This is our position this morning at 10:30. We still have just over 900 nautical miles to go before docking in Honolulu on Friday morning.
The RSSC Navigator entered service in 1999 as part of Radisson Seven Seas Cruises which was re-branded in 2006 as the now Regent Seven Seas Cruises. Actually the ship’s hull was constructed by the former USSR (Russia) as a satellite tracking ship prior to it being retro-fitted for cruise ship purposes.
In 2004, the ship was featured and used as a focal point for the movie “After the Sunset”, starring Pierce Brosnan and Salma Hayek. Now Rebecca and I are the stars of our own travel adventure on board the Navigator.
To help you with its size perspective, she is a little more than 1 ½ times the length of a football field and half as wide. She is one of the smaller cruise ships in service today and accommodates only 490 passengers in a all suite configuration. Most suites are 301 sqft with a 55 sqft balcony. This may sound small but is much larger than the normal stateroom on other cruise lines. There are 19 larger suites. The international crew consists of 345 dedicated men and women, many of which we call our good friends now.
There are 8 passenger decks and at least 2 more below that for the crew. For this cruise we chose to be on deck #6. The passenger decks start at deck #5 but the suites there did not have balconies. Why did we want deck 6?? Simple, the lower you are and closer to the middle of the ship, the smoother the ride in rough waters. Cruise lines price staterooms opposite that with the higher up you go the more you pay. Being very experienced cruisers now, we prefer a better ride over ego. Case in point, have you ever wondered why the ship’s dining rooms are always on lowest passenger decks.
One big issue the Navigator has is a noticeable vibration in aft part of the ship. She does not have the new, modern azipods for propulsion, but has the old style propellers. The vibrations are not all the time but mostly when running full speed, 20 knots. We would never consider an aft suite.
The Navigator underwent a $40 million refurbishment in a French dry dock during the spring of 2016. So this is our first glimpse of her since then. Our last cruise on her was to Alaska the year before. All the suites were completely updated, the Compass Rose dining room was completely redone, and some other public areas also had a major facelift.
WHAT WE DID LAST NIGHT:
Wayan, pouring our wine.
WHAT WE DID TODAY:
Still not a smooth ride this morning but much better than even yesterday. Mostly cloudy with passing rain showers. After the usual breakfast I went up to workout for first time this week. When Rebecca went up later in the morning all the treadmills were in use so she will wait until later. Internet was not so good in our suite (this is normal) so after showering I came down to the Navigator Lounge for a coffee with Kadek and to use my laptop. He took this photo.
Lunch up at the pool grill featured Mediterranean foods. This afternoon I plan to go to an enrichment lecture by photographer, Samuel DeLong. He will be doing a series of 15
lectures dealing with travel and the use of smart phones in taking photos.
At 6:00 pm we have been invited to a cocktail party in the Grand Suite of Bonnie & Paul Buchanan. They have one of the larger suites and are allowed to host an in suite party. Afterwards we will be joining them for dinner in Compass Rose. Tonight's headliner show is featuring the magician, Jonathan, for his second show. His first show was not too impressive but will give him a second chance.
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