IOS Sailing Feb 18 (4 day) Review

[Hotel CA]

This is a short review of our lovely 4 day cruise on Independence of the Seas Feb 18-22.

 

We arrived at the FL terminal at about 11 am and checked in very quickly-- seems there were 2 weddings on board before we were to sail and most of the wedding parties were getting off before we left. Unfortunately, there was a computer failure and we were not cleared to board until close to 12:30 pm (we do hope the wedding and shortened receptions all went well) where we boarded along with the Bride of one of the weddings (she looked beautiful!).

 

Boarding hitch aside, by the time we ate, our cabin was ready so we went direct to it. One of our bags was there (the other was 20 mins behind it) so we unpacked and had some time to wander and get a cocktail before the muster drill.

 

Drill went off on time and we were away. We had MTD at 6:30 each nite and it was a breeze. One night we wanted to see the early show (Elton John impersonator named Jason something-- He was FANTASTIC-- best show we ever saw at sea) and so we had to move dinner back to 5:30 late in the same day --and it was absolutely no issue. MTD has now been flawless for us on 2 cruises.

 

Day at sea was a little cool at first but warmed in the afternoon. We just sat poolside and enjoyed the Reggae band and happenings around the pool. Typical chair issues but there seemed to be plenty of room. We love the Freedom class ships with the promenade where you can get coffee, shop, eat or just stroll and we discovered the Champagne Bar that night. 3 of the best, most accomplished bar tenders we have ever met-- all from Romania and it was impossible to name a cocktail they could not make-- with one exception.

 

The Dickens martini !! (no Olive or Twist)

 

Great service from our Cabin steward and fantastic service in dining room. Food was very good in most venues. We think the current staff on

Independence now are some of the best in the fleet.

 

We only had 1 stop-- Cozumel and we spent a lovely, relaxing day at Nachi Cocom (Thanks to the Ports section on these boards)--great place-- lived up to or exceeded all expectations. By the way-- no mosquitoes present as far as we could tell and it was not a breezy day.

 

Nice return day at sea-- warm and relaxing.

 

I was a little skeptical about a 4 day cruise (would it be long enough?) but we LOVED it-- great time --typical solid performance by Royal and its staff.

 

One final note about Self Debarking off Indy-- I read a number of 'horror stories' and was worried as we had a 10:30 am flight out of FLL. There were a lot of people, but it was orderly and smooth and we actually were at the airport by 8:25 am-- I think we may use this option from now on.

[Clarea]

Thanks for the report. Nice to hear Nachi is still living up to expectations.:)

[Keith1010]

Enjoyed your review/report.

 

Keith

[Kteacher]

Thanks- we're on in April!

[sparklies70]

Nice review. I have fond memories of Indy. When I sailed her in 2010, we had the two most awesome bartenders in the pub and the musical entertainment looked JUST LIKE Richard Attenborough. I can only remember that one bartender was named Ricardo. But I digress... Glad you had a nice time!