Cruise Recap

A cruise recap in pictures

Oct 2 - Oct 18

15 nights

(including skipping Oct 8 when we crossed the International Date Line and eight 25-hour days,

 arriving with zero jet lag!)

Los Angeles, CA to Yokohama, Japan 

(with 3 port stops in Japan)

Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas

Lined up to get on the ship! Each of us had a small rolling carry-on and a (heavy!) backpack

There are several complimentary/included food choices—Windjammer buffet, main dining room with different menu every night, Cafe Promenade (donuts, sandwiches/wraps, pizza, etc), and El Loco Fresh (like a Mexican buffet on the deck)

And soft serve ice cream cones (We indulged almost every day!). I often made them be outside for an hour before ice cream, but some days the weather was cold, windy, and rainy

The California departure day was the best for the pool, but we swam several times

This is Calvin in the teen room. I thought the picture was appropriate since we let him and Carter choose their own adventure pretty much the whole time. We’d wake them up, spot them occasionally around the ship, see them at dinner, and then gave them a midnight curfew to be back to their room

This is one of the few nights we all ate together—Carter and Calvin were often with others from our group, and sometimes we sat with other adults. I think Chance ordered French fries every night!

The Royal Promenade lookin’ lovely. Cooper and Colson and I went to the balloon drop the first night 

Balloons everywhere!

Rock climbing!

Cooper’s choice of pickles, apple. and jello

Calvin with his new friend Drew

We often spotted Carter reading his Bible in the library :-)

On the Sundays on board, we attended the interdenominational church service. The priest lives in Lexington!

After our group picture on the fancy stairs

We attended two duck exchanges

Our worldschooling group had several guest speakers, like these officers, the captain, a Japanese man, and the headliner magician

It took several days to get this far—felt like it would take forever to cross the Pacific!

Hot tub was often mire pleasant than the pool

Almost every night, Lucas and I attended the main show. This time it was a balancer/juggler

Chance got a special seapass card because of his birthday

Found a duck! He checked behind these statues every time we passed them!

Celebrating his birthday at dinnertime

Decorations on the door

Calvin with more of his friends. Some of these guys we’ll be able to reconnect with in Osaka

It’s not always fun and games, even on a cruise ship…

When the show of the night was a hypnotist, we skipped it and played Scrabble instead

Chance with his almost-daily plate of shredded cheese

Calvin was able to catch some football games

Getting closer!

Cooper and Colson needed some more weight so they wouldn’t fly off the slide. Happy to help!

Trying to get some pointers from our Canadian friends

Lucas and I had Chance with us, and the big four boys had a room on the floor beneath us. Cooper and Colson got to be on the top bunks!

Lucas and I spent a lot of time tagteaming with these threw

Almost every night, we dropped off the youngest three boys at the kids club

This was when we spotted land for the first time in 11 days on the night before our first port

It’s Japan! We could see a lighthouse on the coast

This was when Carter realized he could order two desserts. He LOVED all the food!

Parade of nations celebrating the 50+ countries of all the crew, the most being from Philippines, Indonesia, India, and China

Family fun festival. Cooper loved this giant cup stacking race

Shuffleboard at sunset. This was the night Colson spotted a whale swimming and spouting next to us

My first time eating lobster tail. I tried lots of things for the first time—escargot, congee, muesli, and loads of Indian food like dal, papadum(?), roti, raita. Indian became my favorite. I ate it pretty much every day for lunch and at least 3 nights from the dinner menu

Our awesome waiter Ketut (Bali, Indonesia) and assistant waiter Yuzhao (China).

I used the Sea Ducks app to hide and find ducks and I was the #1 hider on our cruise!

My reflection from the deck looking in at our beloved 425 table that we’d never eat at again :-(

Final cruise distance- 5620 nautical miles. I loved tuning into this channel on our TV often that showed our current position and course from different angles as well as the view from “the bridge” of the ship

All packed up!

Final breakfast in the Windjammer buffet.

What a memorable way to reach Japan!

I’ll update later with a recap of our ports in Japan.