Gorgeous scenery - but had to come back to the ship

Item: Independence of the Seas
Rating: 3.7
Author: CanuckCruiser20

Independence of the Seas Cruise Review to Europe - Northern Europe

CanuckCruiser20

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 58

Overall rating:

3.7 out of 5

Verified Review

8 Night Norwegian Fjords (Southampton Roundtrip)

Sail date: May 20, 2018

Ship: Independence of the Seas

Cabin number: 1374

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

Scenery was stunning, people friendly, cabin gorgeous. But the food was such a disappointment. Having to pay for everything - in-room movies, fish and chips, ice cream - was really off-putting. And there was nothing special: no afternoon teas, no special brunches, no glorious desserts. The food was presented poorly and often not prepared well. We missed the special touches from Princess: chocolates on the pillow, live string quartets, in-room movies, and the spa's Chocolate Indulgence body treatments.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

Asked for beef without sides in the dining room. Got a plate.... of beef. Not a single thing else (e.g., no parsley, no slivers of red pepper, no peppercorns, nothing). Lemon meringue gritty, chocolate cakes dry and flavourless, apple pie had no spices. Main dish risotto served in a glop with no garnishes or vegetables. Would have loved to see flambé or souffle or richer ganache instead of cream icing. Lots of berries and seafood. But everything prepared with minimal effort for presentation. Had to pay for everything extra, even the fish and chips, room service. After 9pm, only food options were room service, pizza, and sandwiches. No afternoon tea, no special brunches for sea days, no free soft-serve, no eggs benedict anywhere.

Main Dining Room

1 out of 5

Terrible presentation, very bland and boring meals with nothing adventurous or unique. Desserts were poorly prepared (dry cakes, gritty lemon curd, only strawberry/vanilla/chocolate ice cream). Themes would have been terrific. As it was, menus felt disjointed and uninspired.

Windjammer Marketplace

1 out of 5

Awful desserts and boring food; all tasted very Americanized and not authentic.

Johnny Rockets

1 out of 5

Cannot believe that we have to pay extra for this!

Chop's Grille

5 out of 5

Wonderful food. The only meal I ate on the ship where I wanted more! But this quality of food was what I expected from the dining room every night, without having to pay $35/person.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Spa services really standard, nothing unusual or exciting. Lots of water activities - but too cold to participate! Would have loved more dance lessons.

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

Room steward Syam friendly, courteous, and efficient. Waiters lovely and remembered drink orders.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ports of call

Southampton (London), England

3 out of 5

Molde, Norway

3 out of 5

So clean, but uninspiring town. Very commercial feeling.

Thumbs Up 0

Geiranger, Norway

5 out of 5

Glacier was amazing!

Thumbs Up 0

Alesund, Norway

4 out of 5

Flaam, Norway

5 out of 5

We did the Norway in a Nutshell, and saw so many beautiful things. Gorgeous. Burned through all my memory cards ;-)

Thumbs Up 3

Stavanger, Norway

5 out of 5

Beautiful town! People really friendly, lovely to just walk around.

Thumbs Up 3

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

9 Comments

astrocruiser 6 years ago

@nadara The soft serve machines had not been installed pool side yet so the only choice was to pay for Ben & Jerry's or occasionally there was ice cream in the windjammer at dinner.

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

nadara 6 years ago

Hmmm, soft serve ice cream is always free by the pool and eggs Benedict is offered in the main dining room. Sounds like maybe you had some very high expectations. And would you have really done anything with that parsley beside the beef. I doubt it. Sorry you were so disappointed. Maybe stick with Princess from now on. I love RC!

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

ssmf2013 6 years ago

🤦🏻‍♀️

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

Shh813 6 years ago

We had our grandchildren with us, ages 11 and 12 and they loved it. Rock climbing wall, Florider, miniature golf, etc. And Grease was the show, fantastic.

Thumbs Up 1

Flag

Shh813 6 years ago

Wow. We went on independence last year and it was wonderful. We had Eggs Benedict at the buffet and main dining room. We enjoyed all the food except didn't like the onion soup and it was not hot.

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

funboomer47 6 years ago

Didn't know that any of the cruiselines still did chocolates on the pillow. Cruiselines are saving a million dollars plus each year by just eliminating the chocolate on the pillows.

Thumbs Up 1

Flag

IkeDeb 6 years ago

Nice

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

safcjackdaw 6 years ago

Ive found the food spot to be honest

Thumbs Up 1

Flag

DerekMire 6 years ago

Omg

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

Other reviews of this sailing

Totally different

Very Nice Cruise

A must do cruise!