lithlith

Debarkation: The information sheet we got was lacking in explanations of what the procedure was, but we really weren’t surprised at this point as the lack of communication of what was going on was throughout our entire cruise. We planned to self disembark with all of our luggage. The set time for this was 6:15-7am, which was way too early for us. We were given luggage numbers, and a set dining room to wait in until our number was called, but we didn’t see the point in doing that since we were self assisting. So, around 8am, we went down to the deck that we thought disembarkation might be on (because that information was no where to be found in the paper work or announced). We had to ask someone where to go and then we walked off the ship. It was easy with no line and no waiting. I don’t know if that was the proper procedure, but it worked alright for us. The customs/immigration line was long and we waiting about 30 minutes in line once off the ship. We took a cab to the airport, which was about $15 or $20 with tip.

Ports/Excursions:

Since this was our first time on Royal Caribbean, we booked excursions through them.

There was no information about where to disembark the ship given out or announced, so you’re kind of on your own to find your way to the lower decks at the right time to make your way off…there was an over all lack of communication we thought on Royal’s part. Maybe we’re just too used to Princess and Carnival over announcing what to do and where to go when. There were also no reminders to be back at a certain times like they are persistent with on Princess and Carnival.

Grand Cayman – Sting Ray City – This was good, but was advertised as 2.5 hours and was almost 5 hours! It was about a 20 minute bus ride to the boat, then an hour boat ride to “Sting Ray City”. The water was a little deeper than we were expecting on the sandbar, but plenty of sting rays around to see. The guide will grab one and hold it for you to pose with during the time that you are there. We were there for about an hour. We think Sting Ray City is a must-see-do activity if you go to Grand Cayman. However, be warned that it will be you and 400 of your new cruise mates with you once you get out there. For as many people were there, it didn’t feel too crowded.

Jamaica – Dunn River Falls Express – This was great! We highly recommend it and would likely do the same excursion again if we ever go back. This excursion just went to the falls and back to the ship (well, after we had two stops for mandatory shopping on the way back, but we’ve come to expect that with ship excursions). Our bus was one of the first in the Dunn River Falls parking lot that morning, when we left, it was packed! There are free bathrooms when you arrive at the falls at which there may or may not be toilet paper, so bring your own. The fall climb was better than we were expecting. The rocks look slippery, but weren’t too bad. You will get quite wet and be in water over waist deep at some points. (We left all of our personal belongings in the bus and were told they would be safe and they were.) They do make you hold hands with each other, which can be an annoyance. We don’t think it was for safety reasons, but more so to keep your group together. The guides were some what helpful and offered to take pictures if your own cameras along they way…mainly in hopes of a bigger tip at the end. The guides will follow you back to the bus to collect tips at the end too…that was a tad annoying. But overall a great climb and a fun time!

Haiti – We didn’t have an excursion planned and just got off the ship and wandered around. It was about a 10 minute walk all the way to the edge of the property in the back. We aren’t beach people, so we just checked out each beach and walked through the shopping area. The weather was super hot and humid, so we were ready to get back on the ship after 30 minutes or so and enjoyed having some of the ship to ourselves.

Other Notes:

The first morning onboard early, we were awoken to an engine noise, similar to the sound you here when stopping or docking, etc. We knew something was wrong because we were going into a day at sea. An hour or so later over the announcement was oscar oscar oscar – the code for someone overboard. I looked at the clock and it was around 6am. Then a few minutes later another announcement was made for some of the crew to go to the starboard side. We jumped out of bed, put some clothes on and ran up to a deck where we could see. It was dark so we couldn’t see much, but we did see one of our ship’s tender boats out in the water. According to the captain’s announcement later, we picked up 13 Cuban refugees who had been stranded on a make-shift raft for 7 days. Around 10am, our ship stopped again and a US Coastguard ship pulled up next to us and took the refugees to their ship.

At some point, there was also a noro-virus outbreak. The hand sanitizers were out – the self dispense and the buffet greeters were pretty much forcing everyone to use the sanitizers. On maybe day 4 or 5 the captain announced that they thought they had the outbreak under control during his noon announcement.

On the last day at sea in the afternoon, there was an announcement in the afternoon that they needed O positive blood donors in the medical center.

Also, on the last night at night there was an announcement that there was a medical emergency onboard and that we were going to speed up to get back to Florida faster.

Shows – The ice show featured music through the decades. It was good. They did a great job for what limited space they have and the ticket system seemed to work well for everyone to be able to see the ice show. We also saw a juggler, who was pretty good, but we’ve seen better on other ships. There was a comedian, again, we’ve seen better. There was also a ventriloquist, who was ok, again, we’ve seen better. The last night we finally saw a real stage show that featured different kinds of dance. The dance troupe was new and this was their first show. We’re not sure if that was why we only had one stage show on the last night or if that is typical of Royal. On Princess and Carnival, there are many more choices for evening entertainment, such as a comedian in one location and then a stage show in the theater with multiple showings each night…not just one option each night like on Royal. We will say that dancing/singing show we saw on the last night was far better than anything we’ve seen on Carnival or Princess. We were also expecting some sort of parade on the promenade during the cruise, but there wasn’t anything besides the 70’s party (which we think needs to be updated to maybe an 80’s party or some other sort of party).

Pool side/sunning – We never had a problem finding a deck chair. It might not have always been in the most popular hangout locations, but chairs were always available both in and out of the sun. The pool area seemed kind of low key to us compared to Carnival who typically has music playing all day. It was more similar to Princess. There were times where they had a DJ and a few times with a live band, but also a lot of times where there wasn’t anything.

Touchscreens – We really liked the touch screens at the top of each set of stairs where you could see what was going on at the time and to view menus. Princess and Carnival could use these!

Cruise Compass – the paper that tells you what is going on for the day – we thought this was poorly organized and difficult to read. Royal could learn from looking at Princess or Carnival’s version of the same type of thing.

Staff & Activities:

Cruise Director & Staff – This is where Royal Caribbean really disappointed us. Maybe we just had the luck of the draw with a boring staff, we don’t know. We never saw the cruise director and staff out and about unless there was a specific activity and they were quick to get out of there and didn’t care to interact anymore than they had to. We found their personalities to be cold, dull, and just over all no-energy and no-fun. We now understand why Carnival calls themselves the “fun ship” because it truly is compared to what we experience on the Independence of the Seas. It was quite a disappointment. We were glad we didn’t have to be stuck with this staff for longer than 6 days.

Sports Staff – These were the staff helping with the rock wall and flowrider. Some of them seemed to have a fun personality, others were standoffish. The day we went to climb the rock wall the staff said to us “are you sure you want to climb? It’s really hot out.” Of course we want to climb, that’s why we showed up! They were just being lazy and didn’t want to move from their spot in the shade. They should be encouraging the fun and activities!

Flowrider – We had a good time watching others do the boogie board and surfing on the flowrider as well as giving it a shot ourselves a few times. But after a few days the novelty of watching and trying it wore off and we were off looking for other things to do.

Ice rink – We used this once during an open skate time. It was fun for a few minutes, but because of the small size, it got dull quietly skating in a small space over and over. But it is worth a try for the novelty of skating on a cruise ship.

Activities on board – hmm…what activities?! The activities & games were few and far between on the Independence of the Seas. Royal was definitely lacking in organized activities, whether that be lectures, shows, trivia, games, crafts, etc. If you simply want to lay in the sun, read a book or just plain relax without activities, then cruise Royal Caribbean . There are way more activities on Carnival and Princess during the day and evening than what we experienced on Royal. For example, Carnival has trivia and other games going on every hour starting in the morning and going throughout the day and evening, so many that we always have a hard time choosing what to do. But on Royal, we found ourselves with hours of dead time with nothing going on. Royal’s belly flop and sexiest man competition were fun to watch (similar activities exist on Carnival and Princess), but even at those the cruise staff tried to take the fun out of by telling the guests judging who to vote for, and listing so many “rules” that it sucked some of the fun out. The staff needs to take a serious chill pill. The game shows and trivia were hosted by staff with little enthusiasm and were lacking outgoing personalities; we felt this detracted from the trivia and games. We did enjoy watching the Quest game, but it seems like they maybe do the same thing over and over again so some people come into it with a purse full of what they will ask for. In many of the activities, including the Quest, it is really up to the cruise director and staff to decide who wins, and really isn’t up to the guests, which felt a little biased.

Food:

Café Promenade – This was talked up on Cruise Critic…but was a let down. Royal needs a real deli with custom made sandwiches like Princess and Carnival. The tiny pre-made sandwiches were a joke compared to what you can get on other cruise ships, but if you only cruise on Royal, then you won’t know what you’re missing.

Sorentos-Pizza – Both Princess and Carnival could take a lesson from Royal on pizza. This was the best cruise ship pizza we’ve ever had!

Windjammer Buffet – The food quality was comparable to what we’ve had before on Princess and Carnival. The down side is that the lunch options are pretty much the same everyday…there was way more variety for lunch on Princess and Carnival.

Specialty Restaurants – We didn’t eat in either, but we did find it odd that the two specialty restaurants are located at the entrance of the buffet…that was kind of tacky to put their locations there.

Main Dining Room – We had the anytime dining and refused to make reservations despite how pushy they were about making reservations in the emails they sent prior to cruising. We don’t see why they call it “anytime” if they want you to have a set time to dine, but we digress. We never had to wait for a table and always shared with others. The dining room food quality was also comparable to Princess and Carnival, but was in smaller portions. Where Royal really loses was in the desserts…we didn’t really love any of the desserts. We really missed the chocolate melting cake that Carnival offers. Royal seems to offer a lot of things made with pudding and mousse, so if you enjoy that then you’ll enjoy dessert. Also, Royal has very limited ice cream and sherbet choices compared to Princess and Carnival.

We just got off the Independence (April 6-12) and we also had an announcement from the medical center needing blood donors. This was on our last day at sea. They were asking for O positive on our cruise. We never heard anything more about it.

Stateroom: At 1pm, the hallway doors were opened and there was quite the crowd that had gathered at the doors to get to the rooms at that time. We had an inside cabin on deck 8 aft. Our cabin was by far the smallest cabin we have ever had. (And, we’ve cruised in a variety of cabins on other ships - balcony, oceanview, and inside cabins, but to be fair we’re only comparing inside cabin size to inside cabin size here.) It was noticeably smaller than the inside cabins that we’ve had on Princess and Carnival. The cabin décor we liked better than Carnival and thought the room décor was similar to Princess. There was plenty of closet space and at least two dozen hangers. There was also a good amount of shelf and drawer space in the cabin. We unpacked and stowed our suitcases and backpacks under the bed. There were two American outlets on the desk/dresser, which was nice compared to the one you get on Carnival or Princess. (There was also one European outlet.) There was a hair dryer in a drawer, but I had brought my own and never tried theirs. There was a stocked mini refrigerator, but the word refrigerator is completely overrated as it certainly wasn’t cold, even the word “cool” is a stretch. Also, there was no ice bucket, which would have been nice to keep our Coke cold since the refrigerator was worthless, but no such luck.

The bathroom was also noticeably smaller than other cabin bathrooms we’ve had in the past. The shower door was a nice plus compared to a typical shower curtain on Princess and Carnival, however, this also makes it very enclosed and difficult to maneuver around. If you plan to shave your legs in the shower, you’re going to need to be flexible. The water pressure was great, however, our shower temperature knob was broken, and we managed with semi-warm water for the cruise not wanting to deal with the hassle of having someone fix it.

Background:

We’re a well traveled couple in our early 30’s who have previously been on 8 cruises (5 Carnival, 2 Princess, and 1 Paul Gauguin) and numerous land tours throughout the world. Throughout this review we will make comparisons to our previous Carnival and Princess cruises.

Embarkation:

We returned the rental car and then took the free shuttle from the airport rental car garage to the port. Having never cruised out of Ft. Lauderdale before, we really didn’t know what to expect. We were surprised at how spread out the port area is and the docks of each ship. We were on the shuttle bus for approximately 50 minutes before we were dropped off at the Independence of the Seas and this was only the second stop on the shuttle, so plan your time accordingly if you are on a shuttle to the port.

We arrived at our port area around 11am and there were not many people in line at security. The only thing that was holding up the line were people who didn’t have their Royal Caribbean Sea Pass documents and passports out. We went with carry on bags only on this cruise. One bag we had packed our allotted two bottles of wine, a 6 pack of bottled water, and an 8 pack of Coke. This bag was pulled aside to inspect. The woman inspecting it held up the water yelled over to another security officer “are we collecting this stuff today?” The answer was no, so we were good to go. But the idea that sometimes they collect it and sometimes they don’t seems ridiculous. Next, we were off to the line to get our Sea Pass cards and officially check in. There was a line for those with status on Royal , but no line for anyone else…kind of nice for us newbies! We checked in and were on our way and onboard around 11:30am.

Upon boarding we attempted to go to our stateroom on level 8…as we have on previous Carnival and Princess cruises…the hallway doors were closed with signs stating they would be open at 1pm, there were also employees guarding the doors. This inability to get to our room to drop off our bags was a big annoyance for us, but we were expecting it based on what we had read on cruise critic.

Promenade:

We then went to the Promenade to check it out and grab some pizza for lunch. We thought that maybe the promenade would give us that “wow ah ha” moment when we first saw it, but instead it was more of a “ugh, this is it?” Our expectations were not met. We found it to be drab, dull, small, and closed in…almost a trapped feeling and definitely not a feeling that you are on a cruise ship. Maybe some people like to feel like they are not on a ship, but not us. The inability to see outside in many of the common areas throughout the ship made us feel the same way. We preferred the common areas on Princess and Carnival to what Royal offered on their promenade.

We've just returned home from the Independence of the Seas on the April 6-12, 2014 sailing.

We're working on our review and will post it as we finish it.

Feel free to jump in with any questions! We're happy to help.

Is it possible to walk from the ship to Columbus Cove?

If so, what is the distance or time you would expect it to take (for an average able bodied adult walker)?

Is a tram necessary?

Does the tram cost anything?

Are the trams frequent enough or are their long wait lines and times for the tram?

What is the requirement for footwear for the rock climbing wall? (Independence of the Seas)

Do we just wait in line to climb or get a ticket or appointment for a certain time?

Is there a time limit on the climb?

OP what ship will you be on? Cafe Promenade is more of a late night snack, or in btwn meal snack place. Sandwiches are premade there and also pizza. However if you are going on an Oasis class ship, they have Sorrentos pizza that will make your pizza to order, as well as other places that you can get sandwiches to order.

I'll be in the Independence of the Seas in a couple of weeks.

Are the sandwiches at Cafe Promenade all pre-made or do they make them as you order? Do the sandwiches already have dressings on them or can you get them made simply with just meat and cheese?

We are used to the the deli on Carnival, where you can order what you want and they make it in front of you as you like - any comparison to Carnival would be helpful as well.

Any photos of menus or of the cases of food in the cafe promenade would also be appreciated.

Is hot chocolate free in the dining room at breakfast or dinner?

I'm looking for an updated answer about this Squeeze Juice Bar --

a) Is there anything free here? If so what?

b) What specific beverages are available here? Anyone have a photo of the menu?

We'll be sailing in the Independence in a few weeks and are wondering about when we will be able to get to our stateroom...we're not looking for the official Royal Caribbean response, but what you have personally experienced on Royal Caribbean ships recently.

We're used to sailing on Carnival in the Caribbean, which also gives a set time that rooms will be available, but we've always arrived on board around 11am-12pm and went to our rooms right away to drop off all of our carry on luggage. Each time our room has always been ready hours before the posted time. (Although, the room stewards are still cleaning some of the rooms, we've so far lucked out with a room that's been cleaned.) We're wondering if it is similar on Royal Caribbean or if the hallways to rooms are blocked until the official time?

" Even better news, Carnival has a money back guarantee if you find an independent excursion that is the same as a Carnival one you get the difference plus 10% back. We immediately applied for this and should our emails confirming our excursion with the independent company and were approved within the next day and we got the $30pp difference back plus 10%! "

 

 

never heard of this before, going on the breeze feb 15 they're is 11 of us so if we could save on excursions that would be great just talked to carnival this program is called the pilot program he said that it is not available on the breeze whats up with that

Ah haha! Carnival phone customer service...call 5 times and you'll get 5 different answers! cracks me up!

The new independent excursion money back policy was advertised on a banner next to the shore excursion desk and was in the shore excursion brochure that we received on the Breeze. I will say that the shore excursion desk workers did seem to act "new" at dealing with it. The policy said there would be a claim form to complete and there wasn't. We basically handed them a pile of my printed email correspondence with the company and then they researched it further on the company's website to verify the excursion. They seemed almost excited to research our claim as if we were one of the first, but who knows.

so for now we just want to walk out of the ship and hope we can walk around to see the area in the neighbourhood so that is why I do have a last question, can you walk out of these ports right into the city or is it all too far away ?

Grand Turk - the beach and shopping are just steps away from the ship.

La Romona, DR - there is minimal shopping at the port and the city is quite a distance away. I wouldn't leave the port area here unless you have an excursion planned.

Aruba - Within a 5-10 minute walk you are right downtown. The Breeze was docked at the furthest spot, so it was more like a 10 minute walk. There was also minimal shopping right where you get off the ship.

Curacao - Within a 5-10 minute walk you are right downtown. There was also minimal shopping right where you get off the ship.

For My Time Dining, do I have to place a reservation for a certain time each night or can we just show up when we are ready to have dinner like we can on Carnival or Princess?

(This is for 2 adults and we typically have dinner as soon as the dining room opens each night, but we like the flexibility of not having a set time we have to be there. We also don't like the set time dining because we don't like the idea of being stuck with the same people every night.)

I have a quick question, hope you can I help.

 

When you arrived at each of these ports, did you have to show your ID card (not the S&S card)? I heard that some ports required you to present an ID card with photo in order to enter. Was that the case with these ports?

At most ports on previous cruises, we've had to show our picture ID along with the S&S card, but not on this cruise. All they wanted to see at the ports were our S&S cards and most of the time they weren't really looking at anything more than whether we had a card. I thought that the security was weak at each port itself. I will say that Carnival did remind cruisers over and over again about taking photo ID with them when they left, so we were expecting the port security to check IDs. I suppose it is possible that we just happened to encounter the most lax port security people and maybe others were checked.

Will certainly check it out seems great, La Romana is not easy what did you do ? Lot of people seems to stay on board ..... thanks again next week we leave am getting nervous:)

This is where I posted about my recent cruise on the Breeze 12/21/13:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1964485

I mention what we did at each port as well.

Thank you so much this is the information we really needed, I do hope you had a great time, any advice for us ?

have a wonderful day

good evening from Belgium

Frieda

We booked an Island Tour with Howard Folkes while we were in Aruba. He met us in the cruise ship terminal right after we docked. He was great!

http://folkestours.com/

Great review Lith! Glad you made the ship!! I would have loved to have met you onboard to hear about your land tours.

 

Were you on the Irie tour bus with Dennis, or the other driver? My boys cringed when they heard "bus tour", but ended up loving it. I just thought 2:00 was too late to plan a beach day.

 

I wish I had known about the behind the scenes tour, sounds very interesting. Did it go to the engine room? That would really interest my engineer hubby.

 

We were the dusty, dirty people that returned to the ship in Aruba, but loved our ATV tour!

 

Good to know about the Carnival price match of tours. Wish we had done the same. Our day in LaRamana was a disaster with a private excursion. Never made it out of the taxi area.

I don't remember who our drive was on Irie...he was a young, thin guy with a fro, that's about all I remember!

The Behind the Fun tour does not go to the the actual engine room, but does go to the engine control room, where we met some of the engineers.

Did you apply for the money back for your DR trip while you were on the ship or before you went? Did you enjoy it?

While we were at the shore excursion desk buying the excursion, we asked for the form to fill out, which is what their policy said to do. We were told there wasn't any form paperwork for us to fill out, but to just show them proof that we had booked another excursion that was the same. We ran up to our room to search for the emails that I had printed about the independent excursion I had booked. After looking at printed emails, we didn't think we had a chance, because the emails were so vague, but they did mention the price that we had planned to pay and had the website for the company. We took everything I had printed about the excursion back down to the shore excursion desk just in time before they closed. They made copies of everything we had and then told us they would have to check the website where we had booked as well and that we would hear back from them within 48 hours. The next day after our excursion we went back to the shore excursion desk to see if they had decided anything and they handed us an envelope with a letter saying that we were approved and to watch our sail and sign account for the credit. I believe their money back policy has to claimed the day prior or day of your shore excursion, which can be difficult with the limited hours of the shore excursion desk.

The excursion that we took with Carnival was I think comparable to what we would have taken with the other company. The independent company included lunch and Carnival did not, but we wouldn't have ate it anyway, so that wasn't a loss to us. Overall, it wasn't a great excursion, just an ok one, but there really wasn't much of a choice that was interesting to us for the Dominican Republic.