Independence 5/2-5/6 Cruise

[TexasRon]

We are onboard for the work week.  I will post some, but it won’t be live and I don’t know if I will be able to answer any questions…. We are off to have a good time!

[TexasRon]

A Royal Suite welcome…

[TexasRon]

We have only been on two Royal Caribbean cruises prior to this one, so we don’t have a lot of experience and are only learning about RC…so it isn’t that I won’t try to answer questions; I just may not know how/where to get the answers!

Edited May 2, 2022 by TexasRon

[TexasRon]

[OCSC Mike]

Enjoy! I'm literally in the middle of booking a B2B on Independence in July.

 

I don't have any specific questions but cruise compass pics are always appreciated and any food/drink observations/reviews you care to share would be great.

 

Looking forward to anything and everything you have to share. I've only been on Freedom class once and that was a long time ago.

 

 

[TexasRon]

We left The Inn at Cocoa Beach at about 9:30.  Arrived at the terminal and dropped off luggage at 9:45.  Weirdness—the porters had to stay behind the line on the ground and have baggage handed to them.  Apparently the insurance company is doing an inspection today due to an accident where I driver hit two porters…

 

The porter we had was great.  Parked and headed down to terminal.  A quick check of our vaccine proof and Covid tests, on through the metal detectors, and a stop at the check in desk and we were in the Suite area waiting for boarding to begin.

 

The Concierge, Grecia, met us and escorted us on to the ship.  She gave us a tour of the ship and spent a lot of time getting to know us.  After an hour, it was time for lunch at Chops…

[OCSC Mike]

BTW, if YOU have any questions, feel free to ask them even if that sounds weird. You'll likely get faster and better responses here than on board. 😁

 

Maybe try the cookie dessert at Playmakers (sports bar on Deck 4)... and post pics.

 

[TexasRon]

Lunch at Chops was very good.  We had main courses, a side each, and wine.  Perfect lunch.  My filet was very good and done perfectly.  My wife had a steak salad.  It was good but the tomatoes looked like they needed time to ripen…no tomatoes for her anyway, so it was only a visual issue.

 

I had a cappuccino after lunch…then off to the muster station and the suite for champagne and to try the tasty items left for us to enjoy.

 

I also found our luggage and we got unpacked.

[TexasRon]

6 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

BTW, if YOU have any questions, feel free to ask them even if that sounds weird. You'll likely get faster and better responses here than on board. 😁

 

Maybe try the cookie dessert at Playmakers (sports bar on Deck 4)... and post pics.

 

We enjoyed Playmakers on Mariner.  The one on Indy is so much larger…the whole deck wide.  Grecia’s husband is the manager.  The two of them have a great love story…she was fun to be around.

 

We brought her Lays potato chips and Cheetos…she mentioned them when I asked if we could bring anything for them.

 

 

 

 

[SG65CB]

Be sure to post video here of you playing the piano. 

 

[OCSC Mike]

3 minutes ago, TexasRon said:

We enjoyed Playmakers on Mariner.  The one on Indy is so much larger…the whole deck wide.  Grecia’s husband is the manager.  The two of them have a great love story…she was fun to be around.

 

We brought her Lays potato chips and Cheetos…she mentioned them when I asked if we could bring anything for them.

 

Cool. I haven't been on a ship with a Playmakers yet, I just know people rave about that cookie.

 

It's always nice when you form a connection a crew member. My wife became very friendly with a WJ greeter on Oasis a while back when we sailed twice 3 weeks apart. She wound up connecting with her via FB and kept in touch every so often for years after. She was one of happiest and friendliest crew members we have ever met.

[DesireeC03]

we are on the Indy in June - enjoy!  Your room looks huge.

[RRTcruiser]

I can’t say enough great things about Independence, we love that ship.

If Grecia’s husband is Alex at Playmakers, he is Awesome as well as the rest of his staff.  On Allure as we speak for a back2back, which is also a

great ship but will always have a fondness for Independence 

[TexasRon]

33 minutes ago, RRTcruiser said:

I can’t say enough great things about Independence, we love that ship.

If Grecia’s husband is Alex at Playmakers, he is Awesome as well as the rest of his staff.  On Allure as we speak for a back2back, which is also a

great ship but will always have a fondness for Independence 

Alex is her husband…their love story is awesome and includes times that they could only see each other “live” when both of their ships were in CocoCay at the same time and they waved and took pictures from the same deck on each ship…and I thought my wife and I had good story!!

 

Grecia said they would enjoy the snacks in their cabin while watching movies on Netflix…

Edited May 2, 2022 by TexasRon

[TexasRon]

250 or so missing from their “Mustard” stations (out son, and I am sure many others, called them that) and it is “Go” time.  Can we not do stuff the easier way?

[TexasRon]

Everyone tracked down and a second bottle of champagne for the hot tub sail away…

 

then off dinner at Izumi after an hour at the casino.

[TexasRon]

[TexasRon]

Mariner leaving Port Canaveral

[bmc alabama]

Thanks for the Compasses.  We sail next Monday (though we are in an Oceanview, not a suite) and don't have a beverage or dining package, so we'll miss Chops, but make great use of the Windjammer and Sorrento's...

[OCSC Mike]

2 hours ago, bmc alabama said:

Thanks for the Compasses.  We sail next Monday (though we are in an Oceanview, not a suite) and don't have a beverage or dining package, so we'll miss Chops, but make great use of the Windjammer and Sorrento's...

BMC, looking forward to any free food feedback you have next week!

 

Ron, more thanks for the compasses.

[TexasRon]

Dinner at Izumi (Hibachi) was fun and very good.   Good conversation at the table once people opened up a little and the food was delicious.

 

We were in the casino for a bit before dinner (lost money) and then after dinner.  My wife made quite a run at the slots with two payouts over $1000 and some smaller ones for a few hundred.  She did run a lot of money through the machines…

 

I played craps for about four hours and managed to end up $500 ahead.

 

I brought the cash from our last casino visit (Golden Nugget Lake Charles) and we have 150% more cash now.  Certainly a good chance we lose some of that but we will go home with the Lake Charles bankroll at a minimum…

 

We beat the drink package yesterday.  Not sure how good that feels this morning, but we had drinks valued by list price at about $234 plus a discounted bottle of Champagne for sail away (we had already emptied the one in the room).  The rest of the trip will be calmer; the first night always ends up as a long one!

[jk04]

Love that view!

[TexasRon]

1 minute ago, jk04 said:

Love that view!

It is always great to sit on a ship’s balcony in the morning and enjoy a cup of coffee.  Very relaxing.

[jk04]

4 minutes ago, TexasRon said:

It is always great to sit on a ship’s balcony in the morning and enjoy a cup of coffee.  Very relaxing.

We will be on Indy in Sept.  Just a lowly JS, though.   I love sitting out on the balcony, just listening to the sound of the water.  So relaxing.  Thanks for sharing your time aboard.

[OCSC Mike]

4 minutes ago, TexasRon said:

It is always great to sit on a ship’s balcony in the morning and enjoy a cup of coffee.  Very relaxing.

Make that coffee a double cappuccino from the suite/diamond lounge machine and agree. I usually grab a danish or something to go with it as my morning routine onboard while my (far healthier) wife goes for an early morning run.