First off, this may be long and extensive, but you can skip around to the parts that interest you. My

husband and I travel fairly frequently and have primarily vacationed at all-inclusives, and recently began cruising in 2011. We’ve been to many islands for land-based vacations and now enjoy cruising as well. We’ve primarily cruised on Carnival, and I had one experience on NCL. This was our first time on Royal, so this was our opinion of the ship, Independence of the Seas – 4/6-4/12.

The ship was near capacity, and due to spring break still going on, there were over 1100 kids on the ship! (we asked for confirmation). Even with that many people, it only seemed crowded on sea days trying to get a lounge chair. Read more