Is the Royal Caribbean ship "Independence of the sea" a fun ship?

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I would like to know if anyone has ever cruised on the ship "Independence of the Sea" from Royal Caribbean. The reason I am asking is because I want to know if it is good or not. We might be going over spring break, and that is a cruise that we want to go on. It fits all the dates that we need, and is priced reasonably. I looked it up and it sounds pretty good, correct me if i'm wrong but one of their biggest ships? I was just wondering if it would be suitable for a 15 year old...does it have a lot of things kids can do?

And no, im not going to do Carnival because the cruises there just repeat what we did last year. Fun day at sea, Progresso (Which I thought was not a very nice place to stop) Cozumel, (It was AWESOME there!) and then fun day at sea and back to new orleans. I live in Iowa and we don't like to fly, especially with the price of airlines. So we drive, and it's way cheaper. but back to my question, Is independence of the sea a good cruise ship?

I will give best answer. Thank you!






Answer :
I have not cruised on the Independence YET. We'll be cruising on it later this year. BUT, I have cruised on one of its twin sister ships, the Freedom of the seas. The Freedom, Independence and Liberty are all identical ships so when you look for a cruise at a great price search for all three of those ships. We went on the Freedom in November 2006. It was a great cruise. This is what I have written in the past about that cruise.

The ship holds over 3,000 passengers but we completed boarding in about 30 minutes from the curb to our cabin. It would have gone faster if they had been ready at a couple spots.

I loved the balcony cabin we had. It was roomy and had plenty of space for clothes.The cabin had a great pillowtop bed and was very comfortable in comparison to beds on other ships. There was a flat panel HDTV in the room, a safe, and a shower stall with a sliding door. Our room included a love seat and coffee table.

The ship has a mall area down its middle with shops on both sides, including a barber shop, coffee shop, and a place where you can get free food 24/7. They have hot pizza available for you there 24/7. That's in addition to the 24/7 free room service. The ship has some features that other ships don't have. The rock climbing wall is on many RC ships. But the new "flow rider" is unique to RC's Freedom and Liberty of the Seas ships. It is a place where you can go surfing on a boogie board right on the back of the ship. It works great, although I didn't try it. There is stadium seating for people to watch or sit while awaiting their turn. The ship also has an ice skating rink and during the week there are two days when there is a free ice show that is great, kinda like the Ice Capades. The ship also has a full sized basketball court and mini-golf.

This ship is great for kids and families with kids. On the pool deck there is one area called the H2O Zone which is essentially a small water park for kids; but us big kids can play there too. It has water cannons, a small lazy river, a pool, and falling water all over. Kids will love it. Then the middle of the ship has another pool where everyone can get wet or use a hot tub. Then up further there is an adults only area called the Solarium with a pool and two hot tubs that extend over the sides of the ship. These tubs are huge, can hold maybe 12 people and you can look over the side of the tub at the ocean.

The ship has THE best gymnasium I have ever seen on a cruise ship. All of the latest equipment, including weight machines, rowers, steppers, treadmills and each has its own TV screen so you can watch TV while you workout. It also has a boxing ring and some other new high tech stuff. Also has steam room and sauna for those who use the gym.

In addition to the ice shows there was a show in the main show room each night. There is a casino and there are bars and lounges all over the ship. There is an internet cafe but I would skip it as it way too expensive and just wait until you get to a port stop where you can usually get internet service in a cafe for only $5. for an hour (vs $50 an hour on ship).

The only thing I did not like about the ship was its Windjammer Cafe where everyone goes for breakfast and lunch if they don't go to the main dining room, is too small for everyone and people were walking around looking for a table after they got their food. We decided to just order the free breakfast room service an eat on the balcony.

The Royal Caribbean Freedom class ships all use Labadee, Haite as their private island and that place is fantastic. It has several beaches and lot of beach and water activities and you can even take a tour that does a zip line across the beach.