Independence of the Seas Photo Review & Tour - Feb. 22 - 27

[livinginyellow]

Trip: Feb. 22 - 27, 2016

Ship: Independence of the Seas

Length: 5 days

Embarkation and Debarkation port: Fort Lauderdale, FL

Ports: Fort Lauderdale --> Day at Sea --> Falmouth, Jamaica --> Labadee, Jamaica --> Day at Sea --> Fort Lauderdale

About us: 25 and 29 year old couple who got engaged on this cruise!

Drink package: Yes - Premium - all five days - both of us (bought on debarkation day 1)

Dining: My Time Dining

Crown and Anchor: Platinum

 

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Hello! My name is Sarah and me and my (now fiance) travelled on the Independence of the Seas (details above) in Feb. 2016. I took a large amount of photos in the hope to post on this forum, as I want to help it as much as it helped me.

 

Some background on us: My BF at the time cruised twice before me: once in Europe on Voyager, and once in FL in college on Majesty. We met after we both graduated college and, about a year into our relationship, he suggested us going on a cruise. I was skeptical at first, but I did some research (OK a lot of research) and we did an 8-day on the Grandeur out of Baltimore (my home state; my mother was able to drive us and pick us up from the port). BF's parents did a lot of cruising when he was younger, so we auto hit 22 points on that cruise (and made Platinum once we were over!) I loved it so much (seriously, I was talking about our next one, which ended up not being for 1+ year afterwards, as soon as we were walking down the gangway) that I was hooked. After a dry spell of 1+ years, I eventually convinced BF to do another cruise (even though we had already booked Harmony this September 2016 with his family). In November 2015, we booked this cruise based on price, location and length.

 

Also, about us, because I guess that's what's important: BF and I have been together since early 2013, living together since 2014, and we got engaged on this cruise! He's in his late 20's and I am in my mid-20's, both of us hoping to work our way up the chain to take more vacation in the future :)

 

We picked this cruise because we enjoyed CocoCay on our last cruise (esp. drink package on the island) and wanted another private island. The length worked for us because it left a lot of PTO for our 2-week Europe trip this September. The biggest stretch for us was flying. We eventually used our credit card points to fly Spirit (more on that later) direct from Baltimore, MD to Fort Lauderdale, FL. as well as to book our pre-cruise hotel.

 

Pre Cruise

As I said, we were able to book our direct flight from Baltimore, MD to Fort Lauderdale, FL the day before our cruise (2/21/16) with our credit card points. Spirit is a "low cost" airline and I was OK with this, because it cost less of our points. WRONG (at least in BF's mind)

 

Spirit, unlike typical airlines, does not allow for checked baggage. Being chronic over packers, BF and I decided to pay the extra $25/each way for the bags, which meant that we were not only able to take on a carry on each, but check our bags. This turned into quite a debacle, meaning that we tried to pack 40 pounds into our one bag, realized we had packed 52, unpacked to 43, realized we needed to pay for the extra 10 pounds, and repacking to maximize that ten pounds. This was all the morning we were due to drive up to MD and was quite the debacle - and the main reason why BF won't fly Spirit again (I'm not really sure I agree...more on this later).

 

After spending the rest of the day with my parents, before embarking on a pretty quick (though not pain-free) journey through BWI security, we were on our way to vacation!

 

NOTE: BF and I had got into a small "fight" (a tiff, if you will) the night before. He had been very anxious the past few days and, finally, somewhat admitted that he was nervous because he didn't think we would be able to fly on our credit card points (a flimsy excuse, looking back now) and would relax once we got into FL. /end note (though please note this note, as it is important later)

 

 

After having two beers in the airport bar (and me declaring it was finally vacation - BF still being "nervous"), we had boarded Spirit and were on our way to Fort Lauderdale. BF's complaints with Spirit both lodged with the extra for the baggage, but also with the inability to order peanuts/drinks without paying which I learned was one of his fave things on a flight (this was our first time flying together after almost three years of dating...we had both flown separately through this time, but never together! Funny). I convinced him to order some dumb Margarita bombs that Spirit sells (too sweet, but in retrospect, was a good way to celebrate finally being on vacation) and off we went.

 

Ft. Lauderdale airport itself was quick and efficient, with us getting off the plane, going through baggage and waiting in the taxi line, we were on our way to the hotel in less than 45 minutes (which is pretty great!)

 

We were staying at Rodeway Inn and Suites, which is a wonderful hotel, but we had read a lot of Yelp reviews before leaving. We decided to trust the morning-of shuttle, but not the airport-to-hotel shuttle as that is supposedly very late. We decided that the $20 for a taxi was worth not waiting.

 

I wish I had taken a picture of the lobby of the hotel - it wasn't *bad* but it was definitely tacky. Did that change my opinion of the place? Not at all. It was worth spending the night, and definitely served its purpose.

 

 

My family has a long-lasting connection with Hard Rock restaurants and hotels and because of that we connect the guitar-shaped magnets. We were going to head over there but after a day of packing, driving, flying and just plain old traveling, we were exhausted. We decided to go to the bar within the hotel, and were surprised at how good the food and the beer was. We were able to log some FL beers into our Untappd and passed out around 10 (which is early for us) and the next day began!

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Edited April 16, 2016 by livinginyellow

[livinginyellow]

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