Independence of the Seas 4/25 thru 5/3 eight day cruise mini review

[One Morlock]

Just returned today from 8 days on Independence and wanted to share my thoughts while they are fresh in my mind. My wife and I are early sixties and took this cruise to celebrate our 42nd wedding anniversary. This is our 11th cruise and 10th on Royal. Yes, we are loyal to Royal!

 

Having learned through these boards that you can arrive early and usually board at 11ish, we arrived at the port at 10:40 am and low and behold, they were already boarding! We checked in with no lines and were on board by 10:55! The ship was in fantastic shape. Very clean and I believe recently updated. We packed our bathing suits in our carry on and changed to lounge in the solarium prior to our rooms being ready. Went in the pool and wow!! The pool had to be 90 degrees! It was as warm as the hot tub! Never had that experience in the solarium pool before. Just one last note on the Solarium - during the sea days, the chair hogs were out in force. However, the pool crew would fold their towels and time how long they were gone. After 30 minutes they would take the towels and any personal items off the chairs and bring them to the towel table where they could be claimed later. We had the misfortune of sitting in two unoccupied chairs that must have been cleaned off by the pool police prior to us arriving and low and behold, a group of four angry people came over and asked why we took their seats and what we did with their personal belongings! As I started to tell them what I'd like to do with their personal belongings, my beautiful wife shot me that "don't" look, and we moved to the main pool. If there is a tip I can share, it would be to use the main pool during your cruise. Different crowd in the Solarium and not my cup of tea.

 

Our dining experience was terrific! Our table in the main dining room was on deck 4 and our head waiter Singh, and our assistant waiter Oscar were fantastic! We dined at Chops on our anniversary night and it was superb! We also tried Giovanni's Table on the last formal night and we were both surprised as to how great the food was. If you go there, please get the risotto. It is out of this world! Final note on dining....small cutbacks that I noticed. I used to love those mini muffins they served in the main ding room. They don't serve them any more. Four bread choices per night. Also, the shrimp cocktail is no longer on the menu, however you can request one and they will make it for you.

 

Ok, here is my pet peeve - the entertainment. This ship is really lacking GOOD entertainment. The cruise director-Jamie-was sub par in my opinion. However, I have been spoiled by cruising with Leigh on Explorer twice who is the best imho. I have also heard that Leigh will be joining the Independence at the end of May! Again, this is just my opinion but the shows were lousy EXCEPT one night when they had a gentleman by the name of Scott Record who was a vocal impressionist and comedian who was really entertaining. Lastly, we were really disappointed that the only "dancing" they had seemed to be with Reggae bands. I remember on other ships you could always go up to the Viking Lounge and dance to a 4 or 5 piece band. Not on this ship. They had nothing like that and it was a bit disappointing.

 

Finally, our cabin. We were in cabin 7214 which was the very forward balcony cabin with the curved glass looking towards the bow. Get it if you can! The curved glass makes the balcony seem much larger then the others we've had. It was a great experience.

 

Overall, as always the cruise was fantastic! Booked a 10 day southern Caribbean cruise for April 2017 while on board, and just got home and started looking at cruises for this coming February!! Have to do it because we turned Diamond on the Independence!

 

If you have any questions, I'd be glad to answer.

[heavenlysea]

This will seem like an odd question but did you find the Solarium pool to be clean all week? When we were on the Freedom a few years ago it got dirty later in the week with items from people's drinks floating around-straws/fruit which was gross. I should have brought it to the hotel manager's attention but didn't.

[One Morlock]

Funny you should mention that. Water was hot and there seemed to be a "film" floating on top. Probably just tanning lotion due to the number of people in the pool.