Independence of the Seas
Description
Freedom Class
| Occupancy: | 3,634 |
| Tonnage: | 160,000 |
| Length: | 1,112 feet |
| Beam: | 126.64 feet |
| Draught: | 28 feet |
| Cruising Speed: | 21.6 knots |
Facilities
Ice-skating rink, rock-climbing wall, Royal Promenade (open 24 hours), extensive WiFi capabilities and connectivity for cell phones, full-sized, flat-screen TVs in every stateroom, theme bars and lounges, Adventure Ocean youth facilities, restaurants, and much more!
Rating
Overall
Cabins
Dining
Entertainment
Fitness recreation
Family
Additional Details
Customer Reviews
This was a 50th anniversary cruise for one set of grandparents. Stops included Nassau and Coco Cay. Three generations of extended family on board. The ship was beautiful and the crew very friendly and helpful. The balcony rooms were very clean and comfortable. Doni, our stateroom attendant was wonderful. Yes, they only service the rooms once a day now, but the room for our kids and grandchildren needed service twice a day and that was provided! The kids loved the water slides, climbing wall, mini golf, and skating rink. We ate most of our meals in the Windjammer Buffet. Food was generally good to very good. However, the pastries were dry and at lunch and dinner, no juices were offered. Only coffee, tea, milk, and lemonaide. Loved the variety of the food, though. Salads, veggies, asian choices, burgers, etc were great. Johnny Rocket's had no pickle fries and no malts. Without those, they are just another burger joint. Fish and Ships was good. Yes, the main dining now has new themed menus. The choices were good and the food quality was excellent. Best we've had on a cruise ship main dining experience. The wait staff was better than we have experienced in the past few cruises and food was served quickly. Food temperature was just right. Our waiter Gilbert and head waiter Remy made sure our dining experience was perfect. As for the flow of information.... information on the RCI web site about the ship wasn't always reality. Things announced in the Compass or listed in the mobile app also weren't always accurate. We noticed this a number of times. Not a bad experience, but cause for us to verify things with a crew member to be sure we knew what to expect. For instance, the mini golf, Independence Dunes was listed as open 24 hours. However the deck was closed every evening. The port, airlines, and ship were advertised to offer luggage transfer service, but no service was made available without passenger transfer at the same time. The Compass and app stated that Coco Cay would be ticketless (no paper tickets needed) yet staff on the island asked passengers for their paper tickets! We set out on our own in Nassau and walked to the Queen's Staircase and Fort Fincastle. The stairs were fun and grotto leading to the stairs was beautiful. We didn't mind paying the small fee to see the fort. Great views of the port from there. The water tower has been closed for several years. Our other stop was at coco cay. We rented a cabana at the lagoon. Cabana was great for our extended family as a gathering place. Service there was very good. We didn't need any of the available beach chairs or umbrellas, but noticed that there were plenty to go around even though two ships docked. However, to have a choice, you need to get to the beach early in the morning as things begin to fill up by 10:00 or so. The water park there is a really exciting experience. It's expensive, but our kids loved it. Due to the wave action that day, snorkeling was limited to the swimming area (not a good place for this kind of activity) and the kayaks were beached. The food choices there were better than other private islands we've been to. However, the "juice" choices were merely flavored water and not juice at all. Back on the ship, the only thing that really upset us was the contracted photography company. We traveled as an extended family, yet photo packages were only permitted for persons in the same state room. This meant that for our family to put a photo collection together we would need to purchase THREE separate packages. But the real scam was when we were having our family photographed by one of the staff during Dress to Impress Night. After taking a dozen or so pictures, he hustled us down to the photo studio for more photos. What we didn't know until we tried to purchase packages was that any photos in the studio session would require a FOURTH package to be purchased. Felt like a used car deal gone bad. All of this amounts to unfair business practices. In the end we chose to NOT purchase any packages. We bought one digital photo of the two of us for $23. We realize that the cruise line isn't totally responsible for the photo company, but they do have a responsibility to be sure the experience is better. We thought that a cruise early in March wouldn't have too many Spring Breakers on board, but apparently many skipped classes and where there in large numbers. Not our favorite thing. There were several instances of loud, rude, drunken behavior. Sometimes on the ship, sometimes on the pier. That's just not part of our cruise style. Haven't encountered that on November, December cruises! Still, we had a great time and loved our time on the ship. The grandchildren had a wonderful time and their parents (our kids) are already looking forward to their next cruise!
We had to use a COVID credit before it expired so we chose this 3-night cruise on Royal Caribbean to Coco Cay which we love. We got to the port just after 11:00 a.m. and the check-in was very quick and easy. There was no need to explore the ship since we are Diamond Club members and have been on many RCCL cruises before so we headed to the Windjammer Buffet. This was the beginning of the worst food that we have ever had on a Royal Caribbean ship. The only meal that we enjoyed the entire cruise was from the Snack Shack at Coco Cay. We were so surprised and disappointed that even the pizza at Sorrento's wasn't up to par. We thought that we could fill our stomachs with pizza since nothing else was good. Other passengers were talking about how they left the dining room mid-meal because the food was so bad. On disembarkation day, we went to the Cafe Promenade and asked for a breakfast sandwich. We were shocked by the disgusting untoasted, cold English muffin with a piece of ham and an unmelted slice of processed cheese. When I asked if it could be toasted and/or heated, I was told that they had nothing to toast or heat it with! Thank goodness that the Diamond Club had snacks because it became our only source of food for the cruise. When our cabin was ready at around 2:00 p.m. we went to check it out and couldn't believe that it was dirty! This was a first for us on Royal. We were used to a very high standard of cleanliness. Our bathroom mirror was full of the previous passengers' toothpaste, and some other bathroom surfaces hadn't been cleaned either. All I could think about was, what else was dirty that I couldn't see! I am a stickler for cleanliness so this made me uncomfortable. Our Diamond Club concierge Carl (excellent service!) made a call to housekeeping and had our cabin re-cleaned. We also had a bathroom floor flooding problem but Carl had someone from maintenance come by and he explained that when people shower and the boat rocks, the water can spill out. This proved to not be the case for us because the sea was perfectly calm and it happened again. We noticed a pattern of it happening during the 2nd shower of the night when the water seemed to have trouble draining. We chose not to complain again even though the problem had not been resolved. In addition to our cabin not meeting cleanliness standards, some of the public washrooms were dirty as well. This was the first time that we saw urine and toilet paper on the floors of some of the restrooms. This was so unexpected and unacceptable. A few positives were that there were fun dance parties at the Viking Crown Lounge and Studio B. We spent some time in the hot tubs and that was relaxing and enjoyable. It was fairly easy to get a drink from the bar service that came around. We really enjoyed the indoor and outdoor spaces at the Diamond Club, as well as the snacks and the excellent service by the concierge there. We loved that there was still an old school Vintages on this ship (we don't like the new ones on the Oasis class ships that are part of Giovanni's Table) but the staff really didn't take the time to chat and get to know us like they have on previous voyages. We didn't feel as welcome as we have on other ships. We really hope that this was an anomoly and is not going to be the new Royal Caribbean normal!
We chose this cruise ship because we cruised same ship in mid December. Then ship went into dry dock. It certainly did not make any improvements. If anything maintenance was lacking. Service in the Main dining room was very slow. Food brought luke warm. And they cut the menu in half. Asked for a paper cup to bring 2 coffees to our room and was told that I had to get them from bar on deck 11. And would have to pay. Similar incident on Coco Cay at Schooner Bar. Ordered a drink and asked for a napkin. Was told they don't provide napkins at the bar. I turned around and 20 ft. away there were napkins by the food. At the ice show even though were Diamond level we were not allowed certain seats. Even with empty seats and were both elderly. Don't book Royal unless your going to eat at the buffet
My wife and I took a last minutes 4 day Cruise on the Independence primarily due to price and proximity. It was our 25th overall cruise and 10th on RCCL. There is an adage you get what you pay for and this sailing was a perfect example. It really represented the worst of cruising and was certainly the low point of our many awesome Cruises. In fact, other than the cabin/cabin attendant and day at Coco Cay there was little to speak highly of. Reasons for Disappointment: - Embarkation was over 2.5 hours with folks wrapping the parking lot. - The food in the Windjammer was exactly the same every day and what was there was of very low quality. The Dining Room offered little in the way of improvement. Good news its a wonderful opportunity to start a diet. - Ship was full and it felt it. Lines seemed to be everywhere with the worst in the Windjammer. - Ship seemed to be poorly designed with no outdoor eating spaces or grills so all forced into the Windjammer. - Nassau was a waste. No regrets ever taking a cruise but certainly may hesitate on taking a RCCL cruise in the future.
Overall this was a good cruise. We have traveled RC several times and some things on this boat just missed the mark. Not terrible, but not what we have experienced on other RC cruises. Cabin- we had an inside cabin since it was just a weekend. It was small but clean and comfortable. Dining - unfortunately this was not good at all. From the main dining room service and food to the windjammer food. Nothing was ever great! Mediocre at best. We did eat at Playmakers and that was amazing! For a small price we had a great meal. Best meal I had on the boat. Food at Coco Cay was also better than the boat, but again not amazing. Their breads are really good. Desserts not so much. Embarkation- easy and smooth. Entertainment- good and I would probably give this a higher rating if I had not sailed RC before and had something to compare it to.I loved their 70s show on the other boats, but this one didn’t seem as interactive or good. Maybe it changed after covid but I remember the staff coming out in the crowd and Getting everyone pumped up. This one was just some dancers up on a platform with music. I was also really looking forward to the 80s party. Which was basically the same as the 70s party with different music. Grease was a good show. They also had some pretty good entertainment at the bars around the boat. Public rooms- everything was very clean around the ship. Service- while 80-90% of the staff is exceptional, it’s that other 10-15% that really make it bad for everyone else. Some staff was rude and bar staff was slow. Poolside bar staff were working hard but couldn’t keep,up. Frequently forgetting or bringing our drinks 30 minutes later. Maybe not back to full staff yet. Value for money- I gave 4 stars due to the food. I shouldn’t have to pay to get a good meal. Ports of call Bahamas - the port is terrible. The. Knute you step of the ship there are a million people hitting you up for tours, taxis, hair braids, cigars, etc…. It’s very congested and not enjoyable at all. Coco Cay- beautiful! While we didn’t do the water park, it was around $90 each. We were very happy sitting in the lounge chairs on the beach.
