Independence of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

LOVED THE SHIP!     FOOD WAS GOOD.   ENTERTAINMENT WAS VERY GOOD.  CREW WAS EXCELLENT.    NICE BALCONY ROOM BUT TO CLOSE TO FRONT OF SHIP.                                                          

Independence of the Sea is a similar to the Oasis of the Seas but without the Water show or Park. The crew was friendly and helpful. Room size and balcony were great. My bed was very firm but the egg crate topper allowed the bed to be more comfortable.  Food and entertainment were good. Loved St. Kitts and and enjoyed shopping and seeing the Clay Villa Plantation and Palm Court Gardens. It was so nice to go to a new island! Hot tubs were a comfortable temperature.  Cruise Director, Jamie is very funny.  There were lots of placed to sit and relax. Be sure to get your tickets early for the Ice Show before they are all given out. Best place to look at the sea and watch the ocean is Deck 4 next to the Shuffleboard court and there was no one on that deck.

As usual the food and service were excellent. My only issues are as follows. 

1- The entertainment was less than good

2- The pool area is set up wrong. Everyone was tripping over everything. You couldn't walk to the pool without bumping into someones chair. The other ships i have been on had one big pool in the middle of the top deck, with plenty of room for pool games and dancing etc etc

3- The bathroom in the stateroom was unreal. I'm a big man, and i couldn't take a decent shower. God forbid if you dropped the soap. 

4- Other than these above issues. I enjoyed my cruise immensely. Yes I will be back 

NEVER COULD GET A CHAIR AT THE POOL  TOO MANY PEOPLE!  I was having bathroom issues for 3 days and am still dealing with  stomach pain and bathroom issues....................Iwill never go on a cruise again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

great ship, great staff, food not up to par, they even charge for in room movies .the entertainment on this ship was'nt that great. we have been on nine other cruises. other than the ship itself this was not even close to what we were used to in terms of food and things to do.they had movies on the deck that were free if,all of them were animated.

The ship is elligent and looks brand new.  The fooed was excellent and plentiful. The wait staff was friendly. The ice skating show was great!! Be sure to explore the ship. There are a lot of things to do that you will only see if you are looking for them.

This was a first time experience for my fiancé and I. I had only been on a 3 day Ensenada cruise on Carnival prior to this. It was a blast and I highly recommend it. 

Favorite things: 

- Dinner in the main dining room was absolutely fantastic every night. We felt no need to pay extra for the specialty restaurants. We had my time dining, which we recommend since it let us be on our own schedule. 

- So much to do! The ship is unbelievable. We were never bored that's for sure. 

- The people. We met so many wonderful people on board. And the staff were all so nice and helpful.

- The shows! Go to the shows! I loved every single one of them. Especially the farewell show the last night....it was a full on high quality broadway production. 

Not so favorite things:

- Pool was crowded. We never got to go in the pool because it was so ridiculously crowded. We waited till the late evening to use the jacuzzi when no one was there. 

-Lots of teens on board, I don't know if it was because it was close to Spring Break (probably was), but the teens were everywhere. It kept us from using the Rockwell or wave runner because the lines were just too long. 

- Not as all inclusive as it seems. We spent another $700 on the ship....plus all the money we spent at the ports. Wasn't as cheap of a vacation as we expected. 

-Getting back on the shop from port- I'm sure there are reasons we don't know, but we thought the times to get back on the ship from Port were so arbitrary. One day was 3:30..another 4... Another 5:30. Didn't give us as much time as we would've liked.

Excursions-

Cayman Islands- We went scuba diving with a private group and it was the best scuba diving I've ever done. The only down side is that we didn't have time for much else. We grabbed a quick bite on our way back to the ship. I highly recommend you do not eat on the island if you can help it. It is outrageously expensive. But if you're going to, try the conch..it's their thing. 

Jamaica- we decided to venture on our own which we quickly learned was a bad idea. Right after you exit the port gates, it gets really shady and all the Jamaican people hound you. So we went back to the port and rented a taxi. It cost $150 split between 4 of us (cheer than any excursion), and we had a fantastic time! It was my favorite day of the cruise. Our driver took us wherever we wanted. He pulled sugar cane right out of the ground and carved it for us to suck on. We bought some native fruit from a little old lady on the side of the road. Saw a sugar cane plantation. Went to  local jerk chicken place where they were bbqing up a ton of meat. It was the real Jamaica experience where you get to see culture which is what we really wanted. Couldn't see all that on any of the excursions. Highly recommend this.

Labadee, Haiti- this was our least favorite port because it just seemed like a great way for the cruise line to get you to spend money on excursions. There was no was to go into town or anything. It was just a beach day. We had our masks from scuba so we were able to snorkel a bit on our own, but they would yell at you if you went out too far which is where the good stuff was. Otherwise, we just laid on the beach.  I really wanted to go parasailing but it was $150 for 6 min of air time! Are you kidding me?  So plan on spending money, or laying out. 

Days at Sea- good times. We tried to take advantage of everything. If you do that, you'll have a great time.

Overall, I'd highly recommend it. It is what you make it. The ship was gorgeous, the food was good, there was plenty to do. It's not a relaxing vacation by any means haha....but lots of fun. 

We cruised with our son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter and had connecting cabins.  We had the divider between the balconies removed so we had one large balcony with enough seating for the five of us.  It worked great and we would sit out on the balcony and have wine before dinner and show.  We are diamond members and cruise on RCI all the time and I have to say that there has been an improvement in the quality of food on this cruise.  My only complaint was that we had to go to a 7 o'clock show because we had 8:30 dinner.  I much prefer the shows after dinner.  The shows were very entertaining, especially the ice show.  I didn't enjoy the fairy tale show, maybe because I had seen it on Freedom in September.  One of our favorite things to do is to watch Quest, it is so much fun.  Due to timing we didn't get to see Love and Marriage, which is also one of my favorites.  The Champagne Bar was our favorite hangout, and the bartender there was great.  

This was our 1st cruise on Royal Carribean, we have sailed 12 times with Carnival and I must say I prefer Carnival better. We had heard so much about RC and wanted to experience new ship lines to see if they were better. And we found that RC was not!! We did not like the dining menu's  or the Windjammer food service. You have to get in line for every different kind food-drinks, meat, salad, desert and was always a hassle with the lines everywhere. Our suite was nice, the ship was beautiful. The shops onboard was way too expensive and not good variety. I don't think we shall sail with RC again!

We booked this cruise for our honeymoon, i have cruised with royal before but my wife hadn't cruised at all, in fact she though she would be afraid and get sick.  She had the greatest time of her life.

Flight from JFK was delayed due to airport traffic.

Cab rides from FLL airport are very expensive so beware if staying a day early or late.  Renassaince hotel was awesome.  Took a cab to cruise port around 12pm, we were on the ship by 1230ish.  Lucky to get a table at windjammer.  We hung out at the pool drinking until the drill and while we waited for our luggage.  Our bags showed up at about 5pm although they were down the hall and not in front of our room.  Drill was a lot smoother than i remember last time.  We went back to the room to shower, Delvin, our stateroom attendant introduced himself, he was awesome the entire week.  

Water was choppy from Ft Lauderdale to St Maarten and from San Juan to Labadee.  The latter was bad to a point my wife had to take a nap because she was feeling woozy.  My only real complaint was that the woman at the cruise port asked us if it was a special occasion and even though we told her it was our honeymoon, nothing special was done.  They even sat us at a table of 8.  The dining room staff sang "happy honeymoon" but that the waiter's doing as he was told by our tablemates that it was our honeymoon.  The rest of the ship experience was awesome.  Next time i think i will not opt for a drink package.  I got the soda package and don't think i drank $56 worth of soda in 8 days.  The drink specials to me aren't worth it either, we drank a decent amount but the drinks are relatively cheap compared to most bars in New York.  We spent a total of $350 between us on drinks.  

St. Maarten is awesome, good shopping, got a Michael Kors watch cheaper than the store on the ship.  Beaches were beautiful.  Ate at the barefoot restaurant, solid food, cheap beer.  Got 2 beach chairs, and a bucket of Presidente beer for $20.  

St. Kitts was cool, did the train tour.  If you like sight seeing, it is great.  A lot of brush fires and hurricane destruction on the island.  Good place for cheap liquor, cigars and cigs.  While leaving the cruise port, the ship knocked over one of the boats that tie/untie the ropes to the dock.  Both men were killed.  It took about 4 hours to recover their bodies.  After the announcement, the night was very quiet for the most part.  However most people moved on pretty quick, kind of weird but i guess when you are drinking and partying you tend to forget.

San Juan was ok, to me it is just a US city and no different then going to Baltimore.  We opted for the Bacardi tour, it was cool, the bus ride over was more interesting then the acutal factory.  Bacardi bottles are only $10 at the gift shop though.  

Labadee was disappointing, if you aren't jet skiing or zip lining you might as well stay on the boat, which i think i will do next time.  The beaches are rocky and the bbq isn't as good as the windjammer.  

The dining room was great, food was good, Romeo, our waiter was amazing.  We ate at Chopps one night and it was probably the best overall meal ive had in my life, especially for $30.  I work at a Johnny Rockets so of course i had to check it out.  It was good for what it was. 

Ice show was awesome, Mike the cruise director was great with the Love and Marriage game show.  the last the day the Wave runner crew did a demonstration which was a lot of fun.  

The flight was home was a disaster, our first plane almost crashed and had to go back to FLL, 2nd plane was unfit to fly then the 3rd plane had to wait for a new pilot.  Beware of Jet Blue out of FLL.  Their planes have some serious mtc issues.

All in all great cruise and we hope to be back for our anniversary.

Nice trip.  Great ship.  Good stops!  Ship was clean and plenty to do on the ship.  Nice isle down the middle.  Food was good.  Room dtyeward and food people were great.  Some of the bar tenders were not that nice.  We had a soda card and they were not to thrilled to refill the soda.

The service on this cruise was outstanding. All of the people who worked on it were very kind and helpful. I have sailed on many cruises before and I have never seen such amazing service. Specifically I think that the dining room waiters were the best. We had to exceptional waiters, Romeo Mabogoane and Anak Agung Putra. They were outstanding. They would always give us recommendations on what to order and treated us very kindly. They always were engaged in their jobs and talked with us about our day and seemed interested  which was very nice of them. They both knew how to make their guests feel comfortable. We also met other very nice people who worked on our cruise, like our cleaning lady Arlene. She was always so sweet to us and nice. She would greet us everytime we saw her and in general was very kind. Everyone who worked on the cruise tried to make our experience as amazing and special as possible. They were very professional and clearly cared about the guests.

The service in our room deck 3 and dining room Deck 3 was top rate. Got tired of the jewelery sales pitch. Intertainment chairman could do a better job. Trips on St Martin and Hattie were good. We did the zip line and it was fun.

 I thought the ship was beautiful but the entertainment was poor. There were not enough venues at night to enjoy. The premium beverage package was not what we expected. The premium package i expected would have been a lot better if they had premium beverages all over the ship and not just at one bar.

What a fantastic cruise!!! Our dining waiter Santana was awesome and couldn't ask for a better server, there were 12 of us and you might have thought that you were his only customer. Outstanding!!!!!

Our room Steward, Nick was unbeleivable the room was done everytime we left and cameback. Our room was #6378, if you are lucky enough to get him you will be very happy. This was our 15th cruise and I have to say that the employee (crew) that we interacted with on a daily basis, were great!!!

Chris Moon

The balcony room was great!  Enjoyed main dining room.  Comedian was hilarious!  Rock the Boat was the best entertainment on board.  Windjammer was crazy crowded.  The shopping experience at Diamonds International, Grand Cayman was awful.  I attended the shopping guide seminar on board planning on purchasing something unique.  I had a card to speak with a manager at Diamonds International.  A salesman ignored the card, blew off my free charm bracelet (which I didn't receive) and ignored my discount for diamond studs.  He was too pushy, and I ended up not making a purchase. Very disappointed.  Adult beverages on ship were over priced considering a gratuity placed on each purchase.  Lots of "pushed shopping" on ship.  Could've used a "general store" with more practical items.  Will definitely choose a NON springbreak week.  Didn't really want to spend our vacation with drunk college kids.

This cruise is an amazing experience. The ship itself is stunning, but what makes the trip truly memorable is its world class staff and crew. Everyone goes above and beyond to provide incredible service and ensure you have the best vacation possible. I would highly recommend this ship to anyone!

The ports we stopped at were beautiful!!!   Loved Haiti and Grand Cayman!!! Cruise ship was good, needed a litle more daytime entertainment around the pool.  Food was good no complaints there! All in all had a great time and would recommend doing!

lousey food very hard to get soft drink refills. felt like i was on a cheep carnevel cruise. Most  food over spiced very limitted selection. Shopping on ship very limited out of a lot of things very poor selection. Hot tubs were only warm tubs. very disapointed

We had a wonderful time on this cruise. This was our first time on Independence of the Seas and the second time doing this itinerary. It is a beautiful ship and 8 nights is the perfect length for us. The ship was very clean and all the crew were very friendly and helpful. The food in the dining room was excellent. The Windjammer is very good for buffet food. We opted for the late dinner seating at 8:30 and very glad we did. Some nights we stopped by Jade around 7:00 for great sushi before dinner. We enjoyed watching the Flowrider surf simulator, next time maybe we'll actually try it. One of our favorite spots was the Schooner bar. The bartenders (Andriy and AJ) were very attentive. It is a quiet spot for a drink in the afternoon when you want a few minutes out of the sun and a lively piano bar for mingling after dinner-even though the piano player wasn't very good. Can't wait to cruise with Royal Caribbean again next year.