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

[harryfat1]

Big butts, check. Ship ropes, check. Salmon, check!

Thanks for the entertainment Harry.

 

Hehe, all the basics needs I want from my cruise. Simple man with simple taste...

[harryfat1]

Challenge accepted.

 

Few from Freedom in December

 

 

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Thanks for sharing your pictures. Great pics.

 

I have said it before, this is like a big old potluck party. Everyone is welcome to bring your vacation pictures to share. If anyone has ANY questions about the pictures you are seeing from all the contributors, please don't be afraid to chime in and ask.

 

I don't worry about the silly etiquette of "I don't want to hijack the thread". That's silly. We are here to help each other out in our vacation planning and experience. So if you want to know about what tours someone else took to take those pictures, please feel free to ask. I'm good with that...

[harryfat1]

That looks like the Schooner Bar. I believe they have one of these on every Royal Caribbean ship. On this cruise, they had trivia there during the day and often had a piano-bar type singer there in the evenings. She had a good repertoire, although it was a bit bawdy.

 

Yes, very correct. Schooner bar. A Royal standard. Although some fans will tell you the Oasis class ship's Schooner isn't as nice as other ship's version.

 

We walk past this bar almost daily on way to theater for show at 7 PM and then back to the other end for dinner at MDR at 8 PM after the show. Both are deck 4, just one end to other end.

[harryfat1]

OK, so where did we last leave off? Oh, yeah, shuffle board.

 

Few more pics from area before we move on.

 

As we are looking at the deep blue water, time for the song of the day from Eurythmics. Sweet dreams of sailing the 7 seas...

 

 

 

My wife took this picture of me taking a picture near the ground level

 

 

How low can I go? Literally...

 

 

Ah, just touching the line (we need a business card to measure - football joke)

 

 

Give you one guess who took this picture

 

[harryfat1]

After many games, it was time to do something else. Good thing we were at the less occupied section of the ship as we were loud and laughing and yelling at each game. If anyone was there trying to read or rest, they weren’t get much peace from us being around. Think that’s when they will get on their tablet and cancel the next holiday cruise as not to sail with loud kids and families.

 

All in all, lots of fun if you approach it with a good attitude. Don’t need to spend extra $$ to have fun on a vacation.

Then we made our way up to deck 15 as I wanted to see what the wedding chapel on this ship looks likes. It was so quiet up there that it was closer to a funeral home than a wedding chapel. If you want somewhere REALLY quiet on the Indy, go there.

 

 

 

We then just sat upstairs by the window to people watch below.

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Hey, kids, look what time it is? It’s been at least 3 hours since we last ate. Time to chow down again. My body can’t tolerate the hardship from lack of food during for such long stretch.

 

 

The Asian noodles were pretty good, but a tad too sweet for my liking. I still miss not having the shrimp chips from other ships

 

 

One thing I noticed about the Indy is that they have HUGE cooking dishes

 

 

[harryfat1]

After lunch, we went to look for the brother in law and found them near the rock climbing wall. So we waited to see the girls climb and also checked out several 3 on 3 basketball games as they had a tournament happening the same time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

Didn't realize I caught Brandon and family here in my Flowrider pic until I came home

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

So I guess since nobody will ever go again on this once-in-blue moon 9 day holiday sailing on the Indy (not on the 2018 sailing), not one person has mentioned I have not uploaded the daily compass and the day is already more than half over.

 

Or maybe people are only here for another version of "I like big..." and can careless what I write.

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Then it was time to head back to the cabin to get our tickets for the 4 PM ice show. This was advertised to be a “special holiday edition” of the ice show. Four performances only just for the holiday crowd – other people that have cruised on this or other ships during Christmas or New Year can chime in if they had special holiday ice skating shows as well.

 

Instead of the regular “Strings” ice show, they skated to all the Christmas songs instead. We did see the regular Strings show later in the cruise so we didn’t miss out on the regular show. This was a special add-on to make all the cheapo dads and mom feel like they received something back in paying a premium to cruise during the holidays.

 

Unlike the Freedom where you just walk in for the ice show, Indy has a ticket system. If no ticket, you would need to be at the standby line until 5 minutes prior to show to get a seat. So grab a show ticket if you want to see the ice show.

 

Most of these pictures were taken by the SLR. That’s something the cell phone hasn’t caught up to yet. They are great for still dark areas but if the subject moves, as they tend to do in ice skating, cell phone pictures are too blurry. I don’t have the best photographic setup as cheapo dad is not willing to shell out $$ or upgrade frequently the camera. Not willing to pay the premium to get a “better picture” versus, “ah, it’s an ok picture”. So until I get my big paycheck from CC to upgrade, you folks are stuck with these.

 

Unlike tennis or football games, best seat in house for ice show is not 50 yard line. Instead grab the ends zone seats as the skaters come right at you.

 

 

Everyone knows where the best seats are. This was taken at 3:31 and the ends zone seats are getting full fast.

 

 

11 minutes before showtime. Check out the "chair hog" section in the middle in blocking off the whole bunch of seats. That is just not right. Royal should do something about these blatant seat saving tactics. It is one thing to save 1 seat for your spouse that needs to go to rest room but marking off a whole row is just plain rude.

 

 

 

 

Showtime:

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

Is it me or this tree looks like a sad Charlie Brown tree?

 

 

 

 

[suesnake2002]

And the title is ...I like big......

 

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[suesnake2002]

And the title is ...I like big......

 

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Sorry tried to attach last picture in post 305. Please zoom in photo, I think I know what harry was trying to capture

 

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[Biker19]

If you want somewhere REALLY quiet on the Indy, go there.

But do it soon as that will be gone after the dry dock later this year.

[#55worktoplay]

Harry I just got caught up in reading this entire review and it has been great reading. The other day I was laughing so hard at my desk about your possible obnoxious cc members of your roll call getting mooned by you I am sure my colleagues thought I had flipped my lid.

 

You are a fun person with a great family. I would love to go on a cruise with you and SeaDog as you both seem to be life lovers and just my kind of peeps!

 

Now I have to start reading your other reviews. Sorry I missed them.

 

Thanks for the great entertainment

[joand452]

It’s taken me nearly all day, but I’ve caught up! I was very happy to find your report this morning, Harry. Every time I had to stop and come back, there were even more posts to read...

 

For what it’s worth (nada), we also like eating in the WJ, especially for breakfast and lunch. Even dinner a few times each cruise. Sounds like the shop on Indy has improved. I couldn’t find a thing with the ship’s name on it when we sailed on her in 2014. I think she had just come back from Europe and hadn’t switched things back for U.S. cruisers yet. Lots of things like nappies and other oddly named items. [emoji6]. Also didn’t care for the CD at that time. So far my least favorite RCCL ship. But I’m willing to give her a second chance!!

 

We both had colds on our December cruise, too. Must have been the time of year. Hope you’re better now.

 

Looking forward to your next installment!

 

 

 

 

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[harryfat1]

Sorry tried to attach last picture in post 305. Please zoom in photo, I think I know what harry was trying to capture

 

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Haha, believe it or not, I actually wasn’t focusing on any particularpassenger below. I just liked the angle of the shot as typically people takelandscape picture of the entire pool deck. That picture had 2 decks AND the blue sea so that was why I took it.

 

Remember now, I have a 60X stalker zoom camera such if I reallywant to zoom in, I could have done it throughout the cruise instead of the crappy cell phone zoom.

[harryfat1]

Harry I just got caught up in reading this entire review and it has been great reading. The other day I was laughing so hard at my desk about your possible obnoxious cc members of your roll call getting mooned by you I am sure my colleagues thought I had flipped my lid.

 

You are a fun person with a great family. I would love to go on a cruise with you and SeaDog as you both seem to be life lovers and just my kind of peeps!

 

Now I have to start reading your other reviews. Sorry I missed them.

 

Thanks for the great entertainment

 

Thanks for the compliment. Another person reading at work, eh? I wonder what % pf people read from work versus at home?

 

As my family can tell you, I'm pretty boring to talk to in person. My brain doesn't function that fast so my jokes are only good in words as it takes longer for me to formulate the punch line.

 

If you have the stamina to read my older work, try the Allure. That was my best work as I was younger than and had more energy to be creative with black and white effects as well as period effects on the bikini show. Now, I am old and lazy and just go for the cheap butt jokes.

 

Speaking of butt jokes, I was waiting for someone to ask how do I know the PR window feels cold against the butt...

[RMH]

Great to have you along. It's wonderful to relive the vacation, isn't it? The second time you don't even have to pack or deal with lines and it's totally free.

 

Hope I don't catch you in some compromising position in my photos and publicly complain about your behavior...;p

 

Oh wow, I did not even think about that. Hmmmm. Hopefully you didn't take too many photos at the Love & Marriage show!

 

Keep up the good work - and yes, the second time around is almost as good as the first time.

[harryfat1]

It’s taken me nearly all day, but I’ve caught up! I was very happy to find your report this morning, Harry. Every time I had to stop and come back, there were even more posts to read...

 

For what it’s worth (nada), we also like eating in the WJ, especially for breakfast and lunch. Even dinner a few times each cruise. Sounds like the shop on Indy has improved. I couldn’t find a thing with the ship’s name on it when we sailed on her in 2014. I think she had just come back from Europe and hadn’t switched things back for U.S. cruisers yet. Lots of things like nappies and other oddly named items. [emoji6]. Also didn’t care for the CD at that time. So far my least favorite RCCL ship. But I’m willing to give her a second chance!!

 

We both had colds on our December cruise, too. Must have been the time of year. Hope you’re better now.

 

Looking forward to your next installment!

 

 

 

 

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Hi, Joan,

 

How are you? It's been awhile since we last spoke. Hope all is well, minus your December cold. Thanks, my cough is more infrequent now so hopefully after this weekend, I will be free from it.

 

Thanks for following along for another installment. The Indy seems to have a different vibe to it than the other Royal ships we have been on. The holiday cruise is slightly different than the regular cruise so it makes thing interesting.

 

Glad you made it and I'm sure we will talk throughout this trip report.

[harryfat1]

Oh wow, I did not even think about that. Hmmmm. Hopefully you didn't take too many photos at the Love & Marriage show!

 

Keep up the good work - and yes, the second time around is almost as good as the first time.

 

Oh, we didn't even make it to the Love & Marriage show. Were you in it?

[harryfat1]

OK, so last night I left off at the special holiday ice skate show. Let's finish up.

 

 

Kids, don't try this at home with your sister

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

 

The had the special violinist guest star playing

 

 

Impressive on how high in the air she is

 

 

Big Finale

 

[harryfat1]

After the strenuous process of sitting and watching people skate, time to go over to Café Promenade for a cup of late afternoon coffee and more food. Yeah, go ahead and judge me as a pig. Whatever…

 

 

After that, it’s time to head back to the cabin to take a shower before we catch another show later tonight. Yeah, remember what we like on the cruise – the 3 E’s? Actually come to think of it, we need to add one more to the list to make it 4 E’s. The fourth one is EAT…

 

OK, so this being day 2 of the cruise, that’s typically the default first formal night as it also coincides with the captain’s welcome party. It’s always great to have 2 showers for 4 people on these nights as it makes go so much faster. I can’t imagine having formal night with the 5:30 seating with 4 people in the cabin. You would need to take start taking shower before 3:30 to get everyone ready one at a time. Especially if you want to take pictures with photographers before dinner at 5:30, you need to be out and about early.

 

Anyway, while waiting for everyone to shower and get dressed, I went to the TV in the cabin and checked my cruise balance online to make sure the OBC from the TA and shareholder benefits showed up. They typically show up by day 2.

 

 

From the screen it looks like the $225 per cabin OBC from TA did showed up. Prior to the cruise, I went online to agree the entire families ship board charges will be paid by my credit card, the software also moved the other cabins credits to my name. This means all the kids and the wife’s daily $13.50 gratuities were all zeroed out of their accounts and dropped into mine. But those are added on in a daily basis.

 

For now, we have a big old credit with them as I have $225 from TA + $100 shareholder = $325 per cabin X 2 = $650 OBC before the purchase for today. Now if I were to not pay the daily tips by going to guest services and request they be wiped out, I could have boat load of money to spend. But that’s not my style. I might be cheap and a weirdo, but not a jerk when it comes to paying people’s proper amount, we do the right thing.

 

Final note is that I noticed $50 out of the TA’s OBC is non refundable. Interesting. Wonder why that is so. I know the shareholder is non refundable as they weren’t going to give you cash to walk off the ship for being a shareholder but I just found it interesting there was a split of $50/$175? Anyone with travel background can answer this? Not that it mattered to us at the end we bought enough things on the account after all the tips such that we have a debit balance but just curious to know.

 

Yeah, yeah, I know, nobody cares. But when it comes to money and treatment of money, I like to know how and why.

[harryfat1]

OK, Captain’s gala. Which meant free booze. Now I never saw free champagne at the captain’s welcome at Freedom so I was pleasantly surprised they had it on the Indy as last time we had something at the captain’s welcome was on the Allure. The kids had their punch just so they don’t feel left out, as was the case of welcome champagne on day 1.

 

 

 

 

We stood in line to have our picture taken with the captain right at 7 as we were the second group in line. Then we got the drinks and waited for the welcome speech and listened to about 20 minutes of the guest performers, Revoiced, sang few holiday songs at the bridge. We would see them later in the cruise for a full performance.