Independence of the Seas Review - Med July 16

Travelling to Southampton

 

We flew from Belfast to Southampton with Flybe. The flight was great on the way over and took around an hour.

 

 

 

 

Boarding

 

When we landed at the airport, this was the first time ever we didn’t have transfers included – especially as we booked directly with the cruise line. We booked with a local taxi company in advance called West Quay Cars. They were great and cost about £15 to get us to the port.

 

 

The RCCL rep at the airport had tried to tell us that there was no point in going down to the terminal as there would be nowhere to sit, etc etc. Unfortunately for her we had cruised numerous times from Southampton and knew this wasn’t the case. So went on ahead.

 

Once our taxi pulled up at the port I was really impressed as the shore staff at Southampton took our luggage off us straight away and allowed us to proceed into the terminal. We were straight to the top of the queue (or lack of) and were promptly checked in and given our sea pass cards. As we were early, we waited around an hour for the ship to open, which happened around 10.30am – we were pleased to be the first two on the ship!

 

 

Staterooms

 

We had an E3 Balcony Stateroom on deck 8. The balcony cabins are the same but the number changes depending on the location of the cabin. We liked where we were as it was close to the elevators but not too close where noise would have been annoying (in terms of people walking past).

 

 

The cabin was spacious and spotless. The size of the balcony was a little bigger than what we got on previous cruises and had two chairs and a table.

 

There was plenty of storage space, although it did take us a few days to work out that behind the mirrors were cupboards – doh! So well hidden.

 

Our stateroom attendant had left his card on the bed, but it wasn’t until day 3 that we actually met him. We have found in the past that they usually introduce themselves on the first day, but anything we needed throughout the cruise was always quickly sorted.

I liked the stateroom as the beds were comfortable and the layout made it feel very open. The only thing I found with the stateroom was that at night I got a cough from the air con. A few others I spoke to were the same. Leaving a glass of water out or opening the balcony door a little to let fresh air in helped.

 

 

Entertainment

 

The entertainment on board was very good. The main shows in the Alhambra Theatre included comedians, singers, and tribute acts. Most of the shows that we went to were really good.

 

The general entertainment about the ship was second to none – best entertainment on all the cruises we’ve done. The Cruise Director (Joff Eaton), Activities Manager (Alison) and the entertainment team were always out to put on a good show for everyone. The ‘Love and Marriage’ game show gave everyone a good laugh too. There were also lectures and enrichment seminars on beauty and aviation. We went to some of the aviation talks which were good.

 

The quizzes were also good fun and Tom and Elliott kept us all entertained!

 

 

There were parties on the top deck, DJ Spindian (coolest name ever!) and daily quizzes. The quizzes were always good craic.. Mainly in Schooner bar and Pyramid lounge. The bingo wasn’t great – we won a prize (cost $20) to play and it was pretty pathetic (a casino t-shirt, plastic key ring and a gold coin). Now you might think the gold coin is worth something – we joked it was a $1 ….no, it was 1 spin of a machine and we won nothing… Nor did the other couple who also won same day.

 

We did the cupcake class too. It was $22pp and we enjoyed it.

 

 

The highlight of the entertainment for me, was the Ice Shows. We went to two ‘Strings’ and ‘Freeze Frame’ and both were really outstanding! We really loved this!

 

 

 

 

Dining

 

Main Dining Room

 

We had My Time Dining but we tended to have an early dinner which meant we could go to the different activities happening around the ship. On our first night we really loved our waiters Edwin and Marceline at table 247 and we asked could we have the table every night – which was easily arranged.

 

We really enjoyed the food in the main dining room. My favourite was the Escargot starter and there was always great soups available – banana soup and orange soup was the most random I had. The main courses were also well varied. Quite a lot of the food staff on board are Indian and the menu had an Indian main course each night – the Indian dishes were gorgeous!

 

Breakfast had two options in the MDR – you could either have a ‘served’ breakfast on deck 5 or you could have a buffet style on deck 3. Both were really good, just depends on what you are in the mood for. The buffet had the usual pastries, toast, cereal but also a fried breakfast and omelette option. The ‘served’ breakfast had pastries, eggs benedict and pancakes amongst other things.

 

 

 

 

Chops

 

We bought a 4 night dining package (and upgraded it to 5 as we enjoyed Chops and Giovannis so much).

 

Chops is a typical American ‘Meat’ restaurant. The food again was really good and you could get a variety of meats such as different steaks and veal. Some seafood was also on the menu. You could upgrade to extra special steaks – we tried one of these and felt that the ordinary menu in Chops was nicer. The Mississippi Mud Pie dessert is AMAZZZINNNG!

 

 

 

 

Giovanni’s

 

Out of the two speciality restaurants this was my favourite. The service was outstanding and the food was authentic Italian. The starters ranged from seafood options to mozzarella wrapped in prosciutto. For main, there was pasta options or different meals such as shrimp or veal parcels. The dessert speciality was tiramisu mmm!

 

 

Sorrento’s

 

 

 

The young people loved Sorrento’s and you would see them hanging out with their friends enjoying some pizza. We had pizza a few times and it was always really nice. They had a good selection of pizzas available and some desserts if you wanted them – I’d chocolate mousse once which was ok.

Windjammer

 

 

The Windjammer was great. It had a real range of food available throughout the day and we never had an issue getting a table – even on sea days when it was busy there was always space. We never tried the Windjammer for dinner but anyone we spoke to commented on how nice it was.

 

 

Johnny Rockets

 

We tried Johnny Rockets once. We’d been before on Freedom of the Seas and also to Eddie a Rockets a very similar idea on land. It was ok, try it once and see if you like it but from speaking to others onboard it seemed to be a bit hit and miss. They were out of malts when we went on day 2 which was a shame, their milkshakes were ok but overall we didn’t feel it was worth the extra $6.95 each – Windjammer was nicer. Service was average too.

 

 

 

Chef’s Table

 

We booked Chef’s Table not really sure of what to expect apart from the set menu. This was a really great evening. There were 9 of us around a table in the main dining room for the longest meal we’ve ever had – in a good way. At the start of the evening their was a round of introductions and the chef came out to explain the menu. We met a lovely bunch of people and had a great night. The food was really good but company was better. They also give wine pairings with each meal and our waiter, Randy, got everyone to toast each round. This experience was $75 each but we felt it was worth it as we’d such a good time.

 

 

 

Cafe Promenade

 

Cafe Promenade is a nice place to grab a coffee and a sandwich if you want something simple for lunch. It was usually very quick to get served and the offer a selection of speciality coffees in addition to the self service tea/coffee/water. Most nights we went on the way back to our cabin to take a cup of tea back to the balcony – this was after copious amounts of alcohol!

 

Drinks Packages

 

We had the Select drinks package included our booking, this allows you to have beer, wine and soft drinks up to $8.

 

 

When we boarded I upgraded to Premium and Michel to Ultimate – cost around £380 for us both. They also add an 18% service charge if you upgrade on board.

 

When you are booking we’d advise just booking a guaranteed stateroom or offer that doesn’t include the drinks package. We paid about £1000 more on our booking when the ‘drinks promotion’ was on. You can’t upgrade until you are onboard either, this meant we really paid above the odds for it.

 

The platinum package allows you to have cocktails and wines up to $12 and also gives you bottled water too.

 

The ultimate package includes speciality coffee and fresh juice (only orange available on board).

On the RCCL website it says ‘for sailings from Europe the limit increases to $14’ – this was not the case on board and I have contacted RCCL as they need to update this misleading information.

 

Overall we didn’t feel the drinks package was worth it. We did make our money back in the end but the cocktails weren’t always nice and a lot of the drinks were priced outside of the package. Compared to the drinks package on Celebrity, there were less wines and cocktails available and we missed the sommelier at dinner.

 

 

Formal Nights

 

There had been a lot of discussion on the Facebook page and Cruise Critic about the lack of formal attire. We did notice that not as many cruisers on this cruise wore formal wear. Some were even about the ship in their usual shorts and t shirts. The majority did, however, have at least suits on but didn’t notice many people in tux – especially in comparison to other cruises we’ve done.

 

Facilities on board

 

There is lots of different things to do on board the ship. We played the crazy golf which was good fun and also sat and watch others getting on the Flowrider. I would have loved to try it but was scared of ending up in plaster for the whole cruise.

 

 

The pools and jacuzzis were accessible and were always well cleaned.

 

SUNBEDS- this was my biggest gripe! A lot, and I mean a lot, of people were putting their towels on sunbeds and then disappearing for hours. One particular sea day we walked the entire 2 top decks and all the extra bits for over 50 minutes and didn’t find a sunbed. There were people actually lying on the floor whilst others had dumped their towels on a bed never to return. There was supposed to be a ’30 min’ policy but this wasn’t well enforced. Things were a little better on port days but this seriously needs sorting out as it’s the only cruise we’ve ever been on where this has been an issue.

 

 

 

The Spa offered a wide range of treatments and throughout the cruise there were daily offers. We didn’t go to the spa this time and they didn’t seem to be doing much business. They were outside the Windjammer every morning trying to give people free massages to get them signed up – bit desperate and really overpriced. The facilities were really nice though.

 

Gym – we went to see the gym when we boarded. There were always plenty of classes, such as Zumba and the equipment was all in excellent condition. If you enjoy keeping fit, definitely bring a pair of trainers with you.

 

The Royal Promenade – this was something we loved. The promenade was the place to be and there were different shops, bars, and eateries along what looked like a city street. They also had different stalls selling jewellery, bags and clothing particularly on sea days. The shops were quite expensive in comparison to what you would pay at home.

 

 

 

Sailing Conditions

 

Overall the sailing conditions were great. On the way to Gibraltar at one point the winds were 85mph (Force 10) and sea pretty rough but the ship handled it really well and it was a bit of a ‘shake’ more than the usual rocking movement. It was the same on the way back when we left Lisbon.

 

 

 

 

Documents

 

 

 

If you purchase anything online or before you board – make sure you bring a print out. We had issues with both our Dining Package and Chef’s Table booking – ship charged our account which showed we hadn’t paid previously. We had the emails to prove it and it charge was removed. Others on board had similar issues with drinks packages too. This really boils down to a communication problem between ship and shore. The Guest Services staff onboard are lovely and want to help and it was clear they weren’t being given the correct information from the booking side.

 

Other information

 

We did enjoy the cruise and the ship was lovely with plenty to do – if you have a holiday booked on Independence of the Seas you will enjoy it. For us, we missed the little touches such as the cold towels at the pier and chocolates on the pillow. However, it was fun getting our towel characters in the stateroom and the entertainment definitely had been the best on board yet.

 

 

Hope this review has helped and if you have any questions, feel free to post them below.

Edited July 28, 2016 by bubblesqueaker

Thank you for your review!

 

We are on the same itinerary on August 13th. Can you remember which nights the formal nights were please? My husband's birthday is the 21st and we want to go to Chops but not if it's a formal night.

 

Interesting what you say about the "free drinks" packages offered by RC UK. As we are not big drinkers we always book a guarantee room without the package as it works out cheaper for us. Nothing is ever free in RC land is it!

Hey, formal nights depend on your itinerary. On a 14 night we had 3. These were on Day 2, Day 5 and Day 13 - all sea days.

 

 

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Have pictures on my blog here- Independence of the Seas Ship Review

Travelling to Southampton

 

We flew from Belfast to Southampton with Flybe. The flight was great on the way over and took around an hour. *

 

 

Boarding…

#independenceofthedseas #royalcaribbean #cruise

https://crippscruise.wordpress.com/2016/07/28/independence-of-the-seas-ship-review/

 

 

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Hey, formal nights depend on your itinerary. On a 14 night we had 3. These were on Day 2, Day 5 and Day 13 - all sea days.

 

 

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Thanks for that-I knew there were 3 but couldn't remember from last year what nights they tend to be!

Hi

 

Do you recall the cost of upgrading the drinks package from Select to Premium

 

Robin

 

 

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Thank you - great info :)

Appreciate the report.

Thanks for the review.

Thanks for the great review. Very helpful.

 

Dan

Thanks for a great report

Thanks everyone [emoji2][emoji2]

 

 

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Hi

Can you tell me about the shuttle bus service in le havre.

 

I'm only guessing here but is it a local bus that takes you into town and then onto a shopping centre not far from the train station.

The ticket was an allday ticket and you can use it on on local busses and trams. This was the ticket that was used in our recent Thomson celebration cruise and I wanted to find out if they do this for all cruise ships that dock in le havre as will be there again ln a few months.

 

Cheers bill

Hi Bill, Le Havre wasn't one of our poets.

 

 

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Im assuming not but where RCI adhering to the email they send out about boarding times per deck?

Im assuming not but where RCI adhering to the email they send out about boarding times per deck?

I haven't seen a report lately, but they used to enforce arrival times on cruises out of Australia.

Im assuming not but where RCI adhering to the email they send out about boarding times per deck?

 

I don't know where you're sailing from but I was on Indy a couple of weeks ago and boarding times weren't enforced then

I don't know where you're sailing from but I was on Indy a couple of weeks ago and boarding times weren't enforced then

 

 

 

Southampton

 

 

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I sailed from Southampton and got to the port about 12 noon, no real queues for boarding and no issues

Im assuming not but where RCI adhering to the email they send out about boarding times per deck?

 

 

 

Royal and Celebrity do not enforce boarding times at Southampton.

 

 

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Hi

Can you tell me about the shuttle bus service in le havre.

 

I'm only guessing here but is it a local bus that takes you into town and then onto a shopping centre not far from the train station.

The ticket was an allday ticket and you can use it on on local busses and trams. This was the ticket that was used in our recent Thomson celebration cruise and I wanted to find out if they do this for all cruise ships that dock in le havre as will be there again ln a few months.

 

Cheers bill

 

 

 

We stopped in Le Havre last month on Celebrity. The shuttle is provided by the port and cost €4 return. You buy the ticket in the terminal, a bargain price. Yes it's a ticket you can use on buses and trams. The shuttle did go into town and then onto the shopping mall. Although it doesn't look possible you can also walk into town in around 20 mins, 35 mins to the train station. There is a nice beach in Le Havre with a promenade. Just head left beyond the container art monument or head north from the first drop off. I can also recommend getting the local bus from outside the station to Honfleur 30 mins away. It's beautiful. Check the bus timetables online though as there are not many services.

 

 

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We were given a "free" package when we originally booked of the Deluxe drink package and wifi.

Does the deluxe drinks package even exist? I've noticed people mentioning platinum etc, but nobody ever mentions the Deluxe.

we are sailing Sept 2nd

Thanks for any feedback

We were given a "free" package when we originally booked of the Deluxe drink package and wifi.

Does the deluxe drinks package even exist? I've noticed people mentioning platinum etc, but nobody ever mentions the Deluxe.

we are sailing Sept 2nd

Thanks for any feedback

Never heard of a Platinum beverage package on Royal.

 

Royal currently has 3 unlimited beverage packages: Classic Soda, Refreshment, and Deluxe.

Deluxe drinks package is for alcohol, speciality coffees etc. If you're sailing from the UK you can "spend" up to $14 per drink on the package, anything over that price you pay the extra