This is the review for Independence of The Sea, going from London to Malaga, Cannes, Barcelona, Gibraltar, Vigo, etc… we sailed with our kids (7-12) and if the kids are not happy, we are not happy. The company is trying to save $ on Everything. They only had 300+ kids on board so they combined the kids clubs and the kids hated it. The kids who are 12-17 were wondering on the ship by themselves under no supervision. They explained to us that there was not enough staff to watch kids who are 12-14. Basically the club for older kids was a disaster. The next negative comment is - they are saving $ on food. The buffet closes after breakfast at 10:30 and opens up for lunch at 12:00pm. You are out of luck if you wake up late. Also for dinner the buffet opens up at 6:30!!!! and closes at 9:00pm. Every other cruise company has the buffet open until midnight or so. The food at the buffet is not good. The breakfast stuff is the SAME every single day. The only good thing was German station that was there twice in 2 weeks. The food was very salty and nothing special. The dining room food was just allright. They have escargot every night, but the quality is so-so. No lobster on the cruise at all, pay a la cart for lobsters and steak. The dining room in the early sitting was half empty because of service and how slow the food gets to your table. On average it takes about 2 hours to go through dinner. Dinner rolls during dinner service are always the same. So as far as dining goes - nothing to speak of, no brunches, no mid-night buffets, no tea time. RC are saving money on that too. Rooms - Great shower, plenty of space. Not enough drawers in the room, the shampoo is the worst and they don't give you conditioner. Soap was good but very limited. Room service - order before mid-night free of charge. Room service pizza is the worst, no hot dogs, no BLT, No grilled cheese, no pasta. So if you have kids - you are out of luck. Laundry - They give you a prepaid bag for $30 once a week, but careful - they loose the laundry, so don't give them anything that's dear to you. No chocolates on your pillows. When in ports, when they say that we arrive at 8:00am, do not expect to be on shore at 8, 9:00 - maybe. This happened in every single port. They steal at least half an hour on each end. Surf Rider - great, loved it, but they only do it for a very limited amountof time. The rock climbing, great, long lines. Ice skating - open for public skating for a few hours once a week - ridiculous. Ice skating shows are great. Dancers and singers are fine, nothing to get excited about, the comedians were so-so because they were all British and only Brits got their jokes. By the way 95% of the 4000 passengers were Brits, so if that doesn't bother you, they you will be fine. Most people are polite. Internet - overpriced, very slow, not worth purchasing. Use free wifi on shore. Shops on board - very overpriced, no destination t-shirts. Nightclub - empty all the time. Pub - full all the time. The pool (veryheated) - full of Brits baking in the sun, avoid it. Other than that, we tried to nejjoy the cruise as much as we could. Would not choose RC for Europe again, probably. Go with Celebrity or Princess.