3trinitythree

Thanks

On our last cruise to watch a couple return 30 mins late AFTER the ship had waited for them was one of the highlights of the cruise. They were so drunk they could barely stand and police had escorted them to the ship. I believe the Captain or security refused them onboard and after the couples friends had got off to argue with the decision, the ship left without them. A harsh lesson not to get bladdered while in port and always check when the ship leaves.

Just booked for a cruise for mid June but this time gone with a guaranteed cabin so therefore we won’t know our cabin until nearer the date. Anybody had experience of this before, is it on the day when you check in you receive the cabin number, is it a risk doing this in regards of cabin quality/location as it’s the first time we’ve done it this way? Thanks

Tried a dummy booking today as an offer st the moment is free drinks packages, however at the end of the booking it says ‘promo E’. Anyone have any ideas as to whether this is the all inclusive offer, or something else? It just seems odd at the beginning it clearly states ‘all inclusive’ until the end of the booking when it changes to ‘promo E’. As a side note, it’s not that much of a bargain as the prices have increased £300p.p. since last week, so in truth the drinks are exactly a freebie.

Thanks, its what I’m ntending to do, no chance of booking early at those prices, absolute madness.

Not so delighted this morning. Prices just released and although I was expecting a price hike against what I paid for the Indy, I wasn’t expecting the price to double. Paid £1100 pp for the Indy, similar itinerary and date for the Anthem is coming in at £2399. Certainly not paying that, hopefully independent cruise companies are lower than the RCI website.

Delighted to hear this news this morning, I’ll be glad to board a different ship to the Independence without the need to fly.

I’ve personally never cruised with them before, however my parents who have been on 30+ cruises with various companies say as others have said above - tiny balcony and bathroom plus poor food compared to others. My brother and his family have also gone with NCL, but many years back and prefers RCI. I am tempted with the new ship Bliss, but I keep thinking about the cruise credits I’d miss out on which would take me to Diamond.

Nice work ?

Completely agree. When we went away we put our phones in the safe and that’s where they stayed for 2 weeks, it was a refreshing change not to hear the OH going on about what’s happening on Facebook, and I honestly didn’t miss my phone. The only thing my daughter used hers for was to take pictures. As for these price hikes, I’m not sure where it’s going to end, it’s not as if the rises are slight increases, 20% ?

Agree with the Top Tier ice show, seemed the skaters just turned up in their training gear, and the queues were massive, although once in there it didn’t seem full. We also overheard many others moaning in relation to the downturn in RC compared to previous cruises. ‘Overall we enjoyed the cruise, it’s just that each cruise before has been almost perfect, and this time around this problems I’ve already listed soured our experience, personally I’m hopeing that an Oasis style ships comes to Southampton in 2020, something that I heard onboard but have yet to hear for definite it’s happening.

We did. ?

We did traditional dining first sitting at 6pm. We did speak to a couple who were pinnacle C&A members who were far from impressed with having to queue for many things, hopefully it’s just teething troubles as staff get used to the extra workload they have.

An in room kettle is available, even in staterooms, albeit a tiny one which is still enough for 2 mugs of tea/coffee. I love your idea of an iron room, I would’ve looked a lot smarter on occasions if that was available ? Agree with the WJ being available later in the evening. Personally I’d love to see some of the small touches return, when I first cruised with RC in 2006, chocolates on the pillow, the midnight buffet, chocolate party and the pool party have all disappeared. Also found last week the welcome aboard carved fruits and ice sculptures are no longer in the WJ, instead just a welcome aboard cake was at the front. Some of the events now have become $ costed now, whereas before they were free to participate in.

Decided to give JR a go last week onboard the Indy, a big increase in cost and I’m of the opinion it isn’t worth it. As I’ve said earlier here, the rising costs seem to be affecting these places, such as JR and Fish n Ships, the quality of food doesn’t seem worth the additional cost. Whilst we ate there it was very quiet with just three other tables seated, and when passing other times seemed only the crew eat there. I found the burger when ordered room service to be superb and well worth the cover charge.

We pre booked Chops Grille lunches before we cruised at £14 each, that was with the pre cruise discount on offer, was definitely worth that but it certainly felt like RC were inflating a lot of prices whilst on board. An example of this is the new sweet shop, daughter bought a small handful at a cost of $10. Understandably didn’t see many people in there throughout the cruise, to me it seems the cost of the refurbished ships are to blame for the rocketing prices onboard

On the Independence it was movies by the pool,each evening, apart from the one night when they had a Dancing Under The Stars night, then they had the movie in the theatre.

I though I’d add here of my experience of my recent cruise onboard the new renovated Independence of the Seas between the 2-16th June. I’ll start off by saying it was the sixth cruise with RCI, once onboard the Voyager and the fifth on the Indy. Each time I’ve been I’d recommend RCI to everyone, but not anymore the Independence I’m afraid, the refurbishment with the additional rooms which brings another 500 passengers onboard to 4150 is just too much. So many places were overcrowded, most people are aware what mayhem the Windjammer is at peak times, but the whole ship seemed like that this cruise. One problem is the main dining rooms, with the additional tables added it’s difficult to manoeuvre between the chairs and tables, something a lot of waiting staff were telling passengers. The usual problem with sun beds was just made more problematic on sunny days, and on a day at sea when it was windy and overcast (sailing between Madeira and La Coruña) with everyone being inside queuing for a speciality coffee took 40 minutes. We also found the main dining room experience slightly tarnished as the wait between courses was some days up to 30 mins, I don’t think the waiters can deal with the additional tables when it’s full. One place we never see anywhere near busy was Fish n Ships, infact I only saw a few people eating there. I can’t see that staying to be honest, when you take into account how much a simple fish and chip dinner costs. Additional problems on board we encountered were a galley brunch we had ordered before cruising on the last day was changed to two days earlier, not a problem you’d think. Trouble being our stateroom attendant put the notification in our room the evening AFTER the event. A refund was issued and a complimentary Chops Grille was given, but we’d missed the brunch which we had done before on previous cruises and enjoyed. The last problem onboard I found was our main dining room waiter, a week into the cruise he mentioned the guest satisfaction survey we’d receive after our cruise and how vital it was to him that we scored him well. Now, I don’t mind him telling us that once, but that evening he spent each course asking if he’d score a 10 from us which slightly annoyed me. The following evening and the one thereafter was the same, with him even telling my daughter to make sure we give him a 10 score, that was enough for me and we only dined again there on the last formal night, he really did sour the whole evening experiences for us. I will add the other waiter was an absolute pleasure to know, polite, funny and a credit to RCI. Now on to the plus points. The new additions, the water slides, laser tag and skypad are superb. Great fun for us all and really do add to the cruise, we spent many hours enjoying these activities. The escape room was also a great hour spent, I’d never done one before and really enjoyed it and got to make some new friends while playing it. Managed to escape with 9 minutes left. We also dined at Izumi, and what a superb night that was. Atmosphere, food and the whole experience was one of the best, chef Elvis was a pleasure to meet, definitely worth the additional cost for the meal. We also tried Johnny Rockets, a good time with some nice food, although the additional cost doesn’t seem warranted in my opinion. The tours we did with RCI were handles well and ran very well as usual, booked four but one trip was cancelled which was disappointing, other days at port we did our thing which we find more enjoyable. If you ever go to Madeira go on a catamaran dolphin and whale watching, a three trip and a reasonable price and a fantastic experience seeing turtles, whales and dolphins up close. It was the highlight of the cruise, as was Lanzarote, albeit an exhausting one, hired bicycles just outside the port and followed the path 8 miles to the next town. Beautiful weather and scenery, and stopped for a lovely lunch by the beach and tried out the jet skis, another great experience. Overall we had a great holiday again with RCI, but it’s the first time I've finished a cruise and not wanted to go back immediately, certainly not on the Independence. I’ll have to overcome my fear of flying and cruise on another ship, or consider the Navigator which sails from Southampton, I’d love to see Norway some time. I’ve waffled on far too long now, so if you’ve got this far thank you for reading. Take care and happy cruising to you all.

Got to agree, seems a steep rise for a burger meal. If it’s the same on the Indy next week, I won’t be eating there.

Back when they announced the refit I saw videos stating they would have the three water slides, but the new pics have just The Perfect Storm slides and not the inflatable ring slide on the other side of the Flowrider. Does anyone know the reason why?

It’s the only way I can log in, by using my full email address.

Excellent list that, wonder if it’s possible to work your way through the lot in one cruise.

Will follow this thread as my daughter has this drinks package. She’s become bored with just the soda package, so she’s looking forward to trying to cocktails

Getting exactly the same problem tonight, unable to see my cruise planner where I’ve already booked shore excursions

It’s awful and not working very well. Troublesome if you need to pay the balance on a cruise and it won’t allow you