Review - Independence of the Seas, 31 July to 14 August Sailing

[Yorkshire-Pudding]

The following is long but then it was a long holiday. I have posted this in the review section but as that is ship specific, I thought I would share my impressions so here goes.

This was our first ever cruise by my husband, son and I, originally for the 2009 sailing but delayed to this year. Following the unexpected death of my father-in-law, my mother-in-law was a late addition but because of the high single traveller premium, it was only a further £300 (approx $450) to add our niece, so family group of five ranging in age from 10 to 80. We had a Grand Suite and my mother-in-law and niece, an inside on deck 10. Much of the following is based on our experience in the GS.

 

Embarkation

Southampton was very busy and I later learnt that there was to be just over 4200 passengers on our 14 night Mediterranean cruise of which 3900 were British. The terminal was very busy, but we boarded quite quickly and were told that lunch was available in the Windjammer. We had access to our staterooms at 1pm and our luggage arrived at 3pm.

 

Crew

What an amazing crew. Every morning you would be greeted with a good morning pretty much from every one, whether from maintenance through to officers. We found them friendly and always willing to assist. If I have a criticism it is that RCI should do more to celebrate the broad diversity of its crew. For instance, during our sailing, it was the Jamaica’s Independence Day celebrations and it would have been great to recognise this on the ship for the guests. I know that there was a staff party with Jamaican food, but I am sure that some guests would have welcomed the opportunity to try some of the food also.

 

Stateroom/Cabin

Best feature was the bathroom. There was a generous use of Blue Pearl granite and marble throughout, lots of storage including some behind the mirror (I did not discover this until day 13). It had bath and a double sink and easily accommodated two of us using it at the same time. The bar area which protrudes into the stateroom, did at first seem a bit wasted, but it was useful for allowing us to eat buffet style when other members of the family came for a visit. The sofa coverts to a very generous bed which could easily accommodate two people, but in our case it was used by our only child.

 

On the subject of beds, I found the bed although generous in size, the most uncomfortable I have ever slept on. When I commented to the stateroom steward, she explained that it did not have a topper, which she corrected. Even after this, I still woke up with back ache. Now I am used to a firm bed at home, but this was something else. I woke with a backache every morning. When I mentioned this to the Hotel Director, he did assure me that the beds were only two years old and good quality. All this may be true, but I did not get a single good night sleep in 14 nights. My husband spends in excess of 150 nights per year in hotels around the world and he thought the bed was uncomfortable, but there you go. I did try my mother-in-law’s bed and it was more comfortable.

 

The balcony had two chairs (in a faux wicker with cushions), a glass topped dining table and two loungers. We asked for an extra chair for our balcony but were told none was available, which did mar family eating on the balcony. I had been concerned about the location of our stateroom, just beneath the Jacuzzi in the solarium but in fact this was an issue for the stateroom next door (1564) and it did not obstruct the views plus, the balcony slightly flares out giving good views down to the bridge of the ship. The balcony was nice, but we did not always use it as frequently as we liked in the mornings as our neighbouring cabin had smokers.

Our stateroom attendant was hmmh! I had to ask her eight times over the first four days to empty the fridge before she did it. We did not want any surprises on the bill from my son helping himself, so always ask for the fridge to be emptied whenever we go on holiday. She was very friendly and the towel animals were always a welcome surprise every evening ranging from a crocodile, monkey, swan, turkey, pig and mouse. We had pre-paid our gratuities which included hers, and at the end of the cruise gave her an additional envelope with an extra to thank her, however she seemed very cold towards us thereafter. I suppose she thought it still was not enough.

Thank you to RCI Special Needs, the items requested were available in our stateroom from the get go.

 

Food

We had My Time Dining so ate in the King Lear restaurant on deck 5, but before the sailing I had booked dinner for every evening. We were assigned the same lovely table by the window for five, for all our meals and had the same waiter, Leoncia and assistant waiter, Jonas throughout our cruise and this made every meal an enjoyable experience. Our thanks to Leoncia, who every evening, would bring us an extra of vegetables, an entree or dessert to try. She spotted that our son loved rice rather than potatoes and always made sure that he had an extra portion. Jonas was wonderful at keeping our son in glasses of ginger ale without asking. I explained at our first meal that I could not drink when eating and every meal, my glass was cleared away without asking. We were always addressed individually by name, nice touch. There was never any rush for us to vacate our table and we took as long as we wanted each evening. The meals arrived quickly and were hot, however we found that on the three formal nights, the service was slower and the food always lukewarm. We did do dessert in the Windjammer one evening and we are so glad we ate in the main dining room. The food was just better presented in the dining room and the quality of the service outstanding. The last night they did an excellent prawn tempura. They were yummy.

 

We tried breakfast one morning in the main dining room table service, did not like the room. The staff were lovely, but it felt dark and not pleasant. That said the lunch time salad bar was great as you choose items to order and it was dressed with the dressing of your choice.

 

On our cruise, the dress suggestion for formal nights were pretty much adhered to and I can think of only one family that did not dress formally in the main dining room. Men wore black tie and this also extended to many of the children as well. The ladies definitely got out their finest and there were more, long ankle-length gowns than shorter cocktail dresses in evidence. I thought that I had previously read on CC that in the evening the Windjammer was set with tablecloths, well this is no longer the case. You had to go to the main dining room if you wanted that type of experience.

 

We could not do Portofino’s as I am unable to eat pasta on health grounds. My husband and I did do Chops one evening and were disappointed. I ordered the rack of lamb, medium rare, but it came well done, so sent it back. This was also the case for my husband’s petit mignon. Now having been to United States several times, I have learnt that a good steak needs onion rings, so why oh why does RCI insists on serving the cheapest and nastiest frozen onion rings made from chopped onion in a batter (the same ones they serve in Johnny Rockets). Now I accept that whilst onions are cheap, there is a labour cost of preparing them, but this is RCI’s signature restaurant where they should be showcasing their food at its best. Also the mash potato was lumpy. Have the chefs not heard of a potato ricer. The mash was described as being double whipped, but if it is lumpy to start with, it doesn’t matter how many times you whip it, it will be still lumpy. Now I am not expecting a Gordon Ramsey experience in Chops but I feel that there was a better dining experience in the main dining room.

 

We did do a family meal in Johnny Rockets and this was a great experience. I was surprised that food items like bacon and the burgers were pre-cooked, but that said the burgers, fries and milkshakes were very good. If there was a negative it was that there was too much food and we could not eat it all. We had apple pie but could not eat them, so had to keep them in our fridge in the stateroom. My husband said they were very good (he had it with some ice cream from Sprinkles) over two days.

 

Cafe Promenade, wish they would change the cakes on offer. Now I loved the double chocolate expresso brownies and the cinnamon crunch but after 14 days it was just boring after a while. Very good fudge cookies according to my husband and son. The cheese and ham croissant was also very good. I did visit it at 5am one morning and the staff although surprised were very welcoming.

 

Windjammer, well it is mass catering. Nice touch was the nachos and toppings each afternoon. It could get very busy especially on sea days and these were the only time you were really aware that there were so many people on the ship.

 

Room Service

You can order room service via the TV but I found that everytime I did this, you would receive a call 10 minutes later confirming you order via the telephoned and the 30 minute delivery time was from the call not from placing the order on the TV. After two times, I gave up and always rang through my order which you had to anyway if you wanted to order from the main dining room. There was no expectation of a tip from the room service staff and you usually had to stop them before the left in a flash.

 

Drink

My husband is pretty much tea-total so had only 1 glass of champagne in the 14 nights, but the other adult family members, we did try to sample a number of the cocktails (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic). I found that if you selected an individual bar man (tipped him of course) for the whole trip, that we got excellent service and very strong drinks. In many cases, it was so strong that we had to top them up with more Sprite. We can recommend the Italian Ice Tea, Long Island Ice Tea, Elderflower Lemonade and Strawberry Daiquiri. Not so good was the Midori Lemonade (best described as being Shrek green in colour). We found the drinks from the pool area, were better (by that stronger) than in Olive or Twist or the Dog and Badger. The latter we found the service was poor and did not visit again. We would have used the Champagne bar post dinner, but children are not allowed after 4pm, so we never did.

Entertainment

The Ice Show was amazing. We went to both the Strings and Freeze Frame performances. The skaters were very good and each performance was fabulous.

 

Husband, son and niece had a session on the golf simulator which they really enjoyed. Our son did not get the courage to try the Flowrider until day 13, but really enjoyed it and the instructor was very patient.

 

The evening headliners were very variable. The comedian was just dire, but the family quartet called Strings (violinist) great. The costumes were good, but we found the RCI show performers poor. My husband, niece and mother-in-law went to the Quest and thoroughly enjoyed it, although they were a little surprised by the number of young children that attended (it started at 11pm) and would not be described as a family show. They were impressed with the inventiveness of some of their team members who really got into the spirit of things.

 

Children

My son was a major fan of the children’s club and asked to attend most days. They were very good and when we explained that our son has Asperger’s Syndrome, were provided with a DECT phone to call to check on him. My thanks to Penguin and Cheesecake in Adventure Ocean, who seemed to make the biggest impression on him. If there is one negative, it is that my son commented on the very poor attitude of some of the children to another child with special needs. He felt that some of the others were to use his words “really mean”.

 

On the subject of children, being the middle of the English school holidays there were over a 1000 children on board. In the main, they were well behaved and did not colonise the lifts or staircases too much. It was only toward the last couple of days that you saw half eaten pizza in lifts and drinks left in corridors etc. There was talk that a couple of families had been disembarked due to the behaviour of their children and this may have caused the low level of high jinks. You knew something was amiss because all the names read out over the PA shared the same surname. That said, there was the occasion when parents could have done more to guide their children on respecting others and often turned a blind eye towards their children behaviour. My husband witnessed a can being kicked from a high deck which could have injured those below, which the father dimissed as an accident, even though it clearly was not. They had no shame.

 

Ports of Call/Excursions

Our ports of call included Gibraltar, Corsica, Cannes, Barcelona, Malaga, Ibiza, Lisbon and Vigo. When initially booked, Barcelona was a 2 day stop over, but this was revised to one day arriving at 10 am and departing at 8.30pm. Fortunately we had visited several times before but the limited time meant we were unable to take our niece to really see the city which was a pity. We pre-booked a family tour to Gibraltar (our first port of call) and this was a real disappointing experience. I think RCI needs to do more about selecting tour operators, as based on our experience on this tour we did not book any further ones it was so awful. We did eventually (with the help of Kenneth Boodoo, the Concierge) get a 50% refund because of the problems we experienced. At Barcelona because we had been before, my husband, niece and son did do the Isla Fantasia waterpark trip which they really enjoyed. We also noted that with some of the tours that the travel time did take up a large amount of the overall trip and did not seem good value. Perhaps if we had been on the Italian Treasures tour we may have done more, but on this cruise we had previously visited many of the places on the itinerary. We did you some shuttles. In Ibiza, it was simply too hot to walk into town. In Lisbon, we booked return shuttles, but the local hop on –hop off tour bus stopped outside the terminal so we got refunds on the return portion of our tickets.

 

Smoking

We often could not use our balcony because of other guests smoking on their balconies. Even though they were supposed to be limited to the Port side on the pool deck, you often found people smoking at the bar. On a number of occasions, you could smell cigarette smoke in the corridors inside the ship. I even reported smoke smells coming out of the air conditioning (which you cannot turn off) and maintenance said it was caused by people leaving their balcony doors open whilst smoking and it drifting back in.

Either way, it was unpleasant.

 

Suite Enhancements

At the time of the original booking, there were no suite enhancements and be booked our stateroom based on the amount of space. I would say that book a Grand Suite because of the room, not the perks as you may be disappointed. Kenneth Boodoo, what a wonderful ambassador for RCI. Although I had pre-booked many items, he was always ready for a chat and sorted out any minor issues you had.

 

Positive points - It was great not having to get tickets for the Ice Shows and turning up to the evening entertainment with seats available. There was a priority tender at Cannes but this is only going out not coming in and there was no queue so we did not have to wait. Another is having access to Chops for breakfast and lunch as the table is laid and they serve you drinks at the table. It is also quieter than eating in Chops at busy times.

 

Delta points - The pool deck area for suite guests was a nice idea, but we found that it was often monopolised by a few families/groups to the detriment of other guests. On one occasion, my husband was told that he was selfish by another guest after he waited 1.5 hours before moving her unattended items from a sunbed (the limit is 30 minutes). The guest had returned after shopping for 3 hours (that was the time my husband was up there before she returned) expecting her sunbed to still be available with her book and said she had got up at 7am to secure her bed. When husband explained about the 30 minute rule, she explained that she did not read signs and they did not apply to her. It was the same with the Concierge Lounge. There were a few groups who basically moved in for the whole of the evening 3 hours of complimentary drinks and dominated the room. I also observed the way some of the guests treated the concierge, Kenneth Boodoo. It was appalling and displayed a complete lack of manners. Certainly it was true that some of the passengers sailing in suites seem to have a sense of entitlement. Whether this is down to travel agent setting the wrong expectations or based on passenger experiences travelling to other parts of the world or the amount they spent, I am not sure but I do think that it is an area that RCI needs to look at.

 

I do think that soft drinks should be complimentary from the Concierge Lounge. If you stay in any Hilton, Marriott and Sheraton hotel in a room with access to a concierge lounge, soft drinks are always available, free. Even if it was a fountain, this would be minimal cost to RCI. On the ship, it was only during the 3 hour window in the evening, but because I have a child I couldn’t use it because he could not go in when alcohol was being serve. I am happy to pay for booze, if soft drink are complementary.

 

The free pressing was supposed to be available for each formal night (there were three), but we were offered it only once. We did use the $25 wash and fold service, items came back after 48 hours, but they were wonderfully clean and fresh.

 

On sea days, it was nice to order lunch from the dining room and eat on the balcony. We also found that the dining room breakfast was better than the regular Room Service breakfast. Also you can only get Eggs Benedict when the dining room is offering breakfast. The suite dinner experience was a bit patchy. On a couple of occasions, Room Service operator was not aware that you could order from the dining room which was a bit of a pain but if you cancelled and rang back you usually got someone else to take your order.

 

There was a bridge tour which was excellent and very informative. The second officer happily answered all the questions and the view was fantastic.

 

There was a cocktail party for suite guests which was well attended. Met the captain and his lovely wife.

 

Late Check-Out/Departure

Although this is a very new option in Europe (RCI you need to do a little bit more work providing information) we opted for this as my mother-in-law was being collected by my brother-in-law and thought it would be a better place for her to wait than the terminal, so we all stayed. Watching the crew transform the ship for the next cruise, was amazing and made you realise just how hard they work. They have a lot to do in a relatively short space of time and they cleaned everything.

 

It was a great way to see the ship and really have a good look around. One of the benefits of this option was that it gave us an opportunity to see all the stateroom types on the ship from the Presidential to the Royal Family Suite, Owners Suite and Royal Suite.

 

Without doubt, the Royal Suite located on deck 10 was lovely and best described as being akin to a five star hotel suite and the sheer feel of it was that of a luxury. The master bedroom offered uninterrupted floor to ceilings views (unfortunately the car park of Ikea in Southampton when we had a look) and the walk in wardrobe was to die for. The bathroom was equally gorgeous, with a Jacuzzi bath and separate shower. The double sinks were gold blown glass. A nice touch was that the toilet was separately accessible from the sitting room without entering the bedroom. However, at a cost of £30,000 (over $45,000) for four people for two weeks during peak season, you must really want to sail on the ship. We were a bit disappointed by both the Presidential and Royal Family Suites. The bathrooms were not as generous (they had single sinks not doubles) as those in either the Grand Suites or Owners Suites and felt a bit pokey. Although the Presidential Suite had a very large balcony with outdoor Jacuzzi, you would be overlooked by the decks above. That said, I understand that if there are 14 guests travelling together it works out cheaper than booking the same number in inside staterooms.

 

Pricing

I would comment that RCI have got a pricing issue with this cruise and passengers not spending on the ship. On our night at Chops there were very few dinners and they did see to put in a lot of marketing by week 2, to get people to try it. Even on sea days, the bar staff operating on the pool decks were often standing around because so few people were ordering drinks. On this cruise, the 15% service charge was suspended, but there were many negative comments about the price of drink and cost of excursions. I would say that the prices were in line with London hotels, I guess, but passengers living outside South East England would certainly find the prices shocking. The three cocktails I purchased most days were between $26 – 30 per round and we were not heavy drinkers, so on a 14 day cruise, costs could soon mount up. You do get a sense that RCI are still on a learning curve with its predominately British cruisers. They know who are cruising on the ship, namely lots of children yet by day 7 they ran out of Coke, Fanta and Ginger Ale from the soda fountain and were restocked only when we arrived at Barcelona the following day. Surely the whole point of buying a soda card is that it is always available. Fortunately, my son only drank two drinks per day, but you did see folks wondering around the ship trying to refill their cups yet coming up empty.

 

Overall View

Firstly there is a wow factor when you get on the ship. The engineering involved in creating a ship of this size was a marvel and being given some of the statictics on the bridge tour did take your breath away. When we arrived at Lisbon, the ship did a 360 degree turn, which I had the privilege to experience from our balcony and it was amazing watching it. In some ports, the ship did appear to be part of the local tourist attractions with crowds of people on boats coming out to look at it and it was a great experience to be part of that. Did I enjoy the cruise, in the main yes but with reservations! It has taken me many years to convince my husband to try a cruise rather than a land based holiday and in that regard, I did succeed. Will I cruise again, yes but not with Royal Caribbean. To use American parlance, there was just not enough “bang for your buck”. For the cost, I expected a more memorable holiday and there is the problem of smoking. I feel that this cruise compares with a good European 4 star hotel but they are charging 5 star prices. For the price we paid we could have flown British Airways business class to the Caribbean and stayed all inclusive at the Ritz Carlton. You can understand why RCI are sending so many ships over to Europe as I am quite sure that their profit margins must be significantly improved. Certainly this cruise was capacity with many people booking at least a year in advance and suites sell out before everything else. When we berth at Barcelona, directly opposite was the Brilliance of the Seas, a Holland America Line ship and a Disney ship (the horn plays bars of When You Wish Upon a Star), with a Seabourn ship at another berth in the distance, so you do get the sense that the European market is very important to all the major cruise lines. I knew when I booked that this holiday was to be about the ship experience not the ports of call, but it was just the little things we felt were either missing or had been cut and the relentless push to get you to spend more money. Some of this is down to a difference in culture between the majority of RCI’s American customer base and the British customers sailing out of Southampton. Certainly, I would say there is very differing expectations on the part of passengers and what they feel they should have been included especially the dreaded topic of tips. My mother-in-law did meet one passenger who said that she had no intention of paying any tips whatsoever and I would guess she was not alone in her opinion. I know that RCI are very proud of their Crown and Anchor service and there was none of the fawning you can get with some hotel/cruise brands, but to be honest, the service whilst good is no better than you would experience travelling to the Far East or Dubai (and they don’t expect a tip for everything). You just got a feeling that although the crew were all very nice many were not happy because the money they receive from tips was now low (compared to what they get from American passengers) because they were sailing out of Southampton with the result that it was now just a job for them and equally guests were not happy because of this sense of being constantly tapped for more money having paid at least £1900 (approx $2850) per person for a 14 day cruise in an inside stateroom. The price of a GS makes you weep and next year they are charging £1,000 ($1500) more than I paid this year. The money making was reinforced during dinner which was regularly interrupted by the ship’s photographer during your meal seeking photo opportunities. This was despite the fact that you had already had the chance to have your photo taken before entering the dining room yet they still bugged you further.

With hindsight, I do wish we had booked a balcony for my mother-in-law on another deck. We tried for 6 months to upgrade to a family suite, but they were all fully booked and because we wanted her to be on the same deck given her age, we could only get an inside. She did not enjoy the sensation of waking up without daylight to orientate her. She said she may cruise again, but only if there is a window. That said, having seen the Royal Family Suite, I am glad I did not book it and a better option would have been a Grand Suite with an adjoining balcony stateroom.

 

I am sure there are some reading this may disagree with my assessment, but I would say in my defence that the idea of a forum is to elicit differing views. Some may wonder why go on a 14 night cruise as a first time experience. Well here in the UK, the tradition is for a 14 night family break in the summer during the school holidays. Most holidays including land based ones are structured this way at this time of year.

 

In closing I would comment on Guest Relations. Their attitude towards guests was at best poor (however James you were lovely) and there is this sense that their position was that every guest is trying to pull a fast one so let’s fob them off.

[kernow]

Thanks for the review, it was very interesting.We did a 4 night cruise on Independence a couple of years ago, although we had a good time we decided not to do a longer cruise in Summer as it did not have the same feel as other ships. Your review and others I've read seem to confirm our thoughts.

 

This year we did Celebrity Eclipse from Southampton and it was much nicer and no more expensive.

 

I'm shocked that you were told that you could not have an extra chair on the balcony, even in regular cabins they will usually bring one.

 

Julie

[Yorkshire-Pudding]

Hi Julie,

 

I was very surprised and we were told to use the chair from the dressing table. It is not as though there wasn't sufficient room to accommodate another chair. I can completely understand why you have gone Celebrity and from looking at the brochure your right, no there is not much difference in cost. Husband has agreed to a Queens Grill on the Queen Mary which is nice, but it is several years off. Very interested in trying Holland America Line, ship looked lovely in Barcelona.

[LBumb]

thanks for taking the time to post such a great review.