We cruise the first or second week of December every year for our anniversary. We live in NH so winter weather is unpredictable. We always fly in a day early. This year we stayed at the Embassy Suites. I chose this hotel from the reviews posted on Cruise Critic website. We arrived from Boston at 10:30am and the hotel let us check in early with no problems. The hotel was comfortable and clean. Had dinner and retired to the room. We had planned to do the free cocktails from 5-7 that was advertised, but we were exhausted and fell asleep! The next morning we got a shuttle from the hotel to the port. I believe it was $6 or $7 per person. ARRIVAL: We dropped off our luggage at the front and went inside the building. Check in was very fast! No lines. This was about 11:00am. We were corralled into several large rooms where we proceeded to wait. We were finally let on board between 12:30 and 1:00. This was our 4th cruise with Royal Caribbean and our longest wait yet. Boarding says 2:00 on the literature we receive, but we have never had to wait this long. Still... that was ok with us. We walked around the ship for a bit and went to the top deck. Oasis was parked across from us. Had to take several pictures of her. I was actually surprised. I thought she would look bigger. But still a beautiful ship. Hmmmm. Maybe next year! We got a cocktail and proceeded to find our room. We had the corner aft cabin on deck 7. By 2:00 our room was ready. CABIN: We've always stayed in D category but this one was E1. I thought it was average size. My husband thought it was much smaller. We didn't care though. We booked this for the infamous corner aft balcony. 2 lounge chairs, 2 regular chairs and the tiny side table. What a wonderful deck. I would book this room again in a heartbeat! The walk was NOT a problem at all. (Walking all the way back from the elevators). We met our stateroom attendant right away and he never forgot our names once after that - he always greeted us with a smile and by name. His name was Kenneth. We never 'wanted' for anything in our room. No chocolates on the pillows, but we had towel animals every night except the first night. One negative comment to be made about this ship... we were very warm most of the time. Being from NH, I am ALWAYS cold. I dislike AC in the summers even. But even I was warm. Hallways, dining room, Windjammer, etc... When I asked one of the room attendants, she stated that too many people keep their balconies open. I am not sure I agree with this comment, because it was warm everywhere. We did mention this on the comment card about this at the end of the cruise. This was our only negative comment. DINING: We had a table for 6. Our waiter and assistant waiter were very attentive. 2 of our table mates were more than "needy" but they handled them very well. Much better than I could have! But I guess they are used to that. I have to say the meals were good. I have had MUCH better on past Royal cruises. I always hate to make bad comments about food as we each have our own tastes. I have to say that since I've cruised with Royal before - but only on 3 Radiance class boats - that this was the most disappointed I've been with their offerings on the menu. We knew we were going to eat at the 2 specialty restaurants during this cruise, but didn't know when. More about that in a minute. Sunday and Thursday were the two formal nights on this cruise. The second formal evening was the lobster everyone always looks forward to. We were going to go to Chops this night, but it was booked for the times we wanted. Don't get me wrong! I LOVE lobster! But I do not like the 'rock' lobster that I've had on past cruises. What a pleasant surprise when we were served traditional New England lobster. I was soooo glad we couldn't get reservations at Chops! We were allowed as many lobster tails as we wanted. The meals served on other nights were good. Just not great. Nothing really stands out in my thoughts right now about the food. Buffet was pretty good. The egg station could have used a little more help on some mornings, but all in all everything was good. I don't think the desserts were as delicious as they used to be. But there was a good selection, along with sugar free if people preferred. SPECIALTY: We ended up booking Portofino on Friday night and Chops on Saturday night - our last night on board. My husband got the marinated Filet Mignon at Portofino. OH WOW!! I had a bite! It melted in your mouth! He could cut it with his fork. He said it was the best he's ever had. I had a skewer with lobster, shrimp, scallops and salmon. It was delicious and very filling! I did not like the desserts. Husband had the Tiramisu - which is always good - and I had a 'sampler' kind of thing. I think it was called "mini indulgences". I did not like it. It had a pistachio cake thing, a mini chocolate cake (which was so rich, I could only have a tiny bite) it had tiramisu and one other, I cannot recall. Service was amazing!! Well worth the little bit of extra money they charge. Chops was even better. I have to say it was the best service we've ever had on any ship! And we made sure we gave credit to those waiters on our comment card at the end of the cruise. I had the 7 oz Filet and my husband had a 10oz filet. SO delicious! My husband said it was not as good as Portofino's, but still was great. Desert was Chocolate cake for hubby and NY cheesecake for me! Y-U-M-M-Y is all I have to say about that. We were done by 7:30 and went into the dining room to say goodbye to our table mates and waiters. (and to give the waiters their gratuities for the week). It's always sad that last night at dinner. But met some nice people. Oh, and one more comment about the specialty restaurants. We were told menus will be changing in January. By the time we go next December, we probably won't recall what was on the old ones anyway!

ACTIVITIES: I was determined to try the Flow Rider! But... being in my early 40's, I thought I should wait until the end of the cruise in case I hurt myself! By the end of the cruise, the Adult Boogie Boarding times seemed to be around 9:00pm and that was too late for me. We were usually watching a show in the theatre at that time. I will do it next year though! The few times we watched them, the lines didn't seem very long. But only went there twice, so I can't say for sure. Other than the Meet and Mingle and the "Welcome Back" party, we did not do a whole lot for activities. Did a lot of watching and wandering. COCKTAILS: We always got the "drink of the day"... unless it had Gin in it! We were never really disappointed. I am a big Mojito and Margarita drinker. Those are my drinks of choice. Boy, was I thrilled when one night they had Mojito AND Margarita Madness on the Promenade. Nothing big... just a table set up with 'special' glasses and they made Marg's and Mojito's. I had asked at 2 different bars for a Mojito and nobody had mint. Towards the middle/end of the cruise I find out that Bolero's specializes in Mojito's and they were delicious! That was my favorite bar. Drinks were average priced for a ship I think. About $5.95. We didn't drink beer this time around, so I am not sure what price was. ENTERTAINMENT: I loved the shows. We did not attend the last couple towards the end of the week as we ended up taking advantage of our wonderful balcony. We got tickets for the ice show. I picked tickets for a Tuesday night show for 9:00. They gave the tickets out earlier in the week between 9 and 10 am. This info is posted at Guest Services (when and where to pick up tickets). We got there about 8:50 and could not find a seat. We had to sit way in back at some tables and had a terrible view. After 9:00, they let anyone else in (who doesn't have tickets) and they came in and "stood" right in front of us plus a bunch were sitting on the stairs. My suggestion is to get there about 1/2 hour early - EVEN if you have tickets! There were 4 different show times to choose from. So there shouldn't be any issues of missing the show. Watched the "Love and Marriage" game. What a hoot! But we never miss that during any of our cruises.

SERVICE: The service throughout this trip was incredible. We never had one bad thing to say about any of the waiters, room attendants, upper management, etc... The hours these people put in each day and yet still carry a smile, amazes me. DISEMBARKATION: This was a nightmare. We chose to do the "carry our own luggage" route. Our flight was leaving at 11:30. We planned to be on deck 3 (as that was the deck we were instructed to go to) at 7:30. The flyer said 8:30, but we wanted to make sure we got a seat and had room. Well... due to that wonderful little snow storm the east coast had the night before... our flight was cancelled. I had our laptop and went on the website to check our status (my daughter had text message my phone during the week and told us about the storm). At 5:00am I knew our flight was cancelled. Once we docked (6:30/7:00?) I called the airline and was on hold for 45 minutes, but did get a flight booked for the next morning. So we then called a hotel for a reservation. *a note on the internet... prices are: 60 minutes $28, 90 minutes $38 and 150 minutes $55. Keep in mind that it's slow! So always buy the higher package. If you choose NO packages, it's a flat .55 per minute. Anyway, since we were in no rush to leave now, we went to deck 3 at 8:30 and couldn't even get off the elevators! The whole floor was packed like sardines! I would only suggest "carry your own luggage off" if you have an early flight. Since we were near the elevators, once they called our deck, we were the first one's in the elevators. I can't even imagine how long it took those poor souls WAY in back! But after that, it went smooth. Uneventful the rest of the way and through customs. The taxi stands were a mess too. Seemed very disorganized. We have always sailed out of Miami and this was our first time in Ft. Lauderdale. I think we prefer Miami. Well, this is the end of my LONG review. Overall, this was a great trip. A beautiful boat and wonderful staff. I have never been disappointed in a Royal ship and the Indy is no different. I thought only going on a Radiance class sized boat, we would be overwhelmed but we weren't.