Norfolk Sailors - Family & Friends

For all you new moms on this site who have sons or daughters stationed here in Norfolk, we'd like to let some of you know and remind others that my husband and I invite sailors over to our house on the weekends. We eat and play board games(sometimes go mini-golfing) on Saturday night and on Sundays sit down for a home cooked meal, including homemade bread and dessert! If you think they would be interested, we can pm you our cell number or we could text them and invite them over if they are ok with you giving us their cell number. Looking forward to hearing from some of you. :)

Yvonne and John

John and Ivonne that is so awesome! I have a sailor son who will be transferring to Norfolk before the end of the year with his new wife....sounds like a lot of fun and I am sure they would love to meet you and other sailors. Thank you so much for doing this! How wonderful of you! Could you please pm me your number and I will pass it on to them?   

Hi Creolemommy - Your son can ask where the housing office is on base. They will be able to review the apartment lease for him to make sure that it contains the military out clause that is needed to break the lease without penalty. They also have a list of apartment complexes to avoid because of their lack of security and/or trying to stick it to the military.

My son has been stationed in Norfolk for about 3 years and lives in an apartment complex in Virginia Beach. My hubby just got transferred to Norfolk but we are renting a house in Virginia Beach. It's about a 30-40 minute drive to base. We wanted to avoid living in Norfolk and also avoid having to take a bridge or tunnel to commute to base.

We are thinking about visiting our grandson stationed in Norfolk the beginning of Oct.  any suggestions on what to see?

GMA of a Sonar Tech -

look above in the Discussions and click on View All.Marcy has posted a very informative piece on the Navy Lodge and what to do in the area.

Have fun planning your trip and enjoy the time with your Sailor!

Saw this on the Naval Station Norfolk FB page.  If your sailor needs to do any DMV stuff this could help them out!

Norfolk Restaurant Week kicked off today.  The info at this link includes links to about 20 of the top restaurants in the area  - good to keep in mind for visits to sailors!  http://hrscene.com/your-guide-to-norfolk-restaurant-week/

Hi all - Happy Monday!

Marcy - Wow!  The timing of Restaurant Week is perfect.  We fly out this Wednesday to visit our Sailor.  I'm going to forward this to him and we will have to try some of these!  Can't wait to see him - going to get a tour of the Truman, see the USS Wisconsin, going to a minor league baseball game, take a harbor cruise and of course eat some good food!  Can't wait to hug him ;-)

Hi all - Happy Tuesday!

Thanks Marcy!

Mommamac - yep - we'll be spending some time with your boy too!  And I'll give him the biggest hug ever ;-)  B already said that yours will be around so we can hang out.  I'm excited to see VA but not excited for the heat/humidity lol!

Printed our boarding passes this morning - can't wait for tomorrow to get here!!!

Hi Navy Moms,  I'm new to this group!  My son will be arriving to his base on Tues.  Just wondering how he will get to base (taxi or sponsor picks him up from airport?).  Is there anything I could be sending/doing to help him on his journey?  Let me in on the 'scoop' of what to expect!    I have so enjoyed the Navy4Moms groups and all the friends I've found on the site.  Hope I can connect to the Norfolk, VA, group soon!  Be safe!

Thanks, Forever proud!  I so appreciate your info!  I wasn't sure how this all works.  My son's a little nervous about the move!  Is your son still aboard?  More questions to come.....lol  Thanks again!

Just wondering if anyone else has a sailor assigned to USS Lincoln? My son is a MA there but since the ship is being overhauled he lives in Portsmouth and commutes. Just wondering if anyone else has this situation and how are their kids handling it.

Can I ask what kind of hours your son works? As a MA my son works 14 hour shifts 3 days on 2 off and where they put him to live is an hour commute each way. He's so exhausted. I wonder if other rates have those shifts too? He leaves for work at 3pm and returns home at 7am. On his days off he does his food shopping for the week, laundry, etc. Seems like a lot. Some of his friends in other rates seem to have much better hours. Does this sound typical?

Actually that shift sounds like what my son will be doing beginning in August. Those are long work days, especially since they have to fend for themselves in terms of buying and preparing food, doing laundry, etc. in their free time.The drive is tough and he hopes to get moved closer but who knows.I'm exhausted just hearing about how long he works! and its so hot there!! Oh well I guess it's going to be tough for awhile. Thanks and good luck to your son.

.Kassie and other moms:

I think your sons will do fine. But I wanted to let you know that my husband and I open our home and invite any interested sailors to come over on the weekends. We feed them and play board games on Saturday evenings and on Sunday I cook a sit down meal with home made bread and dessert and we give them a place to hang out. My husband is retired Navy so we have a heart for sailors. :) If any of you are interested, I can pm you our cell number and you can let your sons (or daughters) know about us.

Yvonne and John

hi Forever proud..I was just wondering how long it took before they flew your son out to meet his ship that was on deployment when he arrived in Norfolk? Do you know if that timeframe is typical for someone arriving in Norfolk and needing to be flown out to meet his ship?

Several Hampton Roads cities ranked high on this list of the best (and worst) 150 US cities for families, including Virginia Beach at #3, and Chesapeake, VA at #8.  Nice!  http://wallethub.com/edu/best-cities-for-families/4435/

Thanks for sharing that list Marcy.  Our sailor lives in Virginia Beach!  We live in Riverside, CA - #63 on the list.  Guess he's doing things right lol!

Hello everyone!  I just joined your group but am not new to the Navy.  Here's my background:  My son has been in the Navy since 2011 and has been serving on an aircraft carrier for almost three years home ported in Japan.  His ship is on it's way to the U.S. (yeah I'm super excited about that!)  My son re-enlisted this spring and once he gets to Virginia he will be going to Mississippi for advanced schooling but then his orders will take him back to the carrier so he'll be spending several years in Virginia.  I will be coming to Virginia to see the ship come in and this is my first time to see a Homecoming (never made it to Japan). As time draws closer I'm sure I will have lots of questions but right now can any of you give me advice on where to stay.  Is there any areas of Norfolk that I should avoid?  If you get a beach front hotel can you get a glimpse of the ship coming in and still have plenty of time to drive to the base?  Yes I'm totally clueless as to what to expect!  

Thank you all for your help and I'm looking forward to being a Virginia Mom and being part of your group!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Welcome joshmom! We were fortunate to stay at my daughter's apartment, but our first choice would have been the Navy Lodge!

Don't think you want to stay at a beach hotel and drive in after you see the ship!  You want to be on base and at the pier!

Hopefully another Mom with experience in that area will answer.  I have only stayed at the Navy Lodge in Sasebo, Japan, when my youngest and I went on the 4 day 3 night Gator Cruise back in 2010.  So, my daughter cam to Fukuoka and we rode a bus from there to base and she was with us to check us in.

When we were there in November 2015, I know another sailor friend said he could help check us in before her Homecoming.  So, I don't have an answer for you....Sorry.

Joshmom, for a homecoming you can make the reservation and check in without your sailor. They give you 24 hours to bring in your sailor to finish the check in. They are flexible though. I got there on a Thursday ans the ship was returning on Saturday, I let them know when I made the reservation and she noted that on it. For just a visit the sailor has to make the reservation and be with you when you check in.

I made my own reservation at Navy Lodge online but we did need a sailor to check us in and as coming for a ships deployment return was not really an option. We were lucky though as his twin drove up from Charleston and checked us in (he is also a sailor)

Is there anyone on this site that has a sailor on the USS Ramage? Crew or Rider?

My son is on the Ramage :)

Hi!  Does anyone have any suggestions/recommendations or do's/don'ts regarding sailors at Norfolk storing their vehicles while underway on deployment? What does everyone normally do - base parking, off base storage, etc..?  Thanks :)

Hi all - Happy Monday!

I'm definitely interested in info on vehicle storage while on deployment too.  My son had said he thought he might ship his car home (to CA!) but that's close to $1000 (and then he has to ship it back!).  We just visited him last month & told him to ask around & see what others do - there are plenty of storage facilities but he's worried about his car sitting for a long period of time.  Hopefully someone will be able to give us some suggestions CC0727!

Thanks Marcy!  I've forwarded that on to my son ;-)

Oh also down town has great shopping. Simply J's on King street had really cute anchor tops and dresses.  Great ice cream also I thin on King St. got written up in bon Appetite. Also by the aquarium is a restaurant over the water that serves she crab soup, really SC and so good. 

thanks!!!  @ Marcy - that is a lot of great info!  has anyone had any experience using either the lot behind the next or the storage sites that were mentioned?  like any good reviews or bad experiences?  thanks again! :)

Looking for advice. We're moving soon from San Diego to the Norfolk area. I can't for the life of me decide where to live. I like Ghent from looking at it online but everyone I've talked to said living in Norfolk is really bad. I've also been told to look in Chesapeake and Virginia Beach....My husband doesn't want to be too far from base. Any help is appreciated. Its so hard doing this from the other side of the country.

Eva - my son lives here with a roommate.  Nice apartment complex in VA Beach.  (It's a little expensive I think - but 2 single guys, what can I say!).  They have 1 bedrooms too. We visited in July - they are nice & it wasn't too far from the base (both Norfolk & Portsmouth).

http://www.ripheat.com/midtownCityView.php