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Met some fabulous people who we hope will remain friends for a long time.
Independence of the Seas is fabulous, as a structure. She is also fabulously clean and the Staff, who we came across daily, were magnificent.
But……
There was an awful lot wrong with this cruise, when compared to Voyager and Indy’s sister ship Liberty.
It became apparent very early that the customer that Independence wanted was not the “Cruiser” but people from the mass-market and I don’t mean that in any disparaging way whatsoever. Standards were way below other RCCL ships and in my humble opinion this was a deliberate ploy.
Jeans and T Shirts in the dining room on formal nights? How about a pair of flip-flops? Signs stating the opposite being blatantly ignored and not challenged. If we had been pre-warned that the dress code was to be so relaxed we wouldn’t have spent £££££’s on new clothes and outfits for the cruise.
Dining room food: -
Well cooked and well presented but dated. We were eating the same menu from 3yrs ago and nothing had changed. Disappointed.
Windjammer: -
Chaotic
Bars
EXPENSIVE
$6-95 for a beer or £4-54 is an outrageous RIP-OFF.
Entertainment
Hit & Miss
Ports
Very disappointing. $6-00 to get you to the port gates? Another RIP OFF.
Vigo shut
Tenerife shut
Gran Canaria ok
Lanzarote never even bothered getting off
Madeira RIP OFF-see above
Stateroom Attendant
Michael was superb.
Waiter and Second Waiter
Owen & Joey both superb
Head Waiter
Wouldn’t pay him in washers
Maitre de
Who is this elusive person?
Staff other than mentioned were extremely pleasant and worked very hard.
Paying the Bill
After returning from the cruise I checked my Bank Statement and the Bill from Indy had been paid. I found however, a huge £524-05 Black-Hole in my account. I phoned my bank who told me that RCCL were holding the monies, even though my bill had been paid!! I didn’t even owe them the money yet they had taken it from my account.
Not a happy bunny.
You got an awful lot wrong on this RCCL and I will certainly not be returning to Independence and likely as not, not from Southampton again.
I doubt very much if I will return to RCCL after this experience which is a shame as prior to this I sang their praises from the rooftops. It’s a further disappointment as we were looking forward to going on Oasis or Allure in the next couple of years.
Yours,
A former customer.
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