Independence of the Seas Review

Overall a Nice Cruise

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Independence of the Seas
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ticoalra
2-5 Cruises • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Jul 2015

We sailed July 19 - 26 on an Eastern Caribbean loop. Our party was 2 adults and 2 teenagers. This was our first time with Royal Caribbean and our first Caribbean cruise. Our previous cruise was with Disney to Alaska. This was a very different experience in terms of overall service, atmosphere and food quality. We had a good trip with memories to last a lifetime but it lacked the WOW of our first cruise.

The ship was overall in good condition. Our room steward, Svetlana was phenomenal. We stayed in two connecting promenade rooms and they were great. Our dining room wait staff was lackluster and inattentive. The food in the main dining room was mediocre. We went to the Windjammer our last night for dinner and wish we had gone earlier in the week. We had much more fun in the Windjammer and enjoyed our food more! A waiter was even bringing around chocolate covered strawberries for everyone to enjoy.

The ports were enjoyable. Disembarkation in Puerto Rico was a disaster - totally unorganized and chaotic. We had been told all day that we were disembarking forward and when we went down to deck 2 we were told we needed to go aft. Once we went aft, chaos prevailed. The queue just went in circles with just one crew member trying to manage the throngs. It took us over 45 minutes to disembark. The 4 PM to 11 PM port time was not optimal. We walked to the Castillo de San Cristobal and it was amazing! We spent an hour there before it closed. Old San Juan seemed a little sketchy after dark so we didn't stay in port as long as we had first planned. We had a great day in St. Martin. We booked a snorkeling and speedboat tour with Captain Bob and it was terrific! In St. Kitt's we did an island tour with Rosevelt Taylor of Paradise Island Tours which again was great. Disembarkation in St. Martin and St. Kitt was very easy.

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