Independence of the Seas Review 11/23-11/29

It was our first time on the Independence of the Seas and it is a magnificent ship. Huge is putting it mildly. We have sailed one other time on RCCL with the Explorer of the Seas were looking forward to seeing the Royal Promenade again.

Embarkment:

First time boarding in Port Everglades and I have to be honest - It is definitely not like Port Canaveral. Too many lines to stand in and no place to sit for kids and those needing to sit. The process did not take very long, but just tougher with smaller kids.

Cruise Itself:

Like I said, the ship is beautiful. Many activities to do for all ages. Our children loved the kids club and exploring the ship. Our 11 and 10 year old had sign out privs but they wouldnt let our 8 year old originally (after a few days, I pushed for it and got it at the end of the cruise). The H2O zone was very cool and heated with fresh water, a nice switch from Explorer. The Solarium was very nice as well and the hot tubs were rarely over crowded, and finding a seat was easy.

Promenade:

Awesome as we expected. Sorrento's makes a good pizza, Ben & Jerry's, Clean Shave, etc... Very nice place to people watch and let our 1 yr olds stroll around.

Dining Room:

Very magestic but for us a huge disappointment. Our server (waiter - Stanley) was the invisible man. Very plain and did not interact well with the kids. It took 3 days for him to realize to have crackers on the table at the beginning of the meal for the twins to eat. After 15 cruises, I think I know a good server versus a bad one. Our Asst Server was ok and tried hard. The food itself was nothing fancy. No real meal jumps out at me as being "life changing." Even the desserts were few and nothing spectacular. Our best dessert was at Ben & Jerry's.

Ports:

All very nice..We did the Bannister Beach outing on Belize and would recommend to everyone. A nice day there. Costa Maya was a surprise. I took the older 3 kids to the pool in the shopping area (very cold salt water pool) while the others shopped. Afterwards we went to the fishing village to go to the beach. That was awesome ($5 round trip/person). Cozumel was another beach day at Mr. Sancho's Beach (no fee to go other than cab). Again a nice time on a nice beach. Nice little reef to snorkel and see fish.

Debarkment:

This is where they drop the ball. My son and I had express checkout for a 10:25 flight and just made the flight. One gangway opened for all these people and too many people crowding the stairways, elevations, etc.... Just a total chaotic debarkment. Don't have an early flight and expect long delays in leaving the ship. Once off the ship, it is a LONG walk to immigration and to the cab/bus area. Again, total chaos. I think Port Everglades is a lousy port in this regard.

I would recommend the cruise, but be warned about leaving at the end of the cruise.....

Thank you for your review. I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise.

I am a Diamond RCI member and will be D+ after my Independence cruise in March. I have been on both Freedom and Liberty, looking forward to Indy.

I have to say that although I do not like Port Everglades very much, I prefer it to Port Canaveral. My experiences there have been nothing short of horrific.

I have a couple of comments to make:

Promenade:

Awesome as we expected. Sorrento's makes a good pizza, Ben & Jerry's, Clean Shave, etc... Very nice place to people watch and let our 1 yr olds stroll around.

I wasn't on your cruise and don't want to judge, but given the size of these ships and the actual number of passengers, is letting the 1 yr olds stroll around actually a good idea? I'm thinking it may not be completely safe for them and could be an annoyance to other passengers.

Also, regarding dining room food as not being "life changing". Is this a bit too much of an expectation for a meal. I have had some great meals both in restaurants and home cooked, but "life changing" is not how I would decribe any of them. Maybe I am missing out, but I do know that will a realistic expectation of dining room meals - I have enjoyed them very much.

I don't want to be a buzz kill, but I really felt like I had to express myself.

Again, I am glad you and your family enjoyed your cruise and thanks for the review.

Will you be posting pictures of the Independence?

YES pictures...we need pictures!!! 90 to go and I can hardly wait :D

If the promonade allot bigger than on the Explorer?

Thanks for the review!

Go to www.flickr.com and search for Independence of the Seas. There is an entire group that is only pictures of the ship.

Go to www.flickr.com and search for Independence of the Seas. There is an entire group that is only pictures of the ship.

Thanks!

Hello.... could you tell me what time the disembarkation started... and did they provide "express" departure? Thanks.

Pt. Everglades just cannot get their act together. It seems that most of the reviews that I read has this recurring theme. Unfortunately RCI just seems to ignore it and give even larger ships to this port and RCI themselves cannot get it straight with keeping organization with the crowds.

just fyi....on 11/29 all Taxi's servicing FLL airport, Port Everglades and the beaches went on strike the morning of 11/29...without warning. With 9 ships in Port Everglades and 20,000 + needing transportation....yes a little crazy....not sure if any other port could pull off what Port Everglades did!

We were also on this cruise and we gambled with an early flight (10am). On previous cruises, the ship was ALWAYS in port and cleared by 7am, but we were not cleared yesterday until 8:20 or so. I realize this is out of RCCL's control, as we were the last of 9 ships allowed into port. We knew a 10am flight was far too early, but it was much cheaper and we've never had a problem with express departure. The airport is 5 minutes away, so we gave it a shot.

However, RCCL REALLY dropped the ball once we were cleared by customs. The OP mentioned that only one gangway was open, and we were there to witness the reason. The second gangway was INCREDIBLY steep, and one of the first men off in front of us tumbled forward, cutting his dress pants and knee wide open. They held us there for 5-10 minutes, clueless as to what to do. They finally escorted us down the ramp one-by-one while they rolled down our luggage themselves. It was a complete joke. I wish I had my camera out to take a picture of this ramp...it was honestly that bad.

Needless to say, we did make our flight (barely). We were put on limo bus (b/c of the taxi strike), and when he tried to charge our group of six $12 per person (the normal cost of one taxi is $12-15 for 3-4 people), we told him we'd give him $40 and he took it. I heard other people paid at least $20 per person, which tells me these temporary "taxis" were taking advantage of the situation.

All-in-all, the trip was fantastic, but I shudder to think how Port Everglades will handle Oasis of the Seas next year. I remember reading that construction was being done to upgrade the terminal, and I sure hope this has yet to be done. The terminal is very poorly organized compared to Miami (long lines, a long walk to customs, no luggage carousels, etc), not to mention they were sending us off poorly-designed gangways on deck 1 (compared to the 2 elevated ones on deck 4 in Miami).

I bet the gentleman who took the tumble will have a free cruise coming his way :)

We were also on this cruise and we gambled with an early flight (10am). On previous cruises, the ship was ALWAYS in port and cleared by 7am, but we were not cleared yesterday until 8:20 or so. I realize this is out of RCCL's control, as we were the last of 9 ships allowed into port. We knew a 10am flight was far too early, but it was much cheaper and we've never had a problem with express departure. The airport is 5 minutes away, so we gave it a shot.

 

However, RCCL REALLY dropped the ball once we were cleared by customs. The OP mentioned that only one gangway was open, and we were there to witness the reason. The second gangway was INCREDIBLY steep, and one of the first men off in front of us tumbled forward, cutting his dress pants and knee wide open. They held us there for 5-10 minutes, clueless as to what to do. They finally escorted us down the ramp one-by-one while they rolled down our luggage themselves. It was a complete joke. I wish I had my camera out to take a picture of this ramp...it was honestly that bad.

 

Needless to say, we did make our flight (barely). We were put on limo bus (b/c of the taxi strike), and when he tried to charge our group of six $12 per person (the normal cost of one taxi is $12-15 for 3-4 people), we told him we'd give him $40 and he took it. I heard other people paid at least $20 per person, which tells me these temporary "taxis" were taking advantage of the situation.

 

All-in-all, the trip was fantastic, but I shudder to think how Port Everglades will handle Oasis of the Seas next year. I remember reading that construction was being done to upgrade the terminal, and I sure hope this has yet to be done. The terminal is very poorly organized compared to Miami (long lines, a long walk to customs, no luggage carousels, etc), not to mention they were sending us off poorly-designed gangways on deck 1 (compared to the 2 elevated ones on deck 4 in Miami).

 

I bet the gentleman who took the tumble will have a free cruise coming his way :)

The problem with Pt. Everglades is that they are not equipped to handle the large ships like Voyager and Freedom class with the current terminals. They found this out last year when the Navigator moved to FLL. I am in hopes that with the new terminal that is currently being constructed for Oasis/Allure that many of the issues will be corrected or RCI is in for some major issues and the passengers are in for some major headaches.

OMG! I was there total mess, but at least I know why now. Just saw a few cabs..the line of people looking for shuttles to the parking lot was very long and all the disembarking experience was horrible. I will go to another port next time.

We are booked on her in March, we have not yet booked airflight as we are hoping prices will drop. If we need to stay an extra day to avoid the rush to the airport we will.

Thanks for the review ! We are very excited about this upcoming trip.

We were also on this sailing. The only downside the whole week was the "express disembarkation". It was a total disaster. As we were stuck on the stairs, there was a worker with his walkie talkie, and we heard someone over the walkie talkie say that more help is needed down below because there are people yelling and screaming at the workers. Someone questioned the RCCL worker as why it was such a mess, and the worker stated that usually the ship is cleared by customs at 7 am or so. They received clearance sometime after 8 am. He said usually a good portion of people are ready to go at 7 am when they start disembarking, but by 8 everyone is ready to go. So with the late clearance, that's what caused the mess.

I wasn't aware of the cabbie strike. We had pre-arranged transportation so I guess I didn't pay attention to there being no cabs. We flew in/out of MIA, which is a whole other story.

I am going to try to write a reveiw with pictures some time in the next couple of weeks. The Indpendence is awesome and would love to sail the freedom class on our next cruise.

We are booked on her in March, we have not yet booked airflight as we are hoping prices will drop. If we need to stay an extra day to avoid the rush to the airport we will.

Thanks for the review ! We are very excited about this upcoming trip.

We'll be cruising with you! We booked with 5 other families - so if you see a big group of Canadians :p say hi!

We lucked out with our airfare. We booked out of Detroit (closest airport for us) on the 5th with a return on the 18th for $100/person roundtrip! YAY! :D We planned on the stay after the cruise and then bonused out with the two days before. Our intentions were to fly out on the Friday just in case we had some weather issues - that darn snow! But the Friday departure was $100 more per person, we figured having a family of four that a $400 saving would more than cover the extra night in the hotel and meals and to boot we get an extra day in the sun! :D

See you on the ship!

It was our first time on the Independence of the Seas and it is a magnificent ship. Huge is putting it mildly. We have sailed one other time on RCCL with the Explorer of the Seas were looking forward to seeing the Royal Promenade again.

Thanks very much for your review fishtr. My husband and I will be on board this ship in January sailing the same itinerary. I was wondering two things:

1. Can you tell me which nights the formal nights were?
   
2. How were the shows? Can you provide more insight into the entertainment on board?
   
3. Did you happen to keep your daily cruise compasses? I'd be interested in seeing those if at all possible.
   

Thanks so much,

Sarah!

We were also on this sailing and the week was wonderful ... however.. departure was a nightmare! The ship didn't even dock until after 7 am and we were the last of 9 ships!

We have sailed out of FLL many times but this was the worst experience. By the time we got off after 10 am (and we were only the 3rd color called...:eek:) got our luggage went through customs.. people were already arriving for the next cruise!!!! So now you had buses unloading, cars unloading, cars and buses loading, shuttles everywhere. It was bad...:( The traffic was backed up coming into the port for a long way....

We too were on the Independence last week. This was our first Freedom class cruise and I have to say the ship was so clean and new. It was just magnificent in its design and decor. The layout is virtually the same as the Voyager class ships other than the additional length which shos up in a longer promenade on 5, the larger casino and photo shop on 4, and the On Air lounge on 3.

The upper decks have more as well with the flow rider on 13, larger teen areas on 12/13, larger gym and spa, etc. Plus the H2O zone on the pool deck (11).

Arrival and checkin was smooth and took less than 10 minutes. We were on the ship by 11:40 or so. We quickly found our table in the dining room on the way upstairs for the WJ lunch. We also were able to get our Chops reservation updated. Chops and Portofino are immediately adjacent and inside the Windjammer entrance. We only did Chops this cruise but it is worth every cent. Excellent meal and service - just as expected.

We only saw a couple of the shows. Mosaic was tremendous as expected. We saw them a couple of years ago and were glad to see them back. The sing/dance review shows are OK, just good general entertainment. CD Allen Brooks (formerly on the Voyager) did his usual great job as did his very capable staff. Quest was tremendous and the Love & Marriage show was a good one as well.

They gave away $6,565 in the final Bingo jackpot on Friday afternoon to a single winner from Seattle.

Dining. The food and menus were as expected. The best night was the first formal night (Monday) when we had the beef filet. The rest of the meals were good with some standout items including the cold fruit soups and the scallop risotto. Our head waiter was also the foor manager for our level and he took time to address questions, handle special requests and spent more time with our table than I've ever had a head waiter do before. Perhaps that is why is is one of 3 dining room managers. Our waiter and assistant waiters were good and quickly learned what the kids liked to drink and what types of bread and rolls they liked. The overall service was a little jerky as we had some longer than expectred waite between courses on some evenings. They did inform us that the menus had been changed from the longer UK/Europe sailings that the Independence had been on up until its arrival in FLL on November 19th.

The formal nights were Monday and Thursday for our 6 nighter that ran Sunday to Saturday.

I can scan and forward the Cruise Compasses to anyone who would like them. Just post a request response here and I will get back to you. I have subscribed to this thread so I will get emails of all postings.

Our staterooms (adjoingin PR's on deck 8) were like brand new. Spotless and well cared for. Our cabin attendant did a nice job - nothing over the top but she was always around if you needed anything.

My only complaint was the disembarcation. We went to the dining room around 8:00 AM and had to thread our way down the stairs from 5 to 3 through people standing and sitting, waiting to get off the ship. This was a nuisance and a safety hazard as everyone had their carry-on bags with them. Breakfast was good but there were no announcements in the dining room. We then proceeded after breakfast to the Pyramid Lounge that we received an invitation to as we are Platimnum C&A members. We got there and I asked if lavender had been called and they said yes so we turned around and headed down to deck 1 to exit. It went smoothly other than the looooooooong walk all the way to the end of the pier to the baggage and Customs/Immigration clearance area. We found our bags in about 5 minutes and walked right through Customs in less than a minute. Then is was outside to the airport bus which was rignt in front of the exit. Since we didn't use a cab I was unaware of the strike. We were on the bus and at the airport by 9:30 to 9:40 or so.

Overall - a great cruise on a beautiful ship. Would I do it again? Yes, and we are as we booked the New Year's Eve 2009 8-day cruise. Only 13 months to go!! :eek: Would I recommend it to new cruisers? Absolutely!!:)

I'm sure with a few more of the shorter US itineraries under their belts, the few bumps and kinks in the service areas will be sorted out.

If you have any other quesitons, please post them as there are several of us from the Roll Call who have posted here and I for one, would be glad to answer any additional questions.

To all those going on future Indy cruises - ENJOY!!!

Our staterooms (adjoingin PR's on deck 8) were like brand new. Spotless and well cared for. Our cabin attendant did a nice job - nothing over the top but she was always around if you needed anything.

OHDad, tell me more about these cabins. My Mother and some friends have adjoining PR cabins on Deck 8 on the Liberty and would love to hear more details such as whether it felt crowded? noise from next door? view of the Promenade? Larger/Smaller than regular inside? Whatever you care to share.

Thanks.

OHCruisinDad,

Thank you for including your review of your cruise. I would love to receive the scanned compasses as well. Looking very forward to our cruise now!!

Sarah!

We were on the Indy TA. There was one major difference in disembarking from the FLL cruises. More than 60% of the ship was non-US passengers so us Americans had a very short line to go through. A porter found us in the luggage warehouse by yelling "US citizens only". Guess he wanted a quick turnaround to get back in to get another load (and another tip).

We had green tags (next to last) as we were not flying out so we waited in the Pharohs lounge with Brandon from Scranton (CD staff). When called we hustled to the end of the Promenade and took the starboard elevator down to deck one where we mingled with the people snaking down the stairs.

OhcruisinDad-I would love a photocopy of the compass.

Thanks!

I'm going to be on the independence Jan 10th.

Is disembarking from FLL always this bad? Or was it just this one time because of all the reasons you have all mentioned?

Our flight leaves at 1130am. I think we should be okay, I hope.........just wondering if I should preplan transportation, or just take a cab to the airport?

Thanks

Nujdawg

We are getting packed for our cruise on the Indy and had a question about the dining. My DH has the Tux packed would like to know how gentlemen are wearing on the non-formal nights. Our last few cruises have been in Hawaii and people tended to be more casual wearing polo type shirts vs. shirt and tie every night.

We have a late afternoon flight, anyone have any suggestions as what to do in Fort Lauderdale Hate the thought of sitting in the airport till 4pm.

Any information appreciated

ohcruisindad, I would appreciate a copy of the cruise compasses as well. Thanks.

OHCruisinDad,

 

Thank you for including your review of your cruise. I would love to receive the scanned compasses as well. Looking very forward to our cruise now!!

 

Sarah!

OhcruisinDad-I would love a photocopy of the compass.

 

Thanks!

ohcruisindad, I would appreciate a copy of the cruise compasses as well. Thanks.

I will scan them into PDF files tomorrow. Send me an email request at lawrenceji at aol dot com and I'll get them emailed to you. I'm not sure how big the files may be so I might have to split them up and send them in 2 or 3 separate emails. I'll use 200 dpi resolution to hold down the file size.