Home is Where the Mouse is Travel

Last time we went through some facts and how my family got to port. Now we’re going to go through that first ship day!

After you have dropped off your luggage, you will need to make your way through security as well as confirmation of your boarding pass. You will need your boarding pass, either digital or paper copy, photo ID for those over 18 and either a certified US birth certificate or a passport. Do not pack these in any luggage that you plan to hand off to a porter! Royal Carribean’s intake process is organized and streamlined. Once you check in, there are sections of seats based on your boarding time. When it’s your time, you will be allowed to board but not before your boarding pass and credentials are check again. Be sure to stop on the gangway for your first backdrop photo. My kids were completely enamored boarding the ship where they dropped many “holy ship” which were met with plenty of giggles from those around.

The first thing we did after our feet hit the deck was to complete our muster drill. Royal Caribbean’s muster drill is a mandatory virtual safety drill that is completed through their app. During the drill you will hear what the emergency horn blasts sound like as well as find your designed spot in the event there is an emergency. Our muster spot was B21 (BINGO!) and we essentially had to pass it to go inside the ship. After finding your spot, a crew member will confirm every passenger within your group is there and mark you complete. Please do not skip this step or postpone. The captain cannot disembark the port until every passenger has completed the muster drill. They will start calling out passengers who have not completed the drill on the PA system and will remove them from the ship if they do not comply. So don’t be that person!

Staterooms are not immediately available at boarding so you have to find something to occupy your time. Enter Windjammer! Since our boarding group was around noon, we opted to wait until we boarded the ship to grab lunch. Not gonna lie, we were starving and wolfed down our food so I don’t have any photos of lunch. This is going to be a recurring theme because apparently we’re vultures and can’t wait! What are ya going to do with growing kids I guess. Windjammers is a buffet style restaurant and offers a great selection to appease everyone. Water, tea, and lemonade are also included. We had drink packages so we had access to the Coke Freestyle machines.

After grabbing a quick bite to eat, we went ahead and registered our kids for the kids clubs. My daughter for Adventure Ocean and my son for Fuel teen club. I would suggest you register your kids as soon as you can to check out the club room and so you have access to drop them off the first evening. With our chore list done, we explored! By explored I mean my husband found the duty free alcohol that was on sale and proceed to purchase less than 1 hour on the ship. We checked out the Perfect Storm waterslides (which were not running yet), Sky Climber, and got our bearings. My daughter and I also participated in the Royal Caribbean bracelet hunt. Each day at select times, you visit a store or showroom along the promenade to collect your bracelet each with a different color. This was a fun activity her and I did during the cruise. Yeah, you have to listen to a seminar every once in a while but it was worth it running around the shops with my daughter making memories.

It didn’t take long for our stateroom to be ready so we headed down to deck 6 to check out our new digs for the weekend. There, we dropped off our backpack, changed into our swimsuits, slathered on sunscreen, and hit the pool deck. The kids hopped from the dip pools to Splashaway Bay with stops at the ice cream machine in between for good measure. While the kids did that, the adults grabbed our drinks and settled in to relax while listening to some Caribbean beats by the pool deck band. Don’t worry about packing pool towels. Royal Caribbean has a towel station where you can check out towels by your SeaPass. Just remember to return them or you will incur a $25 fee per misplaced towel. This was our afternoon until the Sail Away Party at 4:00. That’s when the party kicked up a notch with a DJ and dancing away from Port Canaveral. We took a spot at the front of the ship and watch the Independence and of the Seas head for open water.

We chose a 5:30 dining time so we had to head back to the stateroom and get dressed for our first meal in the Main Dining Room (MDR). Each night is a different dress theme with the first night being resort casual. The dining theme also changes nightly. We started off with French theme and it was chef kiss. We had an outstanding waitstaff; shout out to Uncle Fred and Elaine! But, I did get hit with a little motion sickness during the meal. That was not fun! So if you think you have any chance at becoming motion sickness, take.the.Dramine! Like I mentioned before, not a lot of food pictures because we’re wolves apparently… we throughly enjoy our meal with our entries ranging from escargot to pan-seared fish to steak to the classic kids Mac and cheese. We wrapped up dinner with fantastic dessert! Our table was on deck 3 so when we finished dinner, we walked through the art gallery where my daughter and I completed the art scavenger hunt. before we drop both kids at their respective clubs.

Adventure Ocean’s hours run 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm most days and is a simple process. An approved person over the age of 13 scans their SeaPass to confirm the child is registered then the kiddo is off exploring their club. Here, my daughter played games, colored and made new friends. Teens are allowed to come and go and my son took full advantage of that. The first night was a meet and greet of teens followed by a ship wide scavenger hunt in groups. While on his scavenger hunt, his group stop for a quick bite at Sorento’s, the onboard pizza parlor. From this moment on, if I couldn’t find my son, I could almost guarantee I’d find him here! After the scavenger hunt, the teens went up to the court for some fireball. At least this way he was burning off all the pizza calories he consumed.

While the kids spent time with their age groups, my husband and I had a mini date night while exploring the ship, listening to live music and grabbing a drink or two. A great way to spend the evening.

That’s about all we could fit into our first day aboard the Independence of the Seas. We’re off to Perfect Day at CocoCay for day 2 of our weekend cruise.