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2014 Independence TA
  • Rulocal
November 2014

2014 Independence TA

A 14-day adventure by Rulocal Read more
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  • Trip start
    November 4, 2014
    RulocalRulocal2014 Independence TA

    No overflow lounges

    November 4, 2014, English Channel ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    Anyone who has done a transatlantic cruise knows how many diamond and above cruisers you normally get, and it's lots and lots, and on this cruise in particular there are over 1500 diamond and above members.
    The normal thing for the evening drinks in the diamond and concierge in there situations is to use overflow lounges, to cope with the amount of extra cruisers.
    Well this time, in their wisdom, Royal have decided not to use the overflow lounges, instead once the normal lounge is full, the other members have to use their 3 free drinks on their sea passes around the ship in the other bars.
    Well not only are people unhappy with only having 3 drinks free, they are upset with not being able to interact with other diamond members in the private lounge, and to be honest the meeting people in the lounge is one of the best things about the loyalty program.
    There have been loads of complaints already, soooo watch this space.    Read more

  • RulocalRulocal2014 Independence TA

    Southampton, and swingers on board!!!

    November 4, 2014 in England ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    George Barritt came in the concierge lounge last night laughing his head off.
    Apparently a woman in the upstairs lounge had offered to shave his genitals.
    George being gay told me if it was a big butch man, he might have accepted, lol.
    It seems the woman and her husband are swingers and have a very liberal sexual outlook.
    Then this morning another gay friend of mine called Manny told me that the same woman had offered to take him to her cabin and "do " him.
    So guess where we are going tonight?
    Got it in one, the upstairs lounge, not that I'd be brave enough to take up any of her offers! But it could be quite an interesting night, and make a change from sitting in the concierge lounge.    Read more

  • RulocalRulocal2014 Independence TA

    The management finally gave in !!

    November 5, 2014, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Well the ships management finally gave in and from tonight they are allowing an overflow lounge, for the diamond and diamond plus guests.
    Why the hell they didn't just do it from the beginning of the cruise I'll never know.
    Well yes I suppose I do, they are once again trying to save money.
    Poor Mel the diamond concierge had to put up with four days of abuse from some of the passengers, which I think is well out of order as she's only doing as the management tell her. At least on the last transatlantic on the Indy, when I was actively involved in the complaining about the overflow lounges, we went to the top and spoke to the hotel director.
    This time I decided to step back and let someone else do the moaning.    Read more

  • RulocalRulocal2014 Independence TA

    Clothing optional!!!!

    November 6, 2014 in England ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

    Well this swinging thing is more popular than I realised.
    The cruise immediately following this is a clothing optional, swingers cruise.
    We first of all thought it was just a rumour, but it's been verified by Mel the diamond concierge and the girl who serves us our drinks.
    Also I was talking to the girl who cleans the diamond lounge and she said that the staff had all been given special instructions and training for the cruise.
    None of the staff will be allowed to carry cameras or mobile phones. I bet the cabin stewards will see some interesting sights lol.    Read more

  • RulocalRulocal2014 Independence TA

    Cute guy in a loud shirt

    November 7, 2014, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

    I found out yesterday from Shaun, one of my gay friends that some of the gays in the lounge where asking who is the cute guy in the loud shirt?
    Yep, you've got it, it was me! LMAO.
    So that probably means some of the straights probably think I'm gay to, so I can possibly have some good fun with wind ups lol.
    The lounge upstairs is really good now that it's the official overflow, the atmosphere is brilliant and I'm having a great time moving around the room from conversation, to conversation.
    A lady said to me that I was like a social butterfly, I'm guessing that's a compliment, lol.    Read more

  • RulocalRulocal2014 Independence TA

    Meal with an officer

    November 8, 2014, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

    Yesterday we got the usual invitation for a meal with an officer, which we accepted as it's normally a nice meal.
    Well this was a good meal as per, with the added bonus of one of the officers on our table being the head of finance on the ship.
    So Sheila asked him why the internet packages on board where $50 more expensive than the Oasis?
    He admitted that he didn't realise that they where, and asked if we'd purchased one?
    Sheila told him that we had, because of our Nic being pregnant and Sheila needing to keep in touch with her.
    He immediately phoned the finance office and instructed them to refund our money, which was $160 by the way, and gave us an unlimited internet package free of charge.
    So that gets a big thumbs up from me and revives a bit of faith in RCCL's Loyal to Royal statement.
    Oh yes we're doing OK in the progressive quiz too, we've moved up from 11th to 9th, and also got a big laugh with our team name, which is "Dickens Cider".
    That is except for one American woman who obviously misinterpreted ;-) it as "Dick inside her" LMAO.
    Also this quiz is quite a bit friendlier than some of them, so it is, a progressive, rather than an aggressive quiz, lol.    Read more

  • RulocalRulocal2014 Independence TA

    Clothing optional, update

    November 9, 2014, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

    One of the rumours about the clothing optional cruise following this one, was that they where going to take out all the loose furniture in the pyramid lounge and put in lots of mattresses.
    Well I was talking to the 1st officer at lunch the yesterday day, and he assures me that it's absolutely true.
    All the loose furniture is coming out and being replaced with mattresses.
    The use of which I'll leave to your imagination, lol.
    There will be no staff allowed in the lounge except maybe one or two security staff.
    I'm guessing that there will be so many volunteers for this job, that they'll have to put all the security staffs names in a hat and do a draw.
    Yesterday was Jill's 70th birthday and Sheila and Sue had got her a small present each and a couple of cards.
    We all embarrassed her by singing Happy Birthday to her as she came in to the lounge.
    Then later on Mel the diamond concierge and some of the staff presented her with a small cake and sang happy birthday again.
    Really lovely touch for a lovely lady.
    As I said the other day the atmosphere in that lounge is brilliant once again.    Read more

  • RulocalRulocal2014 Independence TA

    Bridge tour

    November 10, 2014, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

    I forgot to mention that I did my first bridge tour the other day.
    It was good and also the view from the bridge is amazing.
    It seems like there is quite a lot of wasted space, as there are two big sections between the main controls and the two wing controls, but as the captain said they need to see the sides of the ship when docking so that's why they are designed that way.
    So basically they are corridors from and to each control pods.
    That's probably going to be as boring to read as it was to write, LMAO.    Read more

  • RulocalRulocal2014 Independence TA

    St Thomas, Oh goody, US immigration.

    November 11, 2014 on the U.S. Virgin Islands ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    We've got the usual US immigration farce at St Thomas this morning.
    The line for non US passengers is the full length of the Royal Promenade, it's now 9.30am and it's been like that since 7am.
    Sheila and I have decided to leave going right until the last minute, because I'm definitely not standing in that bloody line.
    The real bad thing is that we'll have to do it all over again in Ft Lauderdale, all because our last stop is in Coco Cay which is British.
    Why can't they work these stops out better?
    If our last stop was a US port we wouldn't have to do all this crap again.
    But no that would be to simple for RCCL.
    We've decided that this will be our last transatlantic for a good while, as we're sick of the US immigration, and also the long haul flights back home.    Read more

  • RulocalRulocal2014 Independence TA

    US immigration, and it's SHITE attitude

    November 12, 2014 on the U.S. Virgin Islands ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Well the US immigration met all my low expectations.
    Sheila and I approached the customs officer, and with a smile I said good morning and handed her my documents.
    I then stood back and casually pushed my hands in to my shorts pockets.
    The cheeky cow of an immigration officer did no more than glare at me, and in a very condescending voice said to me "take your hands out of your pockets " I said "what?
    Really? "
    She said yes take your hands out of your pockets.
    Well I lost it and said to Sheila "I'm 64 years of age and being spoken to like a child.
    I then pushed my hands back in to my pockets, Fuming.
    She then said it's a security issue and that she didn't know where I'd been before I came to immigration.
    I said "well take a wild guess where I've been as we'd been on a cruise ship for the last 12 days".
    Anyway that was about it she stamped my passport and off we went.
    It just pisses me off the attitude of these people, give them a uniform and a bit of power and it goes to their head.
    I'm afraid as much as I love the USA I can't be doing with their over the top, and paranoid immigration service.
    It's things like this that make you realize why the USA is so hated around the world.    Read more

  • RulocalRulocal2014 Independence TA

    Old San Juan Puerto Rico

    November 13, 2014 in Puerto Rico ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Don't know why I've put that title because I didn't get off, it was so hot I decided to give it a miss.
    But it is one of my favourite stops, we normally go to a little ice cream parlour for the free Wi-Fi as it's usually very quiet, not like Starbucks, or Burger King, which get so crowded.
    But sadly Shaun, who did get off told me that it's closed down, which is a real shame.
    On a different note, the early morning chats in the diamond lounge are as popular as ever, every cruise I go on ends up with great early morning chats, the where about eight or ten of us yesterday.
    The topics of conversation vary so much it's unbelievable, and it's always with nice people.
    As I've said many times before, it's all about meeting people on these cruises.
    This one is no different, I've met some old friends and made some new ones.    Read more

  • RulocalRulocal2014 Independence TA

    Coco Cay Bahamas

    November 15, 2014 on the Bahamas ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Well this must be the fourth or fifth time I've been to Coco Cay, and still not got off.
    Not really interested in beaches and that's all that's here.
    So that means we've not been off the ship once on this cruise, luckily I like sea days, lol.
    We've got four ports next week on the Oasis, so will probably get off at those.    Read more

  • RulocalRulocal2014 Independence TA

    Port Everglades, Ft Lauderdale

    November 16, 2014 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Well that's the last trip on the Independence done, over all it was a good cruise.
    It is a bit sad to see the old girl leaving the UK for the last time, but having been on her so many times, it is time for a change, and as this is probably our last transatlantic crossing for a while, it will be nice to see a couple of different ships based in the UK.Read more

  • Trip end
    November 17, 2014
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