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Jan. 28 Independence first take

aliciam

By aliciam,
in Royal Caribbean International

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aliciam

aliciam

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It’s a cloudy, rainy Sunday morning on Independence so thought I would take a few minutes to share my initial thoughts.

 

We reserved this cruise two months out after returning from a Princess 10-day to the Eastern Caribbean. I’m loyal to Royal, and that was my first time on Princess. It made me miss some things on Royal, and I had never been on Freedom class, so here we are.

 

Hotel

As many of you know, hotels are expensive in Fort Lauderdale this time of year, and while there was a direct flight that would get us in a little after 11 a.m. day of sailing, I just am not willing to risk it.

 

I had a room at Bahia Mar, but read so many mixed reviews I was concerned. I wound up doing a 4* Hotwire Express Deal that turned out to be the W. While they are still undergoing their “refresh,” the main pools and restaurants were open.

 

The room was large, with a big balcony on the side of the hotel, so partial ocean view. Some plant operations equipment for the hotel was several stories below (we were on the 15th floor), and it was so loud it detracted from sitting out on the balcony.

 

Bed was comfortable, and beach chairs included in your stay were a bonus, but the hotel is definitely modern and seems to cater to a younger crowd. Your shower is literally see-through from the sleeping area. I would stay here again, though, if the price was right (which is was this time).

 

Embarkation

We are usually early arrivers to the port, but with the beach chairs at the W and ample sunshine, we weren’t in a hurry. We arrived at Terminal 25 after 1 p.m. and the line was all the way down the sidewalk. It moved fast however, and thankfully we were in a Junior Suite with priority embarkation. The general lines for security and check-in were very long, so I will keep my tradition of early arrival when not in a suite.

 

From getting in line at the terminal to sitting on our balcony was 30 minutes. I’m curious to see what other’s experiences were yesterday.

 

Jr. Suite

We originally booked a balcony, but caught a sale and were able to upgrade to a Junior Suite for very little – it paid to check rates daily as the fares went back up by $500 the very next day. We’ve stayed in mini-suites on Norwegian and Princess, but the Junior Suite on Independence is nicer.

 

More room, walk-in closet, what feels like a double balcony, etc. Also double points and a bathtub, it’s totally worth it (well, at least for the price we paid). Bed is a little hard, although the bedding is really soft.

 

We do have a new room steward, who is definitely on a learning curve, so I felt like I was educating her yesterday. Some things just weren’t in our room, and we had to educate her on what we were talking about (e.g., the list of discounts for C&A members, etc.). She’s extremely nice though, and I’m sure she will be great. No towel animals yet (hey, it’s the little things.) ☺

 

Dining

The windjammer upon embarkation surprisingly wasn’t too crowded, but food (both options and the foot itself) left a lot to be desired. I think it will be MDR for lunch today to compare.

 

We are doing My Time dining for the first time – we’ve always had traditional. I made reservations for 8 p.m. each night. I was second-guessing My Time dining last night as we arrived at our time and had to stand in line for a while just to check in, then had to wait more to be seated. I want to just walk-in and sit at my table (sounds spoiled, I know.)

 

We did have great service and the food was excellent in the MDR with the mojo menu. We had escargot, fish rillets, pork chop, prime rib and carrot cake, and it was all great.

 

Our server told us to ask for the same table each evening, which we did, but we were told they couldn’t guarantee, etc., etc. We had already requested to have the same wait staff each night anyway, and were told that wasn’t a guarantee either.

 

Here is where MTD redeems itself; we were finished with dinner in an HOUR. As I said, we’ve always done traditional and are accustomed to two-hour dinners at least. I felt a little rushed in the beginning of the meal last night, but finishing in an hour and being able to do other things is amazing.

 

We ordered room service this morning for breakfast and it was surprisingly pretty good – eggs, bacon and sausage were all hot, the juice was cold and the pastries were fresh.

 

Drink Prices

I haven’t visited many of the bars yet, but was surprised to find that all the cocktails on the menu at the Champagne bar were $13, $1 more than what the drink package covers.

 

The wine list for dinner had very few wines by the glass (maybe two in each category) and usually only one was under $12. I’ll explore more as the cruise goes on.

 

Voom

Voom works well in most places I’ve tried it– I got the surf and stream at 30 percent off pre-cruise. It works extremely well with social media, but is a little slower with downloading emails, etc. Still to test the “streaming” capability.

 

Enertainment

Strings was offered last night at 10 p.m., and I’m happy we went. Not only did I not want to give up time on a sea day when it might have been sunny, but I imagine they won’t have it today unless the weather gets better.

 

It was good. Just my opinion, but I think it’s a little sleepy with all of the violin music. The best part of the show was the last 10 minutes as they introduced more up-tempo music. We arrived about 20 minutes early and got good seats, but almost within five minutes it was filling up. A few minutes after show time, it was packed with folks sitting on steps in the aisles.

 

Tonight is Invitation to Dance, the Majority Rules game show and they are also showing the Pro Bowl.

 

Thanks for reading – depending on weather I may be updating more this week, but can’t promise. Let’s hope we see the sun soon! ☺

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msmayor

msmayor

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Sorry to hear about a rainy start to the trip...hope it cleared up and everyone enjoyed some sunshine today. My daughter and her boyfriend are on board and have been anticipating this trip for some time...while they're just happy to be away, I know some good warm weather would be appreciated.

 

Can't wait to hear more!

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Coralc

Coralc

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Nice to hear. I had to cancel this cruise 2 days prior to departure. Keep posting please! I will cruise vicariously through you.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

That is very sad to hear Megan. I hope everything works out for you or your family.

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Megan07

Megan07

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That is very sad to hear Megan. I hope everything works out for you or your family.

 

 

Thanks! My fiancé and I will get through it. Hopefully we can book one in due time. Or I'll just go myself because I can't wait to get back to the sea.

 

 

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aliciam

aliciam

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Hi all! We had amazing weather the rest of the cruise, so here I am wrapping up a few more thoughts.

 

The remainder of the entertainment was good – they were able to do the two ice shows on the sea day in spite of the weather. We had Invitation to Dance on that night, an illusionist/comedian on the third night, and a comedy show and the Quest on the fourth night.

 

Grease wasn’t held until night 5, and had two shows – 6 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. We arrived at 9:15 and had to sit separate and behind a pole. But the show was great, including the singing. They followed it with the 70s party on the Promenade.

 

Entertainment options went into the night - we were at a show or some organized activity until almost midnight every night. Schooner bar was great – several on CC have mentioned Lorenzo and I didn’t make the connection until he remembered my name and drink order the next night. He was great!

 

On our last sea day, which was sunny – we spent almost all day in the chairs below the Flowrider on the very back of the ship. Someone had mentioned that area on cruise critic, and sure enough, there was no wind and hardly anyone back there.

 

We strolled around the corner to Johnny Rockets when we were ready for lunch, and the bar is just by the Flowrider as well.

 

There were a few nights in the MDR where we weren’t sure we were keeping our reservations based on the menu. But we did eat there every night and honestly found something we liked at each meal. Had the same table and same wait staff every night, who were great. Would serve as slow or as fast as you needed them to - if you were trying to make a show. We had a table for two in the middle of two other tables for two, and the six of us had a great week getting to know one another.

 

Debarkation

We had booked an 11:15 flight and were questioning whether to walk-off or not. When we saw the first called luggage tag time was until 8:45, we knew we had to hoof it with our bags.

 

We went downstairs to get in line a little before 8 and were to our gate a the airport by a little after 9. HOWEVER, this was only possible because we had Global Entry. When we were getting off the ship, it took a while just to get off the ship, down the gangway and into customs. There were not any signs for global entry (or mobile passport for the matter). We asked and port staff escorted us to the very front of the line.

 

I heard on social, however, that something happened about 9 a.m. and the line didn’t move at all for a while. An early flight worked out for us, but if we hadn’t walk-off, don’t think we would made our flight.

 

Overall a good cruise, but I wish they had a few more complimentary food choices, or at least more choices for snacks. And, my room steward provided towel animals each night after the first night.

 

We went to Nachi Cocum (our third time there) and did the ruins with Native Choice in Costa Maya. Happy to answer any questions.

 

Happy cruising!

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aliciam

aliciam

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Following. We're on Indy in 10 days!! Were there any sales on drink packages or drink cards?

 

I purchased the drink package prior to the cruise, so got that discount - but drink package on board was being quoted as $61 a day. I did not see any drink cards offered.

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