Great service, but they shouldn't accept chartered cruises

Item: Independence of the Seas
Rating: 3
Author: BostonSnowbird

Independence of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

BostonSnowbird

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 1 cruise (first)

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 27

Overall rating:

3 out of 5

Verified Review

5 Night Western Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)

Sail date: February 08, 2016

Ship: Independence of the Seas

Cabin type: Oceanview

Cabin number: 2612

Traveled as: Singles/Friends

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

The ship and staff were fantastic, food was awesome, and the entertainment was fabulous. Our cruise was late to start due to a prior death metal cruise that they had chartered the week before. The ship and boarding process was a wreck due to the damage control from the prior cruise. Our cruise was over 4 hours late to leave port due to unloading scaffolding from the heavy metal concert platforms; and the morale of the customers did not lighten until the 3rd day. It is sad that other customers have to suffer due to other charter cruises' mishaps.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Our waiter Fernando was absolutely fantastic! He even brought his guitar one night and sang us Happy Birthday and other songs. Truly a selfless person and made our eating experience at Table 555 fantastic.

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Children's Programs

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Very clean and more spacious than we expected. The room service and staff are very friendly and pleasant. They do a great job.

Ship tip

If it is raining on your port day there aren't many things open on the boat to do to fill time (e.g.- the casino and bars are closed, shops are closed, etc.). Bring your own entertainment or just know that you may be limited on things to do in the event you are rained out of an excursion.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida

5 out of 5

Labadee (Cruise Line Private Island)

3 out of 5

The gentleman working the desk for the water park gave us a hard time about not having tickets (although we had a wristband that proved we bought the water park/roller coaster combo). He also tried to get us to pay more money since we didn't have tickets (although our names were on the list for paying and the coaster took our tickets). The rest of the excursion staff was fine, but it isn't nice that the local Haitian staff try to scam you out of money and make you feel like an idiot (when you know they are just giving you a hard time). Outside of the cruise compound is very sketchy and poverty ridden. We saw truck loads of people being shipped to the cruise port to join us for lunch which was nice, but I didn't feel safe walking around without a RC employee.

Thumbs Up 0

Falmouth, Jamaica

1 out of 5

There are NO beaches near by to lounge at. You have to PAY for a sketchy shuttle bus to take you to a near by beach, but the town itself is in a high poverty area. I did not feel safe outside of the cruise compound and wouldn't go back to Falmouth. The vendors are very pushy and not friendly.

Thumbs Up 1

1 Comment

courtroy 8 years ago

So did they get everything back in order?? Surprised they would allow a cruise like that and not plan better for the aftermath!

Thumbs Up 0

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