Independence of the Seas Review
Christmas / Hanukah cruise to Cozumel
Rating by category
Additional details
Overall we (me and wife plus two adult daughters) enjoyed this 4-night Christmas / Hanukah cruise to Cozumel. Next cruise we will do at least five nights on a ship this size as there were several things we did not have time to do.
Food
Our MDR service was poor and our MDR food was Windjammer quality. The portions served in the MDR were generally small. I left the MDR hungry on night two (2x2 slice of lasagna) and three (two seafood raviolis). Consider ordering two entrees if you are having the pasta dishes.
Cabin Review
Promenade Stateroom
Our family rented two Promenade inside cabins. This was our first time in this cabin type. They are small, but we appreciated having a window to look out at something. The furniture, carpet, and bathroom were in good condition. The beds have obvious depressions in the center but were still okay for sleeping. Our cabin attendant tended to everything twice per day as expected. No towel animals on the first or last night. Overall a great value for what we paid for these cabins.
Port Reviews
Fort Lauderdale (Port Everglades)
Ship was docked at Terminal 18 for departure. We were advised not to arrive before 2:30 due to the ship arriving late, so we arrived about 2:15. We dropped the luggage without delay and parked in the mid-port garage. Shuttles were not running back to the Terminal, so we walked around T19 and the container ship which was loading and through an employee parking lot with several other grumbling cruise pax to get back to T18. This was not a safe walk due to the truck traffic going to/from the container ship.
Ship returned to Terminal 25. We did self-assist. The line was long but once it started moving it was fine. The line for Mobile Passport was non-existent when we got to customs (we did not use it). 15-minutes later the mobile passport line was longer than the regular line which only took 20-minutes. Only two people used Global Entry while we were in line. Then we walked with luggage in tow to the mid-port garage, which was a more reasonable distance from T25 and has a sidewalk to the garage and is also separated from the container port traffic.