Awesome 1st cruise experience

Item: Independence of the Seas
Rating: 5
Author: jrosemartin

Independence of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

jrosemartin

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 1 cruise (first)

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 19

Overall rating:

5 out of 5

Verified Review

5 Night Western Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)

Sail date: March 05, 2018

Ship: Independence of the Seas

Cabin number: 7266

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

We truly enjoyed our first cruise with Royal Caribbean and look forward to planning another one. It was an amazing experience.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Windjammer Marketplace

2 out of 5

The food was average and the set up to the restaurant was not effective. This was probably my biggest disappointment of the cruise. You had to always wait on tea, juice, water, or lemonade to be made or poured. There never seemed to be enough staff for the restaurant and even having a refreshment package you had to go all the way outside the restaurant just to get your drink. I just was not happy with this at all.

Cafe Promenade

5 out of 5

Great coffees and snacks

Sorrento's Pizza

5 out of 5

Great times and pizza and service was good

Main Dining Room

5 out of 5

The food was amazing and our wait staff was awesome. Our two servers Boaz Salick and Jeevan Dharai were great.

Schooner Bar

5 out of 5

Great atmosphere. The nightly comedian piano player was awesome. He was great.

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Rock Climbing Wall

5 out of 5

Awesome adventure, great equipment, super staff to help instruct and motivate to get you to the top.

Center Ice Rink

4 out of 5

The rink and equipment was great on the ship. The only negative thing was it was not open a lot so we really didn't get a chance to enjoy it.

Day Spa and Fitness Center

5 out of 5

Great updated equipment

Dunes Mini Golf

5 out of 5

Good fun course.. lots of laughs

Casino Royale

5 out of 5

Plenty of games and good hours

Entertainment

5 out of 5

The ice show was great. We concert by Journey was fun. The guitar player and singer Amy who sang in the Dog and Badger Pub was great, and the comedian piano player that played nightly in the Schnooer Bar was amazing.

Alhambra Theater

5 out of 5

Saw concert Journey and really enjoyed it

Children's Programs

No children

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Awesome staff Fernando-room steward was the best

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Beautiful ship that was very clean

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

We were surprised at how much room we had in our cabin. It was spacious and had lots of storage compared to what I had imagined. We loved our balcony and Fernando always kept us smiling upon returning to our room. It was always clean, always having fresh towels and little towel animals and greeting us in the hallway from day one with knowing our names. Our cabin service was amazing.

Ship tip

Get a room with a balcony and purchase a drink package. Both are worth the money

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida Did not visit port

Went to and from the airport/hotel

Thumbs Up 0

Labadee (Cruise Line Private Island)

5 out of 5

Awesome time. We did the coaster ride and it was great. We could see the sites of the island and also hit our adventurous side. We loved that the food and drinks were included on the island.

Thumbs Up 9

Falmouth, Jamaica

5 out of 5

Amazing time. We did the dune buggy excursion. It was so much fun. We laughed and truly enjoyed ourselves. The only downfall was that it literally takes your entire time in port so we barely had time to walk in like 3 stores to purchase something, but we had a great time.

Thumbs Up 3