A 3-day weekend on my youngsters’ faculty calendar is the right alternative to flee for the weekend to the Bahamas on Independence of the Seas!
Since we reside within the Orlando space, weekend cruises are a straightforward crusing to hop on, particularly when there’s an additional time off of college.
We’re crusing on Independence of the Seas for a 3-night cruise that visits Good Day at CocoCay and Nassau, Bahamas.
We left our residence at 10:30am and made the drive over to Port Canaveral. No visitors and a straightforward hour or so trip to the coast.
The check-in may need been the simplest and quickest check-in and boarding I’ve had since cruises restarted final 12 months. We hardly ever stopped strolling, and once we did, it was simply to confirm all the things. The ship was already open and boarding friends once we received to the terminal.
After getting on the ship, we headed to Playmakers for lunch.
We booked the limitless eating package deal for this cruise, so one simple strategy to maximize the package deal worth is to start out the cruise with a specialty restaurant lunch.
I used to be involved it could be overly busy, however we had no downside getting a desk and the meals got here out good and fast.
Our waiter was very good, however he mistakenly advised us we might every solely eat at Playmakers as soon as per day. Sadly, I’ve heard waiters often say that, nevertheless it’s merely not the coverage. In brief, the limitless eating package deal is limitless, with no quotas or limitations to what number of eating places or instances you may dine at a restaurant on any day. I did not say something to him, figuring I can cross that bridge if we have to later.
Whereas we waited for the meals, I went over to Izumi to e book our dinners. When you’ve got a specialty restaurant package deal, it is a good suggestion to go forward and e book a reservation when you get onboard. We had no points getting the eating places and instances we wished.
Lunch was served shortly and it was very heat. Wings, burgers and fries…oh my!
Subsequent up was a go to to our muster station to finish the muster drill course of. Could not have been simpler and nonetheless so completely happy to not need to do the outdated muster drill course of!
The staterooms weren’t prepared till 1:30pm, so my spouse and I took time to hang around within the Solarium for a bit and benefit from the lovely climate.
For this cruise, we booked connecting Promenade View cabins.Â
Considered one of my favourite household cruise ways is to e book two connecting cabins, fairly than one massive room. We get separation from the children and an additional rest room.
Since we booked this cruise a number of months in the past, costs had been less expensive for this class, so an inside cabin is simply nice for a fast weekend cruise.
After the rooms had been prepared, it was again as much as the pool deck for some afternoon solar and sailaway.
The climate was completely implausible, and we loved shiny sunny skies for our departure, together with quite a lot of different friends who had been able to celebration.
Dinner took us to Giovanni’s Desk.
That is nonetheless the “outdated” Giovanni’s Desk menu (and never the brand new Giovanni’s Italian Kitchen), however similar to on Attract of the Seas final week, it was nice.
We additionally had been handled to a beautiful sundown from our desk.
After dinner we grabbed a drink at Boleros, the place Michael poured a drink in a really distinctive means.
This leads me to utilizing the brand new Starlink web that’s now obtainable on Independence of the Seas. General, it really works nice when looking the net, checking Fb and whatnot.
Identical to pre-Starlink, it’s going to battle at instances as you await one thing to load. We additionally tried streaming the Mets/Padres playoff sport through each MLB.TV and our cable supplier net portal. The reside stream held up about 50% of the time, with a number of buffering. This might be a product of too many individuals additionally utilizing the wifi, poor connectivity to the closest router, or one thing else.
In my expertise, there are such a lot of variables on the cruise ship that may have an effect on web efficiency that it is tough to assign blame.Â
The excellent news is the web is considerably sooner than what Independence had earlier than, so there is no query it is an improve. We’ll see how the remainder of the cruise goes with regard to efficiency.
Again to the cruise enjoyable, we went to the Schooner Bar because the piano participant there began up first and there was an enormous crowd for the present.
We rounded out the night time within the pub with reside guitar music.
Tomorrow we shall be at Good Day at CocoCay.
Stray Observations
I do not ever recall seeing these wooden tables within the Solarium on this, or any ship.
We stopped by Cafe Promenade and seen additionally they have the brand new Starbucks drinks obtainable right here. This implies you probably have a Diamond drink voucher or limitless drink package deal, you will get drinks right here included (not like the Starbucks kiosk).
One unusual factor about our Promenade View cabin is the phone is on the desk, and never by the mattress.
