27th Lady

Thank you to everyone! This was very helpful!! 

Been on both ships…would choose Independence every time!

Independence for me b/c of the added food venues (Playmakers, Fish N Ships, a stand-alone Sorrento's).

Independence has my vote.  Adventure is my least favorite ship.  But that does not mean you won't enjoy either one.

I’m sailing a Voyager class ship because Port Canaveral is more convenient and we love Coco Cay.
Freedom class is an upgrade with Sorrento’s and better hot tubs, personally I’m not traveling further for that. 

The difference between the ships is less than you might think. Both are the same layout.  Both have very similar decor. Independence is slightly newer and bigger, but not all that much.
As a practical matter, Indy has a sorrentos in the promenade. Adventure does not. Indy has cantilevered whirlpools,  Adventure does not. Indy has a designated kiddie pool.  I'm not sure if that was retrofitted to Adventure. 
Unless these features mean a lot to you go with the better itinerary 

Since they're so similar, I would decide based on price, schedule and itinerary first.

Neither ship is on my “will not sail” list and neither is on my favorite ship list. Therefore I would pick based on which has the better itinerary. Remember, Cheaper is many times cheaper for a reason, and not necessarily a better deal.

I've been on Adventure a few times with my older teenage kids, and they had a blast on it.  Adventure is a little smaller and older, but still a great ship for the family.  Independance is a little bigger, and newer, and has some things you won't find on adventure like Playmakers, an escape room, and an actual Broadway show.  Never been on Independance with the kids, but enjoyed it with just my wife and myself.  If the prices are "comparable", then I would go for Independance, but Adventure is not a bad choice either.

You and I must be looking at similar itineraries - I too was going back and forth between an Independence 7 nighter and Adventure 8 nighter in winter 2026. While I liked both itineraries, Adventure was slightly cheaper, so that's what I went with. That being said, I did Independence in September 2023 and LOVED the ship. I've done Navigator, similar to Adventure, so I think it will be just fine. Choose for itinerary if you can, make it more interesting!

Thanks so much! 

These are great suggestions thanks to all of you! 

One of the best things is getting specialty dining delivered to you.  I believe that the add ons in specialty dining (eg lobster at chops) are also comp’d. Chefs table is included but you have to pay an add on for the wine. 
 
the reason they don’t deliver bottles is so that you don’t just take them home. They will deliver as many glasses of things as you like. 

Voyager and Freedom class ships have rooms in the very front of this ship that will sleep up to 6. They are called ultra spacious ocean view. Each of them are a little bit different depending upon the deck. Some actually are almost like a 2BR suite... They all have bunk beds, plus a living room that has a pull out bed. Negative of these is still only 1 bathroom.
 
Connecting cabins would be your best option as it's usually cheaper plus 2 bathrooms. Even this will be a bit tricky as a lot of the connecting cabins are only 2 people max as they don't have sofas due to the connecting door. 
Best bet is to find a good travel agent and let them give you some options. 

The average person who requests this would probably only need one 4L jug for the sailing. You will probably need more than that for infant feeding. Fill out the special needs form,  but also tip your room steward early in the sailing and I would imagine you won’t have an issue. 

Oh I’m booking. Oasis and Freedom class. 😛
Icon class is going to have to age like a bottle of fine wine before I partake at those rates. 

we did take out from Izumi on Mariner and it was totally fine. I don’t think we made a reservation for it just called the restaurant when they were open and they told us when we could pick up 

If you have the UDP I think you should be able I order the plank to go. It would not as others above point out be actually on the plank but the same ingredients would be there. You would have to pick it up yourselves and the restaurant would have to be open. This would also be much cheaper than buying the gift in the cruise planner 🙂

This is a good summary. The biggest things would be priority boarding and double C&A points. 
 
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2023/04/27/royal-caribbean-junior-suite-perks
 
I think it depends on how much you want to be on Icon. 

We did this on the Oasis out of Bayonne in late July early August.  There were 17 of us in total with 7 rooms so I missed out on the group discount 😔 .  I did the booking myself through Royal (I like control and being able to call Royal myself any time I found a lower rate or whatever) and had 5 rooms all next to each other so we could open the balcony dividers.  My family totals 13 and the other 4 people were in-laws but since they booked after us their rooms were down a bit from ours.  
Your room choices sound great…especially doing adjoining rooms for the kids and parents.  
I have to say this cruise was my dream and I am sooo glad we did it.  Just being able to see the kids (15, 14, 12, 11, 10) be on their own and enjoy their independence was awesome.
They continue to ask when we are doing it again…I guess once I can save up another $20K ? 😜 😛 😂 
 

Well, when I offer to pay, they tend to line up!!!  But I wouldn't have it any other way😀  
 

So thankful we were able to do the Holy Land cruise last October. Truly an amazing experience. I hope everyone gets a chance at some point to visit Israel. 

I had a few cruises where I had not already requested prepaid grats.  I was surprised....I thought I had taken care of that on all of my booked cruises.  Pays to check, I guess.  Pretty easy to get them added.  Should be set to go now.  So annoying though....They are so tone deaf on these "cruise enhancement" combinations - reducing services in combination with increasing prices and fees.

I wonder if you thought about getting refreshment packages instead of deluxe beverage packages? The sense I get from your post is that you might use more than 4 drinks outside of the lounge but not 4 alcoholic drinks outside of the lounge per day.  If you have a refreshment package you can still use your diamond drinks for alcohol and have 4 of those each per day in addition to the coffee, water etc you get through the refreshment package and the drinks you have in the lounge. 
 
We recently were in your position but in an oasis class ship. My husband got a refreshment package and I didn’t get anything. He liked the flexibility of the package for coffee and water, fresh juices etc and between the lounge and the diamond drinks had plenty of alcohol. 

My daughter (aged 6) only orders from the adult menu in all venues on RC and over many ships  this has never been a problem for us. Hope she has fun!