(Slightly less so) Cheapo dad's trip report on Independence of the Seas

[cruisemeister8]

So took a picture of the guy vacuuming the carpet as we walked over to MDR for dinner.

 

I’m sure nobody ever wonder about this (at least average normal person wouldn’t), but I’m just curious on how much sand does the average ship collect on a Caribbean port day? Meaning if each passenger comes back from the beach with let’s say X ounce of sand on their feet/clothes and then deposits them in the ship upon boarding, how many pounds would that be? I’m sure the hallways and staircases tend to have more sands on Caribbean beach days than an average day.

 

Anyway, I like numbers so these kinds of math questions intrigue me as I wonder how many pounds are in all the portable vacuum cleaners ship-wide when they empty them after each port.

 

:D:D:D Harry, this had me in stitches! You bring up a good point. Never thought about the vacuums, but I have wondered about the showers! Washing all the sand off of clothes and out of every orifice usually leaves quite a pile settled on the shower floor. Sometimes it takes a concerted effort with the shower hose to rinse it all down the drain. Times that by every cabin on the ship, and it's interesting to wonder how many pounds of sand end up settling at the bottom of the wastewater tanks. :confused: Makes one wonder if they have some sort of special sand filter in the plumbing.

[JamesEM]

Thanks for posting the Kids's Menu Harry, you gave me an idea, on my next cruise I'm going to order a Banana Split, haven't had one in years.

[Biker19]

 

Now that we are past 1,000 posts, this needs an update.

[etoilefj]

Hey, Harry,

 

Yeah, it's a blissful 23 nights of cruising. We leave Sydney and head to Noumea and Lifou in New Caledonia, then to Mystery Island in Vanuatu. Next is Suva and Lautoka in Fiji, then six sea days to Honolulu and Lahaina. And then it's over to Seattle, where we'll disembark and have a couple of days before heading to Victoria, BC, on the fast ferry for an overnighter. Next day onto another ferry to Vancouver from where we'll fly home after a couple more days. So excited!!

Hi Susie

That cruise sounds amazing! Which line is it? My cousins are looking at doing a similar trip in the opposite direction as their son and his family are in Australia and we're all in BC. In fact I was jumping on to say hi from Victoria (in case you need any local, biased, questionable advice [emoji6]).

 

Sent from my Pixel using Forums mobile app

[harryfat1]

:D:D:D Harry, this had me in stitches! You bring up a good point. Never thought about the vacuums, but I have wondered about the showers! Washing all the sand off of clothes and out of every orifice usually leaves quite a pile settled on the shower floor. Sometimes it takes a concerted effort with the shower hose to rinse it all down the drain. Times that by every cabin on the ship, and it's interesting to wonder how many pounds of sand end up settling at the bottom of the wastewater tanks. :confused: Makes one wonder if they have some sort of special sand filter in the plumbing.

 

Also sand in the beach towels in the laundry room

[harryfat1]

Thanks for posting the Kids's Menu Harry, you gave me an idea, on my next cruise I'm going to order a Banana Split, haven't had one in years.

 

Hi, Jim,

 

Go back to my post #245, you can see the picture of one. I had one on day 1.

[harryfat1]

 

Now that we are past 1,000 posts, this needs an update.

 

Think Bob might be a tad busy with his upcoming cruise. He can update it after he gets back. Think we are around the 70% completion around this point.

[AmyJA]

Harry...looove you chandelier topped soup!

[rwright261]

Your chandelier and soup combo photo is superb.

 

Really loving your report, thanks so much for taking the time and the trouble to complete it for us... can't wait for the next edition.

 

As a side note we were on the Oasis of the Sea over Christmas, we embarked on 24.12 and didn't have half as many Christmassy touches as you... we enjoyed our cruise although were let down slightly with the food (mainly the temperature) and the service in the dining room.. rather than everything being no trouble it seeemd everything was too much trouble, which is where we would have to agree to disagree when it comes to the waiters dancing around the dining room, all ok once the basics are there, for us on this particular cruise they weren't.

 

Anyway enough with that, I'm loving your review and although I read your past Allure one we are sailing on Allure later this year so I may go back and reread it after this one.

 

Keep up the great work!

[Canadian1]

 

Typically the soups are blurry in pictures as the auto focus can’t really lock in on the water surface as it bounces back at a different angle. For tonight soup, I was trying to line up the reflection of the chandelier from above to be inside the soup such that it looks like I am having chandelier as a topping for the soup.

 

 

Yeah, these dumb little things we do to amuse ourselves…

 

 

I LOVE this shot!

[Susie001]

Hi Susie

That cruise sounds amazing! Which line is it? My cousins are looking at doing a similar trip in the opposite direction as their son and his family are in Australia and we're all in BC. In fact I was jumping on to say hi from Victoria (in case you need any local, biased, questionable advice [emoji6]).

 

Sent from my Pixel using Forums mobile app

 

Hey, etoilefj,

 

It's with Royal on Explorer of the Seas. We jumped on a booking nearly two years ago now, for a price that works out at $98 AUD pppn! Best bargain ever, I reckon. :D Your cousins will have to move quickly on the October sailing this year, as Royal have changed things up, and Explorer is being moved to Asia next year. TransPacifics will be on Ovation from next year, and they're breaking it down into a 16 day cruise Sydney-Honolulu, with a second leg Honolulu-Vancouver (the infamous Jones Act), so with the reverse to come back. Way more pricey, there's no way we could do it.

We're only in Victoria for a really short time, afternoon and overnight, so what do you recommend? Also, we're not rush-rush people, slow and steady, that's us ;p

 

Sorry, Harry, don't want to hijack your report, that's such bad form! Did I mention I love your photos? I am such a terrible photographer myself, but I appreciate the art!

[etoilefj]

Thanks for the info...I attempted to send you a PM. Not sure it worked. If you don't see one, let me know I'll try again.

 

Sent from my Pixel using Forums mobile app

[Susie001]

Thanks for the info...I attempted to send you a PM. Not sure it worked. If you don't see one, let me know I'll try again.

 

Sent from my Pixel using Forums mobile app

I don't see it, but maybe shoot me an email: susie9701 @ icloud com

I'm sure you know how to make that work ;) Thank you!

 

Sorry, Harry! That chandelier-in-the-soup pic is definitely worth the subscription fees!

[bobmacliberty]

Think Bob might be a tad busy with his upcoming cruise. He can update it after he gets back. Think we are around the 70% completion around this point.

 

I'm never too busy for you Harry. Ask and ye shall receive...

 

I've reduced the slope slightly for the remainder of your Indy review because you keep saying that you have fewer pictures in the remaining days, but the post count just keeps climbing. You definitely host an open party where lots of people attend.

[VPIcruiser]

Thanks for showing the kids menu. My kids refuse to order off the kids menu, but I should point out to them that they could still order a banana split. They love the nightly sherbets. They could probably get a banana split with the sherbet.

[harryfat1]

Harry...looove you chandelier topped soup!

 

I LOVE this shot!

 

 

Haha, surprisingly the chandelier soup is a hit. It was just something I was doing to muse myself while the wait staff was serving everyone.

 

Our assistant waiter, Simona, saw what I was doing in taking a picture of the soup and thought that was interesting as she has never seen anyone try to do that. I was just happen to be in the right place at the right time as I saw the reflection on the soup.

 

Simple picture, everyone can do that with their cell phone at dinner. Just need to line it up.

[harryfat1]

Your chandelier and soup combo photo is superb.

 

Really loving your report, thanks so much for taking the time and the trouble to complete it for us... can't wait for the next edition.

 

As a side note we were on the Oasis of the Sea over Christmas, we embarked on 24.12 and didn't have half as many Christmassy touches as you... we enjoyed our cruise although were let down slightly with the food (mainly the temperature) and the service in the dining room.. rather than everything being no trouble it seeemd everything was too much trouble, which is where we would have to agree to disagree when it comes to the waiters dancing around the dining room, all ok once the basics are there, for us on this particular cruise they weren't.

 

Anyway enough with that, I'm loving your review and although I read your past Allure one we are sailing on Allure later this year so I may go back and reread it after this one.

 

Keep up the great work!

 

Thanks for the compliment.

 

It’s surprising to hear how much “customizing” each ship’s sailings are. I wonder if it’s the CD or hotel manager or the captain that adds/subtracts events from each sailing. I felt we lost out on the parade that other Indy sailings had.

 

So what type of Christmas events did you guys had on the Oasis? I know on the Freedom, the Santa “parade” was a joke. It was 4 people (including Santa) walking down the RP. Calling that a parade is an insult to every other parade in the world.

 

My first cruise ever was a Carnival cruise and as you can see from my signature (assuming you are viewing on PC as the signatures don’t show up when I view on Tapatalk), we have cruised with them many time since so I have the “Fun” part of me in my dining experience as I liked to be entertained by something I don’t see at a regular land based restaurant. I loved that Carnival have their dancing waiters and singing. To me that should be a nightly event but that’s just my Carnival bias.

 

I was much more creative (younger) in the Allure report few years ago in having different photo shades and types (miniatures). Then I became lazy in my old age and now just rely on the new hardware on the cell phone to carry the day in my trip report by just uploading and not trying to do anything special.

 

At this rate, in my 2021 trip report, I will just have pictures only and no description (we came, we saw, we ate, we pooped and we took some pictures. Here they are. Thank you for coming...)

[harryfat1]

Hey, etoilefj,

 

It's with Royal on Explorer of the Seas. We jumped on a booking nearly two years ago now, for a price that works out at $98 AUD pppn! Best bargain ever, I reckon. :D Your cousins will have to move quickly on the October sailing this year, as Royal have changed things up, and Explorer is being moved to Asia next year. TransPacifics will be on Ovation from next year, and they're breaking it down into a 16 day cruise Sydney-Honolulu, with a second leg Honolulu-Vancouver (the infamous Jones Act), so with the reverse to come back. Way more pricey, there's no way we could do it.

We're only in Victoria for a really short time, afternoon and overnight, so what do you recommend? Also, we're not rush-rush people, slow and steady, that's us ;p

 

Sorry, Harry, don't want to hijack your report, that's such bad form! Did I mention I love your photos? I am such a terrible photographer myself, but I appreciate the art!

 

No worries. Don’t even think about it.

 

I don’t get it. Why is it “bad form” to have a conversation with each other?

 

I treat this as a big potluck “holiday party” where we all sit in a huge virtual table and eat/drink/share travel stories and pictures. As in all parties, you don’t just talk to the host/hostess; you talk and “mingle” with other guests.

 

This is the mingle part where the guests talk to each other. You folks don't always have to talk to me per se. Why would anyone get offended and consider it a bad form is beyond me…

 

So please, if anyone have questions for each other, feel free jump right in. It’s an open party for all (assuming you have paid you annual membership to CC or else we won't talk to you until you paid your dues…)

[harryfat1]

I'm never too busy for you Harry. Ask and ye shall receive...

 

I've reduced the slope slightly for the remainder of your Indy review because you keep saying that you have fewer pictures in the remaining days, but the post count just keeps climbing. You definitely host an open party where lots of people attend.

 

 

Hi, Bob,

 

Thanks for the update. Appreciate you doing this prior to your vacation.

 

Officially it was a 9 day cruise plus 1 day pre cruise. But we take a lot more pictures on port days than ship days just because there are more things to see and do.

 

Just looking at the picture count per day (I sort them in folders based on the system date). Day 8 has only 180 pictures but compared that to day 5, St. Maarten, the highest count day has 770 pictures. Obviously some of these pictures are duplicates or bad or of family members but you get the idea on the ratio of what I value on port versus sea days.

 

In theory, I can skew the slope by artificially inflating the count by only using 1 picture per post instead of cramming 5+ in each post. Using that method I can stuff the ballot by at least getting 150+ posts the next week or so…;p

[harryfat1]

Thanks for showing the kids menu. My kids refuse to order off the kids menu, but I should point out to them that they could still order a banana split. They love the nightly sherbets. They could probably get a banana split with the sherbet.

 

Yeah, I ordered the banana split from kids menu. It comes with the typical 3 scoops of ice cream (see my picture in post 245 as I mentioned to Jim earlier). If you add 2 more scoops of sherbet, that's 5 scoops...

[harryfat1]

(Back to the story line of us at dinner on day 6)

 

My younger one wasn’t thrilled with the dinner options presented so he opted for the double sliders. He said they were only ok.

My older one got the Sundried Tomato Risotto with seafood

 

My wife and I both got the duck again.

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

They have pretty good ice cream of the day. Tonight I got the double dessert of ice cream and cheese cake. Just making sure I own up to the fact that I got double dessert as the ice cream of the day sounded good on many days so just had to try them.

 

 

 

 

The nieces had sherbet

 

[harryfat1]

More fun stuff Jesus the waiter did to entertain the kids/us. Think all cruise ship waiters need to know some of these tricks to make the dining experience more memorable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One last picture of the MDR before we walk out for the night.

 

[harryfat1]

After dinner, we walked around the RP and then headed over to check on the crazy aunt locked in the basement making sure she has enough to eat (aka pictures from last night’s Christmas formal attire). The bigger the family group, the longer it takes to find everyone’s pictures as they are scattered all over the photo area in different sections. The newer ships have better layout with more pictures online instead of trying to hunt for the hard copies.

 

It’s pretty funny to have the family divide and conquer “you go over to those 4 panels and I cover these 4 panels to find our pictures”.

 

As last night we had the 70’s party on Christmas Day when everyone was in formal clothes, they should have done it tonight instead when everyone is in more casual street clothes and without the extra stress of waking up early for Christmas day with little kids to see Santa. Instead we were left with no formal entertainment event for the night since we opted to see the ice show on day 8 instead of tonight.

 

As today is an “even day” (day 6), we came back to the cabin to be greeted by 2 towel animals tonight.

 

 

 

That’s the special thing about cruises. You come back in the evening to see the soft lighting/daily schedule/towel animals. Different than a regular land based hotel. Although I do miss have the chocolates at the pillows from the old days…

 

Put couple more eye drops on the troubled eye and try to go to sleep. Not the type of souvenir you want to take home.

 

This concludes the trip report for day 6.

[harryfat1]

Day 7 – December 27, 2017

 

St. Kitts

 

So this is the last port day. Port number 5 on 5 consecutive days. When you are at home planning the cruise, the greedy person in you says “Oh, yeah, I want as many ports as I can get. I pay $$ to see the world. I want to see all 5 ports”. Then there’s the reality in that you have to get up early daily and go from place to place. It’s almost more work than work itself.

 

Nevertheless, we are here as much as we are running on fumes in terms of energy. Woke up early at 7 AM (well, early for me on non working days).. Looked outside through the not 100% cleaned porthole and saw the sun rise over the ocean. Not a common site coming from California as our sunrises are over typically over the mountains or hills. We get sunsets over the ocean, but not sunrise. Not to mention I typically don’t wake up early for sunrise but that is a different topic…