B2B on Indy ~ Dec. 1 & 7 ~ My Diary

[maxs mom]

Greetings Everyone!!

 

Just back from two weeks on the beautiful Independence of the Seas.....first the 6 night.....then the 8 night.

 

You meet the nicest people on cruises! These two weeks were spent with former cruise buddies that we either met on board or right here on Cruise Critic. We have all become life long friends. We love the cruising lifestyle and the part about making new and wonderful friends is the best part. More about these folks later!

 

We are Jane and John from North Carolina. We are D+ C&A members and just went over 400 points on these cruises. A long way from Pinnacle, but we are having fun trying to get there! We are in our 60's and I retired in June after 40 years of teaching. We can now cruise at times other than school vacations! Yay!

 

We left home the day after Thanksgiving for the drive down to Florida. We drove to Jacksonville that day and stayed at The Hampton Inn Baymeadows on 295 East. Great place to stay and very reasonable. Will definitely stay there again. On Saturday we drove on down to FLL but instead of staying there, we found another great Hampton Inn about 20 miles north in Deerfield Beach. We will definitely stay here again, too. Both HI's were way less than $100 each.

 

Sunday ~ Dec. 1st ~ Fort Lauderdale ~ Embarkation

 

We were up early and left the Hampton Inn around 10:00 or so. We made reservations online for Park N Go on Eller Drive right at the port. The GPS took us right there. We arrived at 10:30. Although they were very busy....we got right on a shuttle and headed over to pier 29. We got into the terminal before it started raining. The only line was for security (who took away my power strip, by the way! First time in over 60 cruises!). Other than that.....check in was a breeze and we were on board well before 11:30.

 

Welcome Aboard!!

 

 

 

We parked ourselves and relaxed for a while in Bolero's right there on Deck 4. We never go to the Windjammer right away because it is usually too crowded. There we met the nicest crew member, Nelma, from the Phillipines. She stayed and talked to us for a long time and made us feel really welcomed.

 

 

I went up to Chops, Giovanni's and the MTD desk to make all our dinner reservations. I was able to get everything we wanted.....Chops the first night, Giovanni's on Wednesday, and MTD at 8:30 the rest of the time. It was at the MTD desk that I met Cynde, who was in charge of those reservations. We became good friends over the weeks and she took care of us in the dining room!

 

 

At 1:00 we went to our cabin.....8370.....a D2......very nice accommodations for the two weeks. We were very thankful that we would not have to move.

 

 

After we dropped off our carry ons, we headed to the WJ for lunch. Most of the crowds had thinned out by this time, so it was somewhat pleasant. I usually get a salad here topped off with whatever the carving of the day is. Always good! I'm not a fan of the WJ desserts, so we always go for the frozen yogurt out on the pool deck for dessert. Ooooooo.....it's so good!!

 

 

By the time we got back to the cabin, our luggage was there, so we were able to unpack two weeks worth of clothes.....and believe me.....we brought two weeks worth of clothes!! We filled the closet and drawers to capacity!!

 

 

 

 

[Realtor at Sea]

So happy to have one of your "fun" reviews to read over the holidays!!! We have been on Indy several times and loved this ship!

[maxs mom]

Our roll call arranged to meet at the Sky Bar at 3 o'clock. We had a pretty good turn out for that! It was nice to put faces to names. I also met up here with our cruise buddies, Al and Phyllis. We met them on the Indy back in April and this is our third cruise with them! So fun to cruise with them again. Al and Phyllis happened to meet up with another roll call member who was a former tablemate of theirs on another cruise. Small world! Helen happened to be the #1 cruiser for this sailing. We enjoyed visiting and getting to know our roll call buddies. Then Helen invited us back to her cabin to see the grand piano made out of chocolate that the Captain sent her. Way cool!!

 

 

That's Al and Phyllis on the right. Bryce, from Scotland on the left. He hung out with us a lot during the cruise. And that's Caroline in the middle. Enjoyed seeing her all over the ship, too.

 

 

That's Helen on the right and her daughter, Sue, on the far left. Then Michael is lurking in the background. It was nice to see him all over the ship as well.

 

 

 

And here's the famous piano!

 

 

[maxs mom]

So happy to have one of your "fun" reviews to read over the holidays!!! We have been on Indy several times and loved this ship!

 

Hey There! Thanks for stopping by. Since the holidays are so busy......this may take some time, so I hope everyone is patient!!

[Ocean Boy]

I won't believe this is you until I see some feet that I recognize.

[maxs mom]

Muster was at 4:45 and we were delighted to find out that our muster station was in the dining room!! It did not take long at all. In the event of a real emergency, I don't know that we would have a life boat.....but maybe they would feed us! We met a nice family there who were on their first cruise. They asked us for suggestions on what to do, so we told them as much as we could.

 

Back to the cabin after that. So I went ahead and showered and began getting ready for the evening. We were a little late sailing away tonight and it began to get dark. I understand that there was a medical emergency and someone was taken off in an ambulance. It was already raining. Even though it was dreary.......sail away was still beautiful. I watched it from our balcony. The sail away party was moved to the promenade.

 

There's the Allure heading out. We would be the last ship out today.

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

I won't believe this is you until I see some feet that I recognize.

 

LOL!!! Don't worry......although I had some trouble with my feet pictures this time......I'll definitely be posting some.

[kbset]

After we dropped off our carry ons' date=' we headed to the WJ for lunch. Most of the crowds had thinned out by this time, so it was somewhat pleasant. I usually get a salad here topped off with whatever the carving of the day is. Always good! I'm not a fan of the WJ desserts, so we always go for the frozen yogurt out on the pool deck for dessert. Ooooooo.....it's so good!!

 

 

By the time we got back to the cabin, our luggage was there, so we were able to unpack two weeks worth of clothes.....and believe me.....we brought two weeks worth of clothes!! We filled the closet and drawers to capacity!!

 

 

 

 

 

Was there a charge for the frozen yogurt??

[The Big Booper]

Hooray you started your review.

 

We were almost on the second leg with you but since we were paying with Marriott VC points and we had to buy and use by Dec 31 and by the time we made the decision to buy the Indy, all the eligible cabins were gone. So we "settled" for the 12/8 Allure, the infamous "leave the lifeboat behind" trip.

 

Waiting for the toesies and beer bottle pictures.

[maxs mom]

We went to the Concierge Lounge around 7 and met up with Al and Phyllis for drinks. Bryce, from Scotland also joined us....as he did for most nights. The CL was busy and crowded and this would be the norm for the whole two weeks. We've never quite seen it like this before. But most nights, we eventually got seats, so all was good.

 

 

The Concierge is Raj Bhugwath. We have cruised with Raj several times now and are good buddies! He really takes care of us. It was great seeing him again.....we had a brief hug, but he was so busy.....we didn't have time to visit with him at all tonight. We would have nice visits in the mornings, though, and at other times.

 

This is Raj......a very talented Concierge!!

 

 

Even though things were a little hectic tonight, we still had a good time visiting with friends.

 

We had reservations at Chops tonight with Al and Phyllis where we use our BOGO's already loaded onto our Sea Pass cards. Love this feature. The place was packed. We had a great dinner! I had Chops salad, petit filet, and (surprise, surprise) my all time favorite.......Mud Pie!!!!

 

 

 

 

I was good and did not over eat. We split the pie, by the way!

 

After dinner we visited the casino to make donations, John had no luck at all, but I found a machine I liked and came out just a little ahead.

 

It was a long day, so we went back to the cabin and turned in for the evening.

[maxs mom]

Was there a charge for the frozen yogurt??

 

No.....the frozen yogurt is free!! And it is mighty good!

[The Big Booper]

Was there a charge for the frozen yogurt??

 

Usually there are self serve machines on the pool deck. Free

[mpoole3]

I love your reviews! Excited to hear about 14 days on the Indy!

[maxs mom]

Monday ~ December 2nd ~ At Sea

 

It was a beautiful day today. I woke up early and trekked up to the CL for my morning coffee and quiet time. But the CL was pretty crowded this morning. I ran into my friends, Bill and Franca, here. Bill and Franca are part of the 4 couples reuniting on these cruises from a previous cruise 6 years earlier!! The other two couples are joining us on the 8 night. We all met on a Panama Canal cruise Christmas and New Year's of 2007. We have all kept in touch and this is the first time all our schedules lined up so that we could cruise again! Here are Bill and Franca when we met up this morning:

 

 

They have just started cruising again after a scary medevac off the Navigator in Jamaica back in January. So glad that things are better now and they can cruise again!

 

After visiting with them for a while, John and I went to the MDR and found the D/D+ area for breakfast. They DO have one on this ship. This area was very busy this morning. This is a nice feature for D/D+ folks. They were pretty unorganized here for most of the two weeks we were on board. Still ......much nicer than going to the WJ or out in the regular MDR.

 

After breakfast, we strolled the Promenade. John was in the market for a new watch, so we ended up in the Jewelry Store. He found something that he liked.....one of those Citizen Eco Watches.....very nice. I got it for him for Christmas! Yay! More shopping done! It's a very handsome watch.

 

We ran into Bill and Franca again and had a nice chat with them for a while.

 

 

 

Most of the rest of the day we spent relaxing and reading in our cabin with the exception of going back to the Jewelry Store for a special drawing. We didn't win anything. We had lunch in the WJ and I met Al and Phyllis in the Solarium for some quiet time..

 

Tonight was formal night, so we dressed up a little and went for drinks in the CL. A great time visiting with everyone again.

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

I love your reviews! Excited to hear about 14 days on the Indy!

 

Thanks......glad to have you along! I've enjoyed your postings as well.

[CVU]

How do you get that Piano dessert? Is it served anywhere else??? :D

 

We are on IOS B2B beginning of Jan. Glad Raj is still there!

[maxs mom]

Next we caught the elevator down to Deck 5 for dinner. I must say......we had very good luck with elevators the whole time. Very seldom did we have to wait on one for long.

 

 

We did not have to wait for a table and we were able to get two tables for two right next to each other with Al and Phyllis.

 

 

Dinner was good tonight. We have been on quite a few cruises now with the new menus and I saw several new items that have been added. I had a really good salad entrée tonight with grilled salmon. It was excellent.

 

 

Cheesecake and coffee rounded out the dinner. Al and Phyllis went to the casino. We strolled the promenade for a bit and went on to bed. This little guy was waiting for us in the cabin.

 

[maxs mom]

How do you get that Piano dessert? Is it served anywhere else??? :D

 

We are on IOS B2B beginning of Jan. Glad Raj is still there!

 

The piano goes to the cruiser with the most points for the week. Actually.....I think all Pinnacle members get one on this ship, because on the second leg, Helen was the number two cruiser and she got one then, too.

 

Oh......please, please, please tell Raj hello from us!!! Just sent him an e-mail this morning with some pictures. Hope to cruise with him again before he goes on vacation.

[maxs mom]

Tuesday ~ December 3rd ~ Grand Cayman

 

Up a little earlier today. Got my coffee in the CL. There was no one in there this morning except Michael from our roll call. We chatted for a while. Here is an early morning view from deck 10 outside the CL.

 

 

I collected John and we went to breakfast. Bill and Franca were there so we joined them. It was a little less busy today. The trick is to get there early!

 

 

After breakfast, we got all our beach stuff together and met Al, Phyllis, and Bryce in the CL......then we all headed down to the tender at about 9 o'clock. We were able to get right on the tender and were ferried over to Georgetown.

 

 

 

 

[Ocean Boy]

I love walking the early morning empty Promenade with my camera and coffee.

[maxs mom]

 

The photographers were laying in wait for us!!

 

 

When in Grand Cayman......what I really like to do is rent a car and drive over to Rum Point for the day. So nice out there and usually not very crowded. but I couldn't get any takers to go with us, so we went to Plan B.....which was to go to Royal Palms on Seven Mile Beach. We easily got a taxi and took the short ride over there.

 

Seven Mile Beach is beautiful. When we got to the Royal Palms area, we paid our $2 pp entry fee. We went out to the beach and rented chairs and an umbrella.....$7 per chair and $10 for an umbrella. It's a pretty nice place.....has a pool and beach bar. But it gets really crowded.

 

 

 

 

 

We got all settled in and soon found out that the chairs here were very uncomfortable. Oh well.

[maxs mom]

Here is more of the Royal Palms area:

 

 

 

 

 

This is the pool area. We did not use this.

 

 

[maxs mom]

Al and Phyllis and I decided to take a walk down the beach. This is a great beach for walking.

 

 

 

 

There were some beautiful condos and hotels along the way:

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

We enjoyed sitting on the beach, reading, and relaxing. A beach boy came and took our order for lunch and brought it to us. You could also go up to the restaurant to eat. It was a bit pricey, but the food was good.

 

 

There was free Wi-Fi at the bar. I went up there to use it for just a little bit, but John never had any success accessing it on his iPad. I ordered a very good, but expensive mojito.

 

 

We stayed here until around 2 o'clock, then easily got a taxi back to town and the tender back to the ship.

 

This guy was having a good time!

 

 

 

 

 

Got some frozen yogurt when we got back on the ship....then showered and relaxed in our cabin the rest of the afternoon.

[maxs mom]

In the CL tonight, we added a new couple to our group. We met Lars and Eva from Sweden. They were great fun and we thoroughly enjoyed talking with them. Since John's grandmother immigrated from Sweden.....we had a lot to talk about with them. Interesting story about Lars. He is an attorney. When the guys from Abba were very young.....Lars did some work for them. They couldn't pay him much so they gave him a small percentage of their royalties as payment. LOL!! He probably makes a nice chunk of change from that. We were going to see the group Abbacadabra after dinner.

 

 

We got to dinner a little early tonight so we could get to the show at 9. It was Italian night.....not a lot of choices for John, but I tried the eggplant parmesean and I enjoyed it.

 

 

They had my favorite dessert tonight......sticky bread pudding:

 

 

After dinner we ran over to the theater to catch the show, but stopped and made a bridge picture first.