Some thoughts from Indy this past weekend.

[chihlidog]

I haven't been on a cruise in almost 40 years (I would have been 7 or so my only other cruise I've taken). So this may as well be my first time. My wife and kids had never been on a cruise previously. 

 

We sailed on Indy over the weekend and some things stood out in relation to a lot of what I've read here and other places, both things that I felt lined up with what everyone said, and things that I thoroughly disagree with a lot of posters I've read. 

First - what an INCREDIBLE ship! I know it isn't the biggest anymore, but WOW what a lovely vessel to sail on! My family all agree, we loved her! The crew, the captain, the ship overall, just an absolutely fantastic way to travel. Really hard to believe there are much larger ships in regular use!! Lol she absolutely did not feel small. LOVE the promenade deck, LOVE being able to go to the bow. 

 

The third night we sailed through fairly rough seas and she rocked and rolled. My youngest (13) got seasick. But none of them were afraid. Some of us actually enjoyed watching the waves hit our porthole as the ship got tossed around a bit. 

 

Food - I read a lot about the desserts not being anything to write home about. I gotta agree on that one. Even the cheesecake, which is one of my favorite things usually, was just "meh". But aside from that I really do not understand the people that complain about it. We didnt go to any specialty dining and we NEVER went hungry and were never in a situation where we couldn't all find something we really liked. My prime rib in the MDR was tender and delicious and probably one of my favorite things I ate. (I've seen multiple posts staging the prime rib was bad). 

 

Windjammer was hit or miss. There was always at least a portion of what was being served that was really good. The roast turkey was delicious (I always go dark meat though so maybe the white meat wasnt). Even the steaks on the WJ were perfectly edible and tasty. I saw a lot of comments before I sailed that the Indian food on board was good and it REALLY was. But plenty of other offerings in the WJ were quite tasty as well. It IS too busy which can be frustrating but I expected that. 

 

Cafe promenade was impressive. Always open and always quality, tasty snacks. Sorrento's was perfectly tasty as well and my wife, who is gluten free, also liked their GF pizza. Fish and Ships was GOOD!! The only extra we spent on food was Ben and Jerry's and we all enjoyed all of our dining the whole time. 

 

The food on Coco Cay was, we all agree, really really good! The shaved ribeye sandwich was probably my favorite. The Cuban was also good. Of course the taco bar was great and most of my crew said that was their favorite on the island. 

 

Coco Cay itself is, in a word, fantastic.  Just beautiful beyond description.  

 

The crew was, without exception,  top notch. All of them. 

 

My nitpicks:

I really wish they had more freestyle machines. Having to wait in line everytime and hope it has ice was a little frustrating especially when you're REALLY thirsty. (Matters more to me than most probably because I dont drink alcohol and Im a bit of a soda fiend) 

 

The elevators being so full so often got annoying when we were trying to get somewhere. Minor and expected. 

 

The wifi signal in our stateroom wasn't very good. Nothing I couldn't live with, and on higher decks it worked really well. 

 

Overall, I, and the rest of my family, absolutely loved our experience.  My wife wanted to start with a short one to see how she and our kids would like it. I think the best way to summarize how we all felt about it is the fact that we went to NextCruise on our final night and booked a 9 night to Canada for 2024. (On Indy's sister ship, no less).  Cannot wait to sail again!

 

 

[Matt]

Great synopsis, thanks for sharing!

[MaryCS62]

17 hours ago, chihlidog said:

Cafe promenade was impressive. Always open and always quality, tasty snacks. Sorrento's was perfectly tasty as well and my wife, who is gluten free, also liked their GF pizza. Fish and Ships was GOOD!! The only extra we spent on food was Ben and Jerry's and we all enjoyed all of our dining the whole time. 

 

The food on Coco Cay was, we all agree, really really good! The shaved ribeye sandwich was probably my favorite. The Cuban was also good. Of course the taco bar was great and most of my crew said that was their favorite on the island. 

Regarding this part of your review -- how did your wife handle food on Coco Cay? Was there a gluten free section, or did she have to "order ahead", like in the MDR?  DH and I were at coco cay last month, but didn't really get a chance to ask about that, and will be sailing with celiac daughter in August, so would like to know how it was handled.

Thanks!

[smokeybandit]

At the snack shack, you just ask for a gluten free bun and they'll cook a fresh burger for you.

 

Cruise ship elevators will always be the bane of my cruising existence.  It never seems that elevators are efficiently used, leading to packed elevators when others sit there empty not responding.

[OCSC Mike]

Glad you had a good time. We spent 7 nights on Indy last July (B2B so we could go to CocoCay twice) and another 4 in October and had a great time as always.

I'm jealous, however, that Fish N Ships now has free items (nothing was free back then). My only minor complaint (b/c I enjoy eating on cruises so much) was the lack of one more free food venue besides the standard spots all Voyager/Freedom class ships have. I would have loved El Loco Fresh like Freedom has but free fish n chips or chicken fingers would have sufficed.

[foxrunner]

Great review and a reminder to some of the more jaded members about the joys of cruising. Nothing is perfect and a week without laundry, cooking cleaning and dishes is pure heaven. 

[Angel Mann]

The Independence was my 1st ever cruise so it's always going to have a special place in my heart. 

[Southern Waters]

My only 2 cruises were both on Indy's sister ship Liberty, and I loved pretty much everything except those crowded elevators.  But the stairs worked fine and I actually lost 5 pounds that week LOL.  I'm on Ovation in June and sorta bummed that there's no Johnny Rocket's or Sorrento's, only pizza delivery for a price.  However, I've never tried Blue Iguana so there's that.

[Xaa]

I haven't sailed her, but I'm pretty sure Ovation has Sorrento's in the Esplanade on deck 4 like other quantum class ships

[Southern Waters]

28 minutes ago, Xaa said:

I haven't sailed her, but I'm pretty sure Ovation has Sorrento's in the Esplanade on deck 4 like other quantum class ships

You're right!  I just looked at the dining options on Ovation and Sorrento's is there.  What's funny is that now I can't find the "pizza delivery" that I swear I saw just the other day.  I'm glad to see I was wrong; guess I'm losing it  

[OCSC Mike]

1 hour ago, Southern Waters said:

I actually lost 5 pounds that week

Blasphemy. I usually gain roughly 10 lbs. on a 7-nighter, lol. Several pounds are water weight but still.

The scarier part is that I also try to use the stairs as much as possible.

Fortunately I’m a thin guy & it doesn’t take long to lose most of it back.

[Southern Waters]

18 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Blasphemy. I usually gain roughly 10 lbs. on a 7-nighter, lol. Several pounds are water weight but still.

The scarier part is that I also try to use the stairs as much as possible.

Fortunately I’m a thin guy & it doesn’t take long to lose most of it back.

The word "skinny" doesn't apply to me LOL.  I just tried to eat low carb except for my once daily lava flow mocktail.

[brdjnr]

Good review and glad you enjoyed the trip. We went on a short (4 night) with adult kids/spouses on Independence last summer and it was great. 

[mac66]

Glad the OP had a great time.  I think people who cruise a lot get jaded and tend to nit pick. You see a lot of that on these forums. We've cruises a couple dozen times and although some cruise were better than other they were all good. Having said that...every cruise is different based on the ship, weather, itinerary, point of departure, crew, time of year etc, etc.

 

[Ampurp85]

1 hour ago, mac66 said:

Glad the OP had a great time.  I think people who cruise a lot get jaded and tend to nit pick. You see a lot of that on these forums. We've cruises a couple dozen times and although some cruise were better than other they were all good. Having said that...every cruise is different based on the ship, weather, itinerary, point of departure, crew, time of year etc, etc.

 

I don't think jaded is the proper word or they would no longer be willing to cruise. I agree with nitpicking, we as human beings tend to categorize our experiences and therefore, we begin to see patterns. When things aren't like the last time, we pick up on it, everyone does it.