This was a first for our family. Not the first cruise for the adults, my DH, our two sons and their wives, but a first with the three grandkids ages 7,6, and 2. We arrived the day before and were at the port to board around 11:30. I must say boarding was almost too hurried. With three small children, we felt very rushed. Once on board this beautiful ship, we headed to the Windjammer. Due to cloudy weather and a chilly wind, so did everyone else. Once we were allowed to find our cabins, people spread out and we never felt crowded the rest of the week. We did start out with some bad winds and rough seas but cleared up on Monday and was great the rest of the cruise. I must say I love the Independence of the Seas. The ship is beautiful and the staff is the best there is. Our grandkids received special attention every where they went and enjoyed the cruise as much if not more then the adults. One of our sons and his family had a family promenade stateroom and they loved everything about it. They had plenty of storage space, sleeping space and even a full sized bathtub. The kids really enjoyed watching the parades etc from their room. We ate in the main dining room all but two nights. Our waiter Joey was fantastic and entertained our grandson with magic tricks every night. I thought the food was excellent. Yes, we had lobster one night and Joey brought us each a second one without even being asked. The shows for the most part were great - We took all the kids to the Big Top Circus performance and they loved it - so did the adults. Our cabin was comfortable and our room steward made towels animals every night (some times two a night) except for the first night. Now for the two things I did not like about our cruise on the Independence. First I was and am very disappointed in the very very small pool designated for children still in diapers. I fully understand the need for one but this pool was so small, it only had about two inches of water in it, and one water spout.. and that was
it. They need to provide a bigger area with more for these kids to do
besides sit in two inches of water and watch all the other kids play in
Loved having the divider between our balcony and our son's balcony open so we had one big balcony that the whole family could enjoy... spent many evening on it.