Independence of the Seas Review
Quiet, Relaxing, Laid Back + A-OK!
Rating by category
Additional details
On this our 6th RCI cruise, we decided to go with an itinerary that was filled with "1sts" in terms of stops. This cruise seemed ideal, and the addition of the 8th night intrigued myself, my wife and another couple we went with. Going in the middle of March meant that most schools/colleges were still in session, which in turn meant a boat filled with retirees. That's fine by us. We have done so many adventurous excursions and trips, it felt good to book a trip that was meant for relaxation. Onto the meat of the review:
Embarkation:
Port everglades always has some mess going on, but traffic was surprising light, and check in went super quick. We exited our ride's car and were on the ship within 30 minutes. This was our 1st cruise as Platinum Tier members, but we went to the line for Gold Passengers to hang out with the other couple we were with. I don't need no special treatment haha. Bags were at our rooms by 3pm, quickest I've had yet. Muster Drill wasn't too bad either. One day we'll get a station in the air conditioning though...
Cabin Review
We booked a Promenade room on Deck 6, as we have the last 3 cruises. We like having a room that's close to the "meat" of the ship. Only having to use the elevators when we're going to Deck 11 and above. Some people complain about the noise from below, but we never heard anything remotely bad after 11pm. It was also a connected cabin, but we must have had some church mouse neighbors, since not a peep was heard.