I had been upgraded to an ocean view cabin, on deck seven.  The state room was larger than the inside PR category and balcony cabins I have had before.  It provides a bit more space to walk about.  The cabin featured the standard array of details you find in modern RCI cabins.  There is a dividing curtain that can allow for the couch to serve as a second bed.  The new bedding, which has received a great deal of praise was installed on Navigator months ago.  The cabin had a four foot window which allowed for generous sunlight during the day.

On the coffee table, atop the guide to ships services, was a letter from Captain Bang.  It welcomed passengers aboard, and advised people to wash their hands before every meal.  It was a reference to the need to avoid doing things which help spread the Norwalk Virus.  This would not be the last mention or sign of the line’s concern about the nasty bug.

In the past, RCI had supplied shampoo and such in each cabin.  These items are available now by request with no charge.  The small refrigerator each cabin is equipped with, was intended originally to report the use of drinks and candy as you removed them from the shelves.  That system did not work as well as planned, and now you have a loose array of brand name candy and soft drinks.  As the week progressed, the candy selection changed, which was a nice touch.  Longer lasting ice buckets were in each room, and refilled daily without fail.  The durable, stainless steel buckets were a marked improvement over those I have seen on other ships, and gave a tiny bit of class to the room.

Navigator is still too new to have been refit with flat screen TVs, but the unit in my cabin was perfectly fine.  The evolution of RCI’s on board TV offerings has continued since my last voyage.  RCI has forged a relationship with CBS, and rather than seeing a single affiliates broadcast feed, you now see a specially produced series of highlights from the networks shows and such.  A passenger can see the highlights from that previous nights Letterman, or the top rated shows, at times which tend not to run counter to most ship activities.  For sports programming a hybrid of ESPN Deportes and ESPN Europe are seen most often.  Even with events shown on Fox, the feed comes through ESPN in some shape or form.  The CNN feed remains the international version of the network.

The ship-board programming is much more refined than in the past.  Higher quality production values and evidently more fleet-wide effort has made the normal informational videos more effective and nearly entertaining.
It seems that the longshoremen still stick firmly to their official start times.  As such, even though Navigator had arrived in port earlier than normal, she was unable to gain any time by unloading baggage sooner.  The union wouldn’t start work any sooner than the standard 8 a.m. So by the time the boat drill began, the baggage was still being loaded at a frantic pace.

The boat drill itself held true to the typical form.  It lasted much longer however, in part because of the concern over hygiene on the ship.  The Norwalk virus had not been on Navigator of the Seas, but RCI seems to be taking many pro-active steps to prevent occurrences, as much as is possible.  So it was, that during the boat drill, the second warning about keeping one’s hands clean was made.  It consisted of a long speech about washing hands, if a person feels ill, etc.

I packed my bags with a mind towards not having to spend much time unloading them.  And since they hadn’t arrived yet, I made my way from the cabin to the Windjammer Cafe for lunch.

More on lunch next time.