School holidays Med Cruise

Item: Independence of the Seas
Rating: 4.3
Author: quail12

Independence of the Seas Cruise Review to Europe - Western Mediterranean

quail12

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 39

Overall rating:

4.3 out of 5

14 Night Mediterranean Highlights (Southampton Roundtrip)

Sail date: July 29, 2017

Ship: Independence of the Seas

Cabin number: 9259

Traveled as: Large Group

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

Great for families . A good mix of age groups . Avoid the school holidays if you don't like kids as there were over 1000 on this cruise . This suited us though

Embarkation

3 out of 5

We did not know we needed a letter from a solicitor to take our nephew away with us . He has travelled on numerous cruises with us previously with no issues . RCL were very accommodating but we did have to send my sister a letter which she had to copy by hand word for word and return this to RCL . This delayed our embarkation by half an hour. One of our drinks packages had also not been added to our sea pass

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Main dining room was excellent as was Chops Grill , however this was quite pricey at 35 dollars pp. The food in the buffet was very good. A good selection too . This got very busy as you would expect from 9 am till 10.30. Go to breakfast early or try Romeo and Juliets which was a self service breakfast , much nicer but less choice . The drinks on board were all premium brands . Plenty of staff. We never waited long for a drink

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

Flow rider and climbing wall were good . Some queues at certain times but we were in the school holidays . We did manage to get on Flow rider one day when we were in dock with no queue . I suppose a tip would be not to go to these or the mini golf on a sea day

Entertainment

4 out of 5

Some really good shows . Grease is brilliant but get there 45 mins before the show if you need more than two seats together . Take That show was very good too

Children's Programs

3 out of 5

Our teenagers met some people but didn't spend much time on the teen Zone

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

Our cabin steward on deck 9 , Vilas was superb . Some of the bar staff were excellent but the odd one was quite miserable . Overall good

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

I can't see why some people criticise this ship . It was lovely even though there is some refurb next year

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

Spacious , clean . We only have inside cabins so don't spend too much time inside . Plenty of space for clothes . Bit disappointed that every movie was chargeable so we didn't use this option . Tea and coffee making facilities were available which is nice first thing in the morning