DH, me, and the Independence all went to Ireland

[PamUK]

Just thought I would write a few words about our recent short trip to Ireland on the Independence of the Seas, 5-9 May 2012. This trip was shamelessly booked to gain the additional points needed to get us to Diamond, after the changes to the C&A points system left us two points short. :D

Check-in

We arrived at Southampton at 1200 and queued for quite some time before we could drive round to drop off our bags. Once the bags were dropped off it was a very smooth process, the car park was only a short walk from the terminal and once inside we were quickly checked in thanks to the separate check in lines for C&A members.

The Ship

This wasn’t our first time on the Indy, we’d been on one of her very first Med cruises from Southampton and had been very impressed. We weren’t disappointed this time, the Indy was in very good condition, everything was clean and tidy throughout.

Ports of Call

The only stop was Cobh in Ireland from where people could easily get to Cork. The approach to Cobh is very picturesque, it has lots of different coloured painted houses and an impressive church making it a very pretty looking town. We were on this cruise to completely relax so we didn’t do any tours, we just walked off the ship and wandered about the town stopping at a local pub The Quarry Cock Bar where we had a few drinks of Guinness and Beamish. The local drinks are Murphys and Beamish but DH prefers Guinness. There was a good atmosphere in the town, lots of people had turned out to watch us arrive, there was a band playing in the bandstand, and some market stalls selling jewellery and souvenirs. When we set sail, again lots of people came to watch us sail away and there was a brass band playing on the dock. It was a lovely sailaway.

Our Cabin

We were in cabin 1531, a forward inside cabin on deck 10. It was a great location for us, only one deck away from the pools, and close to the stairs and elevators. The cabin was immaculate and plenty big enough for us for 4 days. It had a flat screen TV, a kettle, two mugs, teabags, milk and sugar - no coffee though but we always take our own so that wasn’t an issue for us. Our cabin attendant was Valent, he was very friendly, always remembering our names and asking how we were. He also kept our cabin spotlessly clean, and was pretty good at the old towel animals!

Food

First let me explain where we stand with food. DH is a chef, an industrial chef used to catering for 700+ people on a daily basis. I don’t (or very rarely) eat meat, I’m not a vegetarian, I just don’t like the majority of meat things. Consequently I tend to go for the vegetarian or fish options on the menu, and DH will nearly always go for the steak option.

The food was very good, there was plenty of it and it was always hot and tasty. We dined in the main dining room every night where we had excellent service. Even though we were on MTD we had the same waiters each night, I think probably because we had pre-booked our dining times. Contrary to what has been said here on CC, there were escargots on the formal night menu and they were delicious! No lobster on the menu, but some of the biggest juiciest scallops I have ever had. We did the Windjammer for lunch on day 1 and 2, the honey stung chicken was good, and on day 2 the beef braised in Guinness was fantastic! We did Johnny Rockets on day 3 and we were a bit dubious about trying it as the last time we’d done JRs on the Navigator we were really disappointed and didn’t like it. We needn’t have worried, it was great, we both ate far too much, burger, fries, onion rings, milkshake, and shared a Oreo sundae! The only slight thing was that when the staff did their dance routine stuff, a couple of them looked really un-enthusiastic, as if they really didn’t want to do it.

Drink

I don’t know if it was because we had prepaid our tips, or there has been a change in policy, but on all of our bar chits there wasn’t the 15% gratuity charge added that we have had on previous cruise drinks bills.

We don’t do the wine with dinner thing and tend not to drink after dinner as it was late by the time we got out of the dining room. We had a few pre-dinner drinks in the Olive or Twist where we had good service and well made cocktails (Rum Runners mainly). We did try the Schooner Bar once but the service wasn’t good and the barman didn’t make a good cocktail. The Dog and Badger was always busy and lively, we only drank there once. The drink of the day comes with a free souvenir glass now, I think you used to have to pay extra for the glass.

Entertainment

The CD was Luke Aerowsmith. We didn’t do a lot of the entertainment on offer, we went to the Welcome Show which was okay but they had a comedian on, Tom Pepper, and he was rubbish. His jokes were rubbish, and he obviously didn’t know what cruise he was on as he kept telling us to come and see his main show on Wednesday as that was where he did all his best stuff – by Wednesday night most of us would be back home as the cruise finished Wednesday morning! He was the main entertainment for day 3 so needless to say we didn’t go to that. The Once Upon a Time production show was excellent, we really enjoyed it. The Showtime production was good as well but we had to leave early. We went to the Ice Show twice, it was Freeze Frame and was very good but we thought the second time we saw it was better than the first, it just seemed to have more energy to it. We did use the casino quite a bit, DH broke even and I came away with a slight profit so we were very pleased.

Crown & Anchor

We were Emerald on this cruise, and in our cabin when we arrived was the coupon booklets and a welcome pack with cookies, dried fruit, a coke and a bottle of water. There was a Welcome Back C&A event on the last night in the Pyramid lounge. There was plenty of free drink flowing, they just kept putting a fresh glass in front of me even though I hadn’t asked. I obviously looked as if I needed a drink! Canapes were delicious and plentiful. The Captain wasn’t there, so only the Loyalty Ambassador spoke, giving us all the latest info on what was happening with ships, bookings opening, project Sunshine etc. The main thing that we were really pleased to hear was that they have opened up the Next Cruise Certificate scheme to the European market as well. The Loyalty Amb said she had left some forms in her office if we wanted to take part, as soon as the event finished there was quite a few of us headed straight to her office to get a form. We were lucky and got one of the last available forms which we filled in straight away and left in the box. £75 got us our next cruise booking. By the time we got home at lunchtime the next day, the confirmation email and booking reference was already in my inbox.

Other Guests

Apparently there were over 800 Brazilians and 400 children onboard for our sailing, but I have no idea where they all were as I only met one Brazilian couple and saw very few children!! We did stay in the Solarium when relaxing so that probably explains why I didn’t see that many children. There were a few stag and hen parties on board but apart from one stag group that we thought were using language and behaviour inappropriate for the surroundings, (Olive or Twist Bar), they all looked as if they were having a really good fun time and enjoying the cruise.

Cruise Overall

We enjoyed this cruise, it relaxed us and recharged our batteries. It really helped that we had excellent weather, so much so that we got sunburnt on our last day!Yes we would definitely sail on the Indy again but wouldn’t do this particular cruise again unless it was on a ‘too good an offer to miss’, or we needed another couple of points!

 

Pam

[NorbertsNiece]

Thank you so much for posting this review. I'd had to cancel this cruise (losing my deposit in the process) so it was nice to read and experience through your eyes.

[littlesteelo]

It's nice to hear that the ship is still in great condition. I can't wait until July :D

[vivavegas]

Nice review! Thanks for sharing your travels!:)

[Cruise_Kitten]

Nice to hear about. We have done this trip twice and we were on the Paris sailing before yours.

 

The reason for the delay in boarding was a malfunction with the electronic manifest. We sat in our cabin until half 9 waiting to be told we could go a d then we waited a further hour to get past boarder patrol!

 

CK x

 

 

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