I have been on this ship before , and I was anxious to see how much the refit had improved the experience ! It was immediately apparent that the ship had a few useful extras . As we already liked it as it was before , we were delighted with many of the improvements , but we missed the previously relaxing Champagne bar . Unfortunately it was also obvious that there had been many economies , particularly with the staff . The queues were everywhere . There was also an acute shortage of seating . It was impossible to get a seat anywhere after the show finished . Who wants to spend the evening in their cabin on holiday ?

As for the food in the main dining room .... HORRENDOUS is an understatement ! The choice was very limited , the taste was akin to cardboard . Complaining was a complete waste of time . As an example , when we were served hard , tough , black jacket potatoes for the third day in a row , we complained to the head chef . We even showed him the standard of the one from that day . He said that it was not the fault of Royal Caaribbean , but the standard of potato that they got from the current supplier . I pointed out that you can get exactly the same result if you cook too many potatos for lunch , re cook it before the evening meal , and then reheat it before serving it up . Yet he still insisted it was the fault of the potatoes ...imagine ! Much of the food was warm rather than hot , much was barely cooked too .

Both my wife and I lost weight ! Who on this earth wants to come back from a cruise and find that they have LOST WEIGHT ! ! ! I will never again travel on the Independence of the Sea . ! Unfortunately with the best will on this earth , I cannot recommend this lovely ( on the surface ) ship !