First Family Cruise Review - Independence of the Seas

[ianholdy]

We were also first time family cruisers and this review pretty much sums up our thoughts too. We were blown away by the ease of boarding, politeness/ enthusiasm of the staff, quality / variety of the food, cleanliness of the ship and the variety and quality of the entertainment.

 

A couple of thoughts ...

 

MyTime dining a bit hit & miss. We ended up dining late but as it happened that really worked out for our family. Certainly don't expect a time slot between 6.30 and 8pm. We noticed on formal nights that some gave up and went to the windjammer.

 

Entertainment ... On the whole very good and the ventriloquist was the highlight. We also enjoyed the Take That tribute band and tended to pick and choose our nights depending on what was on. Ice shows, like you say, brilliant.

 

Shore Excursions ... Only took RCI excursions in Barcelona. My son and I went to the Nou Camp. To be honest would have been easier to take a taxi and buy tickets there. Wife and daughter took the RCI trip around Barcelona and enjoyed it. Made a schoolboy in Gibraltar, walked to the bottom of the cable car but the queue was that long we gave up and walked back into town. Should have taken the excursion that day. Heard lots of good things about the dolphin safari. Toulon took the land train from the ship for 5 euros into the village. A typical French village and killed a couple of hours but nothing out of the ordinary. Heard stories of people spending a lot of time waiting for the ship transfer by boat to and from Toulon. Villfranche, WOW! No problems with the tender and spent a very pleasant few hours on the beach before a walk round the village. Picture postcard stuff. Did our own thing in Palma, Malaga and Cadiz ... really enjoyed all three.

 

Teenagers / Children ... Would agree, they weren't running riot and if you avoided deck 11 at the aft in the later evening (where the arcade was) you probably wouldn't be too bothered by them.

 

Sun beds ... agreed! although we always found a spot even if it was well away from the pool.

 

Flowrider / Climbing Wall etc ... brilliant staff and great fun.

 

Disembarking ... incredibly easy and well organised.

 

Overall ... To sum it up my children and wife were all pushing me to book another cruise whilst on the ship, enough said!

[graham29a]

Sounds like we had a broadly similar experience :-)

[champagnebarfly]

……needless to say the “next cruise office” came up with an astonishing price and we will be sailing our 2nd cruise next year on Navigator of the Seas!

 

Very happy to answer any questions you may have if I can.

 

May I ask what incentives the next cruise office where offering for making a booking onboard. We are considering making a booking on our upcoming Indy cruise. Thanks

[Melissa_Phillips]

Fab review, glad you & your family had a good time and sounds like you've caught the cruising bug - easily done!! :)

 

I'll be sailing on Indy on the 27th and the recent "Benidorm/ Butlins at sea" and fat/ tattooed people (I am one of those!) seem to be cropping up a lot. :mad:

 

This will be my 4th cruise, second with RCI and first on Indy and I can't wait now, we've had the WOW factor on all 3 previous ships we've sailed, I don't know when I'll get to cruise again as we plan to start a family very soon - all being well. But one things for sure I will pick a cruise over any other holiday now! :)

 

I read that review as well and couldn't get over it, I mean what the heck has other people's body art got to do with other passengers, if you don't like tattoos don't look! You can be a perfectly respectable person and still have tattoos, I have them and am carving out a nice career in social services sector with my local county council, where I use my hard earned overtime to pay for a cruise, including one for 2018 that Mum doesn't know about yet cause it's a surprise :P People are so petty, I also read a comment on FB about someone being disappointed as RC was now "catering to the low end family market", what a disgrace! Needless to say he got some stick back and told to go elsewhere.

[graham29a]

……needless to say the “next cruise office” came up with an astonishing price and we will be sailing our 2nd cruise next year on Navigator of the Seas!

 

Very happy to answer any questions you may have if I can.

 

May I ask what incentives the next cruise office where offering for making a booking onboard. We are considering making a booking on our upcoming Indy cruise. Thanks

 

They were offering 30% for all passengers at the time but I think they tend to have whatever the current US offer is. For us it was around £2,000 cheaper than when I priced the same cruise the day before we went. We have 2 x balcony cabins!

[ilovewdw]

Thank you so much for sharing your review! We are sailing on Indy next July for the 14 night Med Highlights cruise. It's our first RCI cruise and we are excited. Your review was so refreshing! I'm glad you were bit by the cruising bug. Nothing beats the wind in your face, a drink in your hand and the sound of the ocean in your ear. Aaaaaahhhhhh. :cool:

[easyboy]

We were also first time family cruisers and this review pretty much sums up our thoughts too. We were blown away by the ease of boarding, politeness/ enthusiasm of the staff, quality / variety of the food, cleanliness of the ship and the variety and quality of the entertainment.

 

A couple of thoughts ...

 

Overall ... To sum it up my children and wife were all pushing me to book another cruise whilst on the ship, enough said!

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[fatherboyle]

Hi

 

We are sailing on the 13th October, first time cruisers family of 5, 2 adults 3 kids.

 

For the Main Restaurant, can you tell me the dress code for kids, do boys have to wear long trousers or can they wear smart shorts.

 

Thanks

[Clarea]

Hi

 

We are sailing on the 13th October, first time cruisers family of 5, 2 adults 3 kids.

 

For the Main Restaurant, can you tell me the dress code for kids, do boys have to wear long trousers or can they wear smart shorts.

 

Thanks

Dress suggestions do not refer to age. They request no shorts, no matter how intelligent.

[Twin Dad]

Good one Bob! Perhaps that's where the phrase "Smarty Pants" comes from? Smarty Pants is the nickname my twins have given the navigation system in the car!

 

Looking forward to our Feb 20 cruise on Indy.

 

Dan

 

Dress suggestions do not refer to age. They request no shorts, no matter how intelligent.

[sky0000547]

Just got off the Independence this morning, the quality of the ice shows, production shows and headliners were way better than the Explorer last year out of Southampton.

 

There were 3 Grease shows on a 13 night and it was very popular. No tickets necessary so you better go in there at least 30mins if not more earlier to get a better seats. Even at 10mins before show you might struggle to find a seat together.

 

Smoking is not allowed in the casino but allowed on port side deck 4, deck 11 and in deck 5 Connoisseur Club.

 

3 formal nights on a 13 night. A very high percentage were in their finest. Even on non-formal nights people were dressed like on their night out walking along the promenade.

[Bobblehat71]

Just got off the Independence this morning, the quality of the ice shows, production shows and headliners were way better than the Explorer last year out of Southampton.

 

There were 3 Grease shows on a 13 night and it was very popular. No tickets necessary so you better go in there at least 30mins if not more earlier to get a better seats. Even at 10mins before show you might struggle to find a seat together.

 

Smoking is not allowed in the casino but allowed on port side deck 4, deck 11 and in deck 5 Connoisseur Club.

 

3 formal nights on a 13 night. A very high percentage were in their finest. Even on non-formal nights people were dressed like on their night out walking along the promenade.

 

Thanks for the info, going on the 19th cant wait!

Good to know the formal nights are still formal.

[Twin Dad]

Happy to hear that about formal night. Although our Feb 20 is just a 5 night with one formal, the my wife and I are still looking forward to dressing up with our 9 year old daughters. Thanks for your review.

 

Just got off the Independence this morning, the quality of the ice shows, production shows and headliners were way better than the Explorer last year out of Southampton.

 

There were 3 Grease shows on a 13 night and it was very popular. No tickets necessary so you better go in there at least 30mins if not more earlier to get a better seats. Even at 10mins before show you might struggle to find a seat together.

 

Smoking is not allowed in the casino but allowed on port side deck 4, deck 11 and in deck 5 Connoisseur Club.

 

3 formal nights on a 13 night. A very high percentage were in their finest. Even on non-formal nights people were dressed like on their night out walking along the promenade.

[molsonschooner]

Nice balanced review. Glad you had such a good time.

[whippet crazy]

Hi. Great to read an honest review. So pleased to read they have stopped smoking in the casino, I will actually want to go in there now. Did you notice the price to dine at Giovanni's table please?

 

 

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[graham29a]

Hi. Great to read an honest review. So pleased to read they have stopped smoking in the casino, I will actually want to go in there now. Did you notice the price to dine at Giovanni's table please?

 

 

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If I remember correctly it was $25 per person but they were from time to time handing out discount (20% maybe) vouchers around the ship. We didn't really bother.

 

Thanks for kind comments about the review and the casino smoking I think is stopped only for UK sailings although I may be wrong!