KnightsFan

What sort of stuff are you looking to do while in Jax? What sort of bars/restaurants do you like? Are you looking to get a feel for the city, or do you not care if you're eating/drinking at a chain restaurant?

Are you talking about something to do in Miami after the cruise, or something to do on the cruise?

Always tip your Uber driver.

Especially if the trip is less than about 3 miles, or the fare is less than $10. Uber always takes a flat fee so short trips can really cost Uber drivers a lot of money.

This time I guess we wouldn't be looking at bottles as we could each have a glass of whatever we fancied through the evening meal, in which case I think the package may work out cost-effective. It's hard to decide when many days are port days.

Look at it this way, you can try all the wines instead of being married to that specific bottle!

Did you look at the PDF file of the beverage menu?(Warning PDF FILE LINK) This is the copy/paste of what it says.

LIQUOR (Premium / Ultimate)

Absolut, Bacardi, Baker’s, Beefeater, Belvedere, Bombay Sapphire, Canadian Club, Captain Morgan, Crown Royal, Don Julio,

Glenmorangie, Glenfiddich, Gossling Black Seal, Grey Goose, Hendrick’s, Johnnie Walker Black, J&B, Jack Daniels, Ketel One,

Maker’s Mark, Malibu, Myers’s, Patron, Tanqueray

BEER (Select / Premium / Ultimate)

Amstel Light, Budweiser, Bud Light, Coors Light, Corona, Guinness, Heineken, Miller Lite, Stella

WINE (Select / Premium / Ultimate)

We offer a large global assortment of red, white and sparkling wines by the glass. Wine selections vary by ship

And this is what Cruise Critic's guide to drink packages says

Package Details: Royal Caribbean has three alcohol-inclusive beverage packages on offer. The Select Beverage Package costs $39 per passenger, per day and features beer, wine by the glass (up to an $8 value for Caribbean and Alaska sailings and up to a $9 value for Europe, South America and Australia sailings), fountain sodas with a souvenir Coca-Cola cup and a 20 percent discount on wine bottle purchases. The Premium Package, at $49 per person, per day, includes house and premium cocktails (up to $12 value), frozen cocktails, beers, premium wine by the glass (up to $12 value), nonalcoholic cocktails, bottled still water, fountain sodas with a souvenir Coca-Cola cup and a 20 percent discount on wine bottle purchases. The $59 per person, per day Ultimate Package includes premium coffee and tea, bottled still and sparkling water, fresh-squeezed orange juice, house and premium cocktails (up to $12 value), frozen cocktails, beers, premium wine by the glass (up to $12 value), nonalcoholic cocktails, fountain sodas with a souvenir Coca-Cola cup and a 20 percent discount on wine bottle purchases.

 

All prices include a 18 percent gratuity. Packages must be purchased a minimum of four days before the cruise ends.

 

Fine Print: The drinks packages are available on all three-night or longer sailings and must be purchased a minimum of four days before the cruise ends. Only passengers who intend to use a package need to buy it. Package users may only order one item at a time for individual consumption. There is no daily limit on how many items a person may order.

Edit: The percentage you're seeing is the percentage off a bottle of wine. So if you decide to purchase a bottle for dinner to split it's 20% or 40% off depending on the packag.e

Congratulations on the engagement! And thanks for putting together such an, already, in-depth review. I'll be doing a honeymoon next March on the Independence OTS, and am looking forward to getting a preview to what it's like for 20-somethings aboard her.

Our last cruise there were four women/girls sharing an inside so space was tight. We had hard-side luggage that we unzipped and opened up to slide under the beds. We used one for a laundry "hamper" and the others were used like drawers. It worked perfectly to get things out of the way and save on space.

I like this idea, we have one piece of luggage like that, it's hard sided and just a bit too big to fit under the bed, but this is a great solution.

Planning my first cruise next year; Is room service for breakfast really more efficient than just going to the windjammer on port days? Does the Windjammer not open until later or something?

couple of points .... I have used Discovery dives to get wife and dau on the path to SCUBA with success ...

 

First, how comfortable is your partner in the water? If not VERY comfortable this can go wrong real fast. DW was not and I spent two years building her confidence first. She eventually became a very comfortable snorkeler and THEN I proposed a Discovery ... she was signed up for certification the following week. Her big issue was very poor eyesight and a fear she could not see underwater since she'd only tried with 'toy' equipment. Getting GOOD equipment built confidence ...

 

Second, I took dd on a Discovery, during an RCL cruise and they used the place mentioned above. The site is poor ... not much to see. Fortunately dd had done a Discovery previously in Cayman (Sunset House) where there WAS a lot to see and was already hooked; just "getting wet" was fun when the opportunity arose. In the next year she'd gotten certified and begun an internship at CocoView resort. This pic is from the site ... you can see where it is in relation to the 'old' piers in Cozumel

Water comfortability is a good question, she's comfortable in the water, and has snorkeled before on a previous cruise with her family. She's a decent swimmer, has the coordination and knowledge, just doesn't get much opportunity to practice. But that is something I'll try and work on if she agrees.

Sounds like the better option would be a boat snorkel on Cozumel (thinking the Cozumel Water Sports one), and discover scuba around home. Unless the discover SCUBA here turns into OWC.

As long as it doesn't inconvenience others, go right ahead. Only time it irks me is when somebody prevents me from getting my food, or eating it.

If you're sharing the table with me I'll even offer some advice on how to set things up so they look the best.

Thanks, Harris. That actually answered my question quite well.

I wish we were going to more ports, but we're limited by vacation time and schedule. If I don't get any first hand reports here I'll try again over in the Cozumel thread.

Doing a local Discover SCUBA is a good option I'll need to look more into. Her biggest objection is price.

And here's a video of our Indy cruise...it's a bit lengthy...hope you enjoy it!

 

Thanks! Looks like y'all had a great time. That's probably the best passenger video I've seen of a cruise ship. Though I must admit I watched it at double speed. It definitely gives me a better feel for what to expect.

Vicki, love and marriage sounds like fun. Maybe we'll get lucky and be in it.

Its not in the Caribbean, but I wonder what you guys think of this place in the FL Keys?

 

I'd like to go before our next cruise out of Miami if it is as ethical as it sounds.

 

https://www.dolphins.org/

Due to federal law any dolphin's in captivity in the US must have been either born into captivity or been captured before the MMPA(Marine Mammal Protection Act) came into force in the '70s. That means any dolphin encounter in the US will be more ethically sound than one outside of the US.

Granted, the ethics of it all are very complicated and Blackfish isn't a good source of knowledge.

Be the newlywed couple on the Love and Marriage show and win a bottle of champagne?

 

(Didn't want to state the obvious:))

Thanks, this is just the thing I'm asking about. I have no clue what the Love and Marriage show is.

My fiancée and I will be having a mini-honeymoon aboard the Independence of the Seas in March, 4 nights out of Fort Lauderdale going to Cozumel, one night at sea each direction.

This will be my first cruise ever, and her first cruise as an adult, she had a so-so experience as a preteen aboard an Explorer-class ship with her family. The hope is that this will be a no-worries sort of trip, we're already planning on getting the ultimate drink package, a balcony stateroom and I'm planning a champagne and rose petals surprise for our first night.

My question is: What are some must dos for newlyweds in their mid-20s aboard the Independence of the Seas?

tl;dr is: Going to be in Cozumel. Want to introduce my fiancée to diving, in hopes of getting her to agree that it's a fun sport we can pursue together. Worried it'll be 10 minutes of staring at sand. Is this a valid concern?

Longer version: going on a mini-honeymoon to Cozumel, taking RCI. I've heard the diving down there is spectacular. It's something that I want to experience. But I'll need to talk my fiancée into it, since she has never felt the itch to get certified and doesn't have an inherent love of the ocean like I do.

Her biggest concern, and mine, is that the 2 and a half hour excursion won't give her a proper taste, that we won't get much time on the reef. And that she'll spend the entire time worried about messing something up. Altogether making it the lesser option compared to a snorkeling tour

So for those who know about it, or have done it before, is it fun? Will it give a total newbie the confidence to not be panicking? And give us time to see what makes it so awesome?

For reference, I'd go out and get certified tomorrow if I had the disposable income and a partner. My uncle gave me a taste when I was a kid and it's been on my to-do list ever since.