MEMORIES (No. 18) - TRANSATLANTIC CRUISE - 2014

[judgegeoff]

MEMORIES (No. 18) – TRANSATLANTIC – OCT/NOV 2014


Visiting the Panama Canal had long been on our ‘to do’ list when our best friends, Arne and Sue told us that they had found a suitable cruise, on the RCI cruise ship “Legend of the Seas” sailing from Fort Lauderdale, Florida and disembarking in San Diego, California. Additionally, they had found that the “Independence of the Seas” sailed from Southampton and arrived in Fort Lauderdale in time for us to transfer to the “Legend of the Seas”. As the fares were very reasonable, we booked the two cruises that very afternoon.

This ‘Memory’ covers the cruise on the “Independence of the Seas” from Southampton to Fort Lauderdale and the second cruise, through the Panama Canal, will be the subject of my next ‘Memory’ after this one. As with all transatlantic cruises, there are inevitably a lot of sea days, but we managed to keep ourselves busy and entertained.

=================================================



ITINERARY

01/11/2014 - Southampton – depart 5:00 pm
02/11/2014 - At sea
03/11/2014 - At sea
04/11/2014 - At sea
05/11/2014 - At sea
06/11/2014 - At sea
07/11/2014 - At sea
08/11/2014 - At sea
09/11/2014 - At sea
10/11/2014 - St. Maarten
11/11/2014 - St. Thomas
12/11/2014 - San Juan, Puerto Rico
13/11/2014 - At sea
14/11/2014 - Cococay, Bahamas
15/11/2014 - Fort Lauderdale – transfer to “Legend of the Seas”

=================================================


Day 1 – Friday 31st October 2014 (Halloween!) - Home to Southampton.

We drove the 16 miles from our house to Arne and Sue’s house in Ashford, 16 miles away, arriving at 11:25 am and parked our car on their drive. Arne was out, collecting the rental car he had hired, but soon arrived in a Vauxhall Insignia car. We transferred our suitcases into the hire car and set off for Southampton around 12:00 noon, stopping for lunch on the motorway.

We arrived at the Travelodge Hotel in Southampton at about 4:00 pm and were allocated room 102 – Arne and Sue were in room 101! The rooms were simple but fairly comfortable and certainly satisfactory for just one night.


Southampton Travelodge.


Comfortable bed in the Travelodge room 102.


Room 102.

The hotel receptionist told us that there was a decent pub, “The Cowherds”, serving good meals, about 10 minutes walk from the hotel, so we went there for our evening meal. We had drinks before our meal and then had an excellent meal with some good wine.


“The Cowherds” pub in Southampton.


Inside the pub.

We got back to our hotel at about 9:30 pm and, after arranging to meet Arne and Sue for breakfast at 9:00 am, we watched TV for a while before retiring for the night.


================================================


Day 2 – Saturday 1st November 2014 - Southampton, embarkation.


We had a good night in the hotel and, after showering and dressing, met up with Arne and Sue and booked out of the hotel. Arne drove us to the port to drop off our cases, but we were too early, so we drove to the nearby McDonalds diner to get some breakfast.

When we left the diner we found that we had a parking ticket (£40), apparently, the car park at the diner was a ‘Pay & Display’, although we had missed the very small notices. We tried to pay the fine on our mobile phone, but couldn’t get through to them (as we were going to be away for about 5 weeks the fees would have escalated to well beyond £40. We were quite annoyed as very few McDonald diners have such car parks.

We drove to the baggage drop off point to hand over our suitcases and then Arne dropped us at the cruise terminal building whilst he and Sue went to take the car to the rental depot. At the depot, he used their phone to contact the parking company and paid the £40 fine. Not the best start to a holiday!

At the terminal building Chris and I booked in but had to wait for boarding as the ship was not ready for passengers. Arne and Sue came back from the rental depot, booked in and joined us in the waiting area.

At 2:00 pm the ship was ready and we went aboard the “Independence of the Seas” and went straight to our cabin, No.7135. One of our suitcases had already arrived, so we were able to start unpacking and putting away our clothes. We had an inside cabin on deck 7, but were very happy with it.


Inside cabin No. 7533


Curtains could close off the sleeping area at night if required.


We had a comfortable settee and a glass-topped table (I am not a fan of glass tables!).


We were pleased to find that the en suite shower room had a shower cubicle with doors rather than a curtain.


The washbasin, with storage above and below.

By now our second suitcase had arrived outside our cabin, so we were able to unpack that one too. We then went up to the Windjammer Cafe on deck 11 for afternoon tea and this was followed by an Emergency Muster Drill at 3:45 pm Our muster station was the Pyramid Lounge on deck 5. The ship set sail from Southampton at around 4:30 pm, bound for St. Maarten in the Caribbean, after 8 days at sea.

As we had completed quite a few cruises with Royal Caribbean, the four of us were all ‘Diamond’ members of the Line’s loyalty programme so, after showering and changing, we made our way to the Diamond Lounge. This lounge is only available for ‘Diamond’ members only and, between 4:30 pm and 8:00 pm, complimentary wine, beer and spirits are served to members.

However, on this particular cruise, there was a very high percentage of ‘Diamond’ members and so the lounge was absolutely packed (we understood that there were about 750 ‘Diamond’ members on this transatlantic cruise). So we left the Diamond Lounge and went to the peace of the Wine Bar where we were allowed a quota of complimentary drinks (2 or 3, I can’t remember how many).


The Diamond Lounge (but not at complimentary drinks time!). Chris helping herself to a speciality coffee from a machine in the lounge.

At 8:30 pm we went to the Macbeth Dining Room on deck 4 where we had been allocated a table, No. 493, for four. Our waiter’s name was Santana, but I am afraid I cannot remember the name of his assistant. The food was excellent and the service was superb.

After dinner, we went to one of the lounges to listen to a group playing music and then went to our cabin for the night. There was a bit of motion on the ship and we were told that it was forecast to be a little choppy for the next three days. But we always sleep better when there is a bit of motion on the ship. We had to put our watches and clocks back an hour before we went to sleep.


================================================


Continued tomorrow…………...

[Gillzajoker]

Not a good start for Arne, Geoff, and that must have taken the edge of what should have been
a trouble-free embarcation. Il too, think Travelodge is perfectly adequate for the odd night's
stay, and almost always used them. Cabin looks good, and the shower with doors is a bonus.
I image it must have been a bit like a bunfight trying to fit everone into the Diamond Lounge,
but.........a free drink is a free drink

[judgegeoff]

Not a good start for Arne, Geoff, and that must have taken the edge of what should have been
a trouble-free embarcation. Il too, think Travelodge is perfectly adequate for the odd night's
stay, and almost always used them. Cabin looks good, and the shower with doors is a bonus.
I image it must have been a bit like a bunfight trying to fit everone into the Diamond Lounge,
but.........a free drink is a free drink

I gave Arne £20, so we shared the fine, it only seemed fair.

On this particular cruise, they temporarily moved the Diamond Lounge up to a sectioned-off part of the 'Viking Crown' Lounge to accommodate so many Diamond members. I have noticed that on the up-to-date deck plans for the "Indy", the Diamond Lounge is now sited in the section of the 'Viking Crown' Lounge that was used temporarily on our cruise.

[judgegeoff]

“INDEPENDENCE OF THE SEAS”





Once sharing a third of the title of the world's-largest-cruise ship with sisters Freedom of the Seas and Liberty of the Seas, Royal Caribbean's “Independence of the Seas” features all of the amenities cruisers have come to expect from a mega-ship. The ship carries 4,375 passengers aboard a floating city that features everything from a FlowRider surf simulator to a boxing ring and gourmet restaurants. It even has an ice skating rink!

Ship’s statistics

Built ……….…....2008
Tonnage………....154,407 (gross)
Length……….….1,112 ft (339 m)
Beam…………....185 ft (56.4 m)
Av. speed………..22 knots
Decks…………...14
Outside cabins….1,084
Inside cabins……733
Capacity………...4,375 passengers
Crew…………….1,360
Pools…………….3 outdoor, 1 indoor

==============================================

Day 3 – Sunday 2nd November 2014 - At sea

We woke up at about 7:00 am and were immediately aware that there was a bit of motion on the ship. We had cups of tea in bed, then got up, showered and dressed. We met up with Sue at about 8:30 am (Arne was having a lie-in) and then went to the Main Dining Room for breakfast.


The Main Dining Room.


It is on three levels. We were allocated to the Macbeth level for our evening meals.

At 10:00 am we went to the ship’s Alhambra Theatre to attend a lecture “The Hollywood Star System” given by David Kirkpatrick who had been a Walt Disney animation and film director. It was quite interesting but not as good as some lectures.


The ship’s huge Alhambra Theatre…..


…...with spacious seating over three levels.

After the lecture, we went to the Diamond Lounge to get some speciality coffees, but the coffee machine was not working, so we went up to the Windjammer Cafe and had drinks there. Sue then went off to find Arne.

Chris and I had an early lunch as Chris was going back to the theatre to listen to a lecture by Robert Schirn titled “Natalie Wood”, whilst I went back to our cabin to read. Chris met up with Arne and Sue in the theatre and sat with them. After the lecture, Chris joined me in our cabin.

The dress code that evening was ‘formal’, so we showered and changed into our finery. We then had a walk around the ship’s Royal Promenade. This is a copy of a British street, complete with shops, a pub and a wine bar. It is quite effective and, at night, the lighting is changed to replicate nighttime.


Looking down on the Royal Promenade.


The Royal Promenade at night.


The “Dog and Badger” pub on the promenade.


A Morgan sports car outside the 'Vintages' wine bar.


It reminded us of a shopping mall.


Ben & Jerry’s ice cream parlour.


A barber’s shop.


A souvenir shop.


A cafe.


A pizza restaurant.

After dinner, Chris was rather tired and there was still a bit of motion, so we decided to have an early night. Chris had a bit of a restless night, but I always sleep soundly if there is any motion of the ship.


================================================


Continued tomorrow ………………..

[Gillzajoker]

Wonderful pictures of the interior, Geoff - loved the MDR. I've only been on one RC ship
and that was Ovation of the Seas - that too featured an indoor street - and at the time was
the largest ship of all, but was superseded a couple of months later by (I think, but can't
remember now) Anthem of the Seas. It was an experience, but I still prefer smaller ships.

[Camela]

I guess you forget you are on a ship when on the Street/Mall. I'd seen pictures before as our son went on Liberty 3 years ago with a 2 and 5 year-old - they had a great holiday.
We knew The Cowherds in Southampton well in the 1970s. My folks lived about 5 minutes walk away and we used to go there for a drink after exercising their dog and later our own on The Common. Happy days!

[judgegeoff]

Day 4 – Monday 3rd November 2014 - At sea

When we woke up this morning there was still a fair amount of motion, hopefully it was scheduled to improve after today. I got up and, after showering and dressing, went down to the atrium to get tickets for the ice skating show the following day, whilst Chris had a lie-in.

After showering and dressing we met up with Arne and Sue and then went to the Main Dining Room but decided to have the buffet breakfast there and found it to be excellent.

At 9:30 am we went to the Alhambra Theatre to attend David Kirkpatrick’s lecture “The Making of the Little Mermaid”, which concentrated on the making of animated films. This lecture was more interesting than his first lecture and we all found it to be very interesting.

It was quite cold in the theatre so, once the lecture was over, we headed for the cafe for hot drinks, which we drank sitting in the wine bar. For lunch we went to the pizza cafe.

At 1:15 pm we returned to the theatre to listen to a lecture by Robert Schirn about “Michael Jackson – his Life and Death”. It was interesting, but Robert was not the best speaker.

We went to the Diamond Lounge and were able to find a table with seats, so had speciality coffees from the machine. By the time we had finished our coffees it was 5:00 pm, so we stayed in the lounge to have just one complimentary wine each (and a Baileys for Arne).

After our drinks, we returned to our cabin to shower and change and then went up to the Viking Crown Lounge on deck 14. With no less than 750 Diamond members on this cruise, the Diamond Lounge had proved to be far too small, so part of the Viking Crown Lounge had been partitioned off for Diamond members. We had another complimentary drink in this very comfortable lounge.


The bar in the Viking Crown lounge.

After dinner, we went to the Alhambra Theatre to see British comedian Noel Brodie who was quite entertaining.

After the show we were very tired, so retired to our cabin for the night, to be greeted by this towel monkey!


Hanging out!



==========================================================


Day 5 – Tuesday 4th November 2014 - At sea

We had another buffet breakfast in the Main Dining Room and, when we had finished, we went to the theatre to listen to another lecture by David Kirkpatrick titled “The Movie – From Idea to Hit”. David explained the different steps a movie takes from being just an idea to becoming a blockbuster hit. David had been a former president of Paramount Pictures and so had an excellent knowledge of the film industry.

At 11:00 am we had a special function for Diamond members (and above) – a question and answer session with the very young-looking Captain Henrik Loy who was from Norway. It was a very interesting session, with some very interesting questions and answers.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50952729207_1bdbbdc0e2_z.jpg
Captain Henrik Loy. He made me feel very old!

The sea was a lot calmer this morning, hopefully it will remain calm until we reach Fort Lauderdale.

We went to the Windjammer cafe for lunch and then returned to the theatre at 1:15 pm for another lecture by Robert Schirm, titled “Marilyn Monroe”, about the life and death of that megastar. It was an interesting talk which we all enjoyed.

After the lecture, we went down to Studio B’ on deck 2 to see the first of our ice shows on the ship’s ice rink. The show was “Freeze Frame” and featured some very talented skaters from many different countries. It was an excellent show and it was hard to believe that this was taking place on a cruise ship in the middle of the Atlantic ocean! It was a fantastic display of exceptional talent and we thoroughly enjoyed it.


The ice skating rink in ‘Studio B’.


The show.


Ice dancing.


Apologies for the poor quality of the photos.


One of the excellent professional skaters.

After the show, we returned to our cabin to read and enjoy a cup of coffee. We then showered and dressed and went up to the Viking Crown Lounge for a complimentary glass of wine.

At 7:00 pm we went to the theatre to see the ‘East Coast Boys’, a celebration of the music of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and they really were fantastic, one of the best shows we have ever seen at sea.

After the show, we popped up to the Viking Crown Lounge for another glass of wine, before we went to the Main Dining Room for dinner.

At 10:30 pm it was the “1970’s Disco Inferno, a party held on the Royal Promenade.


The party…..


…..with the predictable ‘YMCA’!

We watched the party for a while and then returned to our cabin for the night.


====================================================


Day 6 – Wednesday 5th November 2014 - At sea

We met Arne and Sue and went for another buffet breakfast in the main Dining Room (deck 3 – this level of the restaurant is named ‘Romeo and Juliet’). Today was Sue’s birthday.

After breakfast Arne, Sue and Chris went to the theatre to see another lecture by David Kirkpatrick, “How Saturday Night Fever Changed Culture”. I did not fancy this lecture so went for a walk around the ship and stayed awhile watching people on the ‘Flowrider’ surfing machine. The Flowrider is a 40-foot long surf making machine that is found on some of the larger Royal Caribbean cruise ships.


The 40 ft long Flowrider.


Giant pumps produce an excellent surf.


Starting off. It is open to all passengers at no charge.


Splash!

The ship has a 9 hole mini-golf course which was very popular on a good weather day.


The mini-golf course…...


…..very popular.


The usual Royal Caribbean ship’s climbing wall.


The large court for basketball, hockey and 5 a side football etc.

At 11:00 am I went to a demonstration of the ‘GO PRO’ digital camera/camcorder which I found very interesting but did not think much of the onboard prices. I was sure that I could get it much cheaper (even after paying VAT) back home in the UK. I had lunch in the Windjammer Cafe.

At 1:15 pm Chris had gone to the theatre to listen to a lecture about John Lennon, given by Robert Schirn and had then had a prawn salad roll, a cookie and a cup of tea at the Promenade cafe.

We met up outside the theatre just before 3:00 pm and went to see the movie “Chariots of Fire” which we both enjoyed.

After the movie, we went to our cabin and, after a hot drink, showered and changed our clothes. We then went up to the Viking Crown Lounge for our complimentary drinks. Arne was already there and Sue joined us shortly afterwards.

After dinner in the Main Dining Room, we went to the Pyramid Lounge to watch the crew versus passengers in a form of the “Play Your Cards Right” game. The Lounge was very crowded and we couldn’t find four empty seats, so we left after a while and found a quieter lounge to sit in.

Before we went to sleep that night we had to put our clocks and watches back another hour.


==================================================


Continued tomorrow ……………….

[Gillzajoker]

Certainly plenty to do to while away the days, Geoff, and some of the shows sound very exciting.
I think you were spoiled with the talks on VoD, though! Ovation o t Seas didn't have a climbing
wall but featured an anti-gravity 'experience' whereby you floated like an astronaut in a huge
glass tube. That was fun.

[judgegeoff]

Certainly plenty to do to while away the days, Geoff, and some of the shows sound very exciting.
I think you were spoiled with the talks on VoD, though! Ovation o t Seas didn't have a climbing
wall but featured an anti-gravity 'experience' whereby you floated like an astronaut in a huge
glass tube. That was fun.

Yes, when we sailed on the "Quantum of the Seas" in 2018 that ship had the anti-gravity experience.


It reminded me of the blender in our kitchen - ugh, messy!!!

Voyages with a large number of sea days, like transatlantic cruises, have, in my opinion, a different 'feel' to them from cruises that have a lot of port visits. The standard of the lectures seems to be higher and there are more of them. The number of onboard activities is also increased. However, perhaps this does not make for a very exciting write-up, so thanks for staying with me, I hope that you have not found this cruise too boring. The follow-on cruise, from Fort Lauderdale to San Diego, via the Panama Canal (the next 'Memory' blog) should prove a little more interesting.

[judgegeoff]

Day 7 – Thursday 6th November 2014 - At sea


We met up with Arne and Sue for breakfast and then went for a stroll on deck for some fresh air. The sea was very calm today. A cruise that has a lot of sea days together is somewhat different from a cruise that has few sea days or sea days that are spread out. For instance, today our ship had no fewer than 22 morning activities, 39 afternoon activities and 15 evening activities available to passengers.

At 10:00 am we went to the theatre to listen to David Kirkpatrick’s lecture “Movie – Happy Endings?”. David explained how important an ending is to a movie and illustrated it with particularly good and bad examples.

After the show we went to the cafe in the Royal Promenade and then returned to the theatre to listen to a lecture, “Robert Kennedy”, delivered by Robert Schirn which was also very good.

After the lecture we went to the Windjammer Cafe for a buffet lunch and then Chris, Sue and Arne went back to the theatre to watch the movie “Love actually”. I didn’t go as my back was giving me problems, so I stayed in our cabin resting.

In the early evening, after showering and dressing, we met up with Arne and Sue in the Viking Crown Lounge for our complimentary drinks. Arne and Sue stayed in the lounge but Chris and I went to see the singers and dancers in the show “Once Upon a Time”, themed around popular fairy tales. As usual, it was excellent. After the show, we went to the Vintages Wine Bar before going for dinner in the Main Dining Room at 8:30 pm. One thing we like about cruising is that you can sit in any of the lounges, bars and pubs etc. without having to buy a drink. A waiter will ask you if you would like a drink but, if you say “No, thank you”, you will not be approached thereafter.

After dinner the four of us went to the Egyptian themed Pyramid Lounge on deck 5 forwards, to listen to a group named ‘Rock the Boat’.


The entrance to the Pyramid Lounge…..


…..with its impressive statues.


The lounge had its own stage……


…..and comfortable seating.


A statue of Anubis, the jackal-headed Egyptian deity.


And a statue of a Pharoah. This lounge was very atmospheric.

We then retired to our cabin for the night.


=======================================================


Day 8 – Friday 7th November 2014 - At sea


This morning, with Arne and Sue, we had a buffet breakfast in the Main Dining Room and the waiter allocated to our table was our evening dinner waiter, Santana. After breakfast, we went for a walk on deck and found that it was quite a bit warmer than of late.


The walking/jogging track on deck 12, with one of the hot tubs that overhang the side of the ship on each side.

Arne left us to do some other activity, but Sue, Chris and myself went to the theatre to listen to David Kirkpatrick’s lecture “Hollywood – the Good Age” but, unfortunately, we did not find it as interesting as the rest of his lectures.

After the lecture, Chris went for her first swim in the Solarium swimming pool, but found the water to be rather colder than she would have liked, so then went in one of the hot tubs there.


The Solarium swimming pool on deck 11.

Chris then returned to our cabin to shower and change. At 1:15 pm we went to the theatre to attend the lecture “O. J. Simpson” delivered by Robert Schirn who had been the Deputy District Attorney for Los Angeles at the time of his arrest and trial. It was a very interesting lecture as David certainly knew the subject.

For lunch, we had a shrimp roll in the Promenade Cafe and then went on to the pizza parlour for a key lime mousse and hot drinks.

We then went to the ‘Flowrider’ to watch the surfers, both good, bad and ridiculous!


How it should be done…..


…..and what happens so often!

We then went up to the Diamond Lounge for speciality coffees and talked to some other members that were there for quite a while. We then went to the Vintages Wine Bar for a drink of wine.


The entrance to Vintages Wine Bar on the ship’s Royal Promenade.


Inside the wine bar.

We returned to our cabin to shower and change into our formal attire as tonight was a formal dress code night. At 7:00 pm we went to the theatre to see hypnotist David Knight who put some members of the audience into a trance and was very amusing.

We had dinner in the Main Dining Room followed by a long walk on the decks now that the air was much warmer. At 11:00 pm we returned to the theatre where comedian Noel Brodie was having an adult comedy show. He was reasonable, but not brilliant.

After the show we retired to our cabin for the night, putting our clocks and watches back yet another hour.


===================================================


Day 9 – Saturday 8th November 2014 - At sea


After breakfasting with Arne and Sue we went to the theatre at 10:00 am for the lecture “The Making of Top Gun” by David Kirkpatrick.


Waiting for the lecture to start.

After yet another excellent lecture we went to the Diamond Lounge for speciality coffees and then, at 11:15, went to the Pyramid Lounge to listen to the Captain being interviewed about the engineering of the ship.

At 1:15 pm we returned to the Pyramid Lounge to listen to a lecture by Robert Schirn titled “DNA to Solve Murder Cases”, which was very interesting and informative.

We had lunch in the Windjammer Cafe and I went to do some reading whilst Chris went to the Flowrider to watch a competition between the ship’s officers and some passengers. Captain Loy was the last to ride for the officers who were all quite good, but the competition was won by the passengers, some of whom seemed to have spent most of the cruise surfing on the machine!

Chris met up with me in the cabin and we read our books before showering and changing and then we went up to the Viking Crown Lounge on deck 14 at about 6:15 pm for our complimentary drinks. Arne and Sue were already there and we joined them at their table.

At 8:00 pm we went down to the Royal promenade on deck to see the East End Boys performing there, before going to the Main Dining Room at 8:30 pm for our dinner.

After dinner we went out on the deck and, as it was so warm, we sat in some deck chairs talking. We were very tired, so retired to our cabin, where we found this towel animal bat hanging around!


The towel bat.

Tomorrow would be our last sea day before reaching a Caribbean island!


===================================================


Continued tomorrow……………...