Quantum Meets Independence Of The Seas in San Juan

I recently did back-to-back cruises on Independence Of The Seas and got an unexpected treat as we sailed away after a visit to San Juan: a close encounter with Quantum Of The Seas!

It was ironic for me, as I had originally booked a cabin on Quantum Of The Seas, but got cold feet about the $8000 price tag for 12-days in a balcony cabin and ended up switching to 14-days on Independence Of The Seas and saving $3000 in cruise fare.

Our Captain was kind enough to give us all a heads-up that Quantum Of The Seas would be passing us in the harbor (and taking our place at the dock) as we sailed out of San Juan. I really appreciated the notification, as it allowed me to gather my camera gear and head up to the viewing area at the bow in time to shoot some video of Quantum. By the way, it was my first time on a Freedom-class ship, and I really loved how the design of the ship allowed passengers to roam freely on the ship's bow... which provided an especially great view when the ship sailed in and out of port.

For your viewing pleasure, here's the video I shot of Quantum Of The Seas from the bow of Independence Of The Seas in San Juan harbor:

[YOUTUBE]rBStN2NtKzk[/YOUTUBE]

By the way, this was only my second time on a Royal Caribbean ship, although I've cruised a lot on other lines. I really wasn't expecting much from Independence Of The Seas. I had sailed on Allure Of The Seas last year, and assumed I had already experienced the best that Royal Caribbean had to offer. I wasn't expecting to be very impressed with a 7-year-old ship which has now been surpassed by two generations of newer ship designs. Boy, was I wrong!

There were some things about Independence Of The Seas which were among the best I had ever experienced on a cruise ship. I liked the Windjammer Buffet so much that I never even ate a meal in the main dining room. Windjammer's selection was a great match to my taste in casual dining, and suited me better than any cruise ship buffet I've visited yet.

I also really liked the selection of Jacuzzis and swimming pools up on the top deck... especially the adults-only pool in the Solarium area. The funny thing about that Solarium pool was that during our back-to-back cruises, they heated the pool way up on the second week. The first week, it was normal temperature... but the second week, they heated it up to Jacuzzi-type temperatures. I totally LOVED that! I don't know why they didn't do it the same way both weeks, and I don't know which way was the normal way you would find it on an average week onboard... but I sure loved it when it was kept incredibly warm the second week.

I also really liked that the Cruise Director never made sales-pitches over the public address system in the cabins or hallways. The only times I ever heard the typical CD sales-pitches were in public areas of the ship. And I loved the Captain's informative noon-time announcements... and the videos of him explaining the ship's operations on the cabin TVs. I also liked that there was a volume control at the desk which you could turn up to clearly hear ship announcements in your cabin.

Entertainment in the evening was the problem area for me... it seemed to pale in comparison to what I was used to from Carnival, Princess, and NCL. Carnival really spoiled me with the way they offer four different stand-up comedians during a 7-day cruise. Comedy was almost non-existent on Indy. I also thought that the "headliner" acts they flew on to the ship were weak in comparison to what I was used to from other lines.

The one other really odd thing was that the Windjammer didn't even open for dinner until 6:30 PM. What's up with that? If I have an 8 AM shore excursion the next morning, I'm going to want to attend the early show in the main theater, not the late show. The early show starts at 7 PM. Windjammer should have opened at 5:30.

But overall, I really liked Independence Of The Seas... a lot! It would have been fun to have experienced all the new stuff on Quantum... but not for $8000 for a balcony cabin. Independence Of The Seas delivered a real nice cruise for a lot less $$$. I was impressed.

I'll post a full review with probably in excess of 100 still pictures... in a week or two. It's going to take some time to put it together. I just got home less than 24 hours ago... just wanted to post the Quantum video before heading back to work tomorrow. I hope you enjoyed it.

Thanks for posting. Your videos, in-depth reviews, and photos are second to none. I've learned so much about other cruise lines/ships through you. Glad to see you are booked for all the hottest new ships coming out. Any plans for the new MSC ships?

Thanks for the video! Glad you had a fun time, I absolutely love the Freedom class and want to return on one of them sometime soon.

Looking forward to your review!

Freedom Class is my favorite class of ships!

Awesome video!!

Nice video. Looking forward to your review. Thanks

Great video. Thanks for sharing.