It pains me to write this because our experiences on RCI have been so positive in the past. We had a good time, because we were determined to do so, and because we met some lovely fellow passengers who made our days wonderful. But the Independence is apparently charting her own zany course outside RCI territory as we know it.

The service on this ship is broken. They don’t get it, and they don’t want to. I’ll be writing RCI directly with 11 specific examples of really bad service, but here are a few for this review. 1. The fridge in our room was hot inside, and when we reported it to our attendant, she told us nothing could be done and instructed us to call room service to order daily ice delivery (despite the card in the cabin telling us to ask the room attendant for ice). Huh. She delegated the problem to us and room service! 2. In the Schooner Bar, while the Trivia game was underway, we took a vacant table on the periphery and were ignored by the waiter and the bartender (who were watching Trivia) for ten minutes. When I approached the bartender to place an order, he looked annoyed that I had interrupted him. 3. As we were purchasing an item from an RCI kiosk, the attendant complained his replacement was way overdue. He served us politely, then said, “Thank you. As you can see, I work with idiots.” Indeed, he does.

The activities under the apparent stewardship of Joff were sparse and generally poor. Since when does watching a towel-folding or port sales pitch video on the TV in my room constitute a mention in the Compass as an actual activity? Not to mention the many wrinkle-reducing and teeth-whitening demos designed to get me to purchase spa products and services, which were listed as activities in the Compass? Strip away all the junk from the, you-know, actual activities in the Compass, and we were left with the occasional Trivia, dance lesson, and belly-flop. Round that out with a Compass listing of all the bands and shows, and bob’s your Uncle Joff, we’re done! With three sea days on this eight-day cruise, we were doing a lot of snoozing and reading. My sincere apologies to Dan Dan the Party man. I sometimes found you over the top, but at least there was something going on when you were on the ship. Read more