Christmas on the Independence of the Seas

Author: rulocal
Date of Trip: December 2010

Lets start with the basics,

THE BOARDING PROCEDURE was the usual efficient RCCL boarding, I have never had any real problems with the RCCL boarding and this was no exception. It was as smooth and fast as usual, but then again we are Diamond members and the queue for boarding is normally shorter than the other queues. The main complaint about the boarding was not being told about the Norovirus before we boarded, and given the chance to cancel and rebook on another cruise, which was what happened to the cruise following us.

CABIN was clean and tidy, if a tad badly laid out, we had a Promenade View cabin. This was a free upgrade, so it was ok, but I would not book one again. Not much could be seen from the window except for the cabins on the opposite side. It was quiet except for the bloke next door coughing all night… lol

DINING we only used the Windjammer for various reasons, one being that the Norovirus was on board, so we kept away from the main restaurant’s and just ate in the windjammer at quiet times. The food was as usual in the windjammer, quite good if a bit samey it never changes from cruise to cruise. Also other guests who used the main restaurant’s said the food was always cold, but as I said we never used them so can’t really comment.

THE PORTS were good, although I only got off at a few, because I’d been before many times. But the ports were not the reason for the cruise. Being away from home at Christmas & New Year was the main reason, we had planned to stay on board and enjoy the ship. But with the Norovirus this was not really possible.

ENTERTAINMENT was again ok, we didn’t go to any of the RCCL singers and dancers production shows, not because they were bad in fact they are very good. But we’ve seen them all before, they have not been changed for years. There were some good guest artistes on ie. Jersey boys tribute Beatles tribute, and a zany comedian who we’ve seen a few times before but he’s still funny…just wish I could remember his name. The cruise director Joff Eaton is one of the best cruise directors we’ve had and his progressive quiz is something to behold…just about the best quiz on the seas.

BARS & DRINK PRICES were as usual on RCCL quite expensive, we were one of the lucky ones, in that being Diamond members we got free drinks in the Diamond lounge every evening between 5 & 8.30pm.

OVERALL it was a good cruise and RCCL did all they could about the Norovirus, the staff were continually cleaning and disinfecting. It was some of the passengers who were the problem, a lot of them didn’t wash their hands regularly and quite a few complained about using the hand gel provided. THE VERY BEST THING about the cruise was the people we met, especially in the Diamond lounge, we have cruised lots of times before with a lot of different companies. But we have NEVER met so many really nice people on one cruise before.

IN CONCLUSION I would give the cruise 7 out of 10 and will be sailing with RCCL again and sailing on the Indy again, just hope they change the shows by then.