3 Day Cruise to Ensenada on Navigator of the Seas - Royal Caribbean

 I just took my first "Royal Caribbean" cruise one month ago on a 3 day cruise to Ensenada and back. 

 

Preparing for the cruise was pretty straightforward and easy. We downloaded the app, entered our information, from our Passport to our vaccine card. You just take a photo over the scan in your passport and it will transfer all your information. Also you need to enter you vaccination card information, and take a photo of it also,  the front and back. The thing that was different and made me worry a little bit, was the negative Covid test. It needs to be done within 48 hours before you go. That meant I needed to take it on Wednesday, because Thursday was Thanksgiving. So I decided to do a antigen test because the results come back in about an hour vs. the PCR take which could take 2 days. What if I take the test for PCR and I don't get it back in time before the cruise? (Just part of my anxiety). So since they will take either, the no brainer was the antigen. I made the appointment at CVS in advance because appointments will fill up. You just drive up to an outside kiosk, and kind of a self serve thing, and sign in to your health app, and the results come back in an hour. Of course, there is that..... what if it comes back positive? And more worries. But all was good, my husband and I both had negative. You can show your app or print it out. You can do your boarding pass from your phone also, which is convenient. OK , we are all set.

 

Print out your luggage tags and don't forget to put them on your suitcase.

Embarkation Day:

The Navigator is an older ship but did a huge renovation on it, so it was a really pretty ship with lots of colorful designs.

Navigator of the Seas

We got a notification that they were leaving an hour later, so it would be 6:00pm instead of 5:00pm. We marked the first check in at 12:30  pm. and they sent countless notifications saying "Do not come any earlier because we are sticking to exact times due to the new protocol and spacing people apart." However, we always get wherever we need to go early whether the airport or cruise ship so we aren't stressing out. In L.A. anything can happen on the freeways. So we did get to the port around 11;00 am expecting to wait until they would let us in. However, they were letting people check in early. They had a temperature check, you needed to show your vac card (even though it was already loaded onto the app) and show your negative Covid test. We even took our photo from home so they didn't have to when we boarded. One thing we forgot to do was the video for the muster drill, so we had a private little session before entering the ship. It was pretty funny, and we were the only ones in that group. I believe that Royal has not been in L.A. for about 11 years, and this was one of the first cruises out. I think there may have been a couple before ours. I was confused when we got on because we couldn't figure out where our room was. We both had a carry on and one big suitcase. It took me a little while to see the signs that say "Rooms will be open at 2:00pm" . I'm sure they need time to clean the rooms and turn them around. No big deal as we only had our carry-ons. I didn't eat breakfast that morning, I just had coffee, so we decided to go to the Windjammer for lunch. It seems everyone had their carry-ons so we didn't feel out of place. Every other table is reserved so there will be an empty table between you and the other guests. I heard that this ship was 1/2  capacity , but can't confirm that. The difference is now, you can't touch anything. They will hand you the plate, and you point at what you want and they will serve it to you or put on your plate. Everything was clean and hand washing is available before you go in. After we ate we explored the ship and went out to the deck, it was a beautiful day, sunny and warm, everyone was in the pool, music and eating at the outdoor venues. There is a "El Loco Fresh" serving Mexican food and a Johnny Rockets pool side, which I believe is a nominal fee of $6.95. I may be wrong, I didn't eat there because I'm vegetarian and they didn't have any vege burgers, lol. Went back to see the slides because you know I'm going on those!! It was fun exploring the ship, and we really liked the city walk area where you feel like you are walking through a city, or town.  It's really planned out nice, with a good feel.