Independence of the seas 13th April Live Report

[lydnsyd]

Loving the review so far - can I ask a question. How does it work in the MDR re the Drinks Package - is there a special section on the Wine List for wine by the glass.

We are joining the cruise on 1st May - can't wait.

[Bizzie07]

Excellent review. Prosecco seems to be very expensive. Need to make sure I bring my own two bottles when we cruise in July :D

[BourkeBlogs]

Loving the review so far - can I ask a question. How does it work in the MDR re the Drinks Package - is there a special section on the Wine List for wine by the glass.

We are joining the cruise on 1st May - can't wait.

 

 

 

The Wine List shows what wines are available by the glass. Anything up to $12 is included and anything above that you would pay the difference for. So for example with the $15 glass of Prosecco , you would pay the $3 plus 18% service charge, making this $3.54 a glass.

 

 

[jonj]

Thank you for the wine list. We are not getting the drink package for a few reasons. One is we are in a suite and will have a couple in the concierge lounge in the evening. My husband can get his espresso / cappuccino fix there as well. It is a port intensive cruise and we aren't big drinkers. A bottle of wine / sparkling wine usually yields 4 or 5 glasses depending on the pour. It seems getting a bottle, depending on cost, will be a better value than a glass if on the beverage package. Even if we have a couple of drinks by the pool on the days we may want one it still works out better without the package, at least for us.

[StlGal]

Since then we have headed to Vintages for a drink before the muster at 15:45

 

Thank you so much for your review!

 

Do you know if Vintages serves tapas or any food (cheese, bread) to go with the wine? Also, noticed on the menu you provided that they no longer offer Caymus by the glass. Can you please verify if this is true as we usually use our buy 1 get 1 on Caymus. :)

[kevinyork]

Excellent review. Prosecco seems to be very expensive. Need to make sure I bring my own two bottles when we cruise in July :D

 

 

 

Prosecco is stupidly priced and done so to get people to pay the difference.

 

 

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[BourkeBlogs]

Thank you so much for your review!

 

 

 

Do you know if Vintages serves tapas or any food (cheese, bread) to go with the wine? Also, noticed on the menu you provided that they no longer offer Caymus by the glass. Can you please verify if this is true as we usually use our buy 1 get 1 on Caymus. :)

 

 

 

No food is offered in Vintages. Previously we have only sailed on Harmony and Anthem where a tapas menu from Jamie's was offered so we had expected to see some form of food offered, although obviously not Jamie's in this ship.

 

My other half has just gone into Vintages to check and they do have Caymus at $27 a glass, although not on the menu. From our experience yesterday they do seem to have a lot of wines available that aren't on the menu.

[BourkeBlogs]

For the rest of the morning we had a walk up on the deck and spent some time in the sun before heading to the WJ for lunch which was considerably quieter than yesterday.

 

We stopped off at Oliver or Twist for a drink after lunch which was really quiet, but had some great views over the decks below and of course the sea, as at the time we were sailing past the coast of Cuba.

 

Strings the ice show was on at 2 which was really good. It took as a while to find Studio B as you can't access it from deck 3 at the front of the ship, so have to go to the rear of the ship then walk through On Air.

 

One further point on the drinks is that are a lot of cocktails that are now priced at $14 so above the $12 drink limit. When we cruised last year and at that time had the ultimate package, which is the equivalent of the new deluxe package every cocktail was included. None were priced above the limit but now several cocktails and previously included wines have now been priced at an up charge.

[BourkeBlogs]

A quick position update

 

[StlGal]

No food is offered in Vintages. Previously we have only sailed on Harmony and Anthem where a tapas menu from Jamie's was offered so we had expected to see some form of food offered, although obviously not Jamie's in this ship.

 

My other half has just gone into Vintages to check and they do have Caymus at $27 a glass, although not on the menu. From our experience yesterday they do seem to have a lot of wines available that aren't on the menu.

 

 

Thank you so much for the quick answer, very much appreciated! Will be following along. Have a great cruise!

 

 

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[boontj2003]

Thank you for doing this, it is so very helpful to have current information even if some of the items may not have changed from the time someone post them. At least we would know. With the ever changing prices on the drinks this is most helpful and in general like to see the menus its fun to look / plan.

 

I do not know if you meant you already uploaded last evening's dinner menu, if you did it isn't on your website. Looking forward to following along.

 

Enjoy your cruise

 

We just got off the Indy, once they see you have a package, I never signed or was uncharged.....enjoy!

[BourkeBlogs]

Tonight was the first of 3 formal nights on the cruise.

 

As we are on MTD we had booked dinner for 18:45 each evening so on arrival at the restaurant there was no queue or waiting for a table. Last night there had been 4 of us although tonight it's just the 2 of us but they quickly allocated a table for 2 in the same area and waiter as the previous evening.

 

The food was good again, although the scallops pictured were very, very small. The beef was excellent and very tender. There was an option to have this either medium-rare or medium-well.

 

 

 

I chose the strawberry cheesecake for dessert which was also very good.

 

 

One thing we have noticed is on the whole the service has been very good across the board. There have been a couple of exceptions but overall we have been impressed and a significant improvement on Harmony.

 

The menu for tonight has been uploaded along with a bar menu from Olive or Twist from earlier.

[jonj]

Food looks good so far. Glad you are enjoying it and the service. Interesting that many of the wines in Olive or Twist are a little lower priced than the dining room wine menu you had listed. some by just a $1 such as the Ruffino Prosecco on the dining room menu it was $15 glass / $58 bottle and in Olive or Twist it is $14 / $55

[BourkeBlogs]

Formal night picture:

 

 

[riclop]

Looking forward to it.

[BourkeBlogs]

Earlier today a kettle was delivered to our cabin and at turn down the mugs, tea, milk etc. has been delivered.

 

From what I understand this is specifically for U.K. cruises and for me personally it's a good thing as I can make a cup of tea at my convenience when I wake up in the morning.

 

[kevinyork]

Food looks good so far. Glad you are enjoying it and the service. Interesting that many of the wines in Olive or Twist are a little lower priced than the dining room wine menu you had listed. some by just a $1 such as the Ruffino Prosecco on the dining room menu it was $15 glass / $58 bottle and in Olive or Twist it is $14 / $55

 

 

 

I enjoy Kim Crawford Marlborough and on Oasis last month it was $13 in Chops ( included in the package as the level is $13 on that ship) but $17 on the MDR menu. I checked with a bar manager and he said it should be $13 shipwide so I never got charged extra after that point in the MDR.

 

 

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[BourkeBlogs]

Last night after dinner we went to the headliner show which was The Sound Collage. It was a group of 3 female singers and one male who was like a human live band. There was no live band to support, no backing tracks just them performing everything live. We both really enjoyed the show as it was something different to usual.

 

After the show we headed up to the Pyramid lounge where it was the majority rules game show. It was a great bit of fun where questions are asked and each team gives an answer, and the most popular answer wins a point for their team. For example one of the questions was 'If the boat was sinking what would be the first thing you would grab' our answer was iPhone which a number of other people also selected. The majority answer was life vests which would be the sensible answer. I think our first thought proves how attached I am to technology, which isn't a good thing.

[BourkeBlogs]

Today's port of call was Labadee and we were docked for around 7am. It started an overcast morning, but ultimately ended up as a very hot clear day.

 

Before departing the ship we went to the WJ for breakfast which even just after 7am was very busy, and it got busier during the time we were there. The food was fine, service was fine although we did have to go and find our own tea, coffee and fresh orange juice as no one was serving tables. Again this may be common place now but on past cruises even in the WJ at breakfast drinks were served to the table.

 

We disembarked about 08:30 which was around 30 minutes later than planned. Mainly due to the fact I have lost my man bag and spent ages searching the cabin for it, which is where I'm sure I left it. Apparently not though, it's no where to be seen so I probably left it in a restaurant or bar somewhere on the ship. It's. It been handed in to lost property yet but hopefully it will turn up. Thankfully nothing of value was in it.

 

Once we got off the ship onto the port, the scale of the ship was clear in comparison to such a small port.

 

 

The obligatory Labadee picture:

 

 

We hadn't booked any excursions for the port and planned to have a relaxing day. We had considered doing the zip line although at over £80 this seemed very expensive. Especially when we are going on the longest zip line in Europe and the fastest in the world in Wales later this year for £60. We also didn't pay much more to go skydiving in New Zealand last year so we didn't bother going on it. We did see quite a few people on it, but it was no where near as busy as I expected. If the price was cheaper I would imagine they would get a lot more people on it and ultimately still make more money.

 

We had a walk round the port and then sat in a bar overlooking the beach. We are still a bit sunburnt from a few days ago so didn't really want to sit in the sun all day. We had a labadoozie cocktail which was nice, although very sweet.

 

 

There were multiple places to eat and as this was Royal Caribbean's private island all the food was included and drinks were within your drinks package or at usual ship prices.

 

The lunch was really tasty with some pretty good chicken and ribs which had been flame grilled.

 

 

We headed back to the ship around 12:30 and to the cabin to get a shower. Unfortunately our room had not yet been cleaned and the cabin attendant came after around 10 minutes wanting to clean. I don't think she was too pleased we were in there and said she finished at 1 so we dived in the shower then came out as quick as we could to go for a coffee.

[kevinyork]

 

Before departing the ship we went to the WJ for breakfast which even just after 7am was very busy, and it got busier during the time we were there. The food was fine, service was fine although we did have to go and find our own tea, coffee and fresh orange juice as no one was serving tables. Again this may be common place now but on past cruises even in the WJ at breakfast drinks were served to the table.

 

 

I don't think we ever expected a waiter service for the free coffees or orange juice in the windjammer as we have always gone and got them ourselves. In fact I didn't think they have ever offered to get us the free drinks on our cruise as it's a self serve buffet. I would feel a little awkward asking for a free drink I could serve myself. Probably my British reserve.

 

 

 

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[BourkeBlogs]

I don't think we ever expected a waiter service for the free coffees or orange juice in the windjammer as we have always gone and got them ourselves. In fact I didn't think they have ever offered to get us the free drinks on our cruise as it's a self serve buffet. I would feel a little awkward asking for a free drink I could serve myself. Probably my British reserve.

 

 

 

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Hi, sorry I was referring to the chargeable fresh orange juice, rather than the concentrate and lattes etc.

[Spa girl nana]

Thank you for your live review.

 

When you get a chance, please post the price list to stock the mini bar. I see your fridge/cooler was empty. My last cruise it only had 6 canned soft drinks & some bottles of water on the counter.

 

Sorry you have misplaced your man bag. You may need to go to lost & found in person to look at what has been turned in. Years ago, my husband lost his glasses. We called several time, each time was told no one had turned in any glasses. We went and when they opened the drawer there were several pairs of glasses and my husbands was in the drawer.

[jonj]

If you have a chance can you post the prices for the spa treatments?

[BourkeBlogs]

Thank you for your live review.

 

 

 

When you get a chance, please post the price list to stock the mini bar. I see your fridge/cooler was empty. My last cruise it only had 6 canned soft drinks & some bottles of water on the counter.

 

 

 

Thanks for the tip on lost property. I'll see if they will let me have a look as I'm sure it would have been handed in if left in a restaurant.

 

Here is the price list for the mini bar. If ordered before 5pm it says they will be delivered on the same day or if after will arrive the following day. Apologies if it's not totally clear, there is a fair bit of movement on the ship so hard to try and keep the camera totally still for a perfect image.

 

[BourkeBlogs]

If you have a chance can you post the prices for the spa treatments?

 

 

 

Hi, yes. No probs although it will probably be in a few days time when we have the 8 days in a row at sea. My partner wants an appointment for her hair and I'll get my beard done if they offer that service, so will get a price list while there.