Live From IOS Transatlantic April 12-25!!!!

[mjldvlks]

In just two weeks, the TransAtlantic Fanatics are setting sail on the Independence of the Seas from Ft. Lauderdale to Southampton. We have a cruise critic group of 227 (and counting) members that have a great cruise planned. We will be cruising to the Azores, Madeira, and Vigo Spain on the way to Southampton.

 

We have planned some great activities on board including a cruise critic lunch, Easter Egg Hunt, Sailaway with bubbles, slot pull, cabin crawl, pub crawl/poker run, pre-cruise dinner, poker tournaments, lanyard making class with glass beads (for the sea pass), Veteran's get together, various dominos and card games, and a gift exchange with gifts being something that represents where you are from.

 

Our diverse group includes cruisers from 9 countries and over 20 states in the U.S. - check out the t-shirts we had made with flags representing the 9 countries represented at the link below. Many of us have been posting for 12-18 months and we are about to exceed 10,000 posts!

 

We thought it might be helpful to other cruisers going on or thinking about a Transatlantic cruise to post a live thread from the Indy to give you ideas for your TA and also about this wonderful ship.

 

I would also say that RCI has been wonderful to help us coordinate with the ship's cruise director and activites manager to ensure we have rooms reserved for all our activities. We have heard great things about Graham Seymour the cruise director and are excited to meet him.

 

The information sharing on ports and pre and post cruise activities has been incredible. See our thread under RCI Meet and Mingle's. Also - the google group thread below includes alot of precruise and post cruise helpful information.

 

Several on this cruise will be posting so in two weeks be looking for those to begin. Hope the information is helpful. Happy Cruising to all of you!! Mary

[findutah]

When are you planning the easter egg hunt?

[NorbertsNiece]

Wow. What a fabulous trip! Graham Seymour is a hoot.... be sure to catch his morning show on the TV.... it's hysterical!

I have a problem with reading about other people's cruises.... I get sooooo jealous!!!!

[RicardoC]

What a great cruise you guys are going to do! Looking forward to your live posts since we've never crossed the Atlantic on a ship and it's in our plans for the future:rolleyes:.....It might be awesome to actually BE in the middle of the ocean and even better on a ship like Indy :eek: We're boarding the Solstice tomorrow:cool: and it seems that she'll be in FLL so we'll make sure she's shining waiting for you guys :)

[mjldvlks]

Wow. What a fabulous trip! Graham Seymour is a hoot.... be sure to catch his morning show on the TV.... it's hysterical!

 

I have a problem with reading about other people's cruises.... I get sooooo jealous!!!!

 

Me too - I was salivating the entire time Carol (Merion Mom's) thread was describing the Around the Horn adventure.

 

Wish you could join us!! We have heard great things about Graham Seymour - he has certainly taken good care of us, as well as all of RCI as far as coordinating our large group. Thanks, Mary

[timetravellers]

In just two weeks, the TransAtlantic Fanatics are setting sail on the Independence of the Seas from Ft. Lauderdale to Southampton. We have a cruise critic group of 227 (and counting) members that have a great cruise planned. We will be cruising to the Azores, Madeira, and Vigo Spain on the way to Southampton.

 

 

 

We are on the cruise after that out of Southampton. How many of you 227 are staying on for the Med?

 

Gail

[mjldvlks]

Our CC group just hit its 10,000th post over the weekend!! We now have nearly 235 cruising with us. If you are on the IOS April 12-25 - come join our Meet and Mingle thread at the link below!! We have a great group of wonderful people with alot of cruise experience that can answer just about any question.

 

Live thread from the Independence of the Seas Transatlantic Fanatics starts in 11 Days!!! Mary

[flames]

In just two weeks, the TransAtlantic Fanatics are setting sail on the Independence of the Seas from Ft. Lauderdale to Southampton. We have a cruise critic group of 227 (and counting) members that have a great cruise planned. We will be cruising to the Azores, Madeira, and Vigo Spain on the way to Southampton.

 

We have planned some great activities on board including a cruise critic lunch, Easter Egg Hunt, Sailaway with bubbles, slot pull, cabin crawl, pub crawl/poker run, pre-cruise dinner, poker tournaments, lanyard making class with glass beads (for the sea pass), Veteran's get together, various dominos and card games, and a gift exchange with gifts being something that represents where you are from.

 

Our diverse group includes cruisers from 9 countries and over 20 states in the U.S. - check out the t-shirts we had made with flags representing the 9 countries represented at the link below. Many of us have been posting for 12-18 months and we are about to exceed 10,000 posts!

 

We thought it might be helpful to other cruisers going on or thinking about a Transatlantic cruise to post a live thread from the Indy to give you ideas for your TA and also about this wonderful ship.

 

I would also say that RCI has been wonderful to help us coordinate with the ship's cruise director and activites manager to ensure we have rooms reserved for all our activities. We have heard great things about Graham Seymour the cruise director and are excited to meet him.

 

The information sharing on ports and pre and post cruise activities has been incredible. See our thread under RCI Meet and Mingle's. Also - the google group thread below includes alot of precruise and post cruise helpful information.

 

Several on this cruise will be posting so in two weeks be looking for those to begin. Hope the information is helpful. Happy Cruising to all of you!! Mary

 

Hi Mary, I hope you don't mind if I tag along with you, I will be here every day so Happy Cruising to you and everyone else that will be going with you:)

[mjldvlks]

Hi Mary, I hope you don't mind if I tag along with you, I will be here every day so Happy Cruising to you and everyone else that will be going with you:)

 

Carol - we are thrilled that you will be "sailing" along with us!! We have such an incredible group of people - we feel very fortunate. The IOS has gone out of their way to make us feel wonderful. More on that in the posts - stay tuned!! Hope we get to cruise together sometime very soon!! Mary

[flames]

Carol - we are thrilled that you will be "sailing" along with us!! We have such an incredible group of people - we feel very fortunate. The IOS has gone out of their way to make us feel wonderful. More on that in the posts - stay tuned!! Hope we get to cruise together sometime very soon!! Mary

 

Thanks Mary, I am going to do this cruise next April so I really look forward to all what you have to say and do:cool:

 

Carol:)

[Bella930]

Mary, I will be with you in spirit too! At one time, I had been booked on this cruise as well but alas, life happened... So thank you for letting me "sail along" at least vicariously! Cindy

[emmy]

Our CC group just hit its 10,000th post over the weekend!!

Mary

 

Glad I could help in that department Mary LOL :)

 

Smooth sails to you and all the wonderful threadmates you are sailing with. Enjoy the cruise and I will check in to read what you are all up to.

 

Bon Voyage IOS Transatlantic Fanatics :)

[mjldvlks]

The day has finally arrived! :D We are on the plane heading to Miami, eventually ending up in Ft. Lauderdale. Hope you all enjoy following our first Transatlantic cruise aboard Independence of the Seas. We have others that hopefully will also be posting and providing their insight and information – so check back as we plan to post updates daily to keep you updated on our progress both precruise and post cruise in England and France.

We booked this TA back in February 2008 and immediately became involved in the Meet and Mingle thread that just reached 11,000 posts. The day after we booked the itinerary was changed and two major ports were removed, including Cherbourg France. The primary reason we wanted to go on this TA was to stop in Cherbourg and see the WWII sites. We lost many cruisers after that decision was made. Several of us stuck it out and we decided we would take a post cruise trip to France which would allow us at least a couple of days in Normandy.

After so many cruisers left, our M&M thread got much quieter. Steadily though we started growing and after the first of the year RCI dropped the price of this cruise for balcony guarantees to $699. After that our thread exploded with activity and we started planning group activities in earnest. We had found from previous cruises that planning activities ahead with cc members really adds to the excitement and expands the opportunity to meet people on the cruise, which is one of the primary reasons we love cruising so much.

With the help of ladylawyer (Lorna), silverfoxlady (Ellie), snowbird1 (Vince) and many others we put group activities together and posted them. As we talked more and more on line with others in the group the participation grew. We created a google group to capture information and provide information. (Google group is not the best way to go with this – so I would recommend investigating other resources such as a web page to post group information). We asked CC members to post information about themselves and send pictures and we put together a cruiser bio. We posted information on pre and post cruise hotel information, sign up sheets, what to do in ports of call, sign up for kids (we left off names – just put sex of children and age).

I do want to mention that I was put in contact with a group coordinator named Randy at RCI. He coordinated all of our activities with the ship directly and ensured we had the space and times we needed. I sent him an itinerary with the expected numbers and between Randy and the activities staff on the IOS, we were well taken care of. This was a critical part of the planning once our group grew over 100. I knew it would be difficult to find locations to meet on our own without the assistance of RCI. This is a big plus for RCI in my opinion.

In the past 3 months – our group has grown from around 60 to 240!! It is a diverse group from at least 9 countries, over 20 U.S. States, many Canadian provinces and territories. What is remarkable is how well we all get along on line. People have gone out of their way to post helpful information, offer assistance for pre and post cruise arrangements, and assist with the group activities.

We have planned many activities on board, including a pre-cruise dinner, gift exchange, easter egg hunt, pub crawl, poker run, slot pull, Texas Hold Em' Tournament, cabin crawl, and sea pass holder making class. As these events occur we'll provide details to help you with planning if any of you decide to do any of these.

It's now 10:20 p.m. - arrived safely at Miami International about 15 minutes early. We opted to take the Tri Rail train because of the expense of taxis and shuttles. Well, we waited 45 minutes for the shuttle to TAKE us to the Tri Rail, then waited another 20 minutes for the train to leave. They only had a train at 2:00 and 4:00. When we arrived 30 minutes later at the Ft. Lauderdale Airport stop, there was no shuttle in sight. We were exhausted hauling around 5 bags by this point and ended up taking a short cab ride directly to the hotel (If we had stayed the shuttle would have taken us to the airport, where we would have had to wait on the hotel shuttle!). All in all, we will take a shuttle next time.

We are staying at the Rodeway Inn and Suites Airpot. If you are looking for a resort, this is certainly not it. It is an older hotel with outside entrances. However, they cater to cruisers and this afternoon took several over to the drug store, and several other places. They will take you anywhere in this area. They have sign ups for the shuttles to the port which are free, but for our cc group for $30 total they are taking us all as a group (16 of us) with a trailer - and are taking us before anyone else. They have a free breakfast and everyone said the food in the sports bar is good. Police officers frequently dine here and love the food. So if you are looking for an inexpensive hotel, that is old, but clean for a one night stay, this is the place. The free airport shuttle and shuttle to the port is well worth it.

 

Over 40 of us went to the Bahia Cabana Restaurant for a pre-cruise dinner this evening. Although the food was good and our waitress was very nice, I would not recommend this restaurant for a first get together. The music was so loud and there were so many people it was hard to hear the person next to you talk. I made reservations well in advance and no tables or anything were set up for us prior to our arrival. They had one waitress taking care of all of us. Not the place to go with a group.

 

We had a great shuttle driver, Eric, from Ft. Lauderdale Taxi dot com. He charged us 1/2 of what others wanted and went to 4 different hotels to pick up members of our group. He was so nice and was on time and kept in contact with me. I was so glad we chose him!

 

We have a big day tomorrow. Come back and visit for information about the beautiful Independence of the Seas. Here is a picture from our first meeting - the pre-cruise dinner at the Bahia Cabana Resort.

 

We will try to provide as much information as possible about ship and activities we planned and the ship provided. If you have specific questions, we'll try to get them answered if not while on board, shortly after we return. Just let us know.

 

Everyone at the dinner tonight agreed that this is a great group. Can't wait until we have time to spend more time with each one of them!!

 

Have a blessed Easter and happy egg hunting! Mary (and Dennis)

[ladylawyer]

Hi Everyone! I cannot believe that I am still awake ... having had no sleep last night. The flight was uneventful (read: I slept for most of it). Our wonderful friend, Mimikens, picked us up from the airport, stopped at our ... uh, I hesitate to call it a "hotel" ... hmmm (Mimi calls it "Roadkill Inn") ... and then to the Bahia Cabana to meet the group.

 

What a great group of folks!!! I cannot believe that we almost canceled this cruise! :eek: We absolutely loved everyone we met. And, to think, we get to meet even MORE wonderful folks, tomorrow!!!!

 

After dinner, Mimi, DH Bill and I went back to her hotel to enjoy a nice martini by the InterCoastal. We are definitely in "CRUISE MODE."

 

I'm off to bed now. More later! ~ Lorna

[ricko1]

Hi Everyone! I cannot believe that I am still awake ... having had no sleep last night. The flight was uneventful (read: I slept for most of it). Our wonderful friend, Mimikens, picked us up from the airport, stopped at our ... uh, I hesitate to call it a "hotel" ... hmmm (Mimi calls it "Roadkill Inn") ... and then to the Bahia Cabana to meet the group.

 

What a great group of folks!!! I cannot believe that we almost canceled this cruise! :eek: We absolutely loved everyone we met. And, to think, we get to meet even MORE wonderful folks, tomorrow!!!!

 

After dinner, Mimi, DH Bill and I went back to her hotel to enjoy a nice martini by the InterCoastal. We are definitely in "CRUISE MODE."

 

I'm off to bed now. More later! ~ Lorna

 

Have a BLAST for us too...:eek:

[flames]

Bon Voyage, Everyone,

 

I will be here tomorrow, and every day after that, so have fun, and be safe;)

 

It will be my turn next year, so I want to know what the weather is like, and all the things you do on the ship and the ports you stop at:cool:

 

This is so exciting for me, I am book in Cabin 1404 so if you can check it out that wood be much appreciated:D

 

Thanks Mary for started this thread:cool:

 

Carol:)

[CPPADILLA]

Mary ~ I am so happy to see that you have started this thread. Will most definitely be following you in your TA adventure. Bon Voyage!

[cinnamon]

I am looking forward to reading this thread, thank you for posting. We will be on the Westbound TA on Navigator in November and love to read of other's experiences. In the meantime we will sail on Serenade on 2nd May for the re-positioning to Alaska. We have about 120 signed up and thought that our thread at nearly 4,000 posts was a lot. Now I realise we are just beginners! However, we have what sounds like a great group too.

[emmy]

Hi Everyone! I cannot believe that I am still awake ... having had no sleep last night. The flight was uneventful (read: I slept for most of it). Our wonderful friend, Mimikens, picked us up from the airport, stopped at our ... uh, I hesitate to call it a "hotel" ... hmmm (Mimi calls it "Roadkill Inn") ... and then to the Bahia Cabana to meet the group.

 

 

Lorna had to laugh at Mimi's decription of your hotel :) yep that's Mimi :) Hope she is doing well.

Well the long awaited sailaway day is at hand for the Transatlantic Fanatics. I am with all of you in spirit. Smooth sails, have fun and I know at the end of the journey you will have so many treasured memories...I am so envious.

 

Bon Voyage to all:)

[ExploreroftheSeas92]

Have fun on your cruise! Looking forward to hear all about it.

[djmutters]

We are on the cruise after that out of Southampton on the 25th of April and have been following your Roll call,you lot are so organised :)

 

Wish you all a safe and happy holiday and hope you have fab weather.

 

Nigel & Rob x

[daynajo]

The dinner was GREAT, meeting everyone.

Can't wait only 2 hours to go!!:)

[darkauf]

Like Carol (flames), we are also on this cruise next year. We are sailing with Cinnamon on the Serenade of the Seas to Alaska in a little more then 2 weeks. I have helped organize some on board activities and like the activities that you have scheduled for this TA. On board get togethers are always fun. On our Alaskan cruise, we have also added a billiards tournament to our activities but no pub crawl. We don't have as many sea days to work with that this TA has. We also have our café press t-shirts with a "very long name" for our cruise since no one could decide on a specific name for our Alaskan voyage.

 

I will be very interested in reading everything about this TA. It will give me information on all the ports and what I should see and what I can miss. I do know that we will be staying at a Hilton hotel (probably Hampton Inn/Embassy Suites) in Florida because we accumulate Hilton Honor points for free hotel rooms and free is good.

 

Enjoy your cruise. Looking forward to the next posting.

 

Darlene

[flames]

Does anyone know how to get the Live Cam of the Ship?

 

Carol:)

[The Big Booper]

Jealousy here !!!! We took the Indy TA last November from Southampton to FLL.

 

You know what I am doing now, look at my signature.

 

We are still weighing the Nav TA this November, the Indy TA west starts too late (Nov 29) and the Nav is 11/6 or so.

 

We left the Indy in good shape for the winter FLL cruises, how does the girl look now?

 

Back to the final 1040 dash !