Contributor John Hoiden is currently sailing on Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas and has graciously agreed to share his experience with us over the course of his cruise! Here is John’s Day 2 report:
Today is our first sea day on this 4-day Royal Caribbean Independence of the Seas Eastern Caribbean cruise, and I am up bright and early (I wish my body would let me sleep in). I stopped for coffee and breakfast in the Windjammer, the ship’s buffet. I love breakfast, so the breakfast buffet, for me, is where it’s at! I have no idea what Royal Caribbean does with their avocado toast, but I cannot get it to taste this good when I try to make it at home. The coffee was just ok, so I’ll be stopping at Café Promenade for a (better) coffee after breakfast.
I have nothing planned for today’s sea day. Will probably just play it by ear and see what the day brings.
We are rocking pretty bad this morning, and the weather is absolutely beautiful, and the water is calm. I don’t get sea sick, but this is a constant rockin that is definitely throwing me off. I have been on a ship before when the winds were high, and it was storming outside, but I have never felt movement like this in calm water.
I decided to check out the casino first thing this morning before it gets busy. Not much luck. So went to get a drink at the casino bar and not much luck there either. One of the worst Bloody Mary’s I have ever had. Maybe that’s a sign.
I was in and out of the casino all day today. With so many events going on throughout the ship and with it being formal night in the main dining room, I was able to find some slow periods in the casino for a seat at the blackjack table and empty seats at slot machines I wanted to play. I was up and down today. I was able to hit a couple of bonus rounds that actually paid. At the end of the day, though, I gave it all back. I only spent $200 today though and this includes extra tips to the staff as well as gambling, and I was still able to get a couple of hundred points so that to me is a win! I cruise on casino comps, I always try to make it my goal to spend less in the casino than what I would have spent on the cruise and if I can make a few bucks in the process, then even better.
Today once again made me appreciate the Royal Caribbean staff. My friends who have never cruised before are also very impressed. Five stars to every crew member I have interacted with. Our server from the main dining room, Mark, was covering the Windjammer section we sat in for lunch. He talked to us for, probably close to an hour. When we found out we didn’t have dinner reservations, he said he wanted us in his section again, so asked if it was OK to give us a reservation to make sure we got the same table. We were more than happy for him to do that for us. We talked about a lot, from life, to what it’s like working on the ship, and everything in between. He said if we decide to try one of the specialty dinning venues then to talk to him first as he will make sure we are taken care of and at the very least get a discount.
I decided to go outside for a little while after lunch. Again, absolutely beautiful weather and I wish I took more pictures. I again failed to capture the moments. Tomorrow in Grand Turk I will take some!
I’m not one to sit out at the pool and work on my tan, so back inside I went. I got my steps in today, that’s for sure. I did a lot of walking around and I over did the drinking today, so tomorrow will be a very light drinking day, if I have anything at all. But I got to try things that aren’t on the menu. Christian at the Pub makes, in his words, “The best espresso martini you will ever have” and well, I may have to agree with him!
It’s not on the menu, but they have access to an espresso machine, so he makes it. He also had some Whistle Pig 10 hidden behind the bar, so I needed to give that a try. I am not a big fan of scotch, so I also tried a few different scotches. Something about the smokiness, but I am starting to get the taste for it.
I went down to the ship’s main dining room for my dinner reservation, and to my surprise, Mark comes out to get me himself. He said, “No, don’t worry about this line, you’re with me, let’s go get you seated.” Once I spotted the rest of my party standing in line, I waved them in. They got a lot of dirty looks as they just bypassed the line. Mark came over to greet us all and asked if we had plans. Most of the group said they wanted to watch the production show Grease in the ship’s main theater so he said “I will make sure you are out of here in time.”
Our drinks, our food, everything came out fast. I talked to another group of friends who said their dining tonight took over 2 hours. There were 6 of us and we were done in roughly an hour.
I ordered the French Onion soup. I don’t know what Royal does to their French Onion soup, but it is my favorite. Well, I do know now because I asked Mark the secret and how they make it perfect every time.
My entrée is Beef Tenderloin medium-rare. Perfect. Another 10/10 entrée! Much like the Prime Rib from last night, this was a perfect cut and cooked to my liking.
For dessert, I went with Crème Brulé. I am not a dessert fan and I typically skip it, but I am all for trying new things. It was OK, I probably would not get this again.
After dinner, we all went our separate ways. I headed back to Playmakers, the ship’s sports bar, because I found out Alina, one of the bartender in Playmakers, worked with a bartender named Kenneth who I became friends with when I sailed on Mariner twice (December 2022 and January 2023). She had mentioned we need to send Kenneth a picture. So I took advantage of it being dinner time on formal night when there was no one in Playmakers to get the picture taken and sent it on over to Kenneth, who is in Kenya and to our surprise, he responded a lot quicker than we expected. He sent a picture of him taking a shot of tequila.
Well, it was 5am in Kenya so I figured if he is doing that at 5am, then I should do one at 9pm. That shot of tequila was what did me in!
Headed over to the Schooner Bar for the entertainment of the night, Alan Taemur. We brought him pizza, since the night before he said “Everyone buys me drinks, but no one ever brings me food!” People once again pushed the limits with their requests (OK, it’s people from the group I am with) and to our surprise he said “It’s after midnight so sure why not!” and played them all.
1am comes fast and I am exhausted. The ship is STILL bouncing around, and the seas are still very calm.
Let’s see what tomorrow’s adventures bring in Grand Turk – this is typically a Carnival port so I am excited as this is probably a place I would never see otherwise.