Indy Jan 18 8 nt review with kids and a few pics :)

[Cdncruisefam]

Hi all,

 

First off I want to thank all the cruise critic members out there who take the time to post advice and suggestions, provide reviews and get involved in roll calls. You've been a great resource for me from helping me find people to tour with in St. Petersburg to suggesting I pack clothes pins! I hope I can pay it forward a little bit with this review of our recent and fantastic 8 night cruise on Indy. We did travel with 2 young children and a granny so this review, while having general info, is also family oriented so I'll try to post it in the family cruising section too.

 

I welcome any questions you may have and thanks for reading along!

[Cdncruisefam]

Day One - Winter to Sunny Florida?

 

We flew direct flight from our home in Canada to Fort Lauderdale. This was the first flight for our youngest 18 mt old dd so were wondering how it would go. No fears, she's just like her 5 yr old sister - a great traveler!

 

We had debated back and forth about car seats, transportation and hotel location. There was much research on the cruise critics boards for inspiration. You'd think we were first time cruisers. Nope! We just seem to do things just a little bit different every time :). Last year we drove down with the 2 kids so the car seat dilemma wasn't even an issue. The time before that our daughter flew in her car seat, so again no prob. This time our youngest was a lap traveler and we'd need a booster for our oldest. We finally hit on the solution again thanks to cruise critic members and my DH who took all these arrangements on!

 

Since we arrived on a Thursday and weren't sailing until Saturday we decided to rent a car from the airport. The reason why...free shuttle to the port after we drop the car off. Score!!! But now we have to transport a booster and a car seat. With a $27 investment we had that taken care of!

 

 

To get to the rental car centre we needed to take a separate shuttle from the terminal we arrived at. We flew Air Canada so I'm not sure if it's like that for most folks. Something to keep in mind if you're like us and have 2 kids, 1 stroller, 1 granny and 5 suitcases!! It all worked out just fine though.

 

Getting the car was easy and we were on our way. We stayed at the Best Western Oceanside Inn. Not the fanciest hotel but was clean and comfortable and within walking distance to the beach and had a heated pool. Since Florida was experiencing unusually cold weather upon our arrival that last point was an important one :D

 

Thing to note about the Best Western, our room was facing the street not the pool so was a little noisy especially since there's a fire station located close by ;). We ended up sleeping just fine but if you're thinking of this hotel, you might want to try to get a pool view room.

 

Ordered take out from the dining room and nighty night!

[Cdncruisefam]

Day 2 Fort Lauderdale

 

Well you know its cold in Florida when the news is showing cold weather tips and telling people to wear hats and gloves when they go outside :eek:

 

But it was sunny out, there was no snow on the ground and we were on vacation! To the beach we go!!! (In jackets instead of bathing suits...)

 

The Best Western provides a hot and cold breakfast buffet which was more than enough to satisfy my bunch. And the beach has a great play structure and swings, perfect for getting the willies out.

 

We ended the day in the heated pool, the temp difference such that there was steam rising off it! Having this extra day to rest up and unwind was a perfect way to start our cruise vacation.

 

Next Up - hello again Indy :)

[Canadian Tyler]

Following along. Sailed indy last January with my 4 yr old so reading with interest.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[CamaCama]

We will have 2 girls the same age when we cruise again, deciding between Indy and a few others... definitely following!! :D:D:D

[KMagz]

Looking forward to your posts. :)

[Cdncruisefam]

 

Yay cruise day!!

 

We woke up, had breakfast and headed back to the airport to return our rental car to Alamo. We dropped it off, took the elevator one floor up, walked right out the doors and there was the shuttle stop as easy as that! Our only worry was that with 7 ships in port it may take a long time for the shuttle to get to our ship. But this was really the easiest option for us, since it was a bus we didn't have to worry about installing the car seats. They did cram quite a few people and luggage onto the bus but people were kind enough to give us seats so we could hold onto the kids.

 

Tip: You need to show your rental car documentation to the driver before he'll let you onto the shuttle. One poor couple had packed theirs away and had to get off to find it and then get on the next shuttle.

 

Off we went and lucky us, we were the third stop. And there she was...

 

 

As Platinum members we had priority boarding and fortunately no one minded that my Mom who is Gold came along with us. In no time we had our sea pass cards and we're walking on board :D

 

 

Up next...our cabin.

[Cdncruisefam]

We were onboard just a little before one. So after the check-in with Adventure Ocean right at the elevators we went to check out our cabins.

 

Our last 3 cruises have been on Freedom class ships, and we've always chosen deck three outside cabins since this location is close to the dining room and on the same side of the ship as Windjammer, H20 and Adventure Ocean. This time we tried something different. We wanted an outside and inside cabin close together so our TA found us a large oceanview on deck 9. Which was great and the inside was only 3 cabins down from ours but it was right at the front of the ship! I'd heard things about this location...had me a little worried, but vacation is all about new experiences right?

 

Well I'll tell you right now, I had nothing to worry about, we didn't feel the motion any more than we did on our previous cruises, there was no noise. We did however need keep our curtains closed at night so the crew on the bridge wouldn't catch us eating the brownies from the Promenade Café in bed at night:eek:

 

The space was great. Sorry I don't have a great pic of the cabin. It's just like a standard oceanview but instead of being against the window wall the bed was against an interior wall. It had a sofa, the desk/vanity area was a little longer and the bathroom was a little bigger than the one in my mother's inside cabin. But the best part was this:

 

 

Check out all the space between the bed and the wall. This was great to have with the kids! I put all their toys there, a few magnets on the walls and they had their own play space and we weren't tripping over each all the time. It would also fit a play yard perfectly.

 

I will tell you now that I didn't take a lot of pictures of the ship itself, too busy taking pictures of and chasing after kids. However DarthGrady has a thread on the same cruise with just amazing photos. Hope you don't mind the shout out Darth!!

 

Next Up...checking out the ship.

[Cdncruisefam]

Thanks Canadian Tyler, CamaCama and KMagz for following along. This is my first review, but not last I hope :), so I may be a little slow.

 

CamaCama we love this class of ship for our kids. There is so much for them to do, even our little one. And having a baby pool really seals the deal for us!

[Cdncruisefam]

So of course the moment we step foot on the ship we get hungry. ;) So we headed up to deck 11, but we needed to make a pit stop first. My wonderful DH surprised me Christmas morning with a pre-booked 75 minute Swedish massage. Yay!! But since this cruise was also a celebration of him turning the big 4-0 I wanted to treat him too. We were able to switch the appointment to a couple's massage no problem to enjoy on our second sea day.

 

The Windjammer was very busy as usual on embarkation day. But we found food (we always find food :)) and managed to find a table. I have to say that the service in the Windjammer this cruise was excellent. There was always someone helping us find a table or getting us a high chair or bringing us drinks. Much better than our cruise last March on Indy. It was just before she went into dry dock and the crew's attitude was definitely different.

 

After enjoying the buffet we went to the Royal Babies and Tots Nursery. This wasn't on the ship last year since it was added while the ship was in dry dock. We were anxious to check it out and see what our youngest thought of it. Well she went right in and starting playing with the toys. It has one room for playing with mats and toys scattered around and an alcove with cribs. We were hoping to leave the baby a couple of times so they gave us a bag to bring diapers, wipes, toy etc. Then my oldest chose some toys to borrow. I love this service at Adventure Ocean. It means we don't have to pack as much and they get something new to play with. And you can exchange toys during the week to change it up. They have a 'catalogue' you go through to pick what you like. We chose cars and off we went to a Adventure Ocean.

 

Our 5 yr old was very reluctant to go to Adventure Ocean last year. Finally on the very last day she went both morning and night she liked it so much. She already prepped us by telling us she would go for a few special events but that she preferred family time. Fine with us, this is a family vacation and we always have granny for backup :D. Once she was all registered we HAD to go to her favourite place. The bridge at the entrance to the Royal Promenade.

 

My kids love the bridge. We have so many pics of them here in every outfit with the bridge in every colour - crazy. For those who haven't seen the bridge. Here 'tis

 

 

So after running across the bridge a couple of times we went to check something else off the to do list. I wanted to sign my DD up for cupcake decorating at the Cupcake Cupboard. This is another new addition to the ship. I registered her but you only pay at the time of the class (good thing since we never made it!) and I didn't have to pay to go with her since she's only 5. The Cupcake Cupboard is very cute and had lots of yummy looking cupcakes and the ladies working there are very nice. They gave each of the girls a free cake pop to enjoy! But to be honest I never saw very many people there. It's located right across from the Promenade Café where you can get those really great chocolate espresso brownies for free so I never felt the need to pay for a cupcake.

 

After all that, nap time before dinner!

[AL_M]

So Far so goodalways nice to read a review with a different angle

 

can't wait for thes rest of it :)

[pumpkin21]

Awesome review so far!

One question - was the shuttle from the airport free and available for all car rental companies or just Alamo? We are renting a car in March and need to figure out how to get to the port for our cruise after we drop it off at the airport.

[Cdncruisefam]

Thanks AL_M and pumpkin21 for reading along!

 

Pumpkin21 our shuttle was for Alomo customers only but my DH also checked National and they had a shuttle too. The car rental centre at FLL has a lot of agencies so there's a good chance others do too, but we asked when we reserved and double checked when we got there!

[wolfganghowell]

Keep it coming, thank you for the review!

[VillaHappy]

Love it! We were on the same cruise, and I think that we passed your family a few times on the bridge near the Promenade! :cool:

[TigerLady]

We're on her In December with our families. Very interested on how your 18 month old enjoyed it, as my grandson will be with us, and he will be that age. Keep it coming..

[pumpkin21]

Thanks for the info!

[jo24]

Loving your review so far, thank you for taking the time to do it! I am loving all the Indy reviews at the moment as I will be sailing on her for the first time in November!

 

Jo :)

[Cdncruisefam]

Thanks everyone for your positive feedback!! It's crazy how real life intrudes with review writing! :)

 

Once we got to the cabin our luggage was there so we unpacked everything including the following as suggested by other ccers:

 

Cloth laundry bag - very handy just threw it into a suitcase for the trip back home

Magnets - the kids loved them and we used them to post things on the wall

Clothes pins - can you believe that in 12 cruises this is the first time I actually brought them?! Great for hanging things in the shower, keeping the curtains closed and fort making :)

 

Once we woke up from our nap we realized 2 things, one, we missed the sail away get together for our roll call (a hint of things to come...?), and two, that we needed to move it to make it to our main dining time in the MDR.

 

We picked up granny and made the trek down and over. This was the only issue with our cabin. The dining room seemed a long way away.

 

 

Once we reached deck 3 the head waiter looked at my seapass card and with a puzzled look started making his way to our table. Well it turns out there was a hiccup with our dining arrangements. But Jose on deck 3 did some magic and fixed it all, ending up putting us at a table on deck 4 instead. I'm sure the people left at our original table were relieved not to have to share their dining experience with an 18 month old!!!

 

Our waiter was Joao and I highly recommend him. What a sweet guy. Always making sure we, and especially our children, were happy. He left the ship the same day we did as his wife is due to have their second daughter. He'll be back in April. All the best to him and his family!!

 

That night I had the horseradish crusted salmon. Fabulous!! Maybe the best meal I had all week. And no, sorry - no food porn from me. I usually had one hand playing tic tac toe on one side while the other hand was keeping the baby from winging the wait staff with fruit from her fruit plate ;). Once I got to the point of thinking of taking a picture, my meal was no longer photogenic!

 

We wandered around the Royal Promenade after dinner then went back to our cabins.

 

I ended our first day in bed watching my five year on the ships cam getting bedtime treats in her jammies with her daddy from the Promenade Cafe. It's one of her favourite things to do.

 

Next up...first at sea day!

[Cdncruisefam]

 

At Sea

 

We slept in this morning. You see last year I felt a bit like a compulsive obsessive tour guide, cruise compass in one hand with one eye on the clock making sure we didn't miss anything. Well this year I tried to, uncharacteristically, be more relaxed and laid back about things. We'll see how well that turned out throughout the review...

 

So after finally getting ourselves up, dressed and up to Windjammer for breakfast I realized that the meet and mingle was scheduled for 10.30 that morning and it was past that (oops). Do we sense a trend?

 

After breakfast we made our way to deck 14 for the tots play group. I'll confess that this was the only time we made it here, but we have been to these groups several times on other sailings. There were only 2 other children there but the Adventure Ocean staff member was very nice, they had a good variety of toys too. Our youngest played with the toys a bit but seemed more fascinated by the amazing view of the ocean from so high up!

 

At 12.15 we had to meet up with Granny since she, my 5 yr old and I were doing a family activity together. Adventure Ocean had several different planned family activities during the week and we went to a few. They were always listed in the Adventure Ocean daily cruise compass. This one was creating stateroom door decorations. We, even granny, got our crafting on. We had a lot of fun just the 3 of us and here is the final result:

 

 

 

We had a light lunch in the Windjammer (good grief we only ate 2 hours ago!)and put the baby down for a nap. As you can probably already tell we are not out at 7am 'reserving' deck chairs. We aren't sun worshipers since the sun leaves us red rather than golden! It's also hard to relax while chasing an energetic toddler :) So our trips to deck 11 always had purpose - the pools in the H2O zone! This is where we headed after nap time.

 

The H2O zone is one of the reasons we love this class of ship at this time in our lives. Our kids can both enjoy it since they have a baby pool. Our 5 yr old loves loves loves the round pool! The baby pool and round pools are right beside each other so the girls could feel close together. This is where we'd head every afternoon.

 

After swimming it was time to get ready for the first formal night.

 

 

We went to the bridge for some photos and then headed to the dining room.

 

We had another great meal. Sorry I forgot to take note of this one!! Maybe the turkey roulade? If you see that on the menu I found it to be excellent. I also always had 2 starters since I enjoy their chilled soups. I always had desert too :)

 

After dinner we hurried to the Pyramid Lounge to get a picture with the Captain. I'm sure you're wondering why we were hurrying just for a picture and not a cocktail but last year our daughter really wanted a pic with him and, well, we accidentally left the baby out of the picture, just sitting in her stroller. Didn't want that to come back and bite me in 10 years!

 

Then we headed to the show. It was the same one we saw last year 'Invitation to Dance'. It's alright. Didn't capture the interest of either my DH or 5yr old though so we left halfway through.

 

Bedtime treats again then lights out.

 

Next up...another day at sea starting with the Spa!!!

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[Cdncruisefam]

Villahappy. Thanks for reading. It was a great cruise wasn't it! Also, for those times you may have bumped into us on the bridge - thanks for your patience a lot of fun was had walking and running back and forth and posing for pics! :D

[Cdncruisefam]

 

At Sea

 

We woke up and left the kids with granny who took them to the Windjammer for breakfast. Hats off to her and my 5 yr old for successfully navigating a buffet with a baby!! My DH and I then headed up to the Spa. I was really looking forward to this!

 

This was my first time in a ships spa since before kids. The spa was lovely. Very serene and beautifully decorated. I thought I read somewhere that a lot of the treatment rooms had windows, ours did not but we were both treated to amazing massages. I am no stranger to deep tissue massage and my masseuse Silvia did a great job. My DH said the same about Denlamin. They were able to cater to my no scent request without a problem. Our backs were brushed, rubbed, massaged with an anti-inflammatory gel, feet and legs massaged, scalp massaged - bliss. DH even fell asleep a few times. They did try and sell us a few products at the end but we didn't feel pressured at all to buy anything and we didn't. We did tip beyond the already included gratuity. The 15% off given to Platinum members was a nice bonus too!!

 

After that, even though all we wanted was the hot tub and a nap, we missed our kids and breakfast :). We went up to grab something at Windjammer. My DH had the smoked salmon everyday here and loved it. I'm a real breakfast person and I thought there was always lots of choice. We also always grabbed one or 2 boxes of Cheerios for the baby to snack on. Very good to have on hand.

 

Then we had a bit of a nap but our 5 yr old was anxious to hit the pool so that didn't last long! Recall that when we were in Fort Lauderdale the natives were being told to wear hats and mitts? Well it takes a little bit of time to sail away from that kind of chill so on both sea days swimming outside was a little cold. Today was better than the first day, where I think we were the only crazies out there later in the afternoon, but still windy and chilly. My 5 yr old doesn't care. It's just an excuse to stay in the water longer because it's cold when you get out!!

 

After swimming time to get ready for dinner. This night might have been the Lobster bisque and artichoke tarts which I tried after reading that a few ccers really enjoyed them. And they were delicious!

 

After dinner we went back to the cabin to get ready for another family event - skating! My 5 yr old loves this. She just started lessons back home and has great memories of skating with Daddy on the ship last year. This year, with granny to keep an eye on the baby, I was joining in. It's only been 20 years - how bad can it be? Lesson learned - if you're used to skating with toe picks don't try to skate with hockey skates on your first time out in 2 decades!! They were able to switch out my skates no problem. It was busy but we had a great time. Boy you really see how small that rink is when you're on it. New appreciation for the ice performers!

 

 

While researching on cruise critic before our trip I noted a few things to do on Indy that I didn't know about the first time around. One of these was the karaoke booths. There are 2 of them in the On Air lounge on deck 3 just outside the skating rink. No one will be able to hear you sing but they can see you through a small window. We had to try it. My 5 yr old and I went in while my DH chose a song. Now you have to understand that my DH isn't really up on top 40 music since he tends to listen to all news or all sports radio. The song he chose was Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond. We've sung this to our girls a few times. And the night before my DD and my DH had a lovely father daughter moment dancing to this song at the Captains welcome party. Well our rendition did not impress I guess! My DH and I were having a blast but my DD couldn't get out of that room fast enough :D. Guess I'm not lining up for American Idol anytime soon...

 

Then we decided we weren't ready for sleep we were ready for...more swimming! Well I was ready for the hot tub while my DD and DH would swim so we headed up to deck 11. The H2O zone was closed but the main pool and hot tub were open. It was chilly and so windy my flip flops kept flying away! But we stuck it out. The pool was warm, the hot tub was lovely and the baby was bouncing along to 70s disco videos on the big screen while sitting in her stroller right beside the hot tub :). Great way to end another fantastic day.

 

Bedtime snacks from Cafe Promenade (love those brownies) and night night.

 

Next up...St. Maarten

[dacsmom]

I love your review from the perspective of a family. The Indy is my 2015 cruise so I cannot wait to hear more.

[Cdncruisefam]

I love your review from the perspective of a family. The Indy is my 2015 cruise so I cannot wait to hear more.

Thanks dacsmom. This is a great ship for families. You'll have a great time!