redgrapes2

Hi all,
We were on Indy 17-22Nov to Labadee and Falmouth (2 sea days).  Our family is myself, husband and 2 boys ages 9 and 11.  We had a Grand Suite, My Time Dining and had purchased a 3 night dining package.  I booked the MTD reservations ahead online and asked the concierge to book our specialty dining ahead.  I actually took some notes this time, so hope this is helpful!  Let me know if anyone has specific questions.
Day 1 - we flew into FLL late late Friday night and had to take an Uber from the airport to the hotel because the shuttle had finished running for the day (it was like 1am and the Uber was around $10).  Stayed at the Hyatt Place on 17th Street.  Good breakfast, walking distance to a CVS and Walgreens and had this cute cruise station with staplers for your luggage tags!  The hotel had a shuttle to the port, but it was more expensive than the four of us getting another Uber (10min away, total was $11 plus tip).  We got to the port around 10:30 and flew through security and check-in.  They have a pretty cool indoor climbing structure for the kids upstairs that the boys spent time until boarding was called.  We boarded around 11am, had a quick snack in the concierge lounge waiting for the sports deck to open at noon.  We got in line for the SkyPad around 11:45 and had a minimal wait - it was AWESOME!!  All 4 of us did it and loved it!  Such a cool experience.  Rooms were open at 1:30 so we went and changed into our bathing suits (had in our carry-on), and enjoyed the water slides, hammocks, Flow Rider, pool and hot tub.  Directly to muster drill and then changed to hit laser tag - we all did it together and this was super fun too!  Dinner in the MDR was ok (the kids meal bao bun fish tacos that my older son had from the kids menu were actually really good!).  The boys were exhausted and went to bed, and my husband and I listened to some live music in the pub, went to the Majority Rules Game (fun!) and then caught the end of the comedian (just ok, not as good as other comedians on Symphony or Brilliance).
Thoughts for Day 1:
Uber was super easy.  I have never used it before this trip and will make a habit of it now. If you are interested in the sports deck stuff, plan to do a lot on Day 1.  There were minimal waits for almost everything, especially compared to later in the cruise. You need closed toe shoes for laser tag, no exceptions. Make a reservation for My Time Dining ahead of time, the no reservation line was pretty crazy and people were being quoted 30+ minute waits. Drink package challenge... RCI was the loser today :)

We were on the same cruise!  

We used Rome Private Excursions for three ports last June: La Spezia to Pisa/Florence, Naples to Positano/Pompeii and Civitavecchia to Rome.  Excellent experiences all around on our timeline and flexibility, would definitely recommend.  One thing I will say about booking privately (not with RC) is to check reviews on other websites here, Trip Advisor, etc.  These private companies know one miss posted on social media would be the death of their business, they take that extremely seriously!

Kinda funny that they didn't know when Thanksgiving 2019 was when this came out.  Have since corrected the Nov2019 excluded dates.  Glad my awesome MEI travel agent John was on it and had ours secured before they figured it out!

Kinda funny that they didn't know when Thanksgiving 2019 was when this came out.  Have since corrected the Nov2019 excluded dates.  Glad my awesome MEI travel agent John was on it and had ours secured before they figured it out!