Having just had a wonderful cruise on the Independence of the Seas our expectations were high. The ship looked very nice at first glance. Our cabin though was very shabby and in need of a refurb. The carpet was grubby as were the sofa and chair. The balcony door was very difficult to open due in part to the dirt and muck accumulated in the track. We could hardly open it and after reporting it to guest relations a maintenance man inspected it and after cleaning the track he realised the door was out of alignment. As next day was a port day the maintenance team removed the door and rehung it while we were onshore. Why this fault hadn't been noticed before I have no idea. The balcony was very small with just two chairs and a small table. The bathroom was very small too. The shower was excellent, a very good water flow but some might not like the shower curtain. The tv channels were absolutely rubbish. Awful choice, really no choice at all. Who shows old shows on a loop like Bonanza, really unbelievable. Even the news channels on offer were terrible. I can honestly say I have never seen so much rubbish piped onto a ship as this. If you wanted to watch a film, the few they had on offer were awful and cost $12.99, outrageous! Around the ship there was a faint smell of sewerage all the time. At the back of the ship, very near to the WindJammer cafe the sewerage smell was quite intense.

The food in the main dining room was generally bland and not very exciting. On this cruise we preffered to eat in the WindJammer just to get a plate of tasty food some nights. That's not to sat the food w as great there either but the curries were the exceptions and usually cooked well. We usually always eat our evening meal in the main dining room but not on this cruise.

A problem we had was actually getting a decent drink on the ship. The cocktails were very hit and miss, never the same around the different bars. We tried a few as we had a drinks package but gave up and stuck to pins colados as these were the only ones that were the most consistent. As for things like gin and tonic, absolutely awful. The gin was poured over masses of ice into a small tumbler leaving no room for tonic. The mixers were generally poured from a squirty gun or from an already opened can, usually flat. We gave up trying to get a decent drink poured and in the end we asked for a tall glass with a few ice cubes and gin and a separate glass with 'fresh' tonic, we then mixed our own drink. Another problem was getting the drink you asked for. Once in the theatre at 6.30pm they had run out of tonic!! Many times my wine of choice, the only one I drink was unavailable. This happened so many times it was becoming a joke. We were told so many times there was none left on the ship only to go to another bar and getting a glass. We were told they didn't realise how popular it was so didn't have enough onboard......what happened to management, not much on this ship. Well yes there were plenty of managers telling us how good they were but not actually doing much. Stocking up the wine cellars surely should be top of their list. It really was a bit farcical. Read more