Independence of the Seas B2B review for 12/6 and 12/14 sailings.

[Paulette3028]

We were on the 12/05 ios sailing and we had to turn move our clocks forward on the 3rd night and then back on the 7th night. So maybe you need to go on the cruise to know diffferently.

 

I have been on cruises where the clocks never changed regardless of what the local time was......maybe it is at the Captain's discretion.

[LTC loves to cruise]

Can you reserve the cabanas in advance?

 

 

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[Clarea]

Can you reserve the cabanas in advance?

Labadee cabanas in the Nellie's Beach area can be reserved in advance via Royal's website.

[sparkymom]

We were also on the 12-24 cruise on Indy! It was a great cruise from start to finish.. I am glad we did Dunn River Falls on the day it rained, we didn't even notice it! We did go to Barefoot beach and enjoy W5 cabana there. It's a great beach and swim or snorkel area. There wasn't any line for food inside the Barefoot beach area, so don't worry about that... The lunch was excellent, I loved the steak! Advice for "dst": just email the concierge a week out from your cruise and let him "Raj" know you would like a cabana at Barefoot Beach. He had my choice reserved and billed it to the SeaPass without any difficulties for us..can't wait to re board again in November ...

 

 

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[sparkymom]

Dst, oops sorry, I see you already have a cabana? Excuse my useless info :) It was a great review of the cruise!

 

 

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[OttoCal]

Thanks for the great review! Looking forward to our Independence sailing on Valentine's Day :)

 

I agree with San Juan being too sort of a port stop. 7-2, seriously??? Ughhhhh.

[dst]

Dst, oops sorry, I see you already have a cabana? Excuse my useless info :) It was a great review of the cruise!

 

 

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It was helpful - thank you so much

the cabana you had #5 - did you like it, was it private, over the water?

 

Did you leave us anything in the cabana ;)

[luvmykidsluv2cruise]

Thanks for an awesome review. I know you said you didn't do any activities but do you remember if the game Quest was held and the Love and Marriage Show?

 

THanks

Triena

[ptf2009]

Thanks for an awesome review. I know you said you didn't do any activities but do you remember if the game Quest was held and the Love and Marriage Show?

 

THanks

Triena

 

Yes the quest game was on the 12/5 sailing...lots of craziness and fun. Also the love and marriage game was really wild. But it seemed like the couple who won knew all the questions because how many 80 yr. Olds can remember such things....they weren't even funny because it was so obvious. The other 2 couples were a riot!

[hungryg]

Great review - thanks so much, we are sailing on IOS Jan 17th - I haven't been on RCI in over ten years (have been cruising another line) DH this will be his first RCI cruise.

 

We have a cabana reserved but we will be on barefoot beach (we are in a GS) did you happen to see that area?

 

Thanks for the tip on Olive and Twist - I love a good martini, we will say hello to the bar staff for you ;)

 

We have also purchased the Ultimate package - where do you get the specialty coffees....was the coffee good?

 

Any other tips you can give, what about the parades - I guess they are on the Promenade; our SIL has a promenade cabin so we are thinking that would be the best place to watch it

 

 

Thanks Again

 

We didn't make it to Barefoot, our cabana's were on Nellies Beach. Tell Matica in Olive or Twist Jesse and Tessa say HI!!

 

The first cruise i did get the UP(Ultimate package) but I opted for the PP(preferred package) the next cruise because to PP doesn't include specialty coffee. You can get specialty coffee on the promenade, they were ok but not good enough to sway me to get a UP again.

 

As far as parades go, they are fun and not too long. A lot of people with Promenade rooms watch from their windows.

[hungryg]

Appreciate you taking the time to post such a detailed review.

 

One question: On the eight day cruise, does the ship stay on Florida time the entire cruise or do they move the clocks on the ship an hour ahead to better match up with the islands time (and not have such an early sunrise and sunset)?

 

We did change time on the eastern cruise before we got to St Maarten ahead one hour and back one hour after leaving St Kitts. On the western caribbean cruise we didn't change time at all.

[hungryg]

Yes the quest game was on the 12/5 sailing...lots of craziness and fun. Also the love and marriage game was really wild. But it seemed like the couple who won knew all the questions because how many 80 yr. Olds can remember such things....they weren't even funny because it was so obvious. The other 2 couples were a riot!

 

Thats right!! They were hilarious and how did they know those answers?:confused:

[hungryg]

Can you reserve the cabanas in advance?

 

 

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Yes, i reserved mine when on the phone with RC making our reservation. My one piece of advice is if you get one on Nellie's Beach and its and "over the water" cabana, make sure to go the the Excursions Desk onboard ASAP and make sure that your cabana is actually over the water. Some are not.

[hungryg]

We will be on Indy on the Valentines Day 8 day sailing, and expect to have a great time. We have had some terrific CD's and then others who had great staffs that made up for what we did not enjoy from the CD. I like a little bit of a goofball personality -- we had that when Dennis Charles was the CD when we were on Jewel and he was terrific.

 

What exactly did you wish Jamie did differently?

 

I guess my only issues with Jamie were that he was nowhere to be seen! If by chance we did see hime he was either filming the morning show on the promenade( and you can't bother him then) or he was literally darting from one end of the ship to the other. Im sure he's very busy and maybe I missed it but some casual interaction with the passengers, especially the younger ones, would go a long way. I guess the second thing was he was just a little to goofy for me. Don't get me wrong, I like a little crazy now and then but this time it didn't float my boat...pun intended. And as I mentioned before, I talked to plenty of others who really liked him.

[hungryg]

Great review.

We had Stanley as our waiter about a month ago. Can you tell me if he was still paired up with Ivan from Serbia (I think)?

We loved those guys.

 

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No he wasn't this time. I asked Stanley about that and he said they get new MDR assignments after each cruise. So until the first day of the next cruise, he doesn't know where in the MDR he will be or who he will be working with. Its a shame to break up a great duo when it comes to service like that but I have to believe that they are all good at what they do and usually it works out great for us!

[hungryg]

please share any "tips or tricks" you may have for the Indy.

Would love to hear them all.

 

I'm not sure I have too many tips or tricks other than to get on IOS and live it up! We found our best advice came from either these CC forums or meeting frequent cruisers on board, getting to know them and getting ideas from them. It also helps when staff on board are open and honest with their replies to your question and don't just give you the standard RC reply to some basic questions. Hope that helps!!

[hungryg]

I'm curious - we are booked with stingray sailing in april. Did you have any trouble tendering? Were you on one of the first few? Thanks, its the only thing I'm nervous about with the whole excursion.

 

As far as tendering off of the cruise ship, its painless!! The boats will come up to the side and secure themselves to the cruise ship so its very stable. A walkway is placed in-between the boats and you simply walk to the other boat! Most of the tender boats are two levels and can hold a fair amount of people. They also have plenty of life jackets in case something happens.

 

As far as the stingray swimming goes, we can't recommend Stingray Sailings enough!! Chip and his guys are the greatest!!:D

[ptf2009]

Thats right!! They were hilarious and how did they know those answers?:confused:

 

It was obvious from the start that the older couple ...married the longest (60 yrs.) had been on a recent cruise (perhaps b2b), because the wife was jumping up and waving when asked who was married 40, 50, 60 years. She couldn't wait to be chosen...and then to come up with all the answers....and win the prizes. It was shameful. The other two couples were "real" and authentic. Everyone around me thought it was terrible that people would actually do that (cheat)...plus show off. I've been on many cruises and watched many love and marriage games and no one has ever done this before.

[39august]

Do any of you know if Raj should still be on Indy Jan. 11? He is one of the best!

[dst]

We didn't make it to Barefoot, our cabana's were on Nellies Beach. Tell Matica in Olive or Twist Jesse and Tessa say HI!!

 

The first cruise i did get the UP(Ultimate package) but I opted for the PP(preferred package) the next cruise because to PP doesn't include specialty coffee. You can get specialty coffee on the promenade, they were ok but not good enough to sway me to get a UP again.

 

As far as parades go, they are fun and not too long. A lot of people with Promenade rooms watch from their windows.

 

 

Thanks for the reply

[dst]

Do any of you know if Raj should still be on Indy Jan. 11? He is one of the best!

 

 

He sure is - he is also on it for our trip the 17th ....... please keep the ship in good shape for us ;)

[bbiggar]

OP or anyone recently on the Independence. Did you notice if they allowed dressy shorts in the MDR on casual evenings?

[PeterPan]

On 12/6 it was clearly listed in the compass " no shorts during evening meal". I did not see anyone wearing shorts on deck 3 of the dining room, but I wasn't particularly looking for them either.

 

I usually wear Dockers on casual nights.

[Ricky H]

Great review . Wow they wouldn't let you back in your room on turnaround day in the same cabin . It must be a Indy thing . Do you remember the traditional dinning times ? They post 600 and 8:30 but last time I was on Indy it was 6:00 and 800 .also do you remember what nights there was no main theatre show for both weeks ? Thanks

[bbiggar]

On 12/6 it was clearly listed in the compass " no shorts during evening meal". I did not see anyone wearing shorts on deck 3 of the dining room, but I wasn't particularly looking for them either.

 

I usually wear Dockers on casual nights.

 

Thinking to myself "maybe no more cruises after this one and sticking with our relaxed Hawaiian vacations. No dress codes and only need to pack swimsuits, tops and shorts." ;)

Edited January 2, 2015 by bbiggar