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 3 report:
After getting plenty of rest, I am ready to go on for the final day of this 4-day Eastern Caribbean cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas! I got up early and headed for some coffee at Café Promenade and breakfast at Windjammer, the ship’s buffet restaurant, just as they opened. All the food was fresh, there was no one bumping into you, it was the perfect time to be there!
I immediately thought, “If the Windjammer was that good right when they opened, the casino should be too, right?!”
So off to the casino I went. The slot machines opened at 8am and table games a little later at 10am. I arrived just after 8am and there were very few people playing. There were lots of open machines to play, so you could really play whatever game you wanted to! I played for about two hours straight and left ahead, if not even. I racked up some really nice points which should help with future casino offers.
Once the table games opened, I jumped in on a game of Blackjack! These tables are typically hard to get as they always have large crowds, full tables and people waiting to jump in. I played for about an hour and a half and then decided it was time for lunch.
Today was a sports bar lunch kind of day, so I headed off to Playmakers. I wanted something good and this week the Windjammer was just a miss for lunch every day. I started off with Jalapeno Poppers ($7.99), which were highly recommended by the bartender. They came with sides of ranch and sweet Thai dipping sauces.
I also ordered a dozen “Major League” Chicken Wings ($13.99), which is their hottest. They came with carrots, celery and I chose blue cheese as my dipping condiment.
All of the food here was delicious. I will definitely order them again on the next trip!
I joined my friends at a booth at Playmakers while watching some games and having some beverages making this a pretty relaxing day. I honestly kept going back to the casino since I was doing well today. I decided to take advantage of my bonus wins to get my points up. I had a good run and finally hit some bonuses that actually paid.
When I needed a break from the casino, I would head to Playmakers or up to the Promenade. Either one I went to, someone from my group was there, and I knew I’d run into someone. I had to make sure I did all my final rounds to the bars to leave extra tips and to say “see ya later” to the crew members that I made connections with.
Time for dinner – or one more night to be treated like royalty (no pun intended) by our waiter Mark and assistant waiter Jonard. Request these two if you sail on Independence of the Seas! I was waiting in line to check in when Mark came up looking for us. He quickly grabbed me from the line and brought me to the table.
It’s Caribbean night, so some island favorites are on the menu. I went with my favorite French Onion Soup and a Caesar Salad for my appetizer. The French Onion Soup was amazing, as always.
I chose the Rustic Chicken Korma for my entrée and Carrot Cake (Mark’s recommendation) for dessert. Mark brought the Rustic Chicken Korma and said, “Let me know if you don’t like this.” I thought, “Well, that’s odd!” and then I tried it and quickly realized why he asked the question! It just wasn’t my thing, so I ordered a strip steak to replace it.
The steak was cooked perfectly, and it was great, although I couldn’t finish it. The Carrot Cake was delicious as well, but only had a few bites as I was full, but wanted to give it a try. Mark then tried to offer more food, but we all declined. He told us to hang around for the show. It was that time of night where all the dining room staff dances and sings. I’ve seen this before, but everyone I was with were new, and they all really enjoyed it.
We went to the Pub for an Espresso Martini (not on their menu, but they make them). After that, we headed down to the Schooner Bar, the ship’s piano bar, to get ready for Alan Taemur’s 11pm set. We had the same seats every night, and the group next to us were also there every night. I hope to run into him again down the road. He is very entertaining and very talented. A friend of mine challenged him by requesting a Disney medley, which not only did he do, he did it with impressions. Then he was challenged again with a John Williams medley, and he pulled that off with Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter and ET to name a few.
A friend of mine had some fun by requesting “play anything you want but in the middle of it, transition to ‘Never Gonna Give you Up’ to Rick Roll everyone” Alan laughed and said “I have a very specific and unique request. I have to think about this for a second…” then he played “Imagine” by John Lennon, then transitioned into “Never Gonna Give You Up” and then back to Imagine.
The entire Schooner Bar was so confused and had no idea what was going on. We were all laughing and there was one other guy who picked up on it and thought it was funny. Once Alan read the request to everyone, then the bar got a good laugh out of it.
I just wanted to try to capture what to expect if you go to see Alan play in Schooner (at least the late show). I have honestly never attended this as I just expected someone playing the same set every night with a few requests here and there, but this was all requests and some very weird ones that he absolutely pulled off. I was surprised to see him drinking while playing, and playing explicit music (I could see this if it was in a contained room or the theater but not in an area where anyone can just walk by and hear it). It was fun and definitely our favorite entertainment of the week!
Before disembarking, I grabbed some coffee and breakfast at Windjammer, met up with part of my group one last time, and mentally prepared myself for the worst day of the week – leaving the ship!
This is never easy and gets harder and harder every time I do it. Disembarkation was very fast and easy. Traffic leaving the garage – not so much. Then I hit more traffic as the PortMiami tunnel closed, just before I entered, for an accident or a broken down car. 5+ hours later and I made it back home in Tampa ready to start planning my next cruise!
Until next time – thank you everyone for following along, and thank you, Independence of the Seas and all her crew for the 5-star treatment this week!
Thanks, John, for providing your insight in to your four days onboard the incredible Independence of the Seas! Hope to have you back as a guest contributor on your next cruise!