It hasn't appeared yet on the review section but thought I would add it here.
As we are still unable to add photos on here without using external sites, I have put some into the photo section under the same heading.
We had the pleasure of sailing on Independence of the Seas inaugural sailing to Cobh, Ireland in 2008. Unfortunately we didn’t sail on her again, until this year when we took the only Norway cruise from Southampton as part of her last UK based season. This was the first cruise from the UK for this year, and therefore had many passengers that had made the Transatlantic crossing. One American couple that I spoke to were really doing it in style by coming TA on Independence, then staying on for the Norway cruise, disembarking in Southampton for a few days before returning to the USA on the QM2.
Embarkation
This was being anticipated as a problematic day for Southampton, with 6 ships in port and the city still having problems with the ongoing major road works that had led to massive delays in the previous months.
Just four days before departure we received an e-mail from RCI outlining a new embarkation process – basically boarding by deck number. The e-mail specifically asked that loyalty club Gold members should check-in at the time allocated which in our case was 2:15pm. Having already made travel plans to arrive at around midday – we were not very happy! One of the few benefits of ‘Gold’ membership is supposed to be priority check-in at your own leisure, so a phone call to RCI was made and they said that you can check-in whenever you wish. Right hand and left hands definitely not part of the same body!
We stuck to the original plan and it ended up being one of the quickest embarkations ever and we were on board soon after midday.
Food
We thought we would avoid the usual crush in the Windjammer for breakfast and have a leisurely start in the MDR. This ‘leisurely’ start took the best part of an hour and a half so this was not to be repeated. A better compromise was a self-serve in the bottom level of the MDR with just drinks and toast being waiter served.
We were on my-time dining, which mostly worked without too much waiting for a table. Although we are vegetarian, there is usually a suitable choice on the menu – until one of the dishes marked with the ‘v’ mark clearly wasn’t suitable. The waiter checked and confirmed that they had it wrong and arranged for the head waiter to offer the separate vegan menu to pre order for each of the following evenings. American lines don’t seem to grasp the notion for any non ‘standard’ meals and peoples dietary requirements. Taste and quality of the food that we did have was good.
Entertainment
The production shows in the Alhambra theatre were of the usual style and quality. The ‘Headline’ acts on the other nights ran from Berni Flint (Opportunity Knocks) to a Queen tribute (The Bohemians) to a BMX stunt rider! All were surprisingly very entertaining with the Queen tribute being especially popular.
One thing that Royal Caribbean do especially well are their unique and famous ice shows. Back in 2008 we managed to see 2 different shows during just a 4 day cruise. This time tickets were allocated on the first full day, on a first come basis for the only 2 performances on each of 2 days performing the same show. When they have the ice rink and performers already there, I could not understand why they didn’t have more shows. This resulted in large queues of the ‘unlucky ones’ without tickets forming outside each performance. We managed to get in via the queue and watch from the back. It was such a pity about the poor organisation, because the show itself was wonderful.
Although the street parades are starting to look a bit dated, the Rock Britannia street party was great fun led by one of the best cruise directors we have had – Joff Eaton. Mention must also be made of the best resident band we have ever seen at sea – Rock the Boat in the Pyramid lounge. At the beginning of the week there were plenty of seats spare in the lounge but by the last day it was standing room only.
Ports
After a sunny crossing of the North Sea, the second day was spent cruising the length of the Sognefjord which was a lot cooler but drew us into the wonderful scenery that we would be enjoying for the next few days. Late in the day we docked at Skolden which is a very attractive small port and a chance to stretch the legs ashore.
The next day was very comfortably warm in Flaam. Having heard all sorts of stories about obtaining tickets for the famous train trip, I went across to the station before 8am to find them already open with no queues and so booked our tickets for later in the morning. Lovely trip and highly recommended but very overpriced for those who had booked via the ship.
Next stop was Olden where we did the ‘Glacier Express’ which was very enjoyable but doesn’t actually take you to the glacier – just views from a distance. We had it pointed out that the waterfalls had only started flowing about a week before and there was still a good amount of snow on the mountains making for stunning scenery.
Alesund was the following day where the thing to do is take a land train or walk the 418 steps to a viewing area overlooking the town and outlying islands which are apparently linked by a road tunnel. We started the steps route but Harriet bowed out around a third of the way – I collected her on the way back! Unknown to us at the time the Independence had been arrested by the Norwegian authorities because of non-payment of pilot and security fees from the previous year. After RCI head office paying up around $100,000 the ship was released to continue.
Last port was Stavanger, which is called the ‘Oil Capital of Norway’. Here we had a walk around the town and visited the surprisingly interesting Petroleum Museum. The old town which consists of very attractive white wooden houses in narrow streets is well worth exploring.
For anyone interested, I will be creating a photo album of the sights on cruise dot.
Overall a lovely cruise with stunning scenery and so pleased to revisit Independence before she leaves our part of the world.
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