Independence of the Seas Review
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From Southampton to the Med, and from seeing her sailing up the Solent at 4,30am on the 8th of May we were not disappointed.Checkin and Boarding was so smooth, and organised and the staff so friendly. We were at the gate at 10.15am and boarded by 11.15am.The ship is beautiful, extremely clean, and all of the staff very friendly.We had a Junior Suite, and whilst it was very nice and comfortable, the only thing I would say here is that, our room steward was a nice fella but something was missed most days - balcony not cleaned, a towel missing here or there.As ar as the food is concerned, well Chops Grill was just wonderful, Portofino's was good, Main Dining room was very good and plenty of choices throughout, and we opted for My Time Dining which was great as it was a small dedicated area on Deck 5. the staff in there were Fabulous, especially Adela and Simone.Nothing was too much trouble at all.Windjammer, was always packed, and often the food would be cold or just luke warm, however we spoke to a Purser about it, and he did try to explain about the food on mass, keeping it hot being buffet style, but said he would take the comments on board.The shows were good in all areas, and the shore excurions, however we seemed to be frogmarched around Monte Carlo, and despite asking the guide to slow down to assist the less able bodied people, she carried on.At the cocktail bar, the boys there were absolutly fabulous, they juggled, they had large crowds each day with their tricks and they mixed a mean cocktail.At the Labrynth, Yeltsin was just the most hard working barman I have ever seen, and always a smile. A real nice guy."Another Rocks of Gibraltar please"!!!There were lots of Sales on board on the Promenade and as the time passed, the items prices came down and down with each day, so by the end of our cruise, one or two bargains could be had.There were a lot of friendly people on board and a lot of wingers, and a lot of rude people, rude to staff, rude to other travellers, barging past, trying to get into lifts whilst people were trying to get out. shouting abusive language, dive bombing pools, reserving pool side beds etc, which was very annoying, however this did not spoil what was the most wonderful holiday.We had a Meet and Mingle with fellow Cruise Critics and we had a lovely time with everyone, and we will be meeting up with some or all again. Lovely people. Friendships forged.From the staff, to the Ship itself, to the Food, the Excursions, everything was fabulous, and I cannot wait till we go again.Happy Sailing
Cabin Review
Junior Suite
Our cabin was a Junior Suite.The cabin was spacious, and very well presented.We were far enough away from the lifts, but opposite a service kitchen, which was not at all noisy.The staff who worked there were very quiet, and often most of the work was done whilst we were out of our cabin during the day.The services staff could be seen often cleaning the balconys following a tannoy message to ask us to keep the doors closed, and the window cleaners and ship painters were seen on a regular basis.Our cabin was very comfortable, the bed huge and it had one of those memory matresses, which was just wonderful.One fault I would say is that hoovering did not get done every day, and especially on the balcony , we would have to wait till turn down service in the evening to have the balcony cleaned and the ashtray emptied.We would not get refills of shampoo, lotion, soap every day, and often a towel or too got missed, but these things did not deter, that the cabin was lovely.Wardrobe space was a walk in room and plenty of space in there, plenty of drawer spaces throughout the cabin too.One small fault is that the elctrical points were not enough. We took a 4 plug British extension lead with us, and I am so glad we did, as we only had 2 pin sockets which we used an adapter on.