Does RCI live up to the hype?

[g8rmomx2]

Absolutely understand the point you're trying to make. Thanks for the review. Sometimes it feels like on the 3 day cruises they're trying to tell you how to fill out your departure forms before you've had the muster drill. I agree that the Flow Rider and Rock Climbing Wall, along with the skating rink, are signature items of these bigger ships, and you'd think that they'd want to give that experience to as many people as possible.:)

[Jo and Rob]

Absolutely understand the point you're trying to make. Thanks for the review. Sometimes it feels like on the 3 day cruises they're trying to tell you how to fill out your departure forms before you've had the muster drill. I agree that the Flow Rider and Rock Climbing Wall, along with the skating rink, are signature items of these bigger ships, and you'd think that they'd want to give that experience to as many people as possible.:)

 

Yes, it is surprising they don't!

[Bakincakes]

I agree that three day cruises are basically "samplers" and agree things should be more available to those doing the sampling.

 

I also agree with the poster that points out that seeing everything or doing everything is nearly impossible on a three day.

 

Unless you are trying to rack up a few points I don't see the benefit of a three day even for those new to cruising. Just doesn't seem to be beneficial in the end.

[kborth]

Well I think its' a shame that everything wasn't open. The OP had a right to expect that the things advertised would be available to her family. That's the whole point of the big ship experience isn't it?If you are trying to get repeat business then you pull out the stops on shorter crusies to get them back.

[Jo and Rob]

Well I think its' a shame that everything wasn't open. The OP had a right to expect that the things advertised would be available to her family. That's the whole point of the big ship experience isn't it?If you are trying to get repeat business then you pull out the stops on shorter crusies to get them back.

 

My point exactly!

[peteukmcr]

Thanks for your review and the video. I've toyed with the idea of a short break in IOS from Southampton, but to be honest I think the prices are too expensive for a 3 night sailing, especially when things like the MDR are not officially open for lunch etc.

 

With regard to smoking, it is allowed on the cabin balcony.

 

As for the activities, it is unfortunate that they did not extend the opening hours of some of the facilities, but as has been said, a 3 day sailing to experience all a Freedom class ship has to offer is pushing it. We've sailed on Freedom twice on 7 night itineraries and I still haven't used the Flowrider or been ice skating.

 

Maybe that's why we're doing a 14 night TA on Liberty, there should be no excuse then for using all the facilities a Freedom class ship has to offer.

 

Oh and by the way, in answer to your question 'Does RCI live up to the hype?' which nobody has appeared to answer, then IMHO, yes.

 

The facilities and activites advertised on Freedom class ships appear to have been available, albeit for shorter periods of time than considered acceptable, but then unless there was something specifically in the cruise details that was not provided, then RCI have delivered.

 

It's not as though the cruise was advertised as docking in Toulon like our Adventure sailing, and in fact you dock in another town completely. This sailing provided was as advertised as far as I can see.

[eal]

Thank you for the great review and the video. Your kids are adorable and it looks like they had a great time! What nice memories to have.

[marci22]

Royal heavily promotes activities such as the Flowrider and the rock wall and they should have these activities available unless conditions are unsafe (weather mainly).

 

Maybe they felt that closing off the morning hours was reasonable as it is less crowded at that time, but that is when you really get a chance to utilize them. Waiting half hour or more for a 30sec Flowrider ride is not fun. They are selling the ship to young families based on activities so they shouldn't turn around and say "well, there is trivia", or "you could get a drink at the Schooner bar". The kids are excited to be going on a ship with fun activities and they should be open more than half a day.

[ChipLondon]

Thank you for posting such an in depth and well written review, I am glad that over all you enjoyed your first cruise with RC. It appears that despite a few niggles they were able to impress you, and clearly that is not always an easy task. Can I ask what you would have liked to be added to the choice of food in the WJ.

I am sure that if you get chance to experience a longer cruise you and your children would really enjoy the items that you missed out on.

 

quote=Jo and Rob;24742067].......... I was underwhelmed with quality and choice of the food. ........... There was a salad bar, mini sandwiches, pizza, burgers, hotdogs, a carvery, curries, casseroles etc. .........

[bwest the man]

Maybe the reason for not having the flowrider open in the morning as well as the rock wall is that your in port. The port you are in doesn't like when the ship has acctivities going keeping people on the ship. The ship and por. Most likely have an agreement on these things. You have to pick between a port intesive cruise with few sea days or a ship intensive cruise with multiple sea days. Plus the crew that runs it probally needs a break. They have other responiblities too. It is very tireing to run the wall and the flowrider. You have to have a longer cruise to experience all the things that a big ship like ios has to offer.

[klingoncruiser]

Thanks for the nice review. I have to agree with others that the 3 day cruise is not one to really see what the ship has to offer.

[abhb]

Are you sure that you enjoyed you cruise? Your review makes me wonder since you talk about so many things that you were disappointed with. I read your "pre" cruise posts and it seems that you were apprehensive to go on this cruise. You have stated that venues were not available. It appears that they were not available when "you" wanted them to be available. Most venues are not open during port days. When they were open did you really expect to not have a wait with that many people onboard? Everytime I have been a ship there have been lines for most activities. It is something that you have to expect with that many people onboard. I think your expectations were a little unrealistic for a 3 day cruise on such a large ship with so many people:rolleyes:.

 

Maybe you should consider a longer cruise so you can do more over a longer period of time. You said that you have sailed Princess before. Have you ever done a 3 day with them? If so, maybe you could do a comparison of 3 day on Princess vs. 3 day on RCL. Were you able to do everything that you wanted to, at the times you wanted to on Princess? Just curious.

 

BTW-I am not a RCL cheerleader or champion.

[Bobal]

Jo

Thanks for the review and what a lovely video, it makes me wish we'd started cruising with our kids when they were younger.

 

I do wonder, and please don't take this the wrong way, if perhaps your expectations were so high for this cruise that you were bound to be a bit disappointed. I've seen your name a lot on the boards over the last few months (you've clocked up quite a post tally in a short time). I can see that, like me, you're a planner and like to cover every eventuality. With that in mind I think you wanted to do everything and a 3 day cruise just didn't provide enough opportunity.

 

Unfortunately, as others have said, it would be impossible to experience everything a ship like Indy has to offer in only 3 days. The biggest ship we've travelled on is Voyager class (twice - once on a 12 night cruise) and we still haven't managed to partake in everything on offer.

 

You were so well prepared and had so much knowledge beforehand of what was on offer that I think you were bound to be disappointed when things weren't available to you, mainly because you had no sea days. Perhaps it should be made clearer that there will be limitations on what's available on the shorter cruises.

 

Do think about taking a longer cruise on a ship from the Med - you'll probably be surprised to find that it can often work out cheaper than sailing on Indy which is very expensive.

[mtchg]

Your signature line:

 

"I wrestled with reality for years, Doctor, and I'm happy to state, I finally won out over it. (Jimmy Stewart in "Harvey" 1950)"...

 

brings back memories, as I played the lead...Jimmy Stewart's part...in our college production of "Harvey"...Elwood P. Dowd...

 

But I digress..

 

Jo and Rob...I thought your review was balanced and I also enjoyed your video. Great quality by the way. Your criticisms are mostly valid IMHO, they should have had their signature activities open longer; and to suddenly change gears and say they WILL have MDR lunch showed a lack of proper preparation on management's part; that alone is worth an official complaint I think.

 

In the states, RCCL's brand new mega-ships don't do these short 3 niters. They relegate those to their still beautiful, but older smaller ships with less activities than the Freedom and Oasis class offer. As an earlier poster said; these newer class of RCCL ships were made for longer voyages. In fact we board Indy on July 3rd for a 14 niter. Even at that there are still only 4 or 5 sea days; I'm thinking we STILL won't get to do everything.

 

Your kids are darling and I'm glad to know on balance; your family enjoyed your time.

 

Mitch

[Cruising89143]

I agree that three day cruises are basically "samplers" and agree things should be more available to those doing the sampling.

 

I also agree with the poster that points out that seeing everything or doing everything is nearly impossible on a three day.

 

Unless you are trying to rack up a few points I don't see the benefit of a three day even for those new to cruising. Just doesn't seem to be beneficial in the end.

 

I agree. Especially on a ship like this. Not even sure why RCI would place any of the Freedom class ships on the shorter routes. You really cannot get the full experience of the ship from such a short cruise.

[Mydnite]

I agree. Especially on a ship like this. Not even sure why RCI would place any of the Freedom class ships on the shorter routes. You really cannot get the full experience of the ship from such a short cruise.

 

 

Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a smaller ship that does a lot of shorter crusies based here, perhaps a mixture of 5 and 7 day jaunts, I'd take a lot more smaller crusies then! It is an option we have never really had.

[Bobal]

Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a smaller ship that does a lot of shorter crusies based here, perhaps a mixture of 5 and 7 day jaunts, I'd take a lot more smaller crusies then! It is an option we have never really had.

 

Exactly. The Indy is so expensive - presumably because of all the 'bells and whistles' onboard - that it's cheaper to fly to Spain or Italy and take a cruise from there (with guaranteed weather). If they had smaller ships doing short cruises at a reasonable price I may be able to get myself up to D+ ;):D

[Jo and Rob]

Yes we did have a great time!! (and the weather was perfect)

 

Hopefully our video shows that and the review does I hope acknowledge Indy's strengths as well as its weaknesses. I would be happy to sail on Indy again, in fact I just love cruising, and the children had a fantastic time. My son cried when we got home because he was so sad to be off the ship.

 

It is true I was not comparing like with like. The Crown was 7 nights in the Western Caribbean and yes it had sea days. It didn't have the sports venues so nothing to compare queues with, but the MDR was open for lunch everyday and changed the lunch menu daily.

 

Indy was a mini bonus cruise and would normally be out of our reach financially for a 14 night cruise - it would cost us £7000 for the four of us to do the Med on Indy next year (hence wanting to squeeze as much out of the 3 night trip as possible) I am not knocking RCI overall just observing that it was a shame the opening times were not more extended considering many of us treated day 2 as a sea day despite being in port.

[Dolphin-dan]

Have you ever seen one of the parades? IMO, not worth your time.

 

YES!! you are correct. the parades are lame! I hope there is none on my cruise next week.

[wayne_trisha]

Nice review. I was on Indy in March in a cabin across the hall from you, 6305. I will agree with most people that you could not possibly enjoy all Indy had to offer but not for the same reason. If the venues are only open a few hours a day it would be hard for everyone to get a chance to use them. Not that RCCl cares but they could have hired enough staff to keep these high visibility venues available day and night. Freedom class is not that big that you can’t experience nearly all it has to offer in 3 days if you want to and the venues are open.

[foxesden1]

great video! so tell me would you do a RCL again?

[Justcat44]

Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a smaller ship that does a lot of shorter crusies based here, perhaps a mixture of 5 and 7 day jaunts, I'd take a lot more smaller crusies then! It is an option we have never really had.

 

 

Hi Terri, fancy seeing you here!! Hope you are well.

We agree, I mentioned this on one of the Cork boards, it wold be so nice to have the option of shorter cruises from SH or Harwich for sure.

Indy is off to Cork again August and then again in April, but that is it for short one. We are investigating a break on the Adventure from Malaga in November.

 

Generally

 

As far as Indy is concerned.

There were many questions on the boards before she sailed to Cork and to Le Havre, and a lot of points came out about the shorter trip, and the amenities on board and at what time they would be open.What time they would close etc, and what entertainment would be.

Yes I agree, there were issues with timing of Flow rider and the wall, etc, and a lack of shows and parades etc and queues for ever more.

But this was a taster cruise for what could be expected on a longer journey, and I for one did not have issue, although, it has to be said, that the future bookings section was not open, when it should have been to actively encourage people who wanted to book, to book.

I made the point with Guy when we went down there, and he had heard may people wanted to book on board and couldnt.

 

This is what these boards are about, to get the info before you go so you know what to expect.

So if one knows what to expect, why are there issues aftewards about what is and what wasnt?.

 

I for one love the Indy, a fabulous ship, and a marvelous crew. A lovely break last week, roll on the next one!!

 

Regards

Carol

[Jo and Rob]

great video! so tell me would you do a RCL again?

 

Yes. I too would love a cruise from Harwich as it is very local for us.

[Justcat44]

Yes. I too would love a cruise from Harwich as it is very local for us.

 

 

It would be ideal Jo, but the only one at this time that goes from there, I do believe is the Jewel..Upon pricing up, it is very expensive.

We asked out TA about why, and we were informed that the trips the Jewel does is very popular through the Baltics.

We priced once yesterday and it was over £6K for 12 nights in a GS, and not much less ofor a JS.

One day perhaps one day!