Fantastic

Independence of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

Cruises: 1 cruise (first)
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 20

Overall rating:

5 out of 5
Verified Review
Independence of the Seas

4 Night Western Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)

Sail date: April 11, 2019

Ship: Independence of the Seas

Cabin number: 7628

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

Over all, had such a fun and relaxing time. The ship is fantastic, the crew is fantastic, the facilities are fantastic. Get a refreshment drink package, you'll get your monies worth for sure. The photos we had taken were awesome.

Embarkation

5 out of 5
easier than expected.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5
Food and drink was FANTASTIC. Everything tasted so good.

Pool Bar

4 out of 5

Sometimes super fast, sometimes takes forever. Drinks were always good! Staff have a lot to manage so be kind.

Sorrento's Pizza

5 out of 5

Good pizza, not like the best thing ever but satisfying. Tasty toppings.

The Labyrinth

1 out of 5

SO SAD that this feature has been removed! We were really wanting to visit this club based on the pictures. Has been replaced with more staterooms. :( SO just FYI, this IS NOT THERE ANYMORE!!

Windjammer Marketplace

5 out of 5

Love it! very cool. Staff is funny.

Johnny Rockets

4 out of 5

Staff and service was 100%. The food..... if you've gone to a on shore Johnny Rockets, drop your expectations by about 6 points or so. Not the same. Cannot comment on milkshakes as we didn't have them, they looked good though.

Main Dining Room

5 out of 5

The food, the staff, the experience, all of it was 100% amazing!

Cafe Promenade

5 out of 5

Great! There coffee was tasty!

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5
The whirl pool areas weren't as crowded as I expected them to be. Definitely go during times when they're not in peak use, IE, during one of the dining times, evenings, mornings, lunch time.

Solarium

5 out of 5

I'm assuming I'm reviewing the Escape room.... so if this is misplaced, HEY here's a review about the Escape room!I live in Orlando where there are ALOT of escape rooms of various levels of detail, difficulty, and quality. I've done at least 15 rooms before this experience. This room compared to all the other rooms, ranks really high. Beautifully detailed, they really took their time designing the room. Clean, pretty, things weren't beatup or broken. It's different from other escape rooms I've experienced, where you usually unlock 3 or 4 areas of a "room". This experience was all in one space, which was very different for me. Not other room I've played has done this yet still, all the puzzles kept my interest and were pretty involved! Also spacey so we didn't all feel like we were running into each other every moment. They also had the puzzle master stay with us in the room, which was also different from any other room I've done. Usually the puzzle master leaves and you get hints view a screen placed in the room or over a intercom. His hints were good, got the group going in the right direction without ruining the experience of us figuring it out for ourselves. The puzzles were changeling but not ungodly frustrating. I don't recommend this for anyone under the age of 14... maybe 16. It just won't be fun for them I think. Definitely fun over all though! As someone who goes to a lot of escape rooms, this was really done right! You'll enjoy it whether it's your 1st time or 15th. TIP: LISTEN TO YOUR GAME MASTER and LET EVERYONE IN YOUR GROUP LOOK AT THE CLUES

Photo Gallery and Shop

5 out of 5

Staff was so helpful. When we had an issue of our special pictures that were taken of our engagement linking with our cloud, they went above and beyond to make sure we had them.

Dunes Mini Golf

3 out of 5

Meh, It was so so. We went up there and once my partner and I saw it, we decided to pass. I could see small kids having fun with it.

Guest Services and Explorations!

5 out of 5

Victoria is amazing, she helped my (now) fiance set up our proposal and made it super special. She cared. All of the staff really seem to care.

Whirlpools

5 out of 5

I liked it! Can get a little crowded but if you go during off times, like mornings, lunch, dining times, evenings, you'll have luck. Plus people don't tend to stay super long cause.... well unless you just are content to boil yourself for hours, you're not gonna want to stay for stupid long. You can take plastic cups in. Water feels nice. View is cool without being frightening.

Swimming Pools

5 out of 5

Clean, sometimes crowded of course. Adult pool was truly free of children which I was glad for. Lots of areas to relax. Be mindful that there is only one space to rent towels and that is the the one place you return them. So plan that in that when you're done, you gotta walk back there even if they're ALL THE WAY towards the front and you're hanging out at the wave pool and slides towards the back.

Entertainment

5 out of 5
The music DJ's were great, the Ice show was fantastic, the comedy show with Jim David though was my favorite.

Promenade

5 out of 5

Beautiful, interesting, fun!

Children's Programs

No kids

Challengers Arcade

5 out of 5

Played quite a bit on the air hockey table. Good to ok condition, still fun! They have a game called GO TO JUNGLE that is a HILARIOUSLY bad game. So bad it's good kinda thing that is a gem to experience for any gamer.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
Everyone is super nice. Our states room was super nice and HONEST. she has mistake some money that i left on the bed as tip and double checked with us about it. It was going to be her tip but I was still organizing it all. Our room was always clean and fresh. Waiters are amazing. Everyone is nice. A lady at the front desk helped my (now) fiance plan how he'd stage our proposal to me and made it a special moment for us. She went above and beyond. The photography staff was also excellent in capturing our special moment and all the other memories we wanted.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
The ship is huge but really clearly marked. I never really felt like I was lost.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
Size was surprisingly spacey. Clean. Bright. Comfortable.

Ship tip

Book a later dining time if you want to avoid most of the kiddos. Avoid the first rush of the lunch buffet the first day, absolute chaos. Go to the promenade for pizza or other snacks instead. Maybe consider bringing a towel with you. There is ONE location to rent towels and sometimes coming back to return your towels there (to avoid charges) was a pain. If you don't have the packing space though, it's not a big deal. Also, Please don't be one of those people that exits the evalvaotr and then just stands there blocking others from getting on. GTF OUTTA THE WAY, then figure out where you're going. If you like whacky fun stuff, look for the elevator piano man. ;) Oh yah, it's a thing!

Ports of call

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

I live here

Cozumel, Mexico

5 out of 5
The port was beautiful. It's mexico, so expect to be pressured by everyone as soon as you walk by to by something. They'll come up to your tables while you eat. MOST everyone is polite when you decline, others push harder. My social anxiety was maxed out by the end but you just have to keep in mind that this is their way of life, and there will be other visitors they can cater to.

Disembarkation

5 out of 5
great! informative. The beach area was ok, I enjoyed it though.
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1 Comment

wgammon1    4 years ago

Glad you had a good cruise. Thanks for the great review.

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