(Slightly less so) Cheapo dad's trip report on Independence of the Seas

[TickledBlue]

Throughout the cruise, I collected and saved every page of ad/stuff with though that I might need to take back home and need to scan/upload. Last minute, decide to forget it and just kept the daily compass for reference purposes and in theory I didn’t even have to bring that back home as nobody really read it from the trip report anyway as the Indy typically doesn’t sail to eastern Caribbean or the longer special 9 day route.

 

 

Look like you have the same circular file system that I use for all of the ad inserts in the Cruise Compass :D

[harryfat1]

Look like you have the same circular file system that I use for all of the ad inserts in the Cruise Compass :D

 

Oh, I'm sure that is everybody's filing system for all the spam ads the cruise ships try to stuff in front of your face nightly on their info sheets. Other than bring home the daily compass, can't see a need to bring anything else home.

 

Since we had 2 cabins, I kept an extra copy of the daily compass to bring home as it's clean. Sometimes I had to get an extra copy from guest services as I walk around with a working copy and old man memory being what it is, I always leave it somewhere like WJ or in the theater or shops and have to get a new one.

[harryfat1]

Contestant #1

 

 

 

 

Not looking good with the head going down first...

 

 

 

I like the facial expression on the lady worker

 

[harryfat1]

Contestant #2

 

 

 

This ain't the leg flopping contest...

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Contestant #3

 

 

Zooming in for all you ladies (maybe men as well)...

 

 

 

That's a decent lift

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Contestant #4

 

 

 

 

Houston, we have contact...Check out the lady

 

 

A lot of splash on this flop

 

 

[harryfat1]

Next man up

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

They are getting bigger and bigger...

 

 

By zooming in, you can even see the word "belly flop" on the clip board

 

 

They need to have 2 big guys on the other side to make sure it doesn't tip over

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

From the other cruises, they had people do two jumps and add up the total scores to determine a winner. On this day, there was only one jump, so felt like we got short changed.

 

The winner is this old guy at 74 years old (?) that was in the Love and Marriage contest the previous day that I didn’t attend but the CD said he was from the contest. I don’t think he has the best technique or best water slash but people voted for him just for having the guts (and other parts of male anatomy) to do this.

 

I didn’t catch it but my son’s video show him having a bloody nose after his dive so he did get somewhat injured. Hope the old guy didn’t damage anything else in his belly flop endeavor.

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Some misc pictures of the area before we leave the event

 

 

These are the 2 guys that walked in front of us right before the event into the restricted gold card area. Last year for the Freedom, they did the flop from this end of the pool so we stood on the other end with no obstruction. So it makes a difference on which end of the pool your cruise ship does the belly flop contest

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

Everyone admiring grandpa is trying to do this

 

 

Show's over...

 

[harryfat1]

After the dive, guess what else we gonna to do? Eat, of course. I think I pack in 5,000 calories per day on these cruises. Maybe need to change my screen name to Harryfat2 to indicate I have gone up in size.

 

So we walked in just in time to see the lady cleaning up the huge cake that used to be there before the mob devoured it. That sucks in having a going away cake the same time as the belly flop.

 

As we were too late for the cake to take a picture of it, I don’t know what they wrote on the cake. Maybe it’s “Thank you for sailing with us” or it could have been “Good bye suckers for paying a premium to sail with us during the holidays”. I can't vouch for either version. Others from our sailings can chime in if you saw the cake in its original form.

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

WJ still very crowded at 2 PM.

 

As this is last full day, this also marks the last lunch we will have at WJ on the Indy.

 

Felt like eating a salad as a starter today

 

 

 

 

 

 

By time we finished eating, this section of WJ has been cleared out

 

[harryfat1]

So one thing about packing early was that my wife was tracking all the souvenirs we have purchased throughout the trip and she decided we need couple more things for the people back home. So after lunch, it was time to visit the uncle in prison once more to see how he is doing as we set to disembark the next day (aka shopping).

 

 

Only Indy named shirts

 

 

 

Guess what the magic word is on these ads for port shopping?

 

[Dixie1337]

This web site has the estimated dates the free dining plans will be offered for 2018

 

http://www.disneytouristblog.com/disney-world-free-dining-dates/

 

Thanks Harry! I already follow disney tourist blog, nice to know I’m looking the same place as you since I love a good deal :)

 

Which hotel do you stay at in Disney world?

[harryfat1]

Thanks Harry! I already follow disney tourist blog, nice to know I’m looking the same place as you since I love a good deal :)

 

Which hotel do you stay at in Disney world?

 

I typically stay at the value resorts (being cheapo dad and all), but we have also stayed at the moderates before.

 

I am on numerous Disney world distribution spam email from sites like All Ears, Mouse planet, Mouse savers, Disney food blog, Disney Daily Updates, Passporter book email, Touring Plans and probably couple more I can't recall off the top of my head. Yes, I am super anal and I have Disney info coming out of my ears and every other opening...

[lbjen]

We’re considering doing DisneyLand this year, do you need to be as anal about it all as you do with DisneyWorld? That place scares me!

[lbjen]

Did your son enjoy the rock climbing?

Why yes…yes I do select my meals when Harry (or anyone else)posts the menus.

I’ll have the Beef Carpaccio for my starter and the Fillet of Sole for my main.

And no…no I do not get the Disneyworld dinning plan.

 

Woohoo I’m not the only crazy! I’ll also have the beef carpaccio and the sole please.

[Smilyshel]

Hello! I stumbled upon your trip report yesterday and I've already devoured all 66 pages, I was enthralled! We just booked our first cruise for our family and will be going on the Freedom of the Seas in June to the Southern Caribbean so we will be visiting some of the same places you did on your trip and I know that Independence is the sister ship. I too am a planner, Excel spreadsheets for activities, packing lists, and cruise expenses so I feel like I found a kindred spirit in you! I do have some questions that I hope you or fellow cruisers can help me answer. What did you end up spending your onboard credits on and can you put them towards your gratuities at the end of the trip? I plan on being a cheapo mom with the exception of some excursions that I have booked so we will limit our alcoholic drinks and dine only in the WJ and the MDR. Did your brother in law's family have sufficient room with their two girls sharing one cabin with the two drop down beds? Our girls are 12 and 8 and we are hoping to make it work all in one Ocean View room. I really appreciated your pictures of their room as well as the kids menu! Our cruise is 7 nights seeing six countries with only one day at sea. We intentionally did not schedule excursions for two port days in the middle just to give us a little break and perhaps to be able to enjoy the boat while other people are out doing their own thing. One of those days is Antigua and we would like to see Nelson's Dockyard, do you think we could just hire a cab to take us directly there and maybe drop us off at a beach for a bit? The other day is St. Kitts and we figured we would just take a look around the port, visit the uncle in prison, and then have a pool day on the ship. In regards to the ship pictures, can you purchase individual ones or do you have to buy a whole package. I know you spoke of visiting the crazy aunt multiple times so do you select which pictures you want to purchase and then get them all at the end or just as you like them. How much does that normally run? Thanks again for all of your super insightful information and gorgeous pictures, I'm sure I will pop over to your Freedom trip report next as I really want to see your spreadsheet layout. Happy travels!

[Sobro]

Welcome to Cruise Critic, Smilyshel.

 

You can also eat free at Cafe Promenade and Sorrento's. Don't forget the excellent lunch in the MDR on sea days.

 

We hired a cab for Nelson's Dockyard tour. He also took us to the overlook to view Oprah's and Eric Clapton's houses. And also to the "Chamber of Commerce" view of Antigua and Nelson's. I'm sure a cabbie will accommodate anything you want to do.

 

You can purchase individual prints. They are expensive, around $25 for an 8x10.

[CanadaRob]

Harry just an FYI-the Liberty the last 2 weeks the glasses in the WJ were 3/4 full not the 1/2 full or less that you had pictured. I was actually going to take a pic for you but thought that would be weird.

[mszmek]

Thank you for an amazing review! It's a good thing I typically stop by during my lunch break at work. All those food pictures make me hungry!!

[RMH]

Ahhh, very nice. Thanks for the info. Good to know he wasn't dreaming or too drunk to be imagining this on his own. All of us were giving him a hard time on that as he didn't take any pictures and he himself questioned if he was dreaming or not.

 

You all know if I was awake, I would take a picture of it.

 

So this also answers an earlier question that they do drop people off at unplanned stops in case of medical emergency

 

Our waiter told us the next night that this was actually a death on the ship and the unscheduled stop at St Thomas was to take the body off the ship. He said that it was the second death of our cruise and that passengers dying is not uncommon at all. The ship even has a morgue with room for six bodies. Yeah, he told us that as he was serving our appetizers. Nice.

[cyclone1414]

Our waiter told us the next night that this was actually a death on the ship and the unscheduled stop at St Thomas was to take the body off the ship. He said that it was the second death of our cruise and that passengers dying is not uncommon at all. The ship even has a morgue with room for six bodies. Yeah, he told us that as he was serving our appetizers. Nice.

 

Thanks for the info...I thought they kept the dead bodies in the morgue until returning to the home port?? Unlikely the person is from St. Thomas!

[AmyJA]

I thought they kept the bodies in the morgue also. Not to be gross, but that is why we purchase insurance. Mom is in her 80's and is in good health for her age. But you just never know.

Harry, that’s a good price for a WDW vacation during theholidays.

We are resort snobs when it comes to DW and stay at theBoardwalk in a rented DVC. Has a kitchen,so we eat all but lunch in. But it isgetting real expensive, so we might have to change.