Independence of the Seas 12/16 Pics and daily compass

[angogl]

Here are a few pics from our cruise.

http://s1287.beta.photobucket.com/us...ary/IOS%20Pics

Also, I put a link on another thread of the daily cruise compasses, but here it is again . . .

http://s1287.beta.photobucket.com/us...bbean%20Cruise

I hope this can be helpful to some of you.

[goldgirl2]

Fabulous pictures! Thank you for posting them. Also, really appreciate the compass. I was surprised to see you went to Ocho Rios and not Falmouth. I wish we were going to Ocho Rios.

[jeh4554]

Thanks for posting these! We leave in eight days on a six day Independence cruise. We plan to eat in Portofino one night but can't decide which night to go. Can you tell me how the Headliner's show differs from the Production show? There was a thread on here about an awful show with a guy who does Foreigner music and we thought that would be a good night to miss the show. Any advice about this?

[angogl]

The Production Showtime was Invitation to Dance and was very good. Good music and great dancing. This was on Day 2.

The Production Showtime on Day 5 was Once Upon a Time. I didn't see it but my daughter (26) did and said it was good too.

The Headliner Showtime was the dreaded Domenick Allen (the Foreigner guy). We were going to go see this but got busy doing other things and evidently we made the right decision. I have not heard one good thing about this show. While I can't review him since I didn't see him, the other reviews probably gave you a good idea. This was Day 3 only I believe.

The Ice Show Freeze Frame was really good. It was only originally scheduled for Day 2 and Day 4, however they added one more show on Day 6. It is worth seeing.

The late night comedian, Michael Dean Ester on Day 5 was really funny. I've seen where some were upset it was adult, however I assumed it was adult because of the time (11:30pm). Plus the preview he did during the Welcome Aboard Show on Day 1 definitely hinted to the adult side for the full show. Not sure how someone would not have figured that out!

We really enjoyed the singer, Zac Coombs at the Dog and Badger Pub every night. He had a great voice and played good songs everyone usually ended up singing to with him.

Rock the Boat was good too and usually played at the Pyramid Lounge. I enjoyed watching some of the "60 something" folks dancing up a storm to old classic rock. One tall guy danced with his hands in his pockets, never removing them. He was a hoot.

The latin band Prestige at Boleros was really good too and wow, some of those folks could really dance there!

The parades were great, especially the 70's Disco Inferno. Our cruise director Joff Eaton was great as John Travolta. They really got all the passengers in the Promenade involved and we really enjoyed it. That was my husbands era , I was just a baby then

Ask me anything else, I'll be glad to help.

[LBumb]

great job

[jeh4554]

Thank you! I'm so excited about going now! I also noticed that your Compass says you stopped in Ochos Rios. When I went back to look at our itinerary, the map shows us going to Ochos Rios but the text says Falmouth. Where did you actually stop?

[jabo73]

Thank you, thank you! We too were wondering about the shows and so forth. This is so helpful...thanks!

Did things go fairly smoothly for you guys overall? I've heard the crew were a bit "off" but figured this may be due to the change to the states. Thanks again!

[angogl]

@jeh4554

We stopped at Ocho Rios. Our tour guide was from there and new the area well. I believe our guide said Falmouth is a new port, but I think they service that port too.

[angogl]

@jabo73

My disclaimer is that I'm not too hard to please. I think that's a good thing. I've seen some negative comments, however which I just can't understand. The crew from the bottom up seemed VERY eager to please and make our cruise wonderful. Also, we met folks from South Hampton, Ohio, North Carolina, Moscow, to name a few and they all seemed to be very pleased as well with our cruise. The only negative I heard was that Labadee had 2 ships that day which made it very crowded. This was true, but I still enjoyed Labadee despite that. I find the good in life!

[jabo73]

Originally Posted by angogl

@jabo73

My disclaimer is that I'm not too hard to please. I think that's a good thing. I've seen some negative comments, however which I just can't understand. The crew from the bottom up seemed VERY eager to please and make our cruise wonderful. Also, we met folks from South Hampton, Ohio, North Carolina, Moscow, to name a few and they all seemed to be very pleased as well with our cruise. The only negative I heard was that Labadee had 2 ships that day which made it very crowded. This was true, but I still enjoyed Labadee despite that. I find the good in life!

Thats great! (and a great attitude towads things) Thanks for the feedback. Glad to hear you enjoyed your cruise. We can't wait to sail the Indy soon!

[MreenD]

Thank you so much for posting the photos and compasses! We leave in just a few days for our 6 nights on the Independence and we're looking forward to it!

[Trekker954]

we spoke to a waitress in Windjammer (from Ocho Rios) who enjoyed having her children visit her while we were in port. She said this was the last time in Ocho Rios that the Independence would now only be stopping in Falmouth. I didn't quite understand as it seems Ocho Rios is closer to more of the excursions. We stop in Falmouth this upcoming week when we board the Liberty. We didn't get off in Ocho Rios but you could hear all the action from the Hilton and they were having a ball. Had I know I was that close, I probably would have done their day pass. But Falmouth seems closer to Montego Bay and I know there beaches are beautiful

[jeh4554]

This is all so helpful! Does anyone know of a resort in Montego Bay that offers day passes?

[Kilroy]

We saw Domenick on the 12-16 cruise. It is a stretch to call him the Foreigner guy since his association with Foreigner is tenuous at best. They guy is a cliche wearing a gold chain. He started out the show with a vocal number that ended with him doing the "look how long I can hold a note" bit.

Then he did In the Mood on sax (biggest sax cliche ever, saving perhaps Kenny G. tunes)

At that point myself, Trekker's crew, and anybody else that didn't want to witness the death of rock of rock 'n roll high-tailed it out of there.

We took that night as an opportunity to enjoy the other parts of an awesome ship on an awesome cruise!

Originally Posted by angogl

The Production Showtime was Invitation to Dance and was very good. Good music and great dancing. This was on Day 2...

The Headliner Showtime was the dreaded Domenick Allen (the Foreigner guy). We were going to go see this but got busy doing other things and evidently we made the right decision. I have not heard one good thing about this show. While I can't review him since I didn't see him, the other reviews probably gave you a good idea. This was Day 3 only I believe.

[cruising granddad]

Originally Posted by angogl

I put a link on another thread of the daily cruise compasses, but here it is again . . .

http://s1287.beta.photobucket.com/us...bbean%20Cruise

I hope this can be helpful to some of you.

Great Job!

I scanned the 8N compasses (click in my sig), so with your compasses anyone on Independence OTS should be covered!

[goldgirl2]

Does the Indy have flat screen TV's? I have a habit of using TV as a sleep aide. Was there anything on the TV or the option of any pay per view movies? Thank you so much for all the great information!

[clarea]

Originally Posted by goldgirl2

Does the Indy have flat screen TV's? I have a habit of using TV as a sleep aide. Was there anything on the TV or the option of any pay per view movies? Thank you so much for all the great information!

We had a flat screen TV 2 weeks ago on Indy. We were in a JS on deck 9. They also had pay per view movies.

[goldgirl2]

Originally Posted by clarea

We had a flat screen TV 2 weeks ago on Indy. We were in a JS on deck 9. They also had pay per view movies.

Thanks Bob! We are in a JS as well Did you have lounge chairs on your deck?

[clarea]

Originally Posted by goldgirl2

Thanks Bob! We are in a JS as well Did you have lounge chairs on your deck?

Yes, we had one chaise lounge, one chair/ottoman combo, two other chairs, and a small table.

[Canadian Tyler]

Thanks for posting!