Independence 6-day Review (1/27-2/2) with photos that WORK!

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

We've been there before, and yes, I'd definitely go back. The service isn't great (it was crowded and getting a seat was kind of a free for all), but the food was really good. Simple sandwiches, mostly. I had a chili burger with a side salad- the salad was a nice, big spinach salad.

 

Thanks. Going to stop there for sure.

[island284]

I am in the same cabin as you on Liberty, can you tell me how large the sofa was when made into a bed. I know it opens like a futon, but did it open any larger. Someone in a past thread said something about getting an extension? Did both your kids sleep on it? My kids are 13 and 15 and not sure if I should bring a air mattress. I am loving your review and love, love, love your pictures. Your doing a great job.

 

I was on the Liberty last week and the sofa sleeper was great after the extension was put on with an egg crate. Two children should fit easily. It's either a full size or queen size bed when made up.

[megessey]

We did the Chukka beach break too last week on our Celebrity cruise. Beach was great, food was good but too spicy for a 4 year old. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who can't handle the hounding vendors. We had our daughters' hair braided and then they all were like seagulls to french fries.

[woostercruise]

We weren't on the ship for 24 hours when my 12 year old proclaimed it "the best vacation EVER". There will probably be more kids on the ship when you go since more kids are on break in March, so that will have an impact. Even without going to a kids club, my kids had a great time. They are begging to go back.

 

At Falmouth, we did the Chukka Beach Break for $29/pp. I will put up a review of that and photos when I get to day 4! I would NOT go off on my own in Falmouth (at least with the kids).

 

Thanks, yeah I figured an excursion is in order for Falmouth. I can't wait for our boys to see the ship!

[workathome]

I have photos of it opened up that I will post as soon as I find them. It was plenty big enough for my kids...I'd say it opened to queen size? The room steward brought two sets of blankets so each kid could have their own cocoon. The nice thing was that even with the sofa opened, there was PLENTY of room in the cabin. You will love it! I will try to find that photo for you and get it posted.

 

Thank you so much I appreciate it!

[Daghis]

Today was clearly NOT my day. Yes, it was 1400. And shoot, there is no way to go back and edit my previous post, is there?

At least readers of the thread will know now. :)

 

No, you can't edit your post once it's been fifteen minutes or so since you made your post.

[Ocean Boy]

Thanks for your detailed review. I was on this cruise as well, and I just have to say that I thought "Once Upon a Time" was one of the best production shows I have ever seen on a ship. Different strokes for different folks!

 

We were on Indy 3 years ago. None of the shows have changed for our upcoming week.

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

We were on Indy 3 years ago. None of the shows have changed for our upcoming week.

 

That's odd, isn't it? I would not like that, if I liked shows...ha!

[Clarea]

That's odd, isn't it? I would not like that, if I liked shows...ha!

We were told it costs over a million dollars to refit the ship for new production shows.

[workathome]

I was on the Liberty last week and the sofa sleeper was great after the extension was put on with an egg crate. Two children should fit easily. It's either a full size or queen size bed when made up.

 

What kind of extension was pug on?

[phabric]

Enjoyed your review and pictures. We will be on the Independence March 16 the 8 dayer.

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

We were told it costs over a million dollars to refit the ship for new production shows.

 

Wow Bob...that's a lot!

[BettyPC]

I am excited to read your review as we are on IOS on 2/10/13!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have a great roll call - cabin crawl, poker thingey etc....

 

Betty

[Cupcrazy]

Great review so far. I am looking forward to reading and seeing more.

[goldgirl2]

Loving your review! After so many bad reviews its nice to hear a good one. We will be on her soon!

[RCCL Fan]

Lovin it Missy!

 

Great news about Pier 29.

 

I'm slightly jealous of my dad & soon to be mom in law who have room 1400 & 1700.

 

We're in a JS on the hump, we needed a bathtub, but these look like the same size, and you get the lounger and sofa bed.

 

 

I've seen all those shows and yes I'm sure they're as uninspiring as usual. I loved the shows on Allure, but otherwise cruise shows do little for me.

 

I was hoping for a good experience in adventure ocean, hopefully the rude lady was just having a day.

 

Keep it coming, can't wait to see more.

[micmacmissy]

Here is the photo of the room with the sofa bed pulled out. It was plenty big enough for my kids. I don't think they put in an "extension", but I didn't see the steward take it apart or put it back together, so I don't know.

 

Notice how much room there still is, even with the sofa pulled out!

 

[micmacmissy]

Day 3 - Grand Cayman

 

We met friends on the pool deck that had purchased the drink package. They had determined that in order to get their money's worth (which they were intent on doing) that they were not going to leave the ship all week.

 

Such a shame, especially when Grand Cayman has such beautiful water! We have done a ship's tour (Celebrity) to Stringray City before on a catamaran. We decided to do that again with the kids. This time, we booked through Nativeway Tours (found them on the ports of call board). The cost was $40 for each adult and $30 per kid for a total of $140. I think the ship tour charged $79 per person. Nativeway promises three stops- stingray city, a starfish snorkel, and a coral reef snorkel stop.

 

The tender was very easy leaving the ship- no lines, right on the tender. We got into port at 8:30am. I thought the tour would gather us up and go, but they were waiting for the Disney ship and the Carnival ship to pull in behind us. This was disappointing - we were there early enough to get out to Stingray City before the crowds. They said we'd leave at 9:30, so we walked around the town a little. Didn't actually leave until 10:15. (Tour said it would drop you at Seven Mile Beach OR at the port at 1:15. We didn't get back til close to 2:30.)

 

They put us on a very broken down Toyota bus and took about a 10 minute drive to their boat. The crew was friendly, and the boat was bare-bones. We sat up top and enjoyed the 30 minute boat ride out.

 

Boat ride out:

 

They stopped to do the starfish snorkel first. Totally unorganized on the boat while they scrambled to get everyone flippers and masks. They had flippers of all sizes, but the masks were adult only and were totally ineffective for my 10 year old. Luckily I had brought pool goggles just in case- those came in handy. The water was extremely choppy, and the starfish snorkel stop was in about 8 feet of water. Lifejackets? Nope- not unless you asked, and even then, they were the bright orange boxy ones (looked to be from the year 1980). I was very surprised that they basically let everyone jump in with no instruction, no lifejackets, just go- I swam out and it was so rough I made my kids get back in for lifejackets, and I got one too.

 

This part was not enjoyable for my daughter, who was getting smacked with waves. There were also several older women (60's) that were getting pounded and had trouble getting on/off the boat. Crew wasn't much help. This is not a tour for people who are out of shape or not nimble on their feet!

 

Next stop was stingrays. At this point there was no place to "park" on the sandbar, as it was crowded with boats. Last time we went, there were 100's of stingrays in the water. This time, about a dozen. It pays to get there early, and we did NOT luck this time. The water here was gorgeous- warm, less choppy, about 4 feet deep, and turquoise blue. The crew of the boat had a waterproof camera and took TONS of photos of everyone (they said we could buy the CD on the ride back). My daughter was totally freaking out- she did NOT like the stingrays, so I got back on the boat with her.

 

View from the boat:

 

With water like that, how can you stay on the ship????

 

Anyway...our third stop was at a coral reef. This water was about ten feet deep, luckily a little less choppy, and so much beautiful coral and fish to see. We could have spent an hour swimming and looking, but- after less than 10 minutes, everyone back on the boat...cause of course, it was almost 1:00 and they were SO far behind schedule. Very disappointing, especially for my daughter, who was finally able to get in, swim around, and have some success! Oh well.

 

Back on the boat for the ride home, and the guy taking the photos was...gone. He stayed at Stingray City with another tour. So the photos he took of us? Never saw them. Hmmmm...

 

Refreshments on the boat were a couple jugs of water and fruit punch. Took us 1/2 an hour to get back, then the bus ride to the port. We were cutting it too close to stop at Seven Mile Beach, which was a disappointment. I don't think I'd book with Nativeway again. I think the KEY to a great day at Stingray City is to leave immediately and head out once you arrive...the ship's tour did just that. Live and learn! Still a nice day...90 degrees and sunny!

 

We tendered back to the ship, hit up the WJ for some lunch, and then the hot tubs and the pool, of course.

 

Before dinner, we hit up the pub in the promenade for some beers. It is a great place to sit and people watch! We gave the kids some freedom to explore the ship now that they were more familiar with it.

 

We browsed the shops along the promenade and I couldn't help but notice how poorly stocked the gift shop was. No tshirts for kids? Very few souvenirs...no picture frames, keychains- just a magnet of the ship. They did have clotted cream biscuits in a can (left over from their days in UK I suppose) and easter eggs in an IOTS bag (eww, left over from- easter?). This shop had the potential to sell a bunch of stuff to us...what about some tote bags? Baseball hats? Tshirts? An IOTS xmas ornament? Stuffed animals with RC logo on them? I gave my daughter $25 to spend in there and she emerged with an $8 magnet. Sad. RC has to step up their game in this department!

 

My husband would like me to add his HUGE pet peeve from the week: the tall, leggy woman whose job it was to try to hand you shopping flyers as you walked by. You know when you visit NYC there are people on every corner trying to hand you crap? This was the same way. It was SO annoying. When i'm walking down the promenade, I don't want a flyer. My husband started keeping count. The second time he told her, "I already have one of those." The third time he said, "No, thanks, I already have TWO." By day three, as we walked off the ship, she tried to hand him the fliers twice and he said, "Don't you remember me? You just tried to hand me one of those...and I already have six! I don't need SEVEN!" The kids got a kick out of that. My husband and I found that it cheapens the experience to be peddled at- while still on the ship.

 

Coming soon...day 4 in Falmouth, Jamaica!

[Ocean Boy]

That's odd, isn't it? I would not like that, if I liked shows...ha!

 

And I wouldn't mind it.... if the shows were actually good and worth seeing a second, third, forth, or fifth time.

[micmacmissy]

Day 4 - Falmouth, Jamaica

 

The port of much controversy! We pulled in to an overcast day and were among the first off the ship. We booked the Chukka Beach Break (without lunch) which was $29/pp. This excursion left port at 7:45am and the earliest return time was 1:00pm.

 

The port was still waking up as we walked through, but it was very nice. Lots of stores and craft stalls. I did check out the Margaritaville area (dang, forgot to take a photo of it, sorry) and it does appear close to being finished. The building is almost complete and has a thatched roof, and there is one of those big pirate's crows nests outside of it. Looks like they were still digging for the pool...but it looks pretty near completion.

 

Our excursion met us inside the port and our driver was right there. He said that when you come to Jamaica, you should get the three S's: sand, surf, and sun. He said we had two out of the three! He was very friendly. Our ride was another Toyota bus (in much better shape than the last one). The ride to the beach was about 10 minutes. We passed a seriously depressed countryside. The unofficial sign at the beach said "Mutiny Beach", but they had all new signage that said "Chukka Beach Break".

 

When you enter, there are picnic tables, restroom areas, a small bar/gift shop, and then the beach. There are lots of loungers they will set up for you, and umbrellas and floating mats (both for a fee). We packed our own inflatable rafts, which came in handy at this beach and at Labadee.

 

We were the first group there, and there were only about 15 of us in total. This was nice! There was a couple with an infant and a toddler- they weren't happy that they were "stuck" there for 5 hours without an option to ride back, but at that point, not much you could do. (It would have been awful had the weather not been nice).

 

The beach itself was nice, but very narrow. The stretch of sand between the tree line and the water was probably only 15 feet, if that. Three rows of beach chairs was all it could handle. And the beach was not very long, either- enough for a 4 minute walk- and I don't think you would want to go off the patrolled area.

 

Photos of the beach before many people arrived:

 

 

 

 

This shows that the beach is pretty small, but uncrowded. That would change soon...

 

[micmacmissy]

The kids really enjoyed this stop the most. Why? Well, because of the dogs. There were stray dogs everywhere. My kids immediately befriended them...

 

 

It started out with this little guy, who the kids named Reggie. Reggie immediately jumped up on my daughter's lounger and made himself comfortable. And then...

 

 

..along came Kit. Followed shortly thereafter by...

 

 

Cookie and Creamy. Mind you, we had NO food- these dogs appeared just to be starved for attention! They spent a good hour surrounding my kids' chairs. When I saw the fifth dog approach, I started to worry about fleas...eww...told the kids maybe it was time to swim. As soon as we got in the water, one of the beach crew immediately (and harshly) scared the dogs away. It was kinda sad.

 

Around 11am folks who had the lunch excursion at the same beach started to arrive. It really began to get crowded. And then people from the Allure showed up, and the men started putting a row of beach chairs in FRONT of us (we were at the water's edge, but they crammed another row in). Around 12:30, several of us wandered up to the gate and asked about hopping a bus back early, since there was a bus there dropped folks off. Reluctantly, they allowed it- and the bus wound up being almost full!

 

We rode back to the port and spent a couple hours just wandering around, looking at the various arts and crafts that were for sale. My son got a painting, about 8x10, of the beach for his room for $10 (we haggled), and my daughter picked up some bracelets, magnets, and other girly stuff. The atmosphere was very low pressure!

 

Walking back to the ship, we passed a Jamaican police room. In there was a girl, maybe 20's, being guarded, and looking very nervous. We wondered what she did...hope she made it back on the ship!

[micmacmissy]

At this point in the cruise, we had a good afternoon routine- lunch in the WJ, jump in the pools and hot tub, grabbing some ice cream from the Sprinkles machine. One of the highlights for my kids was round the clock soft serve. They loved it! (It really is the little things!) We also went down to Cafe Promenade for some Cafe Mocha (the croissants there were fresh and excellent!)

 

We used our balcony quite a bit in the late afternoons- the kids also got a kick out of ordering tea and cookies from room service, and we'd eat that on the balcony. Room service was VERY slow- I think the quickest we got anything was 30-45 minutes. Very different from Celebrity, where room service took 10-15 minutes, tops. But no biggie.

 

For this evening, my husband and I had reservations in Chops. The kids were very excited to be on their own; they planned to eat in the WJ, go to Ben & Jerry's for dessert, and then we were going to meet up after that to see the evening show.

 

So a word or two about Ben & Jerrys: we couldn't believe how poorly stocked it was! Only had a handful of ice cream flavors, and no Chocolate Fudge Brownie? (This is a tragedy.) They had no specialty cones, no waffle cones, no sprinkles, no toppings. Under the glass and behind the counter were empty- like they were going out of business. Made me wonder...are they getting rid of it? Kids didn't mind, of course, and we had dessert there a couple nights.

 

This was a "Rocky and the Rollers" cruise, whatever that is (it appeared to have a 50's group on board) and the show that night featured Bowzer, from Sha Na Na. We decided to give it a try. Of course he did the standard Sha Na Na song, followed by a hula hoop contest (which was cute). He then played some classical piano, which was excellent (and made us wish that one night's show had classical orchestra). After that, it was downhill...we headed back to the stateroom.

 

The other thing that we missed was live music during the dinner hour. Would have been nice to have some live music between 5-8pm. This is a late night ship- most of the live music venues didn't start until 9:45pm or later. On Celebrity, there was a piano bar and live music on the earlier side, which we really enjoyed, since we're not late night people (especially with the kids in tow). We were so wiped out from the sun and fresh air it was hard to stay awake past 10:30! Yup, we missed Quest, Love and Marriage, promenade dances and parades...and all that other late night stuff.

 

So the upside of RC ships is also the downside for us. There is SO much to do that you feel compelled to do everything. You almost feel guilty for turning in early, or relaxing on your balcony. You start wondering what you're missing. At the end of the week, they previewed the "Cruise in Review" CD and showed all kinds of stuff. My husband and I laughed and said, hmmm, we weren't on THAT cruise! In the end, we did a lot of relaxing, so that was good.

 

View of Falmouth from our balcony:

 

The white tents are inside the port, and that is where you meet for ship sponsored excursions:

[micmacmissy]

Day 4 - Labadee, Haiti

 

Here is my public service announcement to all of you on Cruise Critic:

 

You see these things? They are waterproof, they go around your neck, and you can put your sea pass, money, and camera in them. They cost about $5 and I saw them in the ship gift shop.

 

Please, BUY ONE OF THESE AND USE IT.

 

 

I did not buy one of these. I have been to Labadee before, and I knew to pack light. Just a tshirt, about $30, sea pass cards, and my phone (which I have been using as my camera all along). That's it. I left my belongings in my son's bright red backpack at the edge of my lounge chair, which was 5 feet away from me. Mistake.

 

So here is what happened as soon as we got to Labadee...

[micmacmissy]

We were among the first to leave the ship, and we hustled to Columbus Cove to get loungers on that beach. Our kids had 11am tickets for the water park, so staying on that beach would make it easy to watch them.

 

We were the first ones on the beach (other than a Haitian band setting up) and we had 4 chairs set up between the band and the water's edge. Ahhh... we were the only ones there, at least for now. How nice!

 

The water was GORGEOUS...sandy all the way out, calm, and warm. I snapped a quick photo of our spot:

 

After snapping the photo, I set my phone down on my lounger to take a quick dip. My husband went to the bathroom. The kids and I were in the water for about 5 minutes, and I told my husband to take a photo of us. But: the phone was gone. GONE. Other than our family of four, the ONLY people who were there were the 4-5 men setting up their band. I knew immediately what had happened. I turned the backpack inside and out, checked the sand- but I knew. I had left it right on the chair, and I just knew.

 

My husband told me to find security right away while he continued to look. I immediately looked around for the first cruise ship employee I could find- a photographer- and told him to please call security. He said, "I can't." I asked, "What do you mean, you can't? My phone was just stolen, and I need help, please." He said, "Sorry, you need to find someone else. I'm only here to take pictures." (Wow, that's great service coming from someone wearing a RC nametag.)

 

So this was my first problem: a ship employee that could care less. My husband went off to find someone and came back with the "security" man. I told him my phone had been stolen- he immediately marched over to the men setting up the band and began speaking to them in Creole. They all talked and laughed and pointed at me. It was VERY uncomfortable. The man came back and said, "Sorry lady, I don't know." He spoke very broken English.

 

My husband was furious. He went back to the ship to get someone who actually could a) speak English and b) would try to somehow help us. I brought my kids over to the water park (they had tickets) and sat on the pier and cried. I was just devasted that my pictures were gone. My kids' first cruise- 5 days of pictures- my daughter's 10th birthday- gone. I could have cared less about the phone itself, but the pictures were irreplacable. The young man supervising the water park area asked if I was ok, and I explained the situation to him. He said even the water trampolines from the water park get stolen overnight! (In the morning, locals drag them back in their boats asking for a "reward" for them.) He offered to call real security, from the ship, for me. I told him my husband had already gone to try to find them. He said, "Well, I'm calling too. Someone should be here to help you." He was so kind, comforting, and wonderful and I wish I had gotten his name!

 

I went back to the band area, and what do you know, the "security" man was still "hanging" with them, talking and laughing. I told him, "Should someone happen to FIND my phone, I would like to offer a $200 reward- cash. On the spot. In fact, they can even keep the phone- I would just like the memory card inside of it. Please, if you could encourage your friends here to LOOK for it, perhaps one of them could find it, and I will reward them."

 

I went back to my chair and by this time, several passengers were set up in the area. One nice lady saw how sad I was and came up to help me. We went through (again) the backpack, the towels, the sand near the chairs...everything. I removed everything from the backpack and even wrung out the towels, the backpack itself, our tshirts, thinking it possibly had gotten twisted up in them. It was gone.

 

Next thing you know, a rep from the cruise line, who supervises Labadee, came to talk to me. She said that the natives who work there are very honest, would never steal...and get this, she said: "I'm sorry to tell you the theft was probably from a fellow passenger." I explained to her that my family of four were the ONLY people on the beach when this happened. She said she would talk to the local security guy (the one who laughed at us) and I told her I would offer a $200 reward if someone "found" my phone.

 

She promised to leave a golf cart waiting at the ship for my husband so he wouldn't have to walk back, and she promised to keep talking to security and she would touch base with me later. (Neither of those things happened.)

 

An hour later, got my kids out of the water park and went back to our chairs. At this point, I had to make a conscious effort to "let go" of my extreme disappointment so as not to ruin the day - or the rest of the vacation. I felt sick to my stomach for having been so stupid and trusting. My kids went back into the water, and I went with them, watching for my husband to return.

 

At this point, I had a decision to make. I had to CHOOSE to let go of the incident, to let go of the awful thought that my photos (of our first family cruise, my daughter's 10th birthday on the ship, of the stingrays and the jamaica beach and of RCCL Fan's photos of Portofinos that I promised) were gone. I had to choose to get over it and NOT let it ruin my day - or my entire vacation. In other words, I had to totally fake it. I told the kids, "It is what it is, we're not going to let it ruin our vacation..." but inside I was just sick, and so angry with myself for being so careless.

 

When my husband returned, he was very upset. He said that the staff on the ship were totally unhelpful, saying there was nothing they could do, other than offer to call my phone (which went straight to voicemail even though I had left the phone ON with the ringer ON). My husband asked for a member of the ship's security to accompany him back to the scene, perhaps ask a few questions and to take a report. They refused, saying the local security men could handle that. (Despite speaking very broken English and the fact that they had already laughed at us.) My husband also asked the local security guy if he was going to do anything, take our names, fill out an incident report- anything? "No mon" was the reply we got. "What is the procedure in place when a theft occurs here?" my husband asked him. We got a blank stare in return- he didn't understand.

 

So, we're going to get over it. Right? We're over it. We're moving on with our vacation. We are going to have FUN, darn it. So the four of us spent a few minutes floating in the water. After I little while I got out to dry off and walked up, and sitting on my chair, on my son's red backpack was my phone. RIGHT THERE. I freaked out- I thought I was hallucinating and called my husband over. He told us to immediately pick everything up, all our belongings, because we were leaving that area. Which we did.

 

I am extremely grateful that I got my phone back- I still can't believe it. And I imagine if I had stayed in that area long enough, the "security" man would have come find me for his reward. (I will also add that my phone had been turned off, and there was no record of the missed call from the cruise ship in its history.)

 

The sad part is, as we walked back to get on the ship, the agent who said she would check in with us later didn't even recognize us. She just said, "welcome aboard everyone" and waved us past. No one from the cruise line checked in or followed up. We were really disgusted with that.

 

So PLEASE, please, please...protect your belongings. Something as stupid as a lost phone can ruin your day. I have learned my lesson! I also wish I had gotten the name of the nice guy supervising the water park, so I could have written someone about him. I may still do that, even without his name.

[megessey]

This last story -- I can completely see this happening to me. My husband is constantly on my case about leaving my phone out on counters or tables in public. I'm way too trusting (and a little bit ditzy). This is a good reminder that theft can happen anywhere and so quickly. I can't believe your luck that they returned it!