Independence of the Seas 2-10-2013 6-night pictures and review

[Clarea]

Excellent review!! Or, as my Boston friends would say.....wicked pissah! We're going on the IOS in May for the Norwegian Fjords. It will be our 5th cruise, and the largest ship by far that we've been on.

 

I did have one question, hopefully somebody who's been on the Independence can answer it. I noticed that you had to line up to get the Ice Show tickets. The RCI agent told me to book tickets for the evening shows as well. How do you do that? Is that a "line up and wait" thing too? Or can you reserve them online somewhere? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!!

Indy does not yet have advance reservations for entertainment. The ice show is the only show for which you need tickets, and you get those on board. All other shows are first come, first served.

[Murrdawg]

Thanks a lot!! The woman from RCI that I talked to, told me to reserve tickets. It looks like a big theatre, I'm sure it holds a lot of people. Thanks for the info.:)

[JsBs81]

That was a great review. I like many people on here have spent hours on this site and thought your insight and format was perfect thank you for sharing everything

. I don't even have a trip booked on this ship but heading out on the navigator in June from Europe and can't wait, thanks again

[sanditoes4]

Nice job. Thank you for taking the time to post this review. It looks like you had a great time.

 

So this was your first cruise, are you hopelessly hooked now?

 

When's your next cruise?! :D

[ahecht]

Wow, I completely forgot to finish updating my review here. To answer your question, yes, we are hooked. It took a lot of willpower not to book a cruise right away for next winter, but we decided to skip at least a year before our next cruise so we can have a little more variety. We'll see what happens when the Winter 2014/2015 schedule opens up.

 

I'll finish up posting in a bit.

[Poorplaya]

WOW that was an amazing review, I am really glad you guys had a such a good time on the cruise and all the pictures that you posted were just awesome. Thank you for taking such time into posting everything you did, makes me even more excited for our cruise on IOS next April!!

[ahecht]

Day 9: Monday, February 18th, 2013 - Part 1

 

So I'm skipping over day 8, which was spent at Sea World Orlando, to jump ahead to Discovery Cove. Discovery Cove is an all-inclusive resort run by Sea World, and the only reason I'm covering it here is that it was interesting to experience Discovery Cove's fake coral reef right after snorkeling at a real one in Grand Cayman.

 

Discovery cove is an interesting concept. They only let in 1200 people each day, and your admission provides you access to everything in the resort (except for the dolphin encounter) as well as all food, drinks, alcohol, sunscreen, parking, etc. The only things you have to pay for are the dolphin encounter, cabanas, photographs, and souvenirs. The park itself features a giant saltwater reef, 3 aviaries, a huge freshwater lazy river that at one point goes through one of the aviaries, another freshwater area featuring otters and marmosets.

 

Like cruise fares, the price of admission varies depending on how many tickets have been sold, but when we went it was $159/person. This includes 14 days of admission to Sea World, and you can add 14 days at Busch Gardens for $20/person. Since tickets to Sea World and Busch Gardens would normally cost $140, adding on Discovery Cover for $40 was a great deal. If you go during peak season, the prices can go as high as $289/person, in which case it's not as good a deal.

 

We added the dolphin swim package, which for us was an extra $150/person. Prices range from an extra $40/person to an extra $190/person depending on the day.

 

As I mentioned before, we had originally planned to do Discovery Cove on day 8, but it was supposed to be miserably cold that day. If it's within 30 days of your reservation, you're allowed to reschedule once for free. When we checked in on Monday morning, it was still pretty cold, although it warmed up later in the day. We asked if anyone had shown up the day before, when the high temperature was 55 degrees, and they said that the park was actually pretty full since it was a Sunday and a lot of people leave Discovery Cove to the last day of their trip and cannot reschedule. Word of advice: don't do Discovery Cove the last day of your trip!

 

Anyway, the check in process was very easy, and we were given nice plastic cards with our picture and directed to the free breakfast. After eating, we went to change. You are required to wear either a long or short sleeve wetsuit or a swim vest when in the water so that the life guards can more easily see you. These are provided for you outside the changing rooms. Since it was so cold, we chose the long wetsuits, although we saw plenty of people with the short ones or just the vest.

 

Since it was too cold for the salt water reef, we headed for beach adjacent to the wind-away river. There was a large wading area with fake rocks near the beach, and the entrance to the river could be accessed through the cave on the right. The water here was heated to 80 degrees, and lots of people were just floating on the provided pool toys:

 

Here is the entrance to the lazy rive portion. The current here is very, very gently, so you have to do most of the swimming yourself:

 

At one point, the river enters the aviary. You have to swim through a waterfall to enter and exit (so the birds don't escape):

 

Along the rest of the river, there are various sunken artifacts, lots of lush plants, and interesting rockwork.

 

In the middle of the donut formed by the lazy river is the freshwater oasis, which features more heated freshwater wading and swimming. When you enter, there is an area with sunken chairs and benches for you to enjoy a cold beer (or on this chilly morning a warm hot cocoa) while lounging in the water.

 

Moving towards the interior, the real starts here are an island filled with marmosets (although they were huddled together inside their hut due to the cold) and a very unique otter exhibit. The otters are separated from you by a pane of glass, but since the water in their exhibit is at the same level as the water in the freshwater oasis, you can dive underwater with a snorkel or goggles and see the otters face to face (the glass seems to disappear underwater). The glass is slightly slanted, so when the otters are close you are actually looking down at them. We were lucky enough to be there for feeding time, and got to watch the otters fetching and cracking open shellfish:

 

Although the trainer tried to make them dive in the water for the anchovies, they preferred to get it directly from him:

[ahecht]

Day 9: Monday, February 18th, 2013 - Part 2

 

Near the freshwater oasis and wind-away river are the aviaries. The aviaries have a huge variety of birds, and the employees in each area will provide you with cups of bird food ranging from fruits and seeds to mealworms and fish. The bird food is all included in your admission. Some of the birds are very friendly:

 

Here's another one:

 

The birds are all very comfortable with people -- we even saw a bird land one someone's shoulder and fall asleep!

 

One interesting thing we saw was this bird, which thought that one of the white food dishes was an egg and tried to hatch it! It would sit on it, getting up only to rotate it slightly before ploping back down. It got very defensive when the employee tried to take the dish away.

 

Soon it was time for our Dolphin encounter. After watching an introduction video, we were put into a small group (I think there were 6 in ours) and assigned a trainer and a dolphin. We got in the water and were introduced to our dolphin, and we were instructed to perform a variety of hand signals to get the dolphin to do various tricks. After all the dolphins in the pool performed a group stunt we were each given a little bit of one-on-one time with the dolphin to pose for pictures and have the dolphin tow us a short distance through the pool. In all, the experience it the water lasted 15 minutes or so, and given that I had been able to feed and pet a dolphin the day before at Sea World for $7 it didn't feel quite worth the $150 added cost (which was well over $200/person if you count the expensive picture CD we purchased). I'm happy I did it, but wouldn't do it again for that price.

 

At this point it was time to head to lunch in the main building. There was a good variety to choose from, including fried and grilled fish and chicken, spaghetti and mac and cheese, burgers, hot dogs, and pulled pork, and a variety of desserts:

 

After lunch we went to check out the main attraction: The Grand Reef:

[ahecht]

Day 9: Monday, February 18th, 2013 - Part 2

 

Diving into the reef was eerily similar to diving into the waters in Grand Cayman: you are immediatly overwhelmed by tropical fish:

 

There are also dozens of sting rays swimming around, including a couple of spotted rays:

 

There were more fish, and in a greater variety than in Grand Cayman. However, after just having experienced the real thing, it was a bit of a let down. The "coral" was very obviously concrete and not well blended into the sea floor. The rays all had scars where their stingers had been removed. It was still amazing, but doesn't compare to the real thing.

 

On the plus side, there are lots and lots of fish, and they're not afraid of people. There was definitely more fish, and in more variety, than I saw in Grand Cayman.

 

 

There are a lot of neat things that Discovery Cove included in the reef. There are plenty of shallow areas for less strong swimmers, as well as deeper pockets where the larger fish like to hang out. There are several tanks where well-disguised invisible glass separates you from sharks, eels, remoras, and other potentially dangerous fish.

 

I would highly recommend checking out my video by clicking on the below image. It shows off the reef much better than a few still pictures can:

 

 

I would definitely do Discovery Cove again, but just not right after being in the Caribbean, and not with the dolphin add-on. If you're planning on visiting Busch Gardens and Sea World (and both are amazingly beautiful parks with world-class animal exhibits in addition to the roller coasters), adding on Discovery Cove should be a no-brainer.

Edited April 11, 2013 by ahecht

[jimbri]

Great review. Thank you for sharing.

[bdcat117]

Great Review!!! We will be on Indy next February and your attention to detail really has allowed for an interesting read. Thanks!!!

[ahecht]

Thanks for the comments and please excuse the typos in the above posts. I seriously failed at proofreading last night.

[cebl]

Great report! Thanks!

[Big Chik]

Thanks for the great review. We sail on IOS in May to Norway so the pre-refurb pointers are really useful. But one question...

 

Intermission: Part 4

 

...This is also where you can get daily (british-style) crossword puzzles

 

Umm, what is a "british-style" crossword puzzle?

I thought all crosswords were alike? :confused:

 

Alan G.

Edited April 20, 2013 by Big Chik

[ahecht]

Thanks for the great review. We sail on IOS in May to Norway so the pre-refurb pointers are really useful. But one question...

 

 

 

Umm, what is a "british-style" crossword puzzle?

I thought all crosswords were alike? :confused:

 

Alan G.

 

The Wikipedia article on crosswords has more info, but there are a few major differences. In an American crossword, every letter is part of an across word and a down word and there tend to be large areas of white and black squares, while a British crossword has many letters that are only part of one word and there are single black squares scattered throughout the grid. American crosswords make you look at the grid to find out how many letters are in each answer, while British ones tell you in the clue (and even tell you if there is a multiple word answer). Lastly, American crosswords tend to use clues that entirely define a word, while British crosswords use cryptic clues where part of the clue is a definition and the rest is either completely unrelated or a hint to the spelling or sound of the word and you have to figure out which part is which.

[Big Chik]

The Wikipedia article on crosswords...

 

In an American crossword, every letter is part of an across word and a down word and there tend to be large areas of white and black squares,

 

American crosswords tend to use clues that entirely define a word, while British crosswords use cryptic clues

 

Thanks for the summary, I'll need to look out for some American style crosswords for comparison. I'll also check out the Wikipedia article.

I was planning on bringing my book of cryptic crosswords with me but it sounds like I can save some weight! :-)

 

Alan g.

[Riverz]

Great review as well as some amazing photos

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

[Saintsfan007]

Great pics! Loved the ones from the Royal Suite!

[CRUISEFAN0001]

Nice work on the photos and storyline.

 

You both clearly took advantage of the many things to see on this kind of cruise and on this fabulous ship.

 

We're looking to replicate your experiences in March next year.

 

Maybe we'll see you guys some time on a future cruise.

 

Thanks for sharing your super cruise trip!

[marcyjane]

Go glad to see your review and pics. I haven't had time to read and look at all pics yet. I plan to do that tomorrow when I have more time and my have some questions as we are book on Indy for March 2014.

 

Thanks,

Marcy

[TheBigFig]

Fantastic review, including the Discovery Cove add-on. I've been on the Independence and at DC before so it was fun to relive some of those moments in your review. Thanks for sharing it.

[Robinola]

I really enjoyed your adventuresome spirit. You make a great couple.

[tinkercat]

Fantastic review, loved reading all about your cruise, I am going on this ship at the end of May next year, can't wait. :)

[marcyjane]

Love reading about the INDY!!!

 

Marcy

[tbmrt]

I went to it to see Time N Place, but it brought back memories of other cruises we've taken!

Barbara