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

[BillOh]

So I had to work on Tuesday. As I have always said, if I can just bottle the happiness one feels when you walk out of work before vacation

 

Through much of your review so far, I've laughed that you might be the only reviewer that started with more disclaimers than I do. ;) I put in details that don't interest some people, but I do write in paragraph form so you can skip over. But in one area I see you are behind me. I almost always post a picture of myself walking out the door on the last day or work on our roll call and in my review.

[happy cruiser1234]

Hey Harry! I'm a little late to the party, but better late then never. So glad I found your report! We sailed with you on Freedom last year, I would have loved to do a Christmas sailing this year, but we're going in March on a Southern Caribbean Itinerary. I can't wait for the rest of your Trip Report!

Serena

[lbjen]

Pharrell’s Happy is definitely vacation mode music!

[tiredmomof2]

Following, with interest. Also, I sent you an email. Thanks!

[SenatorsFan]

Thanks for the Oregon photos. I've actually done a road trip from Vancouver, BC down through Washington and Oregon. I have similar pictures of the beach you posted. Beautiful scenery and we'd love to do it again one day and go all the way to California.

I'm happy you're approaching get on the ship day. :)

Heather

[travelplus]

Hey Cheap Dad thanks for your report so far its great. I myself book cruises for the price performance which is why I love Repositioning Cruises. Here is my way of saving money while enjoying ourselves. Hint we are 8 nights away from Diamond after our upcoming cruise as we take 14 or 15 night cruises in an Ocean View unless its more than an Interior.

 

Our cruise goes to Punto Degalda Azores where we have been, Cobh Ireland(where we will take a shore excursion to Blarney Castle), Dublin(Where we probably do it on our own) and Waterford where we booked a shore excursion to the Waterford Misdeal Museum and Crystal Factory.

 

This April my Father and I are taking a 15 night cruise from Tampa-Amsterdam for $1,300 with Future Cruise Credits for 2 in an Inside Cabin. We got $300 in OBC $200 which I used for 2 Shore Excursions and the BOGO Specialty Restaurant for $30 per person we get 2 Specialty Restaurants onboard. Plus I saved us $70 during the Black Friday Shore Excursion Sale. I booked Delta using our miles to Tampa. My Father is in Delta Comfort+ and I am in First Class(Delta lost my bags so they gave me 40,000 miles back),

 

In Tampa I used my Hotwire skills and found us the Tampa Waterside Westin for $145 for the night and got us on the upgraded Executive Level which includes Appetizers at night and Breakfast in the Morning plus a free shuttle to the Port. We will use Uber to the Hotel.

 

When we arrive in Amsterdam we are staying in a room in a shared apartment with the host for $411 for 4 nights that is 2 miles to the museums, 20 minutes from the airport and close to the port.

 

We then are flying to Keflavik and stopping in Rejkavik for $430 for 4 nights in a 2 bedroom AirBnB in Rejkavik. Our airfare on IcelandAir is $560 from Amsterdam-San Francisco with a stopover in Iceland and includes 1 checked bag, seat assignments, and IFE if you bring your own headphones. You pay for food and booze but non-alcoholic beverages are included. Not too bad.

 

We know how to travel well and save money!!! My Father retired from Finance and I work in Tourism so combined with our skills we can take these cruises for good prices. We love the Sea Days and Port Days.

[lbjen]

Travelplus make sure there is good public transportation close to that Amsterdam apartment, 2 miles from museums can put you in any number of residential areas in Amsterdam. I'd also check which floor it's on as the stairs in apartment buildings can be very steep, if mobility is any kind of issue.

[JeniferO]

Thank you for this info. What site did you use to see the table sizes to make your request? Heading out on the Indy with our family and extended family (10 total) on March 29th. Thank you!

 

 

About the pre-planning I did was to email Royal 49 days out and requested a table. Don’t laugh, someone else from my roll call beat me to making the request so it goes to show you that just because you rank 9.8 on the anal scale of 1 to 10, there will always be 9.81 and 9.82+ level people out there.

 

For those who don’t know, you can email Royal to make a specific request. RCLDining@rccl.com

 

My request was for table for 8 on deck 4 next to the balcony railing. Simple, no?

 

Then they emailed back to confirm you have the table. We were assigned table 468. The map below is the MDR for deck 4. The number on the top is table number, the number below is size of table. Do note this changes by seating by sailing such that sometimes they can change the table to make changes between 4 to 6 to 8 on an as needed basis.

 

At least I thought that was all settled. Will explain more on why this thing fell apart by time I get to day 1:

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Thanks for the Pharrel Williams Happy song! It makes me smile even at work!

 

I don't know why Royal cancelled Independence TA. It has totally disappeared from the schedule - seems like the ship will sail over the pond empty and they do the rework (or whatever it's called) while sailing. Or maybe it was partly chartered.

Anyways, we were price protected and we had booked early to get nice price to begin with (even the gratuity remained the same), so the deal for 14 nights with Navigator was too sweet to give up. Although we were forced to swap from the much wanted, totally perfect corner aft cabin and go for hump instead. Which might turn out to be a good thing, as last year's TA with Freedom was so rocky and bumby ride with aft corner cabin that my daughter fell from her bed one night. Hoping for smoother seas this time, as Navigator is way smaller than Indy. Too small, says my husband. Therefore 2019 will be Oasis which is big enough for him. And built in Turku which is essential to him as he refuses to step on anything newer than Allure, meaning anything coming from anywhere else but Turku. Older than Navigator don't count because his career started with Voyager class. And all this even though he has not been working with ships after Allure was finished in 2009! I call him stubborn. He claims he just has high standards and consistency in his thinking. Always some anality (is that a word?) with men!

 

Carry on, please. Loving your story!

 

Is the Navigator that much smaller than the Freedom class ships? I don’t think so. Per wiki, it’s only 90 feet shorter and not that much smaller in the gross tonnage. Unless there is something specifically you like from the Freedom class, I don’t see why you should feel you missed out in switching ships. I have read that people prefer Voyager class over Freedom class because it is basically the same ship with less people and shorter lines.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_cruise_ships

 

I can’t do aft cabins. I get motion sickness easily as each night at dinner, I can feel my butt bounce on the Indy when the captain was sailing along at 20 plus knots and the vibration carries to all the decks downstairs. I can’t sleep toward the back. I need mid ship cabins.

 

Men are much more rigid and structured than women. We like certain things as they are and we don’t like changes. Sounds like your husband and I can get along well as we both rank pretty high on the anal scale.

[harryfat1]

Through much of your review so far, I've laughed that you might be the only reviewer that started with more disclaimers than I do. ;) I put in details that don't interest some people, but I do write in paragraph form so you can skip over. But in one area I see you are behind me. I almost always post a picture of myself walking out the door on the last day or work on our roll call and in my review.

 

That's OK, Bill, these things are your signature trip report writing methods, I wouldn't want to barge in on your territory.

 

Every writer and musician has his/her own style that makes them unique. If we all follow each other, then it's boring to the readers.

 

I will stick with my 10K/10Q discussion. Provide spreadsheets as necessary as that's my comfort zone as a bean counter.

[harryfat1]

Hey Harry! I'm a little late to the party, but better late then never. So glad I found your report! We sailed with you on Freedom last year, I would have loved to do a Christmas sailing this year, but we're going in March on a Southern Caribbean Itinerary. I can't wait for the rest of your Trip Report!

Serena

 

Hi, Serena,

 

How are you ? Long time no talk. Can't believe it's been a year plus already since the Freedom cruise.

 

You are not late at all. Heck, I am still at day minus 1 and haven't even left for the airport in the my story telling.

 

Which islands on the southern Caribbean cruise? We saw the Adventure when we were in San Juan.

[harryfat1]

Following, with interest. Also, I sent you an email. Thanks!

 

Thanks for following along. I sent the reply email.

 

++++++++

 

I received more email requests from people asking about the web site info and I just replied to you all. Check your spam folder if you haven't seen it yet.

 

Just note that my work blocks all personal email sites so I can't reply at work and can only do it later at night after I get home and deal with all the stuff that a typical dad needs to do before doing this trip report, so do expect some delay in response time as I can't responds within the hour after you have sent it but I will try to check the email nightly.

I'm somewhat surprised on number of people asking about this web site. I thought it was pretty common, but apparently not. It would be interesting discussion to know what everyone uses to book your current/previous cruise? Royal web site or some specialty TA? Don't need agency names but if anyone wants to talk travel planning in general, that would be an interesting and potentially money saving conversation for all.

[harryfat1]

Thanks for the Oregon photos. I've actually done a road trip from Vancouver, BC down through Washington and Oregon. I have similar pictures of the beach you posted. Beautiful scenery and we'd love to do it again one day and go all the way to California.

I'm happy you're approaching get on the ship day. :)

Heather

 

You know, I think I remember that conversation. I think I might have dropped in few California redwood tree pictures in there as well?

 

I'm still at day minus 1. Won't get to the ship until the weekend or maybe early week at my snail pace.

 

In meantime, here are couple more rock pictures:

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Hey Cheap Dad thanks for your report so far its great. I myself book cruises for the price performance which is why I love Repositioning Cruises. Here is my way of saving money while enjoying ourselves. Hint we are 8 nights away from Diamond after our upcoming cruise as we take 14 or 15 night cruises in an Ocean View unless its more than an Interior.

 

Our cruise goes to Punto Degalda Azores where we have been, Cobh Ireland(where we will take a shore excursion to Blarney Castle), Dublin(Where we probably do it on our own) and Waterford where we booked a shore excursion to the Waterford Misdeal Museum and Crystal Factory.

 

This April my Father and I are taking a 15 night cruise from Tampa-Amsterdam for $1,300 with Future Cruise Credits for 2 in an Inside Cabin. We got $300 in OBC $200 which I used for 2 Shore Excursions and the BOGO Specialty Restaurant for $30 per person we get 2 Specialty Restaurants onboard. Plus I saved us $70 during the Black Friday Shore Excursion Sale. I booked Delta using our miles to Tampa. My Father is in Delta Comfort+ and I am in First Class(Delta lost my bags so they gave me 40,000 miles back),

 

In Tampa I used my Hotwire skills and found us the Tampa Waterside Westin for $145 for the night and got us on the upgraded Executive Level which includes Appetizers at night and Breakfast in the Morning plus a free shuttle to the Port. We will use Uber to the Hotel.

 

When we arrive in Amsterdam we are staying in a room in a shared apartment with the host for $411 for 4 nights that is 2 miles to the museums, 20 minutes from the airport and close to the port.

 

We then are flying to Keflavik and stopping in Rejkavik for $430 for 4 nights in a 2 bedroom AirBnB in Rejkavik. Our airfare on IcelandAir is $560 from Amsterdam-San Francisco with a stopover in Iceland and includes 1 checked bag, seat assignments, and IFE if you bring your own headphones. You pay for food and booze but non-alcoholic beverages are included. Not too bad.

 

We know how to travel well and save money!!! My Father retired from Finance and I work in Tourism so combined with our skills we can take these cruises for good prices. We love the Sea Days and Port Days.

 

Impressive. You should have your own blog to document how you saved money so others can save money as well.

 

I use VRBO instead of AirBnB as I find VRBO to have better pricing terms for the places I want to go.

 

We can't do repo cruises as the kids are in school. Travel in off seasons is a big money saver but as long as you have kids and unwilling to take them out of school, you are forced to pay the price premium.

[harryfat1]

Thank you for this info. What site did you use to see the table sizes to make your request? Heading out on the Indy with our family and extended family (10 total) on March 29th. Thank you!

 

Sorry I wasn't clear in my posting. This info isn't from any web site, it's from Royal after you have emailed them. They do a screen shot of what the floor plan is for your sailing and time slot and show you what the tables look like.

 

I just did a screen shot of the email I received to show people. This floor plan isn't published anywhere. Something Royal just keeps as their own internal deck plan. So if you want to sit in deck 3, then you would need to be HIGH on the anal scale like yours truly and go to Youtube and find as many MDR videos as you can of the ship and pause every few seconds to count seats at various tables.

 

For example, with your big family of 10, you won't be able to fit in any of the balcony tables. Chances it will be deck 3 where they have more bigger tables. Just have to look through many many videos to find the approx. locations you like (i.e. by the window) or shape (round versus long tables).

[harryfat1]

As with all my trip reports, I will show airport to airport coverage. Meaning the report will start at SFO and end at SFO.

This is the familiar site of SFO terminal as we flew out using Virgin America again as they have one of the very few direct flights out of SFO to FLL – Jetblue and UA are the other ones.

 

 

Here is the first picture of the “fam” as we sat and chilled at the comfort seats of SFO. Good to have few of those seats instead of the generic airport and cruise terminal seats.

 

 

While sitting around with nothing to do, I checked out the speed of the free wifi at the airport compared to Verizon’s 4G network.

 

 

 

The 90.87 download is the airport's free wifi. The 178.05 is from Verizon speed sitting in the same seat. Wow, faster than my wifi at home.

 

In comparison, the one from FLL airport at 4:52 in the morning is much slower with speeds of 18 to 15.

[harryfat1]

So we boarded the plane with no issues. VA always has the purple “mood light” in their planes at night time. One drawback in not crusiing with the inlaws is that when they are with us, we have the perfect 2 rows of 6 across the way. With only 4 of us this time, the wife sits with the boys and I have to sit with strangers.

 

 

 

Now it must be my bad luck as I always, always end up with some big buffy dude that uses his big fat elbows on both sides of him and hogs the shared arm rest. Had that going and coming back.

 

I typically love VA flights with their individual TV monitors as it makes the 5.5 hour flight to FLL bearable (6.5 hours coming home as it’s against the wind) as you have TV and movies to watch. But on a red eye, that turns out to be a BAD thing if you have couple idiots that insists on watching TV or movie THE ENTIRE FLIGHT while you try to go to sleep? The blinding brightness from their monitors was a killer.

 

In retrospect, I should have bought sleep eye covers for everyone on these red eyes but I foolishly thought people would go to sleep at midnight California time. Never thought people would pull an all nighters on a red eye watching TV movies. REALLY? SERIOUSLY? (Insider joke for those from our cruise who watched the comedy act on day 9)

 

Note to self to revise packing list for eye shades on next red eye flight.

[lbjen]

I can't sleep on planes, no matter what time of the night it is! Never could, and I did a lot of very early morning/late night flying in my time.

[harryfat1]

DAY 0 – December 20, 2017

 

So I barely slept a wink from the red eye flight. First of all, I don’t sleep well on planes. Different environment always bothers me as I am anal and creature of habit (ha, bet you didn’t know that about me). Then that blinding TV with people watching movies at 3 AM didn’t help either.

 

We were scheduled to land at 8 AM but arrived early as this first picture of FLL was timed at 7:44 AM. Just as SFO was familiar in departing, FLL looks the same from when we departed last year since VA uses the same terminal. I remember eating the Shula burger for dinner on the plane home from the Freedom cruise. Same as it ever was. Which leads to this song in my head as we groggily dragged our sorry buns to baggage claim.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1wg1DNHbNU

 

BTW: That’s what I look/felt like at the 1:45 mark of the video, same as David Byrne, when we got off the plane without any sleep.

 

Each of us had our own big luggage as we stuffed in what we could for the 9 days, including formal clothes in case any fashion police here on CC wants to check if we are fulfilling suggested the formal attire.

 

Oh, speaking of which, since it was a holiday cruise, they had THREE (not 2) formal nights on a 9 day cruise. Which is not what the web site says for 9 day cruise but we had planned for dressing up anyway for Christmas day, we were fine. But nowhere was it ever mentioned that this cruise has an extra formal night. So for those reading this report that is looking for info on your 2018 holiday cruise, pack an extra formal dress or tie, just in case. Anyway, we will talk more as we get to the exact cruise days.

 

As for the hotel stay, those that have read my previous trip reports knows I love the Double Tree GalleryOne with its kitchen and proximity to stores and food and water taxi. For this cruise, since I know we will be feeling and looking like moose poop after the red eye, I opted for the airport hotel at Dania Beach instead.

 

I selected the Home2 Suites by Hilton(what dummy in Hilton marketing came up with this odd name?). It was $122 per night plus tax with AAA discount. That includes free airport pickup and free daily breakfast. Cheapo dads/moms always love the word “FREE”.

 

The hotel is very new, built in 2016/2017 era. Not a lot of people know about it so the word isn’t out yet on what a hidden value this place is. Found it on Trip advisor as I rely on them exclusively for hotel selection during my summer road trips.

So we got our luggage from the carousel and called the hotel for a shuttle pickup. It came quickly as the driver was probably not that busy at 8 AM on a Wednesday morning.

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

So we got to the hotel at 8:20 AM. I figure it was WAY too early to check in so I just thought if they can store our luggage for us, but the front desk guy said he can give me another room (different than what I selected on the app as that room is still dirty) right then. HECK YEAH! Give me any room. Good thing the hotel was not full. So he made a change to the reservation to change the room and off we go. We walked into the room at 8:40 AM. Woo Hoo!

 

As free breakfast ends at 9 AM, we quickly washed hands and went down stairs to grab a bit to eat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BIBPhotography]

Hey Harry!

My wife was just asking the other day if HarryFat1 had posted anything new? You see, when I first found your trip reports, we were reading everything we could about Freedom. We have booked out 1st cruise aboard her for June of this year and we were just devouring everything we could about FOS. Your report made great bedtime pillow talk for several days as I read each word you wrote OUT LOUD!!!!! Heck I even went back and read your Allure report as well. Glad to have found you and this Christmas Cruise report.

 

On a side note, my wife did ask that I not read each one of these reports out loud to her while in bed, So on this one it will be just me! Happy Cruising Harry!

[BillOh]

As with all my trip reports, I will show airport to airport coverage. Meaning the report will start at SFO and end at SFO.

 

 

.

 

Well, you have given me an idea. I can tell this is definitely not CMH (Port Columbus, Ohio) where I fly out of. How can I tell? Well, at Port Columbus if there are 80 seats at a gate, 30 people will sit and put their carry ons in the other seats and 50 people are standing around. I may have to take a photo of that and post if next April.

[Biker19]

The 90.87 download is the airport's free wifi.

DCA (Reagan Natinal) even has that beat at about 100 Mbps download - incredible for free airport wifi.

[happy cruiser1234]

Hi, Serena,

 

How are you ? Long time no talk. Can't believe it's been a year plus already since the Freedom cruise.

 

You are not late at all. Heck, I am still at day minus 1 and haven't even left for the airport in the my story telling.

 

Which islands on the southern Caribbean cruise? We saw the Adventure when we were in San Juan.

 

We're sailing Aruba, Curacao, Turks & Caico's and Dominican Republic with Carnival Vista. I wish Royal would send some of their newer ships to the Southern Caribbean but i guess their ships are too big for those ports.

 

We also thought of doing Adventure out of San Juan but the flights were too expensive from Canada.

[MiniChunks]

So we boarded the plane with no issues. VA always has the purple “mood light” in their planes at night time. One drawback in not crusiing with the inlaws is that when they are with us, we have the perfect 2 rows of 6 across the way. With only 4 of us this time, the wife sits with the boys and I have to sit with strangers.

 

 

 

Now it must be my bad luck as I always, always end up with some big buffy dude that uses his big fat elbows on both sides of him and hogs the shared arm rest. Had that going and coming back.

 

I typically love VA flights with their individual TV monitors as it makes the 5.5 hour flight to FLL bearable (6.5 hours coming home as it’s against the wind) as you have TV and movies to watch. But on a red eye, that turns out to be a BAD thing if you have couple idiots that insists on watching TV or movie THE ENTIRE FLIGHT while you try to go to sleep? The blinding brightness from their monitors was a killer.

 

In retrospect, I should have bought sleep eye covers for everyone on these red eyes but I foolishly thought people would go to sleep at midnight California time. Never thought people would pull an all nighters on a red eye watching TV movies. REALLY? SERIOUSLY? (Insider joke for those from our cruise who watched the comedy act on day 9)

 

Note to self to revise packing list for eye shades on next red eye flight.

 

Red eye TV watching idiot here(not your specific idiot, but one in general). I cant fall asleep to save my life on an airplane. Have tried everything from over the counter meds to alcohol and nothing works. Sorry to keep you awake, but I can't stare at the back of the seat in front of me for 6 hours straight.