Our Recent Independence Voyage: Some Random Pictures and Scattered Thoughts

[Merion_Mom]

No, it's "TUI Cruises," from Germany I assume.

http://tuicruises.com/

 

The web address was right on the side of the ship.

 

 

 

No, the previous poster meant that it was ORIGINALLY the Celebrity Mercury or Galaxy. They sell their old ships to other companies who re-brand them and keep them sailing. :)

 

(and TUI is some sort of subsidiary or whatever of the Royal Caribbean corporation)

Edited March 3, 2014 by Merion_Mom

[cruiseclues]

Thanks so much for your cruise review and photos. :):):):)

[Badlands99]

No, the previous poster meant that it was ORIGINALLY the Celebrity Mercury or Galaxy. They sell their old ships to other companies who re-brand them and keep them sailing. :)

 

(and TUI is some sort of subsidiary or whatever of the Royal Caribbean corporation)

 

Ah, I see. I am never more stupid than when I try to correct someone. Thanks for setting me straight.

[SweetpeaOne]

Nice review and great pictures. Thanks for sharing.

[Folk Singer]

I find your honestly about the booze and cheap alcoholism refreshing. ;)

 

too funny. lol

[drarill]

Great review and amazing pictures!! Thanks for sharing your cruise experience with us. :):)

[vermontvoyager]

So the coupon booklet is no more. We now have invisible discounts that live inside our seapass cards. It actually works sometimes, too!

 

When my wife ordered a glass of wine at dinner one night, our assistant waiter brought it and then told us that we had a BOGO discount on our card for a glass of wine, and that we should use it next time, but that we had to order two glasses at once to get the deal. First of all, that's kinda lame I think. I don't drink wine, and by no means is my wife a double-fisted wine drinker. But no big deal, we filed that info away for next time.

 

Fast forward to next time. We're in the casino. My wife is ready for a drink and says "Hey, I can use my BOGO coupon now!" She goes to the bar, tells the bartender about her BOGO, he takes her card to check, comes back and says "Nope, sorry. There's no drink coupon on there." Just for grins he checks my card, too. Same deal. No coupon. No discount.

 

It's nothing major, but when I had a coupon book I at least KNEW what I had. Yes, there was a paper that listed the discounts that should be on the card. We had it in the room. There was nothing on there that interested us, really. We got our "Free Spin To Win" tokens and fed them to the machine, and that was it for our discounts since the wine BOGO didn't work.

 

 

I have had issues using the coupons in my seapass in 4 of my last 5 cruises that no longer have paper coupons and it's frustrating for sure.:rolleyes:

Then you go to guest services to get it straightened out and have to wait in line for a while to fix what should already be programed into your card.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

I have had issues using the coupons in my seapass in 4 of my last 5 cruises that no longer have paper coupons and it's frustrating for sure.:rolleyes:

Then you go to guest services to get it straightened out and have to wait in line for a while to fix what should already be programed into your card.

First of all...thanks to the OP for all the photos.

 

These always help those (like us) who will follow soon on the same ship/cruise.

 

As for the "electronic coupons"...we're mostly concerned that anything prepaid or reserved is on the seapass (including on board credits, MDR reservations, etc.)...but coupons are also a good thing.

 

As a general practice, I bring along my tablet containing PDF copies of all key documents. When not in use, I keep the tablet in the room vault. There have been 2-3 times it came in quite useful to be able to "verify" things using those documents. Obviously, the alternative is to bring a folder of paper along.

 

In any case - the advice is to be able to "trust but verify" when it comes to things that should be on your seapass.

[dolita22]

This was our 6th cruise, and we did a few things differently this time. I didn't book ANY excursions in advance, and we only did one paid excursion the whole time. We didn't see a single show or parade of any kind. We spent most of our time on the balcony. We didn't pack clothes for formal nights (Still got lobster though! more on that later). We smuggled a TON of booze, so you can tell me all about how I'm a cheap alcoholic with no moral compass if you'd like.

 

Sounds like my husband and me on our cruise on the Indy in early February! We did all of this, with the exception of the show thing -- we did see the ice show. That was it. And the making-of-your-own-drink-on-the-balcony...excellent! :D

 

Thanks for your review! I still haven't uploaded our pictures from our Indy cruise from 2/1-2/9, so you're a step ahead.

[BillOh]

Some general 'walking around the ship' pictures...

 

 

 

 

Thank you for taking the time to post your pictures. I've been on Freedom, but never this ship, so I like to look for differences and similarities. I'm returning to Freedom soon for the first time in 7 years. I'm surprised they haven't given up on the boxing ring yet.

[Thetrail]

Yeah, I smuggled booze. I used three different techniques (none of them were rum runners) and all our luggage was delivered to our stateroom with no issues. We made drinks every day and enjoyed them on our balcony.

 

This is a topic that interests me a bit because I'm pretty new to drinking. On all of our first five cruises combined I think I had two drinks. These days I have a few cocktails a week, and so on this cruise I wanted live it up a little on the booze front.

 

Our smuggled booze was for the balcony; when we were at dinner or in the casino or wherever, we got drinks from a bar. From my experience, and from what I've read here at CC, it is apparent that in order to get "good" drinks, you have to pick a bartender or two and "treat them right" so they will, in turn, "take care of you." I think that is stupid and it makes me not want to patronize the bars on board. When drinks are ten dollars, every single one should be a "good" one.

 

We didn't really use any one bar more than any others, but we enjoyed chatting with this guy...

 

 

The standard responses from those who disapprove of booze smugglers are along the lines of "It's their ship, they make the rules" and "You must have a drinking problem" and "Just get the drink package, you cheap bastard."

 

First, the "drinking problem" argument is irrelevant in this context. Second, the drink package does not cut it. My wife and I want to sit on our balcony and sip cocktails. Making them ourselves is nice. We make them how we like them. We don't want to have to put on shoes and decent clothes in order to go find a drink. We have everything we need and we like it that way.

 

Here's my personal policy: If RCCL were to confiscate my booze or not allow me to board, I would maintain that is their right and I would not complain, to you people or to RCCL. Their ship, their rules, right? I would simply be done with RCCL.

 

What they need to keep in mind is that EVERY SINGLE other option available to me for my vacations are ones at which I am free to bring whatever I want to my room.

Well in that case hope you get caught soon....:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

[Badlands99]

Well in that case hope you get caught soon....:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

 

This fascinates me. Is your cruise diminished in any way if I bring alcohol and consume it on my balcony? Do you gain something if I don't or can't bring alcohol? I'm genuinely curious about how it effects your experience.

[clochette]

Gret review, thanks

[cruiser1956]

We were on this cruise with you. Funny how different cruisers see different things. I did not get to see the Coast Guard chasing away boats, darn! I did, however get to see the naked guy getting out of the jacuzzi tub on the Celebrity ship that was docked along side of us. I have been waiting for someone to mention it, but I guess I was the only one to witness the event :eek:.

 

I did not like the electronic coupons either. After searching for our pictures at the end of the cruise, and spending several minutes deciding on our favorites, my DH went back to the cabin. I waited in line to check out. There is a BOGO coupon for pictures, but I was told I could only use my sea pass card to get one BOGO. I would have to get my DH's sea pass card to get the second BOGO. The exercise running back up 9 flights of stairs, and down 9 flights of stairs was not a problem. But, it was much easier when I just carried both coupon books in my purse!

 

Smuggling booze... yep... we do that. It does not stop us from buying the soda for the mix.

 

Looking forward to more pictures, my camera died, and although my Iphone does OK, your pictures are much better.

Edited March 3, 2014 by cruiser1956