Independence of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

I had a wonderful time on my cruise. The wait staff at dinner was great.  I missed them when I returned home.  I enjoyed the ports and the views from my balcony room.  I traveled with 14 family members.  The ship had enough variety for everyone to enjoy themselves.  The adult pool should be bigger!!!!

The ship was great and had wonderful amenities of which I have become accustomed to as a Royal Caribbean Platinum member.  The entertainment activities were great.  However, I was greatly disappointed with some very popular activities being held in rooms that really did not accommodate the interested individuals and i.e. battle of the sexes and dirty talk which I was locked out of.  Also, I always enjoyed the individualized attention that I usually get at dinner and with the room staff which really was non existent on this cruise.  The people were very kind and polite but it was as if they were too busy.  Maybe there are more assignments responsibilities that what other staff were assigned on pass cruises but I was really disappointed.  I received more care and attention from staff on the Oasis and Allure ships which are much bigger than this one.  On a positive note, the itinerary was great, the weather was great, and I really enjoyed the trip overall.  

SUPRB  MAGNIFICENT CLEAN ENTERTAINMENT...

GRETA FOOD AND SERVICE  I THANK ALL INVOLVED FOR THIS WELL RUN CRUISE  VERY PLEASES  THANKS TO     CRUISES ONLY DO I AGAIN  THANK YOU

Pleasantly surprised. There's always things for you to do or watch. Food is very good. Rooms are always done. Crew is very courteous. Shows are entertaining. Ship is very clean.

We went on this cruise for our honeymoon and absolutely loved it! We wanted to give special praise to our dinner waiter Allwyn he was the best waiter we have ever had and he really made our experience!

This was my first cruise and I had an absolutely wonderful time.  The ship was gorgeous and there were so many activities.  I had a great time at all the ports and the food was very good.  I enjoyed all of the onboard activities and the staff were very nice.  I even enjoyed some time in the casino, even though I am not a gambler.

Everything was perfect as expected, the cruise people was very polite, the environment was great, Puerto Rico, St Martin and St. Kitts are very beautifull, so, what else to add.

This was our first RC cruise after 10 Carnival trips. We will stick with Carnival.

The Independence was a nice ship, but te entire trip was rather "blah".

Pros: Nice, clean ship. FloRider fun

Cons: Boring, average/below average service; poor itinerary (we went with a large group- graduation cruise)

We actually enjoyed the three days at sea. I played table tennis and soccer. My wife sunbathed by the pools. Food was abundant and excellent. Excursions were fantastic. Shows were very entertaining. Ready to go back! The only negative was that the service was not as good as in the past. I got injured playing soccer at 1:30pm and there was no doctor till 4:00.

My 10 year old son and I (45 year old single mom) had a 4 star experience on the Independence of the Sea. We live in Florida, we have been on various cruise ranging from Disney to Carnival more than a dozen times. This was our first cruise just two of us and was our first time on a RC Freedom class ship.  We LOVED the ship.  My son lived on the sports deck and the 12th floor arcade and the camp area.  He made friends easily with other kids as there were over 1,000 kids 17 and under.  I felt safe enough to let him roam around with minimum supervision.  

I also enjoyed the time on my own because there were plenty of quiet space where I can read or zone out.  I was able to find shady area in the middle of afternoon on deck 12.  There were also plenty of activities going on at the main sun deck with a giant TV screen.  Bar service was great but the drinks were pricy. 

The overall dinning experience was short of exception. We had the My Time Dinning schedule where we can reserve the dinning time rather than dinning at the assigned 6 pm or 8:30 pm schedule.  I see cost cutting measures from dinning room service to the lack variety of food that offered on the nightly menu.  The dinning room serving staff were friendly but VERY busy.  I think the main server and the assistant server had to watch over more tables.  Water was the only drink being offered.  We had to ask and wait for ice tea (free) nightly.  They never offed coffee to go with the desserts.  I asked for coffee (free) with my dessert twice during two separate nights but never got it.  I think the server just forgot the order.  The paid beverages arrived at the table in a decent speed.  For the remaining cruise, I walked over to the Windjammer Cafe (buffet dinning room) after dinner to service myself the coffee.

The nightly menu offered meat variety like chicken, pork, turkey, beef and limit choice of fish.  Shellfish was almost not seen other than the lobster night.  Tiny baby shrimps was used for shrimp salad and shrimp cocktail.   It was like causal dining rather than the fancy experience that I was hoping for.  Maybe the shellfish had been reserved for the $25 or $35 specialty restaurants.   Other folks I met on the ship had the similar opinion on the service and food. 

Again, we enjoyed our 7 night cruise.  My son said he can live on the ship for another year.  LOL.  I will definitely try the Quantum Class ship the next time.  My cruising experience tells me that newer and bigger ship is the way to go.  Bigger IS better in cursing!!  Thank you for reading.

Went on this cruise with 3 kids (ages 6, 8 and 10).  Kids had a great time.  Lots of fun activities, great shows, family-friendly experience.  Accommodations were nice.  Food was good and service as also good.

service execellent but the style and type of fod poor  this ship caters more toward europeans and asians I have been on royal carribean many times and this was the first time i was disappointed. also since we cannot walk far the availabilty of whee;chairs without a 75 dollar payment was not available as a consequencewe were unable to see the shows in the theater

Loved the ship.  She was huge and beautiful and still intimated.  The staff was outstanding.  My only complaint was the food.  It was very average.  The only meals that were memorable were the beef meals.  The quality of the beef was top notch.  The service in the dining room was spot on.  I cruised on the Vision of the Seas last year and couldn't say enough good things about everything including the food.  I will cruise with you again and again.

Overall we were very happy with the cruise and the support we received from our representative (Torey Singletary). There were major mistakes made on our reservation and Torey was very helpful in resolving the situation although it took longer than expected and was not completed until 5 days before we left. The cruise was fantastic and we will definitely book thru again and hopefully can work with Torey again.

First cruise on a Great ship with a Great staff. Only wish that Puerto Rico was a full day stop. Looking forward to our next cruise with Royal Caribbean. FYI....I had a better choice of rooms on the website vs the Royal Caribbean website

Wonderful trip with family Entertainment and staff were superb, and really made our days at sea enjoyable. It was nice being in the ports during off season, as stores abd beaches were less crowded.

We did my time dining and were fortunate enough to have the same servers all week. LOVED them.  Out of 17 cruises they are my favorites since 2007! Igor and Emma.  There is plenty to do, the flow rider- even if your not interested in trying it just watching it is great fun.  The rock wall is a long wait and a fast climb but a fun thing to do. Lots of sports all they time. Golf course is funny with all the curves. Activites to many to name!  We loved the Elton John impersonator even though my husband does not like elton john this was his favorite also.  The adult game shows were hiliarious!  I suggest getting involved with these games and having fun with it!  The windjammer serves the same food over and over so it is boring to me.  The Cafe has the same sandwiches and desserts the entire week which is BORING also.  I suggest going to deck 3 for bkst and lunch because they cook it to order and it taste so much better than the windjammer.  My biggest complaint is the food.  Its nothing to brag about.  No better than Carnival or Princess. lunch meat every where. YUCK

Being a first time cruiser it was difficult to figure out the schematics of the restaurants. For instance, it wasn't until the cruise was over that my husband and I found out that one of the restaurants during the lunch hour offered a salad buffet. This buffet was not located in the normal WindJammer/Jade buffet. Fresh vegetable in general were lacking in all meal areas. The food was okay. There was a lot of it, but the food quality was not healthy.

What was problematic for us on the day of arrival was knowing where to go with our service dog for toileting needs. Nobody, and I mean nobody knew where to send us. It was like we were asking for foreign request that simply was not being understood. We had to go to guest services 4 times. Each time we were sent off on our own to explore the port side of the ship to find this toileting area. Each time we were unsuccessful. It wasn't until a staff person on the port side of the deck asked us what we needed. She then told us exactly where to go and pointed us to the door this area was behind. The only reason she knew where this toileting area was located is due to another family that had the same issue, also traveling with a service dog. It was ridiculous. And the service behind this one issue was not at all professional. They actually seemed bothered by our request.

Another thing that would have been nice is for the captain of the ship to announce land areas the ship was passing. We would pass islands that were visible from the ship....but no one on board had a clue what islands we were passes as the captain never stated anything to this nature, Travelers like to know what they are viewing. Similar to an airline pilot making an announcement of noted land masses the plane is passing over, the captain could have done the same regarding the passing of different land masses. 

Otherwise, our cruise was as good as expected. We learned a lot. The first time is always more difficult as there is a huge learning curve. There are hidden expenses that add a minimum of $500 to a total cruise cost that is not revealed until a passenger boards. Now that our first cruise is over....we know what do do on our next one.

The best of the cruise is customer service.

Front desk Carlos is super.

Main dining Ransel and all people there was the best of the cruise.

The cabin was very clean.

The food was ok. but nothing out of the world.

Our first cruise was amazing. I am already telling others how wonderful Royal Caribbean is!! From our waitress, Tania, asst. waiter Luisandro, head waiter, Mary, housekeeping, Charlie -- they were all amazing. We were pampered and loved everything!! Definitely recommend Royal Caribbean! !