Last Thanksgiving, I was onboard Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas for the ship’s inaugural sailing out of Bayonne, NJ. Quantum, at the time, was Royal’s newest and most technologically advanced ship with a price tag of one-billion dollars.
This Thanksgiving, I’m on another Royal Caribbean ship, Independence of the Seas. While not the biggest and newest ship in the Royal fleet, Independence sails out of Fort Lauderdale and carries a little over 4,000 passengers.
On this particular journey, I’m on board for four days with one port stop in Cozumel, Mexico. For the past few days, we’ve been having strong winds in excess of 20 mph in south Florida with seas running 8 – 10 feet. So before arriving at Port Everglades to embark Independence, a quick stop at CVS for some Bonine was in order.
Once at the pier, we dropped off our luggage, went through security clearance, and headed to check in. Once our pictures were taken and Sea Pass cards were in hand, we were given clearance to board. One of the benefits of Platinum with Royal Caribbean is expedited boarding. While others were told to wait in rows of seats, we boarded the ship immediately with the entire time from curb to ship lasting no more than 20 minutes.
The first stop when we got onboard was Guest Services where we requested a medical refrigerator for my travel companion’s insulin. We were told that it would be delivered to the room by 4pm. Since staterooms would not be ready until 1pm, we headed to the ship’s two specialty (aka for-a-fee) restaurants Chops Grille and Giovanni’s Table to make dinner reservations.
It was a little before 1pm when the announcement was made that all staterooms were ready, so we headed to ours to drop off our carry-on bags and check out where we would be spending the next four days.
We’re booked in stateroom 6412, which is an aft-facing balcony on deck 6. While the room is a bit smaller than what I’m used to, the balcony is quite deep. The room has a king-size bed, a small dressing area, a love seat, and a tiny bathroom with one of those showers where you feel like you’re taking a bath inside a tube – which is essentially what you’re doing!
After checking things out in 6412, we decided to do some exploring around the ship. The first stop was the Windjammer Marketplace where we intended to get a bite to eat.
Scratch that.
While not everyone was onboard yet, the buffet was an absolute zoo. Packed with people, lines at every station, and a mess to say the least. We then left to go see if having a burger at Johnny Rockets was an option. Unfortunately, it wasn’t, as they didn’t open until 4pm.
We then meandered around a little bit more and decided to give the Windjammer another shot. After we walked around and around and around looking for a table, one came into sight so we grabbed it. We then took turns going to the buffet line so nobody would swoop down and steal the table like the last piece of bacon on the breakfast line.
We had just enough food to get by until dinner, as I think we both found the number of people, the number of kids running around, and the lines at the stations to be enough of a nerve-racking situation, we just wanted out.
So out we went to do some more exploration, stopping by the Royal Promenade, the ship’s shopping arcade, and home to Sorrento’s Pizza, where we would later grab a slice or two. Oh, Ben & Jerry’s is there as is the Cupcake Cupboard, both additional surcharge food outlets. Between those eateries, there are several bars and duty-free shops.
It was approaching 3:30pm, that magical time when you needed to head back to your stateroom to get ready for the mandatory muster drill which was scheduled for 3:45pm. On schedule, the ship’s whistle blew signaling us to head to our muster station – without our lifejackets thank heavens – and sit for the drill.
Our muster station was in the ship’s main dining room – which just so happens to be one of the most beautiful dining rooms I’ve ever seen on a ship. We sat down at a table, and one of the ship’s crew instructed us on how to put on our life jackets and “dismissed” us.
This was the fastest muster drill in the history of muster drills.
There were no instructions over the public address system from the cruise director. The captain didn’t address the passengers. It was simple, here’s how you put this thing on, this is where you go should the whistle sound, now go enjoy your vacation.
When I was on Quantum, the muster drill seemed to run forever, with all of us being forced to watch the “Wash Your Hands” video before being dismissed.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining… the faster the muster the better!
We then returned to our stateroom where our stateroom attendant, “Double-O Seven,” introduced himself and mentioned that this was his first day on Independence. He just got off Allure of the Seas and will be working here for a few months.
I told him that we requested a medical refrigerator that was supposed to be delivered by 4pm (which it wasn’t) and also told him that we purchased the beverage package and were told our plastic cups would be in our stateroom (which they weren’t). He told me to go to one of the bars and get the cups. Each time I went to a bar requesting our cups, I was told they have to come from my stateroom attendant.
Needless to say, this became a game of back-and-forth which I found to be totally unnecessary and frankly it got old quickly. Just give me the soda cups and all will be fine in the world, right? Not so. It wasn’t until we returned to our room around 10:30pm did the soda cups finally arrive.
We spent some time out on the oversized balcony our stateroom has before heading out to grab a snack before dinner in Chop’s Grille. We did some wandering around before stopping by the previously mentioned pizza place for a quick slice.
Once back in our stateroom, the medical refrigerator arrived shortly after 6pm and it was time to start getting ready for dinner. Those of you who follow my cruise reviews know I have an ongoing issue with shipboard shower heads. Many of the newer ships have installed ultra-ultra-low-next-to-nothing-flow heads that provide just enough water to wash your big toe. Independence of the Seas gets my “Best Shower Head” award for having amazing pressure – enough that you can actually enjoy taking a shower – even though you’re doing it in a hamster tube.
Off to dinner, we went for a 7:30pm reservation in the ship’s steakhouse, Chops Grille ($35 per person). We arrived right on time and were taken to a table for two along the windows which gave an awesome view of the ocean outside. We were presented with menus, our server came over to take our drink orders, and fill our water glasses. It wasn’t until 30 minutes – yes, I timed it and it was a full half-hour – that those drinks finally arrived.
We both started out with an appetizer of Grilled Black Pepper Bacon which was sweet and tender and a nice thick cut. Not anything like traditional bacon, but more like tender, slow-cooked pork.
Next up were our main courses, I chose the Veal Chop, which was around 12 ounces. I asked for it to be cooked medium rare, it came out medium well and that overcooking made it tough to cut into and also chew. It was a nice size chop have it not been overcooked, would have been a nice chop.
My dining companion ordered the 6oz Petite Filet, which he asked for it to be cooked medium well. It came out butterflied and totally overcooked. In my opinion, if you know how to properly cook a filet, it never needs to be butterflied, especially one that’s only 6 ounces.
For sides, we chose grilled asparagus, fries, and Yukon golden and gruyere croquettes, which were all average.
By this time we were in the restaurant for two hours and skipped dessert as things were taking much longer than we expected, although the Red Velvet Cake on the dessert menu was tantalizing.
We took a stroll around the ship again, and wandered up to the pool deck where I spied the self-service ice cream machine and said, “let’s grab a cone.” Unfortunately what lay in front of me was a total, disgusting mess. Not one single ice cream cone in any of the six cone dispensers in either machine and both machines had crushed cones and melting ice cream in the drip trays. Not sure what group of pigs decided to hit the ice cream machines up and make a total mess out of them, but I would have never expected to see this. Shame on the crew for not having a better handle on this very disgusting situation.
We then headed down to the Royal Promenade where not too many people were out and about, not sure if they were all tired from embarkation day and hit the sheets early, but the ship was a little quiet. There was no production show scheduled, only the Welcome Aboard presentation earlier in the evening which we skipped. There was a late-night adult comedy show at 10:30pm, but like the rest of the ship, we were tired and headed off to bed.
The weather was nice all day, but very windy. When we left Port Everglades the ship was rocking for a bit but once we hit Miami, the motion was less noticeable even though the seas were running 8 to 10 feet. It was smooth sailing throughout the night and even this morning. As I sit here outside on Deck 4 watching the world pass us by, seas are running 5 to 8 feet and no motion is felt on the ship at all.
We had breakfast in the Windjammer this morning, which was… well, wait until tomorrow for that.
As far as the Internet is concerned, for $25 a day you can get unlimited Internet on one device. So far it has been very, very slow and while I can connect on my MacBook, my friend cannot connect on his at all. After stopping at Guest Services this morning to see what can be done about his inability to connect, we were told to “keep trying as there are lots of people using the system.”
It’s just after noon and the sun is shining bright. The Belly-Flop Contest is now going on at the main pool so I definitely know where I won’t be going.
Till tomorrow!
Personal Day-By-Day Royal Caribbean Independence of the Seas Cruise Review:
Photo Tour of Royal Caribbean Independence of the Seas:
During my cruise on Independence of the Seas, I took many photos of the ship’s impressive features and amenities. From the stateroom to the dining options and entertainment, there was always something to see and do on board. You can see what it’s like onboard by checking out my photo tour.