Independence of the Seas Review

4.5 / 5.0
1,703 reviews

Independence of the Seas; Cruise from Hell

Review for the Eastern Mediterranean Cruise on Independence of the Seas
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mariabennett1957
2-5 Cruises • Age 60s

Rating by category

Cabin
Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Rooms
Entertainment
Fitness & Recreation
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Additional details

Sail Date: May 2016
Cabin: Family Interior Stateroom
Traveled with children

OMG have cruised before but not with Royal Caribbean and never again. Spent my whole cruise in long ques for food, drinks, on and off ship, toilets, lifts, guest services and activities. What can I say, I can only describe it as the cruise from hell and if I could have got off and gone home I would have. They were completely over capacity and not enough crew. Guest services really did not care what you complained about, food was dreadful (something you would get in a canteen in the windjammer) which was aptly named and it was always jam packed, unable to find table and constant tannoy asking people to get up and leave their table as soon as they had eaten, no relaxing then. Dinner was no better as qued constantly to get into Romeo and Juliet dining room sometime for one hour and having an autistic child this did not go down well.

Were overcharging on the bills and double charging and yes, even though we had a drinks package we were still charged for all drinks we had in the dinning room. Even though we had paid all gratuities up front we were again still charged in the dinning room gratuities if we ordered something different from the main menu even though it was charged for extra. Kids could not get on the activities available as long ques, there were over 1,400 children on board, kids clubs could not cope and sometimes there was a ratio of 1 to 15 in the 3-5 clubs, which is totally unacceptable. Teen club had nothing much on until the evening, 8-11 appeared to just play dodge ball for a week so kids got bored with this quickly.

Whilst I cannot hold them responsible for the weather which was dreadful and 11 degrees all cruise, this meant that people stayed on board yet they still proceeded to play the movies on the pool deck (deck 11) where you would freeze to death or get blown away, only on day 5 did they decide to change things and put the movies on in the pyramid lounge inside (where it was warm). Most staff appeared miserable and some were downright rude. I paid just under £4,000 for one room with 2 adults and 2 children, inside cabin and booked direct with Royal Caribbean and there appeared to be a very different price paid if you booked with anyone else. Prices per person were from £399 to £750 and only those who booked with them direct appeared to have been ripped off, with everything. Whilst I agree you only get what you pay for and if you had only paid £1,600 for 4 of you then you could not complain but when you have paid nearly £4,000 then you expect something better.

Cabin Review

Family Interior Stateroom

Cabin FI

Cabin was kept clean and this was the only thing I could not complain about except that there were a couple of problems with the toilet once when it flushed and would not stop and flooded the bathroom but was dealt with quickly.

Port Reviews

Southampton

only boarded and got off at southampton

Bilbao

Took shuttle bus to town but had to pay 10 euros.

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