normalman

I wish Carnival offered a drink package between nothing and drink yourself blotto to make it worthwhile. How about a 4 drink a day package? Or an all you can drink on formal day package?

We were on there too :)

 

Strings was very good, very well done. And I agree, Grease was excellent, and my wife is very particular about anything unrelated to the original. Entertainment I thought overall was very good and getting around ended up also being much easier than we thought. Although Studio B was tough, you can only access it I think by going to one end and going down to Deck 3...that was a little tricky. But otherwise, it was really easy.

One of the quirks of Independence is you can't go from front to back on deck 3 because of the skating rink (Studio B) in the middle. So if you were in the forward theater, you have to go up one level, go aft then down to get to the Romeo and Julient dining room (the studio B entrance was also on the aft side).

Otherwise, the only other thing were the slowly rotating doors you had to go thru to get into windjammer.

Nice review, thank you! We're headed to Jamaica on this ship in a few weeks, so I appreciate the info. I've been on only Carnival in the last 5 or so years (2 successive kids between the ages of 2 and 3, so Carnival's kids' club was a must). I'm interested to see how the food compares.

My youngest son liked RCI's teen program better than Carnival's but of course he's much older so can't say how the younger kids' program compares but it did look like they had programs for younger kids as well.

I assume that "Invitation to Dance" was in addition to the "Grease " show?

We just got off Indie and the other show was "Once Upon A Time". It was a very nice musical revue. I didn't see anything called Invitation to Dance - maybe they just changed over.

The Ice show was called Strings, it was packed so we didn't see it.

The headliner show featured a former member of Foreigner and was quite good.

Grease was excellent.

I'm with you on this. I truly don't understand the need/desire for interest on a cruise.

 

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Can't speak for these people and I'd normally be with you but I have business interests that have to be able to contact me in an emergency.

 

 

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We were just on Independence over Xmas and my memory was the classics were a buck less ($14). However, we got a maker's mark Manhattan in the piano lounge for $10, so there may be better deals at some of the regular bars.

Here's the bonus balcony on 6514 (I think the other forwardmost balconies are similar). A good deal if they fix the leaky door seal and you don't mind a little extra walking to the elevators.

Here's views of the Royal Promenade with the Xmas carolers and the "Village People" for the disco party.

Here's the view of the Royal Promenade at Xmas

I was on this cruise also, but I thought the food in the windjammer was very good. In November, it was horrible. I actually lost weight in November, lol.

 

It wasn't that Windjammer was bad, it just seemed Carnival had more cook to order type stations like a mongolian grill and the sushi bar. I guess I'd been led to believe that RCL was more upscale on food and just didn't see it.

Thanks for reporting. We are both shocked at spa prices in terms of land based services. Are they any more reasonable on Carnival? I' never cruised with them.

I'm going by memory, which is that Carnival wasn't a great deal compared to land based but it didn't seem as outrageous. They also seemed to offer better first day deals.

Thanks for reviewing - I keep thinking I might try Carnival, but I can never actually pull the trigger. It sounds like debarkation wasn't an issue for you? I am cruising Indy the end of January with an 11:15 flight and I keep hearing about delayed debarkations.

 

We could have been off the ship by 8:00 if we hand carried. I was also told those with plane reservations could have gone early too. Barring the kind of delay the previous cruise had, I doubt you'll have an issue.

Since there aren’t a lot of Independence of the Sea reviews on this forum, I thought I’d review our just completed 4 night cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale on 12/22/16. This was our first Royal Caribbean cruise in 18 years though we’ve done Carnival several times since.

We’d stopped the night before at Port St. Lucie about ninety minutes away. Before we left the hotel, we got a text saying the cruise was delayed a couple of hours. I later found out why and I’ll explain at the end of this review.

We hung out at the hotel then arrived at Port Everglades around 1:00 pm. We’d decided to park at the port thinking it’d be more convenient. If I cruise from there again, I’ll use a park and ride service. We still had to haul our luggage to a shuttle to take to the ship. On our return, the ship was closer to the garage but we still had to tote our luggage a long way from ship to garage.

Check in was fast. We entered on deck 4 where we were given complimentary champagne. The ship was very nice. I really liked the Royal Promenade which is done up to look like an open air street with the stores, bars, pizza place, and café along it. A lot of rooms looked out over it from above.

We had a slice of pizza (just ok) then went to our rooms. We’d booked the two forward most deck 6 balconies. I’d done some research and was pleased because 6514 effectively gives you an extra 5’ of balcony and a forward view through a curved glass wind breaker. The room was fairly spacious. I could have done without the rounded bed though because the sheets don’t fit on it well.

We eventually got them to open the divider between balconies but I had to bug them a couple of times. The internet didn’t work for the first day. I got a credit for the day but I had to bug them for that too. This was the first of several minor annoyances with RCI I’d have thru the cruise. You’d think they’d have automatically credited everyone for that first day.

We walked the ship. The work out area was very nice except for the changing area which was surprisingly spartan. The spa looked nice but prices were eye popping. Wife would have done a massage but they were 2X shore prices.

We checked our youngest into the teen club. Disappointingly, my oldest son, just turned 18, had aged out and RCL does almost nothing for the 18-21 y/o set. So my youngest had a great time with all the group activities but my oldest was kind of stuck.

To use the wave rider, rock wall, and ice skating you have to sign a waiver and get a wrist band. RCI’s method of doing this was terrible. The line was so slow. Their signup tablets kept locking up. One of them kept failing and the attendant blamed one of our ID cards. So we had to go down to guest services, which told us the card was fine, so back up to the sports deck where of course this time it worked fine.

We all did my time dining together that first night. The food was ok but nothing special. We then walked from bar to bar as they had a number of different music acts playing thru out the ship.

The next day was a sea day. Breakfast in dining hall was ok. We made the mistake of going to the shopping talk. They were running behind and kept everyone outside the auditorium. Since the first 100 people were supposed to get a lanyard, everyone was cramming in from all sides once they finally opened the doors (in reality, they had lanyards for all).

Next we decided to hit the art auction since I’d been told I was one of the closest to guessing the price of the Peter Max. I did get two glasses of champagne out of the deal and some of the art was pretty, but even though I did end up “winning” free art, it turned out it wasn’t free after all. You have to pay $35 shipping for an ok print that I could get at Michael’s for $20. I just passed on it. If you want to go to the art auction – I suggest staying long enough to snag the champagne then leaving – also never buy the art, the markups are obscene.

Rest of the day was much better. I peeked in on the ice show. It was packed, they should do more of them.

That evening’s Once Upon A Time live music revue show was really well done. Next we did the disco dance party on the Promenade. This was a really nice use of the promenade as the singers were on bridges above while everyone danced on the streets below. We closed with the adult comedy act, the comedian had been on Last Comic Standing and was very good.

Day two was our one port day in Cozumel. We did the Fury catamaran. You board the catamaran, wait for the inevitable stragglers (man I hate them), and they take you to a spot to snorkel (surprisingly close to the ship). The snorkeling was just ok. While we saw a fair number of fish, we’ve had better snorkeling elsewere. We then road the catamaran to their private beach area with water inflatables. The ride on the catamaran and the beach area were both terrific as was the ride back where the crew led us in dances while we tried not to fall over (it wasn’t too rough but you do bounce around a bit). Beer, wine, and soda were free but lunch on the beach area was $11. They also had much less pricey massages than the Spa. Bring cash though since they have no credit card capability.

We tried the ship’s buffet area when we got back. As with the dining hall, just ok. We then went back off the ship and had drinks at the El Cid hotel restaurant overlooking the port just outside the port area. Nice spot and drinks were half what they were on ship. We went to the rock show featuring a singer from Foreigner. Another nicely done live show though I wished he’d sang more complete songs instead of just sampling them. Finally, we went to the Xmas caroling on the promenade. Again, a nice use of this location with the carolers singing from above.

That night we started to have a problem with the room. The balcony door wouldn’t seal well and since it was fairly windy, we got a loud whistling sound. I managed to seal it well enough but it would get worse the next day.

Last day, we slept in missing the Santa visit. I entered the black jack tourney and had no luck. We tried Johnny Rockets, pretty good burgers and all you can eat (at a fairly reasonable upcharge – milk shakes are extra but I had a buy one, get one deal). We used the gym and hot tub. Hot tubs overhang the side of the ship which gives a nice view.

We went to the early showing of Grease. A really well done production, almost shockingly good for a cruise ship. Ate at main dining, again, just ok.

The whistling in our cabin got bad enough that we complained. Their fix was to basically seal the door with tape. Since it was the last night, I didn’t care too much, but I’d like to think they can actually fix something like that.

The next morning, I found that we’d been double charged for a wine purchase the night before so I again had to go to guest services. Tried breakfast in the buffet area, omelet station was good, the rest – again – just ok. Check out was fairly quick. I used the Mobile Passport app. This saved some time but I’m not sure if it was because the app is so efficient or just because the mobile passport line was much shorter.

Having been on Carnival some, I thought I’d give a few thoughts comparing them and RCI.

While I haven’t been on Carnival’s newest ships, the Independence was the nicest ship I’ve been on appearance wise. The promenade was very nice. I liked the rooms (minus the leaky balcony door and rounded bed) and the balconies, which project out more from the ship then the Carnival one’s I’ve seen. If Independence had an adult’s only area, I never found it, but since we had a balcony this time, it wasn’t an issue.

Much to our surprise, we thought the food on Carnival was superior. Maybe a little better in the dining halls, but much better in the other areas. Carnival had better buffet, better pizza, and better deli sandwich areas. It also had free nightly sushi and specialty tastings at a tasting bar. Carnival also had better daily drink deals (though we did get a good deal on the kids’ soda packages by pre buying from RCI).

RCI’s live shows were vastly superior to anything I’ve seen on Carnival. They had much more and better live music in the bars. Carnival’s one advantage was their nightly comedy club shows as I really like stand up. Carnival also seemed to have better in room TV.

Service was fine on RCI, but on Carnival, I’m used to the attendant sneaking in our room to clean every time we stepped out. We didn’t quite get that on RCI. There were also a few glitches in service that I mentioned above. Only our youngest used the rock wall, flow rider, or skate rink since he had reserved times as part of the teen group, but I might have if they’d been opened more. I’m surprised they have these things and aren’t running them all day long. RCI could also have more planned activities for the 18-21 y/o crowd.

In summation, it was a fun cruise and I’ll definitely consider RCI next time, but it’ll probably come down to price and itinerary as to whether I choose them over Carnival. I'll try to post pics if I can downsize them.

Now, fair warning, if you’re sensitive and don’t want to know what happened on the previous cruise to delay the ship, stop reading.

On the last night, someone decided to jump off deck 12 into the ocean. The ship searched for several hours with no luck until the coast guard took over and the ship headed on for port. I don’t know whether the jumper was drunk or suicidal. I don’t know why anyone would want to kill themselves that way, if you actually survive the fall, drowning at sea seems like a horrible, slow way to go.

Not really an option. There's only a few balconies left.

I'm looking at booking an Ocean Suite on Victory for Dec 19. However, the website says the 4th person will be in a trundle bed. That means either my 16 or 18 yo son will be in it. Has anyone been in one of these on the Victory? How are they?

I could just get an interior or balcony room with the sofa and pullman but their not asking that much more for the suite, so I'm tempted.

We used this service for our cruise on April 17, 2011. If they had more shuttles running, this would be an outstanding service. It's garage parking, it's close to the port, and it's less than half the price of the port. The one downside is that we waited 30 minutes or so to get taken to the boat and on return we waited about 50 minutes (and 2 phone calls) to get picked up. If you have the time, it still may be worth it. I'd suggest calling though as soon as you get off the boat and act like you've been waiting for a while so they actually break out another van.