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Living it Up on Independence of the Seas! 8-nt Eastern REVIEW-lots of pics & detail!

nenner1

By nenner1,
in Royal Caribbean International

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maxs mom

maxs mom

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Wonderful review! I like to do the same type of review with pictures after our cruises. Your photographs are fabulous. I appreciate the time and effort it takes to do this. As a 25 year veteran of Royal Caribbean cruises, I hope you enjoyed your voyage. You have a lovely family. Thanks for sharing your adventures with us!

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nenner1

nenner1

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Great review! Great photos!

 

Thanks so much! :)

 

This is one of the best, most detailed reviews I have ever seen on Cruise Critic. Your writing is amazing, it is as if you are speaking to me in my living room.

 

We are SOOO excited now for our cruise. Thank You!

 

Oh you're welcome! Thanks for reading! :)

 

Great pictures, but I don't see Mom in any of them? Are you wanted by the Police............lol. I got the impression that he was a single dad with three kids. That was until I starting reading. I am one of those who looks at all the pictures first.

 

LOL, I am in one! The one of the game show I am in green with black shorts! :D I did notice going through them (I have thousands- it was so hard to narrow them down for posting) that I'm not in many of them. I was the photographer most of the time! :p

 

Nice to see how sporty your kids look all dressed up. Some others on this forum should use your kids as a example on how to dress for dinner in the MDR.

 

Aww, thanks! I do enjoy planning our outfits, (much to my husband's dismay) LOL.

 

That photo of the Diner in PR brought back memories. We at there many years ago. It still looks the same as I remember.

 

Thanks for the review, I'll finish reading it later.

 

Yep I don't think much has changed there in a long, long time!

Thanks so much for reading! :)

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nenner1

nenner1

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Wonderful review! I like to do the same type of review with pictures after our cruises. Your photographs are fabulous. I appreciate the time and effort it takes to do this. As a 25 year veteran of Royal Caribbean cruises' date=' I hope you enjoyed your voyage. You have a lovely family. Thanks for sharing your adventures with us![/size']

 

Thanks so much for reading!!! I sure hope to have as many cruises as are in your signature one day!! (We are looking at booking the Allure next- woo hoo!):)

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sharktums

sharktums

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Great review! Thanks for taking the time out of a no doubt busy schedule with those three kids!

 

A few quick questions -

 

- Did your kids do the kids program at all?

 

- How warm was the water in the pools, H20 Zone, and Flowrider? I've heard that it's not heated and has been quite cold recently.

 

- Can you explain a bit more about the lines and process for the Dragon's Tail Coaster? My husband and I would like to do it (already have done the zip line there), but we will have a three year old with us and don't want to stand around in lines for it while she's either with the kids club or my parents. We were thinking to get the all day pass, but if there is really a 40 minute line there's no way I have the patience for that! I'm all about fastpass! =)

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nenner1

nenner1

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Thanks so much for this wonderful review. One of the best I've seen on this forum.

 

Thanks so much, I'm glad you enjoyed it! :)

 

Great review! Thanks for taking the time out of a no doubt busy schedule with those three kids!

 

A few quick questions -

 

- Did your kids do the kids program at all?

 

Nope, they sure didn't. They stayed busy in the H20 zone and at the Flowrider at almost all the spare time they had.

 

- How warm was the water in the pools, H20 Zone, and Flowrider? I've heard that it's not heated and has been quite cold recently.

 

The water in the H20 zone (including in the donut and the main pool there, I was in both) seemed to be heated. The Solarium pool also seemed to be heated. They were significantly warmer than the main pool/sports pool.

 

The main/sports pools were quite brisk, even on a warm day.

 

- Can you explain a bit more about the lines and process for the Dragon's Tail Coaster? My husband and I would like to do it (already have done the zip line there), but we will have a three year old with us and don't want to stand around in lines for it while she's either with the kids club or my parents. We were thinking to get the all day pass, but if there is really a 40 minute line there's no way I have the patience for that! I'm all about fastpass! =)

 

Oh totally- I am a fastpass kind of gal myself! ;)

 

When you first approach the coaster area , there are a lot of tables with waivers. You fill those out and then get in the line at the booth there. (Even if you have paid already). That is where you get your wristband if you have the all day pass, or they give you poker style chips for individual rides, one color for the main rider, one for the passenger. Then you proceed to the main line for the coaster. As I mentioned, some people are walkups and have not paid yet, and have to be explained about the pricing structure. That really slowed this line down. There was only one staff member there and it would have worked better IMO if they had two- one handling the prepaid excursions and one taking the walkups. We waited in this area 10-15 minutes.

 

The line is on a wooden platform and is uncovered, no shade. So on a bright sunny day a long wait out there is very hot! when we arrived the line consisted of about 20-25 people. That doesn't sound like much but the cars were also all loaded so that meat there were anywhere from 40-45 people ahead of us. The loading procedure is slow. When the cars arrive back at the station they allowed to accumulate and when the loading platform is empty (all cars have been dispatched) then the loading staff will bring people from the line and let them load in the cars (the picture I posted shows this) You then wait in a line in the cars as each car is dispatched, about 1-2 minutes apart. There about 15 cars in the loading platform at a time so it does take a good 20 minutes or so to clear the platform and then the loading process begins again. I checked back on our pictures and we did wait appx. 35 minutes until the first ride. The ride itself is literally about a minute and a half, with most of that being the lift hill. But it was a fun ride (I love coasters). We were in the area as a whole almost an hour (but remember we did back to back rides which did take up extra time). I would say figure at least 35-40 minutes per ride during the "busy" time of the day which I would say is 10 AM-4PM. The boys did go back to the ride at the very end of the day. (4:05 PM to be exact) Most of the rest of the island was empty- but there was still a line for the coaster. Looking at the pics for timeline I can see that even then they had a half an hour wait (pic taken on the lift hill is at 4:32 PM)- so yes it is substantial.

 

Having done it, my advice is you may not need the whole day pass. Depending on how long you intend to stay out on the beach and all, I think the double ride may be enough. With each ride taking such a chunk of time and the fact that it is really out of the way to get over there, you know. That's what I would advise, having done it. You really have to get about 3 rides out of the day pass to make it worthwhile over the $25 double ride.

 

Anyway, thanks so much for reading, I hope that this helps you. Have a great cruise! :)

 

Great review. I almost felt like I was onboard with you and your family:D

 

Thanks so much, I'm glad you enjoyed it! :)

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nivek82

nivek82

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Great review. Any chance you can post the compass? We are like you and like to plan ahead and was interested in the differences you saw between what you had read on CC and what actually happened on the ship. We are leaving on 3/20 so an updated compass would be great!

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QTMichele

QTMichele

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This was so much fun to read! Thanks for taking the time to do it. :) I'm sorry about your embarkation/debarkation experience - didn't sound to nice to me. :/ Since you loved Indy, I'd recommend giving Freedom a try too. :) We loved our cruise on her, and the service was OUTSTANDING. Having cruised with a baby (14 months at the time), I understand the need for the highchairs. Freedom staff always anticipated my needs without me having to ask. Definitely a plus. :) Glad to see you were a family of 5 in one stateroom... no one believes me when I say this is possible. ;) Thanks for the great pictures of Trunk Bay - will absolutely put this on my "things to do" list. Anyway, so glad you had an overall great trip!!!

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dleafy

dleafy

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Thanks for a great trip report.

We felt like we were on the cruise with you!

 

Actually we were, and had a fantastic cruise. It was our first cruise with Royal Caribbean, but it wont be our last.

 

Loved your photos............they looked just like ours.......LOL

 

 

Cheers

 

davy!!! :):):)

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nenner1

nenner1

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This was so much fun to read! Thanks for taking the time to do it. I'm sorry about your embarkation/debarkation experience - didn't sound to nice to me. :/

 

I have to say it was crazy but for the most part not as horrible as I expected. It is very different from the experience on DCL @ Port Canaveral. Most of the worst part of embarkation was just having to deal with getting the baby in & out of the stroller with all the carryons (the stroller tipping over), papers flying around, etc. That was the worst part really and those were our own issues, so... :o

 

 

Since you loved Indy, I'd recommend giving Freedom a try too. We loved our cruise on her, and the service was OUTSTANDING. Having cruised with a baby (14 months at the time), I understand the need for the highchairs. Freedom staff always anticipated my needs without me having to ask. Definitely a plus.

 

 

Oh I would love to go on Freedom! I hope we will someday soon. Our next cruise is booked on the Allure. :D

 

Glad to see you were a family of 5 in one stateroom... no one believes me when I say this is possible. ;)

 

Yeah I think a couple of times RCCL employees didn't think it was possible....ha ha!

 

Thanks for the great pictures of Trunk Bay - will absolutely put this on my "things to do" list. Anyway, so glad you had an overall great trip!!!

 

Oh yes Trunk Bay is so worth the effort to get there!!!

 

Thanks so much for reading, I really enjoyed your review a little while back, it was very helpful (your kids are adorable!!!) :)

 

 

Thanks for the TR. We had done 5 DCL and will be on our first RCI next month. How did your kids enjoy or compare the two ?

 

Oh the kids loved it. They now love RCCL better than DCL. (Even though they do love Disney characters & such). Many things are comparable-

Service: we have had very good service on both ships, especially with stateroom hosts. Dining room, we have had hit and miss servers on both but for the most part I think the service and effort is very comparable. I have found staff friendly and very helpful on both lines.

Food: was really disspointing on our last DCL cruise- even Palo. We loved the food on RCCL. The variety in WJ is great- WJ is way better then Beach Blanket/Topsiders both in variety and setup. I think the food there is pretty similar. As far as dining room food, the edge is Royal. My husband says my review tends to make it sound like the food wasn't all that great but actually it was very good.

Shows/Entertainment: storyline and theme go to Disney. Royal's performances are not as touching and emotional as Disney's but they are possibly more entertaining. The quality of the performers IMO are slightly better on Royal. They had some outstanding singers and dancers. Not to slight Disney's though. I liked the live band on the pool deck on Indy, they were really good. We didn't see any comedian/varitey/lounge acts so I don't know about those.

Pools: Royal by far. As charming as the Mickey pool is you just can't top the H20 zone. My kids did NOT get tired of it, not even after 8 days. They especially loved the hot tubs in that area since they could go in them without worrying if they were bothering the adults in it (unlike the ones at Goofy pool on DCL). The pool IN the H20 zone is bigger then the Goofy pool let alone the two large main/sports pools . It was nice having the pools so deep also (over my head) which is not the case on DCL. The Solarium is much more elegant than the Quiet Cove, however both are wonderful for relaxing. The solarium pool has a swim up bar with seats under the bridge which was nice. The baby splash zone: edge for design goes to Disney but I wish they would keep the big kiddies out like RCCL.

One thing RCCL is lacking- food by the pools. I love Pluto's on DCL. Both have the soft serve ice cream (though I don't remember DCL having cones) Also pool policy: I like Disney's NO SAVING better, altough on our cruise chair hogs were not a problem. (at least where we were). And I dislike the whole towel checkout think like RCCL has, I like how Disney has unlimited towel availability (though the thick beach towels on RCCL are better).

Rooms: Edge Royal. Our D1 room was bigger and balcony deeper than the Cat. 5 we had on DCL. It also had more ingenious storage. The bed was much more comfortable on RCCL than the last one we had on DCL. I miss the pulldown bed that DCL has (although I think some RCCL rooms have something similar), having the sofa bed open at night really cut down on the amount of space we had in the room. The shower is tiny, we did miss the tub a little, having a baby- but she does get showers too at home so it wasn't that bad. While there was more storage on RCCL, I had to use up some of it to store the minibar items (man they cram a lot in that little fridge).

We did not use the kids club on RCCL so I can't compare those, but we'd had great experiences with them on DCL.

Private Island- this is a toughie. I love Castaway Cay. But I love Labadee too. I think they are pretty much similar. CC is more neat and pristine and seems more "created" whereas Labadee seems more natural. The beaches themselves I think are better on CC but the scenery is better in Labadee. I look forward to more activities on CC like the kids play area/slides (that may already be there). The food on both was fairly comparable- a slight edge to RCCL. Chairs are way more comfortable on CC, and the adults only beach is nice. Labadee seemed way more crowded than CC is. CC is bigger though. I liked the Konk Kooler better than the Labadoozie. LOL. :D

 

 

The layout of both types of ships (Freedom class and Magic/Wonder) is very similar so you won't have any trouble navigating the ship. I think if you love DCL you will also love RCCL. The difference is really just the Disney theme and characters.

 

 

 

My overall rating is DCL **** four stars out of five

RCCL **** 1/2 four and half stars out of five.

 

Have a great cruise, I think you will love RCCL!

 

 

Wow what a wonderful review. Thanks so much for posting along with all of those wonderful pictures. Looks like you guys had a blast.

 

Thanks for reading! I'm glad you enjoyed it!! :)

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nenner1

nenner1

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Great review. Any chance you can post the compass? We are like you and like to plan ahead and was interested in the differences you saw between what you had read on CC and what actually happened on the ship. We are leaving on 3/20 so an updated compass would be great!

 

Hi, I do have the compasses. Some are highlighted, though they should still be readable. It will take a little bit of time to scan and get them up, as the cord on my printer is fooky.

 

I don't know why things changed up so much on our cruise. It might be that they just switch things around from time to time.

Things that were different were on the Dec '09 compasses they had Quest on day 5 or 6- on our cruise it was day 3. They switched the ice show from later in the cruise to earlier in the cruise so instead of open skating the second, third, and last days it was third, sixth, and last on our cruise.

But those were the things that threw off our plans the most.

 

But thanks for reading and I will get those up ASAP. I also have the port shopping guides and some menus (which I see they have their own thread now. ) :)

 

Thanks for a great trip report.

We felt like we were on the cruise with you!

 

Actually we were, and had a fantastic cruise. It was our first cruise with Royal Caribbean, but it wont be our last.

 

Loved your photos............they looked just like ours.......LOL

 

 

Cheers

 

davy!!! :):):)

 

Hi davy, wasn't it wonderful?!!! :D I'm glad you had a great time! Maybe we'll sail together again sometime! Thanks for reading! :)

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QTMichele

QTMichele

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Oh I would love to go on Freedom! I hope we will someday soon. Our next cruise is booked on the Allure. :D

 

YAY! Are you taking the kids as well? My hubby and I are almost booked on Oasis... going in February/March 2011 - just need to pick a date and book it! :D

 

Thanks so much for reading, I really enjoyed your review a little while back, it was very helpful (your kids are adorable!!!) :)

 

I remember. :) You have adorable kids too! :) They always looked so cute. I think your little girl has the same dress on as one of my girls... Great taste! lol

 

Oh the kids loved it. They now love RCCL better than DCL. (Even though they do love Disney characters & such). Many things are comparable-

Service: we have had very good service on both ships, especially with stateroom hosts. Dining room, we have had hit and miss servers on both but for the most part I think the service and effort is very comparable. I have found staff friendly and very helpful on both lines.

Food: was really disspointing on our last DCL cruise- even Palo. We loved the food on RCCL. The variety in WJ is great- WJ is way better then Beach Blanket/Topsiders both in variety and setup. I think the food there is pretty similar. As far as dining room food, the edge is Royal. My husband says my review tends to make it sound like the food wasn't all that great but actually it was very good.

Shows/Entertainment: storyline and theme go to Disney. Royal's performances are not as touching and emotional as Disney's but they are possibly more entertaining. The quality of the performers IMO are slightly better on Royal. They had some outstanding singers and dancers. Not to slight Disney's though. I liked the live band on the pool deck on Indy, they were really good. We didn't see any comedian/varitey/lounge acts so I don't know about those.

Pools: Royal by far. As charming as the Mickey pool is you just can't top the H20 zone. My kids did NOT get tired of it, not even after 8 days. They especially loved the hot tubs in that area since they could go in them without worrying if they were bothering the adults in it (unlike the ones at Goofy pool on DCL). The pool IN the H20 zone is bigger then the Goofy pool let alone the two large main/sports pools . It was nice having the pools so deep also (over my head) which is not the case on DCL. The Solarium is much more elegant than the Quiet Cove, however both are wonderful for relaxing. The solarium pool has a swim up bar with seats under the bridge which was nice. The baby splash zone: edge for design goes to Disney but I wish they would keep the big kiddies out like RCCL.

One thing RCCL is lacking- food by the pools. I love Pluto's on DCL. Both have the soft serve ice cream (though I don't remember DCL having cones) Also pool policy: I like Disney's NO SAVING better, altough on our cruise chair hogs were not a problem. (at least where we were). And I dislike the whole towel checkout think like RCCL has, I like how Disney has unlimited towel availability (though the thick beach towels on RCCL are better).

Rooms: Edge Royal. Our D1 room was bigger and balcony deeper than the Cat. 5 we had on DCL. It also had more ingenious storage. The bed was much more comfortable on RCCL than the last one we had on DCL. I miss the pulldown bed that DCL has (although I think some RCCL rooms have something similar), having the sofa bed open at night really cut down on the amount of space we had in the room. The shower is tiny, we did miss the tub a little, having a baby- but she does get showers too at home so it wasn't that bad. While there was more storage on RCCL, I had to use up some of it to store the minibar items (man they cram a lot in that little fridge).

We did not use the kids club on RCCL so I can't compare those, but we'd had great experiences with them on DCL.

Private Island- this is a toughie. I love Castaway Cay. But I love Labadee too. I think they are pretty much similar. CC is more neat and pristine and seems more "created" whereas Labadee seems more natural. The beaches themselves I think are better on CC but the scenery is better in Labadee. I look forward to more activities on CC like the kids play area/slides (that may already be there). The food on both was fairly comparable- a slight edge to RCCL. Chairs are way more comfortable on CC, and the adults only beach is nice. Labadee seemed way more crowded than CC is. CC is bigger though. I liked the Konk Kooler better than the Labadoozie. LOL. :D

 

 

The layout of both types of ships (Freedom class and Magic/Wonder) is very similar so you won't have any trouble navigating the ship. I think if you love DCL you will also love RCCL. The difference is really just the Disney theme and characters.

 

 

 

My overall rating is DCL **** four stars out of five

RCCL **** 1/2 four and half stars out of five.

 

I know I didn't ask for this info, but I'm so glad you provided it. Your comments seem to be reflected by quite a few people who have sailed both lines. I've debated about booking a Disney cruise, but just don't know if I can justify the expense. We LOVE Disney World (going later this year!!!), but I wonder if we should just keep our money in a land based vacation with them and use the "left overs" for Royal? Decisions, decisions... and not enough money! LOL

 

Thanks again!

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gutterball

gutterball

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Posted

 

 

 

I know I didn't ask for this info, but I'm so glad you provided it. Your comments seem to be reflected by quite a few people who have sailed both lines. I've debated about booking a Disney cruise, but just don't know if I can justify the expense. We LOVE Disney World (going later this year!!!), but I wonder if we should just keep our money in a land based vacation with them and use the "left overs" for Royal? Decisions, decisions... and not enough money! LOL

 

Thanks again!

 

Money is one of the main reason we are doing RCI instead of DCL this March. It is a difference of $2,000 and pot hole vs D1 balcony. With Dreams coming next year, hopefully the price would be more comparable to other lines after the novelty wears out.

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nenner1

nenner1

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great review and pictures, lovely family

 

 

Thanks so much, I'm glad you enjoyed it!:)

 

YAY! Are you taking the kids as well? My hubby and I are almost booked on Oasis... going in February/March 2011 - just need to pick a date and book it!

 

Oh yes. We love the family balcony stateroom option, but although they had the cool rooms on 7 aft that have the huuge balconies and are in the rock wall available, it was much cheaper (almost $1K) to just get a balcony and an inside. They *already* didn't have any inside rooms at all above deck 7. Crazy!!

 

 

 

I remember. :) You have adorable kids too! :) They always looked so cute. I think your little girl has the same dress on as one of my girls... Great taste! lol

Ha! That's right! Great minds think alike!! :p

 

 

I know I didn't ask for this info, but I'm so glad you provided it. Your comments seem to be reflected by quite a few people who have sailed both lines. I've debated about booking a Disney cruise, but just don't know if I can justify the expense. We LOVE Disney World (going later this year!!!), but I wonder if we should just keep our money in a land based vacation with them and use the "left overs" for Royal? Decisions, decisions... and not enough money! LOL

 

Thanks again!

 

Well, I know it may sound to the contrary but if you do love Disney then I think maybe you should give it a shot. Yes, it is more expensive (but not always by too much if you cruise in the off season) but there really is something special about it. Its just...well, after being on Freedom you may be bored on DCL. I think it is much better with the little ones (3-7) age group. It is a tough call. Disney does have two new ships launching in '11 and '12. They are still not quite as large as Freedom class but they will have some of the amenities RCCL cruisers look for. Plus the first water coaster at sea. ;-O (I can imagine how bad the line is for that LOL)

 

Maybe we will cruise together someday! :D

 

Great review - great family - thanks so much for sharing!

 

Thanks so much for reading! I'm glad you liked it! :)

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QTMichele

QTMichele

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Well, I know it may sound to the contrary but if you do love Disney then I think maybe you should give it a shot. Yes, it is more expensive (but not always by too much if you cruise in the off season) but there really is something special about it. Its just...well, after being on Freedom you may be bored on DCL. I think it is much better with the little ones (3-7) age group. It is a tough call. Disney does have two new ships launching in '11 and '12. They are still not quite as large as Freedom class but they will have some of the amenities RCCL cruisers look for. Plus the first water coaster at sea. ;-O (I can imagine how bad the line is for that LOL)

 

This is why I'm still "floating" Disney around in my head... we'll see. :)

 

Maybe we will cruise together someday! :D

 

I'd love to! :)

 

Pictures of your kids and multiple pictures of the motel room you stayed in before the cruise. Does anyone really care?

 

DON

 

Yes, I care, as do a lot of other people. If this type of review isn't for you, then no one is forcing you to read it. Didn't your mother or father teach you that if you didn't have anything nice to say, then not to say anything at all. :rolleyes:

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