Copyright ©2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

He-Man had a big Decade BIRTHDAY (60) this year; very early in the year he asked me to plan a trip for only him and I for this birthday. He didn’t want to drive…much, if at all, or have to think about what or where to eat, or go to be entertained, and he wanted to be in the place on his actual birthday.  I knew straight away he was talking about a Cruise. He adores cruising precisely because he doesn’t have to do any of the above mentioned things while on-board. I’m not that crazy about the “at sea days”. There are 4 on a 7 day cruise, and two, TWO formal nights! I tried, OH. SO. HARD. To get him to change his mind and do something else, but  none of my suggestions swayed him.

So, being the good wife, and friend  I hope I am I try to be;  I booked a 7 day cruise on the Navigator of the Seas in the Western Caribbean for his Big Birthday. We sailed on his Birthday. We sailed from a port new to us; Galveston, TX, and of the 3 ports of call it was going to one port/island was new to us.  Here’s He-Man enjoying our view from our balcony on Deck 7 on his birthday.

This was our 4th cruise and 2nd time sailing on the Navigator of the Seas.  Our very first cruise back in 2008  was on the Navigator. She’s a grand ole’ ship.  (He-Man and my Brother-in-Law on the dock in Cozumel, MX 2008). In port that day was also the Carnival Legend. She sailed fairly close to us that trip.

The Navigator of the Seas was built in 2002 in Finland. At that time she was the Fifth largest passenger ship at sea. She is part of Royal Caribbean’s “Voyager Class” of ships; at the time of her debut she was one of the first ships to have an ice skating rink, and the Royal Promanade which features, indoor pubs, lots of stores, cafes, and the Ships “Guest Services” desk where one can book excursions, and get answers to anything pertaining to the ship. There’s Mini Golf up on the 14th floor, a rock climbing wall, and back in 08 there was an incline skating track, but that has been replaced with the “FlowRider” which is a surf simulator.  Here’s an employee of Royal Caribbean riding it in between passengers. He was amazing at it, and made it look so easy! It’s NOT! No, I didn’t try it. 🙂

On Day 2 a “sea day” we had a storm which kept us indoors, but when the rain stopped we went up to Deck 11 and discovered a rainbow just off the Starboard side of the ship. (Hot Tubs)

I couldn’t resist going up to Deck 12 at night to photograph the Pool Deck-

Deck 12

to get another sense of her size here’s the Aft end docked in Roatan, Honduras with the Tourist vans out on the street waiting for tourists off the boat.

and one last image…a quick look at the Bridge before we sailed. Not quite as many gauges as an airplane in this view, but there are a lot of them not in the frame!

Nikon Df, and Panasonic Lumix FZ200| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film, and Lexar Professional Digital Film| CS6| Hand-held

More to come…