April 12 - Independence of the Seas: Where manners went to die

We just returned from the 8 night Independence of the Seas cruise, and while the cruise itself was fantastic, the ship was in great shape, and we had an amazing time, we couldn't help but notice a few things that were concerning. Over the 15+ cruises we've done with Royal Caribbean, these issues were the worst we've ever experienced on a cruise.

1) Windjammer Café: By far, the area where we experienced the greatest examples of complete lack of manners. People pushing, butting in front of lines, and generally doing whatever they could to ensure they were first at the trough. People grabbing food with their bare hands was a common event, and I don't know about you, but I lose my appetite in a hurry when I watch people scooping out handfuls of pineapple, salad, hashbrowns, etc... rather than using the available tongs, or waiting a few seconds until the tongs were available. Nope, they'd just reach around the person in front of them, dig their hand in, and scoop out what they wanted. It was disgusting! It's no wonder there were cases of GI illness with behaviour like this. By the second half of the cruise, RC finally stepped in and the Windjammer was no longer a self-serve buffet. RC staff were given the responsibility of dishing out the food. This was good in one aspect, but created a whole other level of chaos as it slowed service down, a mass of people would form waiting for food, resulting in people pushing their way in front of others to make sure they got their food first. It was survival of the fittest, and not at all a relaxing experience having to deal with that. Thank goodness there are other options for food on the ship.

2) Deck chair hogs: Common problem, I know, but I can't stand watching the prime deck chairs sitting vacant for the entire day with nothing but a towel placed on them, where someone had claimed the chair early in the morning, then never bothered to return. The "half-hour rule" is non-existent. Not once did I ever see RC staff remove towels to free up these chairs. Perhaps I'm just too polite, and I should have just done it myself, and grabbed whatever seat I felt like, whenever I felt like it. That's just not my style. Similar to my experience in the Windjammer, I believe manners and proper etiquette are important. Sadly, I seem to be in the minority nowadays.

3) Smokers: This one isn't entirely their fault, as RC only has certain designated smoking areas. Just once though, it would be nice to walk through the high-traffic areas on the pool deck and not be subjected to walking through a cloud of cigarette and cigar smoke. Great example they're setting for the children swimming nearby. RC really needs to find them a better location to smoke.

As I said, we thoroughly enjoyed the actual cruise, it's just a shame that when some people go on vacation, they leave their manners at home. Sadly, this is a reality with cruising, but it seems this cruise was worse for this than we'd previously experienced. Hopefully the next one will be better.

From reading all the posts on this site, I always though RCCL passengers were the most refined people in the world..

OMG!! Don't EVEN get me started on the "me-me-me," selfish, entitled, self-centered, no manner members of our society - - on land AND on sea.

We just returned from the 8 night Independence of the Seas cruise, and while the cruise itself was fantastic, the ship was in great shape, and we had an amazing time, we couldn't help but notice a few things that were concerning. Over the 15+ cruises we've done with Royal Caribbean, these issues were the worst we've ever experienced on a cruise.

 

1) Windjammer Café: By far, the area where we experienced the greatest examples of complete lack of manners. People pushing, butting in front of lines, and generally doing whatever they could to ensure they were first at the trough. People grabbing food with their bare hands was a common event, and I don't know about you, but I lose my appetite in a hurry when I watch people scooping out handfuls of pineapple, salad, hashbrowns, etc... rather than using the available tongs, or waiting a few seconds until the tongs were available. Nope, they'd just reach around the person in front of them, dig their hand in, and scoop out what they wanted. It was disgusting! It's no wonder there were cases of GI illness with behaviour like this. By the second half of the cruise, RC finally stepped in and the Windjammer was no longer a self-serve buffet. RC staff were given the responsibility of dishing out the food. This was good in one aspect, but created a whole other level of chaos as it slowed service down, a mass of people would form waiting for food, resulting in people pushing their way in front of others to make sure they got their food first. It was survival of the fittest, and not at all a relaxing experience having to deal with that. Thank goodness there are other options for food on the ship.

 

2) Deck chair hogs: Common problem, I know, but I can't stand watching the prime deck chairs sitting vacant for the entire day with nothing but a towel placed on them, where someone had claimed the chair early in the morning, then never bothered to return. The "half-hour rule" is non-existent. Not once did I ever see RC staff remove towels to free up these chairs. Perhaps I'm just too polite, and I should have just done it myself, and grabbed whatever seat I felt like, whenever I felt like it. That's just not my style. Similar to my experience in the Windjammer, I believe manners and proper etiquette are important. Sadly, I seem to be in the minority nowadays.

 

3) Smokers: This one isn't entirely their fault, as RC only has certain designated smoking areas. Just once though, it would be nice to walk through the high-traffic areas on the pool deck and not be subjected to walking through a cloud of cigarette and cigar smoke. Great example they're setting for the children swimming nearby. RC really needs to find them a better location to smoke.

 

As I said, we thoroughly enjoyed the actual cruise, it's just a shame that when some people go on vacation, they leave their manners at home. Sadly, this is a reality with cruising, but it seems this cruise was worse for this than we'd previously experienced. Hopefully the next one will be better.

Can I ask, was this the School Holiday period and were these uncouth beings in the Windjammer adults or children ? It beggars belief !

There were plenty of children on board as usual, but primarily I'm talking about the adults. It was the adults digging into the food trays with their bare hands, and I'm not just talking about 1 or 2 instances. Even when the RC staff started acting as servers, adults were still trying to grab their own food with their hands, despite all the GI illness warnings. Unbelievable.

I wondered what was going to happen when smoking was banned on balconies and all the smoke was concentrated in one area. However, I will say that on the Grandeur recently, it was pretty easy to avoid the situation by walking on the pool deck side where smoking was not permitted.

Thanks for the review on your recent cruise. I had breakfast twice in the Windjammer on the Allure -- and it was early morning so I could avoid the unruly crowd. I only lounged in the adult-only Solarium and was happy to see RCI staff remove towels and other items from chairs that had not been occupied for over thirty minutes. I was very disturbed by the number of women that were in the restrooms and existed without washing their hands!:eek: I'm relieved there was no outbreak of Noro on that sailing! One evening I encountered an inebriated young man smoking on one of the elevators - he said he knew he wasn't supposed to but he just didn't care. Talk about entitled! On our last night on the ship, I smelled marijuana wafting from another balcony. Don't know how did they got that on the ship. :confused:

I was on the April 6th sailing of IOS. I witnessed the same problem with chair hogs. Also people below me were smoking on the balcony. I guess they think if they hang over the rail to smoke nobody will notice.

"it was pretty easy to avoid the situation by walking on the pool deck side where smoking was not permitted"

BUT...BUT....I paid to walk in both areas!

I was on the April 6th sailing of IOS. I witnessed the same problem with chair hogs. Also people below me were smoking on the balcony. I guess they think if they hang over the rail to smoke nobody will notice.

I hope you reported them to guest services! We were on FOS the same week as OP and I honestly don't remember seeing or smelling any smoke other than during a few quick trips to or through the casino on our ship.

I did see someone using one of those E-cigs at the Bull & Bear one night.

This was by far the least smoky cruise i have ever been on.

I really have trouble believing people used their hands to grab salad, that sounds to unbelievable to me, an exaggeration maybe.

From reading all the posts on this site, I always though RCCL passengers were the most refined people in the world..

We are,:) the trouble makers were probably from Carnival. ;)

2) Deck chair hogs: Common problem, I know, but I can't stand watching the prime deck chairs sitting vacant for the entire day with nothing but a towel placed on them, where someone had claimed the chair early in the morning, then never bothered to return. The "half-hour rule" is non-existent. Not once did I ever see RC staff remove towels to free up these chairs. Perhaps I'm just too polite, and I should have just done it myself, and grabbed whatever seat I felt like, whenever I felt like it. That's just not my style. Similar to my experience in the Windjammer, I believe manners and proper etiquette are important. Sadly, I seem to be in the minority nowadays.

 

.

On our sailing (March 15) the half hour rule was enforced! We even got "the plate" whilst one of us, holding four chairs when we went for breakfast, and bring food for the one that held the chairs....I understand why they do it, but when one stays behind for that reason they should hold there horses, we where back in under 20min and stayed there the entire day, however they said one for four chairs, you get a notice...Next step would be you get in the pool, get out and your towels are gone.

And yes we did see peoples towels being removed, fights when the passengers returned did break out...Loads of animation around the pool :D.

I mentioned something similar on my 2013 Allure review. When walking in hallways I thought I was the only one who ever said, "Excuse me" As I passed by people walking side by side taking up the entire hallway. I would frequently step aside and expect a smile or thank you. Only happened once.

The subject of cutting in line at the Windjammer is one I think some people get a little too upset about and don't really think it over. If a station is empty, who decides which way the traffic flows? I've seen 10 people wait in line behind one person taking forever on one end. Once traffic clears the next rush may start that station at the other end. I've seen people meet in the middle and then yell at each other for cutting the line. Also I've seen a woman waiting at one end of the station for a tray to be refilled. If I don't want what she is waiting for I am going around her and going for what I want. I've also sat down, realized I forgot a cheese slice and "cut back in line" for 5 seconds to grab that cheese.

I was on this cruise and I did not personally see any of the grabbing of food with bare hands.

I was amazed so many people got sick because the staff made sure everyone sanitized before entering windjammer.

Chair hogs....another issue....haven't been on a cruise line when that didn't exist....

I think it might be worse on RCCL than Carnival because you have to check out your towel and people didn't want to have to pay for the towel if lost.

While I liked just getting towels on RCCL I think it allowed people to leave their towel and not even be polite to come back when they were done

Kerri

I really have trouble believing people used their hands to grab salad, that sounds to unbelievable to me, an exaggeration maybe.

I don't blame you for thinking that, I wouldn't have believed it either had I not seen it with my own 2 eyes. Seriously, who does that??!!

"it was pretty easy to avoid the situation by walking on the pool deck side where smoking was not permitted"

 

BUT...BUT....I paid to walk in both areas!

Of course you did - but the pool deck on Independence has a CENTRAL lift and stair area at both ends so regardless of which side of the ship you walk along you end up in the same place. I realise (or hope) that your comment was probably tongue in cheek but I'm sure there were a lot of people thinking it :).

Gill

Chair hogging happens everywhere there is a pool...not just on ships! Every resort I've been to, loungers are towel covered by 9am....with no one at the pool!

Now, the taking food with bare hands....unbelievable! Do you mean they reached into a pan of hot food with their hand and scooped it up and plopped it on their plate? Lordy!

Chair hogging happens everywhere there is a pool...not just on ships! Every resort I've been to, loungers are towel covered by 9am....with no one at the pool!

 

Now, the taking food with bare hands....unbelievable! Do you mean they reached into a pan of hot food with their hand and scooped it up and plopped it on their plate? Lordy!

Not so much with the hot/wet food, but literally a guy a few people in front of us dug his hand into the pineapple tray, scooped out what he wanted (no plate), then wandered off with his handful. Those of us in line looked at each other in disbelief. Also saw people grabbing handfuls of dry lettuce from the salad area, and plopping that onto their plates. Saw people pushing hashbrowns aside until they got the one (or five) that they wanted. Bacon, same thing. Biscuits, same thing. Pastries, same thing. Pancakes, same thing. Pizza, same thing. The list goes on. I know I'm not the only one who noticed, as I overhead another couple as well as a family talking about it in disgust also, suggested that they "only take food from the back" of the trays.

I realize this happens to some degree on all cruises, and there are just those who we all know shouldn't be allowed in public, but this cruise in particular I noticed it far too often.

Ewwwwww!:eek:

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Forums mobile app

I was on this cruise but didnt notice anything like what you witnessed. Though I will say the lines in the windjammer were a bit confusing. At the taco station, they had the shells at one end, the meet at the other end and the toppings in the middle. You kind of had to jump back and forth to make your taco. Overall, I thought it was a terrific time!

We flew to New York a few years back for a cruise on the Norwegian Spirit. In the buffet the first day, people would just push in front of us in a line like we were not there. We were waiting for the staff to refill a dish that was empty. The staff had just picked it up in front us. It is not like the pushers went on down the line. The people who pushed ahead of us stopped and waited, too. The general pushiness and rudeness in the buffet in general caused us to start eating lunch in the dining room, which worked out very well. We had always gone to eat breakfast and lunch at the buffet before.

There was a promenade area on the ship and one guy ahead of us began yelling loudly to someone further down the promenade. His family/friends joined in yelling as well. Other people kind of looked at them, so we were not alone in thinking they might have handled getting the attention of the other cruiser better.

We had a good cruise anyway. We decided this cruise was unique in that people seemed to lack manners more than any other cruise. I think sometimes the stars just align for this.

I was on this cruise but didnt notice anything like what you witnessed. Though I will say the lines in the windjammer were a bit confusing. At the taco station, they had the shells at one end, the meet at the other end and the toppings in the middle. You kind of had to jump back and forth to make your taco. Overall, I thought it was a terrific time!

I agree, there is definitely room for improvement in the flow of the Windjammer, but then again, with that many people, all the planning in the world could be thrown out the window once just a few people start treating it like a free-for-all. Very hard to control.

We had a terrific time also, and certainly weren't going to let a few slobs ruin our vacation :)

On our sailing (March 15) the half hour rule was enforced! We even got "the plate" whilst one of us, holding four chairs when we went for breakfast, and bring food for the one that held the chairs....I understand why they do it, but when one stays behind for that reason they should hold there horses, we where back in under 20min and stayed there the entire day, however they said one for four chairs, you get a notice...Next step would be you get in the pool, get out and your towels are gone.

And yes we did see peoples towels being removed, fights when the passengers returned did break out...Loads of animation around the pool :D.

Dang, I missed all of that. See what happens when you spend all day on the Flowrider :D, you miss all the good stuff :rolleyes:

Oh come on.....People digging into the buffet trays with bare hands....I'm sorry and I don't care cause I don't believe this. If it would have been one person that you saw..ok, but you saw a lot of people doing it......I don't buy it and adults at that! I have seen kids do it a couple of times and I told the Windjammer staff and they removed the trays immediately. And if you did see it did you bring it to anybodies attention or did you just look disgusted and let other people get food from there???? You make it seem like you were on a cruise with a ship full of cavmen! So what else happened good on the cruise??