My Cruise Review - Independence of the Seas 4/26-5/4 - Plenty of Photos if They All W

[Mrsfabo]

Awesome how did you feel being on the ship for 2 consecutive days?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[robin13]

Awesome how did you feel being on the ship for 2 consecutive days?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

I was also on this cruise and have to say that I loved 2 consecutive days at sea. For some reason it seemed more relaxing as I knew that I didn't have to wake up early the next day to leave the ship.

[Poorplaya]

Awesome how did you feel being on the ship for 2 consecutive days?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

 

As Robin said above, the 2 consecutive days was amazing. So relaxing, just what I wanted to do. We didn't need to hop right into a port and get up early, it really was one of my bright spots of this cruise!!!

[Poorplaya]

St Maarten Cont'd

 

So our meeting place for our shore excursion was between the 2 ships right on the dock. We were headed on the Catamaran and Snorkel Tour. It was $69 per person and we booked though our Concierge on the ship.

 

 

Our walk to our tour started a few minutes early, the little shopping area right inside the port gates was nice, lots of people, but definitely not a super large selection of places. The majority of the shopping was found in downtown Phillipsburg which I'll get to in a bit. The walk was only a few minutes from the dock and before we knew it the catamaran was arriving at the dock.

 

 

 

The catamaran and snorkel tour came with Rum Punch, which unfortunately I didn't get to try, I'll talk about that soon too. The ride to our snorkel site was about 20 minutes and provided some great sites of the island and cool looking boats in port.

 

 

[Poorplaya]

So we got a little tutorial about where we were going and what we would be looking at while snorkeling from our Captain Charlie and his 1st Mate. These guys were awesome, my wife and I would recommend these guys in a heart beat, they were so personalable and funny and really gave us an awesome experience. These guys are linked through Royal Caribbean and definitely reputable people.

 

 

We have pictures from our underwater cameras but we haven't been able to get them developed yet. Seems like many pharmacy places don't do these anymore.

[Poorplaya]

So the snorkel tour was fun, we were taken to see some wreckages of a small submarine and sail boats from the hurricane in '95, also got to see a large helicopter crash from '02. Other small fish and things were seen and the snorkel guide even showed a some underwater creatures he dove down to get. He put a spider star fish in my wife's and on her head for a good photo op, it scared the crap outta her lol but it was all worth it. The wake was pretty strong coming in from the ocean and even though I took motion sickens medicine 2 hours prior, I began to get sick as soon and we began to head back to the ship so........no rum punch for me lol. But the tour was still fun and the guys got me some ice for the back of my head, they said that would help with the motion piece and some warm coke to settle my stomach, overall again these guys were amazing. They took us out after for a little site seeing of some of the beach houses and things closer to the famous St Maarten airport before taking us back to the ship. If I could be assured I wouldn't get sick again I would do this again in a heart beat!!! After we got back we headed to downtown for some food and shopping.

 

[ATTACH]312268[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]312269[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]312270[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]312271[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]312272[/ATTACH]

 

We stopped at the Lazy Lizard for lunch, great service, good food, and they had limes for my Corona lol which the cruise ship didn't. We jumped through some shops and headed back to the ship after shopping. The port of St Maarten is gorgeous, would love to go back again soon.

 

[Poorplaya]

Apparently the first 5 pics of that last post didn't work so here they are.

 

 

 

 

 

[wildcatt99]

We hate that you got seasick before trying the rum punch.( Another reason to go back). Thanks for the review!

[Poorplaya]

We hate that you got seasick before trying the rum punch.( Another reason to go back). Thanks for the review!

 

 

Thank you I appreciate that. The good news is as soon as I hit solid land I felt a million times better so we still enjoyed the rest of the day!!!!

[Poorplaya]

So after a long and hot day in St Maarten, we hoped back on the boat for a little nap before we began to get ready for dinner. We got ready a little earlier than normal so we could spend some time at the casino bar before dinner and enjoy time with Raul, Eddie and the gang!!! We ended up meeting some great people throughout the cruise at this bar, some of which we traded contact information with and Facebook as well to keep in contact post cruise. After some drinks and good company it was off to dinner.

 

Tonight's theme was Portobello!

 

 

 

 

The appetizers didn't seem to jump out me this night so I stayed with the usual Ceasar Salad and Escargot, the wife tried the slow baked Salmon Fillet which wasn't too bad.

 

 

This is the slow baked salmon fillet!

[Poorplaya]

 

Pan Seared Sea Bass and Tiger Shrimp

 

My wife really liked the shrimp Nd thought they had good flavor but wished they had more on the plate, Rolando being as amazing as he is over heard this while at another table and brought my wife more shrimp, what a guy, best MDR service we've had on a cruise!!!

 

 

Desserts were on the better side tonight, definitely much more enjoyment from the entire table on the quality and taste!!!

 

 

 

Kahlua Cake - Amazing!!!

 

 

Honey Walnut Tart

[Poorplaya]

 

Low Fat Peach Melba - Another hit!!!

 

After dinner it was some time in the casino and off to bed. Tomorrow was St Kitts and we had nothing planned, just some shopping and relaxing!!! It would be needed after a crazy first port day!!

 

 

When we retuned to our room we got what I thought was the best towel animal of the cruise, a pretty cool alligator!!! For those of you who really like the towel animals, we seemed to only get them every other night now, maybe cause it was an 8 night cruise, but didn't seem to be as often as before. Oh well, still always fun to get them when we do!!!

 

[Poorplaya]

Day 5 St. Kitts

 

Another beautiful morning to wake up to. We just planned to do some light shopping in town, no excursions planned for this port. We were pretty exhausted after our first port trip, that snorkeling excursion really did a number on us. We had breakfast this morning in the main dining room, the service was ok, a little slow, but the food came out hot and tasted great!!!

 

 

Eggs Benedict

 

 

French Toast

 

 

Bacon and Eggs Dish

 

After breakfast we headed off the ship to check out everything St Kitts had to offer. I think I would say of the 4 ports we visited that we were most bothered by people for tours, trips, and anything else!!! Throughout the shopping area, right at the gates, everywhere!!! It got a little annoying, nothing like Mexico though, that was the worst!!

 

 

While browsing through the stores, and we happen to notice a guy run out of duty free liquor store as fast as he can, and one of our friends tells the cashier a guy just stole a bottle of rum!!! He is a corrections officer so he couldn't not say something. A minute later after the cashier called the police, we notice the guy around the corner with like 5 cops around him, he didn't get very far and by the looks of things he want local, maybe no more cruise for that guy!!! Not worth it in my opinion!!!!

[Poorplaya]

Right in the middle of the shopping area was a little bar known for serving the drunkin monkey, so we sat down and ordered some beers lol. Ok so my mom ordered one, lol and said they were super strong!!!

 

 

After a little more shopping, we stumbled into a store and of course my wife said she just had to have a new ring........yea!!! Um I guess next time I need to come prepared to spend like 6k on a ring lol, it wasn't happening this trip though lol.

 

 

After we left the massive rock at the store for someone else to buy lol, we headed back to the ship!! Maybe next time we might do a tour or excursion, the shopping was ok, your usual touristy type stuff. The weather couldn't have been better, a nice little breeze and not too hot at all!!!!

 

 

After taking a little nap, we decided to check out sail away, it was kind of cool to see how they let go the lines, you can tell these guys have been doing this for years, they have this down to a science, How they move around so quick and easily. Anyways it's was cool to see these guys let go the lines and we were off to San Juan!!!

 

 

[wildcatt99]

Right in the middle of the shopping area was a little bar known for serving the drunkin monkey, so we sat down and ordered some beers lol. Ok so my mom ordered one, lol and said they were super strong!!!

 

[ATTACH]312895[/ATTACH]

 

After a little more shopping, we stumbled into a store and of course my wife said she just had to have a new ring........yea!!! Um I guess next time I need to come prepared to spend like 6k on a ring lol, it wasn't happening this trip though lol.

 

[ATTACH]312896[/ATTACH]

 

After we left the massive rock at the store for someone else to buy lol, we headed back to the ship!! Maybe next time we might do a tour or excursion, the shopping was ok, your usual touristy type stuff. The weather couldn't have been better, a nice little breeze and not too hot at all!!!!

 

[ATTACH]312897[/ATTACH]

 

After taking a little nap, we decided to check out sail away, it was kind of cool to see how they let go the lines, you can tell these guys have been doing this for years, they have this down to a science, How they move around so quick and easily. Anyways it's was cool to see these guys let go the lines and we were off to San Juan!!!

 

[ATTACH]312898[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]312899[/ATTACH]

 

 

 

You are right, it was amazing watching the precision of everyone at sail away. We also love to watch the ship dock, so gentle you can't feel it when you stop. Thanks for the review, it is bringing back great memories!

[finz2u]

Hey, Donovan. Thanks for taking the time to review. It was an amazing cruise, made more so by your efforts at organizing the cc group. Your suite was so amazing; thanks for opening it up to the group. Hope to run into you on board again someday.

[CruisinCJ]

Waiting to hear more.........

 

We will be on same cruise next year.

 

Carol