Well here I am back down to earth after my trip on the Independence of the Seas. It was a bit of a mixed bag really if I am to be completely honest about it.
It has been about 6 years since I was last on a Royal Caribbean ship ( Navigator of the Seas ) and overall I feel the standard was better back then.
Anyway lets start at the beginning. I had booked the car parking through stress free parking on a meet and greet service that I regularly book for my customers, and I must say it really lived up to the name. We pulled up along side the ship and no sooner had we opened the boot than the cases were whisked away not to be seen again until outside our cabin. We then literally drove across the road to the short stay parking area, where we were met by their driver who did a quick check around the car with us, wished us a good time and sent us on our way. We walked back across the road straight into the check in area and that was that. At the end of the cruise the experience was just as easy and the staff from the parking company could not have been any more pleasant or professional. I will continue to recommend this service to my clients with complete confidence.
The check in procedure was very well organised and although the queues looked quite long when we first joined them, they moved extremely quickly ( much quicker than any airport check in I have ever been through ). By the time we had checked in it was around 12.30 and having been on the road since 6.30am we were feeling quite peckish so headed straight to the Windjammer buffet restaurant for a bite to eat.
As this was the only restaurant open for lunch that day it was a bit hectic to say the least, however we managed to secure a table by the window and enjoyed a leisurely lunch.
Although we were free to roam the ship we had been told that our cabins would not be available until 2pm so after lunch we decided to have a walk around the ship to stretch our legs and find our way around ( we did have to stop a couple of times to sample a few of the many liquid refreshment areas on board ), and whilst doing the rounds we also queued at the main dining room in order to book a table for 8pm that evening, as we had elected to do the My Time dining. We also collected 2 tickets for the ice show for that evening. The ice show is the only entertainment venue that you need tickets for on board, and that is purely due to the size of it and the number of people it can hold, so although you need a ticket it is still free to attend.
Once in our cabin we unpacked and then sat on our balcony watching all the comings and goings around Southampton, where it is a constant hive of activity, and although the weather wasn’t brilliant it was nice to sit in the fresh air with a drink and just completely relax.
The reason we had booked this particular cruise was for the itinerary so one of the first things we did was book our excursions, which we did through the tv in the cabin. The whole process was so easy and once we had read through the various options and decided on which ones we wanted to do it took about 5 minutes and the whole process was completed. An hour or so later the excursion tickets were delivered to our cabin with very clear directions as to when and where we needed to meet for them. Job done!
At 4pm they held the compulsary safety drill which again was extremely well organised. they checked every single passenger off on their list so there was no way anyone could avoid attending, which is the way it should be. There were one or two people moaning about having to stand out in the cold, but we were only out there for about 15 minutes which I thought was pretty reasonable and at the end of the day no one can do anything about the weather.
Following this we headed for Studio B to watch the ice show, and we were not disappointed – it was absolutley amazing, the costumes, choreography, technical skill of the skaters, soudtrack, everything was spot on. They had a female violinist playing through a good part of it and she was also superb.
Next it was back to the cabin to get ready for our evening out. We freshened up, changed and headed to the dining room for 8pm, and sadly this is where it started to go downhill.
When we arrived at the entrance to the dining room there was a huge queue of people for the My time dining section and although we explained that we had already queued at lunchtime to book a time we were told that we still had to join the queue again. We queued for almost 30mins among a whole load of disgruntled people and was eventually seated just after 8.30pm. One of the reasons I have often suggested the My time dining to my customers is that you can get a table for 2 which is quite difficult to do on the set dining options, and we had requested this for ourselves. Now technically we were given a table for 2 however there was literally only about 2 inches between us and the next table so we may as well have been on a table for 4 as there was no privacy at all. The waiters were all running around like headless chickens and clearly were not able to cope with the sheer volume of guests at that time, and consequently it was after 9pm before we actually started to eat. Unfortunately the service did not improve at all throughout the meal and I also think the food must have been hanging around waiting for the waiters to serve it as when it arrived it was dried up and only luke warm. We had ordered a bottle of white wine with the meal, but as the tables were so cramped up together there was no room to place the ice bucket at the side so once they had poured us a glass the bottle was taken away and we had to wait for a waiter to bring it back and top us up which left us sat with empty glasses for long spells throughout the meal.
We eventually left the dining room just in time to take in the second performance of the main show at 10.45, which again was a good standard but personally I had enjoyed the ice show more, or maybe I was just a bit too tired and disappointed after the dining experience to enjoy it to the full. Anyway after this it was off to bed as we had a very eary start the following day for our trip to Paris, which I will tell you all about in my next blog.
The following day was a long tiring one as we had to be up at 6am and didn’t get back to the ship until after 6pm, and it was the formal night on board, so following our experience in the main dining room the night before coupled with the tiredness and lack of time to get fready we opted to eat in the Windjammer again that evening. The food was okay but nothing special, however there was a very good choice and something to suit everyone. It was surprisingly busy in there so whether other people had also been put off the main dining or whether people just hadn’t realised that there would be a formal night on such a short cruise I don’t know. We retired to one of the bars afterwards for a nightcap and then had an early night.
The next morning we were up again at 6am ready for another long day sight seeing. Again I will tell you all about this in my next blog.
We got back on board just before 5pm this time so went and watched some of the younger guests enjoying the ships facilities such as the rock climbing wall, the mini golf and the flow rider which seemed to be a big favourite with everyone and was certainly very entertaining even as a spectator.
We then went and got a window seat in the cocktail bar and with a glass of champagne settled down ready to say goodbye to Le Havre as we set sail back to Southampton.
Once underway we went back to the cabin and got ready for our last evening on board – the time had passed so quickly. Once ready we decided to go back to the cocktail bar for another drink before dining to see if the service would be any better by eating a little later when it was less busy. Seems like everyone had the same idea, and the cocktail bar was rammed. We waited over half an hour to get served with a drink, and had to sit at the bar because there were no free seats anywhere else. Whilst sat at the bar 2 girls came to get drinks for a group of 8 people who were all sat together and the bar tender refused to serve them until they could prove that they had empty glasses which neither I nor they could quite understand why. When he was eventually convinced that they should be served he told them that they had run out of champagne and would have to choose an alternative drink.
When we turned up at the dining room we realised we had made the right decision as there was only a very short queue by this time. We got our table for 2 although it was still as tightly packed as the previous time. The service and the quality of the food on the last night were both a massive improvement and back to the level that I would expect on a 4* cruise,and so I am left pondering as to which was the norm, the bad service and food on the first night or the good service and food on the last night as there was a world of difference between the two.
I would be really interested to learn from any of you who have sailed with Royal Caribbean regularly what your dining experiences were like. Have you compared the set dining with the My time and if so which did you prefer and for what reasons? Have you found that the time you dined afected the service you received?
