Spanish Mediterranean Cruise on Indy

[Cruiseswithfamilyornot]

We were on the June 28th two week sailing. First a bit about our group. We are all experienced cruisers, 10 of us in total, 3 families. I am a Diamond Plus member, and I have been on many Royal cruises(north of 25). Royal is my preferred cruise line when travelling with the kids. When adults only, I do prefer other lines.

 

I was very nervous after I booked this cruise as the reviews about Indy were very negative. I was surprised that being a Freedom class ship, it's reviews were significantly worse than Freedom or Liberty, both ships I've been on multiple times, and was concerned about what made Indy so much worse than the other ships. I read a lot of negative reviews on this site on the shorter reviews, a lot of complaints about queueing, rudeness of staff, etc, and frankly I was scared.

 

Bottom line: There is nothing to be scared about. We had a fantastic cruise. The crew was incredible. Was EVERY ONE great? Of course not. There are over 1000 crew members on board, there were a few duds. But most were extremely accommodating, and went out of their way to be sure we had a great cruise experience. I loved the ship, loved the crew, thought the food was very good, of course there were some complaints, things we'd like to see improved upon, but overall it was an incredible cruise that I would give very high marks to.

 

I will post some additional comments, including the cruise compasses I saved in the next week or two. I'd be happy to answer questions any one had about the cruise.

 

But for some overview comments:

 

The Great:

 

1) Service. I have to say service on the Indy was one of the best I've experienced in any Royal ship I've been on. I have been on luxury cruise lines that cater to adults(eg..Crystal and Silver Seas). Was it as good as that? Of course not. But I thought the service showed me they wanted us as customers, went above and beyond, and I had many instances of that. We did my time dining, which I always thought was the waiters who weren't good enough for regular dining, but after my last few experiences I no longer think that. FANTASTIC service. Our state room attendant was great. We were suite guests, and the service in Chops grill for breakfast and lunch for suite guests was AWESOME. They got to know every one and what we liked and had drinks on our table after we sat down like in the dining room. The casino workers were great, loved the spa staff, you get the drift. A special shout out to Ana the waitress in Giovanni's who was hilarious and we are still talking about her. I really feel like I can't say enough.

 

2) Cleanliness of ship. A+++. I can't recall a cleaner ship. We constantly saw people both cleaning and doing improvements to the ship all over.

 

3) Funny personal item----Mudslide cookies were AWESOME. I've always loved them on Indy, but on this cruise they had more of them, and they were the best I've ever had. Our waiter brought me some fresh ones every night for dessert, I was a VERY happy camper.

 

4) Ships stability. None in our party are prone to seasickness, but I was very surprised how little I felt the boat move. On our way home we went further out in the Atlantic Ocean, they closed decks 11 and 12 due to 70 mph winds, we saw white caps like you wouldn't believe, but you wouldn't know any of that inside of the ship. They must have done something on this ship, as I swear when i was on the Allure two months prior in April we felt the ship move more(not that we felt that much there, but worse than Indy).

 

5) Raj the concierge. I know, isn't he part of service? But I have to give Raj a separate line. Prior to getting on board, we emailed him a few things and i was very taken aback at how slowly he responded. I was concerned. I shouldn't have been. Raj was the most proactive, hands on concierge I have ever seen. He doesn't respond to emails as much as his focus is on the people on the ship NOW. He's amazing

 

6) Joff Eaton, cruise director. We are all americans, and agreed joff was one of, if not the best, cruise directors we have ever seen. His staff was mostly excellent as well. It was the funniest Quest I've ever seen, and I've been on 25 royal cruises and never missed a quest. That was because of Joff. Progressive trivia was a blast thanks to him. He's just fun and funny. They are moving him to Anthem, and I can see why. You do not need to be British to get his humor at all.

 

7) Photographers. I know, weird one right? But I have to give a shout out to them. The best, most organized, nicest group I have encountered on any ship ever. Plus we purchased the plan with all the pics and instead of waiting on lines, they called you when your disc was ready and we came down and picked it up with virtually no lines. Speaking of which..

 

8) Queueing. I read with horror some issues with queueing on Indy right before we got on. Either I was incredibly lucky, they worked out the issues, or I don't know what, but they did the best job of queueing of any large cruise ship I've ever been on. Every day, including disembarkation, was smooth and easy.

 

The areas of Opportunity:

 

1) WIFI. WIFI. WIFI. 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Expensive and crappy. This is the one area Royal NEEDS to address. There are many of us who need to stay in touch for business reasons and having wifi not work well in your room, and work very slowly elsewhere is just unacceptable. Especially for the prices they charge

 

2) Specialty restaurants. For the size ship, they need more specialty restaurants. On a 14 night cruise, you felt it more. Though I have to admit, the food in the Windjammer for dinner was VERY VERY good so we didn't mind that much. I also need to add we went to Giovanni's on Allure two months before and had some INCREDIBLE food. ordered the same exact dishes on Indy, and prepared completely different, no where near as good. Service in both specialty restaurants was practically flawless, but the food was not so hot.

 

3) Night time Entertainment. The Quantum ship is roughly the same size as the Freedom. Take a look at their entertainment options. Take a look at Oasis and Allure. Then look at the Freedom class. It shouldn't be THAT different. Time to get rid of those tired, old, corny Royal shows. They have a talented singer and dancer cast, get some other shows for them to do. Some of the acts at night were not very good. I would cite only two acts that were EXCELLENT----Bohemians, the queen tribute band was literally like attending a concert on a cruise ship. Secondly, Steve Rawlings the comedy juggler. I was surprised I liked him as much as I did, and he literally had standing room only. In fairness, I didn't see all, but got very turned off and walked out on most(the bee gees tribute band as WEAK, the comedian not funny to americans at least, the cyclist I've seen better on america's got talent). I just didn't see enough going on at night as choices. They had two trivias only---both at 8 pm which is silly. The game show at 10 30 wasn't every night, but when they had them most were very good with The Quest being the stand out. Also...one piece of advice. The Love and Marriage Show is called Mr and Mrs. It was no where near as good as the american version. You are probably wondering how that is possible with Joff as the host. Simply put, they handed out lottery tickets(people didn't even know what they were for when they took one) and whoever had a ticket that called came up on the stage. In America, they "audition" and really want to do it...that's what makes them more animated and funnier as contestants. The people Joff had to work with were not animated at all. Just not as good, though still amusing. Stars and Stripes which I believe is unique to europe was very funny. Also the 8 pm music trivia in the schooner bar was ALWAYS over crowded. I mean so packed people walked away, standing all over, etc,,. Why did they not move it to a larger venue? It also tells you how much people were craving activities at night.

 

These were the "biggies" to me. I will try to go through and write more details day by day. We booked our own shore excursions and went on our own a few times(never through Royal) so I can't comment on that side. Any questions, feel free to ask.

[Peewee14]

Thanks for taking the time to write your review, We are sailing on her on the 23rd August, for the second time, We loved it last time, and i was a little apprehensive after reading all the negative reviews, however you have eased my mind!

[Cruiseswithfamilyornot]

You're very welcome. I should mention that they are changing their Chops menus to the "new chops menu" in August, so you will have that on your cruise, good timing!

[Cruiseswithfamilyornot]

Embarkation was very easy. We got to the ship on the earlier side. They claim they don't let people on until 11, but they actually started letting everyone on between 10 and 10 30 which was remarkably fast. Rooms were ready at 1 pm, which is also pretty good. Embarkation was fast and easy. While there is construction going on at the Southampton dock, it didn't seem to slow things down much, mostly because they tried to stagger when people came on board.

 

A few things we noticed right away:

 

1) Diamond members actually get their cards loaded where they can get 3 free drinks at virtually all bars on the ship between 5 and 8 30. This was very nice and obviously necessary since both the diamond lounge(which is on 14 off of Viking Crown Lounge which they call Olive and Twist) and the concierge lounge both got very crowded at these times.

 

2) The concierge Raj, was fantastic. Just a very nice guy, very accomodating and wanting to help and someone you take a pretty immediate liking to

 

3) This ship is very well organized and put together. Everything ran very smoothly for a first day, no lines, very impressed

 

4) Went to see the "Indy band" called Rock the Boat day one as I had read so much about them on this board. For a ship band, I was impressed. Would I pay to see them in concert? No. But they were a solid band, that did mostly rock music(and pop) and were easily the best regular band I had seen ***** any ship. They did something called "rock a rockie" where people get to sing with the band playing and they do back up which was AWESOME. Unfortunately, they got off for a few months with us, I believe they are back on board the Indy in November or so.

 

5) Vintages, which it does not have tapas, DID have 5 cold items available for purchase( I forget all but simple things like cheese and crackers, cold shrimp) and you could also order some food(again a fee) and eat there. When I was on Freedom about 6 months ago they didn't have that, so that's a nice change. Vintages is in the promenade, near the packed every night Dog and Badger pub.

 

6) Chops is open for suite guests both for breakfast and for lunch where they custom make food for you as well. Don't believe there was that lunch option on freedom 6 months ago.

 

More to follow if there is interest....

Edited July 19, 2014 by Cruiseswithfamilyornot

[Peewee14]

Defo interested please keep it coming!

 

 

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[foxrocs]

Great to see some positive reviews of Indy I'm due to sail on my first cruise on her on aug 23rd and after spending the last number of yrs holidaying in America I was starting to regret the change to cruising.

Just a few questions if u don't mind!

Leaving Southampton what is open on boarding day and are the pools heated?

 

 

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[Cruiseswithfamilyornot]

HI Foxrocs,

 

The pools are heated, yes. When you ask what is open on boarding day I assume you mean food wise, but it you meant otherwise let me know. For food, it's just the windjammer cafe, as well as sorrento's and cafe promenade for lunch(room service doesn't start till 5 either fyi). Once you get to dinner, everything is open. The specialty restaurants give specials for day one. I would comment to you that sorrento's, besides having pizza, has a variety of wraps and paninis that change fairly frequently. Most people didn't seem to notice them as they are to the right when you walk in. We had them a few times on the cruise and some were very good, others not as hot. But a real nice option that it seemed most didn't notice/know were there. One in my group had that lunch for day one to avoid the most crowded day in windjammer of the entire cruise.

[Cruiseswithfamilyornot]

Some comments about breakfast. Breakfast is available every day in 3 locations: Windjammer(of course) opening at 7 am til 10:45 am. Also two different floors in the dining room. The Romeo and Juliet room for a buffet breakfast, and MacBeth dining room for a la carte, opening at 7 30 or 8(depends on day) till 9 to 10(later days for days at sea). For suite guests, you have chops grill located off of the windjammer by Jade, but be aware they close at 9 30 am on port days and 10 am on sea days. I had read on this site a separate dining room for diamond plus and higher guests, and even saw a pic of it. Alas, I was told they stop that for the european guests and so that is not available.

[Adayatatime]

Going 23 August, went exactly the same time last year, same cruise. Would say the same, brilliant. And you are right about the cleaning, they didn't stop.

[lancashire_cruisers]

Also going on the 23rd August cruise and it'll be our first time on Indy so I'm interested to read your experience.

 

Debbie :)

[moshek]

Thank you for your review, we are due to sail on Indy in 6 days time and I too had read some worrying reviews. This is only my second cruise having been bitten by the bug last year, loved our 2 weeks on Adventure last year and hoping that this year will be as good or even better.

[39august]

I believe Indy still has the Champagne Bar. Do they still serve complimentary caviar with drink purchase there from around 5-5:30 to 7 or 8 PM?

[Adayatatime]

Thank you for your review, we are due to sail on Indy in 6 days time and I too had read some worrying reviews. This is only my second cruise having been bitten by the bug last year, loved our 2 weeks on Adventure last year and hoping that this year will be as good or even better.

 

 

You will LOVE IT xx

[Cruiseswithfamilyornot]

Indy has the Champagne bar on 5 you are right. I was not there the times you mentioned so sorry to say I can't tell you if there is complimentary caviar there still or not. It wasn't in the cruise compasses(not sure if it would have been but just fyi). Any one else recently on the Indy able to answer that one? I agree with Adayatatime btw...you will love it. To go further about the non stop cleaning/improving the ship, while we were on it they ripped out one small section around the middle pools every night, multiple layers all the way down to the base, and had the new one in place and ready to be used by the next morning. It was really very impressive. The ship is in great shape.

[foxrocs]

Thank you for the reply

I really do not know what to expect on my first cruise. Can anyone tell me in their experience how they fill their day and what to expect from the shows/night entertainment

 

 

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[woldig120]

We are on the Independence again in September. Have been on it several times. This may be our last time as it is going to America.

Your reviews are good.

[Cruiseswithfamilyornot]

Foxrocs, I will try to post some of the cruise compasses that I kept specifically for the purpose of posting them this week. These are basically daily planners that tell you everything going on on the ship every day and night. Basically, when the ship is in port, there will be limited activities on the ship. When it is a sea day, meaning you are not stopped in any port, there will be a multitude of activities. Outside of the typical sun bathing/pool activities, sea days will also have a multitude of activities available from the rock climbing wall, mini golf, you can ice skate on the ice skating rink, the flow rider(which is great fun), progressive trivia and all kinds of other trivias, bingo, dancing lessons(including a flash mob they put together and you can practice to be a part of), the fitness center is open and they will have classes for free or ones you have to pay for(more common like yoga, cycling), of course there's a spa with a huge selection of treatments to choose from, the casino is open during sea days, you get the drift. A lot of options, and you will see in the cruise compass a host of other things as well. I am a busy kind of guy, don't like to sit out by the pool so I can tell you there's a lot going on to choose from during sea days. Also, there are always some sort of events by the pool during sea days including things like the men's belly flop competition. At night time, there is always a show every night. In addition, you have a night club, a casino, and numerous lounges that will have live music every night including The Pyramid Lounge(which has Rock The Boat Band---excellent rock/pop band), Boleros on 4(usually a spanish inspired band), Olive and Twist/Viking Crown Lounge(on 14) which usually has the band by the pool which is usually more of a caribbean band, the Schooner bar(on 4) which will have a piano player, Dog and Badger(on promenade) which will have a solo guitarist who will encourage sing alongs often. In addition to that, there is a every night around 10 or 10 30 either a game show, some sort of a ship variety show(like Mr. and Mrs or Quest you heard me describe above), or even parades on the promenade including a 70s music party, Mad hatter, and one for Brittania in a 14 night cruise. So yes, there is a lot to do on the ship. Any specific questions, please ask. Since I've been on many Royal cruises I am fairly well versed. I will post more info and some cruise compasses if possible later this week

[Plymouthmerlin67]

Could I just add something to what is an excellent review please?

 

We were getting off Indy the same day as you got on (28th). This was our first cruise and it was for our 30th wedding anniversary. We were blown away by the ship and were very impressed. One thing I noticed you did not mention. Without exception, every time we passed a member of staff, be it cleaners/customer service, officers in the corridors, promenade, decks 11 and 12, everyone came out with "good morning/afternoon". We got the impression that everyone WANTED to make everyone feel welcome, which they certainly did. Definitely looking forward to the next RCI cruise.

[clo6216]

We, too, were on the June 28 Indy sailing. I did not see your review until just now. Earlier today, I posted my thoughts/review on the cruise and it's really extraordinary how our observations and opinions meshed. We've never met (to my knowledge), but someone comparing our reports would think we wrote them together! Glad you had as great a time as we did.

[Cruiseswithfamilyornot]

Thanks so much for adding this Plymouth. I totally agree and that was exactly my opinion. It's funny because after reading all of the negative reviews on this site, many of which bashed the staff and saying they were rude, I was VERY surprised by how overtly friendly so many people were and really seemed to go out of their way. Thanks so much for adding! Please, both you and clo should feel free to add all of your recollections to this thread, it will make for a much better read for others and I am as happy for the input as I am sure every one else will be. I will post more later, I apologize busy at work this week.

[floridababa]

We had a great time. Was everything perfect - no and if you expect that then you will always be dissappointed. Food in My Time was so so. We did the best as our waiter- who was great tried very hard to please and usually did.

Ate at Chops and it was aweful- my steak was sent back twiceand in the end it was still not very good.

Our cabin attendent did not speak at all- never good morning etc but hey she did what needed to be done. We figured she saved us money since we did not feel we had to tip extra.

The shows were Ok- could be better but as I also have been on Oasis and Allure it could be improved. Went to bed by midnight anyway since the ports were tiresome.

Does anyone give an extra tip at My Time dining? We could not figure out what was proper. Any advice for future?

We are looking to Explorer next summer to Canary Islands. Anyone have any input? Not sure about the ports. I live in Florida so going to beaches is not our thing when we are in Europe.

[grabbit97]

We are on the Indy on Sept 20. How much is the unlimited WIFI for 2 devices? I was told that this is a new package offered?

 

 

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[Clarea]

We are on the Indy on Sept 20. How much is the unlimited WIFI for 2 devices? I was told that this is a new package offered?

I think it was around $220 for 7 days.

[lancashire_cruisers]

Hi

 

Can any recent cruisers tell me if Indy still has those chairs with the plastics strips or have they been replaced with something better?

 

Thanks in advance

 

Debbie :)

[lorrdean]

Still the plastic strips. The ones in the solarium have cushions