Independence of the Seas 1/13-1/18/18 Review

Had a great time on Indy, here's some highlights and the cruise compass (if I can get the link to work!). There is also a Teen compass near the end.

Independence 5 Day Cruise Compass (Costa Maya and Cozumel)

We were with a group (20+ people), so I'm just going to touch on topics I was searching the most before we went

Documentation

PLEASE remember a birth certificate or passport! One member did not bring his and we were lucky that he was able to contact someone back home to send a copy to Royal. They printed it for him to take onboard. It was a close call, though. He had no trouble getting on/off the ports, but he said the officials getting back into the US weren't happy.

Photos

Prior to the cruise, the Cruise Planner had the ALL Prints package at $160 or the ALL Digital package at $160. It was $200 for both. On board, it was $200 for ONE of those and additional $50 to add the other option (so $250 for prints and digital). However, there was a $20 off offer the first 3 days of the cruise. So we chose prints only for $180 total. We were told that if anyone else in our group wanted the package, they could get it at 50% off.

Otherwise, prices were: 8x10 $19.99, 5x7 $14.99, 6 prints OR digital $99.99, 1, 10 prints OR digital $149.99. Onboard photos were actually 8x10, only the ports were 5x7

MyVegas

I did manage to get one of the $250 credits applied to my account before they all disappeared. Went very smoothly. BUT, you are then considered a Club Royale cabin and you are excluded from any other benefits. This room did not qualify toward counting in the Group Rate and the night before the cruise we found out that the Bring A Friend promotion also wouldn't work with it. Since half of our group was new, we lost out a bit there and no one at Crown and Anchor acknowledged that until I asked why the credits weren't applied. (I had asked multiple times prior to the cruise and only the night before did they finally admit they could not be combined)

Group Rate

Speaking of Group Rate, we had 11 cabins but actually did not qualify as a group. In addition to the MyVegas issue, a few others booked through sites like expedia, so they were disqualified. In the end we only had 7 rooms that qualified and you need 8. We threw this cruise together in less than 3 months, so we just sort of rolled with it. Lesson learned.

Conference Rooms

It is difficult to find a quiet space for a group this size, so we asked about renting a Conference Room at the Service Desk. We were allowed 2 sessions when other "real" groups weren't booked. No food or drink is allowed, but the space was large and the price was right (free!). A couple of other nights we took over part of the Viking Crown Lounge, which was usually pretty empty. Our plan had been to use the Card Room, but it is already gone (Diamond Lounge now)

Voom

Prior to the cruise, only Surf+Stream was available, so we waited to board to get ours. Interesting that they only offer 1, 2 an 4 device packages and single day pass. The handout with prices is scanned with the cruise compasses. A few of us grouped to get the discount, but you all use the same username and password if you get multi-device. I was able to add my Emerald discount, too.

I don't know anything about measuring wifi speed, but I did download and app and got these results (maybe someone can translate!) This is Surf only

1/14 at 10:30pm (Sea Day) Ping: 409 ms, Download: .47Mbps, Upload .39 Mbps

1/15 at 7:10am (Costa Maya) Ping:10ms, Download .47 Mbps, Upload .43 Mbps

1/16 at 6:44pm (Cozumel) Ping: 437 ms, Download .48 Mbps, Upload .31 Mbps

Communication

Well, most of us had the internet package, so we used an app called Cluster https://cluster.co/. It was very handy for sharing photos when we split up and we were able to download them all afterward. You can also share videos and notes/messages.

Drinks

Many of us also had the deluxe drink package. This covered most of the drinks. I think the only thing my husband paid extra for was Johnny Walker XR which was $19/glass (so he paid $7)! The rest of his scotches and my fruity drinks were covered. The 10-drink card appeared on Day 3 for $85+gratuity. Never had much of a wait at the bars.

Kids in non-adjoining room

Because we booked this one so late, we were not able to get rooms with adjoining doors. We were able to request an extra key at the Service Desk (not check-in, they directed us to the Service Desk). I was worried about mixing them up, but the spare key actually says EXTRA KEY on the bottom and my child's name at the top. They are seasoned cruisers, so they were not bothered that we didn't have the door between the rooms.

Thank-you for the excellent scans!

Thanks for sharing your experience. Your group member who forgot to bring either the BC or passport was lucky to have been accommodated with photocopies.

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Thank you for sharing your review/report.

Keith

We are set to go on this same cruise in February. How was the ship's condition? I know she is going into dry dock soon. Also, do you happen to remember if any of the nights had the cold strawberry soup as an option in the MDR?

Thanks

Can you tell me how long the show Grease is? I'm trying to figure out dining for that night.

Grease - 90 minutes

Thanks!

Grease - 90 minutes

How many times was Grease shown? Also can you tell me what time it started? I too will want to make sure dining does not interfere with show times. I have been spoiled by being able to schedule all dining and entertainment online before sailing on the Oasis class.

Thanks

Thanks so much for the review and Compass links! We can not wait for our March cruise!

Got off the ship yesterday. Grease was shown 2x on Tuesday (port day-all aboard 6pm). Once at 6pm and again at 9pm. It was a challenge to balance dinner in the MDR and the show so we just ate at the WJ after the show. As busy as it was I think many others did the same. Hope this helps.

How many times was Grease shown? Also can you tell me what time it started? I too will want to make sure dining does not interfere with show times. I have been spoiled by being able to schedule all dining and entertainment online before sailing on the Oasis class.

 

Thanks

Got off the ship yesterday. Grease was shown 2x on Tuesday (port day-all aboard 6pm). Once at 6pm and again at 9pm. It was a challenge to balance dinner in the MDR and the show so we just ate at the WJ after the show. As busy as it was I think many others did the same. Hope this helps.

Yes, thank you so much for the information.