Ensenada you need an excursion I think. I just walked around downtown. There is a shuttle right there when you walk off ship that will take you downtown for $4. Next time I think I will do a wine tour. I have been to La Boufadora before.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Embarkation was a breeze. Just showed them all my documents and they put a white ribbon band on my wrist to show I was vaccinated and off I went to board the ship. You board the ship on deck 4 starboard side and the B muster stations are there and I was B5 for my muster and walked up to the guy and he scanned my paper copy of my sail and sign card and gave me the info on emergencies and I was done with muster even before I even stepped INTO the ship! Perfect! Navigator is a nice ship. Walked around to get myself familiar with ship and then had lunch and then rooms were ready at 1:30pm
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
I did not know you had to make reservations the second you step on board for all the dinners you are gonna have the rest of the time you are on the ship, so I messed that up. I had my time dining and the only time available was at 8:30pm every time else was sold out and I don’t eat that late. The buffet windjammer is not open for dinner either. So I had a late breakfast and late lunch and just got snack stuff at the cafe promenade in the early evening. They need to open up buffet for dinner. Also they have tables blocked off that you can’t use in the buffet for social distancing. So if you went when it was crowded, you walked around looking for a table and your food was getting cold because none available. So be aware of that
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
The solarium deck is where I went to use the jacuzzi and I sat and read my book I brought. We only had one sea day and it was chilly out. There are trivia games to play and they did have bingo, but I did not do those things. Watched some football at playmakers sports bar on Sunday.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
Entertainment was good. Again you must make reservations for that too. The Iskate ice skating show was great. The rink is small and it is pretty impressive what they can do in such a small space. Comedy show was good. I wanted to see the showgirls show, but it was sold out. They have social distancing in the theaters - seats are blocked that can not be used.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Everyone was very nice and said hello to greet you. Room steward Anthony got my virtual balcony screen to work, and brought my ice every day too. Service was great.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Ship is good and clean. The only thing is I think they need to vacuum the buffet a little more often. There were more kids on board because it was thanksgiving weekend, so there was more of a bit of a mess.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
I liked my cabin. I had a virtual balcony inside room. It was fun having the screen. Watching the water and seeing birds fly by the screen. When we were in Ensenada, I am on starboard side and there was a big yellow buoy and a sea lion was sleeping on it. I watched all the excursion boats go by it so people could take a photo of the sea lion. At night it was too dark to see anything so it was just a black dark screen. It was something different, and I always try to have or do something different every cruise.
Ship tip
Please remember to book and make all your reservations as soon as you can. Everything takes reservations. Dinner, shows, schedule ice skating time, etc.
Disembarkation is different with Royal. They make NO announcements. You get a tag in your room the night before. You choose self assist debarkation or have your luggage out in the hall by 10pm the night before. In the morning your tv screen will show all the tag numbers and the time you are to disembark that correspond to that number. I got tag number 9, so my time was 8:10am to disembark. I took all my bags and left my room at 7:45am and walked right off the ship. The problem was once you got off the ship, you had to wait in a long line for customs downstairs. LA does not have the quick face scan system Miami port does. They want everyone off the ship by 9:30AM. Parking is $20 per day.
Funny how cruise lines handle covid differently. Carnival has basically no new rules other than to wear masks indoors. No distancing, nobody asking you to wash your hands before handling food in the buffet, nothing shut down. Weird thing is that Carnival has more Green status ships right now than RC. Carnival does not seemed to be worried about Covid at all. I wish they were worried about Norovirus though.
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