Preparing for a Last Minute Cruise!
The beautiful Navigator of the Seas!
Today is January 27th 2023. Yesterday we called our Casino Royale Representative and ended up booking a 7 night cruise out of Long Beach, CA on Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas.
We have never travelled last minute before and this is only our second cruise. It will be my mother-in-law and 5 year old son’s first cruise, and our family’s first cruise out of this terminal. Actually this trip will be a lot of firsts for us. Our first flight to LAX, our first experience with this cruise terminal, our first time on Navigator, our first time on a 7 day cruise, our first time to all three Western Mexico destinations and more.
Follow along as we prepare to leave in 6 days for a last minute week of fun on a budget!
The Royal Promenade, featuring a few of the 10 restaurants on board.
The pool deck featuring the 3 story Lime and Coconut Pool Bar.
Last night we booked our trip, our unlimited dining package, our drink packages, our flights and our inexpensive hotel near the Cruise Port.
Today is the day to find a budget friendly excursion, start the packing process and see if anyone needs to order any critical items from Walmart or Amazon. Also today I will be setting up our transportation to and from our home airport, checking out our ship so I can share with our son what he can expect, etc.
One of my big tips for planning a vacation is to learn the basics of your ship ahead of time. This can help in a ton of different ways, especially when travelling with kiddos.
Look into what they are able to do and not able to do ahead of time such as height, weight and age restrictions, etc. If our son knows he is too short for a ride or a water slide ahead of time it has helped our son manage his emotions at the time. It has saved us countless meltdowns in the past on our Disney, Universal and Silverwood theme park trips.
There are two awesome water slides on Navigator which we can’t wait to try out. This one is a water coaster!
We never got around to trying out the Flowrider Surf Simulator last time, so we can’t wait to try it this time!
I also like to learn about what is complimentary on your ship and what is an extra charge helps us parents manage our budget and our kids manage their expectations. If you aren’t planning on paying for certain extras like spending money at the arcade, a soda package, Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, etc. children knowing ahead of time will make it much easier to manage then if they find out when all the bright shiny lights are right in front of them.
And a big help for our family has also been checking out the restaurants on the ship ahead of time with your Royal Caribbean app. They provide the full menus for each restaurant so you can ha an idea ahead of time what would work good for any picky eaters. Nothing like hangry kids (and adults!) who can’t find something they want to eat.
My husband’s absolute favorite food from our last cruise was at Playmaker’s
My husband’s absolute favorite food from our last cruise was at Playmaker’s
Their garlic parmesan fries are absolutely delicious. And they had the best burgers on the ship.
The sundae has a big wow factor, and you get to keep the helmet bowl as a souvenir! Our son has had a few sundaes at home in ours.
And depending on the ship, Playmaker’s will have a variety of arcade games, pool tables, giant jenga, darts and just an awesome sports bar vibe.
Checking these things out ahead of time has made for a much smoother vacation experience for our family in the past, and also helps immensely to avoid that brutal sticker shock when you check your bank account when you get back home. It also helps to manage the needs of your children, and for all members of your family to handle any stress, anxiety, etc. that can limit people from having a great time. And now on to the good stuff!
My Cruise Essentials:
Checkout what we purchased in preparation for our last cruise, what we thought was worth it and what wasn’t, and what we will definitely be using this time. Let’s start with some travel staples that we now use every time we go on a trip.
This is now an essential to both my husband and I. We are able to share it because we tend to travel on the lighter side on the toiletries, and it is awesome to just unwrap the whole thing and hand it from a hook in the bathroom. This kept us organized and we loved not having clutter all over the very crowded vanity in the cruise cabin.
These HydroMATE Electrolyte packets were a lifesaver for all members of our family on our trips to the theme parks in Florida, and they work great for cruising to help maintain your hydration after a couple of cocktails on the Pool Deck.
Here is another cruising essential for our family. These hooks really help maximize space in those small cruise cabins, and help keep us organized. We use them behind the cabin door to hang our lanyards with our seapass cards, use them to hang jackets, travel organizers like the one I posted above, hats and more. Each hook holds up to 25 pounds. We even use them at home on our fridge and out in our garage when we aren’t cruising. They have been well worth the $6 for our family.
Speaking of hanging our lanyards, these lanyards with the pull out reel were a big hit with my husband and I! It made it so easy to get our Sea Pass Card scanned for drinks, meals, getting on and off the ship, putting it in the slot machines at the casino, etc. You are constantly having to get your Sea Pass card out and this made it so much easier and harder to lose!
I scoured Amazon before our last trip to find a carry on sized bag that could slide over the handles of our suitcase and this one was definitely the winner! It features a compartment for wet clothes, a shoe compartment, waterproof lining, and a venting hole. This bag would not only work great for travel, but excellent for the gym, an overnight bag or a hospital bag.
Another packing essential is this great set of compression packing cubes. They are great to save space, but also to stay organized and not have to dig through an entire suitcase to find one specific item. And they have them in several different colors so you can color code your family members.
Thanks for joining me as our family prepares for our last minute trip! Stay tuned for my next Travel Planning post about the dreaded search for affordable swimwear for the whole family.
And follow along on our adventures by following us on Instagram by clicking on the icon below! We will be posting on Instagram as we cruise.
