Independence of the Seas?

Hello,

I am going on a Cruise next week on the Royal Caribbean Independence of the Seas. 1st cruise also.

Has anyone ever been on this ship? Any good suggestions/feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks,






Answer :
I have not yet cruised on the Independence but I have cruised on one of its identical twin sister ships the Freedom in November of 2006. The Freedom class ships are identical but have different names and color schemes and decor. They are the exact same size, and all have the same features.

All three ships have the rock climbing wall, the "flowrider" where you can surf right on ship, an ice skating rink, a fabulous free Ice Capades type ice show that you should not miss (tickets are free but you have to go to a designated place to get them.), a mini-golf course, a H2O Zone water park for kids, the best gymnasium on any ship, several pools and hot tubs on the pool deck, and a solarium (covered area) for adults only. The ship has a mall down its center with shops and eating places, a casino, a show room, and a bunch of lounges with a variety of music, and a disco that's really unusual because its in an unusual location.

We enjoyed our cruise on it and do recommend it and that's why we'll be cruising again, next time on the Liberty this November. The ship is huge but even with 4,000 passengers it doesn't seem crowded. A couple good things as far as crowds are concerned is the H2O Zone is a kids water park area where the youngsters can enjoy the water. Then there is the regular pool and then an adults only pool and hit tub. The kids also have Adventure Ocean which is an area of the ship just for them that has a professionally trained staff person to supervise them in activities. It includes a teen disco that is open until 2:00 AM for all of the teens to use.

I loved the balcony cabin we had. It was roomy and had plenty of space for clothes. The beds on the Freedom were 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. That's in addition to the 24/7 free room service. 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.

Cruising Tips:

- Its best to pack using soft-sided luggage because with space limited in your cabin it fits under the beds better if its not hard sided luggage.

- Pack using the vacuum clothing bags (about $20 for 3 at Target) so that you can get more in your bag AND so that if the TSA at the airport opens your bag they can see what's inside without rummaging through your things.

-Take a small carry-on bag for the last night of the cruise. On the last evening you will be required to put your luggage outside your cabin by about 2:00 AM so that they can start taking it down to the lower deck for offloading the next morning. So you will need a small bag for your toiletries and your clothes that you sleep in.

-If you plan to get into the pools or hot tub as soon as you get on ship (they will be open), bring those clothes in your carry on bag; you other luggage may not get to your cabin until much later in the afternoon.

Other tips:

Most cruise lines will push drinks on you, especially the first couple days. Don't think you have to buy drinks to have fun. If you don't drink all day at home or on other vacations, then don't drink all day on ship. Plus you'll quickly run up a very high drinking bill.

The cruise lines will offer a lot of interesting tours but they will be expensive. You DO NOT have to buy tours to get off the ship in port stops. You can go off on your own and many times in Caribbean and Bahamas ports you can find cheaper tours on the pier.

There is plenty of free food on ship 24/7 so there really no reason to pay to eat in a specialty restaurant. You'll not be able to eat all of the great free food.

Cruise lines will take lots of photos of you boarding the ship, getting off in ports, at dinner, on formal nights, around the ship. These will be very expensive ($10 to $25) so take your camera with you all of the time and take your own photos and ask other passengers to take photos of you, they will gladly.

The ships have internet service but it is very expensive; likely about $50 to $60 an hour. Wait until you get to a port stop and find an internet cafe. Ask the wait staff and your cabin steward because they generally know where they are.

You can look at the Independence and its features at this web link: http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruis…






Answer :
Hi. I live in a town in ireland called cobh...The indep. of the seas comes to the town about 3 times a year. It is is the largest in the world...it looks amazing!!its actually coming to cobh on sunday and leaving again on monday...It is massive!!everything is on it....ill post a link as my source and it will show u a pic of the ship turning in cobh and details about it!..Enjoy your trip!:)