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

[dr_truth]

It's so interesting how different our experiences were at Labadee on the same day. It did actually rain a bit and lots of people took off when it did--maybe that was while you went back to the ship? Also, we went late to the buffet and there were no lines, but you are probably right about the ickiness of the fruit area after lots of hands.

Did you happen to see the rescue in our area? A lady fell asleep on her float and drifted into that little doc on the left--the lifeguard had to jump in and get her. She stayed asleep the entire time!

[mbrownferrier]

Enjoying the review and the pictures. Thank you for taking the time.

 

 

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[harryfat1]

Wonderful memories of Labadee, Harry. I love your ship and water pics. I have a similar pic where the lens is half under the water so it looks like the ship is floating. That's hard to do in the waves! And credit to your younger son for the nice family selfie, the old-fashioned way, sans a viewing screen! Teenager's hands must be programmed to rise to just the right selfie angle. I also like your pics going past the shops. Some of the artwork they sell is really pretty. Too bad it's so expensive. Yeah, yeah, I know, negotiate. Easier said than done when you don't have the knack.

 

Oh, and the feet pic is a cool idea, too. Sounds like the effort that went into all the takes was a fun time. You should hold a contest to guess whose feet are whose. Give the winner a free lifetime subscription to your reviews and a coupon for a free second entree in the Windjammer.

 

Great idea on the contest. I can just give away the same coupon to the WJ meal that CC pays me to write these trip reports. Now the only thing left is how does cheapo dad monetize this concept? Should I sell raffle tickets at 10 cents each per entry? Gotta make money somehow...

 

Yeah, the kids have longer arms and just better dexterity than the old man when it comes to these selfies. It's much more second nature to the younger crowd to do this than the old tarts.

[harryfat1]

Harry don't do it - not at Labadee. We left a backpack (zipped up, on our chair) with my Samsung phone inside. Took a 10 minute dip and when we came back, everything was intact but the phone was missing from the bag.

 

This was early in the day; our chairs were near the steel drum/band set up. We asked them if they saw anything or anyone near the bag (there weren't a ton of passengers around yet).

 

We contacted RCCL security (a complete joke); they use a local as the head guard. We told both the head guard and the steel drum guys that we would offer a $100 cash reward (I think that was the amount, I don't entirely remember but there is an entire thread on it if anyone cares to search) to the person who "found" the phone. I just didn't want to lose all the pictures on it, as it wasn't backed up.

 

Imagine that, within ten minutes one of the guys in the band "found" my phone. :mad: We packed up our stuff and back to the ship we went. So you're smart- leave your electronics on the ship except for the one you can carry with you into the water.

 

WOW! Thanks for the story. Appreciate the heads up. As noted before, we would have tons of electronics with us if we were fully geared up with 4 cell phones, SLR camera and zoom camera. Don't think the $100 finders fee could have "found" all that.

 

We went back to the ship twice now at Labadee. I was just being lazy and figure if we had the cameras with us, we would probably shave around 40 minutes of back and forth to/from the ship.

 

We are more careful/paranoid at the other ports/tours where they have open beach area. Typically one of us will be by the beach bag to watch our gears.

 

After hearing your story, we will be more vigilant in tracking our belongings.

[harryfat1]

I can't count the number of reviews that I've read that included Labadee. And I can't once remember anyone pointing out these contradicting signs. Good eye. I enjoy things like this as well. Must be the analytical brain.

 

I'm a fan of Labadee but DW...not so much. Her complaint is the large number of people in one place. She would much prefer an isolated area with just a few people.

 

Actually I noticed the "no entry" sign in my Allure cruise. I went back in the photo archives from 2014 and dug up this picture. This one shows more clearly the sign in the middle as there was nobody in front of it. But I don't think I commented on it in my previous trip report.

 

 

 

I was actually going to comment on the crowd level. Compared to our first visit on he Allure, Labadee wasn't as crowded as before. But simple logic can tell you that as on the Oasis size mega ships, you had 6,200 or so cruisers (assume ships are near max capacity during holiday season sailings) but on the Indy, we were only around 4,200+. That's around 2,000 people fewer to deal with at the port so it felt much less crowded.

 

So one's experience at Labadee will likely be influenced by the size of the size and quanity (as I have seen trip reports of 2 ships in port although not Oasis class ships).

[Dixie1337]

Harry don't do it - not at Labadee. We left a backpack (zipped up, on our chair) with my Samsung phone inside. Took a 10 minute dip and when we came back, everything was intact but the phone was missing from the bag.

 

This was early in the day; our chairs were near the steel drum/band set up. We asked them if they saw anything or anyone near the bag (there weren't a ton of passengers around yet).

 

We contacted RCCL security (a complete joke); they use a local as the head guard. We told both the head guard and the steel drum guys that we would offer a $100 cash reward (I think that was the amount, I don't entirely remember but there is an entire thread on it if anyone cares to search) to the person who "found" the phone. I just didn't want to lose all the pictures on it, as it wasn't backed up.

 

Imagine that, within ten minutes one of the guys in the band "found" my phone. :mad: We packed up our stuff and back to the ship we went. So you're smart- leave your electronics on the ship except for the one you can carry with you into the water.

 

I bought myself a KYSS bag because of stories like this. It won't prevent someone determined to steal your stuff (it could be cut open), but does stop crimes of opportunity.

 

http://www.kyssbags.com

 

The medium is the perfect size IMO.

 

I really don't keep anything of much value in my beach bag - an ipod shuffle, some dollars, a waterfi kindle, and my waterproof camera, but I still don't want that stuff stolen while I'm in the water.

[dani negreanu]

These are the kinds of simple yet zero dollar fun expenditures we experienced during the cruise. Don't need to spend $$ to have fun.

 

So TRUE :D

[harryfat1]

It's so interesting how different our experiences were at Labadee on the same day. It did actually rain a bit and lots of people took off when it did--maybe that was while you went back to the ship? Also, we went late to the buffet and there were no lines, but you are probably right about the ickiness of the fruit area after lots of hands.

Did you happen to see the rescue in our area? A lady fell asleep on her float and drifted into that little doc on the left--the lifeguard had to jump in and get her. She stayed asleep the entire time!

 

No, I didn't hear or see anything happening on your end of he beach. That's the great thing about cruise vacations - two different families can have very different experiences even on the same sailing. I'm sure the people that went over to the other side of Labadee have different take on their port day.

[harryfat1]

Enjoying the review and the pictures. Thank you for taking the time.

 

 

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You are welcome. Glad you are enjoying this trip report.

 

As I said before, I treat this like a big pot luck party where I invite people over and we all share vacation info. I get to catch up with people that I haven't spoken with since last year.

 

In some ways, I feel like the Osborn family from Arkansas that kept making their Christmas lights more elaborate every year. I try to add different element in each trip report. We'll see how this one end up.

[suesnake2002]

I bought myself a KYSS bag because of stories like this. It won't prevent someone determined to steal your stuff (it could be cut open), but does stop crimes of opportunity.

 

http://www.kyssbags.com

 

The medium is the perfect size IMO.

 

I really don't keep anything of much value in my beach bag - an ipod shuffle, some dollars, a waterfi kindle, and my waterproof camera, but I still don't want that stuff stolen while I'm in the water.

The brand i bought is called' lock a bye' beach bag. You cannot cut it open. It is a little heavy, so i use it as a carry on bag when flying

 

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[harryfat1]

I bought myself a KYSS bag because of stories like this. It won't prevent someone determined to steal your stuff (it could be cut open), but does stop crimes of opportunity.

 

http://www.kyssbags.com

 

The medium is the perfect size IMO.

 

I really don't keep anything of much value in my beach bag - an ipod shuffle, some dollars, a waterfi kindle, and my waterproof camera, but I still don't want that stuff stolen while I'm in the water.

 

Yeah, you can never be too careful when you travel. Especially if you have ID inside the bag. It would be a lot of work to replace those after the cruise.

[harryfat1]

OK, few more pictures of the pier area as we walk back to the ship to regroup.

 

Hair braiding if you are interested

 

 

Time for the crew to pack up everything

 

 

 

Water and Lemonade for the thirsty folks walking back

 

 

Don't forget to bring back the towels to the ship or else it's supposed to be $25 per pop to your account

 

[harryfat1]

So after making a quick trip back to the cabin to get our gears, we are back to the dock again

 

 

Zooming out to the beach area

 

 

 

What is the name of this port again? Oh, yeah...

 

 

 

It's about 2:40 now and you can see from the left, a boat/ship load (pun intended) of people are starting to head back ahead of the 4 PM all aboard. But of course, we go against the grain as we are headed for the opposite direction

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

A lot of people heading back

 

 

[dr_truth]

I knew if I kept looking I would be sure to catch a glimpse of my party in your pictures :cool:

[harryfat1]

OK, back for round 2. I am pretty sure we are the only family that comes back just to take pictures and video tape. Since we did this route before, it was a quick trip up and took few pictures.

 

So you ask why go through this process and not just stay at the beach? For me, this is THE PICTURE of the cruise. I like the picture of the ship from a higher perspective in the hills. That view was the first picture of the Allure report as well as this report.

 

Having done this previously, it was a quick walk up the hill

 

 

A little more...

 

 

Keep going

 

 

 

So this is it. Front page picture. I'm sure by the end of this trip report, others will disagree that this should be front page picture. It's pretty subjective selection but I just like the one picture that has shows the whole ship and you are not at sea level (meaning it's not just a tender shot)

 

[harryfat1]

Few more pictures of the area:

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

End section of the zip line

 

 

[harryfat1]

Same as our visit from last time, the gate to the end of the road is closed. I assume that gate has not been opened for many years? Anyone ever been on the other side?

 

 

Can't get there from here...

 

 

Anybody ever been here?

 

 

Looks like the dragon or some sort of beast's mouth:

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

By time we walked over by the zip line at 3 PM, they were already done for the day. But that’s ok, we had those pictures from the previous Allure cruise. We then headed over to the water front area where they had built the new “Labadee” sign. Well, new to us. It wasn’t there back in December 2014. I’m sure someone will chime in with the exact date it was built. It reminds of me of the Disneyland/California Adventure style lettering.

 

I have mixed feelings about the signs. In one way, it’s great to label your pictures to know where you were. In another way, I felt it got in the way of my clean shot of the ship. Regardless of how I feel, tons of people were lining up to take pictures by the sign before they head back to the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Picture of the beach area with few remaining people at 3:04 PM. My wife busy "working" trying to take the shot from above.

 

[harryfat1]

Back at the main square area

 

 

 

 

 

Waiting for our turn to take a picture at the Santa's sleigh. There was a thread few months back asking about how much holiday decoration is there at Labadee. Here is one example:

 

 

Ho, Ho, Ho...

 

[harryfat1]

Finally made it to the "Labadee" sign. Like I said, lots of people wanting to do one more picture of the area before getting back on the ship

 

 

Waiting for our turn

 

 

If you DON'T want the name to ruin your picture, take it from the side to avoid it

 

 

Finally made it to the sign. As we got there, saw the brother in law and his family walking over after their beach stint

 

 

In retrospect, if you want to take a picture from this spot, do it early in the morning as the sun is favorable. If you waited late like we did, especially during the winter when the sun sets much earlier, you will have the bad afternoon glare as in this picture. But at least you get the long shadow on the sand.

 

Not too many people talk photo tips on their trip reports

[CTCruiser76]

Same as our visit from last time, the gate to the end of the road is closed. I assume that gate has not been opened for many years? Anyone ever been on the other side?

 

 

Can't get there from here...

 

 

Anybody ever been here?

 

 

Looks like the dragon or some sort of beast's mouth:

 

 

 

 

 

I know - I know - I am breaking my number 1 rule of not quoting posts with multiple pictures, but wanted to answer your question at the beginning of this post - Yes, we have been out there, but it was on our very first cruise back in 2001, there was basically nothing on Labadee back then, other then pristine beaches We walked right out there and took a bunch of pictures. I will try to post a few of them tomorrow as they are not stored on this computer, they are my back up storage drive.

 

My guess is that because of the very jagged rocks etc.... that someone got hurt out there, so the closed it off....but its just a guess.

[harryfat1]

I know - I know - I am breaking my number 1 rule of not quoting posts with multiple pictures, but wanted to answer your question at the beginning of this post - Yes, we have been out there, but it was on our very first cruise back in 2001, there was basically nothing on Labadee back then, other then pristine beaches We walked right out there and took a bunch of pictures. I will try to post a few of them tomorrow as they are not stored on this computer, they are my back up storage drive.

 

My guess is that because of the very jagged rocks etc.... that someone got hurt out there, so the closed it off....but its just a guess.

 

Got it. Appreciate the quick response. Looking forward to see pictures from the area.