AndyPandy

I have had two RCCL cruises out of Southampton recently, both on the Anthem, a great ship. But whilst they deploy the Independence there, I am sailing another cruise line.

It was open about 10am when we went in September

Things to change. 1- Have a sail away deck party, and CD there in person not a screen. 2- Introduce each main show, be there start and end, now if this wasn’t possible, then have an assistant deputise. 3- Mingle, be circulating on the ship. My experience, bar one time, we didn’t see the CD in person, they were recorded on screen. Main shows started without introduction and some like “ The gift” we’re confusing without an introduction and even with reading the APP. The CD felt rather “ distant”.

Unfortunately not for me, so will not consider summer 2025.

Never had any issues and a light sleeper.

With Norwegian itineraries you need an inside pool, and also sailing to/from Southampton the weather is unpredictable, even in summer. We sailed IOTS to the Mediterranean from Southampton one August itinerary, and the first and last two days were rough near the bay of biscay. Having been on both I would definitely say AOTS is bigger than IOTS, better specialty restaurants and better shops. IOTS is considerably older, than AOTS

Independence is a downgrade in ship from the Anthem in Europe- Southampton. Seems the U.K. market isn’t valued enough.

Not yet, you probably will know this Wednesday

I agree it’s own perception, but, I have sailed both. AOTS has an inside pool and solarium, we sailed to Norway this year the weather was fantastic, but, I would say 95% of people on the top decks were in the inside pool area or solarium. Only outside tubs in use. IOTS we sailed Southampton to the Mediterranean and back, the first two and last days were bad over the Bay of Biscay and we arrived late in Gibraltar by hours. It was cold on deck those days. So sailing from Southampton is a lottery until you go further south. AOTS had We will rock you as entertainment, but the shows imho was poor on IOTS with a poor cruise director. The speciality restaurants were far better on AOTS. Our ship was nearly all British and full to 4K plus passengers, sailing Norway, so I do think getting a 15yo ship instead of say 6yo ship is a massive downgrade and clearly shows RCCL do not value the U.K. market? My views, from sailing both. Plus I think just one 12 night itinerary and most 7-9 which again is a reduction on choice in 2023/2024. When RCCL have new ships to hand, yes the newest will always sail in US as it’s most. Competitive there, but do not downgrade the U.K. market when they can give something equal or better. Orher lines, say Disney, upgraded European sailings with a bigger and newer ship from this year, with rumours of another swap in 2025.

So it’s rumoured that the Independence is back to U.K. from summer 2025 and the U.K. looses the Anthem. Why is RCCL downgrading the U.K. cruise market when other lines are sending improved ships?

I was on AOS last month, only Spectra’s required pre booking, nothing else.

The lady at reception always let us in.

We asked for a few things. Request- decaf tea bags and decaf coffee in the room. - Done. Request paper cruise compass in the room- Done. CK dinner booking. Priority disembarking in one port, not tendering, given a number to call if we encounter issues, only cruise director got in the way!

On AOS in suite lounge they asked on every drink.

Mine did

Hello. just re read the whole thread, I can’t see anyone saying, about “A story” re Spectra’s? Which annoys you? I said, technically good but after the first song went a bit weird. There were teasers that good songs would be sung, but they never then actually used them. Yes no story, never expected it, but with a cabaret, you expect the performance level to stay at the high level of the opening song which promised so much, but the rest didn’t deliver. Again many walk outs in our performance, so something wasn’t engaging with a lot of the audience. When I spoke to our group afterwards, everyone had the same opinion. “It’s a bit weird”. I agree re “The gift” basically it’s a load of songs strung together. So maybe should be advertised as a concert? We will rock you, so that is basically a Queen greatest hits, but Ben Elton has written quite a clever story to weave into it, and whilst quite light hearted as Ben’s style, it was easy to follow. It had a better, “link” than “The gift” but some might just go for the song performances. It’s a “known and understood” celebration of Queen.

I was on AOS last week, we had a get show We will rock you, but the Gift and Spectra's cabaret were confusing and weird. I read the APP re “The gift” but as it didn’t have any introduction from the CD, it was very confusing. In fact up to the song, “unwritten” by Natasha Beddingfield, I was completely confused. Spectra’s started well with Hit me with your rhythm stick, by Ian Dury then went in a strange direction. Technically it was brilliant, but missed the point, and again, no introduction. we had one great magician, then another guest artist, David Copperfield. The app had a picture of a top hat and a bunny coming out, but it wasn’t a magic show, it was poor imitation of some singers and disgusting jokes. To say there was a steady stream of audience members leaving, was an understatement, more of a torrent, and he cleared two thirds of the Royal theatre. I think they booked the wrong artist, and going out at 8pm was wrong. Overall the AOS Entertainment last week was disappointing, poor, lack of any introductory setting the scene, and bar, The Queen musical, we will rock you, terrible. Many thought the same, as evidenced by the people leaving. I think the shows should have an explanation, the introduction which will help, and the APP to be more explanatory.

I would say from experience, recently, some meals took a long time. Jamie’s over 2 hours. Chops , was going on so long, we would miss the show, so dropped dessert. And Izumi was empty every time was walked past, and on one occasion there was a team talk going on, saying we have “one” cover tonight.

Thank you.

Another related point, I know concierge will help with priority “tendering” when there is tendering. My question is what about if you have a mid morning arrival in port, and everybody is up and there will be a sudden rush to get off the ship, with potential queues. Will concierge help with that? Say if there is two exits running, a “meet and escort off”.

Thank you, an hour later they contacted.

When should concierge make contact with you? My cruise is in 6 days? And anyone have the contact for Anthem concierge?

Thank you