Home is Where the Mouse is Travel

My family of four just completed a quick, 3 night weekend getaway aboard Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas! This cruise was for 3 nights leaving from Port Canaveral with stops at Royal Caribbean’s private island; Perfect Day at CocoCay, and Nassau, Bahamas. We had such an incredible time that we are already dreaming about getting back on the water.

Here’s our adventure!

Before your cruise, be sure to download the Royal Caribbean App. You will need to do the following before boarding:

Don’t forget to print off your cruise documents including your stateroom tags so that they can be stapled to your luggage. For added security and peace of mind, I purchased these:

https://amzn.to/3CoQNdg

To alleviate the stress of any unforeseen issues, we opted to arrive a day earlier than our departure date. So we made the 8 hour drive to Cape Canaveral and chose a pre cruise stay at the Radisson Resort, Port Canaveral. The resort is going through some remodeling so it wasn’t as clean or as organized as it was/can be. So keep that in mind. But, it was a great location 5 minutes from the Royal Caribbean port and the kiddos enjoyed the pool while my husband and I enjoyed dinner and drinks. The Radisson also offers daily parking during your cruise and a shuttle to and from the cruise terminal for a seamless transition.

We chose to park at Royal Caribbean’s terminal parking lot instead since we were going directly home after our cruise. Using the parking deck was a quick and painless process for us. After dropping our bags off with the porters, we headed up to pay for parking. For Royal Caribbean, you pay before entering the gate for all your cruise days. (For our 3 night cruise, it was $76.00.) Keep in mind that if you hand your luggage to the porters, it may not be dropped off outside your stateroom till sometime before 9 pm. So don’t forget to pack a to go bag including any necessary items you’ll need for the first day; birth certificates/passports, photo identification, medication, bathing suits, sunscreen, goggles for kids (don’t forget these or you’ll never hear the end of it, trust me!). For travel, we like this compact foldable one: https://amzn.to/3P7Najs

Ship:

The Independence of the Seas is a Freedom Class ship in the Royal Caribbean fleet along with Freedom of the Seas and Liberty of the Seas. Built in 2008, she can carry over 4,300 passengers and has an expansive list of fun activities for kiddos and adults alike including kids clubs, pools, dancing, ice skating, shopping, buffets and of course, unlimited ice cream! In 2013 and again in 2018, she received a Royal Amplified treatment that revamped multiple restaurants, staterooms and Splashaway Bay, the onboard waterpark, as well as adding Perfect Storm, the twin waterslides, and Battle for Planet Z, the laser tag added to Studio B.

Stateroom:

There are multiple stateroom options including interior, ocean view, balcony and suites. We went with a Guaranteed Spacious Oceanview Stateroom and were not disappointed. We landed in stateroom 6378 on the aft(back) starboard(right) side of deck 6. We had a traditional bed and a fold out sofa for the kiddos to sleep on. Most of the time it fit our family of 2 adults and our 12 and 8 year old kiddos. Getting dressed or showered posed a challenge a few times so sooner rather than later we’re going to need to upgrade to two adjoining staterooms just for an additional bathroom. Our balcony was loved by all and used multiple times a day.

Want to hang around for my recap of our cruise activities after boarding? At Perfect Day at CocoCay? Or what we did while docked in Nassau, Bahamas? Stay connected on social media or join my newsletter!

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