We had a great time onboard the Independence of the Seas, although we did notice some changes onboard from the last time that we sailed on RCI over the summer. A little bit about myself I am nineteen years old, and this is my 27th cruise, and eighth on Royal Caribbean. I traveled with my grandmother who is in her 80's and who has been on 39 cruises, and my sixteen year old sister who has been on 25 cruises. We choose this cruise because the itinerary worked out perfectly with the many different school schedules at hand, and it gave a bunch of frozen New Yorkers, the perfect opportunity to escape the cold and the snow.

Embarkation: This process could not have gone anymore perfect! I don't think that it took us more than ten minutes from the moment we stepped out of the taxi, to the moment we stepped onboard the ship. We got onboard nice and early because of our flight, and by the time we finished lunch all of our luggage was waiting for us at the room. Fantastic!

The Ship: I thought the ship was absolutely beautiful! We had never gone on a ship this size before, and we were nervous about the crowds, but you would not even notice them. I absolutely loved the Flowrider (surfing at sea) it looks very intimidating, but it was really easy once you got up there. I could not believe that I was stand-up surfing, it was fun, and something that I never thought that I would be doing, although I could not have done it without the help from the pro's. We also loved Sorrento's Pizza, the Solarium, and the Royal Promenade as always. Overall the ship was very clean. Read more