Review - Independence - 6 days - Belize, Costa Maya, Cozumel

Hey all, I'm back! : - )

So we are home from Royal Caribbean Independence of the Seas - 6 days - Fort Lauderdale, Belize, Costa Maya, Cozumel.

In one word - AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!

I have reconfirmed to myself that the Freedom class is my FAVORITE ship for families. We didn't want to leave. My 8 year old cried on the plane trip home....only happened once before and that was our flight home from Freedom.

I'll break the review into sections.....

Pre-Cruise

FORT LAUDERDALE

We flew into FLL airport. Took a shuttle from the airport (there is a rental car center on site) to Enterprise. Got a Jeep Compass ($62.50 total). And drove to our hotel which was 15 minutes away...

Westin Diplomat Resort and Spa, Hollywood Florida

We arrive at 10:30am. The hotel is gorgeous. I was using Starwood points so I figured the room would be small....facing the parking lot....no balcony. I get to the desk and the clerk says "How many beds do you need? We are going to upgrade you to a Oceanfront CORNER WRAP AROUND BALCONY SUITE" {I think my heart stopped for a second}

She hands me the keys to our 28th floor suite which was HUGE. The glass walls slid open onto the balcony. The room was immaculate. The property was kid paradise with pools everywhere, an ice cream social at 2pm and a wonderful gentleman by the name of Santiago in the lobby that handed the kids hershey kisses everytime they walked past him. He also told the kids to wait while he went and grabbed them "a surprise". He came back with Westin Kid backpacks with a Westin hat, stickers and map.

The hotel does have $17 parking (and valet parking). So the parking is not free. It does not have a shuttle to the port...which was the reason we rented the car. No free breakfast in the morning. There is a trolly out front and for $1 per person you can tour Fort Lauderdale with hop on/hop off options all over the city. It leaves every 30 minutes. We took the trolly to the boardwalk and ate there.

If you want a cheap hotel with a free shuttle and breakfast, do not stay here. If you want a high end experience, superior service and a true luxury resort...then start your cruise off at the Westin Diplomat.

The pictures from the Westin....

If you have any specific questions....feel free to ask.

DAY 1 -

Enterprise Drop off

DO NOT rent a car from Enterprise at Fort Lauderdale unless you are willing to pay for the taxi from the "Port Drop Off location" to Port Everglades. We were assured on the phone when we booked that there was a shuttle to port. When we picked up the car, we told them we were dropping the car off at the port, "no problem" they said. When we arrived at the "port location" to drop off the car we were met by a sign that says "Due to 9/11 security, no shuttles to the port will be provided". They called a taxi for us which cost $32 without tip due to the traffic at the port.

Getting on the ship - we arrived at 11am. The Port Security gave the taxi driver a hard time. Can you say "Power Trip"? The port security yelled at the driver for pulling into the passenger pick up area instead of the drop off area. The driver kept trying to apologize.

We handed our bags off to the porter who said "I am the one who takes care of your bags and make sure they get on the ship...." so I interupted him and said "So if I EVER want to see my bags again, I need to give you a good tip". He laughed and said "noooo, noooo that's not what I meant"....lol...yeah right. I told him that I know the drill and handed him a tip. (our bags were at our cabin by 1pm...lol)

In the terminal building, we were able to go through the "Suite Guest" line (we were in a Junior Suite). Our Sea Pass cards were Silver, Grand Suite and Above were Gold (as was Diamond/Diamond Plus I think)....everyone else was white.

We were able to board the ship by 11:30am...no problems. We went to the Windjammer for lunch. Nice selection of food. Got a seat with no problem. We were told that we could go to our cabin at 1pm.

So at 1pm, we arrived at our cabin -

Aft Junior Suite - 1406, the bags were already waiting for us.

Day 1 - Super Bowl Party

Yes they held the Super Bowl Party in two places, Studio B ice skating rink and the Sports Bar. They had Nachos and Salsa with Hot Dogs.

They auctioned off VIP seating on the main floor. You can see the winners of the auction sitting on the couches down front.

We decided to take advantage of the super bowl and head out to the Mini Golf. We almost had the whole course to ourselves.

Loving your report with your beautiful photos.I can't wait to read more. We are on the Independence in 5 weeks!

Our dining room team was wonderful. Leoncia and Kemar. After the second day they had the chocolate milk ready for the kids when we sat down.

No additional charge steak appeared on the menu. There was an alternative steak on the menu every night, but no additional charge for it.

The last night had a Seafood Platter that did include lobster and shrimp. I wasn't impressed.

They DID NOT HEAT the pools on Indy. The pools were ice cold the whole week. The kids didn't seem to mind. I guess the concierge was telling people that in the Caribbean, they do not use the heating system in the pools but will turn them back on when they return to the Med. So many people were complaining about the cold pools. The temps were only 72 degrees on some days. The wind was cold. So the hot tubs were filled every day. So I guess some of us couldn't understand that if they have the ability to heat the pools, then why not heat them?????

Chairhogs - on our last Sea Day, I was surrounded by pool towels and some reading material....lol. I saw the Solarium Deck Patrol and I commented to them that it was nice that the library could get a nice tan. I never saw them remove the items. And I did sit for 2 hours next to a book by Anita Shreve. You were suppose to pay $20 per towel if they weren't returned. They did scan the sea passes when we got towels and returned them. But I didn't see the deck patrol removing any towels.

Kids in Diapers in the pools - The H20 zone had a member of the deck patrol watching for diapers and redirecting the parents back over to the Baby Zone (the water play area for infants in diapers). I saw one mom get pretty ticked. Guess she couldn't read the sign that specifically said no kids in diapers in the pools.

Suite Guest Perks - There was NO reserved pool seating for Suite guests. We made friends with a few suite guests and I specifically asked them what extra perks they were receiving. They got the fruit basket in the cabin. They didn't need to wait in line for ice skating tickets, just needed to show their concierge card which had their names on it. But no special pool chairs roped off for suite guests on Indy.

H20 Zone on Day 1

Deck Patrol redirecting parents with babies in diapers to the Baby Zone

Baby Splash Zone rules

Baby Splash Zone with the "Lazy Donut" behind it.

Sports Pool - Main Family Pool

Solarium - Adults Area

Loving your report with your beautiful photos.I can't wait to read more. We are on the Independence in 5 weeks!

What happen to the rest of the week I can only see day 1

I leave on Sunday

What happen to the rest of the week I can only see day 1

I leave on Sunday

I am getting there...lol. It's alot to type out.

Day 2 - Sea Day

Started off with Breakfast in the main dining room - Romeo & Juliet

Choices every day in the dining room were Omlets, Eggs Benedict, French Toast, Pancakes, Cereal (Hot/Cold), Home Fried Potatoes, Hash Browns, Bacon, Toast, Bagels, Fresh Fruit Selection, Orange/Apple/Tomato Juice, Coffee, Tea

In the afternoon for the kids Ages 6-8 Adventure Ocean -

The Circus comes to Town

The kids had a circus parade and them a performance in the Promenade in front of Sorrentos

At this point, I am LOVING AFT LIFE. I don't think I ever want to go back to a mid deck cabin.

We tried Johnny Rockets - ONE HOUR WAIT - Price is up to $4.95 per person. Coupons are in the books for any Crown/Anchor members. We ordered milk shakes which cost us $4.50 each. The rest of the food was included. The milk shakes were not worth $4.50. And I can honestly say that the food was not worth the one hour wait. I am glad we did it. But won't be doing it again.

Michelle:

I am enjoying your review. The ship looks beautiful!

Lori

Hi Michelle....welcome back!:D Thanks for the review.

We felt the same way about our cruise on her last month. She's an awesome ship!

Great REview so far!!! We are travelling on IOS on Mar 7th (Eastern Caribbean). Do you have any kids compasses? I am looking for the 9-11 year olds. Would it be the same for the 8 day? Looking forward to the rest of your review!!

Lynette

Michell

I am loving this I have 2-14 year old going next week

can't wait to read more

more, more!!

Michele, Great review so far and love the aft JS photo ;)!!!

Looking forward to the rest of the week:D!!!

I am enjoying reading the review so far. We are on IOS March 21st and can't wait. I am going to show the circus pics to my 7 YO DD. She is so excited about that.

Looking forward to the rest of your review.

Welcome home, Michelle! I'm loving this review. Type faster!!!:D

We leave on the IOS March 15, 2009. Please tell me about Belize. Did You do any excursions. We are getting a little worried about hearing cancellations and problems in Belize.

thanks,

rachel

Oh no, don't leave us hanging.....it was getting quite exciting!! We leave on Sunday. Great review so far. I'll look for more later. :)

Michele,

I leave on Independence on Sunday and I wanted to thank you for such a comprehensive, positive review. Too often people are way too negative and your tone is just right. I know it takes a lot time to write after you've returned, so everything is much appreciated.

This will be my second cruise on Royal Caribbean, my first one being last year, same week, on Adventure. It was such a blast, but I'm really looking forward to experiencing the Freedom Class. Hoping to book another on Liberty for next Feb break.

Really surprised about the wait at Johnny Rockets. Wait on the Adventure was not as long, but we tried going on port days for lunch. Hoping that works for us too.

Thanks again for everything, can't wait for more! :p

We were on the Indy last week also (6 day cruise) and were surrounded by towels and not people every day at the pool. There's a large sign above the Pool Bar telling people not to reserve deck chairs and they continue to do so. I would love to be on chair patrol and after watching for an hour would snag the towels off the reserved chairs and turn them in. That would cure the reservists in a hurry. Otherwise we loved the ship and met some delightful people as usual. I think this cruise had an abundance of friendly people on it for some reason.

Great reviews so far. Looking forward to some more. We sail Sunday and can't wait.

PS. Hope you have some new new uploads to you Cruise compass, menus etc from this cruise :)

We are leaving on the Indy this Sunday (2/15) too, and this review is making me very excited!!!!!!!

More please!!

Great review. We too are leaving on Sunday and this review is great, very exciting. Thanks!

P.S. Yay Steelers LOL!

Oh no, don't leave us hanging.....it was getting quite exciting!! We leave on Sunday. Great review so far. I'll look for more later. :)

Hey Susan

I am going on Sunday tooo see ya there

Cruise Compass Day 1 - Fort Lauderdale

Kids Menu in the Dining Room