Independence Review 12/7/17 The Good and the Not as Good

My friend and I stayed Pre cruise at the Hyatt Place 17th Street. Great choice! Their shuttle picked us up at the airport with minimal wait, for $2 per room. Our room was large, comfortable and spotless. Bar, pool, breakfast, staff all great. Walking distance to restaurants. Close to airport and cruise port. $7 per person shuttle to cruise port. We even booked a day room there post cruise, as we had a late flight. Again, they shuttled us to the airport.

The Good:

Check in on the Indy was very fast. We were on board by a couple minutes after 11.

Luggage arrived the earliest it ever has. Before sail away.

Main Dining Room was very good. Our servers were wonderful and very available. They kept checking on us, bringing drinks, filling water, bringing extra appetizers and things to try. They even kept us on time when one couple at our table showed up 30-45 minutes late each night.

Windjammer was crowded as it usually is, but I thought the food was better than ever.

Entertainment was amazing! Grease, the Ice Show, the Comedians, The crazy Quest, Love & Marriage , 70's dance party all awesome!

Cruise Staff and Activities were wonderful! They work really hard!! Marc, the cruise director and Mark the activities manager taped an adorable show (for tv) almost every day. A number of outdoor activities , one ice show and use of the pool were cancelled due to rough seas and wind and the cruise staff added additional activities. Trivia and games were great as usual.

Ship I thought the ship looked great. Especially for being so close to going to dry dock. Very well maintained.

The Not as Good:

This was my 14th cruise and I have never had a complaint about anything. My friend and I had an amazing time but I noticed a few things that seemed a bit off. We were told by a couple different crew members that a number of the crew were new, so that may have been the difference.

Stateroom Attendant bumped into her once. She never came to introduce herself or check in with us. We only saw her the once because we came back to the cabin to change and she still didn't speak to us. However I will say, our cabin was immaculate. She left us a plate of cookies one night with her card. It didn't affect our great time, just an observation.

Sail Away is usually such a party. There were no servers walking around with drinks (except beer carts on the upper deck) so you had to wait 5 or 6 people deep to get to the bar, there were a couple of cruise staff on the dance space with some guests and animal videos (??)on the big screen. Usually a lot more activity, staff, party atmosphere, fun and servers with trays of drinks.

Bar Service at the pool the bartenders did the best they could, but the bars were always packed as there were no servers walking around (Ok,on day 2 we saw one, once, but we had just come from the bar). It was disappointing to have to wait several people deep at the bar rather than have servers come around. One of the pool bar tenders told us that a couple people got in trouble for helping out at the bar instead of walking around to serve passengers.

Windjammer on Day 1, they did not seem to have their act together and it seemed even more chaotic than it usually is, but by Day 2 they were great.

Again, we had an amazing time. Just my observations, but as I am looking out my office window at snow, I want to go back!!

Thanks for the balanced review.

Keith

Appreciate the feedback.