Independence of the Seas Review

4.5 / 5.0
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Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Independence of the Seas
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sadcamp50
First Time Cruiser • Age 20s

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Sail Date: Apr 2009
Traveled with children

Our cruise started out most uneventful with easy embarkation and wonderful buffet just waiting for us.  Our group of ten is here for 2 wedding renewals, one onboard and the other in Labadee, Haiti.  Excitement is high, our kids are given some freedom to investigate the boat as they have been told about Flowrider and the Rock wall as we adults go to investigate our rooms.  Nice size for 3 ( in our room ) Deluxe oceanview and great room steward, Eunice.  Alittle trouble with the safe in the room throughout the entire cruise. Had to have maintenance up about 5 times to lock it. Timely and quick also. We got our bracelets for unlimited cokes abit high ($48 for adults) for these economic times and proceeded to get ready for our ship's drill for life boats.  Quick and easy is all I can say. So far everything is great.  Dinner for everyone is wonderful and tasty, if you went away hungry it is your own fault.  During the next day at sea, we encountered a few things that were not to our taste especially with young teenagers.  In the middle of Windjammer, a young appealing lady waltzes through in her thong, while my son's mouth fell open, I step to the side and ask if the staff intend to say anything to her, and their reply was that she is on vacation as well as you are.  Okay, my understanding of the dress code is that you must cover yourself when in dining rooms and throughout the internal workings of the ship. So we let this slide. After lunch we decided to check out Ben & Jerry's onboard, now my son's room key will not work.  So we make a trip to Guest Relations and meet 2 wonderful young ladies anxious to help named Samantha Douglas and also one named Camilla.  They are fantastic!  We had to see them four times about his card throughout the cruise. Small ordeal, all in all quickly solved.  We ventured on excursions from horseback riding and distillery tour to Blackbeards castle and parasailing, no problems. So far so good.  Coming down to our big day, vow renewal onboard with our children and family present. Salon appointments all good, even had a massage before getting dressed. Excellent! Ceremony was fab, can't tell you enough about Vicky, our CPA who conducted our service.  Our pictures supposedly made by a professional photographer were not very good and that was greatly disappointing, probably the worst disappointment of the whole cruise considering the price.  My advice, do a vow renewal on a different ship.  Another small disappointment, our cake for our reception was frozen making it very hard to cut the fondant. So we had the cake after dinner served at our table.  We were congratulated by several in the dining room ( it was formal night and we were still in wedding attire ) the staff even came and sang to us.  Some other things that I would advise, couples with young teens or tweens, please remind your children that these are multi-cultured ships and what is unacceptable in your country, may be perfectly acceptable in another.  That way they are warned and so are you.  (My teen in his exploration found someone topless on the pool deck.) Children should remember that there is a dress code for formal nite that does not include shorts. Read the brochures before you go.  Disembarkation could have been easier if the teens had not been on the floor of the elevator eating their breakfast. That was alittle taxing on the nerves.  There were a few rough teens that were escorted to their parents rooms in handcuffs, one even took a swing at a room steward.  Behavior like this is observed from time to time by your own children and is not appropriate.  Make sure they understand the rules about being on a ship BEFORE you leave, makes it much more pleasant for everyone trying to have fun on vacation. Also make sure if you do have a complaint, that it is logged by ship's personnel at Guest Relations.  Though our trip had disappointments, we met wonderful people, made great friends, and saw wondrous places. Have a marvelous time experimenting with the different cruise lines. Bon Voyage!!!!!

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