taalman5@sbcglobal.net

I wanted to give my feedback to maybe be of help to someone. I am in my late 40s. I always thought I was in pretty good shape but I do have a very bad back with daily pain and I injured my hip in yoga and tore my labrum. I had surgery 4 months ago to sew the labrum. It is a very long recovery. I am still in PT. I was really worried about Dunn's River but really wanted to try it. I did it last week and wanted to let everyone know it was so much easier than I was concerned it would be.

I wore swim shoes and I was careful and deliberate in my footing. Maybe I got lucky but I never slipped, even slightly. I do have extremely good balance though, but my hip still hurts often just walking, but not at all during or after the Dunn's climb. The chain of people walks very slowly so it never felt overwhelming. I read people were afraid for their lives so I thought maybe it would feel like a cliff but I don't know what they were referring to; it never felt scary and I can be a chicken like that. In fact it was so easy and the time went so fast that I felt I could do it again. I was sad when it was over. I loved it! I was also afraid the water would be super cold. It wasn't. It was not warm but I really never noticed being cold. I also read that you get totally drenched. I was picturing getting water in my face constantly, but this was not the case. I'm super short and although I get wet, I didn't get water in my eyes. Do not miss out. I wouldn't bring a small child to the climb and maybe skip if you limp from pain and don't have good balance. There were stairs to climb instead but people looked very bored on them.

We also did the dolphin swim which was such a beautiful experience. It felt very natural and felt like the dolphins were treated very well. My only complaint was the ridiculous price of pictures. I bought two at $35 each. Only other regret was that we did not have enough time at dolphin cove to see anything else. I would have liked to try the sting rays, sharks or kayaks. The bus from Falmouth was easy. The hour drive went fast. The bus was super comfy with plush seats and great A/C.

I was on the Independence 3/6-3/11. We had the deluxe drink package. I just thought some of my observations might be helpful to someone else. We are a couple in our 40's and cruised with another couple.

We had a really nice time and having the package made the day more carefree and it was fun to be able to try a lot of drinks. I loved the coffee drinks. I enjoyed quite a few latte, cappuccino, soy latte, and there were delicious coffee drinks with liquor. I enjoyed all of these more than the bar drinks.

My biggest complaint that I had was that the bars did not have the ingredients for the drinks that were on their own menus. I love fresh fruit in my drinks. I was looking forward to trying all kinds of new and interesting drinks on the cruise. I looked at the menu in each bar and attempted to order from their menu. In Boleros Lounge, on the first day I ordered a drink that was described as having an "entire kiwi" muddled with lime and Brazilian rum. I got it the first day and was very happy. Second day I was told (with no apology) that they didn't have any kiwi and third day and fourth day. Finally on the fourth day I saw a different bartender and asked if someone could get a kiwi from the kitchen. She agreed and 30 minutes later I did get the drink. Also I think it was at Dog and Badger or a different bar across the hall, they have a drink described as "muddled watermelon" but it is made with ZERO watermelon. When asked they said watermelon is basically water so you won't notice anyway. The menu also offers a drink made with Fresh Basil but they said Basil is not provided to them (again with no sign of apology). There was another drink at Olive and Twist that was described with fresh fruit. On the first day of the cruise I was told it was a new menu and they don't have the ingredients yet. The menu did not look new. I also want to mention none of the bars had enough bartenders. They usually only had two and since the boat had a good number of spring breakers there were regularly pretty long waits. Occasionally we waited at the bar 30 minutes. Regularly we waited at least 15 minutes. We did not find that bartenders were willing to go out of their way for us.

We did have some drinks we enjoyed, especially the frozen drinks while laying in the sun. It just seemed like their idea of an interesting drink was one made with one sweet mix after another. The price we paid was a good deal on specific days that we drank a lot but I got tired of the same tasting, overly sweet drinks and after paying the package for 5 days the price really added up especially when you can't get high end, fresh mixed drinks or even drinks they put on their own menu. The menus were not large. Some of the menus only had 10 or less specialty drinks listed so it should not be hard to have the necessary ingredients, especially on the first day of the cruise.

Was it warm enough to lay out and swim on sea days. I'm sailing next week. Thanks!

If zoom isn't a strong signal on Indy will my wifi calling (texting) work is most areas of the boat?

My amazingly fit friend introduced me to my favorite go to drink. Fresh strawberries and basil muddled, Tito's vodka and just a splash of lemonade. It is refreshing, pretty, fun to drink and much lower in sugar than most fun drinks. I am hoping they will make it for me on the Independence.

happycruiser1234, I was hoping I could just withdraw any obc that I don't use from the casino but rci supervisor told me since it will be labeled "promotional" I won't be allowed to use it or withdraw it from the casino. From your experience, do you think he is wrong? Thanks!

Canadian Disney, Thank you for your suggestion to use my obc since rcl won't won't just reimburse my credit card. I wish I could ask for reimbursement of grat and use obc to pay them but I'm assuming I can't. My husband won the cruise through his job, ( Just have to pay taxes on value and excursions, etc) they are paying our grat. I know we are super lucky but then again it is in lieu of annual bonus.

I thought about cancelling our excursions and using obc but the price has gone up since I bought them and I wouldn't want to chance them selling out. Any other ideas? Thanks!!

I commented a few days ago that I had cancelled my 8.99 zoom in order to buy the sip and stream but then got an error. First phone call they said IT is working on it and call back in 2 hours. Second call said they had a ticket sent to IT specifically for me. He said that within a couple of days the sip and stream should be back in my cruise planner. Third call...this time I called online check in instead because I had another question. While I had him I asked if he could transfer me to supervisor again to discuss my beverage plan problem. He is said that if I sign up for beverage plans and zoom plans at current cruise planner price they will then credit me back the difference (Which I calculate at $101 for the myself and husband, he calculated at $84 because he calculated with 18% gratuity. I tried to tell him it was 14.5% gratuity because it was a bundle package with zoom but he did not know anything about that). Skeptical? Yes I am. He said it will come back as an on board credit. I said I don't need more on board credit because I pre-booked all my excursions, my gratuities are pre paid and I already have $100 on board credit. He said this is my only option. Wasn't planning on spending another $185 on board. I told him I am also concerned that I won't know if they indeed credited my on board account until I board and by then it would be too late to cancel (since originally I was only going to get one zoom package). He says I will get an email confirmation within a couple days that says I have a credit. Still skeptical. I did go ahead and give him my credit card, figuring I have until March 3 to cancel in case. This is my first experience with Royal Caribbean, I know a lot of you are very experienced, what do you think?

Manager said they cannot see the offer. They have IT working on it and to call back later today to see if they can get the package or hopefully at least get my 8.99 zoom package back. She said they are aware it is an issue and sounds like someone higher up is going to have to make the decision if they will offer any assistance to people who cancelled packages trying to buy this new one. Hope it's not a bait and switch

It is offered on my cruise planner. I cancelled 8.99 zoom and $46 beverage package to buy sip and stream $49 (because I know I can't buy two packages for the same person)., but when I click add to cart I get the error message. Now zoom is 11.99 per day. I am so mad!!! How can it show it as an option if I can't buy it. I am on hold now waiting for a manager. The rep would not reverse my cancelled zoom so I could have my discounted zoom back.