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Independence of the Seas


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I searched for information about the Indy, I just booked at 5 day Western Caribbean in March on her. I wanted to know what everyone thinks of her, that has sailed on her. She has great reviews.

 

Can you give me restaurants that I can't miss?

 

What entertainment is onboard and can it be booked online before the cruise. I know there is an ice rink and a show.

 

Are there any secret places that I need to know about.

 

I almost booked the Ben & Jerry's Sweet, I had it in my checkout but I answered a phone call and 20 minutes later someone else got to it.

 

Anyways any information/suggestions you can give me would be appreciated. I tried searching but I can't find any information on her.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

 

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I was on indy over Thanksgiving and had a great time.  You can read my live blog at the below link.

 

Major take-aways:

-service was stellar accross the board

-the staff at the Champagne bar is top notch, as are their drinks

-our mattress may have been the hardest I've slept on.  You may want to ask for a topper.

-for us (vegetarian, and kind of a pain), Windjammer was lackluster for lunch and breakfast (same as on Freedom), but was a great experience during dinner

-Grease is currently playing on Indy, and while everyone has seen Grease, it was certainly enjoyable.

-we didn't catch the ice show on Indy but did on Freedom and enjoyed it

-you can't reserve entertainment options ahead of time except for Oasis class ships

 

http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/category/category/independence-of-the-seas-live-blog

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Indy was one of our favorites, I think Thanksgiving 3 years ago.

 

I haven't kept up on her schedule but at the time she was sailing from the UK in the summer and had just returned from the UK to the US so she still had a lot of "british" flavor to her which made her noticeably different from her sisters.

 

Found food and service to be solid across the board, etc. no real "highlights" to pass along but I expect you will like her ;)

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One of my fav cruises so far.....lots to do and see. Never felt crowded.

 

The must do's for me would be the cosmopolitan club in the evenings...great entertainment and drinks there......also the nightclub is pretty cool with 2 levels and the glass stairs in there.

 

There is also a deck on the front of the ship...St.Tropez or something that is a great place to lie out, much quieter and easier to find a lounger in that area as well.

 

I am not a show person at all, but defn check out the ice show. Was a cool experience for being at sea in the Caribbean and watching.

 

Cigar lounge on board is nice if your into that.

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Love the Indy.  I've sailed on her 3 times now.  I think cruising from the UK is a different experience.  I have always found the staff to be great - from the cabin steward, to the waiters etc.  Food is very subjective but we like dining in the main dining room for breakfast (the buffet not a la carte breakfast) and evening meal.  Grease is great and not to be missed.

 

Enjoy your cruise

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I sailed on Indy in February of last year and really enjoyed it! While that cruise became a comedy of errors for many reasons, we had a really enjoyable time. The service and food in the MDR was the most impressive of recent memory. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Our next cruise on Indy will be our fourth - we love the ship and have never been disappointed with any cruise yet.

 

I always said I wouldn't like the larger ship the Navigator being the largest I had been on and I said that was big enough.

However Indy came to the UK and I was persuaded into giving her a go - didn't regret it.

 

The staff have always proved to be hard working and will do their best to help with any problem.

Food great.

Very clean throughout.

Great entertainment - especially the Ice Shows Brilliant !!

love the Indy.

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J_Keeble,

 

You stop at the closest bar and ask for two glasses of soda at a time, it works for me every time.

 

Thanks for all of the input on the Indy. I have decided to do a ice show, will get there about 20 minutes early so I get a seat and I am going to see Grease. 

 

I don't know what to do for excursions, we stop at Cozumel and Costa Maya. I am not a beach person or scuba, snooba, diver, so all of those are out, don't want a beach pass. There is an excursion in each city that is a city sightseeing but I don't know, doesn't sound to impressive. Someone on the Roll Call suggested Cozumel Bar Hop, they don't drink but said they had the best time of any excursion they have ever done. I am looking in to the bar hop.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Just sailed Indy last weekend to Cozumel.

I will echo some of monorailmedic's comments.

 

  1. My wife and I loved the ship, but we too found the Windjammer less than stellar for breakfast and lunch. We ended up eating most of our meals in the MDR. We loved the chance to sit and relax for a meal and also to meet some of our shipmates. And, we found the quality of food in the MDR to be far superior to the Windjammer.
  2. When they talk about the toilets being finnicky, they're right. On the last night of our cruise, the toilet in our stateroom wasn't working because someone in an adjacent room decided to try to flush something they shouldn't have . . .
  3. Embarkation was great - we were on board within about half an hour of arriving at the port. Disembarkation, however, was not so smooth. We had to walk down from the fourth deck fighting a crowd the entire way down. Then, we had to wait in a long line to clear customs. There might have been multiple ships all arriving at the same time, but this was by far the least pleasant part of our trip (and not just because our vacation was finishing).
  4. Port Everglades is the only cruise port to offer Mobile Passport customs declarations. Download the app (if you're comfortable with it) and you will save quite a bit of time going through customs.
  5. The shows we had were good. Grease was an excellent production.
  6. We found the Solarium pools quite crowded for our sailing. Could have been something to do with being a long weekend . . .
  7. My wife and I don't mind firm mattresses, so it was fine for us.
  8. Our service was excellent across the board.
  9. One of our checked bags was sent to the naughty room because of our power strip (we were not alone in committing this sin, by the way.) It was confiscated and held until the end of the cruise. (By the way, should power strips be in carry-on bags to get through security? We ended up not really needing it, but would prefer to not have the inconvenience of having to traipse down to deck 1 to retrieve our bag next time . . .)
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I'll add that the finicky toilets are not always the fault of the passenger. I got in an argument with the officer in charge of housekeeping on the Brilliance as he claimed the issues we were having with the toilet was our fault when we hadn't disposed of anything but human waste and toilet paper. When I spoke to our stateroom attendant about it, she said the cabins on Deck 2 had had plumbing issues for as long as she could remember. Thus, I'm sometimes skeptical when they blame other guests and just wish they would step up and take responsibility for such problems when they occur.

 

I'm not saying this happens every time, but I'm leery when I hear the crew blame other guests for problems.

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Duly noted. We were on Deck 8 in a promenade view room, (8559, for what it's worth). Our stateroom attendant surmised that it was a foreign object in the system. However, that could just be an excuse . . .

It's completely possible that was the reason. I've heard horror stories from crew, but I also know that that's not always the case.

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