CaribbeanH2OLover

another quick note. we booked park-n-go,to leave our car.great service, fast service in and out,friendly drivers.and a surprise final touch,on checkout they give you 2 bottles of cold water. oh, my bath towel is still on the bathroom floor.. something must be wrong..oh my,back to reality.

Good to know for future! I was thinking the same thing this morning - where is my breakfast - oh I had to make it. :(

Thanks for the review, we're doing Indy 6nt next week.

 

Do you remember if there was a 70s and/or 80s party in the promenade or disco? My daughter wants to put together a couple outfits.

There was a 70's Disco Inferno at 10:30 on Day 5 in the Promenade and from 11PM - midnight there was a 70's afterparty hour with DJ Supreme in the Labyrinth nightclub.

We do prefer the dining room for breakfast when available. We are early risers so there was never a wait. Here is a pic in the dining room during breakfast. I apologize I'm not the best photographer but did my best. :) You can order off the menu or go to this mini buffet where there was fresh fruit, yogart, cereal and toppings like nuts, coconut, candy, sprinkles etc.. This was just one side.

The food was delicious. IMO it was a step above Carnival in the dining room. Carnival does has an edge on the dining options for casual lunch.

French toast for breakfast in the dining room

DD had pancakes and loaded it up with all the good stuff

Our luggage came so quickly! We unpacked a little and then decided to head up to the H2O zone so DD could swim.

We decided to enjoy sailaway on our balcony - less crowded and a great view! We were in cabin 8610 - awesome location and the balcony was huge! A few minutes before sailaway a passenger arrived via taxi screaming please don't leave me! She ran up to the fence and said my flight was delayed by 5 hours and her husband was on his way and would be there in 5 minutes. They took her passport and a crew member got on the phone. She was crying I felt so bad for her. The ship waited about 20 minutes and she kept saying he will be here in 5 minutes. Well the ship said sorry and told her she couldn't board. We felt so bad for her. She was crying and on the phone with her husband yelling the ship is right here but they won't wait. I wonder what ever happened - if they flew to Grand Cayman and met up with us or not. That, my fellow cruisers is why we drive to the port EARLY or arrive the night before and stay in a hotel.

DW,myself,my son and his family were on this cruise.this might of been the best cruise on rc that we have ever taken. saying this after being on rc approx. 78 cruises,, ship is in great shape, staff is outstanding ,starting from capt remo and his lovely wife tova.the friendliest staff that we have ever sailed. it was so very wonderful to be with our dear friends who we know working on the indy.6 days was just too short.. service and food was outstanding.lobster tails were great.looking forward to sailing on her again.. indy is great..

We felt the same way! The service was one of the best we have ever experienced on any cruise! The crew was outstanding and our cabin steward always greeted us by name.

I do have pics - I'm uploading to Photo Bucket now and will figure out how to post :)

We just sailed the Indy 3/23/14 - 3/29/14 and WOW! What an awesome experience. The past few years we ventured out from RCI to see what else was out there (Disney, Carnival & Princess). We are LOYAL TO ROYAL! The food was great and the service was exceptional!

Day 1 was a little hectic as we had to drive a few hours to the port. One person in our party (that was already in Ft. Lauderdale at a hotel) forgot to pack an important item - Underwear! So we drove around for about an hour (it was early) to find a store that was open. We finally found a Target in West Palm Beach and then we were on our way. The port was very hectic as usual. DH dropped off myself and DD and headed out to find parking. The porter gave him the incorrect directions and he couldn't find parking anywhere. All the lots were either closed or full. A nice port employee heard me on the phone with my very frustrated DH and offered to help. He took my phone and gave him directions to the midport parking garage where he finally found a parking spot. He then had to wait for a shuttle. A bus pulled over and must of thought he was crew. The driver offered to take him off property and then drive him to the Indy. He said the van was full of crew members so he declined and waited patiently. A shuttle came about 5 minutes later and he finally arrived at the port.

We then headed in to check in. The security line moved very quickly. We had 3 - 1 liter bottles of Evian with us and 1 bottle of wine. They pulled DH over after x-ray machine and searched his bag. It was no problem but I think they were just checking to make sure he didn't have more than 1 bottle of wine. We then proceeded to the check in. They had separate lines for general passengers, gold, platinum, emerald, diamond etc.... We are gold so walked right up to an agent. It was about noon. We did not have to sit around - we boarded right away. Once we got on the ship we headed to our cabin and they stopped us on Deck 8 and said no cabins will be ready until 1:30pm. No worries! We did not want to deal with the crowd in the Windjammer so we went to Sorrentos for pizza and it was empty! Best choice ever! They also had panninis and small sandwiches.

We just got off the Independence and we had no limes either. We asked a bartender and he said they had a problem with the shipment from Mexico. Even our key lime pie had a slice of lemon.

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I don't think they allow you to bring a case anymore. We have sailed the Freedom as well as the Independence. We carried 3 large 1 Liter Bottles in our carry on bags on both ships and packed 3 additional in our luggage and it was fine. We too love bottled water as we prefer the taste. We packed a small cooler and had our cabin steward fill it with ice daily so we had cold water. The ship water is very clean and filtered. Try to pack a few in your luggage. Worst case they take it. Enjoy the Freedom, she is a great ship!

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Sailing on the Indy tomorrow and curious if anyone can tell us if Sorrentos will be open for lunch on embarkation day? Or are there any options for lunch other than the windjammer?

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We will be on the Indy in 3 days! Curious to know more about the service on the ship and how was the food?

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Columbus Cove sounds good. Quick question if anyone knows... Is the water safe in the kids play area? I worry about it.

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Thank you everyone for the suggestions and opinions! Good to know that there are shaded areas for Nana. I'm sure she will stop by the shopping area too.

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In just a few weeks we will have our first visit to Labadee. Any recommendations on a good place to camp out for the day as a family? DD is 7 and likes to swim, snorkel and build sand castles. Nana will be with us and burns very easily so needs a shaded area. Trying to find the best of both worlds.

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I agree that passengers on RCI are well behaved and dress properly. We went on the Carnival Breeze and even our young DD noticed some passengers were just not as polite. There were more intoxicated passengers and some were cutting the lines. Both lines have the same food and amenities. We prefer the service on RCI. It's a step up from Carnival.

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We have been on both and IMO we enjoyed the FOS H20 zone better. I agree the Disney pools are over crowded and we hated that the pool deck was scalding hot. You couldn't walk anywhere without shoes. The wait time for the Aqua Duck was sometimes 45 minutes. The H20 zone was never crowded for us and you could get right in the pool too. I think it depends on when you travel too.

Both are great lines and have great service.

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Our DD was 4 when we went on the Ruby and it's the only kids club where she wanted to stay. The staff was amazing and they did great activities with the kids. We have never been on NCL so can't help much there. DD liked the Princess Pelicans more than Disney.

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We have cruised both lines and DD liked Princess more than Disney. I agree that Disney has a lot more bells and whistles for families but DD wanted nothing to do with the kids club. IMO there were too many kids unstructured running around. DD is usually wiped out after a long day so nightly entertainment was not as important to us. The pools on Disney were over crowded and the pool deck was so hot. The pools on Princess were less crowded. The one great thing we did like on Disney was the pirate party and fireworks.

You have to go with the line that is right for you.

If you have a few children that can go to the kids club together, don't mind crowds and long wait times go with Disney.

If you prefer more of a relaxed cruise, less crowds, no lines, go with Princess.

I would cruise both lines again! Service was amazing on both! Good luck!

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I just came along with this thread and we are trying to decide on Carnival for June/July 2014. Would you be able to post some of the dailies so I can get an idea of what some of the activities are? Thanks so much! Also, do you know if the 9-11 was pretty similar to the 6-8? My kids are 9, 9, and 11. On our last Norwegian cruise they were very similar.

Let me see if we still have them. The Breeze really was a great ship. There are a lot of bells and whistles and lots to do for both kids and adults.

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