Great Times on Indy! ~ A Big Review With Lots of Pics!

[DarthGrady]

 

 

 

 

 

[DarthGrady]

 

 

Beer of the day! I only had a dozen or so....

 

Nevis

 

My catamaran mates can breathe easy, that's all the pics I'm going to post. I never put the juicy stuff online, we don't want anyone (and by anyone I mostly mean me) getting embarrassed.

Back to the review:

 

A trip to the gym was followed by another visit to the Diamond Lounge before dinner. I also stopped by the Top Tier Crown and Anchor event in the Solarium. Having it up on deck was a pleasant change. Tony was nice enough to keep me company at the party. Everyone else in my group was in bed sleeping after the catamaran, victims of the open bar.

The dining room ran much smoother on this evening; the lasagna was pretty good. After dinner I stopped back into the cigar lounge and finished the night at the disco.

The top tier event

[A&L_Ont]

Beer of the day! I only had a dozen or so....

 

 

Darth, I recognize that bottle. I have had a few over the years of cruising.:D

 

I am enjoying your review. I have enjoyed the pictures of Indy enough that she or her sister class ships can entice me off the Oasis Class. I am looking forward to the rest of your review.

 

Andrew

[VillaHappy]

Lovin this review, and all of the pics!

[Folk Singer]

I'm not a huge fan of Sorrentos either, it's just okay IMO. I only missed it when the 2 am post-dance-club munchies kicked in. :D

 

Unfortunately Oasis and Allure do not have cigar lounges.

 

You read that right.

 

The biggest ships ever wrought by the hands of men couldn't spare even a single room for us to enjoy our stogies in.

 

All they have is a sun deck area at the top of the ship open at night for cigars. It's usually windy and unpleasant. If the weather is bad, tough luck.

 

That was actually a topic of conversation among Super Mario and the rest of us in the Connoisseur Club on a few of the nights. It's really a shame that Royal is eliminating their cigar lounges, many folks enjoy them.

 

I brought my cigars from home, so I didn't purchase any in port. But St. Maarten has many tobacco shops with lots of cigars, so I'm sure you'll be able to find what you're looking for.

 

In fact, I bought those Djarum Blacks in St Maarten because we can't get that type in Florida anymore. They outlawed flavored cigarettes, so the ones sold in the states are "cigars" and have a tobacco/paper wrapper (which has a harsher taste). Only one store had any in stock, so I got lucky.

 

 

 

 

 

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Thank you. may the force be with you.

[luvixtapa]

 

Yum! We love cupcakes. Do you happen to recall what the charge was for these?

 

If I remember correctly the cupcakes are around $4 each.

[Tkriger]

Looking at my Folio statement for last week, 2 of the normal size cupcakes was a total of $5.50

[sns101098]

Looking at my Folio statement for last week, 2 of the normal size cupcakes was a total of $5.50

 

Thanks. I'm sure my little one will want several!

[cranejwr1]

Thanks so much for doing this review. My Aunt and I will be on this cruise March1. Can't wait!

Jeanne & Peggy

[missymatt]

The cupcakes are $2.75 each and the mini ones are $1.50 each. They are so worth it!

 

We did the catamaran tour last year and you are right it was the best! I had a few too many rum punches on the way back and don't remember finding my shoes or getting back to my cabin. Good thing my husband does! I did make it to dinner though.

 

Enjoying your review, we are booked for next January.

[DarthGrady]

Day 7, San Juan:

Six o’clock in the morning is way too early to wake up while on a vacation. But that’s exactly what I had to do since we had to do. Someone decided that a great time for a cruise ship to arrive in San Juan is 7:30 am. Then they followed up that brilliant idea with the notion that the ship should then leave at 3 pm. That person should be ashamed.

We had a hurried breakfast in the Windjammer and went into town. We met our shuttle at the pier and began the hour long ride to the El Yunque rainforest for a hiking excursion. The ride up the mountain to the park is not for anyone that suffers motion/car/sea sickness. The winding roads rough roads don’t agree with heavy parking shuttles. We picked up our tour guide on the way into the park. He provided backpacks to those without them; they had bottles of water and light snacks inside.

 

The hike through the rainforest and down to the waterfall was fairly easy. There are moderate to steep inclines, but the trail is totally paved and has steps where they’re needed. The waterfall and surrounding rainforest were beautiful; there were absolutely no mosquitoes or any other biting insects. It was a pleasant experience all-in-all. We took the remaining hour to walk around old San Juan for awhile before going back to the ship.

 

 

The Carnival Conquest coming into SJ

 

 

On our rainforest hike

 

 

 

Edited January 31, 2014 by DarthGrady

[DarthGrady]

 

 

 

 

 

[pumpkin21]

Your waterfall pictures are gorgeous!

[99florida]

It's very short, less then ten minutes. The Park-N-Go is right outside the port.

 

 

 

The mini-bottle of wine and the beer are the gifts that they give out per-person. The big bottle of wine is the one they give per-cabin. I think we're going to get the beach towel next time, the wine wasn't very good.

 

Any idea if the beach towel is thick enough meaning it will last after several washes? Would love to see a picture of one.:)

[VillaHappy]

Day 7, San Juan:

 

Six o’clock in the morning is way too early to wake up while on a vacation. But that’s exactly what I had to do since we had to do. Someone decided that a great time for a cruise ship to arrive in San Juan is 7:30 am. Then they followed up that brilliant idea with the notion that the ship should then leave at 3 pm. That person should be ashamed.

 

We had a hurried breakfast in the Windjammer and went into town. We met our shuttle at the pier and began the hour long ride to the El Yunque rainforest for a hiking excursion. The ride up the mountain to the park is not for anyone that suffers motion/car/sea sickness. The winding roads rough roads don’t agree with heavy parking shuttles. We picked up our tour guide on the way into the park. He provided backpacks to those without them; they had bottles of water and light snacks inside.

 

The hike through the rainforest and down to the waterfall was fairly easy. There are moderate to steep inclines, but the trail is totally paved and has steps where they’re needed. The waterfall and surrounding rainforest were beautiful; there were absolutely no mosquitoes or any other biting insects. It was a pleasant experience all-in-all. We took the remaining hour to walk around old San Juan for awhile before going back to the ship.

 

 

The Carnival Conquest coming into SJ

 

 

On our rainforest hike

 

 

 

 

I agree - the time we were in port in San Juan did not make any tours easy. I hate waking up early! So we stayed onboard and had THE FLOWRIDER TO OURSELVES from 10am to 11am! YESSSSS!

[DarthGrady]

Any idea if the beach towel is thick enough meaning it will last after several washes? Would love to see a picture of one.:)

 

We've never gotten one before, so I can't say what the quality is.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[DarthGrady]

I agree - the time we were in port in San Juan did not make any tours easy. I hate waking up early! So we stayed onboard and had THE FLOWRIDER TO OURSELVES from 10am to 11am! YESSSSS!

 

Nice! Aside from

taking my pictures back there, I never even visited the rock wall or the Flowrider this cruise.

 

 

 

 

Your waterfall pictures are gorgeous!

 

Thanks!

 

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[DarthGrady]

A submarine in port with us at SJ

 

 

The motorcycle group loading their bikes

 

 

[DarthGrady]

I got my workout done early and had a short nap in an attempt to catch up on sleep. We were given a nice tour of the bridge, which was very interesting. We then had some drinks up in the lounge before the second formal dinner.

Tony’s tablemates were at the Captain’s table that evening, so he joined us at ours. The dinner was pretty good, although the desserts left something to be desired. The BBB crème brulee was underdone, and the Baked Alaska was served still frozen at the bottom.

After losing the formal wear, we had a brief stop into the busy cigar lounge. The night club was also fairly busy that evening. We ended the night with a visit to the heli-pad on the front of the ship for an awesome view of the stars. Of my twenty Royal Caribbean cruises, this was the first time I was able to get out there at night. Every other time they had the gates closed to block access to them after dark.

 

Pics from the bridge tour:

 

 

 

 

 

The entire ship can be controlled from one of these small consoles, of which there are three

 

Edited February 1, 2014 by DarthGrady

[DarthGrady]

More bridge tour:

 

 

 

 

Make it so....

[DarthGrady]

Well that takes care of San Juan. I'll be back on tomorrow with more!

[Familygoboston]

Enjoying your review and your photos, as always! I also appreciate that you actually made a cameo in your own review :D

 

Sounds like you had quite a few "celebs" on your cruise;) I really like this itinerary and Freedom class is the only class I haven't tried. DH works frequently in Lauderdale and we will be empty nesters in 18 months, which will allow me to start checking on discounted last minute sailings when I know he's flying to FLL for work already:D. She looks like a nice ship!

[DarthGrady]

Enjoying your review and your photos, as always! I also appreciate that you actually made a cameo in your own review :D

 

Sounds like you had quite a few "celebs" on your cruise;) I really like this itinerary and Freedom class is the only class I haven't tried. DH works frequently in Lauderdale and we will be empty nesters in 18 months, which will allow me to start checking on discounted last minute sailings when I know he's flying to FLL for work already:D. She looks like a nice ship!

 

Thanks! Yeah I had to throw that in there, it was my first "captain's chair" pic. :D;)

 

I think you'll like Indy, and probably all the more without the kids. The crowd on board was definitely older, very few kids and teens.

[joand452]

Awesome review and pictures! Makes me even more anxious for our 1st cruise on Indy in April. Friends were on that cruise, too. I have to look again at your picture of the pre-cruise gathering to see if they're in there. I think that's the hubby (just back of his head) at the table when the wine was being given out (and they did win a bottle).

 

I do have a question -- how easy was it to get into the water from the catamaran? I see it has a ladder going into the water. I'm hoping to learn to snorkel by then, but I'm not one to jump off a boat nor can I hoist myself onto one. But I can float!! :D:p

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review,

[DarthGrady]

Awesome review and pictures! Makes me even more anxious for our 1st cruise on Indy in April. Friends were on that cruise, too. I have to look again at your picture of the pre-cruise gathering to see if they're in there. I think that's the hubby (just back of his head) at the table when the wine was being given out (and they did win a bottle).

 

I do have a question -- how easy was it to get into the water from the catamaran? I see it has a ladder going into the water. I'm hoping to learn to snorkel by then, but I'm not one to jump off a boat nor can I hoist myself onto one. But I can float!! :D:p

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review,

 

It is extremely easy to get in the water. Those are stairs that lower down into the water, you just walk down them and float off. It's not even as bad as climbing a ladder. Those who wish to can jump off the back where the water is deeper. It's only between 8/10 feet deep off the bow.

 

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