Marine

Age: 30:
Number of Cruises: 3
Cruise Line: Royal Caribbean
Name of Ship: Navigator of the seas
Sailing Date: January 11th, 2003
Itinerary: Eastern Caribbean

I can't believe my dream vacation is over now. I had planned this vacation for over a year, keep checking prices and infos frequently to build up my excitement. Now the vacation is over, and it is my turn to put my memories into word to remember my moments.

1/10/2003 (Fri) PRE Cruise stay---We flew from cold Boston to Miami day early to ensure no cancellations nor delays on our cruise. We stayed at Doubletree Biscayne Bay next to Marriott Biscayne bay in Downtown. For 1 night pre cruise stay, it was fine. Room was huge with marina view and I could watch Navigator docked at the pier. We went to Bayside Market for some shoppings and dinning. For the price I paid through Hotwire, $53, it was nice way to start a vacation.

1/11/2003 (Sat) EMBARKATION---I wake up early to catch sunrise and Navigator docked at the pier. After we had breakfast at Starbucks downstairs (inside small deli), we grab a taxi to pier. We are at the pier around 1030am. Since the ship was still Debarking from previous cruise, we had to wait about 1 hour. Once we get to an agent, it was very quick and we were in our cabin by Noon. We grabbed lunch at Windjammer, and start to check out the ship.
SHIP---Navigator is a beautiful ship. All the public areas, Royal Promenade, Dining room to Pool area, it was tastefully done.

CABIN---9690 Aft corner cabin. I made a reservation based on all the recommendations from fellow cruisers. And yes, they are absolutely right. It felt very small after we had a huge hotel room, but as the day goes by, we start to feel it is just right. All the space has used perfectly and everything was accommodating. What can I say about Balcony? Wonderful!! The perfect place to have a room service, take a sun without fighting over the chair at pool deck, and we had a best seat to check out the views of each port. Although it is smaller than next cabin 9692, due to it's triangular shape, it was very private. Only people who can peek in is 9692, and it is not visible from above unless standing right by the railing. I asked my cabin attendant, Lisette to bring us bathrobes and lounge chair which she brought us right away. There is a porthole window which you can sit in because it is pretty deep. One thing is because it has single door with a handle, it needs something like a chair or table to keep it open. And while the door is open, it is very dangerous (and heavy) to open cabin door because it creates a strong stream. All in all, I loved this cabin so much!
ACTIVITIES---We had a master drill at 430pm. Then we head out to our balcony for sail away. There was a Bon Voyage parade in Promenade. There were so much to do.
DINING TABLE---We were worried because we had a small table assigned. I am happy to say it was wasting of our time to worry. Our tablemates Kenny and Carole from Buffalo, NY were the best companions we could ever asked for. They have such a good sense of humor and kept us laughing all the time. It was one of our favorite activity on board! Everyday we had a great conversation.

1/12/2003(Sun) AT SEA // My Birthday---We enjoyed on board activities today. We did mini golf, spent some time at swimming pool, and played Scrabbles at Seven Hearts game room. There was an ice skate show, and it was phenomenal. Beautiful costumes with amazing talent! Since this was a first formal night, we head back to our room to change. Many people were making lines to take formal photos and so we did. We had a great meal at Dining with Kenny and Carole. While we were having a dessert, one old lady behind our table had a birthday cake with a song by waiters. Then Carole asked me "When is your Birthday?" I said, "as a matter of fact, TODAY!!" So, she bought me a shot in a red metallic glass from bar waiter to celebrate my 30th. Sure enough, my husband talked to our waiter to bring me a cake also behind my back and I have received one, too. It was a great day to mark my 30th.

1/13/2003(Mon) AT SEA // SAN JUAN---We basically had another sea day since we didn't arrive until 4pm. We have been to san Juan before, so we just strolled around old San Juan and went to Fort Morro area. It was already dark, so we head back to ship and relaxed until dinner.

1/14/2003(Tue) ST. MAARTEN---Beautiful day at scenic port. There were Disney Magic, Golden Princess and Radiance at port. We took a excursion tour to Orient Beach by "Beach Rendezvous." They provided us a comfortable transfer bus and reserved deck chair plus lunch at restaurant. We had a choice of port rib, chicken and fish and took fish plate. But fish was too dried and did not have a taste. Waitress came over and she changed to chicken plate which was very tasty and good. The beach was beautiful with emerald green warm Caribbean water. We had unpleasant shower twice while at beach, but it didn't ruin our day. After that, we went to Phillipsburg to check some stores and saw Everything Cool beach. The water is much nicer at Orient beach, but it had a fun atmosphere at Everything cool. After a day on the beach we were so hungry and couldn't wait for our dinner, so we decided to go to Johnny Rockets. We ate and had a yummy milk shake and felt so sleepy at 730pm...Alas, we woke up at 11pm and realized we have missed a dinner.

1/15/2003(Wed) ST.THOMAS---Another day in Paradise. Because we stopped non-U.S. port yesterday, everyone had to go through an immigration at designated area for US citizen or non-US citizen. We had a BOB excursion tour starts 730am, we had a quick breakfast at our balcony and left room at 7am for immigration. Not many people were there yet, it took us 3 minutes to get our passports back. BOB excursion was a good alternative to us since we usually snorkel or laying on the beach. It had a motor underwater scooter which you can operate with button and handle for maximum of 3 miles/hr speed. There were 30 of us on the boat for this excursion and it was divided to 6 groups. We were the last ones to do BOB, so we did snorkeling first about 1 hour. There were so many staff divers and swimmers around us, so never felt unsafe. And view from my own motor was amazing. Fish looks very tiny and right in front of me through the glass. We were under water about 20 minutes and it was great. After an excursion, we head back to ship for lunch and took a tram to Paradise point for a beautiful view of the island. At the dinner, we had a long and good conversation because we've missed each other the day before. It was a wonderful day.

1/16/2003(Thu) AT SEA---Now we are heading back to Miami. We stayed on our sunny balcony to take sun for a while. Enjoyed some on board activities and relaxed.

1/17/2003(Fri) BAHAMAS---We arrived Nassau around Noon. It was a pleasant temperature around upper 70's, but still chilly to swim. The view entering to Nassau harbor was absolutely beautiful from our aft balcony. We saw the light house and Atlantis resort perfectly. We decided to go to check out famous Atlantis resort in Paradise island. We took a water taxi for $6/p.p round trip. After we spend about 2 hours at resort, we head back to Straw market right near the pier. We did some shopping there and return back to ship for last night dinner. It was very sad to pack our suit case to leave.

1/18/2003(Sat) DEBARKATION // KEY WEST---When I woke up at 7am, we were already at port of Miami. Temperature in Miami was COLD! We were having a freezing day in Miami around 50's. After we debark the ship, we called Enterprise rent a car to pick us up at pier, and drove a car to Key west. It took us almost 4 hours to get there with traffic due to long weekend. We checked-in at Hyatt Key west for 2 nights and they gave us a lovely partial ocean view room. The room was huge with deep bath tub. We walked around Duval street and had some good Seafood dinner.

1/19/2003(Sun) KEY WEST---Finally, the sun was back! Although it was still chilly side around 60's, great deal of sun shine made the day. We saw Disney Magic and Carnival cruise at the pier, so the town was pretty crowded. We went to Southernmost Point, Hemmingway's house and Duval street shopping before the famous Sunset celebration starts at Mallory Square. There were so many different street performers doing their own shows and everyone waited until the sunset. The sunset was gorgeous!

1/20/2003(Mon) Back Home---This was the last day before heading back home. We drove back to Miami Airport in about 3 hours. When we get back home in Boston, the temperature was freezing..in 10's. Wish I could go back!

I wish your Cruise vacation will bring you lots of wonderful memories as I had. You can check out some of the pictures, http://community.webshots.com/user/marinecruiser
Thanks for reading my story.

Marine

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