Independence of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Excellent food. My group had 2 people with special dietary need and they did a splendid job accommodating our needs. Stateroom is very spacious even though we had 3 people in it. The entertainment is excellent with ice show, dance show, musicals. However, many of the activities are targeted to English speakers, especially Americans (e.g. 70s music, trivia), so it's not so friendly to international travelers. Sports activities are a lot of fun too. We went on the flowrider and rock climbing wall a few times. The shore excursion is pretty amazing too. We went to the palantar and starfish sanctury snorkeling in Cozumel. Service is good but the crew could do more to make the trip more friendly and cheerful.

Royal Caribbean has really upped their game on the entertainment.  The comedian was really good, the ice skating show was amazing and the Broadway production of Grease was incredible!  Promenade show iwas lots of fun and very upbeat. 

Service was wonderful all around the ship. 

Captain docked the ship without so much as a bump.  

Almost all the food in the main dining room was tasty. Specialty restaurants food & service is like being in an upscale NY restaurant. 

We had a wonderful time.  I really have no complaints of any sort.  Every staff worker was as pleasant as can be.  The food was awesome.  The shows were good.  It was a great time.

The Independence of the Seas is a great spring break cruise.  Lots to do and very accommodating crew.  Highlights:  Sports Center staff from last cruise was on this one (Maria - she'll teach you how to do the Flowrider like a pro!)  Restaurant staff was fantastic (Swabnil always had an extra dessert for our table to sample).  Grease performed on the last night was a superb production, loved the energy from the cast.  Activities staff, Charlie, took the time to remember us and greet us as we saw him around the ship.

Some things for RC to think about -- we've been on several RC cruises and yet to see the Cruise Director out and about other than introducing the acts each evening.  Food at lunch in Windjammer seemed a bit mundane.  Would have liked to see some themed lunches - Mexican, Chinese, Italian.  

Independence of the Seas; great ship; accommodate all guest's needs.  great service overall especially with Noe (room attendant); Chanei & Vishal (Romeo & Juliet); Fernanda & Teddy (Boleros); children's activities kept to aft of ship; 3 pools so space and didn't want to be involved with all pool activities.  Great food selections; never hungry!  Loved the assortments daily;

Boarding the ship in Ft Lauderdale was a nightmare.  Very congested....very confusing.  Once on board the ship was wonderful.  I was a little disappointed in our shore excursion in Jamaica.  We waited over an hour for the excursion people to pick us up.  Visiting the Rose House and the historic church were very interesting....but the other stops were not.

Getting off the ship....once again....very stressful.

The vacation was made wonderful by all the great staff on the ship.  Everyone was so kind and entertaining.  The food was great onboard and at port.  We chose horseback ride and swim in Jamaica which was quite amazing.  

Expected a more impressive ship. didn't like that kids pool area was as separated from the adult pool area.

Wish kids club didn't have the two hour closure in the middle of the day. (rotate staff, where someone can be there at all times.)

We were on your private island of Labadi, why should we have to  pay to use slide and kids are ocean float areas.

Overall excellent cruise. Lots of activities, attentive staff. Kids club could use some work. Love the rock wall and ice skating. Flow rider looked like fun. Food good with many choices.

The ship is beautiful and certainly does not look brand new but is VERY clean and well kept.  I only noticed because other reviewers had made negative comments.  I thought the ship and everything in it was gorgeous.  There were a few small things I wish had been better and they would have made the cruise top notch (for example there were some broken shuffleboard sticks, the french fries were subpar and the coffee was not so great) but the staff is amazing - I can't say enough good things about them - and the entertainment and activites were FABULOUS!!  We always had something to do.  We ate dinner in the formal dining room every night and had lunch in the Windjammer or one of the other restaurants on board that were included in our cruise fare.  The food was good enough.  Dinners were excellent.  I would absolutely do this cruise all over again!  Rock climbing - great! Mini golf was on your own.  We did not put our kids (girls ages 8 and 10) into the kids club programs but we did participate in the family activities that they had.  So much fun!  The pull out couch that we had in our balcony stateroom was way better than I expected!  One thing I would recommend is to have more souvenier type shops.  I would have liked to buy a zip up hoodie with the ship or cruise line name and the choices were extremely limited (only one pullover).  Granted the weather is usually warm but inside the ship it can get chilly.  Not many choices for souveniers.  

My husband and I always enjoy RCL. They are, we feel, one of the very top cruise lines. The personal are pleasent and helpful. The shows are professional and the food is excellent.

Thank you Royal Caribbean for a fabulous time.

12 cruises in this is by far the worst. No white party. No dancing under the stars or night line dancing parties. No midnight buffet. horrible food. Cruise director had zero energy. The ship was tired and in need of cleaning. 2 thumbs down.

This was for our mini getaway cruise. I booked balcony cabin where views were priceless. Well rested and energized.

The ship was very clean and awesome. The ship is quite big and offers plenty stuff to do. Cozumel beaches were great.

Too bad, your assigned main dining room table is open for "Dinner" only. I wish they can go back to offering for breakfast, lunch and dinner in dining room table so we didn't need to run around to find a table to eat.

The room steward and the dinner servers were excellent.  We trip was all I expected and more.  The food was wonderful and the views as we were sailing were terrific. 

I've been on 4 cruises... Independence of the Seas absolutely was by far the best.  The crew were courteous and always willing to help.  Clean staterooms clean ship, amazing food.  Just a great relaxing vacation.  Well done Royal.  

Unfortunately, our cruise was during 'spring break'.  I cannot blame the cruise line, but we found it way too crowded at the pools and way too loud at the bars.  The walls of the cabin were so thin, we could hear the kids in the next cabin crying because they did not want to go to bed.  So it woke us up every night.  The ship was older, and really could have used some sprucing up.  Food was just okay, but service was great.  The dining room had a sign 'no shorts or tank tops', but they let people in with torn jeans and tee shirts. 

The stateroom was wonderful. the food excellent; however, the 2000+ drunken spring breakers nearly ruined the cruise for us. This was supposed to be a romantic getaway for us. Instead, the ship was taken over by the drunken spring breakers. It is truly a shame that we could not enjoy the amenities of the ship. One could not even enjoy the pool deck. No hope of trying the Rock Climbing Wall...  I would never have scheduled the cruise at this time had I known that we would have had to deal with the out of control spring breakers.

Prior to this,  we've cruised Carnival a couple of times.  This time,  we figured we'd try out Royal Caribbean. The ship was very nice & had a lot more ship activities, however overall the experience was not good. We were scheduled to go to Ports - Labadee. Haiti & Falmouth, Jamaica. Due to "unforeseen circumstances", the captain chose to skip Haiti (which was one of the main reasons we chose this cruise). They claimed "bad weather" (too windy/ high waves to dock) but the wind wasn't tray bad. In fact,  the sky cleared approximately a hour after the early morning announcement. I honestly think it had to do with them turning the boat around... The day before,  the captain turned the boat around to take a passenger back to Miami (Medical emergency). I think that affected us being able to go to Haiti on Wednesday. I voiced my dissatisfaction to Guest Services hoping for a credit or at least Onboard spending.  I was declined,  told it is disclosed on the cruise contract. Aside from that,  some of the staff was very rude, specifically in the casino and Sorrento's Pizza restaurant.  It seems as though they didn't want to be at work. In speaking with other guests who normally cruise Royal Caribbean, they too experienced & had the same dissatisfaction overall.  My husband and I enjoyed the shows but we don't think we will cruise Royal Caribbean again.  Carnival is a smaller ship but at least the service was surperb and they care about their customers. 

Prior to this,  we've cruised Carnival a couple of times.  This time,  we figured we'd try out Royal Caribbean. The ship was very nice & had a lot more ship activities, however overall the experience was not good. We were scheduled to go to Ports - Labadee. Haiti & Falmouth, Jamaica. Due to "unforeseen circumstances", the captain chose to skip Haiti (which was one of the main reasons we chose this cruise). They claimed "bad weather" (too windy/ high waves to dock) but the wind wasn't tray bad. In fact,  the sky cleared approximately a hour after the early morning announcement. I honestly think it had to do with them turning the boat around... The day before,  the captain turned the boat around to take a passenger back to Miami (Medical emergency). I think that affected us being able to go to Haiti on Wednesday. I voiced my dissatisfaction to Guest Services hoping for a credit or at least Onboard spending.  I was declined,  told it is disclosed on the cruise contract. Aside from that,  some of the staff was very rude, specifically in the casino and Sorrento's Pizza restaurant.  It seems as though they didn't want to be at work. In speaking with other guests who normally cruise Royal Caribbean, they too experienced & had the same dissatisfaction overall.  My husband and I enjoyed the shows but we don't think we will cruise Royal Caribbean again.  Carnival is a smaller ship but at least the service was surperb and they care about their customers. 

Cruise was not what we had come to expect from "Royal". Service was incredibly subpar, housekeeping abysmal, ports were cancelled, hassled by porter, and drink package was a complete waste of money since there were approximately 2 bar tenders for every 30 guests waiting in line to buy a drink. "All you can drink" should really by titled "All you can wait". Even the shore excursions (at the port that wasn't canceled) couldn't keep to a schedule. Embarking and disembarking was also a nightmare. Only positive experience was the dining room staff.