First off, let me say that the Independence of the Seas is a beautiful ship. There were many aspects of the cruise that we thoroughly enjoyed, but others that left me thinking that I won't cruise with Royal Caribbean again any time soon.
Leaving from Southampton, we had to hire a car service from London to the port and back as it is about 1 1/2 hrs from Heathrow airport. Thanks to this website, I found an amazing car service, Smiths for Airports, who provided us with transportation with very friendly and punctual drivers, for a fraction of the cost of other car services that I had contacted.
Our arrival at the port on the day of embarkation went very smoothly. We are Platinum members and were able to skip some of the lines. We were on board around noon and were anxious to get to our room, but were told that we couldn't get into it until 1:00 and that we should go to the Windjammer for lunch. And this is where the unpleasantness started. The food at the buffet was barely edible. I existed on salad and bread. The food was never particularly hot or tasty and the choices were definitely geared to a UK palate.