Indepenence April Canary Cruise review

[guineapig]

Well organised at Southampton, a fair system of wait in line then drop off luggage before going off to park and then into terminal. Long wait (about 1 ½ in queue before boarding, guess we were all arriving about the same time) Once on ship Windjammers busy but got a seat, if you are a large group you may find it difficult to sit together at busy times.

Our cabin on deck 2 was fine, small porthole but plenty of space in the room, shower very good no curtain proper sliding doors. Bed was a bit lumpy but okay, never like your own! Noise was not a problem, very quiet mid-ships. Tea & kettle etc in cabin but no coffee, you could get free coffee made up from the coffee shop don’t know why not in cabins, one of our fellow passengers steward managed to get him some coffee sachets after he complained. On deck 2 you can’t walk the length of the ship you have to go up to deck 3 or 4 and then back down but we soon got used to that, it’s due to the conference centre taking up part of the deck. Our steward was great and made us towel creatures about 4 times-I know some passengers used the towels to create their own creatures to make their stewards laugh!

The TV in the cabin was excellent, Indy did their own “morning show” which was very good and you can check your account on the TV, book trips and check where in the World you are, besides watching various programmes from kids TV to full length films, even being able to pay for newer films if you wished although I thought this worked out expensive & I was never in my cabin long enough to sit & watch a whole film!

Food was excellent in Windjammers and in the main dining room, although you’re limited to the menus and portion size in the main dining rooms, but I much prefer the atmosphere in the main dining room. You could get pizza, rolls, cake, cookies plus much more free on the promenade deck along with regular coffee which was free, chocolate & water, many children seemed to buy into the soda package and some adults bought into the wine package.

Entertainment for us was 100% better than on Splendor of the Seas last year, my husband asked the director what the difference between the ships and he says its just down to the cliental as to what shows are booked. There was also bars with solo artists & bands playing/singing, many activities from kids clubs, dancing, the gym, quizzes to learning a new skill, although I never found anything I wanted to do, I preferred to sit relax and read or just watch the world go by, if the weather had been better I’m sure I would have been on deck sunning myself or swimming. Children are well catered for with the flow-rider, climbing wall, large baseball court, fantastic splash pool area, clubs and min-golf. We sat in the front row to watch the ice skating show and found it amazing how fast they skate around the fairly small rink. Others were complaining that they had been unable to get tickets and I think this is due to the ticket distribution method. Booking opened at 8am on one day only, and just 1 passenger per cabin/group needed to attend to collect tickets.

I was concerned about the size of the ship, the largest we had ever been on, but it was fantastic, there seemed to be quiet areas and getting off the ship in ports the queues weren’t long and moved well, don’t know if we were just lucky or if it’s well organised. It was school holidays and I thought the children would be “annoying” but they were the best behaved I have ever had the privilege to cruise with and when it came to formal nights both adults and children seemed to embrace it fully, I have never seen so many people wearing tuxes or evening dresses, did look nice, the only thing I can think of is as we had no weight restrictions sailing from Southampton people brought what they wanted. Windjammers got busy at meal times but we always managed to get a seat, larger groups may struggle to sit together.

Ports of call were all new to us; there were some fantastic ones and some not so good. Lisbon in Portugal we did on our own which went very well and it has great old trams and large historical buildings with quite a bit of character, also La Coruna in Spain was a surprise, we caught a local bus out to Hercules Tower and walked back to town, it was very clean and the glass balconies made the buildings stand out, we really enjoyed the whole place. Madeira was just beautiful even in the rain, would love to go back and visit more of the island, we did Funchal town, cable car & toboggans, a long queue but really enjoyed the ride. Vigo in Spain was for us the worst port, it lacked character & seemed dirty, it had a large shopping centre close to the ship but we prefer lovely scenery or interesting buildings. Gran Canaria was lovely in the hills but the town of Puerto de la Cruz was not for us, we heard there was a lovely beach nearby that many people visited. Tenerife, again we took a tour up to Mount Teide National Park, a beautiful place, very rugged scenery with a lovely clear blue sky, with just the most yummy hot chocolate we have ever tasted at the cafe where we stopped for a break, well worth a visit.

Weather in general was not great, it was early April and we didn't come for the sun, we came for the ports of call. The wind was cold most days, rain in Madeira and in the hills of Gran Canaria & Tenerife but sun the rest of the time, we kept our fleeces on most days, although the week before we were told it was very hot and I know someone who went on the week after and they had very heavy rough seas all the way down to Gran Canaria.

Norovirus - there were staff at the entrance to every eating venue handing out bacterial wipes and constant reminders to wash your hands. This seemed to be well observed.

Would we go again, yes definitely on Indy again but choose other ports to visit. :D:D

 

I think the link below covers many of the things I missed well worth a read.

http://www.cruise.co.uk/cruise-reviews/royal-caribbean-cruises/independence-of-the-seas/read_review_34351/

[Libra1975]

Thanks for this, am sailing off on IoS in 23 days and am fit to burst with excitement. We are on deck 2 as well, however I think the not walking the length of the ship will be a bit more annoying for us as will be using a pushchair.

[ollienbertsmum]

That was an interesting review including ports that are not often mentioned. I would love to go to Vigo just because I think Vigo Mortensen is really fit, but I would expect that visiting Santiago is quite high on the agenda of many people - but it does require some planning or an expensive ship tour

 

It is a pity about the weather we have had over Easter this year. Do the same cruise next year and it could be completely different.