We would highly recommend Royal Caribbean cruise line and especially the Independence of the Seas, especially if you have children! The experience is top notch and doesn’t even compare with other vacations where you stay in a hotel and have to drive and pay for every single activity, including food. This is an all-inclusive vacation for budget-conscious patrons! It would have been fantastic even if we had never left the ship :)
Embarkation
5 out of 5
This was our 3rd cruise with Royal Caribbean and loved every minute of it!
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
We love having dinners in the formal dining room. The menu items were varied every evening and all our meals were wonderful. The Windjammer buffet was so abundant with choices it was almost overwhelming! Be sure to go all around the circular buffet as we discovered different items that I would have liked better on the other side after we had already eaten. We did not try any of the specialty restaurants - why pay for meals when they’re already included at the other venues?thwr
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
There were so many things to do onboard Independence of the Sea! Besides relaxing on a lounge chair on the many decks or by the pools, we loved playing putt putt golf, watching a movie while in the hot tub, going to the various shows - loved the Journey Tribute band - exploring the ship, playing chess on the top deck with an ocean view, the list goes on and on...
Entertainment
4 out of 5
The shows we attended (Grease, Journey Tribute Band, Variety Show were excellent. The band by the pool was fun. We just wished that there was a venue that had a band playing modern country, pop, or rock music. The nightclub we found obnoxious with its electronic music, the other nightclubs weren’t quite our cup of tea. We found it strange that there were no guitarists in any of the bands. We love to dance, but never found the venue with music we like to dance to.
Children's Programs
We didn’t bring children on this cruise.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Everyone was personable and helpful, kind and courteous and seemed genuinely happy to be working there.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Pristine
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Our room was wonderful and we loved the location - right around the corner from the stairs and elevators! Our bed was actually very comfortable.
Ship tip
This was the first time we tried “Any Time” Dining. We did not have an assigned dinner time. We found that to be a great idea. It allowed us flexibility to eat in the formal dining room whenever we wanted and we never had to wait in line more than 5 minutes.
It was a fun port - lots of shopping “huts” and 2 pools to play in, as well as beach chairs to relax on. Unfortunately we didn’t get to do the excursion we wanted to do - Bike ride/Kayak Adventure (it was full). We got to watch the dolphins giving swimmers rides - that was fun!
We did the Playa de Mia water park. While we had a nice time, I was a little disappointed because from the pictures and description, I thought there was a lazy river and more water activities to do on shore. We tried the water trike which turned out to be a lot harder than it looked, and then rented a Jet Ski which was fun! The time went by very fast.
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