I was part of a group of ladies who were in the same sorority in college 40+ years ago. There were 15 of us, plus we also had some friends and family members who joined us, so we were a group of 20 altogether. We chose Independence of the Seas because we wanted to do a shorter cruise and we liked all the options that this size of ship had to offer. The group decided on late March, hoping that the bulk of college spring breakers would be done, and this was true for this cruise. I have to say that over the past few years of cruising I have found myself enjoying Celebrity more than RCI, but again, this cruise fit the criteria, so it was chosen. Cruising with gal pals was very enjoyable and overall we were very pleased with how the trip turned out.

Most of the group flew in early by a few days. Some stayed in hotels, others stayed with one of the girls in the group who has a home in Ft. Laurderdale. I was with that group and we drove to the Park n Go in Ft. Lauderdale and it was as smooth as can be and we were at the pier in no time and embarkation went well. Royal had messed up on a few of our liquour pkgs and internet pkgs (I have to rate RCI poor in the IT department), but those were cleared up quickly for most of us once we got onboard. We were onboard by 11:30 and we met up with a few of the ladies in our group at the Champagne Bar and started making friends with the fabulous bartenders at this bar!. Some of the others went up to the Solarium Pool and did the same. We then made a short trip over to the Cafe Promenade and had a few yummy sandwiches and sweets. A few crew members came by selling alternative dining and we ended up buying the wine tasting experience for a discount. Had a 1:30 meeting planned for our group at Dog and Badger, so we decided to check out the ship and when announced at 1:00 we got into our rooms to drop off our carry on stuff. I roomed with 2 other ladies in a junior suite on deck 9, very nice, and we easily had room for all of our stuff. We had our meeting at Dog and Badger Pub where we all exchanged items for our 'Swag Bags' this was great fun, and a great 'ice breaker' for our whole group. Bar tenders there did a great job! Muster Drill went fine, had time to unpack, and change clothes for sail away which we celebrated with Champagne and wine that we bought on board in 4 rooms that were right next to one another on deck 8. They had the balcony separators opened and we all had red bandanas that we waved at our friend that has a condo right where the ships go out and she had our sorority flag hanging off the balcony up on the 17th floor and we waved and waved! PTZ captured us on their sailaway cam and we purchased a download once we got home!

We had early seating with two tables of 10 that we arranged for 'round robin' seating during the cruise.(we used a travel agent who handled all this) I was surprised (Because of my last two RCI cruises= terrible food) and am happy to say that the food was very good in the main dining room. Service was a bit slow, the first two nights, especially for drinks and wine, but after one of the gals talked to the head waiter, he pitched in and the rest of the cruise was excellent service in the dining room. We often had lunch in Windjammer and that was also better than what I remember from my last few cruises. I always had my breakfast from Cafe Promenade with a chai tea and some of their donuts and raisin bread (very good imho). Read more