Independence of the Seas - A Rookie's Reflection

We just completed our first cruise aboard Independence of the Seas, on an Eastern Caribbean itinerary. I though I'd share some thoughts, observations and other comments if they might be of help to future cruisers (especially cruise virgins!). I organized this post under headings, in no particular order!

My wife and I travelled as a couple, on our first big vacation in a decade (and our first away from our two children). Overall it was an exceptional experience, and we think we're "hooked" on cruising - it really does offer something for everyone, and we were seldom looking for anything to do. One of my initial concerns about cruising - two, actually - had to do with either feeling "trapped" on the boat with nothing to do, or trapped by intense crowds. Neither of these concerns materialized, except for crowds in certain situations that were understandable / unavoidable (e.g. getting on/off the ship). Our ship was full, but we seldom felt that there were 4300 guests on the ship with us.

-- Embarkation --

We stayed overnight at the Holiday Inn on 17th Street, not far from the pier. We took their shuttle to the cruise terminal, and while it was busy, we were onboard in about 20-25 minutes. Very easy and well-organized. We arrived at the pier at around 11:40, and we were onboard just after noon. We ate a light lunch at the Cafe Promenade and then went exploring until 1pm when the cabins opened. Thanks to tips on this site, one of the first places we sought out was the helipad on Deck 5. We had it to ourselves!

-- Early Rookie Mistakes --

My wife decided to enter a draw for a spa giveaway on embarkation day, but entrants had to be present at 4pm for the draw in order to win. Hehe. I suppose it's good we learned early that so much of what happens on a cruise ship has to do with the up-sell: always trying to get guests to buy more. The whole prize draw process - a half-hour affair - was trying to sell this spa package or that spa service. It happened during sailaway, which was too bad - we didn't realize the ship was leaving, and when we finally got to the deck, we were sailing along the coast of Florida! Rookie mistake, and we'll know for next time.

Likewise, we thought the Port Shopping Talk might be helpful (we'd never been to the islands), but it, too, was mostly an advertisement for shopping at Royal Caribbean's preferred merchants in each port (and then, mostly for jewelry). We had been hoping for more practical discussion and tips on where to go, where to avoid, cultural norms such as bartering, etc.

-- Dining --

We decided to dine at Chops Grille on the first evening, since they were offering a 20% discount on the first night. On reflection we'd definitely do this again: we dined early in the evening and there were only two other couples in the restaurant. It was a lovely, intimate way to begin our cruise. The food was excellent: she had a seafood dish and I had a steak, and we were happy with both the food and service.

We dined in the Main Dining Room most other evenings, on My Time. We reserved most nights, and we asked for the same table, which was not guaranteed but ended up being granted every night. Our reservation time was not consistent (by choice): some nights we ate early at around 5:30 or 6, other nights we went closer to 8pm. The My Time desk did seem a little disorganized, but they got the job done. A few times we overheard other guests complaining about how long they had to wait. With reservations, we never had to wait more than five minutes for our table.

We asked for - and received - a table for two. Others have commented about how close the tables are, and it isn't an exaggeration. One night we had an empty table beside us, but all other nights there was a couple next to us. We were fortunate to have a table along the railing, so we had a nice view of all three levels of the dining room.

We found the food to be quite good on most evenings. Some meals were exceptional, others just okay. I was particularly disappointed with the prime rib on the second formal night (lobster night): it was quite bland, although very tender. My wife - a seafood fanatic - found the lobster to be okay, but nothing to write home about. Being from the east coast of Canada, a properly cooked lobster is easy to come by, so our standards might be different from Royal Caribbean! :D

Attire was all over the map in the dining room. My wife and I chose to wear "shore clothes" for supper (what we might wear to a nice restaurant elsewhere), but we saw many shorts and sandals. It didn't bother us at all: we wanted to dress up a bit, but that is our business. Likewise on formal nights, I wore a suit and she had beautiful dresses, but the clothing was all over the place. To each their own, and it didn't detract from our experience at all.

We ate breakfast in the Windjammer buffet most mornings, and it was pretty good. We ate one supper there. Lunches tended to be all over the map: we ate at the Cafe, one time at the pizzeria (meh - once was enough), once at Johnny Rockets (again, once was enough), room service a couple of times, and in port twice.

-- Service / Staff --

Most of the staff seemed friendly and helpful. Our room steward was excellent: very funny, personable and efficient. Our waiter and assistant waiter in the MDR were also wonderful, and we found a couple of bar staff we sought out quite a bit (one in the Schooner Bar on Deck 4, and the other at Olive or Twist on Deck 14 - she was the nicest employee we met on the ship).

We did find the people working at Cafe Promenade to be less happy. Perhaps it is the nature of the beast, but they barely smiled and didn't seem to enjoy anything about their positions. One server behind the counter, in particular, was just on the edge of being surly.

-- Drinks --

We agonized over whether to buy one of the infamous drink packages.

Before I begin: my wife and I are lightweights, and we don't drink much to speak of. We aren't teetotalers - we enjoy social drinking - but we don't usually get drunk. Still, with the prices of drinks we felt it might be worthwhile.

In the end, for our first cruise, we decided to go a la carte with drinks, and thank goodness we did! Our approach was to drink whatever and whenever we felt like it, and not limit ourselves.

It wouldn't have even come close to being economical: at $49/day/person (plus 18% auto tip), the drink package would have cost us $404.74 each, or $809.48 combined. As it turned out, for the two of us combined (including alcohol and soda) we ended up spending $405.54 for the week (or about $200 each). This includes auto 18% tips, plus any additional tips we opted to give.

We started out drinking a lot of the $10 "Drinks of the Day" in order to receive the souvenir glasses to take home for us and family. After we had enough glasses we switched to $7 mixed drinks such as peach schnapps and OJ, or rum mixed with soda and OJ. I also like Smirnoff Ice, which is $6.50/bottle. The Schooner Bar seemed to mix drinks a bit stronger than the other bars we went to.

-- Tipping --

I'm not a fan of the tipping policy.

Since we were My Time, we had to prepay gratuities, which was fine. However, they didn't give any breakdown as to how this money was shared or allocated to the various staff members, and I would have liked to know that. I suppose Guest Services might have been able to tell me, but there was always a long line at that desk!

The lack of transparency is something I think RCI should address. For those auto 18% tips, where does that money go? When I order a drink, is that server getting all or most of that 18%, or does it go into a pot from which he/she only draws a small portion? I understand the idea of "tipping back" to the staff behind the scenes, but what is the breakdown? I found myself tipping a bit more (optional) for the bar staff I liked most, in the hopes that most of that additional tip would go directly to them.

I also tipped some extra cash for our steward and waiters at the end of the cruise. I did so knowing full well that it was optional and considered an additional gratuity, but they were excellent. Again, though, I would have liked to have known how much I had already tipped them through the prepaid amount.

The cynic in me also wonders whether RCI keeps a cut of the prepaid and/or auto 18% tips. Some restaurants claim a "service fee" from employee tips. Does RCI do the same?

In the end, I think I'd prefer the old fashioned way of tipping at the end. With My Time, as I understand, this isn't an option.

-- Ports / Excursions --

We went to three ports in three consecutive days: San Juan, Philipsburg (St. Maarten), and Basseterre (St. Kitts).

San Juan was a late port: 4pm arrival and 11pm departure. We had specific items we wanted to purchase in San Juan, so we walked the port on our own, which was fun. Neat old city, lots of character. We were back onboard by 8-ish and ate in the MDR.

For the other two ports we booked off-boat excursions based on recommendations and advice found on Cruise Critic. Great advice! (Thanks!)

We used Bernard's Tours in St. Maarten. We took a four-hour tour that excluded the big beach (Orient?). The other, longer tour had a beach stop. It was a good tour, great guide (DJ), and we had a chance to shop in a market and sample local food, as well as visit the airport at Maho. A large jet landed during our 45-minute stop, which is what I wanted to see. A few other jets took off but I had no interest the jet blast experience!

We used My Island Tours by Javin for St. Kitts, and it was our favourite of the three. His all-day tour was unexpectedly a private tour, which was fantastic. He takes his guests "off the beaten path" so to speak, away from the tourist areas to the area of his youth. The tour includes a visit to an abandoned sugar factory, a lava rock beach, a rainforest hike, a picnic with local pastry-type breads, snorkeling, and a final beach stop for an hour (Cockleshell, I think). Great day! Tips: just wear your swimsuit all day. He outfits his vehicle with a seat cover so you can drive wet to the beach after the snorkel. Bring shoes that have good traction for the hike, and that are also waterproof. My wife wore water shoes. I did not! My sneakers took the rest of the cruise to dry! :) Finally, understand that the snorkeling is quite a swim out from the beach. I initially declined a lifejacket but I ended up grabbing one, and thank goodness I did! My wife is much more athletic - and a stronger swimmer than me - so she did fine without.

-- Activities / Shows --

We found that there was a good mix of activities to do, and we seldom felt as thought there was "nothing to do". On those rare occasions, a deck walk or relaxation on our balcony were easy alternatives.

The ice show was awesome! I found the "Once Upon a Time" stage show to be... something. The performance and production values were great, but the show itself was lacking and perhaps a bit corny or cheesy. We did a lot of trivia and we really enjoyed a band that frequently played at Olive or Twist at night - Odysea. Great cover band!

-- Kids --

We had worried that a summer cruise might be overrun by kids onboard, which might take away from our goal of a romantic cruise getaway. In the end, while there were a lot of kids and teens onboard (~1100 according to one officer), they were mostly well-behaved and kept to themselves. Some of the kids started getting a bit rangy on the last sea day (Saturday), but mostly nonsense and nothing extreme or intrusive.

One unique (or perhaps not - maybe it is very common) aspect of our cruise was the number of quinceañeras celebrating their birthdays. On both formal nights they played Time to Say Goodbye in the main dining room, as nearly a dozen young women descended the grand staircase in white dresses and tiaras. I hadn't previously known about this tradition, but my wife was familiar with it. Very interesting to observe this special event for these young women and their families.

-- Disembarkation / Customs / FLL Airport --

What an unfortunate way to end our cruise.

Again, we're rookies, so perhaps we didn't do what the pros do, but we followed the directions and waited for the designated time for our tag number. I think we may have been the only ones to do so!

It took 45 minutes to get from the theatre to the gangway, and then another 30 minutes to get to the baggage claim area. We were starting to worry about catching our flight from FLL at 12:15.

We decided to use a porter, and thank goodness for that! The porters don't have a special line as I expected (I thought I had read that they did), but he made his own line and got us to the customs agent in about five minutes. He wasn't taking no for an answer from anyone, including us as we hesitated about cutting in and out of lines ahead of others. He works for his tips, and we tipped accordingly - I'm sure he saved us an hour, and quite possibly our flight.

FLL isn't the nicest airport we've flown out of! The gate situation is absurd - basically an open room with all the gates surrounding it, which makes for a lot of noise and confusion as the desk agents try to talk over each other. I now understand why people on this forum suggest flying out of Miami, and I think we'll do that next time if we sail from Lauderdale.

In fact, I think it might be worthwhile to stay overnight on disembarkation day, take our time getting off the ship, and then fly home on Monday.

-- Overall --

Overall it was a fantastic vacation, and we are eager to plan our next cruise! We're hoping to bring our kids and perhaps our parents on the next one - there were a lot of extended families on the ship, and it seems to be a great way to travel together.

Thanks to those on this site - the forums are a great source of information and insights. I'm happy to answer any questions, and I also invite comments and tips for future cruises! :)

Thank you for your thorough review. So glad you had a great time. We have never been on the Indy before but I read it is a favorite of so many people. Ever since we have discovered Royal we don't want to book any other cruiseline and when we did, all we kept saying was Royal was so much better.

Start looking for your next cruise because we are all too familiar with Royal cruise withdrawal. :)

Excellent trip report. Thanks for sharing.

Nice review, thanks for posting.

Thank you for the report! We will be going on the same ship and itinerary in October and have been waiting to read a report from someone since the change to 7 day Eastern/7 day Western.

Great report! Thanks for sharing. I will be doing this exact cruise in October and reading your review has helped pass a little time and given me some thoughts about things to do.

The Prepaid tips go to the room attendant, waiters, ass't waiter and head waiter. The 18% bar tips go to the bartenders...probably split someway... just like in any bar.

Thanks a lot for posting your "first cruise" thoughts. It was very enjoyable to read and it's great for cruise virgins to read!

I am so sorry you missed your first sail a way! Seeing the ship, ever so slowly begin to pull away from the dock is still one of my favorite moments of a cruise. Next time!

Also glad you made the right decision on the drink package. Like you, we are not heavy drinkers, but we do order what we want whenever we want and our bar bill is not even close to the cost of the package! Now when we were younger it would probably be a different story!

Likewise, we thought the Port Shopping Talk might be helpful (we'd never been to the islands), but it, too, was mostly an advertisement for shopping at Royal Caribbean's preferred merchants in each port (and then, mostly for jewelry). We had been hoping for more practical discussion and tips on where to go, where to avoid, cultural norms such as bartering, etc.

 

Agreed! We were just on Indy last month .. same cruise as you. We got up and left this one .. it was such an obvious push toward the places RC "recommends" (cough ... kickback .. cough ... )

And not sure if u had the same girl we had (not sure her name) but man was she over the top .. too overly exuberant and talked too much and too fast!

She came on just after the Shore Excursions Talk with the Cruise Director Leigh and the Shore Excursions Manager (not sure his name, but a big island dude who mumbled his way through it and who was difficult to understand ) ... this was also a waste because they went thru each of the shore excursions for the upcoming islands .. the Short Exc Mgr guy kept saying "AND STUFF LIKE DAT" too much --- drove me crazy. And the worst part .. is that after he described each tour ... he would say ? BUT DAT TOUR BE SOLE OUT RI NOW ... AND STUFF LIKE DAT.."

Im not kidding !

Great cruise tho !

Thank you so much for your review. We are going on Indy in Sept (first time on Royal) and have been looking for more Indy reviews :D We took Bernard's tour last year and had DJ too and really liked it. Would love to see any pics you have of the ship, menus, islands... whatever lol

Enjoyed your review! Will be on Indy soon for the same cruise. I am glad you had a good time and hope you and your family enjoy many more cruises!

Great review. We were on the same cruise that departed 6/21/2015. Recognized just about everything you addressed in your review. Thanks for sharing.

Going on Independence next month and can't wait!! Thank you so much for your review!

I am also doing this ship in 2 weeks on our first cruise. I am also confused about tipping. I did the pay ahead thing, so is that all I should worry about? Should I feel guilty about ordering a pizza at sorrento's and not giving a tip? Or the bartender that gives me a bottle of water?

I am also doing this ship in 2 weeks on our first cruise. I am also confused about tipping. I did the pay ahead thing, so is that all I should worry about? Should I feel guilty about ordering a pizza at sorrento's and not giving a tip? Or the bartender that gives me a bottle of water?

Its definitely an odd feeling .. but youre correct -- u do not to leave anything. Trust me after the first day, youll be used to it ;)

I am also doing this ship in 2 weeks on our first cruise. I am also confused about tipping. I did the pay ahead thing, so is that all I should worry about? Should I feel guilty about ordering a pizza at sorrento's and not giving a tip? Or the bartender that gives me a bottle of water?

You've prepaid all your tips. About the only one I'd give extra would be room service delivery.

I am also doing this ship in 2 weeks on our first cruise. I am also confused about tipping. I did the pay ahead thing, so is that all I should worry about? Should I feel guilty about ordering a pizza at sorrento's and not giving a tip? Or the bartender that gives me a bottle of water?

..... oh ... and I forgot to add ... the pizza at Sorrentos is free anyway ... as it should be because it STINKS!!!! its worse than supermarket frozen stuff. :rolleyes:

Thank you for taking the time for your review! I would have to agree with you on the sales pitch for the port days.... it would be so much better if they actually gave us real tips and suggestions, not just pushing their preferred shopping stores...

I will be on the same itinerary in September and getting more excited by the day :) With the late arrival in San Juan, did you find most people stayed on land for dinner, or returned later to eat. I was thinking of booking a late specialty dinner that night as we have the 6pm seating for the week. Not too sure what the best option is for that day...

-Danielle

Oh. Is there no place to get a decent pizza on board?

Oh. Is there no place to get a decent pizza on board?

We have no problem with the pizza from Sorrento's on the Royal Promenade.

I am also doing this ship in 2 weeks on our first cruise. I am also confused about tipping. I did the pay ahead thing, so is that all I should worry about? Should I feel guilty about ordering a pizza at sorrento's and not giving a tip? Or the bartender that gives me a bottle of water?

I found this on RCI's website, which is a bit helpful but doesn't provide specific amounts for each individual. I didn't tip for free venues (pizza, cafe, buffet) and it sounds like the workers in these areas get a piece of the prepaid gratuity.

When you drink (pay as you go) you'll encounter an automatic 18% tip, whether it is a cocktail or a Coke. If you buy a package you'll be charged the 18% on top of the package price, per day (so $49 becomes $57.82/day). There seems to be a variety of opinions on tipping if you have a drink package, ranging from a buck a drink, a few bucks here and there, $20 up front, and nothing.

Q: How is the automatic daily gratuity shared between members of the staff and crew?

A:

The automatic gratuity is $12.95 USD, or $15.95 USD for suite guests, applied to each guest's SeaPass® account on a daily basis. Here's how it is shared between your onboard service team:

Dining & Culinary Services: $7.75 USD

Stateroom Attendant: $3.85 USD OR Suite Attendant: $6.10 USD

Other Housekeeping Services: $1.35 USD OR Housekeeping and Suite Services: $2.10 USD

I will be on the same itinerary in September and getting more excited by the day :) With the late arrival in San Juan, did you find most people stayed on land for dinner, or returned later to eat. I was thinking of booking a late specialty dinner that night as we have the 6pm seating for the week. Not too sure what the best option is for that day...

Have fun! We liked the first day at sea, and the San Juan day feels, in a way, like two days in one since you're at sea until 4pm, and then you have the evening in port.

That was the only night when we didn't have anyone seated next to us in the MDR. It wasn't busy at all. We ate when we returned to the ship, so somewhere around 8-8:30. As I recall, it wasn't hard to get onboard at all: short lines, quick. There is a number of shopping and restaurants very close to the pier so many people may have stayed ashore to eat and shop.

Agreed! We were just on Indy last month .. same cruise as you. We got up and left this one .. it was such an obvious push toward the places RC "recommends" (cough ... kickback .. cough ... )

And not sure if u had the same girl we had (not sure her name) but man was she over the top .. too overly exuberant and talked too much and too fast

We had a gentleman as our port shopping manager or whatever the title is. One of his pitches was for the portrait studio: all through his presentation there was a massive, black-and-white, moody photo of him as the PowerPoint background. Odd!

We made it through San Juan then left! :)

Thank you so much for your review. We are going on Indy in Sept (first time on Royal) and have been looking for more Indy reviews :D We took Bernard's tour last year and had DJ too and really liked it. Would love to see any pics you have of the ship, menus, islands... whatever lol

Glad you found it helpful. I'll see what I can do about posting photos and perhaps I'll scan the Compasses and figure out how to post those. We're still organizing the photos and whatnot.

In the meantime, if you haven't already, I'd suggest checking out this thread. Lots of great photos and info:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2204395&highlight=independence

We have no problem with the pizza from Sorrento's on the Royal Promenade.

I never eat pizza on the ship but my DW has some every day from Sorrentos. She never complains about so I figure it can't be all that bad