Sail along with us - Indy 8-day Caribbean Report (Picture heavy)

[perfect match]

Sorry to hear your Mrs wasn't feeling well. Hopedully the last couple of days will be better for her.

 

I am enjoying your review and pictures very much. It is getting me really excited for my own turn on the Indy. :D

[Paulette3028]

Besides the Windjammer, what else was open for lunch on embarkation day?

[Ramblin' Ma'am]

Great pics! I'm doing the 7-night version of this cruise in May. It has San Juan, St. Maarten and St. Kitts, but no Labadee.

[mickev99]

Great pics! I'm doing the 7-night version of this cruise in May. It has San Juan' date=' St. Maarten and St. Kitts, but no Labadee.[/quote']

 

I'm doing it in July! Can't wait!!

[flames]

Great pictures, thank you for doing this for us:cool:

[Paulette3028]

Great pics! I'm doing the 7-night version of this cruise in May. It has San Juan' date=' St. Maarten and St. Kitts, but no Labadee.[/quote']

 

I am so glad that we were able to go on Indy (embarkation is 2/14/15) while she was still doing the 8 night itinerary. I realized when we were looking to book this cruise that she was going to change from the 8 and 6 day formats, to a more traditional 7 and 7 day format.

 

Since we were able to get that extra day on a ship, it was wonderful.

 

Let me ask those who recently cruised on Indy, were there multiple show times, meaning did they offer the ice show at various times and the same thing for the comedian and the headliner? Or was there only a show following the early dinner seating for those having early dinner and was there a show earlier in the evening for those partaking of the late dinner seating?

Edited January 23, 2015 by Paulette3028

[M&JfromSDL]

Where in north jersey are you from? We are in Bergen county!

 

 

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I grew up in Hudson County but worked in Paramus for a few years. I know the Bergen county area well.

 

Besides the Windjammer, what else was open for lunch on embarkation day?

 

Windjammer, Sorrentos and the Cafe Promenade were all open for lunch.

[Coolcruise02]

Great review and beautiful pics!

[Paulette3028]

I grew up in Hudson County but worked in Paramus for a few years. I know the Bergen county area well.

 

 

 

Windjammer, Sorrentos and the Cafe Promenade were all open for lunch.

 

Thanks for the other venues for lunch.....my son works in Teaneck now, and lives in Caldwell....we lived in Lakewood for 27 years, before moving to S. Florida.

[GonnaSailtoo]

Thanks for your review! Indeed, the Indy looks much like the Freedom, my go-to ship-- which is in dry dock right now. This morning I managed to get the last room on the Indy, so I'm leaving tomorrow...too bored and chilly here in Central Fl. We go on the refurbished Freedom on March 1 together (hubby and I), but I LOVE cruising alone, so this is a last-minute, just for me cruise. :cool:

[M&JfromSDL]

Thanks for your review! Indeed, the Indy looks much like the Freedom, my go-to ship-- which is in dry dock right now. This morning I managed to get the last room on the Indy, so I'm leaving tomorrow...too bored and chilly here in Central Fl. We go on the refurbished Freedom on March 1 together (hubby and I), but I LOVE cruising alone, so this is a last-minute, just for me cruise. :cool:

 

Freedom and Indy are our favorite ships. You will have a wonderful time on your cruise.

[M&JfromSDL]

Friday, January 9, 2015

Labadee

We were both equally excited to spend the day on Labadee. It was my wife's birthday and I had somehow finagled a special birthday surprise for her.

 

Allow me to rewind here a bit. We booked this cruise roughly 3 weeks before sailing. I knew her birthday would be celebrated while onboard so I wanted to do something special for her. I thought about a special dinner at Chops or maybe a cupcake class together. But we eat out a lot at home and she really doesn't like cupcakes. While reading CC one day, I noticed a thread on Nellie's Beach Cabanas.

 

I remembered seeing cabanas under construction when we were in Labadee on our Allure cruise in 2011. After booking the cruise I went to the shore excursion page each day and the option never opened up. Then I learned my chances of securing a cabana would be even slimmer since we were sharing Labadee with the Grandeur of the Seas that day.

 

Somewhere buried in a post was a suggestion to go to the shore excursion desk as soon as we board. So my mission on sailaway day was to get onboard as earlier as possible, and we did if you remember (11am).

 

After signing up for our drink packages and grabbing our first glass of Moet and Chandon, I snuck away to the shore excursion desk. The nice gentleman there explained he had 50% of the inventory and the likelihood is they were all booked. He punched a few things into his computer and voila! He had 1 cabana left. The way he explained it though was that it was set up on the hill and not over water. I hesitated but figured if I decided not to go forward with it I could either cancel it or sell it off to another passenger.

 

I had a lot of heartburn about the cabana leading up to our arrival in Haiti. Let's face it, it's $253 for a day on the beach. I considered switching over and doing a massage on Labadee. Later in the week, I would say Wednesday or Thursday, I went back to the shore excursion desk and asked one of ladies to show me where the cabin was on a map. She actually had a great book with photos and a well drawn map that showed our cabana was indeed an overwater one. She smiled and said, "This is an excellent location. You will love it!"

 

And we did! Stay tuned...

 

Edited January 25, 2015 by M&JfromSDL

[M&JfromSDL]

We had a quick bite to eat in the Windjammer, changed into our suits and headed out.

 

While walking over to Nellie's beach my wife kept pointing towards Adrenaline Beach saying "but that's where we sat last time. Where are we going?" As we walked past Barefoot Beach she noticed the exculusivity of the area. She commented that next time we cruise to Labadee we should splurge on a suite. HA! Little did she know...

 

At this point in the morning there were a ton of people everywhere. I know Indy + Grandeur is somewhat close to Allure, but it just seemed more packed. Maybe all of the Marylanders on Grandeur went running off the ship considering there was snow on the pool deck when they left Baltimore.

 

As we walked onto Nellie's Beach I said, "Wow those cabanas look really cool." My wife agreed and I looked at her, pulled out the shore excursion tickets and said, "Just need to figure out which one is ours."

 

Easy enough...it was the one right in front of us.

 

 

She was very surprised. Mickey our attendant came over to introduce himself, wished her a Happy Birthday and quickly brought us 2 Labadoozies!

 

 

This my Cruise Critic friends, is what vacation is all about.

 

Edited January 25, 2015 by M&JfromSDL

[M&JfromSDL]

Interior of the cabana. Loved the ceiling fan.

 

Taking a break from the sun. Can't let my pale legs get too tan!

 

By 12ish we were hungry. I thought we were restricted to the regular buffet areas but Mickey presented us with Cabana VIP wristbands to get into the Barefoot buffet area. Sweet!

 

 

And off we went!

Edited January 25, 2015 by M&JfromSDL

[M&JfromSDL]

Everyone else apparently had the same idea. We waited on line for a few minutes.

 

 

My wife made herself a cheesburger, grabbed a small piece of ribs and some potato salad.

 

I grabbed a piece of steak and made a cheesesteak sandwich, some ribs and a shrimp skewer.

 

The food was not that great. The shrimp were so overcooked they were inedible. The ribs were just okay, pretty dry as well. The steak sandwich was the best part and even that was sort of ho hum.

 

We ate, drank some water and walked back to the cabana. We returned to a cute towel animal and a PACKED Nellie's beach.

 

[M&JfromSDL]

Our view of the cabanas across the way.

 

 

At some point we handed Mickey our SeaPass cards and told him to hang onto them. Just keep the Labadoozies coming. There was one round where we asked for a floater of Bacardi in them. Not sure if he understood what we were asking for, but he brought out 2 Labadoozies and a cup of Bacardi.

 

 

We spent a fair amount of time floating in the water on the water mats they provide. My wife took a 45 minute nap, I nodded off for about 15 and then relocated back to the water mat. I'm having a difficult time articulating what a great day we had in Labadee.

 

 

Soon enough the sun was starting to set and the Grandeur passengers were beginning to return to their ship. All aboard for us was 5:30 so we had some time to explore.

 

Stuffed Porter enjoyed the view too!

 

[Toddcan]

What an AWESOME surprise for her birthday! Cabanas are awesome. We are on this exact itinerary in 7 weeks, but since I booked late, there are no cabana's online. I will be heading directly for the Excursion Desk when we board. We've had a cabana twice, and they are well worth the $250 for us. You are right - it just makes the beach day that much better! Glad to hear you got VIP buffet wristbands. The food is supposed to be a little better (shrimp, ribs, etc), but I found the same as you - nothing to write home about . What was best was the shorter lines (the other areas have long lines!), and the location is a lot closer.

[M&JfromSDL]

We walked out of the Nellie's Beach area and over to Adrenline Beach. We spent a good amount of time towards the end of the beach last time watching the waves crash into the rocks.

 

 

The area at the end of the beach affords a great view of the zipliners.

Edited January 25, 2015 by M&JfromSDL

[M&JfromSDL]

 

We also got to meet this little guy on the rocks.

 

Edited January 25, 2015 by M&JfromSDL

[M&JfromSDL]

 

By now our day was coming to a close. We walked back to the cabana and started to pack up our stuff.

 

 

Edited January 25, 2015 by M&JfromSDL

[M&JfromSDL]

By now the Grandeur was beginning to back out. We were treated to a little horn blast competition.

 

 

Mickey arranged for the golf cart to take us back to the security booth.

 

 

We stopped for a few minutes on the pier to capture a few more photos to preserve the memories of the day and listen to the Haitian performers.

 

[M&JfromSDL]

 

 

 

 

We were treated to an amazing sunset the last time we were in Labadee. This visit did not disappoint.

 

Here's a sneak preview of our sail away pics. I will post more later, right now it's time for Sunday Brunch. Need to find some Moet and Chandon mimosas. :D

 

 

Edited January 25, 2015 by M&JfromSDL

[smeck]

With your wife's heat issues it sounds like an Alaskan cruise in in your future. They're great!

[JessyCruises]

Did you happen to notice how much a bag of laundry was onboard and if they offered a special at any point during the cruise? We are sailing on her in a few weeks and are considering a B2B.

Thanks!!!

 

 

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[coops]

Loving your review, I thought the over the water cabanas are over the water? Yours looks like it is up on the beach. I am curious as we have over the water one booked in March and

it looks different. Can you tell me what your cabana number was. Thanks again for such a great review so far.

Dawn