Planning help R.C - Indy

[Lisa123wm]

We sailed on RC Explorer of the seas in 2015. Our youngest was 10 at the time and loved it. We ate in the dining room every night, even on the two formal nights. He didn’t have to dress up formally as he was a child. He wore some chinos and a polo shirt. He loved having two desserts each night 😆
We are cruising with P&O this year, our youngest will be 14 and he’s really looking forward to it.

[Jan]

Don’t worry about formality in the dining room. On the last RCCI that we took there was a party of two American couples on the table next to us. Even on “formal” nights one of the men wore jeans (quite old and tatty) and trainers and the other three people didn’t look much better! I don’t think they had lost their luggage as they did manage to wear different shirts, blouses etc. I find that sort of thing a bit insulting to both the passengers who do make an effort and to the waiters who have to wear a “formal” uniform.

[disney_l81]

Originally Posted by whlparkstone

Thanks so much for the details.
Did the main dining have a separate child’s menu? The food that I have seen looks amazing, but not sure if it’s too my sons taste?

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You can view the menu each day, if there's nothing on there your son would eat, just ask your waiter as they can probably get something else. When we've done longer cruises sometimes my daughter just wanted fruit for starter, was not a problem. One night I commented how nice a starter was and waiter came back with another one. My time dining means you can pick what time you eat, which you have done, it's not too formal, and even less formal on a shorter cruise. Windjammer you can't go wrong with though, sure your son would love that, k how my daughter does

[whlparkstone]

Originally Posted by disney_l81

You can view the menu each day, if there's nothing on there your son would eat, just ask your waiter as they can probably get something else. When we've done longer cruises sometimes my daughter just wanted fruit for starter, was not a problem. One night I commented how nice a starter was and waiter came back with another one. My time dining means you can pick what time you eat, which you have done, it's not too formal, and even less formal on a shorter cruise. Windjammer you can't go wrong with though, sure your son would love that, k how my daughter does

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Thanks so much. We are cruising for 14 nights, so I am sure we will get the hang of it all once we are on board. We booked the cruise last year, but now Christmas has been and gone I am starting to really get excited about the holiday.
Thanks

[SquishTheWhale]

The MDRs aren't super formal, but it is a 3 course sit down dinner so mixing it up with a more casual meal in the Windjammer isn't a bad idea. Its just a buffet so you walk in and find a table, there won't be difficulty finding one at dinner. We found the food excellent in both.

One of the things to know about cruise dining is that you can have as much of anything as you want! Want 3 starters, 2 mains and another starter for your dessert? No problem. My DH often orders all sorts of things lol.

On embarkation day everyone heads to the buffet for lunch so it can be a bit of a madhouse. Either try and get there for when it opens or try one of the other options like the pizza bar!

You'll have a great time, she's one of our favorite ships

[stupet11]

Great info - our first 3 nt cruise in July, on Navigator of the Seas.

Way out of my planning comfort zone, but very excited!

[Cyclospora]

We did a 3 night and a 14 night cruise on Indy this year. Great cruises and lovely staff. On the 3 night trip we did my time dining and we were on the bottom deck of the restaurant (deck 3) which was quite crowded I thought. I had gone to the diding room as soon as I got on the ship and booked the 3 nights at 7:30pm. The 14 night cruise we had the set dining times at 8:30 and were on deck 5 (same table, waiting staff and shared a table) and there seemed to be far more room there.

A helpful forum can be found on cruisecritic.co.uk. You can look at posts about Royal Caribbean in general, your ship and even a roll call in a branched off forum about your particular cruise. There are also FB groups for Royal Caribbean and one for Indy.

We are off to Orlando on Sunday for a week and then sailing to the Caribbean on the Oasis of the Seas from Port Canaveral a week later. Can't wait!

One word of advice - keep away from chocolate martinis! I told my DH I was seasick... didn't believe me!

[whlparkstone]

Originally Posted by Cyclospora

We did a 3 night and a 14 night cruise on Indy this year. Great cruises and lovely staff. On the 3 night trip we did my time dining and we were on the bottom deck of the restaurant (deck 3) which was quite crowded I thought. I had gone to the diding room as soon as I got on the ship and booked the 3 nights at 7:30pm. The 14 night cruise we had the set dining times at 8:30 and were on deck 5 (same table, waiting staff and shared a table) and there seemed to be far more room there.

A helpful forum can be found on cruisecritic.co.uk. You can look at posts about Royal Caribbean in general, your ship and even a roll call in a branched off forum about your particular cruise. There are also FB groups for Royal Caribbean and one for Indy.

We are off to Orlando on Sunday for a week and then sailing to the Caribbean on the Oasis of the Seas from Port Canaveral a week later. Can't wait!

One word of advice - keep away from chocolate martinis! I told my DH I was seasick... didn't believe me!

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We paid for the delux drinks package... so it's safe to say that the chocolate martinis are top of the list

Have a great holiday

[Dinglebert]

Originally Posted by whlparkstone

We paid for the delux drinks package... so it's safe to say that the chocolate martinis are top of the list

Have a great holiday

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One thing to watch out for with the drinks package is the price. I of course don't know what price you paid but they often have a reduced price at some point. Sometimes as much as 30% or more off the package price. Its well worth keeping an eye on the cruise planner. If they do have the sale then just cancel your current drinks package and immediately book again at the lower price.

[babycanaansmum]

Hi we have done 2 14 night cruises on Indy. Don’t stress too much about planning my son is 10 and has been cruising the past 3 years. We like to book the my time and slots for 5:30 as the kids club staff collect him from the dining room at 6:40 for the evening club session. He wears chinos / polo on a normal night in the main dining room and we take a casual outfit for a quick change before club. The windjammer opens around 6:30 and has most of the foods from the dining room menu. There are loads of activities which don’t need booking - each evening you will get a newsletter with all of the activities for the kids and a general one so you can plan which ones to do. It also has opening tones for laser tag/ ice skating etc. Kids menu is standard chicken tenders/burgers/pizza/spaghetti etc they are really accommodating too. You will love it !