Indy Trip Report 11/14

What can I say? The Indy was wonderful. She's now my favourite ship out of the cruises I've done. Quick-Intro Summary: Don't hesitate to book the Indy period.

Pre-Cruise

We booked this cruise 30 days exactly before sailing to celebrate my grandmother's 77th. Used my father's interline discount (through my GM) and booked an interior on Deck 10. A week later, a Family Promenade Cabin popped up for the same price we paid for the interior. Called, spend 30 minutes on the phone with TA, and presto, twice the square footage for free. I thought that they had a minimum of 6, but I guess they give it away if no one books it. Booked airplane tickets the week before. One ticket to MIA and a ticket back from PBI. We booked this specific cruise for Mexico.

Embarkation Day

We woke up at around 2 AM, drove to ATL, parked, and took off at 6:50 AM. Arrived in MIA pushing my GM in an airport wheelchair until someone said only special assistance was allowed to push her. Next time, I'll keep pushing honestly. She pushed my GM to the END of Terminal E to sit at a "disability" stop where a golf cart would take her to baggage claim. Sat there for 10 minutes, no cart. My GM just got up and gave someone else the wheelchair. Her arthritis got to her when we walked about a mile give or take... Good thing about having family in Miami is they can be your FREE uber to Port Everglades. Got there at 9:40 AM. Terminal doors opened immediately and waited before security opened. Checked-in and sat down until 11:15 AM, boarding time. The ramp was very steep to get up on the ship. If I let go off my bag, it would most likely knock some people out. We self-carry. Rooms ready at 1 PM like normal. Just a note, Terminal 25 was very old and glad they are updating it.

WOW -- Reaction upon entering the ship.

Windjammer was crowded -- Everyone stood in line for Jade not realizing that wasn't the Windjammer. Wish the staff told people. Food was good and went back to the cabin.

Cabin

We had cabin 7607, a family promenade cabin, for the two of us. The room steward was confused that there were only two of us. I posted a thread about my “free upgrade” from an interior to this room. Room was HUGE compared to previous rooms. Our view was of Ben and Jerry’s and the Cupcake Cupboard. Also, during the “70’s party” we could watch all the action from our room! Super cool. There wasn’t really a privacy issue in this cabin. We kept the curtains of course while changing, but I only saw one person looking at me in the window. I loved the promenade room and would probably book it over an Oceanview if I didn’t book a balcony. It gave you at least a view at night. We loved the walk-in closet and the two other closets plus like a shelf/drawer combo tower which I used. Bathroom was big. Only complaints about the bathtub was that it did drain very slowly and the shower curtain is too long and pools at the bottom of the tub. Even though we didn’t use the bunk beds, I got in the top bunk just to try it out and it was very hard to get out. The ladder only had three steps so to get down, it was just a drop to the ground. Bed was comfortable however. There were curtains to separate the “living room” from the “bedroom”, but one design flaw is that you had to turn all the lights on in the room rather then just each individual “living room” and “bedroom”. Example: If I was doing some work in the “living room”, I couldn’t turn on the lights because GM was sleeping. Also, the mini fridge was under the TV in an awkward cabinet, when it could have been placed an already existing space for the mini-fridge in the vanity. Would create more floor space as I feel it was wasted space. I liked how they didn’t fill the mini fridge this time!

Overall, I would totally book the cabin again if it wasn’t much more, but again, I was very lucky to get this room at the price. It’s basically an interior suite minus the gold card ;).

Dining

Dining was better than the Empress for sure. Disclaimer - I am a Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian, so my comments are not based on seafood, meat, nor poultry. We frequently ate at the Windjammer. Layout was great -- some lines, but they moved quickly. Dinner at the Windjammer began at 6:30 PM, while MDR MTD began at 5:30 PM. We ate at the Windjammer 3 out of 5 nights. We just felt the food was better again, but this is subjective. I loved the create your own pasta station and the ice cream sundae station was nice. We ate at the Windjammer everyday for Breakfast and Lunch too. Had a bagel with cream cheese with a slice of tomato and some red onion on top for breakfast everyday and a bowl of fruit. Didn’t try the dining room for breakfast as GM likes to create her bowl of oatmeal. We didn’t try lunch in the dining room for any particular reason, but the Windjammer does have a better view than the Romeo & Juliet dining room if that’s what you prefer.

Cafe Promenade was great as it was easy to go get water, coffee, tea, etc.. The “snacks” however were not good in my opinion. Cookies were always great as usual and I still crave their Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. They did have sandwiches, but I’m not a mayo/aioli person and had to throw away two of them just because every sandwich had it. The other desserts/sweets were just not good. One of the baristas said so himself…

Royal’s pizza isn’t great, but it’s still good ole’ pizza. They did have some great pies like this one that had tomatoes and pesto (delicious). Other things they had were the paid Izumi Express sushi, one type of cookie, another dry dessert, mousse, and fruit cups.

Can’t say anything about Johnny Rockets, Ben & Jerry’s, Cupcake Board, etc.. We aren’t about spending extra on a cruise and we were fine with what was offered. However, the employee at Ben & Jerry’s did give my GM a waffle cone for free as there wasn’t a price for just buying a waffle cone. She went to the lido and loaded it with chocolate soft serve. That’s another thing, the flavor of the soft serve would change day by day. I’m guessing they have ice cream and frozen yoghurt mix, but the chocolate ice cream mix was so tasty.

Overall, I’d say Royal’s food is fine. It fills me up!

Entertainment

Top notch. I loved the ice-skating performance, although it was a little cheesy at first. Excellent violinist played throughout the show. Live bands throughout the ship were very good. Grease the Musical was VERY VERY good, I just felt it was a little too inappropriate. Even though it said for mature audiences, people still brought their kids. The use of the middle finger, some sexual conduct, etc.. really stuck to the original musical. I think Royal should have offered a “clean” version at least once during the sailing. I know it’s the parents responsibility to choose what their kids want to see, but still, I personally felt some in the crowd were just too young to see this type of stuff. I didn’t see the other half as I was way too tired to keep my eyes open.

Stuff to do

Again, lots of the stuff on the Cruise Compass were just ads to spend money, but GM and I had fun at trivia and such. I really loved ice skating on the last sea day. Really neat to have that on a ship. I did do the flow rider once, but I think once was enough for me. Really cool experience.

One of our favourite things to do was go to the helipad and sit there for a while. Deck 4 outside, the helipad, and Olive or Twist were our favourite places to sit and watch the sea.

TIP

If you want to get to the Helipad, but cannot climb a bunch of stairs (Like my GM), go to the Pyramid Lounge and there's a door in the right closest corner that leads outside. If it's closed, go through the cigar lounge (smelly) and in the back left corner, the door outside is there!

Voom

I said I wasn’t going to buy it, but my mother wanted to keep in touch with us and I just had to cough up the dough and pay for it. There were no “good” cruise planner sales between the time I booked to the sailing date and paid for the Surf package with my 10% C&A discount. SLOW for sure. Definitely not the speed I had on the Empress and seemed slower than the Carnival Breeze. I knew this before sailing that it didn’t have the new technology, but definitely deceiving when they kept advertising that the internet was the fastest at sea.

Cozumel & Costa Maya

For Cozumel, we took a taxi to the pier and took the ferry across to Playa Del Carmen. We rented a car from Dollar for $41 with all the insurance included in this very basic Nissan automatic. Drove down to Tulum and visited the ruins. All in all, we saved 66% the cruise ship excursion cost to Tulum and had a great time. Gorgeous views down there in Tulum I tell you. I think it would have been slightly more difficult for an anglophone than us as native speakers of Spanish to do this whole adventure, but I would definitely do it again. We did stop at the Mega store in Cozumel, but the security guard was a real jerk to my GM. Kept her license and we had to pay 3 taxi fares to go back and get it. For Costa Maya, we booked a tour with Native Choice and accidentally slept in and missed the tour. I tried to call them, but phone line was busy. Lost $30 deposit and had to pony up and pay $94 a person for the ruins with Royal. Great tour for sure, but the cost was steep for what it was. Costa Maya is a very manufactured port and I really don’t plan on going back there. We loved the ruins, but we just didn’t like the port it’s self. It’s a resort type stop, but just didn’t feel right. No third party vendors or tours. Felt like Icy Strait Point all over again. AT&T let us roam in Mexico for free which was great. Had GPS and I could call any Mexican number without being charged. Again, call AT&T and ask if you can roam for free. We have a 15 GB plan so they said we qualified..

Ship Condition

It definitely has some wear and tear. For example, I saw some repairs made with scotch tape. Cabin couches and chairs had some stains. Curtains definitely could use some updating, but otherwise, I loved the ship very much. Definitely felt more like a hotel than a cruise ship however.

Disembarkation

We always do Self-Assist and this time the line was long. Line started moving at 7:30 and we were out at 8:15. We got in the line for Self-assist at 6:40 however. There were some "clueless" passengers trying to cut the line and this big clueless man playing the "I don't know where the line is" card. Mobile Customs was weird and I may or may not have brought Kinder eggs with me, but it didn’t ask to declare any food or items of value. The line was backed up as someone did the app for themselves but not for their wife. We took an Uber to West Palm Beach for $46 with Uber Pool (even though we didn’t stop for anybody) and boarded the flight leaving at 12:20 PM on Southwest. I really like PBI as it’s small and very efficient airport. Why would I fly out of PBI though? It wasn’t the cheapest flight, but it was the cheapest flight during the time I wanted to fly out. GM was going to go to work after we got home, but the shuttle to the airport hotel parking took a bit and the car battery died. We got home two hours later than expected due to being stuck in ATL rush hour traffic. It was fine though. If you want cheap parking however, I used airportparkinginc and it was super cheap. It was $24.50 for the 6 days I parked! Deal to me. We parked at Staybridge Suites like we have for our last 3 cruises.

Overall

This cruise was one of the best I’ve had so far. Would I sail on this ship again? I’m planning on it when the 2018 Europe itineraries come out! I booked the latest 12-14 day trip they had for the $150 deposit and the $150 instant onboard credit so I didn’t lose nor gain anything. GM wants to do the Canary Islands one that stops in the top of Spain and obviously the Canary Islands. Why? Top of Spain is where her grandfather is from and family in the Canaries. I’m definitely going to move away from Caribbean cruises from now and start cruising more internationally and on different lines!

Another note — the NextCruise agent said that the next Oasis Class ship (Symphony of the Seas according to her) was going to be most likely based out of Southampton next year. Interesting…

But the Indy was a great ship and don’t hesitate to book her. If anyone would like the Cruise Compasses, please let me know! Ask questions please.

Thanks for the review.

Just realized it says 11/14 instead of 1/14! My bad.

Thanks for the great review.

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I'm sorry.

...we had the family promenade stateroom right above yours 8607...on the same cruise...I have 3 kids. I'm sure you heard them running around....again...I'm sorry!!!

lol.

Service was not that good on this cruise. I've experienced better. Food was good and so was the bartender in the Schooner Bar. Alfonso?

I'm sorry.

 

 

 

 

...we had the family promenade stateroom right above yours 8607...on the same cruise...I have 3 kids. I'm sure you heard them running around....again...I'm sorry!!!

lol.

Service was not that good on this cruise. I've experienced better. Food was good and so was the bartender in the Schooner Bar. Alfonso?

Didn't hear a thing and my GM sleeps all day. :D I agree with the service. That's why we didn't eat in the MDR that much. Our plates sat too long on the table.

Thanks for the great review ... We will be on the Indy Feb.11 and would love to look at the Cruise Compasses :)

I'm sorry.

 

 

 

 

...we had the family promenade stateroom right above yours 8607...on the same cruise...I have 3 kids. I'm sure you heard them running around....again...I'm sorry!!!

lol.

Service was not that good on this cruise. I've experienced better. Food was good and so was the bartender in the Schooner Bar. Alfonso?

Lorenzo, maybe? He is amazing. We will be on Indy Feb 6. Was on it in November, that when we met him. Schooner is in perfect location on that ship.

We are heading on this same itinerary Saturday and would LOVE the cruise compasses.

We are doing Costa Maya then Cozumel - wondering if the nights/times for Grease will be different since we don't have to be back on the ship until 6 p.m. day 4.

Thanks so much for taking time to do the review!

Lorenzo, maybe? He is amazing. We will be on Indy Feb 6. Was on it in November, that when we met him. Schooner is in perfect location on that ship.

Yes!! That's his name! He remembers everyone's name and drinks. He can see you turning the corner heading towards his bar and he has your drink ready by the time you find a seat!

Thanks for the review! we are going at the end of March! Girl's Cruise! Can you remember what bars are open at embarkation? We are thinking of trying to find a meeting place for that first drink. Schooner Bar maybe?

Thanks for the review! we are going at the end of March! Girl's Cruise! Can you remember what bars are open at embarkation? We are thinking of trying to find a meeting place for that first drink. Schooner Bar maybe?

When we got on around 10, the lido deck was empty. I don't remember which bars were open as we don't drink (well GM drinks, but just once a cruise)! Sorry!

Thanks for the review. We're on the Indy in June, glad we have nothing to worry about :)

Here are the Cruise Compasses. I only scanned the last page front and back of each one!

Independence of the Seas Cruise Compasses 01/14/17

Thank you for the detailed review. I'm sailing on Indy 2/11 with my son (our first cruise). :)

Just wondered, how long is Grease?

Just wondered, how long is Grease?

I think it was an hour and a half. I left at the hour mark.

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Mmmm, create your own pasta station. We might have to eat in the Windjammer one night. :) Did they have it every night?

Mmmm, create your own pasta station. We might have to eat in the Windjammer one night. :) Did they have it every night?

It would alternate with Mongolian and then traditional pasta. Both were the same, but with different pasta and sauces. Liked them both. There's a whole line of veggies, noodles, and meat (didn't try). I loved it! The Mongolian night isn't as good as Carnival's, but it was fine.

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It would alternate with Mongolian and then traditional pasta. Both were the same, but with different pasta and sauces. Liked them both. There's a whole line of veggies, noodles, and meat (didn't try). I loved it! The Mongolian night isn't as good as Carnival's, but it was fine.

 

 

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Thanks! Sounds great. Maybe we'll try that the day we're in Cozumel. We probably won't want to mess with the whole dining room thing that night.

Indy is one of my favorite ships; I've been on her twice. I love her crew, so I'm surprised to hear that your customer service wasn't as good as mine. On the first night of our April cruise, I asked the head waiter if they ever served Indian in the MDR. He said, "Tomorrow, you will have Indian." And our table had an Indian appetizer and entrée every evening for the rest of our cruise. Just for us. Just because I asked about it.

Emilian at the Champagne Bar is the best bartender I've ever seen. He remembered me from a previous cruise, which was a nice bonus.

Glad you enjoyed the Independence. I would love to sail on her a third time!