Photo Review:Carnival Cruiser Sails Independence of the Seas:Southampton, Le Havre

[SteveH2508]

We were also on this cruise and have/am enjoying your views of the ship and Royal Caribbean, it looks like, overall you enjoyed yourselves or at least are pragmatic about issues you had.

 

Whoever the other poster is with their list of problems, I agree that it is easy to find problems and we too had our share and recognise some of the issues they mentioned. I guess that they will stick with NCL in future, which is a a cruise line we would like to try sometime.

 

I am not going to hi-jack your thread with my issues, I took those up onbaord the ship and they we dealt with.

 

I hope you enjoyed yourselves enough to try Royal Caribbean again.

 

I would like to say:

 

Firstly - it was not a hi-jack but a response to OP's question.

 

We are very easy-going, low maintenance cruisers but I felt that some of the issues were not acceptable - especially as the cruise was (at least in part) aimed at getting new cruisers 'hooked'. I made the point that IMHO RCCL had failed.

 

I deliberately went in with the thought to try not to compare RCI to other lines but the inconveniences impacted on two of the things most important to us: food and drink.

 

I am not writing off RCCL but they would not be our first choice, all other things being equal. We do not like mega-ships and their change in smoking rules is a big downer for us.

 

Maybe I was a bit vituperative, but it was late on Sunday evening and we had been trying a few cocktails (including the RCCl drink: Washington Apple:D)

[39august]

FYI, there should have been a room service menu in your cabin as well as on your TV. Your steward was wrong. There also should have been breakfast room service cards to hang on your door at night for ordering breakfast the next morning.

[sailawaybellaluna]

Looking forward to more! Hope I have the chance to sail out of Southampton on the Anthem of the Seas in the future!

 

Great pictures so far!

 

Thanks! Need to read your Allure review once I get this wrapped up...

 

Your son is adorable Thanks for writing this!

 

Thanks Cathy!

 

I was thinking that about Mom

__________________

 

Haha, Thanks BillOH! :)

 

Uploading pics to PhotoBucket now and I think my son is down for his nap, so more to come!

[sailawaybellaluna]

We did a TA on Indy in 2008, her first season, from Southampton to Miami. Love that ship, hope to take her again now that we have relocated from NY to Fl.

__________________

 

Hi The Big Booper,

 

Overall, I really loved the ship too! And I hope to do a TA one of these days!!!

 

We were also on this cruise and have/am enjoying your views of the ship and Royal Caribbean, it looks like, overall you enjoyed yourselves or at least are pragmatic about issues you had.

 

Whoever the other poster is with their list of problems, I agree that it is easy to find problems and we too had our share and recognise some of the issues they mentioned. I guess that they will stick with NCL in future, which is a a cruise line we would like to try sometime.

 

I am not going to hi-jack your thread with my issues, I took those up onbaord the ship and they we dealt with.

 

I hope you enjoyed yourselves enough to try Royal Caribbean again.

 

We did have a fun time! You know, I guess my perspective on traveling is that lots of things can and will go wrong, but I've already spent the money and made the effort to get there, so why not try and enjoy it! :p

 

Glad they were able to deal with your issues onboard!

 

Firstly - it was not a hi-jack but a response to OP's question.

 

SteveH2508 - glad you answered! Sorry to hear you guys had such a frustrating experience. I did have a few problems getting drinks and such as well. I remember wanting to get two mini bottles of wine from the pizza place, and it did take approximately 10 minutes (no joke). And unfortunately, the poor guy kept bringing me out dirty wine glasses. Not his fault (I realize he isn't the one that washes the dishes!), but I did note a few service things like that as well. I think on a ship of this size, luck also has a lot to do with it! We were extremely lucky with our dining experiences in the dining room, and had pre-booked reservations far in advance for each night, so that went very smoothly for us!

[SteveH2508]

sailawaybellaluna

 

Thank you for your gracious reply. I think your comment re 'luck of the draw' has some validity and I can confirm that the staff did what they could to make it right.

 

Nevertheless, my main beef is that the staff seemed to be working under poor, almost oppressive conditions and, consequently, the atmosphere was not as good as we would have liked. I place the blame at management level or probably corporate level. One cut too far was the impression we got.

 

There were some very good things - the Ice Show was excellent (and how the one waiter coped with the number of drinks orders he did was awesome:eek:). The Welsh comedian was very good. The Hallowe'en parade was great to watch. The cabin was good (the balcony was superb and spacious).

 

A couple of food glitches, but overall they were not deal-breakers.

 

RCCL has one big plus over NCL at the the moment - they sail from UK.

 

I try to be balanced, but NCL can teach RCCL a few things about general ambience and some service elements in our experience. (Before anyone jumps in, I do not have a problem with formal nights - I was suited and booted and DW was poshed up quite happily):D.

[sailawaybellaluna]

Dinner the first night went great! I think we were in awe entering the beautiful, multi-level dining room!

 

 

This was a notable difference from the Carnival ships I've been on. Even on the new Breeze, the dining room didn't have the feeling of "Old World/European Elegance" that the dining room on the IOS had. It just felt a bit *classier*. There was live instrumental music for approximately 30 minutes during both of the main seatings, which we really enjoyed listening to! I love my dining experiences on Carnival as well...This was just different, in a good way.

 

I must say, another difference I saw right away was the way people actually got "dressed" for dinner. I think there may be a couple factors (besides this being a RCCL ship rather than a Carnival ship). Mainly, we weren't cruising to a hot weather climate, or out of CA/FL where the culture is just more relaxed and everyone dresses for the beach. I thought everyone looked so nice each night at dinner, and you didn't see the array of jeans and hoodies/t-shirts you find on Carnival. :D

 

I wasn't disappointed in the food. Our waiter Nelson was great, as was his assistant waitress (I can't recall her name!!!). And, my son was thrilled to eat an entire plate of escargot every single night. [We don't eat stuff like that at home! The short story is, over a year ago I found him eating a snail in our yard! We had already booked the Breeze to sail through Europe, and I promised him that when we were in France, he could eat proper escargot. Since then, he's consumed a plate on every cruise, every night!]

 

 

 

 

We were seated in the small balcony overlooking the entire dining room that you see behind the main chandelier. It was amazing sitting there - I loved it!! I believe we had table #103 and #107 the entire cruise. After the first evening, I asked if we could sit there on subsequent nights, and they honored the request each time! It was beautiful sitting there - I'd definitely recommend it if you're able to snag one of the 5 tables they have.

 

 

After dinner, I think we kind of just wandered around, and took turns playing the slots in the casino!

[SteveH2508]

Now you come to mention the pizza place - having come back on board from Zeebrugge (TOP TIP - visit the Russian submarine there - it is fascinating) - the pizza, meat pie (with meat in it, not just gristle and gravy) and coffee was very welcome.

 

I was surprised that,given 4000+ pax on the ship, there was not really 24 hour food available (unless I missed something - which is entirely possible:o). NCL do have a 23 hour a day cafe (free) with chicken wings to die for - 2am with a gutful of beer/Martinis and then a heap of chicken wings watching the sea go by - it doesn't get much better!

[SteveH2508]

Getting the youngster to eat escargot every night - that is PROPER child rearing - good on ya both!

 

He will have a lovely life discovering the delights of new culinary experiences.

[Rogueperson]

Thank you for your review. There hasn't been that many picture reviews of the Independence of the Seas.

 

I will be on the Independence this Saturday. I've been perusing the forums a little too much these last couple weeks as the days tick down.

 

The escargot thing. I'm with your boy there. I've heard rumors as recent as two weeks ago that they're being offered every day. I will just about be in heaven.

 

I would also be interest in your opinion between Carnival and Royal Caribbean as I've been on both, and as of now, Carnival is actually winning on me. However, that does not mean that Royal Caribbean is out of the fight any time soon.

[sailawaybellaluna]

I was very excited about day two starting!

 

 

We docked in Le Havre, France. This is often advertised as (Paris) on cruise itineraries, but it is quite a trek to Paris! I believe the tours take a solid 2.5 hours each way on the bus to arrive in Paris, since Le Havre is actually on the NW coast of France.

 

My mom and I have both been to Paris before, and were actually planning to spend the third week of our trip in France, with three days in Paris, so we decided to stay closer to the port this day.

 

I had considered taking the excursion to Honfleur - the small fishing village only 20 miles or so from the pier.

 

However, it was only a 4-hour tour, and I really like to explore on my own, and on my own schedule! So, I rented a car online from Enterprise. The taxi cost 8 euros from the pier to the rental car office, and we were there within 5 minutes:

 

 

I had rented a manual car (with the hopes that my mom would drive, because I don't drive stick!), plus a children's car seat and GPS. I paid a total of 61 euros including tax, and was upgraded to a mid-sized automatic hybrid! I was pretty thrilled. Especially because my mother isn't the *best* driver! [i must also add, that I had the same experience in Paris a couple of weeks later...I've also rented cars and driven in Rome and other parts of Europe, and I don't believe it's really worth it to pay for an automatic in advance. For me, it was nearly three times the cost to book an automatic! However, I realized that no one in Europe is really keen to book an automatic, and supply and demand would say that they'll typically have a surplus of auto cars vs. manual cars. So, if you're a risk-taker, save your money and negotiate at the counter. In Paris, not only did I get a much better car, but it was 30 euros less than my online quote!]

 

Anyhow, the rental process was extremely easy, especially given the fact that the friendly gal didn't speak any English, and my French is limited to "Bonjour" and "Merci". Apparently my mother took French all throughout high school, but on this trip, I learned that she probably lied to me about that!

 

In addition to the GPS, I had pre-purchased a road map of France, + a Driving Tour book. So, we headed out. I chose a restaurant from my tour book in the center of Honfleur, and plugged it into the GPS.

 

It was a beautiful, easy drive! We didn't understand the street signs, but drove with great caution, keeping pace with the rest of the vehicles. After about 10-15 minutes of driving, we approached the Normandy Bridge and paid around 5E for our toll. It was a beautiful bridge, and a fun experience to drive over!

 

As soon as the road winded into Honfleur, we found a large pay per hour parking lot, and parked!

 

The day went so smoothly, and we had so much fun exploring this beautiful little historical port city. The next couple of posts will be dedicated to the photos...

 

 

They are famous for making this sparkling apple cider (approximately 3 - 5% alcohol), so we had to buy a bottle! Got it on the ship without any hassle!

 

 

 

[sailawaybellaluna]

Thank you for your gracious reply. I think your comment re 'luck of the draw' has some validity and I can confirm that the staff did what they could to make it right.

 

Nevertheless, my main beef is that the staff seemed to be working under poor, almost oppressive conditions and, consequently, the atmosphere was not as good as we would have liked. I place the blame at management level or probably corporate level. One cut too far was the impression we got.

 

SteveH2508,

 

I do have to say, I agree that the staff were under a lot of pressure. My cabin steward was very nervous, and always going above and beyond to make sure I was happy. When he mentioned filling out the survey, he said "we're his only hope because his manager is always very upset with him". :( Poor guy. It's one reason I didn't complain about the remote batteries or push it with the room service menu. He wasn't a slacker by any means! He took a lot of care and pride in doing his job well, yet he was nervous and sweating and working all the time. I think this is my 14th cruise, and I've never felt so bad for my cabin steward! We actually left him an additional cash tip (in addition to the pre-paid gratuities) and some bags of candy when we left!

 

Also, to your point, it was only on the last day that we realized the Cafe Promenade was 24 hour food service! Granted, the selection is quite small, but I did appreciate having water/coffee/tea available on deck 5 vs. trekking up to deck 11 like I do on Carnival ships...

[The Big Booper]

SteveH2508,

 

I do have to say, I agree that the staff were under a lot of pressure. My cabin steward was very nervous, and always going above and beyond to make sure I was happy. When he mentioned filling out the survey, he said "we're his only hope because his manager is always very upset with him". :( Poor guy. It's one reason I didn't complain about the remote batteries or push it with the room service menu. He wasn't a slacker by any means! He took a lot of care and pride in doing his job well, yet he was nervous and sweating and working all the time. I think this is my 14th cruise, and I've never felt so bad for my cabin steward! We actually left him an additional cash tip (in addition to the pre-paid gratuities) and some bags of candy when we left!

 

Also, to your point, it was only on the last day that we realized the Cafe Promenade was 24 hour food service! Granted, the selection is quite small, but I did appreciate having water/coffee/tea available on deck 5 vs. trekking up to deck 11 like I do on Carnival ships...

 

This is not the first time I have read of "management" issues on ships sailing under RCI UK management. Be interesting to see what happens now that Indy, like all the snowbirds, has arrived in Florida for the season. Does she sail at night?;) or drive in the fast lane at 45 mph?;)

[sailawaybellaluna]

Thank you for your review. There hasn't been that many picture reviews of the Independence of the Seas.

 

I will be on the Independence this Saturday. I've been perusing the forums a little too much these last couple weeks as the days tick down.

 

The escargot thing. I'm with your boy there. I've heard rumors as recent as two weeks ago that they're being offered every day. I will just about be in heaven.

 

I would also be interest in your opinion between Carnival and Royal Caribbean as I've been on both, and as of now, Carnival is actually winning on me. However, that does not mean that Royal Caribbean is out of the fight any time soon.

__________________

 

Thanks Hansen for reading along!

 

I too tried to find some reviews/photos of the Independence before our trip, and struggled, so hopefully a couple people will find this interesting!

 

Yes, regarding the escargot thing, on subsequent nights, we didn't even ordere it! Our wait staff just automatically brought it as an appetizer for my son, knowing he'd love it!

 

I do really like Carnival as well. To me, it's not really an apple to apple comparison, since Carnival seems to always win on price. And, for someone like me living in SoCal, it's one of the only options (in addition to Princess) since RCCL pulled out of our ports a few years ago when the violence got worse in Mexico.

 

Royal seemed more elegant to me, although on their smaller ships (Monarch & Majesty), I actually found them a little bit boring. I wasn't bored - I could sit on a deck chair and read and drink wine all day! But, for families or really active couples, I didn't think they offered nearly the selection of activities as Carnival. Then again, those are tiny ships and they're limited with venues and such...

 

Even on the Royal ships I sailed from Miami, I'd say the clientele seems slightly different from Carnival clientele. I think Carnival still attracts a lot of young - let's get buckets of beer and party - type of folks, where the Royal folks aren't trying quite as hard to reclaim their college years? That being said, on this cruise I did see a group of people wearing t-shirts that said, "drink 'til we sink". :p I got a laugh out of that!

 

I'll still sail on both. In fact, we just booked a short Carnival cruise in the New Year from here in SoCal (just a quick drive to the port), and I'm looking to book the "Cultural Immersion" cruise in April that Royal has out of Panama. For me, it's about the cost value and ports we can visit. If one was debating, let's say, between Princess and Carnival or Oceania and Carnival, that would be a different situation! I sailed last year on the Carnival Inspiration (known as kind of a local party boat if you take the weekend cruises), and sat in the dining room next to a woman that only sails Princess. Let's just say, she wasn't loving the experience, nor the "casual attire". :D

 

We always eat in the formal dining rooms and rarely see the shows, so we still enjoy it just the same, even if everyone else is getting tipsy and running through the buffet in their swimwear!

[sailawaybellaluna]

 

A beautiful chocolate shop, where we bought 4 small pieces of chocolate for around $6. (Yikes!)

 

 

 

 

 

[The Big Booper]

Somebody here likes chocolate........

[MrFunInTheSun]

Great review and pictures! Thanks for sharing your adventures with us. I'm a former Carnival Cruiser and I too look forward to my future Royal Caribbean cruises.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - Please excuse any errors.

[maureencruiser]

And, my son was thrilled to eat an entire plate of escargot every single night. [We don't eat stuff like that at home! The short story is, over a year ago I found him eating a snail in our yard! We had already booked the Breeze to sail through Europe, and I promised him that when we were in France, he could eat proper escargot. Since then, he's consumed a plate on every cruise, every night!]

 

!

 

 

And your son just gets more adorable with every post. I love the story about the snail! I love Escargot, too! :)

[boaterette]

I love reading your review. Any idea why I have to keep scrolling back and forth though? The pictures dont seem to be that large.

[lillymycat]

Hi Sailawaybellaluna, I must say I have really enjoyed reading along with this review you are posting. Your Mom must really be out of her mind in that she led you to think she can speak French and ALSO drive in France. It must have been a very tiring time having to deal with such a person as your Mother!

 

Thank goodness you were able to get an automatic so that you could drive yourself and your precious little boy.

 

Your photos and details of the ship are great. I look forward to hearing more from you......:p

[Valmcp]

This is not the first time I have read of "management" issues on ships sailing under RCI UK management. Be interesting to see what happens now that Indy, like all the snowbirds, has arrived in Florida for the season. Does she sail at night?;) or drive in the fast lane at 45 mph?;)

I sailed on the 11/15 Caribbean itinerary. The first sailing since leaving Europe. Same issues with service in bars , casino and dining room.It is definitely a management issue. Also, I never once saw the captain on this 8 day cruise.

[aussielozzie18]

Enjoying your review and your little boy is gorgeous.

[sailawaybellaluna]

Somebody here likes chocolate........

 

Yes! Haha. :p

 

Great review and pictures! Thanks for sharing your adventures with us. I'm a former Carnival Cruiser and I too look forward to my future Royal Caribbean cruises.

 

Thanks for reading along! :)

 

And your son just gets more adorable with every post. I love the story about the snail! I love Escargot, too!

 

Thanks maureencruiser! I wish I liked it! I always try and take a bite of his, and I nearly gag! :o

[sailawaybellaluna]

Hi Sailawaybellaluna, I must say I have really enjoyed reading along with this review you are posting. Your Mom must really be out of her mind in that she led you to think she can speak French and ALSO drive in France. It must have been a very tiring time having to deal with such a person as your Mother!

 

Thank goodness you were able to get an automatic so that you could drive yourself and your precious little boy.

 

Your photos and details of the ship are great. I look forward to hearing more from you......

 

Hi mom! :D

[Canadian Tyler]

Enjoying your review and pics. Went on Indy in January with my 4-year-old daughter, so it's bringing back great memories. Although she stuck to fries more so than escargot! :)

[AXiDMonica]

I'm enjoying your review and I agree with everyone here! Your little boy is totally adorable!! :)