Indy Canary Cruise Completed

[pb3053]

Arrived home today from a 10 night Canary Cruise on Independence Of The Seas.

 

Overall a very enjoyable cruise. The food served at dinner was excellent, we didn’t have one meal that we didn’t like. There was a fair choice although I am lead to believe that the choice has been curtailed over the last 12 months or so.

 

There was a good choice of breakfast items in the self serve Romeo & Juliet restaurant from cereals to a full English breakfast but there were no fried eggs available, scrambled only. Toast always seemed 'stale', I assume that’s because it was kept warm after having been initially toasted. If you opted for waiter service breakfast in the Macbeth restaurant you could get fried eggs if you wished, with your full English but the hash browns were not the same as those available in the self serve restaurant. In the end we reverted back to the self serve breakfast because you could see and select each item that you wanted on your plate and this aspect meant a more enjoyable meal.

 

Lunch in Romeo & Juliet’s was our preferred venue, with a fair choice of meals which never disappointed us. But this option was only available on sea days. When the ship was in port you had to use the Windjammer/Jade self service restaurant which we disliked simply because the meals always seemed lukewarm although there was plenty of choice and some good meals. The restaurant always seemed crowded which tended to make you eat your meals quickly as you felt you should be vacating the table to allow others to have a meal. Not a venue we could recommend simply because everyone had to eat there on a port day and so it was obviously crowded.

P & O don’t close their lunch time restaurants on a port day and this aspect spoilt what could have been a more enjoyable cruise.

 

Our balcony cabin was comfortable and clean, maintained by our cabin steward, Sedgemore who worked hard for us. I was somewhat frustrated at the fact that the electric plugs in the cabin were of the 'continental' 2 pin type. It seemed to beggar belief that a ship that has a home port in the UK is not provided with an appropriate adaptor that will allow you to use a 3 pin UK type plug that would enable you to use a charger for such things as your camera, telephone or a small MP3 player. I had to wait until our 3rd port of call before I could purchase one from an electrical shop just to recharge my camera battery. The cynic in me began to think that it was done deliberately to discourage the use of small electrical items by passengers !. So be advised......take a 230v adaptor with you !.

 

I found the entertainment to be mediocre but my wife thought it was mostly very good, especially the ice skating show. In order to maintain domestic bliss I was 'forced' to sit through a number of shows which fortunately were only on for 45min to an hour. I was able to induce a certain euphoria by quickly downing a waiter served drink or two before the show and order another in reserve for 'administering' during the performance.

 

Shipboard shop prices are very high and drinks extremely so with the average drink costing £6 - £8. A bottle of Asti Spumante at dinner costs £20-37p.

 

Orange juice is free at breakfast but will be charged any other time. The orange juice was refreshing but we noted it was watered down on the last day for some reason. Be aware that if you are a coffee drinker, take your own !. We did fortunately and was I glad. There is no coffee supplied for making a drink in your room, tea bags ( Tetley) only. We tried the coffee that was offered at meal times and it was 'crap'. Half way through the voyage I observed that hardly anyone was drinking it and I used the 'technical' term mentioned previously to describe my assessment of the beverage to one of the waiters who was offering me a cup and he replied with a smile 'Yes, I have heard tell' .

 

Bars and lounges were all comfortable with good service, their popularity meant it was difficult to get a seat unless you got there early and didn’t move from your table. This presented a difficulty if you took in a show because by the time the show ended you found you were walking from one bar or lounge to another looking for a table. My pedometer showed that we walked at least 3 miles every day on average just on the ship. A lot of that legwork was wandering around ( which was enjoyable anyway) looking for seats. The Pyramid Bar had a resident rock band and you could nearly always get a seat there once they commenced their performance. It was so loud you couldn’t have a conversation and lots of people had to leave because it was so uncomfortable.

 

I'm sure I could write lots more but I suspect everyone’s bored by now so I will finish at that, just don’t forget your coffee and plug adaptor !. You will enjoy it.

[EJNutz]

Thanks for your review of your Indy Cruise. I was on the cruise prior to yours.

 

When you have a moment could you post your review to our Review Section at http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/reviews/ I am sure many more CC members would love to read it.

 

Thanks

[DEEDIA]

pb3053, good review I may add, we have done this itinary twice now and completed a fair few RCI Cruises with more to come. We have noticed how things have changed due to cut backs, they started saving long before the recession.

 

Regarding the rooms electrical points I never gave this a second thought, Its home Port is the UK but guess it was built in another Country which have 2 pin's.

 

I also agree the Drinks are, and have gone up in price, We are not BIG drinkers might have a Bottle at the table could push for two and as for regular drinks minimal, If we get on board credit they buy their own. If they dropped the price I'm sure more would sell. Also did you notice when buying Shorts you got the equivalent to a double, A Bar tender told us that Shorts are better value than Beer, ?.

 

This has been discussed on the board.

 

As for the Coffee or not as the case is, I mentioned this at a Dinner for Platinum Members with the Captains team. The reply I got was, " The Coffee Company who has the contract does not do sachets, when this contract is over Coffee sachets will be discussed for all Cabins with Drinks Facility's". That will do me as I do not drink Tea, not sure how the Amercian guests find this. I also went ashore and bought a Jar.

 

Keep the reviews coming as they make excellent reading.

[CaroleC]

pb3053, we were on the same cruise and like you, found it very difficult to find seats in any of the bars or lounges particularly in the evening. Sometimes it was almost as bad during the daytime especially on the cloudy/windy days that we had. We were on Indy in Sept 09 and don't recall the ship being so crowded even though (we were told) it was sailing at full capacity.

 

Totally agree with you about the coffee, it was dire! Luckily the friends we were travelling with had thought to bring a jar of instant with them so we were able to make our own.