Independance of The Seas 26/01/11 - 13/02/11. Anybody here sailing too?

[meinfenton]

Hi, myself (Mike) and a close friend (Barbara) are booked on this cruise and we are getting more excited every day as the date gets closer.

I am gay and have a physical disability which means that I have a problem walking which was the result of a spinal operation that did not go to plan but hey ho, thats life :rolleyes:.



It would be nice to hear if any other gay people were also booked on this cruise so that we could go to FOD meetings or ask for FOD meetings to be organised if none were planned for this sailing.



I live in Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England and it would be great to know that I would not be "The Only Gay In The Indy Of The Seas" :o.

 

Hope to hear from somebody soon, Mike x

[cublet]

Hi, myself (Mike) and a close friend (Barbara) are booked on this cruise and we are getting more excited every day as the date gets closer.

 

 

 

I am gay and have a physical disability which means that I have a problem walking which was the result of a spinal operation that did not go to plan but hey ho, thats life :rolleyes:.

 

It would be nice to hear if any other gay people were also booked on this cruise so that we could go to FOD meetings or ask for FOD meetings to be organised if none were planned for this sailing.

 

I live in Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England and it would be great to know that I would not be "The Only Gay In The Indy Of The Seas" :o.

 

 

Hope to hear from somebody soon, Mike x

 

Hello,

 

I am not on this sailing, but the 18 nighter over Christmas and New Year. FOD meetings are scheduled for the Viking Crown Lounge deck 14. They are not always advertised in the daily programme but on a post card in the Guest Relations area. The Cruise director, depending on level of interest, may organise one if they have stopped for any reason. They meet at a time that is either between first and second dinner seatings or after second seating has left the restaurant.

 

Best wishes,

Cublet

[meinfenton]

Hi Cublet ;)

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to my post and for this information that you have have supplied which will be really useful as I have not sailed on this particular ship before and with it being so large it is a bit daunting not really knowing the layout etc.

I hope that you have a really fab time on your sailing and you will have to let me know all about it when you get back and maybe perhaps email me some pics.

Take care & Best Wishes Mike x

 

[cublet]

Hi Cublet ;)

 

 

 

I hope that you have a really fab time on your sailing and you will have to let me know all about it when you get back and maybe perhaps email me some pics.

Take care & Best Wishes Mike x

 

 

 

Hello,

 

I first sailed on the Indy July last year. I was with my closest friend and we met a couple of guys at the FOD.

 

Here is their review.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=56607

 

(There are squillions of photographs out there and I don't think any of mine are any better.)

 

We have kept in touch and sailed in May on the Eclipse and will be on the Indy again for Christmas. You can tell from my signature that I like the Indy because of the number of cruises I have booked on it. I can assure you that you will have easy access to almost everwhere - including the Chapel if you wish! My brother has MS so I have an eye for things that most other people don't.

 

After we met we went to the Crown Viking Lounge to 'test the water' as it were, there were very few other friends there so we usually retired to one of the other bars - I think it was the Champagne bar but I'll ask one of the other guys to see if they remember.

 

Best wishes,

 

Cublet

[cublet]

Hello,

 

Yes it was the Champagne Bar that we used most. It is in a very good position on Deck 5 where you can do a lot of people watching. Deck 5 is also the home of the Royal Promenade and all the shops etc. There was plenty of room in the bar to rearrange the furniture if the need arose.

 

Best wishes,

 

Cublet

[cublet]

Hello,

 

I forgot two things.

 

You must sign up to the Royal Caribbean 'Meet & Mingle' party. You will find a link on the top right of your screen when you go to the Royal Caribbean main 'Roll Call' page. You will need your booking reference. If (usually when) 25 people sign up then RCCL will give Cruise Club members their own 'party'. There may be some prizes eg money off laundry or internet packages.

 

When on board, on deck 5 is the 'Future Sales' & 'Loyalty Ambassador' - Tess it was last year. You must sign up to Royal Caribbean's 'Crown and Anchor Society'. Depending on (a) the length of your cruise and (b) class of accommodation, you get a number of points - and points mean prizes! Err, no they don't actually. What you get are discounts both on on-board items, future cruises prices, priority embarkation and (y)our own private parties! Sadly on the Eclipse the Cruise Critic and Captain's Club private parties clashed - but my liver deserves a holiday too.

 

Best wishes,

 

Cublet

[beardedladies]

Looks like you two are sandwiching us - we're on the 8th Jan trip. Shame that we will just miss all of you.

 

Hope you all enjoy your trips, Indy is a lovely ship, we just can't get enough of her.... this will actually be our honeymoon trip! :)

 

Mark & Dave

[cublet]

Looks like you two are sandwiching us - we're on the 8th Jan trip. Shame that we will just miss all of you.

 

Hope you all enjoy your trips, Indy is a lovely ship, we just can't get enough of her.... this will actually be our honeymoon trip! :)

 

Mark & Dave

 

Hello,

 

We might meet after all. I see that you are joining the Indy as I leave in April next year. I'm doing the Canaries and B2B to France finally departing the ship on 30th April.

 

How do you find these 'shorts'? I don't think that I would have unwound enough in three or four days in order to have a good time. My Adventure OTS in November is the shortest I will have done.

 

Congratulation on your forthcoming happy event!

 

Best wishes,

 

Cublet

[beardedladies]

Hi Cublet,

 

We've been mercilessly using the shorter cruises to quickly get up to diamond status... should get there after the next trip ;-)

 

I agree with you, four days isn't quite enough - we did the France/Ireland b2b this year which made 7 days and we were glad we did, made it more of a holiday... but the short trips are useful for meeting up with friends, it is easier to persuade others to come along too!

 

Still, 18 days will be equally as challenging especially for our waistlines lol

 

With us both liking Indy so much I suspect it's only a matter of time until we meet up on her... we may well book up France next year too, make it a week as before.

 

Mark & Dave

[cublet]

Hi Cublet,

 

We've been mercilessly using the shorter cruises to quickly get up to diamond status... should get there after the next trip ;-)

 

Mark & Dave

 

Hello,

 

I think some time ago you only got C&A points for cruises of five nights or longer.

 

On the five night Adventure OTS I've booked a Junior Suite to double my brownie, sorry, C&A points. I've also got some double Celebrity Captains Club points by going Concierge class. I wish they would merge the points and not just have them running in parallel.

 

I'm only a simple little bear so can't work out how much more difficult (or easy) it is to get to Southampton from Bristol or Cambridge in order to decide whether it's worth doing a 'short' or not. (I've only ever been to Cambridge to visit the British Antarctic Survey team's fish farms - a long and interesting story but not for these pages).

 

How much for parking at Southampton for your 'short'? I'm paying £30 for the three nights to France, but that's on the back of my free 11 nights.

 

Best wishes,

 

Cublet

[beardedladies]

You get one cruise credit for any cruise, regardless how short it is... then another one if over 12 days, and yet another if in a junior suite or better. We've been using combinations of all those to get up to Diamond.

 

It's just over a 3 hour car trip from Cambridge to Southampton, so quite doable on the morning we're due to travel - we like to get there for 11ish and get that one time in the Windjammer where it's quiet ;)

 

We pay £40 for car parking, I think the standard is £10 a night.... thankfully we got free parking for the 18 nighter, that's a good saving!

 

We're actually over in Bristol the weekend of the 20th August... it's a city we've both lived in for a time at different points in our lives so we pop over every so often.

 

Mark & Dave

[cublet]

We're actually over in Bristol the weekend of the 20th August... it's a city we've both lived in for a time at different points in our lives so we pop over every so often.

 

Mark & Dave

 

Hello,

 

Further proof that I'm only a simple little bear is my signature. Previously I had all Cruise Critic countdown clocks. I then replaced the first three with the ones from another website. I was going to say to you that I will not be in Bristol when you visit as I'm on the Eclipse. I then looked at my signature for the Eclipse and it said sailing in 28 days. Hang-on I thought? I've been counting down the days and, however simple, I know there are seven days in the week and seven times four is twenty eight and I know I'm sailing on a Saturday so there's something wrong.

 

Or there was. What passes for normality in my life has been restored.

 

Best wishes,

 

Cublet

[beardedladies]

Lol, just make sure you don't use the countdown timers to know when to travel to Southampton and you'll be fine!

 

What do you think of Eclipse compared to Indy? We went on the innaugural this year - lovely decor and beautiful ship, but a little quiet for us... guess we're used to RCI, we weren't prepared for the calmer atmosphere. Loved the molecular and ice bars though. Might have to try a baltic trip on her sometime.

 

P.S. Sorry Mike we seem to have hijacked your thread!

[cublet]

What do you think of Eclipse compared to Indy?

 

Hello,

 

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=68133

 

Here is my review. It was sent to and read by Celebrity who said it was fair - and would I consider an Azamara cruise? I said yes, but at a RCCL price - and I didn't get offered it!

 

More than anything I was aware of the lack of space. Everywhere apart from Michael's and Cellar Masters felt like a corridor as the ship is so narrow.

 

http://pictures.cruisecritic.com/showphoto.php?photo=16364

 

I loved the Lawn.

 

But as you can tell from my sigs, I am so looking forward to the Indy.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

[cublet]

Lol, just make sure you don't use the countdown timers to know when to travel to Southampton and you'll be fine!!

 

Hello,

 

As you see, I have reverted to the Cruise Critic countdown clock. There is something wrong with the other version (or me) as today it said it was 24 days to sailing day. My physics was a very long time ago but I thought you only got time dilation at speeds close to the speed of light and my crappy Megane Sport isn't that sporty!

 

Regards,

 

Cublet