Independence post Thanksgiving cruise Review

Here is my little review of our sailing on Independence ofthe seas. We sailed the week after Thanksgiving November 27th thru December2nd. This was our ninth cruise with Royal, but first on theIndependence. We are in our mid to upper 30’s and normally enjoy beingadventurous in ports, but this cruise was all about relaxing. Our stops were inLabadee and Falmouth.

Pre Cruise:

We drove from Charleston, SC to Ft. Lauderdale on Sunday November26th. What should have been about 8 hours turned into 10 ½ due tothe post-Thanksgiving traffic. We stayed at the Candlewood Suites for $90. Theyoffered to shuttle us to the port, but they don’t let you leave the car. Thehotel was efficient and clean.

Parking and Boarding:

We left the hotel at about 9:50 and got to Park n Go about10. It’s less than 3 miles from Candlewood Suites to Park n go. When we pulled up to Park n Go they unloadedour car, checked us in, and took the keys for the car. I wasn’t sure aboutletting them Valet the car, but everything turned out fine. They dropped us offat terminal 29 about 10:10 and we were thru security and checked in by 10:25. Inever touched our bags once I loaded them into the car which was really nice.They started letting us board around 11. Probably one of the easiest boarding’sI‘ve ever done.

Day 1:

We were on board early so we decided to go head and grab ourfirst drink and go back to the old college motto. You can’t drink all day ifyou don’t start in the morning. I had the drink package and my wife did now.She bought 3 drinks the whole cruise, so it’s definitely now worth the packagefor her. After our drink we went to the wind jammer for lunch. Then we went tothe room to unpack and for my wife to take nap. I decided to do a little barcrawl by myself. It was fun and actually ran into a bar tender from the Monarchseveral years back. It was nice to catch up with him. We went to the Welcome aboard show and it waspretty good. We had the traditional late dinning. We requested a table for twoand got a table for 8. It ended up being just us and another couple which wasreally nice. After dinner we watched the Monday night football game on the pooldeck.

Day 2:

We slept in till about 10 and grabbed breakfast at the windjammer and hung out at the pool all afternoon. We got the pool about 11 andwere able to find chairs right next to the pool. My wife was supposed to have acup cake class at 2, but it was canceled since she was the only one to sign up.We left the pool and changed to catch the ice skating show. We didn’t havetickets, but they let us in anyways. We found seats front row. The show wasn’tmy favorite. I think Freedom’s and Oasis are better. We decided to skip theshow after dinner and went and watched the movie on the deck before bed.

Day 3:

We slept in till about 10 and grabbed lunch before headingto Labadee. We had a zip lining scheduled for 11 and checked in about 10:45. Weenjoyed it. I took some go pro videos of the ride to the top and the zip line.I will try to post those. We finished up a little after 11:45 and headed to thebeach for a few drinks since it was so hot. We headed back to the boat about12:30 and hung out at the pool. The flow rider opened at about 3 and there wasonly 3 of us in line, so I rode it about 10-15 times in about an hour. We went to an abba concert which the oldercrowd seemed to love. My wife enjoyed it, but I am not a big music person. Wewent to dinner and then attended the love and marriage game. I thought thecruise director handled the game well. One of the contestants was a littledrunk and he didn’t let it get out of hand.

Day 4:

Today we were in Falmouth which we normally book somethingwith liberty tours, but since we weren’t in port for very long we originally decidedto just stay on the ship. We slept in again and grabbed breakfast in the windjammer. After breakfast my wife decided she wanted some sugar cane, so we gotoff for a few minutes to get some for her. They we headed up the pool to hangout. We had two comedy shows tonight. Both were really good.

Day 5:

Today was our last sea day. We just relaxed by the pool allday. We went to the show Grease. They had a technical difficulty during theshow which delayed it about 20 minutes. It was a really good show. Enjoyed it alot more then Cats. Went to bed early for an early morning departure.

Debarking:

We did self-assist departure and got in inline by 7. They originally said 7:30, but they startedearly and we were off the boat about 7:30 and in the car on the way home about7:45. Glad we decided against parking at the port. The people who parked at theport had to load their luggage in a bus to carry them to the parking lot. Another couple that disembarked with us textedus when they pulled out the port and it was a little after 8.

Overall we had a great cruise. Can’t say that I’ve had badone either. My wife enjoys the food and I go for the pool and drinks. My wifewasn’t impressed with the food. She actually skipped the wind jammer a coupleof times during lunch. I enjoyed all the bars. They only had roaming barservers one day. On Oasis we always had them. My wife thinks they got rid ofthem and made them life guards. If anybody has questions I can do my best toanswer. I have a pdf of the cruise compasses if anybody wants them. Not sure ifI can upload them here.

Nice review - thanks! :)

You are right...if you want to drink all day, then you have to start early! It actually works!

As far as the pool seating goes...we enjoy being up a deck from the pool...less noisy and more space!

Glad you had a great cruise!

Here is my little review of our sailing on Independence ofthe seas. We sailed the week after Thanksgiving November 27th thru December2nd. This was our ninth cruise with Royal, but first on theIndependence. We are in our mid to upper 30’s and normally enjoy beingadventurous in ports, but this cruise was all about relaxing. Our stops were inLabadee and Falmouth.

Pre Cruise:

We drove from Charleston, SC to Ft. Lauderdale on Sunday November26th. What should have been about 8 hours turned into 10 ½ due tothe post-Thanksgiving traffic. We stayed at the Candlewood Suites for $90. Theyoffered to shuttle us to the port, but they don’t let you leave the car. Thehotel was efficient and clean.

Parking and Boarding:

We left the hotel at about 9:50 and got to Park n Go about10. It’s less than 3 miles from Candlewood Suites to Park n go. When we pulled up to Park n Go they unloadedour car, checked us in, and took the keys for the car. I wasn’t sure aboutletting them Valet the car, but everything turned out fine. They dropped us offat terminal 29 about 10:10 and we were thru security and checked in by 10:25. Inever touched our bags once I loaded them into the car which was really nice.They started letting us board around 11. Probably one of the easiest boarding’sI‘ve ever done.

Day 1:

We were on board early so we decided to go head and grab ourfirst drink and go back to the old college motto. You can’t drink all day ifyou don’t start in the morning. I had the drink package and my wife did now.She bought 3 drinks the whole cruise, so it’s definitely now worth the packagefor her. After our drink we went to the wind jammer for lunch. Then we went tothe room to unpack and for my wife to take nap. I decided to do a little barcrawl by myself. It was fun and actually ran into a bar tender from the Monarchseveral years back. It was nice to catch up with him. We went to the Welcome aboard show and it waspretty good. We had the traditional late dinning. We requested a table for twoand got a table for 8. It ended up being just us and another couple which wasreally nice. After dinner we watched the Monday night football game on the pooldeck.

Day 2:

We slept in till about 10 and grabbed breakfast at the windjammer and hung out at the pool all afternoon. We got the pool about 11 andwere able to find chairs right next to the pool. My wife was supposed to have acup cake class at 2, but it was canceled since she was the only one to sign up.We left the pool and changed to catch the ice skating show. We didn’t havetickets, but they let us in anyways. We found seats front row. The show wasn’tmy favorite. I think Freedom’s and Oasis are better. We decided to skip theshow after dinner and went and watched the movie on the deck before bed.

Day 3:

We slept in till about 10 and grabbed lunch before headingto Labadee. We had a zip lining scheduled for 11 and checked in about 10:45. Weenjoyed it. I took some go pro videos of the ride to the top and the zip line.I will try to post those. We finished up a little after 11:45 and headed to thebeach for a few drinks since it was so hot. We headed back to the boat about12:30 and hung out at the pool. The flow rider opened at about 3 and there wasonly 3 of us in line, so I rode it about 10-15 times in about an hour. We went to an abba concert which the oldercrowd seemed to love. My wife enjoyed it, but I am not a big music person. Wewent to dinner and then attended the love and marriage game. I thought thecruise director handled the game well. One of the contestants was a littledrunk and he didn’t let it get out of hand.

Day 4:

Today we were in Falmouth which we normally book somethingwith liberty tours, but since we weren’t in port for very long we originally decidedto just stay on the ship. We slept in again and grabbed breakfast in the windjammer. After breakfast my wife decided she wanted some sugar cane, so we gotoff for a few minutes to get some for her. They we headed up the pool to hangout. We had two comedy shows tonight. Both were really good.

Day 5:

Today was our last sea day. We just relaxed by the pool allday. We went to the show Grease. They had a technical difficulty during theshow which delayed it about 20 minutes. It was a really good show. Enjoyed it alot more then Cats. Went to bed early for an early morning departure.

Debarking:

We did self-assist departure and got in inline by 7. They originally said 7:30, but they startedearly and we were off the boat about 7:30 and in the car on the way home about7:45. Glad we decided against parking at the port. The people who parked at theport had to load their luggage in a bus to carry them to the parking lot. Another couple that disembarked with us textedus when they pulled out the port and it was a little after 8.

 

Overall we had a great cruise. Can’t say that I’ve had badone either. My wife enjoys the food and I go for the pool and drinks. My wifewasn’t impressed with the food. She actually skipped the wind jammer a coupleof times during lunch. I enjoyed all the bars. They only had roaming barservers one day. On Oasis we always had them. My wife thinks they got rid ofthem and made them life guards. If anybody has questions I can do my best toanswer. I have a pdf of the cruise compasses if anybody wants them. Not sure ifI can upload them here.

I was on this sailing as well... OLDER?? Is 42 "older" now? UGH I was jamming to ABBA! :o ;)

Appreciate the feedback.

I was on this sailing as well... OLDER?? Is 42 "older" now? UGH I was jamming to ABBA! :o ;)

I was also on this sailing. I am legitimately part of the crowd the OP was referring to (65) but I still laughed when I read it :')

I was on this sailing as well... OLDER?? Is 42 "older" now? UGH I was jamming to ABBA! :o ;)

My wife is 35 and she loved it also. Wasn't my favorite, but I thought they put on a good show. I do admit I am not a big music fan.

Only 3 people in line for the flowrider in the afternoon...my boys would be in heaven!

Independence ofthe seas.

Thanks for the latest on Indy.

I'm guessing you wrote your review offline and then cut and paste it here? They haven't fixed that annoying bug that randomlyrunswordstogether when you do that.

Yes, I'd love to see the Compass Pointes posted - leaving Jan 8th!