Review - 4 day Thanksgiving Cruise - Independence of the Seas.

[Kmkub]

We just had an absolutely fabulous time on the Independence of the Seas; 4 night Thanksgiving cruise. Note - my reviews tend to be a collection of organized thoughts, rather than a flowing narrative, so this review won't be for everyone.) We had a few complaints, food quality being the biggest, but we don't cruise for the food, so it didn't ruin our fun. This was our seventh cruise and third cruise line. First time on RC. As we expected, due to it being Thanksgiving, this was a very crowded ship. We were a group of seven, with the four youngest sharing an inside. I suspect that tons of people were using the extra beds in the cabins for this cruise. It was hard to get a reservation, because there were so many groups of eight or more.

 

Embarkation

Less efficient than the others. The "sick" forms were not available until we got to the check in window. Since there were large groups of families, it caused quite the bottleneck as several people stood around the check in desk, where two people could fill out their form at a time. We usually sail through the check in process, but this time took us around 45 minutes.

 

Muster

Muster was very crowded and we are not used to going outside for muster. It didn't seem to be very well organized. Check in was by hand, rather than scanning, so I'm not sure how they ensured everyone was at the drill. There was no sense of personal space during muster. We were pretty much on top of each other.

 

The ship

We loved this ship. It may very well be our favorite layout. The Royal Promenade blows away the Atrium on Princess, by far, in terms of access and flow. There's lots of unique places to hang out. There's also a wide variety of quiet/not crowded spots all over the ship to sit and read or just get away from the noise.

 

The little balconies around the elevators are something we've not seen before. Another great way to people watch and see what's going on on deck 5. (The Royal Promenade.) Clifford, the big red dog, was hanging out on one of those balconies. It's little touches like that that made the ship seem very special. We liked the large open spaces between port and starboard on the state room decks. Another quiet area to sit and ponder/watch the Promenade.

 

The elevators were great. Even on the super busy sea days, we didn't wait very long for an elevator. And they are VERY fast.

 

Our cabin

We loved our cabin. I like that the edges of the bed were rounded, to make it easier to navigate around the room. It was a comfortable bed. The balcony is a very nice size and we spent a lot of time out there, watching the ocean go by. Also, there is so much storage in this cabin! Loved the shower doors versus the clingy shower curtains.

 

The staff

The friendliest and most well-trained crew we've ever sailed with. Everywhere we went, we saw example after example of the crew using best practices, in terms of safety, cleanliness and efficieny. Even "Guest Services - The Ride," was very quick. Two of our party had to go to a very busy guest services before leaving the ship. They got through in a matter of minutes. Everywhere we went, there were plenty of crew around to offer drinks or help find things. Our experience on other ships is that asking for something from the bar while in the buffet is not a good idea. It was very smooth on the Indy. I can't say enough good things about this crew. They did a fantastic job!

 

The bars

Lots and lots of bars on this ship made getting a drink a piece of cake. We were very pleased, especially, The Dog & Badger. What a great place to sit, have a drink and people watch! We also loved Olive or Twist. Another great viewing place and it was usually pretty quiet.

 

The casino

We had a lot of fun in the casino, which is pretty well laid out, except for a few spots where people gather to watch while other people try to walk through. The smoke filters work better than any we've experienced, making our time in the casino far more pleasant than we usually experience. We did not appreciate being charged 5% to get cash from our room card. I prefer it on the other lines where my casino balance is on my room card, so that I don't have to walk the ship with cash and/or vouchers. This was a negative. The casino makes plenty of money and the 5% charge has the "nickle and dime" feel to it.

 

Deck 14

What a great spot to hang out! The flow rider is very cool. We didn't play, but there were plenty of seats to sit and watch, and that was a lot of fun! Appreciated the bar being up there - as I mentioned, you are never too far from a bar. The mini golf course was fun.

 

Grease

It's the only show we took the time to see, and we were not disappointed. We got there only 15 minutes early, so we had to sit with a partially blocked view. I don't recall the other ships having blocked views in the theater. The cast was fantastic - great singing and dancing. If you like Grease, this is a great way to see it from another POV.

 

The hard sell

We didn't experience any hard selling for drink packages, photos, or spa time. This was quite refreshing, as the other lines block you on day 1 to try and get you to listen to their sales pitch.

 

The food

 

The food on this ship was pretty awful. The main descripors would be bland, over-cooked, dry and boring. Nothing we ate over the four days was what any of us would call delicious. Some of it was good, but most was not. There were no "WOW" moments with regards to food.

 

There are times of day where there are literally just four (savory) things to choose from, food wise. The pizza at Sorrento's and three types of sandwiches at the cafe. The Windjammer was closed more often than not. Finding food between 4 - 6 p.m. was quite frustrating. Not everyone wants to eat a bacon and blue cheese sandwich that you could find at the cafe.

 

MDR

The first night, four at our table ordered the Manhatten Steak. They all found it weird. I took a bite and it was very strange. I don't have words to describe the odd texture - the closest we got was some sort of firm meat geletin. The escargot had a strange texture as well, though it was good. I ordered the al-dente pasta, which was almost mushy it was so over-cooked. My companions had some nice things to say about dessert, but no rave reviews. My ice cream had freezer burn. I usually love to indulge in a few sweet treats while on the ship, but I didn't chance it, based on my other experiences with the food.

 

There was no salt and pepper on the tables, and with the food being bland, we really could have used them.

 

We went to MDR for lunch once, and the burger was one of the better things we ate. I asked for yellow mustard, though, and he wouldn't put it on the side of my plate, he had to put it on the burger. I was very disappointed, because this mustard was more of a very strong horseradish than yellow mustard, so I had a bunless burger with no mustard.

 

Windjammer

A nice layout and easy to navigate. Better than Princess but not as good as Norwegian. The food was "meh" at best. For a few meals we chose hot dogs, because it's hard to screw that up. The French fries were tasty and a couple reported that the lobster bisque was good. Most of it was dry, chewy, bland, over-cooked, etc. I chose a hard-boiled egg for breakfast one morning, thinking that would be hard to mess up. The eggs were hot to the touch, which made it very hard to peel. (They should be put in ice water immediately after cooking to make the shell easy to peel.) The egg was quite overcooked and I couldn't finish it. The bacon was either in huge clumps of several strips or little chards of bacon. Breakfast was the worst food.

 

The staff in the Windjammer was very friendly and quick to pick up used plates and getting drinks from the bar was easy. On the other cruise lines, you wait and wait and wait for someone to bring you a Coke from the bar.

 

Sorrento's

This pizza is gross. I'm not sure how they get so many to eat it. Another weird texture and completely inedible for us. I don't think they use mozzarella cheese. The texture was more like marscipone.

 

The Cafe

A bright spot for me, though there are too few choices. Some of the mini-sandwiches were good and I enjoyed them. The specialty coffee drinks were delicious. I also enjoyed the scones. (That was probably the best thing I ate on board.)

 

Upcharge Restaurant - Johnny Rocket's

Having the sub-optimal experience with the complimentary dining choices, we went to Johnny Rocket's (upcharge $8.20 per person.) The choices were great, though even with the full drink package and the upcharge, there was another upcharge to get a shake. The fries were good, but the burgers were dry and overcooked. We could see how they could be tasty if they weren't overcooked. We only did this once.

 

Johnny Rockets was the only upcharge place we utilzed. Based on the food quality, we didn't feel like it would be worth it.

 

Disembarkation

This was a breeze. The lines were very long, but went quickly. We were probably out of the terminal 10 minutes after we got in line.

 

 

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That's it - I'll be happy to answer any questions you have.

[easyboy]

Thanks for the detailed review!

 

 

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[Clarea]

Well written report, the lack of MDR food quality seems to be getting more and more common.

[molly361]

Thanks for the review. We got off Thanksgiving day and disembarkation that day was horrible and a 2 hour process from getting in line to getting to our car. They "said" that self assist started at 6:30. I think I just read on another thread that now they say self assist starts at 7:15

[Biker19]

We got off Thanksgiving day and disembarkation that day was horrible and a 2 hour process from getting in line to getting to our car. They "said" that self assist started at 6:30.

It didn't - the CPB officers strolled into the terminal just before 7 on our sailing and the first off were around 7:15. It was not bad early (we were off at 7:45), but I could see how it got worse later.

[emory2001]

I'm glad your disembarking was easy. Independence in Ft. Lauderdale was my worst embarking and disembarking experience, and not on a holiday weekend.