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Monday, January 14, 2019

[Day 2] Navigator of the Seas - At Sea

Our first true day on the ship was a sea day - perfect for sleeping in and not really doing anything!  To our surprise, our father did not call and try to wake us up.  We found out a few days later that the ringer on our phone was muted, so he actually might have tried to call, but we didn't hear it.

We got up and I unpacked Rachel's suitcase.  Rachel has learned that over the years all it takes is for her to ask, "Will you unpack my suitcase?" and I'll do it.  Storing things away is something I enjoy doing.  Like I said, there was space for everything - and even extra shelves up high that we didn't use.

Then we debated for awhile and decided to head to the gym.  The gym on the Navigator is really nice.  It's large and at the front of the ship with a great view.  There's a nice open area for cardio where they also host classes.  Unfortunately, they're going to be doing away with this large gym in the remodel - they're putting additional staterooms in its place and moving the new gym to a different location.  I took a few really horrible photos of the gym -

Fitness Center



Fitness Center

Fitness Center

There's also a whirlpool in the gym and saunas and steam rooms in the men's and women's locker rooms. I think this is one of the last ships in which you can use these "hydrotherapy" amenities for no additional charge.  I'm sure if there's whirlpools and steam rooms after the dry dock, you'll be paying additional for their use.

Fitness Center

Rach and I finished our workout with a mile run around the top deck.  It was a little too late in the day to do that, as people were starting to pull lounge chairs out into the running path.  It takes 8 laps to make a mile, too, so I couldn't imagine running for more than a mile, it's so boring and crowded.

We spent some time in the sun that afternoon.  Here is what the Solarium looks like from above:

Pool Deck

Royal Caribbean now has lifeguards at the pools during operating hours. This is relatively new.

Pool Deck

Main pool area -

Pool Deck

Pool Deck

Pool Deck

This evening was the first formal night, and the Captain's Gala.  We decided to get dressed early and do some people-watching.

Formal Night

The good thing about the Ultimate Beverage Package is that you no longer have to hit up events for free cheap champagne.  So we ordered martinis. The scavenger life ain't for us anymore!

Lemon Drop Martini

We never saw the captain, and I never heard him speak.  Usually he'll get up on the bridge over the Promenade and speak to all of the guests and maybe introduce some of his crew.  If that happened, I wasn't aware.

Captain's Gala

So for dinner, my first course was the Chicken Waldorf Salad.  I like to take a break from the standard Caeser (offered nightly), so I typically ordered whatever other salad was on the menu.  The menus are different than I remembered - they used to offer entirely different foods every night.  Now the bottom half of the menu remains the same, and they only have three or four new offerings for each course nightly.  And then there were only maybe two desserts that differed from night to night.  Definitely less variety overall than has been offered in the past.

Chicken Waldorf Salad

Then the Horseradish Crusted Salmon.  It was pretty good.

Horseradish Crusted Salmon

Here are two desserts that are offered every night.  The apple pie -

Apple Pie

And I *think* this is the Royal Chocolate Cake -

Chocolate Cake

Also, there is a nightly cheese plate offering.  However, over the duration of the cruise, they would run out of things for the cheese plate.  I think by night 6 they had run out of crackers.

Cheese Plate

The champagne that you order from the drink package is much better than the free champagne they give out at events.

Captain's Gala

After dinner, we went to Vintages, the wine bar on the Promenade.  It was not yet poppin when I took this photo -

Vintages

Good night!

1 comment:

  1. Your dress is beautiful. Hope to read about the rest of trip soon.

    ReplyDelete