & Flicks_withNick

As you know, my husband and I are avid travelers. We travel for work and pleasure, but surprisingly…I’ve never cruised. Nick cruised once when he was 12 years old, but he doesn’t count it because he was underage and doesn’t really remember it. I decided to get him a cruise for his birthday this year. I wanted us to go on a weekend cruise to get the experience, but short enough where if we didn’t like it we wouldn’t be gone too long. I originally was hoping for an Alaskan Cruise, but unfortunately they were all longer than a weekend stay. We are currently on a travel nurse contract in Washington, so we wanted a cruise that left out of the west coast. West coast cruises are a little more sparse compared to east coast cruises. I decided to go on a cruise to Ensenada Mexico. Both Carnival and Royal Caribbean go out to Ensenada. I started doing my research and talking to different friends, reading different reviews, cruise blogs, and also talking to AAA. I ultimately booked the Navigator of the Seas with Royal Caribbean. The Navigator of the Seas is one of the newer ships from Royal Caribbean international. They have recently updated the ship with water slides, upgraded rooms, and much more. Now let’s get into the nitty gritty. I attached a layout of the ship for reference!

Navigator of the Seas Dining

Let’s be real here… everyone cares about food, so we will discuss this first. We ended up choosing Royal with the help of AAA and friends that cruised often. They told us they preferred Royal over Carnival.  This obviously swayed our opinion a little bit. What’s worse than attending a place all weekend and not having a good meal? Let’s talk about the places that are included in your cruise fare first.

The Main Dining Hall 

The Main Dining room is located towards the back of the ship on deck 5. Passengers are given a 5:30 pm time or an 8:30 pm time. If you choose my time dining, you must make a reservation. Nick and I ended up deciding to just be easy and pick 8:30 pm, and have no responsibilities. On the Navigator of the Seas, you are sat with the same people the whole weekend. Therefore, you have to hope you like them, because you’ll see them a decent amount. Fortunately, we sat with a good group. We sat with a mother/daughter, and 3 college guys that were traveling together. It was interesting to have dinner with the same people all weekend. You are also given the same waiter and assistant waiter all weekend. I’ll talk about the service and a little about the waiters later on.

The menus changed every night. The menus consisted of a starter, entree, and dessert. Menu favorites of the weekend were:  southern fried chicken and the grilled sweet corn cakes.

Cafe Promenade

Cafe Promenade is where you will find pizza, coffee, desserts, and other various items. Honestly this was a great late night spot after getting drinks and walking around. The pizza wasn’t half bad, but it also could have been the espresso martinis telling me that!

El Loco Fresh

This little shop was located on deck 11 on the pool deck where you can grab quesadillas, burritos, nachos, etc. Nick and I never made it to lunch, so sometimes this would be a good snack to help hold us over before a late dinner.

Windjammer Cafe

This is definitely one of the most popular spots to grab a bite to eat. This is a buffet style place to eat. They offer breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The breakfast was mediocre. They offered eggs, pancakes, yogurt, waffles, and pretty much anything you could think of. It is the quicker option for meals.

-Upgraded Dining Options

You can pay to upgrade your dining package. Nick and I decided against doing this. Since this was our first cruise together, we decided to do the basic option to see what was included and see if things were worth doing. Royal has multiple different upgraded dining packages. The speciality dining offers two different dining options: unlimited dining package and three restaurant option. You can upgrade your dining packages on the app or on royal caribbean’s website. See the app for pricing!

Let’s talk about the drinks on board!

Nick and I decided to read a lot of different reviews before purchasing the drink package. We decided it was worth buying the drink package. Royal Caribbean offers three different drink packages on their website/app. Check out the three drink packages below. You are also able to buy drinks (alcoholic/non-alcoholic) by the drink. We bought the unlimited drink option. This option included water, soda, and alcohol at all the restaurants and bars. We mainly used it for the alcohol, water, and gatorade zero on board. You have to use one of the special royal caribbean cups if you purchase a package.If you purchase the package online, you can redeem the cup at any of the bars.

Schooners

They had the best espresso martinis. At that’s what I heard…honestly that’s what I heard through the reviews. They were great, but they tasted the same throughout the entire ship. They also had movie trivia that we checked out. It was a lot of fun. Flicks with Nick didn’t win. Pretty disappointing. 19/20. What a loser.

Bamboo Room

This place is located near all the shops on the main strip on the ship. They have some fancy drinks, therefore if you have a drink package, you may have to pay a little fee. Nick was really wanting to try this place because they had a banana frozen drink. He loves bananas! Honestly, the drinks were mediocre and not sure they were worth it…but, he really enjoyed it. The place was visually aesthetic.

The Lime and Coconut

This bar was definitely our favorite. It was located on the pool deck. It’s a tropical themed bar that spans out over three decks, offering views of all the pool decks, and serves the best refreshing drinks. This is one of the Navigator of the Seas newest upgrades and honestly it makes the pool deck. My favorite pool drink was the lime and coconut.

Have no fear… you’ll never be bored

Nick and I are busy people even on vacation. We like to see as much as possible… so this was kind of a worry for us. Would we be bored of just relaxing by the pool? I mean, I can relax and enjoy the pool, but what if the weather isn’t ideal. This isn’t a worry on Navigator of the Seas. They offered so many different activities on the boat, there were times where we had a hard time choosing which one to do! These are some of Nick and I’s favorite highlights of Navigator of the Seas.

Pool deck

The Navigator of the Seas has a bright and vibrant pool deck. What better way to cool down and make the best memories? Cool down in one of three of Navigator of the Seas pools or relax in one of the six jacuzzis. I just wouldn’t suggest yelling at some kid for doing bellyflops in the hot tub. That’s one of my negative reviews of the Navigator of the Seas. Why are young kids in the hot tubs? Why are they jumping in the hot tubs?

Waterslides

The Navigator of the Seas offers two different waterslides on their pool deck. Nick and I both agreed that the riptide was our favorite of the two, which is your favorite?

The Blaster Aqua Coaster

This is the longest waterslide offered at sea currently. Can you handle the drips and drops? The kicker is that part of the slide even suspended over water. Minimum weight for one rider is 110 lbs and maximum weight for two riders is 400 lbs for my plus sized friends! My husband and I rode separately as they do ask you and for safety reasons. 

Riptide

Watch out… this is the only headfirst Mat racer water slide at sea. This waterside also goes off the side of the ship. Watch out though, Nick lost his contact in this water slide!

Shows/Night Entertainment 

Battle of the sexes

Honestly, this was one of the funniest shows/night life entertainment events that we attended. They really got the crowd involved and got everyone laughing. As you can tell from the title, they break up the females and the males in the audience. They ask for volunteers from the audience to come on stage for both teams to battle against each other. These two teams are composed of individuals from different locations, ages, and personalities. This makes it interesting to see them work together in the tasks to win.

Showgirl

The original production, Showgirl, pulls out all the works on the Navigator of the Seas. The dancing, singing, and the costumes will keep you on your toes.

Rock climbing

Can you climb to the occasion and climb 40 feet?

Basketball court

He shoots, he scores… we’ll sometimes. This was one of Nick’s favorite activities. They even sometimes offer knock out competitions. Check out the competitions on the app! Sometimes it’s a good activity to break up the pool day.

Flow rider surf simulator

Catch the 40 foot waves at the flow rider surf simulator. Unfortunately, Nick and I didn’t make it there… Next time!

Casino 

“I’m gambling again” -Al Pacino, 

This is always a crowd pleaser. This is located on the 4th deck on the Navigator of the Seas. They also offered Texas holdem and blackjack competitions throughout the weekend that people could participate in. You knew they were available through the app. TIP The casino is not available the day the boat is docked in Ensenada.

Mini Golf 

Let’s get this par-tee started. Located on 13th deck and in your cruise fare. One of the kids and adults favorites!

Laser tag

Glow in the dark laser tag? Count me in…TIP sign up on the app the first day…as the spots fill up fast!

Ice skating 

TIP you need long pants to go ice skating therefore we couldn’t go ice skating. The slots do book fast, make sure to book on the app the first day! We were not able to go because Nick didn’t have long pants. Honestly… probably for the best. New York ice skating story for another day. 

Accommodations 

The Navigator of the Seas has 1674 rooms. The staterooms include 119 Suites, 671 Balcony, 232 OceanView, 138 Promenade View, and 514 Inside. Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Sea ship does a great job of accommodating all groups of people. It has rooms for families, couples, singles, families with babies, ocean front, and interior rooms. This was my first cruise, and everyone was suggesting a balcony room. The only balcony room available when I booked was a Junior Suite room (I booked last minute), so that’s what we ended up with. The rooms were cleaned daily by personable stateroom attendants and room WiFi. Shout out to Mojo! He made our stay on the Navigator even better. We celebrated my husband’s birthday, so I had a little fun decorating it a little bit!

Junior Suite Room

Let’s take a look into our junior suite room. We were in room 1654. The room had a dresser, two nightstands, a queen bed, a couch, and a chair. I was quite surprised about the size of the room. It included a large spacious closet with shelves and hangers. It opens up to a large balcony deck that has a table and chairs. The bathroom of course seemed small, but was always clean and stocked with fresh towels. We did bring some things that were super helpful for our room! Check out my future blog on future tips on what to bring on your next cruise!

Navigator of the Seas Service

Honestly, the service was nothing but outstanding. Everyone was friendly and were willing to help. We never waited a long time in line to get drinks at a bar and service at meals was always great. Special shoutout to Mojo (room attendant), Darwin and Jess (waiters in the main dining hall) and Steve (in the casino). They really made our cruise experience enjoyable.

Overall- Navigator of the Seas Review

Overall, we had a great experience with Royal on Navigator of the Seas. I honestly can’t compare it to anything else, as this was my first cruise, but it was a great experience. It had great food, service, and so many great activities on board.

Stay tuned for other reviews on Navigator of the Seas by following my blog or following my instagram at TravelingbeebryantRN. Coming next port day at Ensenada! We are starting our next journey to our next travel nurse destination this week, can you guess where we are going next?!