Navigator of the Seas – (Canadian) Thanksgiving Weekend Cruise Adventure

Backgrounder

Back in 2020, we had a Halloween cruise booked for the Caribbean with my sister. Unfortunately due to the pandemic, this trip had to be cancelled. Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (RCCL) was really great with this, they moved our non-refundable deposit into a cruise credit to apply to a future booking. Over time, they extended the expiry date of this as the pandemic dragged on. Finally, with restrictions lifting, the final extension had been announced.

With travel restrictions easing, vaccines received, and an itch to travel, we used some remaining vacations days, savings, and travel credits to book a long weekend getaway for Thanksgiving, October 2022.

Booking

I was hoping to do a 4-night long weekend cruise, but that didn’t line up with Navigator of the Seas itineraries. The 3-night itinerary departs on Fridays, with the 4-night on Mondays. That was fine and we booked an extra night on the debarkation end to spend a day exploring LA. Both itineraries visit Ensenada, Mexico, just across the boarder on the Baja Peninsula, but the 4-night also visits Catalina Island which is still a part of Mexico but a place I enjoyed visiting back in 2001.

With the more budget-friendly 4-night, we also found the junior suite to be quite affordable, allowing us more space for the 3-night sailing. With military-discount applied, we paid just over $1800 CAD for this 3 night trip, less our cruise credit and we were only out of pocket $800 on the cruise portion. Not a bad deal for accommodations and all-you-can-eat food, including (Canadian) Thanksgiving dinner onboard.

We also opted for a Refreshment Package for drinks for Alyssa and myself. The kids still really prefer water so at this time it wasn’t worth it to get it for them too. This worked out really well though that RCCL doesn’t force all room occupants to have the drink package if it’s not needed.

My sister ended up coming along as well to use up her cruise credits, and they got a combo of a balcony stateroom and inside stateroom for the kids, just down the hall from us.

Embarkation and First Looks Around

At check in, we noticed that the terminal didn’t seem to be too busy really, and even if we didn’t have a suite-class, check in would have been pretty quick. Nonetheless, we were checked in and on board in less than half an hour. There’s a quick security check you go through as well, RCCL does allow you to bring 2 bottles of wine per stateroom onboard in your carry on, declare it as you go through security. We had no issues at all with this.

Rooms are ready usually in the early afternoon, so we had some time just to explore the ship when we boarded and get acquainted, we also completed our pre-cruise safety brief.

It’s really nice and we really suggest exploring the ship and getting the safety brief out of the way when you board. Especially on these short voyages, you don’t want to waste time trying to find where what is.

Pro-tip: pack bathing suites, footwear for the pool in your carry on. Larger checked bags left at bag drop might not get to you until the evening.

Navigator of the Seas was launched in 2002 as part of their now older Voyager-class vessels, and has a capacity for 3,386 passengers at double occupancy. She’s 1,020 feet long with 139,999 gross tonnage. While being an older ship, Navigator has gone through a few refurbishments, notably in 2014 which added more staterooms, and in 2019, she underwent a major refit worth over $115 million USD. This has her in the configuration we sailed on and as an “amped” ship, she had a lot of wow factors onboard.

Our Junior Suite class room was roughly 1.5 times the size of a standard balcony stateroom. You don’t get all the suite-class amenities, but it’s a nice bridge, and what you do get is the double night credit to your Crown and Anchor account, so for this 3 night sailing we got 6 nights of loyalty credit.

On entry, you’re greeted by the bathroom on the right, closet on the left, and a nicely carpeted, larger-room. On the left is the desk and TV, with lots of drawers and a cooler. The King-sized bed was very comfortable, and the pullout sofa big enough for the two kids comfortably. The room also has a desk space, coffee table, and ottoman with foot rest. The balcony is large, running end to end of the suite. There is also an in-suite coffee maker, and for those traveling with all the additional stuff that comes with having kids, there is also a large closet to unpack or store belongings in. Another perk when travelling with kids, the junior suites have actual bathtubs for bathing the kids.

The Ship – The Fun

Since the 2019 refurbishment, Navigator was “amped” up to the latest standards. For a 3-night sailing, there was an endless round of activities to have fun with. The main pool deck and pool was adequate for the number of passengers on this sailing, but I also estimate that it was only about 80% occupied. The hot tubs were nice but often crowded, this was probably due to the fact that it was quite cool as an October sailing, I thought Southern California would still be decently warm that time of year, I was wrong! There is a kids waterpark area but again, was often too cold for the kids to want to use.

Just above the pool deck, there is a small stage where there was often music being performed live, a very fun and interactive way to spend time soaking up some sun.

Moving further back is where a lot of money was spent during the refurbishment, at the time of re-launch, Navigator had the longest waterslide at sea, a unique slide coaster with water jets to propel two-person rafts back up hills for the next drop.

Maddy LOVED this slide, and on a morning run with no lines, she got through about 5 times before a small line started to form.

There is also a surf-simulator that was installed in the 2014 refit, rock climbing wall that the kids enjoyed, and a sport court that runs different events/games throughout the day.

Maddy really enjoys rock climbing, and so when she can find a new wall to conquer, you’ll definitely find her up there!

Moving to the front of that deck you’ll find the adventure golf course where we did a couple “rounds” with the kids.

On an evening walk, Alyssa and I discovered on this ship, you can go to the front where the helipad is and have a nice, quiet hangout. You can also pull off the front of the ship pose like in the Titanic, without the risk of striking an iceberg a few days later. On that note, you’ll also be pleased to know all cruise ships have lifeboat capacity for all persons onboard plus space to spare these days.

Moving below decks, for the kids, there is the Adventure Ocean. This is normally a kids club divided by age groups, and on previous RCCL cruises, the kids loved the Adventure Ocean. However, on this one, all kids from 5-teen were in one group and when we picked them up after an evening of play, the kids begged not to be taken back. Apparently some of the older kids were pretty rough and mean and appears staff may not have intervened. The Adventure Ocean is included during regular operating hours, and gives parents time to do adult-only activities. Only late night care has an extra-charge.

There is also an arcade, but in my mind it’s a bit useless as it costs extra and, just, why would you want to pay for an arcade on a cruise ship? I don’t know how much RCCL gains in revenue from it, but we often saw it sitting empty. Lower down, the Royal Promenade featured the shopping district for the ship, filled with duty-free shops, a neat retro car, and evening performances. The evening performance we watched was fun and the kids enjoyed dancing along.

There is also a small casino, which is a feature on pretty much every cruise ship, we spent a bit of time there but after losing a few bucks we decided to cut our losses. We didn’t attend shows in the main theatre, we simply didn’t have time on the short 3-day cruise, but we have never been disappointed with the Broadway-style shows on RCCL.

The Food – The Yum

Oh, my, god. The food was simply amazing, and hats of to the chef. Since this sailing, RCCL is trialing a new menu format, but that appears to not be very popular among their loyalists. Onboard this sailing though, I thoroughly enjoyed the menu AND the food. Just take a look at the roast I had one evening, perfect-O!

One of the things I love about cruising is the dining, it complete removes the stress of where to eat, or what to eat, as everyone just eats what they want. Sure, you can go to a specialty restaurant and pay extra, but the main dining room and buffet were both amazing places to fill up on. On top of that, the white fish on another night was great. The main dining room can also accommodate groups big and small, and getting 10 of us dining together was easy.

Pro-tip: for different cruise reservations like ours wanting to dine together, ensure you don’t book MyTime dining, and instead opt for the set time. Then on the RCCL app, you can group yourselves together to dine together.

For breakfast and lunch, we dined at the buffet. There was an endless selection of options, and you are sure to find something to enjoy, from vegetarian, to gluten-free, to the carnivores. I really appreciate and can’t say enough how easy dining is on a cruise when you are travelling with kids. We never have challenges keeping the kids’ tummy filled on these vacations.

Port of Call – Ensenada

For our one and only port day, we chose to do an RCCL shore excursion. For those who have never cruised, you never have to use the cruise lines excursions, sometimes they’re more expensive, and options can be limited like in our case. However, it guarantees you’ll get back on the ship in case of a delayed return (as was the case in our 2018 cruise where our group was a bit delayed returning but no stress of missing the departure.

It was challenging to find a shore excursion that was okay to book with the two under 6-year old kids. We ended up booking a cheese farm excursion, La Cava de Marcelo, about an hour away. These trips are normally well-organized and easy to navigate and this was no exception. We quickly found the meeting point, had our tickets verified, and loaded up into the tour van and off we went.

While a long drive, we had all day at this port of call so there was no rush. It took us through the countryside outside Ensenada and into a place we’ve never seen before. The Baja Peninsula is simply breathtaking. The ten of us occupied most of the comfortable van, but there was also a couple others with us as well.

We were warmly welcomed on arrival, and taken to wear the cows are milked, and walked through the pasteurization process. We were then taken over to the creamery to sample some fresh-made ice cream.

This excursion has us sampling a variety of cheeses and touring the cheese cellar, some aged cheeses were almost as long as Jacob was! The kids were surprisingly adventurous and sampled each of the cheeses, Maddy even liked one of the aged cheeses, a 2 year old cheese if I recall. It paired very nicely with the included glass of Mexican wine for the adults, and fresh juice for the kids.

The Service – The Crew

The staff were amazing, our sailing definitely wasn’t at capacity, but we noticed there seemed to be less crew-passenger ratio then on previous sailings. Nevertheless, the crew was attentive and very service-oriented. I particularly want to give a shout out to our room attendant, whose towel animal skills is better then my ability to draw stickmen.

I also want to give a shout out to the our two table attendants at our suppers, they were patient, friendly, had amazing memories, and absolutely spoiled the kids. We didn’t come across a crew member who wasn’t ready and willing to provide assistance. These crews sacrifice so much being away from their families for months on end catering to the needs of travelers like us, yet suffered so greatly during the pandemic and associated lockdowns.

Final Thoughts

Disembarkation day came fast, after only 3 nights it was time to get off. We thoroughly enjoyed spending our Thanksgiving onboard Navigator of the Seas. While one of the older ships, its amped refurbishment in 2019 made it a modern ship with lots of family/kid pleasing amenities. We loved the crew, the service, the food, and the short weekend itinerary was perfect for our Thanksgiving weekend getaway. I wish RCCL still had its partnership with Dreamworks but it didn’t take away from the cruise.

For the right price, in warmer weather, I’d happily do it again in any class of stateroom as it makes for a nice long weekend getaway from our Vancouver Island-based base of operations. Stay tuned for a blog on the Odyssey of the Seas!

Have you sailed on Navigator of the Seas, pre or post refurbishments? Share your experiences in the comments!