Interesting. Thanks for your report!
FWIW I think the excursion prices are about the same. It basically comes down to how much each cruise line thinks they should charge as a middleman fee. You're likely to find some excursions cheaper on DCL and some cheaper on Royal. And chances are you'll find them cheaper (or more personalized) if you book with a third party.
Kind of surprised about Chops, but it seems as if the quality of the specialty restaurants, while still good, has been on a downward trend.
The size thing is interesting to me as I've not been on a Quantum class. I know the Oasis class is quite spacious but it now makes me wonder how the Independence will feel compared to Royal's largest ships. I haven't been on a "regular" ship since DCL Fantasy a few years back so this will be interesting.
Was The Gift a Cirque-style show? I always find those (including the RCL aqua shows) a bit hard to follow from a story perspective. It's more that there's an overarching theme and it plays off of that. All these years later and I couldn't really tell you what "O" in Vegas was about, apart from having a water theme.
And speaking of water, any thoughts on the pools?
Sorry for the delay in replying, still catching up since we got back!
We never do the ship excursions, although this time, we did one, which was a bit of a rip off as was a coach trip to a place called Peggy's Cove (fabulous) apart from the herding around, which you get on any excursion and then the HOHO bus. However, by the time we got back, there was no time to do the HOHO bus properly and we ended up just sitting on it for part of the circuit, just to hear a bit of information. In hindsight we should have just got a cab, that will teach us to go 'off piste' !
As for Chops, it wasn't good, I would go as far to say is was shocking. My sea bass was dried up and overcooked, I sent it back. If you are paying extra you should have quality it wasn't.
The Gift was a stage performance in the theatre, it was visually very good, not a cirque type show, but a musical. The costumes were incredible, the singing okay (I am involved in the theatre, so it was okay, but nothing wow!). The concept was good along with the staging. However, it was all a bit 'random' and not easy to follow the story and work out what was happening, which was a shame, because it had the potential to be good. People actually walked out. Spectra is on the large screens that replace the ceiling to floor windows at the back. Again, it was just strange. There is so much potential on these screens, as they are like a surround cinema, we could have been taken under the sea on an adventure, or on a roller coaster ride, or something like Soarin' instead it was just flashed up images on the screens with music. We went after 10 minutes, luckily we were sat at the back.
The pools were good. there were three pool areas. The outside one under the screen, which is bigger than the pool on the Magic and on the Dream. There was a small children's splash area too, shallow in one part and a small pool that moved in a circle. Not as good as the Dream, as good as the Magic and Wonder, but no slides at all. However, what was great is there is a second pool inside under cover, again pretty big compared to DCL, so it doesn't matter what the weather is like. Plenty of hot tubs. Finally, at the front of the ship is the Solarium, a large inside/greenhouse type area with plunge pools on different levels and hot tubs, which is purely for adults. This doesn't include the wave rider at the back.
I just had a look at photos of the Independent, which has been in the Med. for the last few years, Anthem is a very poor cousin!