All things Independence of the Seas

[jazzmanfive]

Hi

 

Can anyone who has sailed on the 'indy' tell me if rccl are charging in euros or dollars?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Jazz:cool:

[Elizanessie]

Hi

 

Can anyone who has sailed on the 'indy' tell me if rccl are charging in euros or dollars?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Jazz:cool:

 

Dollars:D

[timespliters]

Hi

 

Can anyone who has sailed on the 'indy' tell me if rccl are charging in euros or dollars?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Jazz:cool:

 

 

 

$

$

[Mines]

Is the Independence doing a Transatlantic in spring 2010? We would like to book it but nothing is out yet.

 

thanks!

 

The programme for Summer 2010 will probably be published at the end of next Winter, so we will have to be patient until then. In 2009 the TA leaves Fort Lauderdale on 12th April, so there is every chance that in 2010 it will be around the same time.

[mzk90]

I hear that RCCL are getting more involved with Harding and that is why the ID has not got tux rental through cruiselineformal. You need to call 0800 0856933 from UK to arrange hire pre cruise.

 

From US it is Guests should call Gifts & Gear at 800 722 5443.

They will be prompted to press "1" for amenities.

They will then be prompted to press "2" for tuxedos.

They will then be prompted to press "1" for the Independence of the Seas

 

Hope that helps!

[Jfultz81]

Hi all! We've booked IOS for the end of next year.. our first Freedom Class (yay!!). Anyway, I see that the cantilevered hot tubs are part of the solarium, so does that mean they will be (or should be) kid-free?

[nednrom]

Hi all! We've booked IOS for the end of next year.. our first Freedom Class (yay!!). Anyway, I see that the cantilevered hot tubs are part of the solarium, so does that mean they will be (or should be) kid-free?

 

Yes they were kid - free on the FOS. It was very nice.

[atlaturne]

Not trying to stir anything up(no pun intended)-But-Does anyone know if the likelyhood of sucessfully using a "rum runner"(flask with some spirits) would be more/less likely to pass out of a London departure port vs. a U.S. port.In other words has anybody done it and succeded /or failed.Again,this is for a small comsumption on the balcony,etc.-also,not trying to ignite a BIG(maybe small?) debate.

[Hope2havefun]

Not quite an answer to your question but we took about 6 miniatures of vodka (the ones you get on the aircraft) in our luggage out of Southampton no problem. Hence we didnt actually drink them in fact so not sure why we bothered!! Have great cruise!

[I LOVE SUITES]

14th March 2007 9.00am one of the first to book up,to sail on the Independence of the Seas,

 

Has time dragged by, I hear you say? yes yes and another yes!

 

Just another 2 weeks more, before Im on board her. :p :p :p :p :p

 

Thanks to all, who have sailed her and answered or found answers to all my questions, much appreciated. :)

[Pemcorgimum]

Just back from Independence- wonderful ship and crew- whoever said that it was an unhappy ship as the Brits don't tip was so wrong. The friendliest staff we have ever met on a RCCL ship. Also we were so lucky as they started MY Time dining on our cruise and assigned the best waiters and assistant waiters to serve the My Time diners.

 

Any questions let me know

[timespliters]

Just back from Independence- wonderful ship and crew- whoever said that it was an unhappy ship as the Brits don't tip was so wrong. The friendliest staff we have ever met on a RCCL ship. Also we were so lucky as they started MY Time dining on our cruise and assigned the best waiters and assistant waiters to serve the My Time diners.

 

Any questions let me know

 

 

Glad you had a good time and we also loved the ship. How did My Time dining work?

[Pemcorgimum]

Only 90 people did My time our cruise but they have over 400 next cruise- worked well for most of the week but then some people started coming in later which meant for the last three nights our tables- we had used three different tables-were not ready for 8 o'clock when we arrived and we had to wait. 8 was a good time as we got things quickly before late seating started. They only had two waiters for all the tables but they were tiptop at their job.They are adding 7 more for this week. Our assistant waiter was awesome too.He was supposed to go on holiday today but they asked him to stay for another cruise to help the my time moving

[NorbertsNiece]

Just back from Independence- wonderful ship and crew- whoever said that it was an unhappy ship as the Brits don't tip was so wrong. The friendliest staff we have ever met on a RCCL ship. Also we were so lucky as they started MY Time dining on our cruise and assigned the best waiters and assistant waiters to serve the My Time diners.

 

Any questions let me know

 

Hi. Am interested in the sports pool. Can you give me some idea of its size? Did you do any classes? Erm..... compasses..... any chance of having a look? So excited, so many questions.... Did you do any of the formal nights? Thanks lauraam.

[Pemcorgimum]

Hi. Am interested in the sports pool. Can you give me some idea of its size? Did you do any classes? Erm..... compasses..... any chance of having a look? So excited, so many questions.... Did you do any of the formal nights? Thanks lauraam.

 

Did not have any sports pool fans in our party- looked the same size as the main pool. There were classes all the time but we just did the gym- treadmill, bikes or weights.

 

Sorry- we don't keep any compasses.

 

We did the first and last formal nights- the second one was after leaving Barcelona and we were too hot and bothered as it had been a hot and tiring day. So we went to the Windjammer instead.

[NorbertsNiece]

Thanks lauraam. How was boarding? Docs say 2pm but I've heard people say to arrive as early as 1130 and avoid the crowds.

[sarh]

Hi Laura, hope you had a good trip back. We loved the ship too. Service was fantastic. Our head waiter said that they have a group called "The 100" who are the 100 top rated waiters,bar staff etc and they get the new ships ready and stay with them until they move to the next new launch. She is moving on to the Oasis next Feb. They go to Finland to get it ready. Sounds as if the cruise director wasn't the usual one of "the 100" - it's usually Ken Rusk (?) someone told me but I presume Graham Seymour did it for the British audience. I've never really noticed a cruise director before (but then we were on Celebrity previously...) but you couldn't miss him!!! Really got everyone in the party mood. I'm not sure what the effect of tipping will be - I met a couple of people who said they would not be tipping and one woman was creating a scene this morning and complained to Guest Relations that her attendant was following her round asking for a tip and she'd "already paid enough for this trip and for all the drinks so why pay more now". Perhaps she should have had fewer drinks...We decided to add some to the normal tips in the hope that the good staff won't be put off by penny pinching types and move back to the US dominated ships. I think that the agents selling cruises need to make clear to their clients how staff remuneration works on the ships.

[sarh]

You could get on the ship from 11-ish but we had terrible traffic - took over 4 hours from St Albans. Meant we arrived at a busy time but no problem - you drive up, offload your bags, park just along the road and then a very short walk back. They seemed to have a separate queue for those who had filled in all their luggage labels (we had) and so it's worth doing that. Re the sports pool, I didn't see much sports going on - very busy with kids swimming. My son said he saw some water polo in there at one stage. Re the adult whirlpool - great place to spend some time, especially when it gets chilly heading home (I was in there yesterday!). It's 16+ so you do get some teens, but no problem. Only problem is getting loungers in the adult area when the weather is good - lots of towels enjoying their sunbathing. By the way, if anyone is into their nails, the salon does great infills/French manicure! Only problem now is my typing is slowed down as I have these great nails in the way!

[NorbertsNiece]

............ I'm not sure what the effect of tipping will be - I met a couple of people who said they would not be tipping and one woman was creating a scene this morning and complained to Guest Relations that her attendant was following her round asking for a tip and she'd "already paid enough for this trip and for all the drinks so why pay more now". Perhaps she should have had fewer drinks...We decided to add some to the normal tips in the hope that the good staff won't be put off by penny pinching types and move back to the US dominated ships. I think that the agents selling cruises need to make clear to their clients how staff remuneration works on the ships.

 

Sigh. Were these refuse-niks Brits? I do hope they won't assume we are all like that. Looking forward to geting my nails done! Did you bring your own towels or were the ones provided in the cabin adequate?

[sarh]

Towels were great - everything's new. People were actually talking about the beds - in fact we're going to get a memoryfoam topper as a result. A common conversation was - "I was going to have a swim but lay on the bed and the next thing I knew it was time for dinner..." Yes they were Brits refusing to pay. In fact there were hardly any non-Brits on the ship.

[Pemcorgimum]

Pool towels are not in your room but are available by the pool-you sign them out on your card so make sure you return them.

 

Sally- funny you should say that we met a lot of non-Brits-mostly Americans and Canadians. After all we had three in our party of 6 LOL

[nerysj]

Welcome home to everybody from the July 26th sailing on IOS!!

 

I think a good time was had by all. I will do a full review tomorrow after post cruise blues have cleared (slightly)!!

 

Laura, Catrin, Sue, Phil, Gail and Amy..........it was lovely to meet you all. Hope the journeys back to the US were uneventful.

 

Skovggard.......Suzanne, I managed to polish off the wine..........it was hard work, but well worth it!! The wine package worked out a treat. I highly recommend the Pinot Grigio!!

 

Off for some beauty sleep (boy do I need it)!!

 

Regards to all

 

Nerys xx:)

[mgdsld]

Hi Lauram

 

I was wondering since you have been on the ship recently if you could tell us what tier of the restaurant they used for My time dining. Our interest in this is because we are back on board in September and would have liked to have the same table and waiters that we had in May, but this may not be possible now.

[Pemcorgimum]

King Lear deck 5

[nerysj]

Hi Lauram

 

I was wondering since you have been on the ship recently if you could tell us what tier of the restaurant they used for My time dining. Our interest in this is because we are back on board in September and would have liked to have the same table and waiters that we had in May, but this may not be possible now.

 

They used the top tier................King Lear for MTD. You can if you wish book the same time every night, and that should mean the same waiter every night. This was the first sailing for the IOS with MTD, and it did have a few teething problems at the start. All was good by the end. The food was hit and miss..........sometimes good and sometimes lnot so good. Unfortunately, the food was not up to par with Princess Cruises that we were on last year. But, we didn't starve!!!

 

The Windjammer offered a variety of very tasty food (especially the curries) but was almost always jam packed and difficult to find tables.

 

Hope this info helps.:)