Indy B2B ~ Sept. 20th & 27th ~ My Diary

[maxs mom]

We decided to just stroll around the port for a while today. Phyllis headed out with us and we eventually ended up at Margaritaville.

 

 

Gerry and Sandy were already there and had a table, so we joined them.

 

 

Lots of beer all around!

 

 

Nice way to spend the morning!

 

 

 

Gerry and Sandy ordered some wings that looked amazing!

 

[maxs mom]

There is a really nice pool area at Margaritaville. Not a bad place to spend a few hours. And it's so convenient.

 

 

 

 

 

Nice little outing.

[maxs mom]

I spent the afternoon in the uncrowded Solarium with a mojito!!

 

 

We set up our internet accounts this afternoon. We get two 24 hour periods of free internet. It was really easy to set up right on my iPad and the internet worked great everywhere. There were a few slow times, but for the most part, the internet was wonderful on Indy. Strange, though......we talked to some people that couldn't get it to work at all! And I heard a man on the elevator one time who was ranting and raving about it being poor and he "was never sailing Royal Caribbean again"! Oh brother!!!! Anyway.....we spent the afternoon clearing up our e-mail and checking Facebook, etc. So I had internet from 3:30 in the afternoon until 3:30 the next afternoon. Since I wasn't planning on getting off the ship the next day.....that worked out perfectly.

 

We made it to the CL around 7. Our crowd was already there and we had a nice visit. Many of the officers came into the CL this evening including the Captain and the Staff Captain (both from Dubrovnik). Very nice folks.

 

 

Captain Pero is on the left. He was just filling in for Captain Loy, who was in Miami for a meeting. Captain Loy would be back next sailing.

 

Christopher (From Grenada) always kept us from going thirsty!

 

 

Love these folks!!

 

 

 

On the way to dinner!

 

[maxs mom]

Dinner was great tonight. We both had the roasted chicken and it was excellent!

 

 

We split a chocolate sensation.

 

 

After dinner....the bridge picture......and we stopped into the casino long enough to lose again.

 

 

Tonight was the Love and Marriage Game Show. It started out pretty funny with Frankie, the Activities Manager, but went downhill when the CD, Ricky Matthews, came out. The whole show was pretty blah. I was not very impressed with Ricky. Lots of people like him, though.

 

 

This format was such that no one ever left the stage. They wrote their answers on dry erase boards.

 

It was pretty late (for us) so it was on to bed after that.

 

[Joe12]

Enjoying the review as always.

Just out of curiosity why did you not care for Ricky as CD? He gets pretty good feedback from what I've heard. (BTW, We've cruised with Frankie as AM twice and he does a nice job).

Can't wait for more. Bon voyage on Jewel next week!

Joe

[maxs mom]

Enjoying the review as always.

Just out of curiosity why did you not care for Ricky as CD? He gets pretty good feedback from what I've heard. (BTW, We've cruised with Frankie as AM twice and he does a nice job).

Can't wait for more. Bon voyage on Jewel next week!

Joe

 

I know!! Right!? I've read all these positive things, too. I don't know.....I can't quite put my finger on it. He just always seems to be putting on a "show". If you know what I mean. Even with regular conversation with you. He just didn't didn't seem to be very sincere to me in conversation. It's like....."I have to do this.....now let me get out of here!" I guess it's just me.

[ckrobyn]

Jane - in the picture showing the Captain - who is the officer on the right (the tall dark haired gentleman?) I am almost positive I was a Captain's table with him a few years back on the Adventure and he was Chief Engineer. Did you catch his name? Just curious....

[CRUISEMAMI]

As usual, I love your diary!

I feel like celebrity..... Thanks

Can't wait to see you and "Bob" in Dec:)

[js]

Home all day by myself and waiting for more, more, more lol. Thanks. Love your review and I love all the pictures! The mojitio looks wonderful! My favorite drink. Ill have the Ultimate package and plan on having many! Thanks.

[maxs mom]

Thursday ~ September 24, 2015 ~ Grand Cayman

 

No one in our group wanted to go ashore today and fight the tenders and slow taxis, etc., so we stayed on board, too. Normally we like to go to the Westin and get a room for the day. It used to be $120 for 4, but has now gone up to $175 and you have to make non refundable reservations. It IS a great property, though, and we thoroughly enjoyed going there. I think we still may go there in the future, but I think we might just try showing up and see what happens. (As long as we have another couple with us to split the bill!)

 

So.....staying on board during a port day definitely has it's advantages. After breakfast I put on my bathing suit and staked out a nice spot in the Solarium. Hardly anyone was there!! My kind of place! Al and Phyllis were already in the hot tub!!

 

 

It was so quiet there! I read, slept (that was a popular thing that EVERYONE seemed to be doing!), swam in the pool and enjoyed the hot tub. I ordered a Mango Tango for some reason. I never drink those kind of drinks and I soon remembered why!! Can you say Holy Sugar, Batman!!! I won't be having another one of those any time soon! But it was a delightful morning. I stayed until 1:00 or so!!

 

 

We had lunch in the uncrowded WJ and then made good use of our internet time until 3:30! Did a lot of reading and resting in the afternoon. We were awakened by a phone call from Raj to ask if we wanted to have dinner with the Captain in about an hour. We had reservations at Giovanni's that night and I just couldn't think fast enough.....so I turned it down. Stupid, stupid, stupid!! I love to eat with the Captain. I was so mad at myself. Oh well.

 

We met in the Diamond Lounge tonight for drinks. We never go there, although it is a very nice space and has a good view. However it was sooooo loud in there.......I never heard a word that anyone said. It was a different atmosphere. Every now and then Gustavo, the D Concierge, would yell out...."Card Check!" very loudly....and everyone would have to show him their sea pass card to make sure there was no one there that shouldn't be. Interesting!

 

 

 

We went to Giovanni's for dinner tonight. I ordered the Caesar Salad and the tenderloin......which is my usual in there. We got an order of lasagna for the table. The lasagna was really good, but my dinner was just OK. It's just my opinion that the desserts in Giovanni's are terrible and that was my experience this week. Yuk on everything! I don't know that we will return next week. I'll need to try some different entree's I guess.....or just get the lasagna.

 

 

It was very late when we finished dinner, so I think we just retired after that.

[maxs mom]

Jane - in the picture showing the Captain - who is the officer on the right (the tall dark haired gentleman?) I am almost positive I was a Captain's table with him a few years back on the Adventure and he was Chief Engineer. Did you catch his name? Just curious....

 

His name is Captain Pero from Dubrovnik. It is quite possible that he was the Chief Engineer on Adventure. Really nice guy.

[maxs mom]

As usual, I love your diary!

I feel like celebrity..... Thanks

Can't wait to see you and "Bob" in Dec:)

 

Glad you are enjoying!! "Bob" and I are looking forward to seeing you again in December as well!!

[maxs mom]

Home all day by myself and waiting for more, more, more lol. Thanks. Love your review and I love all the pictures! The mojitio looks wonderful! My favorite drink. Ill have the Ultimate package and plan on having many! Thanks.

 

So glad I could entertain you today!!! Don't think I could ever make good use of a drink package. One drink during the day time and I am asleep for hours!!

[maxs mom]

Friday ~ September 25, 2015 ~ Cozumel

 

We did not dock in Cozumel until 10:00 this morning. Could have been worse because in the night......around 4:30 there was an Oscar, Oscar, Oscar call! We could feel the ship coming to a stop. Turns out some husband and wife got into an argument. Husband threatens to jump off the ship on Deck 12. He leaves the cabin......she calls 911. The Oscar call goes out, but turns out he didn't go through with it. The ship did a 360, taking about an hour until all was straightened out and we could get underway again. A Carnival ship nearby also stopped to help look.

 

So here we are coming in to Cozumel. Very hot day!!

 

 

 

Today we are going to our favorite spot ......Nachi Cocom. Gerry and Sandy decided to come along with us as well. They didn't have reservations but were able to make them on line from the ship. This time of year they are not very busy and that was the case today. We had a bit of a traffic jam at the end of the pier because of the dogs trying to sniff everybody's bags for fruit. They are very serious about you bringing fruit off the ship here! Don't do it!

 

 

We finally got out to the taxi area and got in a very short line and were on our way out to Nachi in no time. We were some of the first to get out there. We were able to get a premier spot on the beach! They have updated some of their chairs there and they are much more comfortable. We made sure to get 4 of those!!

 

 

Just a beautiful day here!!

 

 

[maxs mom]

We set up camp here and got settled in for the day!

 

 

 

 

Drinks and food included.

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

We enjoyed the beach and the water. I bought some of these noodles from Amazon to use in the ocean. They are really neat and came in handy! You just blow them up....took a little bit if effort......and they deflate very easily.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

After lunch, we went over to the pool and enjoyed some time there......swimming up to the bar and partaking of some mudslides for dessert!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

 

Great day at Nachi!! We stayed here until 3 o'clock or so before heading back to the ship.

 

Such a great day here. We enjoyed every minute of it!!

 

 

 

We got a taxi back to the ship very easily.

 

 

 

Once back n the ship......we crashed!!! Too much Mexican beer!! We used to live in Mexico, so it is always great to get back and enjoy the beer. Next time you are there......instead of XX, give Pacifico a try.

[maxs mom]

We had a hard time waking up from our nap this afternoon!! But we managed to drag ourselves to the CL just a little bit before dinner.

 

 

 

 

It was Italian night in the dining room and I had some yummy lasagna!

 

 

I had an uncashed ticket in the casino, so I went there to play that. Shouldn't have, though Totally losing week in the casino. I hate when that happens!

 

While taking the bridge picture tonight......a young couple just stopped and got in the picture too. Too funny!!

 

 

The Quest was tonight, but we were just too beat to attend.

 

Back to the cabin!

 

[Shar27]

Hi Jane - Thanks for posting this review! My b2b on Indy is in a few weeks and I am loving the pictures :)

I will definitely be spending time in the CL and I look forward to meeting Raj :D

 

You will love it!!! Be sure and tell Raj that you know me!!

 

Hi Jane, I'm sailing with Robyn on our Yearly Girls cruise on the Indy in a few weeks. Wanted to share a funny story with you.

 

Robyn and I and 5 other women were on the Explorer shortly after you in 2013. I had read your review just before sailing. You had mentioned how you kept running into "Pat" who lives on the Ex. Well, wouldn't you know it, as soon as we walked into the Windjammer shortly after boarding, who is sitting alone at a huge table? You guessed it. I yelled "Pat" at the top of my lungs and ran over to see him and tell him all about your review. He invited us all to join him and we ended up spending a lot of time with him over the next 9 days.

 

You just never know what little tidbit you will throw out there that will change the course of another readers cruise. :p Thanks for your reviews!!

[maxs mom]

Saturday ~ September 26, 2015 ~ At Sea

 

Last day! Wow! That was a quick week. I am glad we are not going home tomorrow!! I think this week had to be the smoothest sailing that we have ever had on a cruise. I never once felt any motion. It was just like a lake out there.

 

We had a relaxing breakfast with Franca and Bill. We did all those last day things that you have to do......we checked our sea pass bill to see how much more money we had to spend. We checked on pictures and got what we wanted.

 

We went to the Consecutive Cruisers meeting and got our new sea pass cards and instructions for the turn around. They served mimosas there.

 

 

 

Lots of last minute shopping on the Promenade.

 

 

We ran into our favorite staff member!

 

 

Many people in line at Guest Services for some reason or another! Raj was on his way there to help out.

 

 

We did our shopping and went back to the cabin.

 

[maxs mom]

Hi Jane, I'm sailing with Robyn on our Yearly Girls cruise on the Indy in a few weeks. Wanted to share a funny story with you.

 

Robyn and I and 5 other women were on the Explorer shortly after you in 2013. I had read your review just before sailing. You had mentioned how you kept running into "Pat" who lives on the Ex. Well, wouldn't you know it, as soon as we walked into the Windjammer shortly after boarding, who is sitting alone at a huge table? You guessed it. I yelled "Pat" at the top of my lungs and ran over to see him and tell him all about your review. He invited us all to join him and we ended up spending a lot of time with him over the next 9 days.

 

You just never know what little tidbit you will throw out there that will change the course of another readers cruise. :p Thanks for your reviews!!

 

Wow!! That is so cool! Yes.....I remember him.

 

It's just amazing how many wonderful friends I have made just by reading and posting on Cruise Critic. There are many times, on cruises, where I will just be sitting or standing somewhere and someone will come up to me and ask....."Aren't you Max's Mom?" And we engage in conversation. That is just so neat!! Thanks for sharing that!!

[John F]

We will be going on the Indy next Sunday!! We also love Nachi Cocum. Have been their 8 times!! Wonderful place for a day in Cozumel. Great review and pictures. We are Diamond Plus and are looking forward to the perks on board the Indy!! John & Priscilla :)

[Lionesss]

Glad I stumbled upon this, love your reviews.

 

Thanks for taking the time to write about your cruises and awesome pictures.

 

 

Sea Ya

[maxs mom]

I went to a Lunch with Officers at 12:30 in the MDR. They just serve you from the regular menu, but there is plenty of wine. It was very nice and well attended. John didn't want to go, so I met Gerry and Sandy there. We had a nice table and sat with the Number one and Number two guys in HR. They were from India and were very energetic and talkative. We had a great time at our table and laughed and laughed!! These guys were great!

 

 

We had plenty of wine! I ordered the crab bisque and had a salmon entrée that was delicious!!

 

 

Great table!!

 

 

Afterwards I went to the WJ with John (Bob) so he could get some lunch, then we had some frozen yogurt for dessert. I thought these were cute carvings in the WJ.

 

 

Lots of down time this afternoon. I signed up for my second 24 hour period of internet this morning and enjoyed using that this afternoon and evening. It was very slow today, however, with everyone trying to use it.

 

CL time was good tonight. We said good- bye to everybody even though we would be right back on board. But we did have to say good bye to our friends, Gerry and Sandy, and Al and Phyllis, who would be leaving us tomorrow. Franca and Bill, however, surprised us by staying on board another week! We didn't know that. How nice!

 

 

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