Independence of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

We went as a family of 4, all over the age of 21 yrs.

We did had a great time in terms of amenities and service.  My only comment is about the food that was served.

Even though there is a lot of variety, I found the quality to be a grade B or C.

This was our first cruise and we always heard about how many lobster and steaks you could eat.  Well the lobster were in the bottom of the ocean and the steaks served make Golden Corral a grade A place.

If you wanted to eat a grade A steak in the cruise, you needed to make a reservation on one of their prime restaurant and paid extra.

I think that with the amount of money they make on each of these cruises, that the food will be better.

We had a great time. Friendly and helpful staff. Lots to do or just relax! Entertainment was good. Loved the ice show and the spoof on fairy tales by the singers and dancers. Good size cabin with a balcony! I would definately go again!!

It was a very nice ship, huge space to move and walk, including many different restaurants and places for drinks and enjoyment. Everything was clean. Great style along the ship. Very organized. All different type of shows, ice skating, singing, comedy, dance, very complete. The food was very good too and service excellent. It was like living in a moving city on the water. Great time we had on the ship.

it was an enjoyable and relaxing experience. There were couple of glitches which I suggest need to be addressed.

1) Photographers on board were not very skilled

2) Ping Pong table was in the open......makes it impossible to have a good game

3) Rooms are way too congested

Apart from that food, attendants, cleanliness and punctuality was excellent. Overall, very enjoyable experience.

I CANNOT FEEL I CAN RATE THE BEVERAGE PACKAGE AS IT WAS NOT WORTH ITS VALUE, ON THE 2  DAYS WE'RE OFF THE SHIP. YOU STILL PAY FOR THE FULL DAYS LIQUOR PACKAGE.THEY GOT YOU COMING AND GOING. THE FOOD IN THE BUFFET WAS NO DAILY VARIETY, BORING OUT SIDE OF THE 2 ND DAY !

Our first cruise was this past March on the Majesty of the Seas. MoS is an older, smaller ship, but the service and the food set a high standard; a standard that unfortunately the Independence of the Seas was not able to meet.  The IoS seems to have to be too large for its own good.  Although our dinner service staff (Jerome and Alejandro) were excellent, the food at every venue could not compare to the MoS.  My wife resorted to eating her protein bars by day 4 of this 5 day cruise.   But the cruise director was great, the shows were outstanding, and the ship itself has plenty to do...but boy, was it crowded.

  We went on a 5-night Western Caribbean cruise that stopped at Belize and Cozumel on the Royal Caribbean Independence of the sea. Everything on this cruise was great from the workers, entertainment, ship layout, food, pools, etc. I would recommend this cruise to anyone with kids as well as we were cruising with our 10 year old boy, girl twins. Thanks again to Ralph at The Dog and Badger Bar who was great to talk with during our stop(s) for a refreshment. Oh ya the Casino was fun as well just not friendly $$$ as that's the way it goes. We will be booking another cruise again for sure in the near future with Royal Caribbean.

This was my first time cruising, and it was definitely an AMAZING experience! The ship (Independence of the Seas) was beautiful, the service was exceptional, the food was great, and the entertainment was PHENOMENAL! It was definitely a trip of a lifetime and I will definitely will be cruising again! My favourite part of the cruise was the entertainment. The cruise director was GREAT! He hosted all of the events, and he was extremely entertaining/funny/charismatic. Every show I went to I thoroughly enjoyed. The comedy shows, dance performances, game show, violinist, ice skating show were all outstanding!

 The Independence of the Seas is an amazing ship with great staff. The estate rooms with balconies are spacious (bigger than an average NYC hotel room). The pools were great although a bit cold. The food was excellent and the executive chef took the time to show my husband who's also a chef the kitchens. It was an all around great experience. Everything that Roual Caribbean was able to control went great.

We were looking for a relaxing cruise to take over the Thanksgiving holiday. This was definitely the right cruise for us.  The room attendant was perfect and our server and assistant server in the King Lear dining room attended to our every need!  We liked this cruise so much we just booked another cruise for our spring break! 

Great time! Applaud the Cruise Director! He was funny, pleasant and very personable!  He made it great at the shows etc. The Spanish music was excellent but in too small of an area! The Sphinx lounge was hardly ever, if ever, used and would have made for a much better time! People would stand in the hallway and even up the stairs but would leave when not comfortable. I would not recommend this ship for those wanting to dance Spanish music, which is a growing number. There were more people gathered around the Spanish music then in the club at any given time. The casino has old slot machines! They should be updated.

My wife & I had a great time on the Independence of the Seas cruise ship. The entertainment was awesome as expected from Royal Caribbean, & the food was relatively good as well. The service was over the top! The cruise director had worked very hard to prepare an awesome itinerary for this trip! We would take this trip again for sure!

It was a great trip. Great food, lots of bars, lots of restaurants, entertainment very good, staff very good and helpful.  Planning on boarding and disembarkation needs a lot of improvement, at Ft Lauderdale.  Prefer Miami or Port Canaveral.    

Our cruise got off to a bad start when we had to wait in line for 2.5 hours to board the ship.  No explanation was giving and the least they could've done was hand out some waters.  Our room was nice and the employees on the ship that are working for additional tips are courteous.  I cannot say the same about the rest of the staff.  We paid an additional charge for the internet and the service was awful.  Customer service was no help and we were told on 4 different occasions that someone from IT would be contacting us.  We were never contacted by IT at all.  We tried on 2 different occasions to call for room service and also the spa without anyone answering the phone.  We finally walked to the spa to book a massage and we never did get room service.  The food is OK but I would definitely upgrade to the two nicer restaurants.  We ate their 3 out of the 5 nights.  The shows were good but they lasted less than an hour.  Belize does not have a port so you need to wait in lines to take a boat from the ship into town.  It took over two hours to get everyone that wanted to go to Belize off the ship.  Cozumel is nice and make sure you go to the downtown area.  It's about 2.5 miles from the port.  If you are looking to sit in a lounge, have an appetizer and listen to live music this is not your ship.  Live music inside at the bars does not start until later in the evening.  There is no place on the ship, other than a restaurant when their open,  to get an appetizer.  Overall the shows were good, the two upgraded restaurants are excellent, Cozumel is nice and the rest of the cruise is well below average.

Really enjoyed the Independence of the Sea. The ship has endless first class amenities. Our room looked down on the Promenade and was a great location. I was concerned noise may have been a factor but other than a couple of parade events that we attended we never heard a peep. The food was great and staff could not do enough for us. One day my wife was feeling off so I went ahead to breakfast on my own. I mentioned this to the waiter and he went and selected so fresh fruit off the buffet to bring back to her. On another occasion I was at a bar and asked if they served coffee there as well. He said no, and I thought no more of it. A minute later another waiter delivered a coffee with cream and sugar on the side...this was totally unexpected. As travelers know....its the little things that make the big difference!

The one major disappointment was that my booking through included $50 on board account credit which did not come through. I invested some vaction time trying to get this sorted out with guest services. The assured me the issue is on  end which I know need to invest more time into follow up. Takes the shine off a really good thing, hate when commitments are not kept.

First "Port-o-call" for this run ran rather smooth.  Muster Drill HOT, ship is Loooong and a little Hard on the Elder's.  The NO Wi-Fi was the only Major issue.   Service Excellent in Dining......everyone is a KING.    Handicap service was AWESOME!    If you need to be independent or in a lively crowd,  This is for you.

This was a good cruise.  As always, you must take the good with the bad.  The good was the Independence of the Seas had a great staff and entertainment.  Always a plus when you are cruising.

The bad, food was not up to normal standards, mostly due to temperature problems which is real scary!  Hot food was cold and cold food was hot.  Our beverage package (Premium Package) was not usable in the main dining room due to the fact that our limit for a glass of wine was $8 and the least expensive Pinot (wife's drink of choice) was $9.  Very upsetting since we already paid $65 per day per person to drink and then find out main dining room was over the limit with their price of wines.

City of Belize was a unacceptable port of call.  Very limited in quality of shore excursions and ability to leave the wall surrounding the tourist pier to see rest of island without fear for safety.  Would never go back to Belize City.

Staff on the boat helped to make it a good cruise as I main dining room and cabin staff were exceptional in regards to service, attitude and friendliness.

Overall ship met my expectations.

other than the last evening...food was only satisfactory.

However our waiter and asst waiter were  outstanding.

would have liked more late night options ie a comedian every night...maybe two that rotate evenings.

Quality of food in main dining room was not at all what it used to be and the service was lousy.  Another guest at our table has cruised with RC 16 times and said that it had really gone done. Room attendant was very slow in getting to our room The ship is beautiful but the other things that were accustomed to were really lacking   Celebrity does a much better job

Loved the ship.  The room steward and dining staff were outstanding.  Unfortunately our cabin was next to one with a very unhappy baby.  Would appreciate dress code enforcement at dining time.  Awful experience on Royal's private island Labadee.