My wife and I are both Crown & Anchor Diamond level and have cruised the Caribbean and South America with RCCL prior.

We chose this cruise as a way to gain some experience in areas that we'd not be likely to visit otherwise. (Spain, Portugal, Canary Islands) All in all the trip was nice, but there are some marked differences between what we experienced on Independence vs. what we've seen on Voyager class and Oasis. The crew was as we would expect from RCCL - polite and helpful and the ports of call were good (I would have rather had more time in Funchal and less in Tenerife, but that's a personal choice.) We were able to accomplish our primary goal and now have places we'd like to return for longer visits if/when the opportunity presents itself.

Now, the differences. Read more