Review of Independence of the seas, Med cruise Jul/Aug 2019.

[towny44]

A warning for P&O cheerleaders, this review contains negative comments that might offend your sensibilities!

For many people a cruise during school holidays would be a nightmare, even for those with children, and a cruise on a giant ship like Royal Caribbean's Independence of the seas would be even worse. We were cruising with our youngest son's family of 2 boys aged 4 and 8, and 4 adults and. Although it was her choice of holiday my wife was somewhat apprehensive, she felt reasonably certain that our grandsons would have the time of their life, she also hoped that our son and DIL would enjoy themselves, and she was determined that she would not show any signs that she was not enjoying herself. On about day 3 she confided to me as we sat relaxing under the shade of the lido deck, while our family were having fun in the pool, that she was "warming" to this ship, and by day 14 she was as enthusiastic as the rest of the family that this had been a fantastic holiday and that Indie was a beautiful ship with an absolutely magnificent crew, and if Royal Caribbean can satisfy my wife then they must be doing something right.
Listing everything we enjoyed about this cruise would be quite extensive, but I suppose it revolved around three main factors, the quality and design of the ship, the entertainment offered on board and the service standards of the excellent crew.

The ship is definitely much better designed than any of the current P&O fleet, and we have now sailed on all of them at least once. The passenger flow is much easier, despite there only being 2 lift and stair wells; the main midships lifts are set fairly well aft just ahead of the 3 tier MDR on decks 3,4 and 5, and the Windjammer buffet on deck 11, and at the start of the Royal Promenade on deck 5. This is RCI’s signature entertainment and shopping venue which is open up to deck 8. As a result this is the busiest area but with 8 very large lifts it copes remarkably well. The other lifts are forward at the other end of the Royal Promenade, and these have 6 very large lifts serving passengers in the forward section of the ship. The Royal promenade can get quite busy in the evenings, especially as shows in the theatre on deck 3 forward, or the Star Lounge on deck 5 forward are finishing, but probably not quite as busy as the areas around the midship show lounges on P&O’s big 3. The children’s pool area, splash away bay, and the features on the upper decks, water chutes, flowrider, VR trampolines, climbing wall as well as ice skating in studio B, are all of course non-existent on P&O, which some of you will doubtless say, thank goodness, but these are all in discrete zones and can be avoided by those not interested, and the ship is big enough to have plenty of deck space for those wanting to sunbathe or just relax. It does have a similar wide promenade deck to Azura/Ventura with lots of very comfy seats; and you can get all the way to the pointy bit at the front where there is a heli pad and space for you to take selfies doing your Leonardo dicaprio and Kate Winslet Titanic impressions, as indeed most people do. From a wheelchair user’s perspective possibly one of the best features is the ramp access from the normal deck 1 gangway exit down onto the tender platform, and the fact that RCI hire in shore based boats that allow for roll on gangway access from the platform. This enables any full time wheelchair user, or someone who cannot pass the P&O step over test to go ashore by tender, and this along with lots of other useful accessibility issues were fully explained to wheelchair passengers at a special briefing from the hotel director on the sea day before our first port of call, at which he made it clear that they aim to please all their passengers.

The ship offers similar entertainment to P&O with guest entertainers and production shows in the theatre, game shows, dancing and live music in the Star lounge as well as several bars with live music and of course lots of quizzes in all the venues throughout the day. The standard of the house bands was, in my opinion, better than those generally on P&O, but not significantly. However where RCI excels is with the West End production shows, a 90 minute Grease show on Indie, and the superb ice shows in the Studio B ice rink midships on deck 3. The bars do get busy but we generally found seats in Boleros or the Champagne bar, Olive or Twist, RCI’s equivalent of the crows nest is a nice enough bar but not especially wheelchair friendly, and the service here was below par. Poolside drinks service is frequent and varied, with lots of iced carts serving chilled beer, but I found the free soft serve ice cream the best for keeping me cool.

Then we come to RCI’s best feature which is the service standards from the entire crew. Indie holds about the same number of passengers as Britannia (3600) and has similar crew numbers (1365 vs 1350) but those extra 15 certainly make their presence felt. The shiny glass and steel surfaces all over the ship are kept scrupulously clean, and the outside windows are also cleaned, our balcony glass fronts were cleaned twice on our cruise and the balcony itself, including the furniture, was thoroughly cleaned as well. Needless to say the buffet is also well looked after, the tables are cleared promptly and thoroughly wiped down for the next passengers, and the section head waiters also help in these tasks, as well as seeking out any comments or issues that passengers might have. All the waiters are constantly checking if you want any drinks or any help with carrying anything back to your table; they are always on the lookout to see if you need help. Pauline always wants me to replace the chair I move to accommodate her wheelchair as we leave the buffet, and even the tiny oriental waitresses tried to stop, me claiming it was too heavy for me! The entire ship is kept litter free and the deck attendants regularly patrol their area clearing away any food or drink crockery, and 3500-4000 passengers do create an enormous amount of litter, but it’s never left to ferment for a whole day, as it sometimes does on P&O. These standards were also repeated by our stateroom attendant (steward) who was certainly one of the best we have experienced; sometimes he was still working at going up to 2 pm, but was back out setting up for the evening clean up and turn down service by 5:30pm.

The accommodation was at least as good as P&O, we had an accessible cabin, which is bigger than normal, it compared very favourably with the best that P&O offer, but with some extra little touches. The bathroom had a mirror fronted corner cabinet, rather than just mirrors, which provided ample storage for all our toiletries, and the wet room drainage ensured the water did not spill out over the floor outside the shower area, which can be a problem on P&O. There was an extra window in addition to the glass balcony doors which meant the room was much brighter, although this only features in the wider accessible cabins, the wardrobe base was at floor level, and carpeted, which gives a much deeper hanging space for the ladies to hang their dresses. It had a bigger TV but RCI also seem to have ditched the interactive facility, although they do have a mobile app with free access which gives you up to date account info, as well as daily entertainment schedules and the ability to book speciality restaurants, or reserve an MDR table and time, as well as probably plenty more that those more savvy than me would find useful. Our son’s cabin was considered a superior balcony cabin, but was smaller than the De Luxe balconies on P&O’s big 3, but it did have a sofa bed rather than drop down bunks, making it possibly more akin to the balconies with shower and sofa on Britannia. The next grade up is a junior suite which would have been quite a bit more expensive, but these are definitely bigger and better than P&O’s deluxe cabins. There could have been more drawer space, the bedside tables only have one small drawer and an open shelf underneath, there are 4 fairly small drawers under the dressing table, and some even tinier ones at the sides of the mirror and there are 2 sets of shelves in the wardrobe, but we did manage to empty our cases and find room for everything.
Overall the food was up to the best P&O standard, and in the buffet there was a bigger choice at all the meal times, but there is no lido grill, so if you fancy a burger, hot dog or slice of Pizza for lunch out on deck, you need to get it from the buffet. On the Royal Promenade there is Sorrento’s offering Pizza, pies or toasted sandwiches, and Café Promenade which also feature light snacks, these are all included in your cruise price, We did try the extra cost speciality Italian, Giovanni’s Table and Izumi the Japanese restaurant as well as Johnny Rockets burger bar. The Italian was OK but not up to the quality of Celebrity’s Tuscan Grill or P&O’s Epicurean; the Japanese is called Hibachi by RCI but it is a standard Teppanyaki set up, we thoroughly enjoyed both its theatre, and the food, it’s all to a set script but great fun nonetheless; Johnny Rockets was enjoyable for a change, the burgers were a step up from the make your own style in the buffet and we did get to enjoy the staff dancing to “Rockin Robin” during our visit. The only downside was the way RCI operate their freedom dining, it is called My Time dining so no surprise that they do, in fact actively encourage, you to book a regular table at a time of your choice. Anyway this led to long queues, and frequent uses of a pager before you could get a table, and we felt this totally negated the benefit that we so enjoy with freedom dining on P&O. Perhaps it was because it was school holidays with lots of large family groups that led to a high percentage booking tables, however this led to lots of set tables sitting unused for long periods. Fortunately, as wheelchair users, we were untroubled by these issues, from the first night we were given priority by the restaurant manager, and allowed to by-pass all the queues, which was excellent. However we normally sail outside school holidays, so maybe the queuing would not be as big a problem in term time.

To sum up, would Royal Caribbean suit you, well the ships are certainly better designed and, IMO, the décor is much more attractive than on P&O, they also have far more facilities, and the service is light years better. The passenger mix on board for this cruise was nearly all from the UK and, because it was school holidays, predominantly young families, but we were pleasantly surprised that, in the main, the children were well behaved and we did not experience any bad behaviour; maybe all the activities contributed to this by tiring everyone out, including the adults, and eliminating any frustration. RCI also manage to squeeze more ports into their itineraries, we had 8 on our 14 night cruise, P&O’s 14 nt med cruises normally have only 7 and sometimes less. I realise that some people enjoy sea days, but if you need an extra day on board you can always stay on board and enjoy a fairly empty ship. Yes it was very full, but because of the extra length and beam there is far more deck space than you get even on Britannia, and the sun loungers were not crammed together. We did normally have to move one out to make room for the wheelchair, but they do generally allow some walking space around them. Despite its size Indie is very nimble and manoeuvrable and seemed much smoother than Ventura, which, IMO, does roll far too much for my liking. So if you are beginning to feel a little jaded with your P&O cruise then I would certainly recommend trying Royal Caribbean,. But there is one major drawback and that is the overall cost, from the price of the cruise, the cost of drinks, and or drinks packages, and probably the cost of shore excursion prices, as well as the gratuity charge of $14.50pp per person, although this is discretionary, and from my observation many passengers do take advantage of this.

Maybe after a post Brexit boom Sterling will regain most of its lost value, and RCI prices will fall, one can but hope.

[barney]

Thanks for the great review.

We tried Indy quite a few years back and enjoyed it but no desire to sail on her again.

Our on board spend was much, much more than our usual P&O bill.
Overall we had no issues but both agreed that we preferred the P&O product.

Glad you enjoyed it though.

[Mervyn and Trish]

We enjoyed Indy when we tried her. Great ship with a real wow factor but not for us. Too in your face and too many insincere "have a nice days". But it's horses for courses. Good that other cruise lines are available

We still like the P&O ships. What's starting to put us off is some of the other passengers. Low prices are attracting too many booze cruisers. But if we move on it's likely to be Cunard, Princess or maybe Saga, which we're trying early next year.

[Manoverboard]

… I suppose it revolved around three main factors, the quality and design of the ship, the entertainment offered on board and the service standards of the excellent crew.

Thanks for doing the report ' Towny '

I was disappointed to discover that the ' food ' didn't make the top three and wasn't as good or better as Celebrity Specialist restaurants nor even P&O's finest. This being the case it deffo ain't for us Darzet foodies … but glad to note that you and your family all enjoyed ' Indi '.

[oldbluefox]

Thanks for the review towny. We tried RCI a few years ago now and found there were pluses and minuses. The ship was lovely with great facilities, good service from the crew, the buffet was better and the entertainment in the theatre was superior to that on offer from P&O. On the downside we weren't impressed by the dinner offering which we found unimaginative and we found a few little hordes of feral kids making nuisances of themselves. They did do a magnificent chocoholics evening but as this was held late in the evening and we had only just come out from dinner a couple of hours earlier there was no way we could even attempt it!! However it did look very impressive.
As you say it is horses for courses but I am pleased that you enjoyed it.

[Jan Rosser]

Interesting read John - I’ve almost completed my review of my Baltic cruise - not quite as favourable as yours but enjoyed nevertheless. Surprised to find I was a Platinum member but not a clue what it meant having cruised with RCI only once before.

[towny44]

Interesting read John - I’ve almost completed my review of my Baltic cruise - not quite as favourable as yours but enjoyed nevertheless. Surprised to find I was a Platinum member but not a clue what it meant having cruised with RCI only once before.

I look forward to reading your review Jan and comparing notes. We are Diamond on RCI due entirely to our Celebrity cruises, it has one or two nice perks, the best being 3 free drinks every night at any bar or dining room between happy hours of 5:00 - 8:30pm.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Interesting read John - I’ve almost completed my review of my Baltic cruise - not quite as favourable as yours but enjoyed nevertheless. Surprised to find I was a Platinum member but not a clue what it meant having cruised with RCI only once before.

I look forward to reading your review Jan and comparing notes. We are Diamond on RCI due entirely to our Celebrity cruises, it has one or two nice perks, the best being 3 free drinks every night at any bar or dining room between happy hours of 5:00 - 8:30pm.

So if you get the free drinks package perk when you book as well you can get totally slaughtered every night!

[Stephen]

Interesting read John - I’ve almost completed my review of my Baltic cruise - not quite as favourable as yours but enjoyed nevertheless. Surprised to find I was a Platinum member but not a clue what it meant having cruised with RCI only once before.

I look forward to reading your review Jan and comparing notes. We are Diamond on RCI due entirely to our Celebrity cruises, it has one or two nice perks, the best being 3 free drinks every night at any bar or dining room between happy hours of 5:00 - 8:30pm.

So if you get the free drinks package perk when you book as well you can get totally slaughtered every night!

We have only done one cruise where a drinks package was included in the price, which was on your favourite cruise line Merv, Celebrity . And to be honest we only saw one person who was a bit worse for wear, and was good as gold as someone helped him back to his cabin. And no, it wasn't me.

[Jan Rosser]

Interesting read John - I’ve almost completed my review of my Baltic cruise - not quite as favourable as yours but enjoyed nevertheless. Surprised to find I was a Platinum member but not a clue what it meant having cruised with RCI only once before.

I look forward to reading your review Jan and comparing notes. We are Diamond on RCI due entirely to our Celebrity cruises, it has one or two nice perks, the best being 3 free drinks every night at any bar or dining room between happy hours of 5:00 - 8:30pm.

Oh that might explain my Platinum status then if they count Celebrity cruises - we went quite often with them - did the Panama Canal and Greek islands in 2006 (the year my husband passed away) plus several in previous years but none since.

[cruisin_duo]

Thanks for the review.

[Happydays]

Thank you for taking the time to write your review, I always enjoying reading people's experiences on their cruise good or bad

[Kenmo1]

I would certainly recommend trying Royal Caribbean,. But there is one major drawback and that is the overall cost, from the price of the cruise, the cost of drinks, and or drinks packages, and probably the cost of shore excursion prices, as well as the gratuity charge of $14.50pp per person, although this is discretionary, and from my observation many passengers do take advantage of this.

Thank you for a very enjoyable review, towny. I am so pleased you and your wife enjoyed the holiday. I think the quote above tends to explain why we tend to cruise mainly with P&O but I can quite understand why some people prefer other cruise lines.

Maureen

[towny44]

Interesting read John - I’ve almost completed my review of my Baltic cruise - not quite as favourable as yours but enjoyed nevertheless. Surprised to find I was a Platinum member but not a clue what it meant having cruised with RCI only once before.

I look forward to reading your review Jan and comparing notes. We are Diamond on RCI due entirely to our Celebrity cruises, it has one or two nice perks, the best being 3 free drinks every night at any bar or dining room between happy hours of 5:00 - 8:30pm.

So if you get the free drinks package perk when you book as well you can get totally slaughtered every night!

I try to avoid being drunk in charge of a wheelchair.

[Stephen]

I look forward to reading your review Jan and comparing notes. We are Diamond on RCI due entirely to our Celebrity cruises, it has one or two nice perks, the best being 3 free drinks every night at any bar or dining room between happy hours of 5:00 - 8:30pm.

So if you get the free drinks package perk when you book as well you can get totally slaughtered every night!

I try to avoid being drunk in charge of a wheelchair.

That's not what I've heard. It's like being on the dodgems and a roller coaster all at the same time after 9 O'clock according to Mrs T