B2B ~ Independence ~ April 20th & 26th: My Diary

[maxs mom]

To the CL for drinks at 7:00. It was pretty crowded. Al was already there chatting with another couple, so we joined them.

 

 

 

There was a new bar server this week, Ansel. He was very quiet.

 

Soon Phyllis joined us. We had reservations at Chops for 8:30. We had a great table for 4 that we've had before. I ordered my same old standard: Chops salad and petit filet. With Al and Phyllis there, we ordered lots of sides....all delicious AND they brought out 4 large lobster tails for us to try.

 

 

I don't know why......but we tried ordering the mud pie again and they brought out that disgusting imposter! We sent it back and split a piece of red velvet cake instead. (Also being made in house and not as well). I guess we will have to find a new favorite dessert here from now on, but I'm not sure what that will be. Anyway.....our dinner was excellent and we had such a good time visiting with Al and Phyllis and laughing a lot!

 

 

To the casino we go .......Al loves to play poker, so we always say good-bye and good night to him as we enter. I had my usual rotten luck and lost my nightly allotment very quickly.....again!!!! john won a little and Phyllis did quite well on penny slot!! Maybe I will switch to those.

 

On to bed after that!

[maxs mom]

Jane

 

When did they change the breakfast to D+ and P? Last Dec. on the Indy it was for D,D+ and P.

 

Hey Judi! I don't know. That's just what the sign said, so I don't know if it was for Diamond or not. Since this ship has a Diamond Lounge.....they really don't have to have this breakfast area at all. Maybe they found it was too crowded with Diamonds included. I never really asked. I really appreciate this perk A LOT. They don't do this at all on the Freedom. That's one of the reasons I'm not as fond of Freedom as I am Indy. (Actually.....I would much rather cruise on a Radiance or Vision class ship to be honest.....no comparison IMO!) But it was never really crowded and breakfast was always delightful.

[cw2go]

I am still following...Gotta say the imposter Red Velvet cake is just as disappointing!!!! I am not even a dessert person, more times than not I pass in the MDR but when it came to Chops that was one place I would risk the calories...feeling blah about these changes thus far :rolleyes:

 

 

Patty

[Lady Hudson]

Thanks for posting -- I love reading your reviews. I do laugh at your screen name since my Boston terrier's name is Max. I am known as Max's Mom!

 

Like you, I am a teacher and, like you, I will be retired as of June 20. Last minute, cheaper bookings, here I come:)

[maxs mom]

I am still following...Gotta say the imposter Red Velvet cake is just as disappointing!!!! I am not even a dessert person, more times than not I pass in the MDR but when it came to Chops that was one place I would risk the calories...feeling blah about these changes thus far :rolleyes:

 

 

Patty

 

Patty.....thanks for hanging in here with me! Next week on Freedom, we had the new Chops menu and there were several new desserts on there. Some new things to pick from.....but they have the audacity to keep "Mud Pie" on the menu. We suggested that they call it something else as it is surely NOT Mud Pie!!

[ARCruisinNana]

Totally agree with you on the "Mud Pie". It was the biggest disappointment of the cruise:(

Patty.....thanks for hanging in here with me! Next week on Freedom' date=' we had the new Chops menu and there were several new desserts on there. Some new things to pick from.....but they have the audacity to keep "Mud Pie" on the menu. We suggested that they call it something else as it is surely NOT Mud Pie!![/size']

[maxs mom]

Thanks for posting -- I love reading your reviews. I do laugh at your screen name since my Boston terrier's name is Max. I am known as Max's Mom!

 

Like you, I am a teacher and, like you, I will be retired as of June 20. Last minute, cheaper bookings, here I come:)

 

LOL!! That's too funny! Our Max was a 100 pound Doberman lap dog who is no longer with us.

 

Congratulations on your retirement! How many more days!? It is the most wonderful thing. Enjoy!!

[maxs mom]

Sunday ~ April 27th ~ At Sea

 

Beautiful day today ~ Calm seas.

 

It's funny.....on all B2B's the demographics change from one week to another. This cruise was no exception. Last week there were many more school aged kids. 810 I believe. The clientel, however, was very classy...dressed nicely etc. This week, all the kids were toddlers and the clientel was just different from the last week. Even the elevator music changed. The week before it was all classical music. This week it was more pop/rock.

 

When we went to breakfast we found new D+ members Brad and Mary Lynn enjoying this new perk. We joined them and later Al and Phyllis joined us. Great start to the day.

 

 

After breakfast we got our iPads and went to the Diamond Lounge to read and enjoy the wonderful coffee in there. (Sorry......we stay away from the pool areas on sea days. I much prefer to seek out very quiet places to relax) . Also......after 6 decades, we finally figured out that sitting in the sun is BAD for you.....and as I have said many times.....I can't stand crowds. But that's what I like about cruise ships.....you can be among these thousands of people, but always find a very quiet place to spend your time.

 

 

Pretty soon we moved out into the Viking Crown area to read. It was funny.....we were both reading the same book at that time (Tom Clancy's newest) and we realized that we were on the same page at that moment! It was an exciting part so we kept reading and reading until that part was over!

 

While we were sitting there, a woman came over to me and introduced herself and said that she always reads my reviews on CC and the recent one on Indy helped her a lot with her cruise planning. So cool!!

 

 

We wandered through the Solarium later thinking that we would run into Al and Phyllis. It was very crowded and they weren't there. So John went back to the cabin and I continued to wander a bit. I never pass up an opportunity to make a bridge picture:

 

 

I ended up in the spa to make an appointment for a manicure on the last sea day. I would need that to get through another week of cruising after this one!

 

Lunch was in the WJ......quite crowded. Jerk pork was on the carving station today and it was soooo good. They had some yummy bread pudding today. John always looks for sugar free cookies, but we have had a very hard time finding them anywhere. We decide to get some frozen yogurt. The machine was being worked on, so that was a bust, too.

 

 

Strolled back to the cabin and I sat out on the balcony to read some this afternoon. It was so pleasant out there.

 

I ventured out again to stroll through some of the shops. I actually found some sugar free cookies in an obscure part of the WJ, so I brought some back to the cabin for John.

[maxs mom]

Totally agree with you on the "Mud Pie". It was the biggest disappointment of the cruise:(

 

Carolyn......glad to hear that!!!

[maxs mom]

Tonight is the first formal night for this leg. For this sailing, they have opened up the Pyramid Lounge to act as the Diamond Lounge. We never venture out of the CL, so we decided to give this much bigger venue a try.

 

 

 

It was nice there.....plenty of room. We were expecting Al and Phyllis, but they never showed up. (Turns out Al was there earlier....but couldn't get any service, so he went back to the CL). We couldn't get anyone to bring us drinks. No one sat with us, so we didn't have anyone to talk to. It was just weird.

 

George was there with some friends and he brought over his Chocolate piano to show me. This is a little treat that all Pinnacle members get on this ship. This week George was the top cruiser, since Mario moved on to another ship!

 

 

We soon tired of this place and went on back up to the CL where we found Al and Phyllis. Now for both Al and Me not to find anyone to talk to is a very unusual occurrence . We got a laugh out of that! Anyway.....we felt more at home in the CL. So much for that experiment!

 

Dinner was great tonight. We had a very nice table for 4 on Deck 5....MTD. I requested and got our seating with Jerome and Miroslav. Very happy about that. I ordered the same choices that I had last week and was very happy with that. John got them to make a Caesar salad with chicken on top and he enjoyed that. It was not on the menu.

 

 

 

 

To the casino we go ....again! Shouldn't have. my losing streak is extended!! Had to turn in after that!

[maxs mom]

Here is another picture from Formal night:

 

 

Monday ~ April 28th ~ At Sea

 

Another beautiful sea day!! Same morning routine. Ran into AL getting coffee in the CL:

 

 

Nizar was hard at work behind the desk.

 

 

I spend this early morning time in the CL writing in my journal. So many people stop and comment on that, saying that you don't see many people writing in journals any more. After this trip, I will have to buy a new one.

 

We shared a breakfast table with Brad and Mary Lynn again this morning and really enjoyed that.

 

After breakfast we were walking in the hallway on Deck 8 when one of the cabin stewards flagged us down. It was Valent.....our cabin steward from our B2B in December. He remembered us and wanted to say hello! It is great to be recognized by former crew members. We run into a lot of them!!

 

 

Same routine today up in the Diamond Lounge and the Viking Crown.

 

 

We decided to hit the WJ at around 11:45 to see if we could avoid the crowds and it worked. It was much more pleasant at that time. Still no sugar free cookies, so we hit the frozen yogurt machine which was working today!

 

We had an appointment this afternoon with Emma, The Loyalty Ambassador. We wanted to book a Jewel B2B for Nov/Dec. So we checked things out with her. She was able to do the first week at the prices we had found on line, but not the second week. We just said that we would have to sort that one out later. Usually RCI and the on line TA prices line up, but not this time. Oh.....it was so much simpler to book when they had the Next Cruise Certificates with proper OBC. I hate booking on board. We swore we would never buy any more NCC's since they changed the program......but what did we buy before we left Freedom? Two NCC's with the stupid $25 OBC!! It's just too stressful to me to book on board! This is Emma. She was helpful, but not helpful enough! (And I think she thought we were crazy!!)

 

[maxs mom]

We did some people watching on the Promenade for a while before returning to the cabin. We ran into Promod while there. He is such a sweetheart!!

 

More wonderful relaxing balcony time this afternoon!

 

 

Drinks in the CL at 7. Nice time!

 

 

Love this picture!!

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

On the way to dinner!

 

 

 

Dinner was great. I ordered the same things as last week....crab cake and short ribs. Got the Rum Baba for dessert. Very good!

 

 

No casino tonight for us!! We strolled the Promenade and said good night to Al and Phyllis.....who were having much better luck in the casino than we were!

 

 

 

Up next tomorrow: St. Maarten......our favorite port!!

Edited May 25, 2014 by max'smom

[maxs mom]

Tuesday ~ April 29th ~ St. Maarten

 

Absolutely gorgeous day outside as we cruise into port.

 

 

We were up early because I like to get out to my favorite beaches in a timely manner!! And today's beach is one of the very best! I hesitate to tell y'all about it because I don't want crowds ending up there as at some of my other favorite spots.....but here goes. I've reported on this beach before.

 

Brad and Mary Lynn shared our adventure today and we met them at 8:45 and we were off! We passed by the looooong lines of folks going on excursions and tours and all I could think of was "Moooooo"! Sorry......I'm not fond of excursions and tours.

 

 

Only two ships in port today....us and the Getaway. That's a good sign.

 

 

We easily grab a taxi and out to Orient Beach we go! We ask the driver to take us all the way to the end to a beach bar that we know and love called Palm Beach. It's an extra dollar taxi fare to go there. This is a very quiet and uncrowded place......I love it!! We were one of the first to arrive. We were helped to our wonderful and comfy beach chairs by Stephan.

 

 

 

 

The chairs and umbrellas are free here as long as you eat lunch in their wonderful restaurant. No problem!!

[maxs mom]

Seaweed often washes up here, but today you could tell that a tractor had come by and cleaned it all up. Very nice.

 

 

 

We were all set for a great day!

 

 

 

Ahhhhhhhh!

 

 

[Jax129]

I love your reviews, thanks for sharing!

[LBumb]

great job

awesome pics

[maxs mom]

We all relaxed and read and enjoyed all of the beautiful scenery. Just total relaxation here!

 

 

 

 

Here is the great beach bar:

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

We made reservations at the restaurant for noon and our table was ready at that time. We had a wonderful table and a great view from the elevated restaurant.

 

 

 

First of all we ordered some Presidente's and a toast was in order:

 

 

Brad speaks fluent German, but he dabbles in French a little bit. He had a great time ordering and talking to our French waitress, Elise. I think she enjoyed it, too!

 

 

I ordered this wonderful salad and everybody else got hamburgers. They have quite an extensive menu of French quisine, though, if you're interested.

 

 

[maxs mom]

We took our time and relaxed and just enjoyed ourselves over this leisurely lunch!

 

 

When they bring the check....it is a tradition here to bring a rum liqueur to finish off the meal. Today we got a passionberry one and then she brought us a banana one. Yum! Yum! Yum!

 

 

 

The prices here are in euros, but they convert to US dollars on the check.....no worries. We probably spent about -$50 for lunch today, including tip. Keep in mind that we didn't pay anything for our chairs and umbrella. I think that is pretty good, especially for a day of this caliber!

 

[maxs mom]

More pictures from this incredible day!

 

 

 

 

For dessert, Mary Lynn and I decided to go to the bar and get a Bushwhacker. This was an especially good one!

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

We went back to our chairs for more relaxing! The surf was absolutely incredible today. We enjoyed it very much! It was hard to get out.

 

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

More from Palm Beach!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[39august]

Jane,so at Palm Beach there is no charge for chairs and umbrellas as long as you eat and/or drink there? Looks great and not crowded. The only time we have gone to Orient the area was much too crowded so we've never been back. Maybe we'll try the Palm Beach area next time.

[maxs mom]

All too soon, it was time to go. We had the restaurant call a taxi for us and one came within about 10 minutes. We packed up all our stuff, got dressed, and posed for one last picture before leaving.

 

 

 

Such a great day! But we weren't too sad, because we would be back here next week!!!! Yay!!