Picture HEAVY Indy 8 night review

Finally got all my pics uploaded to Flickr so I am going to do a picture review of our 8 night Eastern cruise that departed on Feb 28. I'm also going to throw in a couple videos as well.

For those interested in my impression of the cruise, I posted a quick review here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2180428

Now on to my picture review - and when I say Heavy, I mean Heavy. I'm going to post LOTS of pictures from each day of the cruise so I'm basically going to walk you through day by day. I didn't take as many ship pictures as I normally do since we've been on the Indy several times but there's still almost 40 picture in and around the ship so there's plenty for you ship freaks as well.

Enjoy.

We had an active meet and mingle group organized by Jennifer (long pond cruiser). She did a great job. This is the group on sailaway down on the "bump". It was a rainy day but we still had a good time.

Pilot boat zipping along, escorting us out.

First sea day on the Promenade

A few pics on sea day #2

Love your pics. Keep 'em coming :D

Cindy

A few more pics of the ship on sea day #2 then on to St Maarten. Don't worry, there's more ship pics to come later.

What kind of camera are you using? Great color! What settings - automatic or manual settings? Are you doing post-processing of the pics? We are on Indy in a few weeks.

We are on INDY 6/28! It is snowing lightly her in upstate NY today. Your pictures are a wonderful reminder of what is to come in June! Thanks for the review:D

What kind of camera are you using? Great color! What settings - automatic or manual settings? Are you doing post-processing of the pics? We are on Indy in a few weeks.

I'm using the Nikon D3100. For outside pictures on sunny days I use a polarising filter which reduces glare and reflections and also really allows the blues and greens to POP. I also typically use either manual settings or aperture priority. The only post processing I do is a little sharpening and a touch of color enhancement - all done using gimp (gimp.org) which is a poor man's photoshop but does a very nice job once you learn it.

Can't wait to see more. We are on it May 3rd. It cannot come fast enough!!😜😀😄⚓️🍷🍹 Need sunshine badly. 🌞🌞

Following. I'm doing a live from review starting next weekend. Only going to use my phone camera so I love to see photos this beautiful.

So St Maarten is one of my favourite places in the world. Where else can you lay on a beach, get up and walk 5 minutes to get some hand made Belgian Chocolates, stop by a liquor store for a good bottle of scotch at great prices and then sit back down on the beach? I love this place.

We always stop in at the Catholic Church on the beach as well. Light a candle for family or friends no longer with us.

I could walk around here all day

At lunch time we hop the water taxi and head back to the ship for a quick lunch which is a great opportunity for some pictures.

A couple more pictures on the way back for lunch.

I, too, love St. Maarten and I have a hard time booking cruises that don't stop there. I never tire of this island or walking the streets. And I also stop in at the church with every visit and say thanks for allowing us to return once again.

So while we were waiting on the dock in the boat to go back to the beach, I got my video camera out and got a short clip. I saw something very interesting when I looked at the video - a shark! DW spotted a large fish while I was filming but we didn't know what it was until today. A nice surprise.

Look closely at the bottom left near the 30 second mark. It helps if you go full screen.

[YOUTUBE]HTweWgxiQmY[/YOUTUBE]

Anyone want to go for a water taxi ride back to the beach?

[YOUTUBE]IujEodqb4uY[/YOUTUBE]

We always do the water taxi at this port. We are perfectly capable of walking from the pier but it wouldn't be the same with out the water taxi ride.:)

Following. I'm doing a live from review starting next weekend. Only going to use my phone camera so I love to see photos this beautiful.

Looking forward to this!!

Where do you catch the water taxi from? We are planning to cab it to Maho and Mullet beaches, then do some shopping. I think the shopping is in Phillipsburg, is the water taxi there?

Where do you catch the water taxi from? We are planning to cab it to Maho and Mullet beaches, then do some shopping. I think the shopping is in Phillipsburg, is the water taxi there?

Yes, the water taxi runs from near the end of the pier where the ships dock in Phillipsburg to Front Street. It is $7.00 to ride all day.

Where do you catch the water taxi from? We are planning to cab it to Maho and Mullet beaches, then do some shopping. I think the shopping is in Phillipsburg, is the water taxi there?

Yes, the water taxi runs from near the end of the pier where the ships dock in Phillipsburg to Front Street. It is $7.00 to ride all day.

It is also a lot cheaper to take the water taxi to Front Street and then walk to Back Street and take a bus to Maho. The buses are really 15 passenger white vans that have signs in the front window saying where they are going. They are very safe and you just wave down the bus to stop for you. They are something like $2 pp. You can pick up a bus to take you back downtown when you are through at Maho. We liked the bus much better than the crazy taxi driver we had on the way back, next time we do bus both ways.

It is also a lot cheaper to take the water taxi to Front Street and then walk to Back Street and take a bus to Maho. The buses are really 15 passenger white vans that have signs in the front window saying where they are going. They are very safe and you just wave down the bus to stop for you. They are something like $2 pp. You can pick up a bus to take you back downtown when you are through at Maho. We liked the bus much better than the crazy taxi driver we had on the way back, next time we do bus both ways.

Thanks for the tip. Is the walk from Front street to Back street safe for kids? They are 10, 10, and 12, so not little kids. But I still worry.

Thanks for the tip. Is the walk from Front street to Back street safe for kids? They are 10, 10, and 12, so not little kids. But I still worry.

Very safe, you are walking through the shopping district. If there are going to be 4 or 5 of you, I would ask what the rate would be for a cab when you get off the ship. The per person rate goes down with more people you have. The water taxi has one way fares from downtown too so you could take the bus or a cab from Maho to downtown and then water taxi to the ship.

We met some people at Maho and came back in a cab with them. What we didn't realize was that they had talked to a cabbie and we had too so when we met up to leave we both had someone. One of us had a licensed cab, the other was not and the two cabbies got very aggressive until the unlicensed guy backed down. The whole thing just made us uneasy so if you do go taxi, the orange shirted guys are licensed.

The bus was fun because you got a feel of the people. Everyone was very polite, saying good morning as they got on the bus and passing money up for their fare, very trusting even of us tourists. So different than the bus experience I am used to from commuting to Boston for many years. Most people just would tell the driver, where they were getting off as they got near there destination. We told the driver we had no idea if we were close to Maho so if he would stop where we needed to get off, we would appreciate it. He told us to wave down a bus that said Phillipsburg/Downtown to get back if we were going to catch the water taxi. Was a very easy process. Even as we were walking to Back Street, we had gone down a little cut through and were pretty sure we were on the right street but we asked a woman who was sitting outside where we could get the bus. She jumped up and said right here, that is one, and she stepped out in the street and waved down the bus that was coming.

A few more picture from St Maarten then that's it for tonight. Tomorrow, St Kitts!

Very safe, you are walking through the shopping district. If there are going to be 4 or 5 of you, I would ask what the rate would be for a cab when you get off the ship. The per person rate goes down with more people you have. The water taxi has one way fares from downtown too so you could take the bus or a cab from Maho to downtown and then water taxi to the ship.

 

 

 

We met some people at Maho and came back in a cab with them. What we didn't realize was that they had talked to a cabbie and we had too so when we met up to leave we both had someone. One of us had a licensed cab, the other was not and the two cabbies got very aggressive until the unlicensed guy backed down. The whole thing just made us uneasy so if you do go taxi, the orange shirted guys are licensed.

 

 

 

The bus was fun because you got a feel of the people. Everyone was very polite, saying good morning as they got on the bus and passing money up for their fare, very trusting even of us tourists. So different than the bus experience I am used to from commuting to Boston for many years. Most people just would tell the driver, where they were getting off as they got near there destination. We told the driver we had no idea if we were close to Maho so if he would stop where we needed to get off, we would appreciate it. He told us to wave down a bus that said Phillipsburg/Downtown to get back if we were going to catch the water taxi. Was a very easy process. Even as we were walking to Back Street, we had gone down a little cut through and were pretty sure we were on the right street but we asked a woman who was sitting outside where we could get the bus. She jumped up and said right here, that is one, and she stepped out in the street and waved down the bus that was coming.

Thank you so much for the info. There will actually be 10 or 11 of us in total. Our first time in St Maarten for all of us, so we are really excited to see the planes at Maho, then thought heading to Mullet afterward would be less crowded and hectic so we can swim and snorkel a little.

Very nice photo's Mike.