Independence of the Sea review

[petermack]

Hey Folks,

 

 

Its been over 3 years since we were on a cruise, due to the addition of a new member of the family and we decided that with the new addition now being 15 months old it would be an ideal time to acquaint him with cruising.

 

I booked a category D Balcony cabin and got a pleasant surprise to get a call 2 weeks before the cruise to tell us we had been upgraded to a Junior suite. We are Diamond members of the C&A but did not expect an upgrade. I had by coincidence enquired 5 days earlier and the total cost to upgrade 2 adults and a toddler would have been £1600

 

Embarkation was extremely quick in Southampton, a total of 13 minutes from arrival at the cruise terminal to entering the ship. We arrived at 1.45pm so we may have missed the rush. Having a baby in a pushchair did not cause any hassles, with sufficient lifts to accommodate wheelchairs and pushchairs.

 

The ship is not showing any signs of wear & tear and all the public areas are kept in excellent order. The vessel as most of you are aware will be in dry dock early next year for some minor refurbishments. One thing of interest for parents will be the addition of a full nursery where babies of 6 months to 3 years can be dropped off for a couple of hours.

 

The cabin was a good size but one disappointment was the bed. I can never remember the bed being 2 single beds pushed together and the mattress was lumpy. The babies cot was a travel cot and this too did not have a great mattress. We spoke to a number of parents who were not too happy with the mattress used in the cots so a heads up for any parents travelling in the future.

 

Food was O.K, not spectalular and not bad. The desserts never seemed to change each day in the Windjammer. For dinner we picked the early seating in the MDR and all credit to the dining room staff. They had the baby chair ready each evening and had fresh fruit for the baby and orange juice all ready and waiting.

 

Entertainment was disappointing and the shows lacked the usual wow factor that we were used to from RCI. Ice shows were good but again lacked some of the wow factor.

 

The Royal Promenade was always the highlight of the night, and was always buzzing with people. The parades were always worth staying up for, specially for the baby who always found them intriguing.

 

To sum it all up, we spoke to a lot of people over the 2 weeks most of whom were all past cruisers with RCI and the message seemed to be the same. People were disappointed with the food and the entertainment. Not having been on a RCI cruise for over 3 years we could really see the cost savings that have been made over the past few years e.g small things like no chocolates on the pillows, no gift for returning C&A members, not the same variety of food etc etc.

 

Two areas which really annoyed us were 1) We were told that all the robes had been allocated when we asked our room attendant. He told us that all robes had been allocated. We didnt make too much of it.

 

The second thing is that we were charged twice for babysitting. We had paid the girls directly upon returning but then discovered that babysitting services had been charged to our seapass. When we enquired we were told that babysitting services are charged to seapass accounts and that any monies paid to the girls direct is treated as a tip.

 

All in all a good vacation but I think for our next cruise we may research more child friendly ships.

[micruiser2002]

Can you tell me was it difficult arranging the babysitters for in the cabin? We are sailing in December with my grandson and I want to make sure we can get a sitter at least for some of the specialty restaurant dinners. thanks.

[JillyChill]

Thank you for posting!! I will be taking my under 2 daughter on Independence in January. We were told that the nursery will not be opened yet, so that is good news. Did you use the nursery or just the baby sitting service? Any tips you can give me about IOS and traveling with my toddler. Thanks in advance! :)

[petermack]

Can you tell me was it difficult arranging the babysitters for in the cabin? We are sailing in December with my grandson and I want to make sure we can get a sitter at least for some of the specialty restaurant dinners. thanks.

 

It turned out to be quite difficult to organise the babysitting in the end. My wife and I celebrated our wedding anniversary while we onboard so we had booked Portofino prior to embarkation thinking it would be quite easy to organise babysitting while onboard. As soon as we boarded we went to guest relations and requested babysitting on the night of our wedding anniversary. Unfortunately as babysitting services is entirely at the discretion of the staff, they need to have 2 people who are willing to babysit on the night. RCI pays one person and you pay the other.

 

In the end babysitting was only confirmed 3 hours before our reservation at Portofino so it was a little bit last minute but it turned out alright in the end apart from being double charged :(

[petermack]

Thank you for posting!! I will be taking my under 2 daughter on Independence in January. We were told that the nursery will not be opened yet, so that is good news. Did you use the nursery or just the baby sitting service? Any tips you can give me about IOS and traveling with my toddler. Thanks in advance! :)

 

Hi Jilly

 

We used both. The nursery is actually one of the small conference rooms on deck 2. It is only staffed for a couple of hours each day. It is open from 8.30am until 11.00pm each day and is full of toys and books for the little ones. At night the nursery is full with parents bringing the little ones down to burn off any excess energy that may have built up :D

 

The babysitting service is a little bit hit and miss. It depends what staff are available on the night. Remember that there are always 2 people allocated to babysitting but you only pay for one.

 

The biggest disappointment is the splash pool. The small children who are not toilet trained are only allowed into the splash pool which is quite small and is only 3-4 inches deep. They can see the bigger childrens areas with the brightly coloured fountains and naturally want to be part of that but are not allowed.

 

The windjammer can be difficult to find a baby seat due to the number of small children who are there at the same time but the MDR is no problem, they always have a baby chair waiting.

 

Use of the lifts was never a problem with the buggy, we never waited more then 2-3 minutes for a lift sometimes 4-5 on days where we were docked.

 

I was a little disappointed that the royal promenade parades were held so late at night as usually our little guy could never make it to 10.15pm to see them.

 

The onboard store is well stocked with nappies & wipes and Calpol in case you run out so its good to know that its available.

 

Apart from that the only other advice I would give is that the travel cots onboard are poor and the mattress's are very thin and they tend to bunch up as soon as the babies move in the cot so be concious of that.

 

Anything else feel free to ask

[JillyChill]

Thank you so much! I saw on RC website that they now use those "play yards" instead of cribs. The measurements look really small, wondering if my daughter will be cramped or not. I have been going back and forth between bringing my own pack and play or not. Do you have any pictures of the play yard (and any other photos actually) I am so excited!

 

I hope you know that I will be racking your brain for information about the cruise!! I always think of random questions :)

[JillyChill]

Already thought of another question! Did they have the toy lending program? Could you bring toys back to your room for your little one to play with and bring it back the next day?

[petermack]

Already thought of another question! Did they have the toy lending program? Could you bring toys back to your room for your little one to play with and bring it back the next day?

 

Hey Jilly

 

 

They certainly do. Based on their age and their preferance they have small bags of toys that you can take back to your room for as long as you want.

[JillyChill]

Oh good! I really dont want to bring toys. Did you take any pictures that you shared on any of those photo websites, or facebook that I can look at?

[mousy56]

Did the Indenpendence of the Seas have an update to the wayfinder? The digtal board by the elevator showing how to navigate around the ship. I had read this were to be installed.

[petermack]

Thank you so much! I saw on RC website that they now use those "play yards" instead of cribs. The measurements look really small, wondering if my daughter will be cramped or not. I have been going back and forth between bringing my own pack and play or not. Do you have any pictures of the play yard (and any other photos actually) I am so excited!

 

I hope you know that I will be racking your brain for information about the cruise!! I always think of random questions :)

 

Hi Jilly,

 

I have attached 2 pictures of the pack & play. Out little guy is 15 months old so this should be a good guideline for you.

[petermack]

Did the Indenpendence of the Seas have an update to the wayfinder? The digtal board by the elevator showing how to navigate around the ship. I had read this were to be installed.

 

Hi Mousy,

 

Indeed the digital wayfinders have been installed. I think they are all 32" touch screen units that are fairly effortless to use. Although I never noticed anyone using them during my recent cruise.

[MattyBarlow]

The biggest disappointment is the splash pool. The small children who are not toilet trained are only allowed into the splash pool which is quite small and is only 3-4 inches deep. They can see the bigger childrens areas with the brightly coloured fountains and naturally want to be part of that but are not allowed.

 

 

 

Interesting. When we booked our cruise on Indy for next year, we specifically asked if a non toilet trained baby wearing swim nappies could use the H2O Zone. The reply was yes.

 

Looks like i'll be sneaking him through it then ;)

[JillyChill]

Oh that isn't TOO small. My daughter is very petite. Shes only 19lbs (at 17months) so I think that should be fine. Really appreciate the pictures. Helps ease my mind a lot. I Think I am going to bring my own crib sheet and ask for an extra blanket for between the mattress and sheet.

 

And I am planning on sneaking my daughter into the h20 zone as well. The worst they can do, is kick us out. I KNOW I KNOW, rules are rules, but I guarantee those potty trained kids are peeing in the pool haha

[MattyBarlow]

but I guarantee those potty trained kids are peeing in the pool haha

 

 

Not just the Kids!!

[petermack]

Interesting. When we booked our cruise on Indy for next year, we specifically asked if a non toilet trained baby wearing swim nappies could use the H2O Zone. The reply was yes.

 

Looks like i'll be sneaking him through it then ;)

 

 

Hi Matty

 

There is actually pool patrol on duty within the H2O zone and we saw a lot of people being asked to take their toddlers out of the pools. You may be lucky but there are pool patrols on duty :)

 

But to confirm there are no non toilet trained babies allowed in the H2o zone with the exception of the splash zone, which is fairly small but it is heated.

[MattyBarlow]

Hi Matty

 

There is actually pool patrol on duty within the H2O zone and we saw a lot of people being asked to take their toddlers out of the pools. You may be lucky but there are pool patrols on duty :)

 

But to confirm there are no non toilet trained babies allowed in the H2o zone with the exception of the splash zone, which is fairly small but it is heated.

 

I'll just pretend my Son is my Midget brother and how dare they think he is a baby ;)

 

We are going in late September so hopefully pool patrol will be a little less frequent :D

[JillyChill]

Not just the Kids!!

 

BUSTED! hahahaha

 

Matty - are you going and the end of this september? Or next Sept? How old is your little one?

 

We are going in January, and I am HOPING that since it is not a school break week, that they won't pay attention as much with less children. It won't be a huge deal if we cant go in, but I know she would like it.

[JillyChill]

Peter - Do you happen to have any of the royal tots daily planners? Did they have a planner for the week or day of activities going on for the kiddos?

[PAFC]

Hi petermack which sailing were you on was it the last one 25/8/12?

[petermack]

Hi petermack which sailing were you on was it the last one 25/8/12?

 

Yes it was the 25/08/12 sailing we were on. Weather was not great, we had rain on 5 days in total but hey no complaints.

[petermack]

Peter - Do you happen to have any of the royal tots daily planners? Did they have a planner for the week or day of activities going on for the kiddos?

 

Hey Jilly,

 

 

They actually have the activities for the whole cruise printed in advance. Sorry I didnt actually bring it with me but you will find it printed and left outside the conference room on deck 2. One of the better activities that the royal tots have is they reserve the outside basketball court on 2 afternoons during the cruise where they have activities for the little ones with loads & loads of toys and things. Well worth heading down to the conference room on deck 2 on day 1 and getting a copy of the tots planner

[JillyChill]

I will do that for sure! Thanks for all of the information. It has ben so helpful!

[MattyBarlow]

BUSTED! hahahaha

 

Matty - are you going and the end of this september? Or next Sept? How old is your little one?

 

We are going in January, and I am HOPING that since it is not a school break week, that they won't pay attention as much with less children. It won't be a huge deal if we cant go in, but I know she would like it.

 

We are going in September 2013 so it iwll be interesting to see the new Royal Tots area they will install during the dry dock.

 

He will be 18 months by then.

[PAFC]

Yes it was the 25/08/12 sailing we were on. Weather was not great, we had rain on 5 days in total but hey no complaints.

 

Hi it only rained once in the day Thursday in Toulon.