Spring Break on the Independence: Max's Mom's Diary

[drarill]

Jane!! Loving the pictures and review!! Thanks for sharing.

[Trainman-2]

Nice Review!

[louhun88]

 

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And as I've said many times before......this is the reason I cruise!!!! Mud Pie!!

 

 

 

I ate every bit of my dinner. We were pretty tired because it was a long day' date=' so afterwards we went back to the cabin and on to bed. It was a great day![/size']

 

 

I am so going to Chops on my next cruise and ordering that Mud Pie!!! :D

[WetToes]

I am along for the ride. :)

 

 

Move over. ;)

[maxs mom]

Hi Jane - Great review. I agree that they could have passed the microphone around at the M&M to that everyone could have introduced themselves. Great pics of our Sky Bar sail away. I will have to show my DW (another Jane) your review and photos.

 

Enjoy the retirement countdown! :)

 

Cheers, Mac

 

Hey Mac! Thanks for stopping by. I hope you and the other Jane had as good a cruise as we did! And yes.....retirement in 38 more days!! :D

[maxs mom]

Is that supposed to be a big, giant, golden wok in the middle of the promenade? Does anyone know why?

 

I'm not sure what that was, but it was interesting. I thought it was a beautiful promenade. I was fascinated with the lighted bridge. I'll show some more pictures of that real soon.

[maxs mom]

Nice Review!

 

Hey Jim! When is your next cruise? Will look forward to your live review!

[maxs mom]

I am so going to Chops on my next cruise and ordering that Mud Pie!!! :D

 

If you love chocolate.....you will not be disappointed!

[maxs mom]

On this first sea day evening....it was formal night. On many cruises these days, we don't bring any formal wear.....especially if we are flying.....it just takes up too much room and adds weight to the suitcases. We still dress up as much as possible, though.

On the way out for the evening, we stop and chat with our cabin steward, Cintia Munoz. What a sweetheart! She was very interested in our camera. She did a great job for us all week!

We make our way....as usual...to the Concierge Lounge around 7. Here we meet up with our new friends. On every single cruise.....we always manage to link up with the nicest people in the CL. Everyone cleaned up very nicely for the evening!

This is Al and Phyllis:

This is another new friend, Robbie, who was actually using the ship as a taxi to get around to some jewelry stores in the Caribbean. His company mines Amelite in Canada for jewelry....something to do with dinosaurs. It was interesting and we actually bought a piece while in St. Maarten. Really pretty and different. So he was actually on a working vacation. Nice guy.

Actually Robbie has had an interesting career, some of which was spent on cruise ships. He is a past Cruise Director on RCI and other lines. I believe he said that he was CD on the Monarch at one time. He had some great stories to tell!

Here is Brian and his family from Wisconsin. It was nice hanging out with them throughout the week. As you can tell.....Brian enjoyed the pool area today!

Here, Robbie was thanking John for his military service. John flew helicopters during the Viet Nam era. It's always nice when people do that.

Edited April 13, 2013 by max'smom

[LABCHICK]

Hi Jane

 

Loving your review and looking forward to more.

[maxs mom]

This was our first night in the MDR. We had My Time Dining and have really been enjoying that for several cruises now. Most every night...we were seated fairly quickly. Francesca greeted us every evening and remembered who we were........Well......I had a nice picture of her, but I can't find it anywhere. Sorry!

We were seated at a table for two by a window and Allan was our waiter. He was really great and very efficient despite having too many tables to wait on. He really didn't have time to make many explanations about the menu......not that we needed any.....but I almost always go with the waiter's recommendations. Our food was very good tonight. I had the beef tenderloin.

The Head Waiter came over and got our dessert order tonight. I got the cheesecake and John always asks for sugar free ice cream. He prefers chocolate and it's always such an ordeal to get chocolate for some reason. They brought him vanilla tonight, but the HW promised that he would have chocolate the rest of the week......we'll see!

One of the reasons I like MTD is that most of the time you are in out of the dining room in under an hour.

Just outside the dining room on Deck 5 is the lighted bridge that I was talking about. I loved it. Here is the first of many pictures that we made here during the week.

After dinner.....it was time to make our donations in the casino! I played a reasonable amount of time on $20 but was not smart enough to quit when I was ahead. Oh well......I was entertained for a while.

We went back to the cabin after that and found this neat creature on the bed.

Time for bed!!

[maxs mom]

Hi Jane

 

Loving your review and looking forward to more.

 

Thanks, Judi! We are going to have a great time in December!

[RCcruisinfamily]

I have sailed Freedom and Liberty. Indy is next spring break. I too am a teacher. Cruise as many vacations as possible. Last time I had two students (siblings) on the Freedom with me. I only ran into one of them two times though.

 

Retirement :) Mine is too far away, probably 10 years. Cruising is keeping me going.

Kelly

[maxs mom]

I have sailed Freedom and Liberty. Indy is next spring break. I too am a teacher. Cruise as many vacations as possible. Last time I had two students (siblings) on the Freedom with me. I only ran into one of them two times though.

 

Retirement :) Mine is too far away, probably 10 years. Cruising is keeping me going.

Kelly

 

I know what you mean! Hang in there for those last ten years. I am sooooo looking forward to cruising NOT during school vacations!

[maxs mom]

Monday ~ April 1st ~ At Sea

Yay! Another sea day. I love them. So restful.

It was a very cloudy, dreary day. I was up early and followed my same morning routine. Raj asked me this morning if we wanted Ice Show tickets for the show today. We haven't been to an Ice Show in years, so I thought we might enjoy that today.

We got to the Dining Room about an hour earlier than yesterday and it made a difference. Much better service today, as well as the rest of the week.

Today we had an appointment for a Bridge Tour at 10:30. There were less than 20 of us that went....all D+ and Pinnacle folks. We had a very nice tour given by the cutest little French Canadian "apprentice officer". He was in his last year of "Officer School" and hoped to get a job with Royal Caribbean after that. He apprenticed on several cruise lines and liked RCI the best.

I love a good bridge tour. This was not the best that we have had, but it was a very good one.

This officer driving the ship looked like he was 12 years old!!

[maxs mom]

More from the Bridge.

[LA Law]

Loving it Jane, as usual. Whetting my appetite so much. We can't believe that next time you are on the Independence, we will be with you!

[maxs mom]

We spent some quiet reading time between the Bridge Tour and Lunch in the WJ. The WJ was not as crowded today. Again .....we went earlier......that seems to be the key. I'm not crazy about the desserts in the WJ, but the bread pudding is to die for. I had that a couple of times during the week. They had regular and chocolate. Don't miss it! I know Train Man will agree on that!

The Ice Show was at 3:15 so we went down to get seats at about 2:45. We got good seats over on the side. The main section was already filled up.

This Ice Show....one of two that they do.....was called "Strings". It was the story of a violin and its history throughout the years. It was very well done. The violinist was extraordinary and I am so glad that we went.

[maxs mom]

A few more Ice Show pictures:

Since we went to the Ice Show, we only had a short reading and nap time this afternoon.

[maxs mom]

Loving it Jane, as usual. Whetting my appetite so much. We can't believe that next time you are on the Independence, we will be with you!

 

Woo Hoo!! Can't wait! "Hoppy Versary to You!"

[Ocean Boy]

I had lost track of which week you would be on Indy. I was really cool to find your thread this morning. This really is a beautiful ship and I love its Promenade. I also agree with you about the bread pudding in the Windjammer. I have had cravings for the stuff ever since I got back from the cruise!

 

I'm looking forward to reading along.

[maxs mom]

I had lost track of which week you would be on Indy. I was really cool to find your thread this morning. This really is a beautiful ship and I love its Promenade. I also agree with you about the bread pudding in the Windjammer. I have had cravings for the stuff ever since I got back from the cruise!

 

I'm looking forward to reading along.

 

Oh.....so glad you found it!!

Yes.....they made some good improvements to the Promenade on the Freedom Class ships. Having said that.......I like to look out at the ocean, so that's why I prefer the Radiance and Vision Class ships. And Celebrity Solstice Class.....oh my.....just wonderful!

Keep reading......I'm dedicating the week-end to it.

[Realtor at Sea]

Always love your reviews! We have been on the Indy three times and have loved every cruise on this beautiful ship! I taught high school Spanish for 13 years, but "retired" for motherhood and a career in real estate. Congrats on your 40 year service to our youth!!! Wishing you many more years of happy cruising.

[maxs mom]

Always love your reviews! We have been on the Indy three times and have loved every cruise on this beautiful ship! I taught high school Spanish for 13 years, but "retired" for motherhood and a career in real estate. Congrats on your 40 year service to our youth!!! Wishing you many more years of happy cruising.

 

Thank you so much! I think you were probably pretty smart doing what you did! We are so looking forward to cruising on the Indy again!

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

Following along with you! Thanks for sharing your cruise with us, Jane. Congratulations on your retirement, wish you many, many more great cruises ahead!