B2B. INDY 2/8 & 2/13. LIVE with trip report

[serious sealeggs]

Was the dining BOGO due to your D+ status?

 

Yes, BOGO specialty dining was an offering on our C&A onboard benefits that are preloaded on our sea pass card. I believe it is offered to diamond and above.

[serious sealeggs]

Can you check and see if they are offering the D+ discount on the beverages packages? Buying them regardless, but would be nice if they are offering the discounts.

 

I did not see any other BP discounts other that what are currently offered online pre cruise. You can buy them at same rate onboard nearly anywhere. However the last day at sea, there was an offering of $75 for ultimate one day package.

[serious sealeggs]

I will be joining you on your second leg! We can't wait to get on vacation! I hear nothing good about getting on or off the Indy- not sure why they can't figure it out by now! Let us know how the seas and weather are. I'm trying to pack and can't decide on what to bring! Is the MDR "over air conditioned" or will we be ok in short sleeve dresses? I'm also a serious tea drinker. If you are in the Cafe on deck 5 can you confirm if they have a boiled water spout that you can get tea all day long (bringing my own tea bags). Also if you are uploading any photos would you pretty please take a pic of the Cafe menu posted on wall so we know how much specialty teas and coffees are. Enjoy your vacation and can't wait to hop on Indy on Saturday

 

Yes Cafe P does have hot water and tea station. The specialty coffees and teas range $2.75-$4.75. Sorry I have not been able to get a photo yet.

[serious sealeggs]

I will be joining you on your second leg! We can't wait to get on vacation! I hear nothing good about getting on or off the Indy- not sure why they can't figure it out by now! Let us know how the seas and weather are. I'm trying to pack and can't decide on what to bring! Is the MDR "over air conditioned" or will we be ok in short sleeve dresses? I'm also a serious tea drinker. If you are in the Cafe on deck 5 can you confirm if they have a boiled water spout that you can get tea all day long (bringing my own tea bags). Also if you are uploading any photos would you pretty please take a pic of the Cafe menu posted on wall so we know how much specialty teas and coffees are. Enjoy your vacation and can't wait to hop on Indy on Saturday

 

A sweater or even a windbreaker would have been handy on this sailing because we had so much cloudy and rain weather. We have not yet eaten in MDR. But I haven't yet needed any long sleeves in specialty dining rooms.

[skatie]

Thanks for answering both my questions! just packing now -sweater goes in! Enjoy! Hopefully boarding tomorrow goes smoothly!! :)

[Susie51]

Thank you for sharing your cruise with us and faithfully answering questions.

 

Great itinerary for b2b cruise.

[serious sealeggs]

Day 3 Labadee

 

Labadee was sort of a bust as far as weather. It was mostly downpours the entire day. Several people did get off the ship and Royal tried to run as many excursions as possible.

 

We waited, had a late breakfast and then decided to go ashore to explore about 12:30. Only because we had never been to this port and wanted to check it out. Otherwise we probably would have just stayed onboard. Most people were headed back to the ship just as we were getting off. Great timing for us as it stopped raining briefly as we walked off.

 

We saw many excursions returning to ship by boat. Jet skis, water toys, etc did not operate. Zip line and coaster had temporarily discontinued but when the rain stopped, they resumed.

We had lunch and found chairs at Adrenaline beach that had almost been deserted by those who went back onboard.

 

I was impressed to see that Royal does do a good job of supporting the locals. Many natives were in the buffet lunch areas eating and dining with the rest of us. Some would strip down to undergarments and bathe in the sea. I'd been to Haiti before on a mission trip and have seen many devastated areas. Labadee is truly an amazing place for those fortunate locals who may have the opportunity to experience. The area had visible security everywhere and we were never hassled by locals. Labadee is NOT a private island as Royal advertises. It is really a "private resort" in a secured area in the country of Haiti that Royal has developed.

 

We watched the zip lines and had a couple drinks at the bar when just as a group began to come down the zip line, a storm broke loose and we noticed that 4 of them had completely stopped well short of the landing station. OMG! They were stranded hanging several feet above the sea in the midst of a strong storm! We watched horrified. It took them almost 30 minutes to bring them down. I sure hope these passengers are all ok.

 

We waited out the storm and and luckily caught a peek of sunshine long enough to get back to ship. Thank you Mother Nature.

 

We did evening cocktails in the DL, and opted to skip MDR and grabbed pizza and sandwiches from the promenade.

Early to bed since we booked full day tour tomorrow in Falmouth.

[serious sealeggs]

This was also our first time to dock in Falmouth. We've cruised to Jamaica before but have docked at Ocho Rios. We learned that Falmouth was built together by Royal and Jamaica. It is used exclusively by RCI and Celebrity. It's a nice port but most of the tourist attractions are quite a distance away.

 

We booked a private tour with Courtney Taylor. They were well organized and for just the two of us we had both a driver and a guide for the entire day. They were both informative and told us about Jamaican culture history etc. We first went to the Blue Hole which was awesome. I highly recommend it. The drive to the BH was every bit of an hour and a half especially with the bad weather. We spent about an hour at the BH climbing falls, repelling, jumping, etc. Its more active and fun than Dunn's River Falls. After that it was about a 10 minute drive to river tubing at White River. We probably wouldn't do this river again. It was rather slow and lame for us. Our guide then took us for a nice local lunch at the Jerk Center. Very good and authentic. Try the "festival", a really good interesting side item. CT got us all the way back to the ship with half hour to spare. Whew!

 

We definitely needed a nap after this day. We napped until almost dinner time. After such a big lunch, we really weren't hungry enough for a big meal, so we skipped dinner again and managed to get by on snacks from the promenade.

 

Food is not really a priority for us when we cruise. We sail RCI about 4-5 times a year and the food gets to be a little repetitive, especially in Windjammer. Breakfast is exactly the same everyday. But maybe we'll try MDR more on the next sailing.

[UFLaw]

Thank you so much for doing this review.

 

Would like to know what bar has the best bartenders.

 

We were also disappointed by Chops. Giovanni's was much better.

 

Sailing March 26!

 

 

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[UFLaw]

One more question! Did you switch to Belize time when you were there or stay on Miami time?

 

 

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[skatie]

I'm not the OP but did just get off this cruise. We stay on ship time (Florida) throughout the cruise. I Didn't spend much time at the bars but our friends got to know the bartenders at Boleros and they took really good care of them!

[UFLaw]

Thank you. We are in Belize 9-5 so I guess that means we will arrive at 7 am their time because of DST.

 

 

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[Clarea]

Thank you. We are in Belize 9-5 so I guess that means we will arrive at 7 am their time because of DST.

When you call and ask Royal, they say that the arrival/departure times on the published itinerary is based on local time.

[fyrfyterwife]

What is the main show on Indy right now? We cruise on her the end of April. When I booked this cruise through Royal they said it was Grease but I see on another post that it is not coming until July.

 

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[Clarea]

What is the main show on Indy right now? We cruise on her the end of April. When I booked this cruise through Royal they said it was Grease but I see on another post that it is not coming until July.

Indy has 4 different production shows, and I don't think any are considered "main":

 

Under the Big Top, Once Upon a Time, Center Stage, Invitation to Dance