Day 7

All Aboard the Navigator of the Seas 🚢🌊

Despite being warned that the walls aboard the The Queen Mary were quite thin, we actually slept really well. Afterwards, I also remembered somebody once telling me the Queen Mary is supposedly haunted, but thankfully nothing went bump in the night either.

Since we’d already bought breakfast supplies from Vons the previous evening, we ate in the room before heading up to the Promenade Deck for coffee and toast. It was less about the food and more about the experience—sitting aboard a former luxury ocean liner while overlooking the harbour definitely felt a bit special.

After breakfast, we spent some time wandering around the ship exploring. It felt completely different compared to our previous visit because there weren’t crowds of tourists everywhere this time. Without the constant noise and guided tours, it was easier to appreciate the ship itself and imagine what travelling aboard her during the golden age of ocean liners might have been like.

Before long though, it was time to head to our cruise ship nearby. We collected our bags, checked out, and went downstairs to wait for our Uber transfer.

What should have been a quick pickup ended up taking much longer than expected because our driver was stuck in heavy traffic before reaching us. Thankfully, we’d left early so it wasn’t really an issue.

When we arrived at the Long Beach Cruise Terminal, there were two cruise ships docked, which made finding the correct terminal slightly confusing. After dragging our luggage through part of the car park, we finally reached our ship: Navigator of the Seas.

Ted had wisely printed our luggage tags beforehand, which should have meant a quick and easy bag drop. However, one staff member insisted we needed colour tags instead and directed us toward a huge queue to have them reprinted. Luckily, we checked with another attendant first, who told us our original tags were completely fine—saving us at least half an hour standing in line.

One thing we both noticed straight away was how unfriendly many of the terminal staff seemed. Several were openly yelling instructions at passengers while others looked thoroughly unimpressed to be there at all. This included one particularly stern check-in agent who honestly could have passed for the Bride of Frankenstein’s matron of honour.

Once onboard, the first thing we noticed was the huge number of children. We’ve done several cruises before, but never one that felt quite this family-heavy. Since our stateroom wasn’t ready yet, we headed to the Windjammer Marketplace buffet first. OMG. It was absolute chaos.

Far too many people packed into far too small a space. Between kids running everywhere, people circling tables looking for seats, and the general noise level, it definitely wasn’t the relaxed start to the cruise we’d imagined.

As soon as our cabin became available, we escaped there for a bit of peace and quiet. Thankfully, our luggage arrived not long afterwards, which made settling in much easier.

After unpacking, we explored the ship properly. I don’t really know how to phrase this politely, but the overall crowd onboard definitely felt a bit more… Walmart. We’ve cruised from Florida several times before and there’s usually a broader mix of passengers, whereas this cruise seemed to have a very particular vibe.

That said, there’s still a lot to like about this ship. Navigator of the Seas has waterslides, a rock-climbing wall, an escape room, mini golf, and the FlowRider—the onboard surfing simulator where people can practise surfing and bodyboarding on artificial waves. There’s definitely no shortage of things to do.

Later on, we grabbed some pizza from one of the cafés because the buffet hadn’t reopened yet, and thankfully when we eventually returned to Windjammer later in the evening, the atmosphere was far calmer than earlier in the day.

Ted also encouraged me to collect the complimentary souvenir cup included with our drinks package. The cups are electronically programmed so the ship’s drink dispensers recognise whether you’re entitled to unlimited soft drinks or not. At the first bar I visited, the staff member insisted our package didn’t include it. I tried again somewhere else a bit later and was given one immediately without any problem whatsoever. Consistency clearly isn’t always a strong point onboard.

Since there was an LGBT meet-up scheduled for 9:30pm, we relaxed in the cabin for a while first—and I even needed a nap—before heading to The Bamboo Room.

The venue itself was really fun, decorated in a tropical tiki-bar style with bamboo features, hanging lanterns, colourful lighting, and island-inspired décor. It had a relaxed atmosphere and ended up being a great place for the gathering.

There was a really good turnout too, and we met several nice people including Mike and Tyler from Los Angeles, Chad from Hawaii, Geoff from New York, Ben and Brett from Las Vegas, and a man named Kenny who was dressed as a Minion. Yes, really. There were also some Australians there, although we never quite got the chance to properly meet them.

Even though we only stayed until around 11:30pm—which honestly counts as a late night for us these days—it was really nice meeting some of our fellow passengers and starting to settle into cruise life.

Tomorrow: Mexico awaits.Read more