B2B on Indy ~ Dec. 1 & 7 ~ My Diary

[maxs mom]

Any chance of you booking something for next month to hold me over until I go in March??:D:p

 

Oh yes!! Stay tuned!!

[metzger3278]

Thank you for the review!! My husband and I will be on the FOS in a few weeks and an thinking of booking our next on the IOS in a few years. We will have our kids with us the.

[maxs mom]

Interesting... I missed your first reference to the time change, but caught this second one. When I sailed the Eastern itinerary on Independence of the Seas last year, we didn't change our clocks, perhaps because we were already on Daylight Saving Time at that point.

 

I'm hoping that we don't have to change the clocks next March. I invariably get confused when there's a time-change involved while cruising.

 

This time change was not too bad. I'm glad it was changed because we told our friends in St. Maarten that we would meet them at 9:30. If we hadn't changed the time.....that would have been 8:30 for us and that wouldn't have been good! It all depends on Daylight Savings Time.

[maxs mom]

Thank you for the review!! My husband and I will be on the FOS in a few weeks and an thinking of booking our next on the IOS in a few years. We will have our kids with us the.

 

Great! I think I like the Indy better than Freedom, so that is a good choice!

[SherriZ366]

This time change was not too bad. I'm glad it was changed because we told our friends in St. Maarten that we would meet them at 9:30. If we hadn't changed the time.....that would have been 8:30 for us and that wouldn't have been good! It all depends on Daylight Savings Time.

We've met friends in St. Maarten who had timeshares also. Freedom never changes the time so the first year we did this, they had to wait about an hour. Our 1-12-2014 FR cruise reverses the itinerary and on Thursday in St. Thomas, Freedom sails at 3 PM (which I think will be ship time) so I will be keeping a close eye on the time.

[dsvd79]

I am loving your review as usual.

 

What are you future cruise plans?

[maxs mom]

I am loving your review as usual.

 

What are you future cruise plans?

 

Hey Dan! Believe it or not.....nothing is booked at this moment! I'm sure we'll correct that problem very soon, however! Being retired.....we can take off at any time....so we're watching prices and hope to find a last minute deal before too long!

[kaseyoz]

Phew, 11.30pm and just caught up on your fantastic (as usual) review. You so make me want to do another Caribbean cruise. Thanks so much for the time and effort you put in.

[Ocean Boy]

Interesting... I missed your first reference to the time change, but caught this second one. When I sailed the Eastern itinerary on Independence of the Seas last year, we didn't change our clocks, perhaps because we were already on Daylight Saving Time at that point.

 

I'm hoping that we don't have to change the clocks next March. I invariably get confused when there's a time-change involved while cruising.

 

When we sailed Indy last March the time changes were ridiculous. We sailed from Ft. Lauderdale on Eastern standard time. Before arriving at St. Thomas we switched to Atlantic time. After we departed San Juan for Labadee we switched back to Eastern time. The the night before arriving back in Ft. Lauderdale we switched to daylight savings time.:eek:

 

The year before on Navigator we switched to Atlanlic time on the way to St. Thomas and stayed on it as it is the same as daylight savings time when we arrived back in Ft. Lauderdale. That made much more sense to me.

[maxs mom]

Phew, 11.30pm and just caught up on your fantastic (as usual) review. You so make me want to do another Caribbean cruise. Thanks so much for the time and effort you put in.

 

Thanks, Karon! You DO need to get back to the Caribbean. Wish we could get over your way!

[maxs mom]

Friday ~ Dec. 13th ~ Labadee

 

Up early and down to breakfast early as well. The line was back to the centrum when we came out!! Will they ever learn!?!

 

 

Labadee.....here we come!!

 

 

We docked right on time and it was a beautiful day. We grabbed our beach gear and headed out to Barefoot Beach!

 

 

 

 

We were the only ship here today......thanks goodness......what a difference.

 

[maxs mom]

Soon we were out on Barefoot Beach! Ahhhhhh!

 

 

Michael and Andrea secured a cabana for us today and it was just wonderful!! Thanks A & M! We got Cabana S-9 and it was perfect. We had plenty of shade and room all around for everybody. We all spread out and set up camp for the day!

 

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

More Labadee pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

We just had the best time relaxing, talking, reading, eating, drinking, and swimming! It was all great. Raj came out to visit with us, too.

 

I took a hike up the hill. I didn't realize there were so many cabanas up in the hills and that it connected to Nellie's Beach through there.

 

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

When I was on my hike up in the hills I ran into these folks who were having some fun!

 

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

Soon it was time for lunch! Let's go!!

 

 

No lines today!!!!

 

 

We just took our food back to the cabana to eat today and everything was good!

 

 

Mmmmmmm! Cookies!!!

 

 

[maxs mom]

After lunch, sweet Ms Helen came over to visit with us for a while.

 

 

 

 

Some of us had the Labadoozies!!

 

 

I wonder who!?

 

 

[maxs mom]

We had a great time on the floats in the water.

 

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

 

I found a starfish in the water.

 

 

Here you can see how rocky the bottom is. Be sure and bring your water shoes to Labadee!

 

 

Soon it was time to rinse off and head back to the ship.

 

 

Everything was just perfect. We stayed out all day and got back to the ship around 3.

 

 

[The Big Booper]

Friday ~ Dec. 13th ~ Labadee

 

Up early and down to breakfast early as well. The line was back to the centrum when we came out!! Will they ever learn!?!

 

 

 

...>>>SNIP<<<...

 

 

Jane, great review as always. You have to be disciplined to always be ready with the camera when your needed shot comes up. Radio is the same way.

 

We never do the MDR for breakfast since we always play the 10AM trivia and it takes too long. Why were the lines so bad this trip. We stay up later then you and John and are definitely not early birds.

 

Also, the shot from the pier looking back at the ship is always a terrific shot. Do you think that RCCL planned this when they designed and built the pier. Or just a lucky break:)

[maxs mom]

Here are a couple of shots of the beaches from our balcony:

 

 

 

 

 

We had plenty of time to rest this afternoon as we sailed away. It was time to head to Fort Lauderdale now!

 

[The Big Booper]

"Our" 2 week trip is almost over.:eek:

[tracyedw]

Thanks so much for your review and pictures! I'm sailing Indy on 2/1, and this is helping me start my trip early. I have 1 question regarding taxis on St Maarten & St Kitts. Are they group taxis where they fill them up based on where you're going? Or are they more like individual taxis where it's just your party? As a solo woman, I'm not very comfortable taking a taxi solo in a foreign country. Thanks!

[Tkriger]

Great review - we will be on Indy in 18 days, first time ever in a Junior Suite. Don't have any excursions planned yet, so your beach reviews gave me some good ideas.

 

We've only been to Labadee once which was last year, and we scored an over the water Cabana. Not sure what do without one this year - might try the zipline and/or coaster. Anyone have suggestions for which of the beaches to go to for most of the day?

[The Big Booper]

Thanks so much for your review and pictures! I'm sailing Indy on 2/1, and this is helping me start my trip early. I have 1 question regarding taxis on St Maarten & St Kitts. Are they group taxis where they fill them up based on where you're going? Or are they more like individual taxis where it's just your party? As a solo woman, I'm not very comfortable taking a taxi solo in a foreign country. Thanks!

 

In St. Martin, there are group taxis to various locations. Each section of the taxi dispatch area is clearly marked with the destination. The fares are regulated and drop based on the number of people in the van cab.