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(Slightly less so) Cheapo dad's trip report on Independence of the Seas

harryfat1

By harryfat1,
in Royal Caribbean International

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harryfat1

harryfat1

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After taking enough pictures outside, time to go back inside the building to use the bathroom and a brief visit to see how the uncle in prison is doing today (aka shopping).

 

I look like this at work as well

 

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OK, time to follow Curtis (our driver in the burgundy shirt) back to the van and onto the next stop. See another big load of tourists being dropped off coming the opposite way?

 

I think we just beat the crowd as the parking lot looks a lot more crowded than when we first arrived

 

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cruisemeister8

cruisemeister8

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This would be a cool view without the power lines

 

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Are you good with photoshop, Harry? Power lines magically disappear, and voila! Beautiful vacation pictures! :D But yes, it's added work, and you've clearly got your hands full with this trip report. It's so exciting to be on day 6, when we would otherwise be dreading the blind audition from the fat lady, yet we've got 3 more days to go! You're really talking me into a 9 day at some point. 7 is just too skimpy now.

 

Loving all your beautiful pics from the top of the hills in Antigua. (No need for photoshop there!) Never seen pics or heard much from this port. (Thanks for the compass that told the story of where we are today. ) So far, it sounds like a unique tour that you went on. Way better than that diversionary story that was posted to click on. (Guilty!) That was horrible to be taken to people's houses. Glad that was canceled.

 

Side story: The memorable bad experience reminded me of an excursion I had gone on in St. Maarten. The way it was led wasn't described correctly in the literature, so I let the excursion desk know about it when I got back to the ship. Long story short, they gave me a credit for the tour which was appreciated. But more telling was when I was back at home. It was several weeks later that I was thinking about that tour and decided to look it up on their site. Sure enough, they had changed the description of the tour! I guess I felt a little satisfaction that speaking up about my experience helped future tourists. Plus it was nice to know that Royal takes action on guest comments. It's similar to the now-defunct tour of houses. Maybe Royal doesn't really know how these excursions operate until the guests tell them! Your trip report, Harry, tells them in a much more detailed fashion. Bravo.

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harryfat1

harryfat1

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Are you good with photoshop, Harry? Power lines magically disappear, and voila! Beautiful vacation pictures! :D But yes, it's added work, and you've clearly got your hands full with this trip report. It's so exciting to be on day 6, when we would otherwise be dreading the blind audition from the fat lady, yet we've got 3 more days to go! You're really talking me into a 9 day at some point. 7 is just too skimpy now.

 

Loving all your beautiful pics from the top of the hills in Antigua. (No need for photoshop there!) Never seen pics or heard much from this port. (Thanks for the compass that told the story of where we are today. ) So far, it sounds like a unique tour that you went on. Way better than that diversionary story that was posted to click on. (Guilty!) That was horrible to be taken to people's houses. Glad that was canceled.

 

Side story: The memorable bad experience reminded me of an excursion I had gone on in St. Maarten. The way it was led wasn't described correctly in the literature, so I let the excursion desk know about it when I got back to the ship. Long story short, they gave me a credit for the tour which was appreciated. But more telling was when I was back at home. It was several weeks later that I was thinking about that tour and decided to look it up on their site. Sure enough, they had changed the description of the tour! I guess I felt a little satisfaction that speaking up about my experience helped future tourists. Plus it was nice to know that Royal takes action on guest comments. It's similar to the now-defunct tour of houses. Maybe Royal doesn't really know how these excursions operate until the guests tell them! Your trip report, Harry, tells them in a much more detailed fashion. Bravo.

 

Hey,

 

Somebody is still out there! It was getting pretty lonely here for couple days in talking to myself. Appreciate the feedback.

 

I was starting to get the feeling that people are not interested in Antigua harbor but maybe there will be some interest at the beach later today as the beach is a very pretty blue color. Good point on that the island is not on most RCI ship’s itinerary, minus the southern Caribbean routes.

 

Our sailing is somewhat similar to the current Freedom 8 day sailing, plus the additional stop at Antigua, except we were going in reverse order.

 

After the previous cruise of only 6 days on the Freedom, I didn’t want to do another short cruise. It just happened this one worked out in terms of timing and cost. You can do a 9 day from FLL going down to the ABC islands.

I have photo editing software but I don’t really use it.

 

First of all, given the volume of pictures I have, even if I just spend 3 minutes per picture trying to tinker with it would take me days/weeks to do it.

 

Second, my main focus here is to do a trip report so people know what to expect when they sign up for the same tour later on. Don’t want them to come back and say, hey, you didn’t tell me about the power poles. As I’m not trying to win a photo contest but to report what’s out there, pretty or not.

 

I really think Royal should start displaying the cruisers feedback on the tours as people are just booking some of these tours blindly based on the brief description on the web site. At least on Trip Advisor when I book the independent tours, I see some reviews on those.

 

On day 10, we booked a Royal based tour of Miami after we got off the ship. I would like to leave some comments on that for future RCI cruisers but there's no way for me to do so. The thing about doing a tour after the cruise is that you can't go back to the ship's tour desk and give them feedback as you are already kicked off the ship...

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harryfat1

harryfat1

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OK, so after enough time at the hills, we are taken to the next stop - the Nelson dockyard. This is one of the top name places to visit on the island.

 

Curtis dropped us off at the front entrance and then the local guide took over to walk us to couple spots to explain the brief history of the place before we are allowed to freely roam the place. I want to say we were given 45 to 60 minutes here in total?

 

Follow the guide in green. Wonder if all the government related tour guides wear green at both facilities as part of the uniform?

 

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Taxi guys

 

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One way in and one way out from the Dockyard. Can't get lost. Perfect for prison/slave camp as this was used for that purpose in the old days.

 

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A bit dark but the local guide was explaining the history of the place

 

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harryfat1

harryfat1

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The guide explaining how the flip the ships over on its sides in the old days to clean the barnacles from the underside of the ships in the old days. They use ropes to help turn the ships on its side to do the work but the workers were not motivated as they were more or less prisoners of the place.

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Tie the ropes here

 

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Many fancy ships/yachts in the harbor

 

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harryfat1

harryfat1

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I am enjoying your photos and commentary. We have been to Antigua a few times on southern Caribbean cruises. It's a beautiful island.

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for the kind words. I agree that Antigua is very pretty island. I have one more beach section to share.

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harryfat1

harryfat1

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Just so you don't feel lonely, I'm enjoying your review, I want to take my niece & nephew on a cruise...celebrity might be too boring but RCI would work, they are pre-teens 12 & 14.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for the compliment/company in keeping me from being lonely. Sometimes when you write one of these long reviews, it's like sending a message in a bottle. Takes awhile to get a response on the other end.

 

 

I agree that your family should find more activities to do for the young teens at RCI compared to Celebrity. What you can do is look at a sample daily schedule on the Celebrity boards and compare it to a sample copy here for RCI and see what would they do each sea day. Then you have a basis to make your decision.

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