Independence 12/7/17 Worst Cruise Ever!!!

[bouhunter]

 

Finding aluminum foil on a baked potatoe wouldn't even make the top 1000 worst cruise ever lists.

 

So, it is Xmas time.... and I have read at least 3 worst cruise ever posts on three different ships this week. Y'all need to get over yourselves.

 

Just sayin

 

JC

 

Thank you.

 

Despite the "vile" reviews, we're looking forward to our Independence cruise in a couple months :)

[TeeRick]

We cruised Independence twice and it was a great ship. What other example can you give than the piece of Aluminum foil that made the MDR food vile on your one and only meal there? A bug in the food would make it vile. Al foil not so much. This has happened a number of times in good quality steakhouses or restaurants on land. No biggie.

[tigers317]

I was on the 11/27 sailing and we had great service. The only slow service we experienced was at the pool bars. I think that has to do with more people getting the drink packages and ordering a lot of Frozen drinks. They seemed to always have at least 3 people working at the bar, but the frozen drinks are a lot more time consuming then grabbing a beer or mixed drink.

[TC1957]

We cruised Independence twice and it was a great ship. What other example can you give than the piece of Aluminum foil that made the MDR food vile on your one and only meal there? A bug in the food would make it vile. Al foil not so much. This has happened a number of times in good quality steakhouses or restaurants on land. No biggie.

 

We most definitely have a different definition of "good quality steakhouses" it aluminum foil in the food is common place.

 

As for only eating in the MDR once, it is common for you to keep going back to a restaurant where you get lousy service and bad food? If so, please become a major customer of out company.

[Mikew0805]

Don't count on that happening again :rolleyes: On the 11/27/17 sailing, we gave up on the MDR after two nights because service was so slow. The assistant waiter was almost never available for anything other than drinks; those who did get service waited a long time, while the rest of us were just wishing for water refills and bread basket offers. I asked her on Night 1 if Diamond drinks were available in the MDR and she said they were. I gave her a drink order and my card on Night 2, and after a very long wait, she came back empty-handed and told me she was wrong about Diamond drinks.

 

OP - Sorry you had a bad experience. I know that it is likely that many different people will have a different experience on the same sailing. Some here seem to think that is impossible, :rolleyes: however mine differs from yours and from ZoeyVictoria's

 

ZoeyVictoria - Wow, sorry to hear - We were on the same sailing. We actually felt a little rushed with our dinners. Not in a bad way, we could just tell towards the end of each course that the waiters were ready... you know how they hover, from a distance, to get a glance to see if you are done. LOL We had my time dining, and actually for the first time did not sit with the same waitstaff each night. Also, we were seated at a table for two within a couple minutes each night even though we do not make reservations prior to arrival.

 

This was my first sailing as Diamond, and I for some reason thought the diamond drinks were not allowed in any dining room? Is that not correct? Heck, I cannot even find a drink that I like... so on the 5 night sailing I only had 3 drinks. :confused:

[davekathy]

...This was my first sailing as Diamond, and I for some reason thought the diamond drinks were not allowed in any dining room? Is that not correct?...:confused:

 

Doesn't hurt to ask. Our experiences with getting so called voucher drinks in the MDR have been inconsistent.

[TBone2K]

This was my first sailing as Diamond, and I for some reason thought the diamond drinks were not allowed in any dining room? Is that not correct? ....

You are permitted to bring them in, but the bar service in the MDR can't get them for you. Last cruise was our first diamond as well and I just swung past the nearest bar on the way in and grabbed them.

 

As to the OP, I see she is not a "one post wonder", so hopefully you are reading the responses, taking them with a grain of salt and not letting your experience put you off trying again. Definitely sounds like some unusual problems that just happened to string all together.

[poncho1973]

This was my first sailing as Diamond, and I for some reason thought the diamond drinks were not allowed in any dining room? Is that not correct? Heck, I cannot even find a drink that I like... so on the 5 night sailing I only had 3 drinks. :confused:

 

Just off Harmony and it was not only allowed, it was encouraged by the Diamond concierge/head waiter in MDR and worked great. Can't speak for other ships.

 

 

 

 

There has to be a bigger story here. Finding a piece of aluminum foil in potatoes can't possibly be the worst possible thing to ever happen to this person on a cruise.

[trevordentist]

Although I'm sure your cruise wasn't perfect, I'm thinking this was probably the "worst cruise ever."

 

[Clarea]

Or this:

 

[grapau27]

Or this:

 

I can remember that sailing.

[Ocean Boy]

Although I'm sure your cruise wasn't perfect, I'm thinking this was probably the "worst cruise ever."

 

Nah, I could swim from the ship to shore. I could think of much worse scenarios.

[mysparky]

We were on the same 12/7/17 sailing. This was the 6th year in a row that I took this same particular cruise (was originally on Liberty) and I can say that I also felt a decline in service. Most disappointing was our experience in Chops and Giovanni's. Neither the food (very dry chicken, somewhat flavorless filet, pretty boring desserts) nor the service was on par with what we've experienced in any years before. For instance, in Chops, it took 40 mins to receive our appetizers and, I should note, that we were dining late and the restaurant was at about 25% capacity at the time.

 

In addition to this, I had purchased the BOGO specialty dining online and had selected 8:30 as the requested dining time. When I got onboard, I was expecting to find additional information in my room regarding which restaurant for which night, but there was nothing. I asked the concierge in the Diamond Lounge and she said that I had not selected the restaurant or time online. I showed her on my phone how my "calendar" indicated a 8:30 selection for the BOGO. She didn't know what happened and told me she didn't think I had done it correctly. Long and short of it was that they didn't have a reservation for us for the 2nd night and the only option was for a 9pm dinner.

 

Lunch in the MDR was ok - service was good, but food was really not. I was happy that they had the salad bar, but the entrees were very unimpressive (we sat at a table for 4 and no one finished their lunch).

 

I also felt that bar service wasn't great. There just aren't as many bartenders. We were at the champagne bar at 7:30 one evening and it took 10 mins to get a drink (really not exaggerating that). On the last night of the cruise, we were at Olive & Twist at 11pm. There was a live band playing, people were dancing, we were sitting at the bar that had no seats available and several tables were occupied, yet there were only 2 bartenders (and sometimes only 1 if someone had to replenish supplies). Pool service was ok, but in 2 days, I literally saw ONE server walking around the deck taking orders. This has simply not been our experience in the past.

 

I did feel a real improvement in the Windjammer, though. We ate there for breakfast once and dinner another time and felt a real "service" presence. There were lots of choices at both meals and some options were actually quite good.

 

Would I go back to Independence? Likely. For someone that is newer to cruising and/or this class of ship, I don't know how you couldn't really enjoy it. I just felt disappointed in certain areas based upon what I've been accustomed to.

 

One final note, an earlier comment suggested that the turnover of crew could have played a role in service not being up to standards. Someone told me that either the hotel director or the restaurant director had just come on board as well. I would agree that could be a possibility as many of the crew members we spoke with were only 2 weeks into their contracts (ship had come from Europe).

[slotmomma3]

Or this:

 

 

I will rephrase this thread "My Worst Cruise Ever" lol

[davekathy]

I can remember that sailing.

 

Bingo! That's where I know you from. :D

[Retired LEO]

There is a recent post on FB that the current cruise on Indy is being hit heavily with Noro

[zrealm]

We were on this sailing as well (the second part of the b2b). Overall I thought the service was okay but not amazing - we had an issue on the second night with the group around us which wasn't awesome, but we were a bit late to dinner so I can't totally say they are to blame (the head waiter for our section moved two tables together and suddenly everyone going by had to bang into my wife all night long).

 

The one thing that we did have a real problem with was the comedian from the opening night show. Did anyone else on the ship catch his name? His material was both super outdated and really offensive - it was racist, sexist, fat-shaming, slut-shaming, and we finally walked out when he started talking about the sissifcation of men in the 21st century, since, you know, they watch dance shows and stuff. Ugh.

[davekathy]

There is a recent post on FB that the current cruise on Indy is being hit heavily with Noro

 

Now that would make for a "worst cruise ever"!

[ZoeyVictoria]

OP - Sorry you had a bad experience. I know that it is likely that many different people will have a different experience on the same sailing. Some here seem to think that is impossible, :rolleyes: however mine differs from yours and from ZoeyVictoria's

 

ZoeyVictoria - Wow, sorry to hear - We were on the same sailing. We actually felt a little rushed with our dinners. Not in a bad way, we could just tell towards the end of each course that the waiters were ready... you know how they hover, from a distance, to get a glance to see if you are done. LOL We had my time dining, and actually for the first time did not sit with the same waitstaff each night. Also, we were seated at a table for two within a couple minutes each night even though we do not make reservations prior to arrival.

 

This was my first sailing as Diamond, and I for some reason thought the diamond drinks were not allowed in any dining room? Is that not correct? Heck, I cannot even find a drink that I like... so on the 5 night sailing I only had 3 drinks. :confused:

 

Please don’t misunderstand, we had a great cruise with the one exception of the MDR experience (and driving from Ocala to Fort Lauderdale on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, but that is another story). I would sail on the Indy again in a heartbeat. It was important to me that this cruise was almost perfect because it was my 50th cruise but my companion’s first and I wanted him to love it and leave the ship as addicted to cruising as I am; the MDR could have been a large part of a great experience, but instead it left a bad impression.

[Sfeldhake]

We were on the same 12/7/17 cruise on the Independence. We loved it. Food and service were as good as ever, and we promised ourselves to try a Transatlantic cruise on it soon.

 

 

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[undercat]

Multiple posters have recently described Indy’s cabins as looking “tired”. Might anyone have photos of the wear and tear in these cabins? Are the mattresses U-shaped with wear and carpets and upholstery threadbare? Are there signs of lack of maintenance or is housekeeping substandard? I know she’s headed for dry dock in 2018, but I’m curious as to current condition in light of recent cabin condition comments.

 

And because I inquired, I’ll plan to post a photo or two of any *notable* cabin exhaustion I encounter (related to the furnishings and not the occupants, of course [emoji4])

 

If it’s clean and well-maintained, I’m good.

Edited December 15, 2017 by undercat

[yuvraj]

I am from the UK and as the Indy has a history of sailing from Southampton, I have done quite a few cruises on her and will continue to do so. I believe it is a great ship and so far have been happy with the food and service.

 

I have experienced the odd mishap. Not everything has met my expectations but I make allowances and make a distinction between isolated mistakes and overall poor standards.

 

For me, the choice and quality in the WJ has been really good. MDR menu has not always been to my taste and the service mediocre but I have come to accept that as the norm on all RCL ships. It is not a deal breaker for me. I also don't drink a lot so perhaps the declining bar service is not a big deal for me either but appreciate that it will be for some.

 

On a different ship, I was once served an undercooked lamb shank. The waiter having asked how my meal was, simply shrugged her shoulders when I told her (and showed her) that my food was not even edible. I tend not to kick up a fuss and accept that service on RCL ships is not as great as it used to be.

[lisabucsfan1]

Multiple posters have recently described Indy’s cabins as looking “tired”. Might anyone have photos of the wear and tear in these cabins? Are the mattresses U-shaped with wear and carpets and upholstery threadbare? Are there signs of lack of maintenance or is housekeeping substandard? I know she’s headed for dry dock in 2018, but I’m curious as to current condition in light of recent cabin condition comments.

 

And because I inquired, I’ll plan to post a photo or two of any *notable* cabin exhaustion I encounter (related to the furnishings and not the occupants, of course [emoji4])

 

If it’s clean and well-maintained, I’m good.

 

 

 

I just searched through my pics and have none of the cabin as a whole. I have a good one of my towel elephant on the bed though [emoji2].

 

We were on the 11/27 -Thanksgiving - sailing. We did the BOGO on specialty dining and really regretted it. We did Chops the first night and had a similar experience as another poster here - 40 minutes to get an appetizer and overall it was more than a 3 hour experience with less than stellar food. Honestly Giovanni’s wasn’t much better. However, the last 2 nights we were in the MDR for the early seating and had a fantastic experience both nights. Never had an issue with getting our drinks refilled. WJ was always a madhouse for breakfast with it being nearly impossible to find tables without multiple trips around the place. Finally by the 4th day it seemed wait staff were helping passengers locate vacated tables and getting them serviced quickly. Lorenzo was working the Champagne bar and managed to get my DH over-served one night ... so I can’t say we had any issues with waits there either. My biggest complaint always remains with the passengers. It was quite sad to go out to the pool deck on the last sea day at 8am and see so many chairs already reserved with towels despite the clear signage that says not to do it. I really wanted to sit out and enjoy the weather before it got too hot yet it was impossible to do that in any decent spot.

 

Yes the ship is due for maintenance in 2018, and while things are not brand-spanking New any more, I honestly didn’t think the ship was in that bad of shape.

 

I agree with other posters who say to be sure and leave this feedback on your email survey - I hope you’ve done that.

 

 

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[poncho1973]

Yes the ship is due for maintenance in 2018, and while things are not brand-spanking New any more, I honestly didn’t think the ship was in that bad of shape.

 

I'm excited because my next trip on her is just a month or so after that big dry dock! YAY!

[LMaxwell]

Royal's new excuse for a suboptimal experience is that a dry dock is coming...