Home away from home

Since the last few days have been sea days, there has not been much in the way of things to photograph, but we have included a few shots of areas of the ship with this posting.  The Navigator is an older ship, but was refurbished just last year.  She is the smallest ship in the Regent fleet and is easy to get around.  You are never very far from where you want to be and quickly return to your cabin if you forgot something or want to drop something off.  We love the size and intimacy.  We quickly began to recognize almost everyone.

The Navigator was not designed to be a cruise ship and this does affect the ride of the ship.  She does not have the modern stabilization systems that the new cruise ships do and therefore you feel a lot more movement.  You can also feel the rumble and vibrations of the engines when you are towards the stern of the vessel.

The food and service is the best we have experienced recently.  The inclusive price makes meal times more enjoyable as we are not fumbling for our room cards to purchase drinks and wine.  Due to the limited space on the ship, the Navigator does not have an array of specialty dining rooms. The main dining room, The Compass Rose, is a beautiful place complete with Versace charger and bread plates.  You can opt to eat as a couple or you share a table and meet news guests at each meal.  The menu changes daily.  The other dining option available for all meals is LaVeranda.  It offers a few outside dining tables and uses the same shared table approach if you are interested.  It is primarily a buffet approach, but includes  a carving station at lunch.  For diner, it is transformed into Sette Mari, an Italian themed restaurant with the same menu every night. However, they do have different appetizers on the buffet each evening.

The other dining options are only available for specific meals.  Prime 7, the steakhouse themed specialty restaurant, is only open for dinner and is the only restaurant that requires or takes reservations.  The pool grill is open daily for lunch and frequently has “themed” food from noon-2pm (Sandwiches, Tex Mex, BBQ, Burgers, Stir-Fry, etc).  Room service is available 24 hours a day at no charge.

There are limited activities aboard on sea days, but we enjoy the daily trivia contests and other “skill” games (cornhole, ring toss, putting, etc).  We have caught up on a few movies we wanted to see as they are easily watched in your cabin.  Yesterday, we ordered pizza and watched “Founder” the story of Ray Kroc and McDonalds.  The one show we attended was enjoyable and we look forward to the seeing the new production shows.  The cast boarded with us in Miami and this is their first cruise.

6/2/2017 Home Away from Home photos