Image of Independence of the Seas

Independence of the Seas

12 of 19 Royal Caribbean International ships

Independence of the Seas will be a stunning floating resort one of the largest cruise ships afloat. It will have 2 lobbies up to 11 decks high, a surf-rider, an ice-skating rink, rock-climbing wall and Royal Promenade 4 decks high. Independence of the Seas passengers tend to be all ages and mostly American but more Brits/Europeans in Europe. When all cabins have double occupancy, the ship provides a space ratio of 44 tons per passenger and a crew to passenger ratio of one for every 2.6 passengers. At full capacity the space ratio is 32.7 tons per passenger and the crew ratio is one to 3.5 passengers.

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70 Reviews

Traveller Rating

  • Excellent
    42
  • Very Good
    16
  • Good
    10
  • Average
    1
  • Poor
    1

Review Overview

  • Cleanliness
  • Entertainment
  • Food
  • Service
13 years 2 months ago
The first problem was with the so-called Boat Drill. Our section, along with many others, were mustered alongside the lifeboats. It was chaotic as a drill in harbour. In a real emergency and at night it would have been a potential disaster.
The food was, at best, acceptable; very little could be classified as really good. Wine prices were too high.
We had a bad experience on our second night. 45 minutes after ordering we were told that our choice of main course was not available. Black mark to kitchen. Our second choice, a casserole dish, took another 20 minutes to arrive. Then, before our plates were cleared and dessert orders taken, the waiters disappeared for the "Waiter's Parade". We were not told how long the parade would taken, and it appeared that everybody was to be introduced by name; we therefore left,and got our dessert elsewhere. The other couple on our table did the same.
We complained very strongly, and were moved to another table. Here, the service was good, but we felt we were treated with kid gloves, and that others might not have been as lucky.
Entertainment was mixed; the Ice Shows were good, but some of the other shows were nothing special.
Royal Caribbean advertise the "World of why not"; We felt it was more a case of the "World of not quite".
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Travel operator: Gill's cruises

SWASHBUCKLER
13 years 2 months ago
Excellent voyage. Great dining. Entertainment topnotch, however, drinks extortionate, evident in the fact that by the third evening very few diners were purchasing the wines resulting in the wine waiters only attending the tables on request. Excursions and shuttle busses were also expensive. The tax free shop openly encouraged the puchase of quantaties of tobacco products (the customs and excise had a field day on disembarcation at southhampton). Non the less, great time was had. Would recomend RCI.
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Travel operator: RCI

Recommended
Walker
13 years 3 months ago
Independence of th Seas.
These are just the major items.
The first hint of trouble was the letter notifying a rescheduling of the cruise omitting Sardinia. Someone had not taken into account dates and distances. These should have been resolved before the cruise was offered.

The second surprise was when logging in to revise my excursions I was informed that I had “no reservations”.

The call centre could not tell me how many “formal” dinners I should plan for. Eventually I was (erroneously) informed that it was two dinners when it was, in fact four.

The call centre also incorrectly informed me that disembarkation would not be before 10 a.m. On board I found that I could disembark from 7.00 a.m.

On arrival at Southampton for boarding for embarkation, the facilities provided by Port of Southampton to check tickets and x-ray were inadequate for the number of passengers leading to very long queues standing outside the terminal building in very cold weather.

The cabin was the smallest that I have experienced. There was a lack of usable wardrobe space, even for a single traveller. The shower was very cramped; I have had larger on sailing yachts.

The cabin credit was initially incorrect. On enquiry, “Customer relations” stated that it had been halved as the cabin was only single occupancy, even though my booking (for a twin cabin) clearly stated that the credit was for the cabin. This was eventually corrected two days later.

The display of cabin account on the television was incorrect with items showing for “December 2011” i.e. 11 months after the cruise finished (programming error). As a result they displayed in the wrong sequence.

The cold water in the cabin was consistently warm enough for washing without any added hot water, an ideal temperature for the growth of bacteria and virus, and also tasted tainted and stale. After checking with others this appeared to be a ship wide condition. “Customer relations” stated that the water was filtered, but I doubt that the filter would remove bacteria virus. Even if it did, the growth would be in the pipes after the filter. I will be passing their letter to the port health authority for their information. As a result of this condition, I, and most of the other passengers contracted a viral infection of the respiratory system, which has taken a further 10 days after leaving the ship to clear.

The chilled water in restaurants tasted stale and metallic.

Coffee from the dispensers in both the café and Windjammer often had brown scaly material indicating the dispenser had not been properly cleaned.

Windjammer drinks stations often not manned but if one tried to help oneself staff would brusquely admonish the “offender”.

Cups in the café and Windjammer were often not properly dried after washing. Also, “clean” serving tools in the Windjammer, such as cake slices, were wet.

Some meals were inedible. For example, beef bourguignon only tasted of strong salt, breaded veal so hard the knife could not penetrate, breaded chicken that was dry and hard, pastry base to flans and pies so hard the fork could not penetrate, “cold” sweets displayed under heated lamps, sandwiches dried out and curling.

Christmas dinner was unremarkable, except for the indulgence of applauding the waiters. This was followed by several days of recycled turkey in a variety of forms (burgers, breaded etc.).
On enquiry, I was informed that I could not take the complimentary wine in to the restaurant for dinner.

Too many large motorised wheel chairs. If just one entered an elevator there was only space for 5 more slender people willing to have their foot run over. They also tended to block gangways. There should be a limit to the size of wheel chairs.

Deck 12 needs some cushioning or acoustic treatment as the pounding of feet on the jogging track continuously disturbs the people on deck 11.

Staff were often observed using decks 4 and 11 for jogging despite the prohibition for passengers, and they were not on some urgent errand.

Staff were frequently observed filling the elevator with large (food?) trolleys.

On several occasions, I turned a corner in the corridor to my cabin and found myself in a thick fog issuing from another cabin that was being fumigated with the door open.

Inadequate space and seating assigned to the café. Overspill from the café and the pub caused severe obstruction to the parade.

The obstruction of the "parade" was frequently exasperated by the “shopping opportunity” stalls, which filled most of the width of the parade, effectively blocking it.

The cruise appeared to be poorly scheduled with long, slow (10knts) transits between ports and invariably arriving in a port on a local holiday.

The “entertainment” in the theatre was remarkable only in that it was mediocre to poor with the sound at such a level that it was uncomfortable. Either the sound technician is in need of a hearing test or he was of the opinion that if the sound level were high enough no one would notice the dissonance of the “singing”. Many other passengers made the same comment.


New Year Eve was marred by many factors.
· First, the captain apparently “forgot” the change to the schedule for the boat to anchor off Naples for the firework display.
· The excursion to Herculaneum was badly timed with the planned return to ship at 17.30 giving very little time to get through security, ascend 8 decks, bathe and change for formal dinner, descend 5 decks and arrive at the table in time for first sitting.
· It was also badly scheduled as the site closed before we had time to complete the tour.
· The dinner was unremarkable, except for applauding the waiters again.
· The “background” music in the parade was so loud that people with hearing aids were removing them and conversation was only possible by shouting in each other’s ears.
· On retreating to deck 11 another band started, again so loud that the deck, rails, tables etc. were vibrating and conversation effectively stopped.
· The distribution of the champagne was haphazard with many left without.

The excursion to the cave in Gibraltar. Someone managed to assign 23 passengers to a coach licensed only for 22 seats.

Someone should learn to use a grammar checker. The Compass often had errors (e.g. “they’ll” instead of “there’ll”) as well as factual mistakes.

The "certificate" at the end of the cruise could not add up the total mileage correctly.

Each item may be considered as, at best, an irritating annoyance. Together and continuously they made the experience a DIS-AAH-STER not to be repeated.

I sent a letter to RCI and received back only stock menu responses.

Would I use Royal Caribbean again? Unlikely.

Would I use Independence of the Seas again? Extremely unlikely.

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Travel operator: Royal Caribbean

Lynn
13 years 4 months ago
The staff do a wonderful job keeping the ship clean. Our state room assistant was fantastic, he kept our cabin in excellent condition. Each evening we would return to our cabin to find a towel arrangement had been made. This was a lovely touch, and we took photo's of each one. Towels were changed twice a day, the bed changed with day pillows each morning.

The Food was wonderful on IOS,with a good range of choice. Food was always served hot, on really clean plates. The only thing I did not enjoy was my trip to Windjammers at lunch times. This was nothing to do with the staff or the food, but a few other passengers who would fill their plates to excess, que jump and were very rude to the wonderful staff. In fact some of the passengers were a total disgrace.

Again some passengers let the side down, by bringing their own alcohol on board in water bottles. Why do these people pay out for a lovely holiday and then spend their days carrying bags around with vodak in water bottles. After all the drinks are not that expensive, and the measures are equal to a double.

We found every member of staff to be very helpful and friendly. We spent most nights in the champagne bar, as the two members of staff Ishmeal and Angela were fanastic. They made each customer feel valued, whilst keeping their bar running very smoothly.

The only thing I feel could be changed is the boarding on and off the ship. When we arrived it felt like we were cattle being moved around from place to place. The process was quite long and not in the best conditions. Then when we had been on a day trip, getting back on board one day we had really heavy rain. We were kept outside for approximately 20 mins as the que to board was quite long. We were not given brollys only a towel when we finally got on board, which had to be used there and then and then placed in a large container.

Finally leaving the ship yesterday was not the best experience. Again we were treated like cattle,made to walk a fair distances for elderly passengers carrying their hand luggage. Then you are left to find your own baggage which could have been picked up by anyone in error. Thankfully my partner located our luggage within a few minutes. So we could get though customs.

Overall this was a wonderful holiday and I would like to thank all the staff on IOS for making our holiday a fantastic experience. I would recommend this IOS to anyone who wants a nice holiday, in clean surroundings and friendly staff.
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Travel operator: Thomas Cook

Recommended
Christine And Henry
13 years 5 months ago
The ship is scrupulously clean and tidy. The food and service is 5 star and cannot be faulted. The staff are all polite, friendly and courteous. The gym is free and excellent.

The entertainment was very poor and consisted mainly of karaoke and quizzes and a live theatre each night with various entertainers, most of which were not that good. One show in particular was very offensive and contained sexual content even though children were in the theatre. There was no warning that the show was of an adult content. We left half way through and will be complaining officially.

From the moment we boarded the ship we were confronted with hidden costs and we soon became very bored. When the weather was good we fought to find chairs by the pool and when the weather was bad and it was not possible to go on deck there was very little to do. Hidden costs include all drinks from the bars, items from the cabin fridge, excursions to and from ports (including some shuttle buses), photographers, casino, spa, even in-room movies cost a fortune at $12 per film. Internet was available if you wanted to pay 69 cents per minute on servers that were very slow. The FlowRider and Climbing Wall required a tuition lesson first at a cost of about $60 per hour.

Try to stay healthy onboard because it will cost you a lot of money just to see the doctor and then more money for any medication you may need.

The cruise we were on consisted mainly of people aged 55+ with many wheelchairs and walking sticks which slowed things down a little in the restaurants and boarding and leaving the ship for excursions.

The cinema was small and always packed and very poor quality and it was only possible to see the ice show if you got tickets on day 3 of the cruise and then only if you bothered to read the Daily Compass sheet that is delivered to your cabin each evening telling you to get tickets.

In general, this is a good ship if you like drinking and gambling and stuffing yourself silly but it will cost you a small fortune to do so.

Oh and, before you leave the ship at the end of your cruise, make sure you get your Seapass card checked by one of the staff to make sure that it's clear!!! We found ourselves being charged $40 for 2 towels that they say we didn't return.

We will never sail with this cruise company again.
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Travel operator: Royal Carribean IOS

Patricia
13 years 5 months ago
We sailed on IOS for 10 night canary cruise. We choose this specifically as we had sailed on identical itinerary in Oct 2007 on Navigator. Although we arrived quite late, our luggage got to us very quickly. We had a Deluxe balcony as my son and his girlfriend were in the same cabin, which was a definite thumbs up as we had inside last time. The dining experience in King Lear each night was excellent. I avoided the Winjammer as much as possible as it is too overcrowded. This restaurant is good for families with unruly children and those who are just plain greedy!!!So we ate breakfast on deck 4 where you got a cup of tea in a proper cup and saucer. Yes the drinks are a bit expensive but you do get large measures, and if you do have wine at the table make it last about 2 or 3 nights (it is about $33 which is expensive). The ship certainly has the "wow" factor, but we were disappointed with the entertainmet and the Entertainment Manager Steve was the most annoying chunky man I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. The Navigator (bearing in mind it was same itinerary and date) had two barbques on deck, and 2 deck parties. The Pyramid lounge is wasted with D'Iversion every night who were appauling, the rest of the entertainment was very samey. The shows in the theatre were poor. We saw "Once upon a time" on Navigator and it was amazing, not so on this ship and the Abba Night was dreadful, I have seen better tributes whilst abroad who looked and sounded identical to them. I also counted over 100 people standing in the theatre which was unacceptabl, never saw this on the Navigator. The only good thing was that my son who is almost 18 and his girlfriend 16 managed to get into the nightclub. Negatives aside it was a really great cruise with really great weather, but the entertainment sadly let the experience down. Also no launderette on IOS so they have you there again!!! I would not even think of sailing on the Oasis (bigger is not always better). We went on Thomson Spirit in 2005, no wow factor but the entertainment is fantastic and they have the personal touch thing right. We will probably travel with RC again in the future but go to a smaller ship. We also would like to do P & O next who are a bit more relaxed around taking alcohol on board. With RC they do try to " sell, sell, sell" but with a bit of discipline you don't have to spend its not compulsory!!!
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Travel operator: First Choice

Recommended
Mrs West
13 years 5 months ago
Ignore the bad reviews and please allow yourself to make your own mind up! We did and we had a great time. Prepare yourself , this is a long review but hopefully somewhat useful

We are a honeymoon couple in our early twenties we decided on a cruise as I am not particularly keen on flying and Southampton was a good starting point for us (only a couple of hours from home). I had read some of the bad reviews which had made us a little anxious being that it was our honeymoon and first time cruising thankfully we were proved very wrong.

I cannot sing the praises of this ship enough from start to finish! You do and will get your moaners and groaners and your snobs that you see writing on here on the ship itself, I think these people go on holiday and are looking for something to complain about! Why spend all that money to have a moan, surely you have better things to do with your time!

Honestly if someone could not find something to do on this amazing ship then there would be something wrong, there is everything from theatre shows, ice shows to bingo, pub quizzes, card games, jewelry making and handwriting analysis etc - it goes from one end of the scale to the other. We had a preconceived idea that cruises were for older people - how very wrong were we, there were lots of children onboard and to be honest children are children. There was no real problems, if you don't like it go on an all adult holiday somewhere else!!!They have just as much right to be onboard as you do!

The ship is magnificent, bigger than you can believe and has everything on board you can wish for, where else can you find several bars, a pub, cafe, barbers, spa, several pools, restaurants, shops, a theatre, cinema, ice skating rink under one roof. The Royal Promenade - where all the shops are, is the length of one football pitch! You could be forgiven for forgetting you are on a ship!!

Food -
The food is plentiful and varied, firstly there is the Windjammer cafe, there is a right selection here breakfast ranges from full english to toast, fruit, yoghurt, donuts, pancakes, waffles etc you can have as little or as much as you like. Lunch has everything from salads, to burgers, hot dogs, shepherds pie, chips, pizzas, pasta - you name it they have it. So many whinge about there not being enough seats but for goodness sake there are 3000 people onboard, be a bit patient everyone wants breakfast or lunch at the same time, its no different from going into Marks on a lunch break and fighting over the sandwich section, we never waited more than 5 minutes if that for a seat. The food is HOT regardless of what others will say! I love reading the reviews about those that say it is ''samey'' do they normally have 15 course lunches etc at home??!!

We ate on my time dining which in my opinion is better and suited us as we could choose when we wanted to eat. We ate in the King Lear dining room and had the same waiter most of the time, the food here is probably more what you would call ''posh nosh'' but I thoroughly enjoyed. We had a really picky couple next to us at one time who were always asking for something that wasn't on the menu trying to be awkward, but it really made me laugh when they started saying they were going to write a to do list of what they were going to do when they go home which was sorting out there sainsburys shopping, come on could you not think of anything better to think about on holiday!! In the main dining room, it is a 3 course meal, they do have some of the same ''safe'' options on the menu everyday like chicken with potatoes and veg for those that may not want to try anything different. We tried a whole host of things on the menu and can say that they were all nice meals.

Johnny Rockets - we ate here 3 times and it would have been more had we have been onboard for more nights. You pay a $4.95 cover charge per person to eat here, but can eat as much as you like. They will bring you a starter of fries and onion rings. On one particular trip I couldn't make up my mind between a normal burger or double cheeseburger so they brought me both I didn't eat them both though, the milkshakes are fab (an additional charge of around $5) and they have mini jukeboxes on each table to select the music (this is free). The atmosphere in there is great and its great to watch when the staff breakout in dance!!

Other places on board include Sorrentos, you can have as much pizza here as you like and the cafe promenade which does the nicest chocolate cookies with white choc chips, again all free!!

Another thing I noticed was people moaning about drink prices, well they are a little higher than average but let me remind you that if you go to a fancy restaurant, 5 star hotel or somewhere like TGI Fridays it is no different, there is a wide choice of cocktails and going back to the staff, one night I was in the theatre and one of the bar attendants asked if I wanted a drink I asked about the cocktails and she said they have a brochure with them all in so I had said I would go get one, instead she said she would get it, got it brought it back to me and then waited about 20 minutes whilst I had a good think about it. They have a drink of the day, I fully recommend trying them! Coke or Sprite etc, is $2.25, you could always try one of the drinks packages, especially the soft drinks one if you are taking children with you.

Ports of call -
We loved Lanzarote and Gran Canaria, the weather in both were lovely our main days of sunshine. In Gran Canaria we went on an open tour bus excursion and in Lanzarote a camel ride, tour of the national park and wine tasting (this was such a brilliant trip and we learnt so much about the history and present times of Lanzarote as well as their culture!). We also visited Loro Parque in Tenerife, it was a great day and had some really spectacular shows, it is definately a great trip to do especially with children though having said that we had a couple of 60+ couples on our trip there. Vigo I found that there wasn't as much to do, we spent some time looking around shops, which we can obviously do at home - I am however, glad to say I have visited.

Some of the ports dock really close to town, some others require a taxi ride or shuttlebus transfer. You can book the shuttlebus transfer via the ship at a cost of $6 per person one way so a total of $12 per person there and back. I do realise that people moan about this too, but if the ship can't dock on top of the nearest shopping centre what do you expect them to do! They can't give it away for free!!

Unfortunately we missed Madeira due to bad weather, this was a little disappointing as we were looking forward to going here. I for one, however would rather have had a safe journey than being in the hurricaine force winds (12 on the beaufort scale!) that we were and trying desperately to make it there. The captain himself said he had 5000 peoples safety on his shoulders which is quite right! The captain himself had a great sense of humour and I thought it great when he said we can truly call ourselves sailors.

The bay of biscay was quite rocky, and I must admit I felt a little all over the place for the first couple of days. I recommend getting some fresh air, we went out to deck 4 and had a quick wander and it made us feel a lot better, I also recommend the travel sickness bands as they really do work. As the cruise director said the more you think about it and shut yourself away the worse you make yourself feel, not a truer word spoken!



Other points of the ship to mention -
* Ben and Jerrys - definately worth a visit, this is an additional charge but its your holiday enjoy yourself!
* The spa and barbers - really pamper yourself, it is so worth it!
* Bingo - Really have a go, it is so addictive. It can get a little expensive but you don't have to play everday and go on a day when its 2 for 1.
* We love quizzes and had great fun at the different trivia nights and pub quizzes.
* Interactive TV - I loved that you could view where you were, how fast you were going, what time the sunset was and when the sunrises and also down to the sea depth. The cruise director James and Activites Manager Steve also do a morning show giving the lowdown for the next day. Also on interactive tv you can view your current bill as its updated as and when you spend money.
* Definately get tickets for the ice shows they are absolutely outstanding!
* Try where you can to get to one of the shows in the theatre each night, some may not be your cup of tea but you won't know until you go!
* Internet is charge at $0.65 per minute, so if you do intend on going on the internet to check emails etc more than once, it may be worth doing one of there prepaid packages (you can do onboard)
* We went to the Mystery Dinner Theatre (FANTASTIC NIGHT!), you solve the murder over dinner by starting off with champagne in the Olive and Twist bar with canapes, you then move down to Portofinos for a 3 course meal with wine. You sit on tables of around 8 and we couldn't have been luckier that night as we met a lovely couple who were so friendly.
* If you have children there is something on board for all ages, teens have there own club and the children have there own club too - they made appearances in the shows, dressed up etc and they all looked like they were having great fun. There is also the kids pool zone, the Flowrider, Basketball/Football court, minigolf, and an arcade.
* There are about 16 lifts on the ship but with 3000 people onboard they are in demand.....be patient or walk the stairs!
* They take photos when you get of the ship at each port and on the formal nights. These are $19.95 each or you can get all of your trip for around $299. Remember the photos arent compulsory we declined to have ours done at points when we got off the ship and they werent pushy!!! We ended up buying 3 photos, they are very good quality.
* Get dressed up on the formal nights, its so much fun and how often do you get to do it at home!!! Don't ever underestimate how much some people will dress up either, so don't feel like you yourself are underdressing!!!
* If you have the opportunity to go to the disco night on deck 11 and then for the buffet at 11.30 go, the food is magnificent and the oddest experience to be in the dark on the top deck of a ship in the middle of the ocean!
* There is a bar for everyone, the Pyramid Lounge a little relaxed, a Kareoke bar, latin style bar, a pub etc
* Get yourself outside to the very front of the ship just below the bridge, they have some amazing opportunities to get some great shots of sunsets/sunrises etc! Its also nice to just look out and see forever!


Cleanliness
The ship is immaculately tidy and clean. Throughout the whole cruise I constantly saw people cleaning be it from a guy with a hoover on his back to a guy leaning over the side of one of the decks cleaning the glass. They have hand sanitiser machines all over the ship and at every restaurant entrance, I think this is brilliant it shows a high standard and perhaps other places should start to adopt this approach.

The stateroom attendant we had was lovely, we had a such a great chat with her everyday and when we left to go to breakfast every morning we hoped to see all of the stateroom attendants on our side of the deck just to say hello as they were so friendly and happy it made a great start to your day. Each evening you would get a towel animal and it was exciting to go back at night just to see what you had, there is also a cruise compass provided which just shows you the next day activities line up and the opening times of each bar plus any special offers from the spa/shops etc. We made friends with one the stateroom attendants who did the rooms about 10 doors down, we swapped email addresses and he gave us some chocolates on our last day (the ones they only use for the staterooms) as he said we were a lovely couple which we thought was a nice touch and sums up the friendliness of the staff on board. Give them a bit of time, they love to tell you about there culture and experiences too!

In the staterooms they are very nice, a sofa, tv, tea and a kettle everything you need. They are very clean and are cleaned twice a day! The bathrooms are a little on the small side, but hey as long as you can have a shower and get to the sink etc, does it really matter!

The same comments I read come up time and time again, I know I may have gone on, but I feel passionately that others have this much effort to moan about it, I thought I would make an effort to sing the praises of this ship. People say, its expensive and they are a money making business. Royal Caribbean is a business they are not a charity to provide you with free drinks and souvenirs from the shop, remember if you don't like it you don't have to go. You could always try a 5 star hotel and you will soon be realising the prices are hiked up everywhere.

The whole experience was brilliant from beginning to end check in took 45 mins, and check out just 5!!! Beats standing in an airport for 3 hours there and back. On the way there our luggage was at our stateroom within an hour, we chose the option to carry our luggage off, it was convenient for us.

We will 100% be returning to a Royal Caribbean Cruise and hopefully the Independence of the Seas, I almost wanted to book it on the ship by booking in an appointment with the team!! The only thing I would do differently next time...............well on the last day we had the pleasure of looking round the Presidential Suite, two doors away from us. It had 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, a living room and a balcony the whole length of the room, in addition the balcony had a full length table to fit 14, a bar and a hot tub! So we will just have to collect together our group of 14 that we have now sold the cruise to from our stories and pictures and get ourselves booked into the suite.

Happy sailing people!!!
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Travel operator: Royal Caribbean

Recommended
Gary
13 years 6 months ago
This is a cruise ship with all of the style, elegance, and sophistication stripped out. Dont believe the marketing, with a full compliment of passengers, this ship is overcrowded and you will fight for facilities like sun beds, and seats in the very small bar areas. This is because so much space has been turned over to entertaining children i.e. amusement arcades & water parks. Avoid the Windjammer, its constantly overcrowded and a nightmare trying to find a table and get food. Food in the main dining room is OK rather than excellent, as we found on previous cruise ships. If you have kids and want them entertained all day with plenty of Pizza, ice cream and burgers, and you love Bingo and Karaoke, this is the one for you. Otherwise, make no mistake, this is Benidorm Boat!
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Travel operator: Royal Caribean

Jane & Robert Paterson
13 years 6 months ago
When we boarded the Independence of the Seas it was done speedily and professionally, out cabin was well furnished and everything was there that you needed. Our cabin steward did an excellent job of keeping the cabin clean and tidy. The facilities on board were excellent, the ice shows were spectacular as was the evening entertainment in the Alhambra Theatre, only one show was not to our taste and the was a lady comedian but this was just our view on the show everyone else seemed to be enjoying themselves. The dancers and singers were excellent as was their costumes. A lot of work and planning had gone into producing these shows and it was appreciated by our party. The windjammer although a bit busy at times was excellent, the food was amazing as was the service from all who worked in that area. Our Dining Room waiters were also excellent, giving us information about the food to be served and also about that was happening on the ship and what to look out for when we went on shore. There was an outbreak of Nora virus on this ship but it was contained to 13 people, the cleaning for the staff was endless but done with a smile, some people did not realize the seriousness of this virus as people just walked by the hand sanitizer which was at every eating establishment. The only time it was apparent your were with thousands of other holiday makers was on the sun decks, but there were plenty of sunbeds, also at night some of the bars on the Royal Promenade were very busy but there was always somewhere else to go. At the end of the evening it was a race to see which animal the cabin steward had left on your bed, these animals made of towels caused great hilarity. All in All our party of 6 enjoyed every minute of the cruise even the Bay of Biscay coming back wasn't to bad and we would certainly go with Royal Caribbean in the future .
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Travel operator: Royal Carribean

Recommended
Mike Kilby
13 years 6 months ago
Myself and two others went on this 14 night cruise and had a wonderfull time despite a minor medical hiccup at the end, nothing to do with the ship, and Royal Caribbean International have been fantastic.

Every evening I saw crew members going around the ship cleaning all the public areas and washing down the decks. The stateroom was made up every day and the housekeeping person was polite, friendly and keen to help.

The food on board was excellent. While on holiday I particularly liked being waited on in the main dining rooms, but on the nights we didn't want to eat too late, the Windjammer had a wide selection catering for most, if not all tastes, and the quality was good for a buffet style dinner. Breakfast we did in the Windjammer each day, or on one occasion by room service. The room service menu seemed a little more restricted that we might have liked, but if we wanted choice, we would have gone to the resaurant or windjammer. When the main restaurants were closed, the Sorrento's Pizzeria was a good choice for a snack.

Yes, alcohol was expensive compared to the UK, but the quantities were larger than the UK and, well, your on holiday! If you want to go on holiday to drink yourself silly, a cruise probably isn't your beer, but for social drinking and entertainment, the cost doesn't matter. Our cruise also included some spending money on our Seapass account so, this more than made up for the additional cost.

I was impressed with all the staff on board, but in particular, Joff, Steve, and the Cruise Director staff who made everyone feel welcome and enticed you to participate in the onboard activities. The waiters and staff in the many bars and food outlets deserve medals for thier attention to detail, remembering your name from day one, along with your favourite tipples and generally made you feel special, even down to bringing you two deserts when you couldn't decide between them! Everyone was more than keen to assist with one of our party who was disabled and wheelchair bound.

The time of year of this cruise meant that there were fewer kids and teenagers on board which was fine for us. I would imagine that earlier in the year there would be more younger people onboard. Every day there were some form of trivia/quiz/activity that we wanted to participate in, and between these a walk around the ship passed the time. We didn't find much time to spend in the stateroom other than for sleeping.

All in all it's the little things that the crew do, that you kind of take for granted when it happens, but after the event made all the difference to the holiday. I never did see whether the floor panels in the lifts that told you what day it was, were changed by crew or somehow automatically, despite trying to be in the lift at midnight.

Excursions can be expensive. We did "Rome on our own" by purchasing a 9 euro rail ticket which included Rome's metro system, 18 euros return for two of us. We saw most of Rome, as we would have done on the organised tour which would have cost three or four times as much. I would say, it's worth planning what you want to see as soon as you book your cruise, there are many excursions and they can fill up quickly, especially if you need any disabled friendly transport.
We also organised a private taxi to enable us to see both Florence and Pisa in one day, which we wouldn't have been able to do on an organised excursion.

We unfortunatley didn't complete our cruise due to one of our party having a medical problem at our last port of call where we were forced to disembark the ship. I have to admit that initially our thoughts were that we may never travel with RCI again given the way we were "discarded", but in hindsight this was more to do with the ship needing to leave port and was not personal. During the following days RCI have been more accomodating that we could ever imagined and the efforts of RCI's team in Miami have turned a bad experience around and re-established our confidence in travelling RCI once again.
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Travel operator: Royal Caribbean

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