Live Review - Independence of the Seas. Spanish Med July 2014

[rwright261]

I'm probably almost as sad as you are that your cruise is coming to an end as I have enjoyed your live blog so much.

 

Thanks for taking the time to post.

 

Have a safe trip home and I look forward to reading your final thoughts.

[Glad Trimble]

I'm probably almost as sad as you are that your cruise is coming to an end as I have enjoyed your live blog so much.

 

Thanks for taking the time to post.

 

Have a safe trip home and I look forward to reading your final thoughts.

 

Yes I was thinking the same thing - I will miss the daily updates, I've really enjoyed reading your blog. Thanks so much Nicky - hope you enjoy your last day.

[lancashire_cruisers]

I've thoroughly enjoyed reading your 'live from', especially as we'll be on Indy in 2 weeks (also with a teen in tow but no shipboard romances so far ;)).

 

We've cruised since our DD was 2 so it was lovely to relive a cruise experience with a youngster.

 

Safe travels home.

 

Debbie :)

[CruisinBarb63]

Once again, thank you for sharing your holiday with us. While I will not be traveling on Indy until October 2015, it has been a joy to travel along with you and your family. It would be wonderful to see more pictures and read your wrap up.

 

Safe travels home.

[Nix111]

Thanks for all the lovely comments, fab last day so far. Debbie enjoy the cruise, it really is a fabulous family ship and they'll be escorting me kicking and screaming off that aft balcony tomorrow!

 

 

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[Sue's Mom]

Thank you soooo much. I have really enjoyed reading all about your family cruise. We are booked on the same itinerary for 20 September so all the port information was extremely useful too. I copied and pasted your posts into a Word document, printed it and gave my hubby all 14 pages to read :D. We have been on a few cruises and I have always wanted to sample breakfast in the MDR. I am hoping your comments will persuade him to let us give it a go. Thank you again.

Edited August 8, 2014 by Sue's Mom

[Nix111]

Thank you soooo much. I have really enjoyed reading all about your family cruise. We are booked on the same itinerary for 20 September so all the port information was extremely useful too. I copied and pasted your posts into a Word document' date=' printed it and gave my hubby all 14 pages to read :D. We have been on a few cruises and I have always wanted to sample breakfast in the MDR. I am hoping your comments will persuade him to let us give it a go. Thank you again.[/quote']

 

Happy to help, have a fabulous cruise, I'm a bit jealous, which is was heading off again in mid September, you'll have a great time I'm sure

[The Tuckmeister]

Thanks for your wonderful blog. You're reviews have been fascinating and helpful. My Wife and I have booked our first ever cruise for next summer and your descriptions have really got me looking forward to it.

[Alohaaloha]

Thanks from me too - have enjoyed every post and learnt a lot about the Indy and many of the ports- a pleasure to read, many thanks.

[kernow]

I'm another one who has been reading along everyday, one of my favourite reviews on CC for ages.

 

Our son is 20 now, but we've been cruising since he was 3 and your review brings back so many memories of when he was that age, your family sound a lot like us.

 

Enjoy your last day and treasure every moment with Finn, they grow up so quickly (but still love to cruise, our son is coming with us again in 5 weeks!)

 

Julie

[Nix111]

Live Review - Independence of the Seas, Spanish Med - Day 14 - Day at Sea

 

So finally it was our last day at sea. I love to finish a cruise on a sea day, it seems like such a relaxing end to a holiday and this itinerary spoiled us by giving us a full two full as we sailed slowly back to Southampton.

 

Grey clouds and the light drizzle of a typical British summer greeted us as we pulled back the curtains but it couldn't put a dampener on what has been a fabulous holiday. We enjoyed a lazy morning in the cabin, breakfasting on pastries from Cafe Promenade, checking our bills on the interactive TV and starting to pack. The bill was thankfully small due to the reasonable drinks packages we'd pre-purchased and the fact we'd also pre-paid the tips. So nice not to have a shock to the credit card when departing. - Andy never let's me book the next cruise until the credit card is cleared in full so the good news is I should be booking again by the next credit card statement :)

 

This being the final post on our Indy cruise I thought it may be helpful to add a few thoughts and notes on our cabin which was room 7408 on deck 7, sleeps three and has a huge corner aft balcony with a wide view behind the ship and a large porthole facing starboard. We booked a guaranteed balcony and really got lucky with this cabin. I really liked the layout, the bathroom is well designed, surprisingly roomy and the shower is in a proper cubicle with sliding doors rather than an awful, clingy shower curtain. Provided toiletries include shower gel and bars of soap but I always bring half of Boots with me so not an issue for me. For any Americans reading this, Boots is like a Uk version of Walgreens and I'm sure we're all just as guilty of that pre-cruise shop! Towels of every size and face cloths are provided and what we used were changed twice daily. There's a hair dryer in the room which is actually quite powerful, tea making facilities (although no coffee but you can order this from room service) and three power sockets which are easily accessible, two US style and one European. There's a free safe just big enough to get a small laptop or a couple of iPads in plus passports etc and also a mini fridge stocked with water and soft drinks although you need to pay for these if you drink them. We managed to make a bit of space for our own things quite easily. Storage is good with lots of hangers and drawers and a large wardrobe and two bedside tables. There's a sofa and coffee table too and a drop down bunk above the main queen size bed although Finn slept with us as I didn't fancy the idea of him falling on me in the middle of the night. Delores, our room attendant, kept the room spotless and well stocked throughout the holiday as well as delivering a steady stream of towel animals.

 

At midday we headed for lunch at the Windjammer, walking through the entrance to be greeted by a huge farewell cake that was causing quite a stir. We sat close to the bar and Vicky who is also our waiter from the main dining room arrived swiftly with the reds and diet cokes. I had a burger, a Cajun chicken breast and garlic roast potato wedges, Finn had a predictable hotdog and Andy the curry. During lunch there was a PA announcement by the manager of the Windjammer thanking us for our custom and talking about the team effort that goes in to feeding us each day. He asked everyone to show their appreciation for the catering team and the whole of the restaurant went rightfully crazy with their applause including ourselves. The manager then cut the huge cake and Vicky delivered a slice of this Black Forest gateau type thing to our table without us asking. Well I had to have a try ; )

 

We watched the Rock Britannia parade from the previous night on the cabin TV which looked a lot of fun and when it was 2pm and Finn wanted to go to the kids club session which meant I could finish the packing without distractions.

 

Once done Andy and I decided to go to the Alhambra Theatre to catch the karaoke superstar final. This featured the best of the best from the weeks karaoke competitions none of which we saw but the standard was surprisingly good and it was great entertainment. Following the show we had a quick glass of wine in the champagne bar, a lovely quiet spot just off the MDR end of the Royal Promenade, opposite customer services.

 

We collected Finn and at 6pm made our way to the main dining room for the last time. Annoyingly there was a delay in seating us, almost every evening on arrival they seem to think we were a party of 5, dining with a family called Delgado who we've never heard of. I explained this on numerous occasions and even went to reception one day to mention the mix up. Interestingly on arrival when we first checked in two weeks ago they produced five sea pass cards for our room (presumably the Delgados and ours) and I noticed their name was also on our bill this morning - thankfully they hadn't spent anything and we can only assume they originally booked our room then cancelled. It wasn't a massive issue just a little frustrating having to explain time and time again at the main dining room reception that there were only three of us. I shouldn't complain as I suspect their cancellation resulted in me getting a gorgeous aft at a bargain price!

 

Finally seated in the usual place for three not five our waiting team eagerly greeted us so we quickly got the tips out of the way for the fabulous service we'd enjoyed each evening. We tipped Edwin and Vicky our waiters, Mary the head waiter for the constant supply of strawberries for Finn and of course Diddier our wine waiter who we'd kept particularly busy in the past two weeks. It was good to see the main dining room so full on the last evening and there was a lovely atmosphere.

 

I ordered a Spanish tapas plate as a starter, which was tasty but a bit large for me. Andy had scallops followed by French onion soup. For mains we both had the New York strip steak which I was looking forward to accompanying with a few chips as a pre diet treat. You can imagine my disappointment to find out they only had sweet potato fries so I ended up with a jacket. Oh well chippy tea it is when we get home!

 

Finn was insistent on one last kids club session but as we had a really early departure at 6.15am we warned him it wouldn't be a late one. We decided against the farewell show with a BMX acrobat in the Alhambra and returned to the champagne bar to enjoy a final glass of red and a cup cake while putting the world to rights. A lovely, relaxing final evening and well planned as this would be the first night in 14 that we'd need to set an alarm clock.

 

We all got an early night sleeping soundly until we docked rather noisily around 5am in Southampton. I'm sure they just do it to get you up and off the ship : ) We'd chosen to do the self assisted disembarkation which allows you to carry off your own cases between 6.15 and 7.15am. That said you could have departed up until around 10am if you'd put your cases out the night before for collection in the arrivals building and I did note than Royal Caribbean offered a late departure option at around $50 a person for those on late flights who could enjoy the ships facilities until 3pm.

 

We were off the ship, in the car and on the road by 7am. The traffic gods were smiling on us and we were home just after 10.45am having stopped for a McDonalds breakfast on the way - the diet starts Monday I promise! Cases are now unpacked and the second lot of washing is on. Oh and the red wine is poured - well we're still on holiday until Monday : )

 

A relaxed drive certainly beat the stress of hanging around airports and was a civilised end to possibly one of my favourite holidays ever. We'll definitely sail from the UK in future, infact I may struggle to get my husband on a plane again. It was fourteen nights (well fifteen actually if you count the journey down) of fabulous family time filled with lots of laughter, adventures, new experiences and fun. One of those perfect holidays, a big thank you to Royal Caribbean, we'll be back before long I'm sure - now just need to work on Andy...... Glass of red anyone ;)

 

Full compilation of all days posts and Andy's photos (which are much better than mine) to follow in a week or so on a blog I've decided to write on all things cruise related. Thanks for taking the time to read and if anyone has any questions do send a message and I'll be happy to help.

 

 

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[Noodle2202]

Thank you so much for the review. We travel on the Indy 2 weeks today. It's our first cruise & your review has provided much insight.

I will be interested to read your blog.

Enjoy your weekend before the dreaded Monday blues.

 

 

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[CruisinCJ]

One of the best reviews that I have followed. Thank you for taking the time.

[moshek]

What a fab review, we were on same cruise and it has been great to relive the past 2 weeks over passed few hours (needed a break from the washing!)

 

Michelle x

[Peewee14]

Brilliant review, we have been on her before about 2 years ago, and we sail again 2 weeks today and I cant wait.

 

I am so much going to miss these daily posts from you,

 

Just hoping someone else does the same for the sailing thats just left!

[PAFC]

Thanks for the wonderful review we will also be on Indy 2 weeks today, it will be our 21st time on Indy it's just like going home. :D

[WhoKnowsWhere]

Thank you for this, we were on the cruise too but I have only just found this thread. Fascinating to read someone else's views on it. We had a great time, reading this makes me realise how much more we could have done if only we'd had another week!

[balla11]

hi i will be traveling alone on the lidependant of the seas on the13 oct for the 12 night canaries cruse is there enybody like to meet up with me im 68 years old male thanks brian.

[Clarea]

hi i will be traveling alone on the lidependant of the seas on the13 oct for the 12 night canaries cruse is there enybody like to meet up with me im 68 years old male thanks brian.

Hi Brian,

 

This is a link to your roll call:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1879624

 

These are the folks on your specific cruise.

Edited August 15, 2014 by clarea

[Nix111]

Hi

 

I've finally finished compiling all my posts and added photos and set up a blog with them on. I've also written a post about kids clubs which could be useful to parents and grandparents. Here is the link if you'd like to read more http://cruisemuses.blog.co.uk thanks so much for all the lovely comments, I'm glad you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

 

It really was a fabulous holiday, so much so that we've booked to go on Adventure of the Seas on 26 October to beat the post cruise blues! Live review to follow soon :)

[rwright261]

Thanks for link. You have inspired me to try and keep a journal on our upcoming Indy cruise, if I have enough content by the end I may try to write a review. Thank you!

 

Glad you have managed to sqeeze another cruise in, I will just be getting my holiday blues by that time so will look forward to reading another one of your live reviews before our next holiday :)