Independence of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Wonderful itinerary and trip.  Entertainment and food very good.  The only negative is that the solarium is open.  Otherwise, no complaints.  The medical staff was super since I had a fall in St. Maarten.  The security staff very helpful since I lost my camera but it finally got returned.  Dining staff excellent.

Great crew and beautiful ship. Ports were great with lots to do. Swimming with the dolphins is a must do but don't recommend stingray city. Dunn River Falls was great and loved the tubing down the river in Ocho Rios. Labadee was just a great relaxing day. 

Everything was great, except our shower was so small, and being on a blood thinner, I couldn't move without scraping an elbow or bumping a knee. I am 68 inches tall and 165 pounds, Our balcony window would not close tight and the wind whistled every night, was ver6y hard to get to sleep. Probably stay with Holland America.

My husband and I looked forward to this vacation for months.  Then came and awful ice storm that shutdown Dallas airport.  We were diverted to Chicago and then on to our final destination--Fort Lauderdale, to catch our cruise.  But we arrived too late to catch our Cruise Ship, so we flew to St. Maarten to board our ship to finish our cruise.  We must have caught  some kind of a virus that attacked our lungs because I had to go to ICU to spend 24 hrs and get treated for a lung infection.  I stayed in the cabin for the duration of our vacation while my husband tried to enjoy the ship and all the sunshine.  The food was wonderful, a great variety of which I was very grateful and alot of different things to do for him.  Our cabin was ample size and even though I was sporting a wheel chair, we had plenty of room.  (inside cabin)  However, couldn't wait to get home to see a Doctor.  If you take this ship,  you will not be disappointed.

We really enjoyed the ship and all of the shows that we attended along with our friends, but I did not receive the on board credit that was promised by cruises only.

As expected, our Roal Caribbean cruise was great! Always exceptional service, food, and personable, courteous and friendly staff. My only complaint - the bedding. We took this same cruise on Independence oft  the Seas last year at the same time and our bedding was absolutely OUTSTANDING! That is the main reason we decided to take this ship again was how comfortable it was. The soft  bed, big fluffy comforter and down pillows were an absolute dream! I had never slept so comfortably on a cruise before that. It made the trip perfect! But, this year all of those comforts were gone....  I asked our cabin attenant why. She told us that those comforts were now only in suite cabins. How sad... I was disappointed and uncomfortable sleeping the whole  trip.

Overall, this was a very good cruise, but:

     The men's rest rooms smelled with wet floors, particularly on deck 11

     Our table [No. 435] and chairs were to close  to the window. It was difficult for us to get in and out  and the waiter had to

     reach over us.

     We had spoiled skim milk in the Windjammer one breakfast.  We notified a crewmember about this.

I've been on about 15 cruises with different lines (RCCL, Princess, Holland America, NCL, and Carnival).  I would have to say that this was the best cruise yet.  Everything was great - the food, the entertainment, the service, the ports.  The ship (160,000 tons) was smooth with no movement, even tho there was a day with wind and the seas were a little rougher. 

The architecture of this ship was absolutely the most beautiful I've seen.  Like RCCL’s newer ships, this one had the promanade deck that ran through the center of the ship.  Shopping and some restaurants were all located here.  It was like walking through a mall - only there were 3 layers of rooms above it.  We were in one of those rooms overlooking the promadade.  You could see a lot of action below.  The room had a window with a sofa in front, so you could sit and look out.  It felt like an outside cabin, but without the view of the water.  Our cabin (6275) was located mid ship, so walking to the dining room on one end, or theater on the other didn't seem too far to walk either way.

All of the staff were always smiling and seemed happy.  They were especially attentive on this ship and made everyone feel special.  The “buffet” as seen in many ships was not located partially outside on deck, but in a large dining-type room.  This made it much more comfortable, and there was never a time where we couldn’t find a table.  The staff was so helpful, and would carry your plate for you if you had anything else in your hands (coffee, bowl of soup, etc.)

The entertainment was the very best that I’ve seen.  With such a variety (singers, dancers, ice skaters, comedians, orchestra, violinist, special ABBA group that was contracted) the entertainment was always something to look forward too.  Some ships have “canned” music, but this orchestra was live and able to be seen and appreciated.  The dancer's costumes were the most beautiful that I’ve seen.

I’ve been to most of the ports that we stopped at, so I chose to stay on board in Grand Cayman.  It was a great day since the ship was so uncrowded.  I climbed Dunn’s River Falls in Jamaica, which I’ve done in the past a few times, and its still a great experience.  I also went to Green Grotto Caves, which was a good choice, and I’m glad I was able to see them.  There was fairly strong wind the day we went to Labadee, and the snorkeling that we did was not a good experience.  But that was not the fault of RCCL.  We chose to return to the ship afterward, so I didn’t really get to appreciate the private island and what the cruise line has done to make it great.  I had been to Labadee about 25 years ago, back when it was just an island with some sand and beach.  The cruise line has definitely done tons of work on this island.  I will definitely put Independence of the Seas back on my list of ships to again cruise with.

Evening meals were the worst we have encountered in seven years of cruising.  Cooks seemed to be lacking in common sense cooking.  Too many spicy and exotic tastes.  Seemed to be trying too hard to impress.   All six guests at our table agreed, and one couple had been on many Royal

Carribbean cruises.  The Thanksgiving meal was a particular disappoinment.

Evening entertainment had possibly two really good shows.  The rest were forgettable.  We were barely able to enjoy your Social Director.  His

being of English nationality,  we were barelly able to understand anything he said during the times he spoke in public.  He also talked too fast.

your audiences are primarily American(?) and this should be taken into consideration for listening ears.

We particularly enjoyed the ice show as real entertainment.

I became ill on the ship prior to departure from the port. The staff in the medical center informed me that I would get transported by cab to the hospital and once medically cleared flown back home. I purchased travel insurance through Cruises Only and Royal Caribbean did not have any record of this. Once rushed off the ship my husband and I got into a cab that the cruise line arranged believing that everything had been taken care of including payment and directions on where to transport us. The driver had no idea where to take us and was not paid. We ended up in a bus station with 104.4 temperature and begging the travel agency and cruise line to help us. Royal Caribbean kept telling us to call Cruises Only and that although I said I purchaseed travel insurance they could not help me and treated me as though I was not their customer. Cruises Only gave us a number to the insurance company that was closed. I would never recommend Royal Caribbean or purchasing through a travel agent. I was treated poorly and the situation still has not been resolved nor have we received our money back for the cruise. 

Kind and courteous staff.  They do it right at Royal Carribean.  Address you by name and remember you from one day to the next.  It was all about the service

We were kind of excited when we enter the cruise line as we always been looking forward to this cruise. Throughout the cruise, we were quite satisfied with the ship crew, their service, their attitude and their friendliness. All the cruises we took, we were quite satisfied with the food . However, with this particular cruise we were very disappointed with the menu on both the buffet and the dinner. I think we don't have to avail ourselves and pay more for the specialty restaurants to eat good and special dishes which were available in other cruiselines.We likewise, surmised that the entertainment you had was quite mediocre. There was only one act every night, there used to be three or more acts before plus some of the performers were boring.Overall, the only saving grace were the excursions we purchased, otherwise, we will consider this cruise a great waste of our money.

The ship is in excellent condition, constructed around the Royal Promenade, an unusual and excellent idea for a center of a ship. Overall, the crew were excellent with a minor exception. The folks in the excursion department could use some training as far as people skills are concerned. The food was excellent with the exception of deserts which did not match up with other cruises we have taken. We rate the entertainment very highly, particularly the production programs in the evenings.

As I said earlier, I cruised with Royal Carribean before and I think they provided a great service. Everyone part of the crew was very curteous,cheerful they did a great job. Debarking on Zeebrugge was not at all organized well, people were staying on long lines to debark or get back on ship, that can use some improvement. Another thing I was dissapointed in was the breakfast menu. Although there was some variety of dishes, still the same menu was available every day. No matter how good was the food you want something new on occasion. For lunch I was on shore most days so I didn't eat on the ship but I remember the days I ate in was the same menu. The other thing that was annoying was the fact you couldn't smoke in the casino, I am sure a lot of business was lost because of it. Kudos to the captain that blew the horn a lot of times when we were leaving the port, too bad we didn't have the occasion to connect with the officers except when they were on the promenade bridge. All in all I enjoyed the cruise mostly because the ittenarary but also a good service which come as expected.

while we had a good time on this ship we have previously sailed on the independance a few years ago....royal carribean is slipping....taking away little things that made a big difference from other cruise lines. the menus in the dining room at nite were terrible...one nite we had a choice of pizza ....for dinner! no more trays in the buffet....no more stationary in the rooms or chocolates on the bed.....the most disappointing is the menus for dinner ...the quality has certainly gone way, way down.....i felt like i was on a carnival cruise....

muy contenta con todo el personal,los puertos que visitamos y el casino congratulaciones para todos he tenido otras experiencias con Celebrety y no hay diferencia queremos ir a Europa el proximo ano vamos a ver .

Very clean and in very good condition. Dining room food good, not great. This was our 12th cruise, different lines and this one is above the mid point. Great cruise director - impressive ship.

the ship is great,entertainment was great, we got to see a new show for the first time on this ship.Casey the entertainment director was awesome.the rooms and ship were very clean.food was decent nothing too spectacular.now the bad.the service in general was not great but the worst was the bartenders and bar staff.we bought the premier drink package so we could drink at our leisure and not worry about signing a receipt every time.the pool lacked service badly only a few cocktail people around and when you were lucky to find one they were borderline rude because they didn't act like they were happy to help you at all.sometimes they would take your order and your sail pass card and not say a single word.then show up about 20 min later with drinks.in the Dog and Badger pub,the bartenders were very unfriendly,i even made a comment on how none of the bartenders smile and he just snickered.there was a woman from Chili waiting on us and the couple we were with were ordering a drink and my friend was trying to decide on a drink.she rolled her eyes and said " i have other orders to take" and walked away then i saw her say the same thing to the people behind us.Our friends with us have been on 8 Royal Caribbean cruises and told us they have never seen it like this and they agreed the bar service was horrible.there are a couple decent bar tenders in the Boleros lounge but that's about it.i also saw a woman server at the pool dancing with her tray under her arm and people waiving their sea pass card for a drink and looking at each other like is this for real? i was always told Royal has the best service in the industry but im not real sure anymore.also be very Leary with the drink package its a little pricey but its OK if you don't mind going to the bar to get your own drinks 80% of the time and risk someone stealing your pool chair.

This year, my wife and I have decided to take our 3 daughters and her mom on an 8 day cruise with us. We all had a wonderful time. The ship was full of fun, we enjoyed everything we had time for. The crew was awesome, the food not too bad. We visited St. Maarten, St Kitts, San Juan Puerto Rico and Labadee, Haiti. Among the four destinations, my children enjoyed Haiti the most, they went on two excursions, the jet sky and the zip-line.

The cruise ship was awesome, with many things do, but the beds that they put together this time in our room had a gap in between them, giving us back pains. And the carts with the silverware and stuff were annoying to listen to because they were on one the cabin floors (The 7th) instead of the kitchen, I don't know why. St. Marteen and St. Kitts were to dirty, and the beaches are so so. San Juan was beautiful with amazing beaches. Labadee was a ton of fun and is beautiful, the only problem was they stopped serving food at 1:30 pm. Overall, the cruise was great!