Lifestyle, food and drink, and our family life and travel adventures.
I recently came back from a two-night cruise onboard the incredible Royal Caribbean ship – Independence of the Seas.
Now, I’m going to be honest; I’d never considered taking my holiday on a ship before. I just thought it wasn’t for me. I kind of presumed that it was something that just older people did, but I have no idea why I had that stereotype in my head.
But Independence of the Seas has literally blown me away; my first cruise experience was amazing, and I honestly didn’t want to get off on that Tuesday morning.
Waking up to look out to sea every morning and seeing nothing but the beautiful waters and the horizon meeting the clear blue sky was just incredible. Just looking out through our balcony doors brought a sense of calm and peace over me, and it was wonderful. I haven’t felt that relaxed in so long, and even though we were only away for two nights, I came back feeling rejuvenated and fresh.
The Independence of the Seas has just undergone a multi-million-pound makeover, and she looks flipping incredible (yes, she’s a girl). We were there for the shakedown sailing before her inaugural sailing, after her journey back to Southampton, where she set sails from. ‘Indy’ has 15 decks and can have 4,560 guests onboard.
From the moment we stepped on board the UK’s favourite cruise ship, I was blown away by the sheer size and beauty of it and the number of things that you can see and do onboard. It’s a beautiful ship and really maximises the incredible views you enjoy when at sea, which were particularly wonderful at sunset from one of the bars on the top deck. I love the sea, but I wasn’t expecting to feel so at peace and happy gazing out to sea on a ship.
One thing I was particularly worried about was potentially getting seasick. I have had it before on a ship, as well as on a catamaran, and it is the worst feeling in the world. So I was worried that I would spend my two days lying as still as possible in my bed. Thankfully, though, I didn’t get the slightest bit of seasickness, which was such a massive relief. Even when the sea was slightly more wavey, it was really smooth and a lot of the time, I couldn’t even feel that we were moving (I had to lift my head from my sun lounger a couple of times to be sure).
A big part of a cruise is the food (and I ate a lot!), so it seems like a good place to start. The food on board the ship was pretty amazing, with so many choices available, and so much of it is included in your holiday so you can eat to your heart’s (and belly’s) content!
The breakfast buffet at Windjammers deserves a special mention because it is absolutely HUGE and offers everything you could ever want for breakfast. The first time I walked around it, I think I was just open-mouthed as I took it all in. There is everything, and it’s all so well-maintained, topped up and fresh. You can get eggs cooked to order, different types of sausages, a full English (or three full Englishes), cereal, pancakes, waffles, fruits, and so much more. It was insane. I had fruit and a fry-up on the first morning and then smoked salmon and scrambled egg on a bagel the second. It was hot and delicious and really set us up for the day.
It’s a big place, with a lot of people going for breakfast, but it’s so big that it never feels crowded and you don’t really have to wait for anything. Plus, eating your breakfast looking out over the ocean is pretty wonderful. It’s a bit better than eating in a mad rush, stood up in my kitchen, that’s for sure.
Another of the complimentary dining options is the 3-level main dining room, which was so nice. It feels like the posh place to go for dinner, and it was lovely to get a bit dressed up and enjoy a three-course dinner here. The food was so good, and the staff were so helpful and appropriately attentive.
Then there is the aptly named ‘Fish and Ships’ right by the pool, so you can enjoy some calamari or tasty fish whilst you lie about enjoying the sunshine. It’s also a bar, so you don’t have to go far to keep yourself hydrated (with wine).
We did a sushi-making class at their Izumi restaurant, which was lots of fun, and the sushi was so good. It was so interesting hearing from head chef Travis Kamiyama all about the new restaurant, which is the largest Teppanyaki dining experience in the Royal Caribbean fleet. You can enjoy this exotic Asian-inspired dining experience where chefs cook tableside on real Teppanyaki grills. It’s such a fun experience and would make a great addition to a cruise holiday.
There are so many fun things to do in the water on the Independence of the Seas. There are three pools, 7 jacuzzis, and a couple of really fun flumes that go out over the water with clear sections, so if you pay attention, you can catch glimpses over the sparkling sea. We pretty much had these to ourselves for a bit later in the day and whizzed down over and over again, it was so much fun.
Then there is the Flowrider Surf Simulator, which looks brilliant – I had planned on going on it, but after seeing people on it, I realised there was no way in hell that my bikini was going to stay on whilst attempting that! Next time, I would definitely make sure I had a swimming costume and maybe a little pair of shorts.
It looked like so much fun and is such a cool thing to have on the ship.
There is so much amazing stuff to do on Indy, including some new additions to provide families with even more entertainment. The Sky Pad is a virtual reality bungee trampoline experience, where you are strapped into a harness and jump on a trampoline whilst wearing a VR headset (or you can just jump without). You can choose between three games, and it really looked like so much fun. Again, I would have loved to go on it, but we just ran out of time on our short cruise.
There is also glow-in-the-dark laser tag, an escape room, an ice rink, a sports court, a rock climbing wall, crazy golf on the top deck and a spa! You would literally never run out of exciting things to do if you wanted constant entertainment. It was so lovely being able to take our pick of the fun activities and then chilling by the pool with a cocktail for a while.
There is entertainment on board every night during your holiday, and we got to enjoy Grease (one of my favourite films!) in the Royal Theatre – it was great, and you seriously forget that you are on a ship in the large theatre! There’s also nighttime entertainment at the ice rink, as well, which would be so much fun to see!
I’m not going to lie – we spent a lot of time lying by the pool in the red-hot sunshine with a cocktail in hand. We did plan on doing some more activities, but we ran out of time. Which I know sounds entirely ridiculous when I’ve said we laid by the pool a lot, but I wanted to do plenty of that, too! It was so relaxing and lovely and just what I needed.
But that’s the great thing about Independence of the Seas. You can do so much, or you can do nothing at all. There’s plenty for everyone. I would really love to go on one of their holidays with kids, and I said many times how much Ava would love it, but I’d also love to go again (but for longer) without kids. It’s such a perfect holiday either way, and the destinations this ship travels to are places I would love to stop at.
The mixture of being on the ship, almost everything being included, looking out at the vast sea and having so many activities to enjoy, at the same time as stopping at beautiful locations, exploring them, and enjoying the local food and culture is just hugely appealing to me. And it really wasn’t before. I was honestly so surprised by how much I loved it. The Independence of the Seas really is a fantastic ship, and the Royal Caribbean really do know how to do holidays. It would absolutely make the perfect family holiday.
There’s so much more I could talk about, from the different types of rooms to the shopping, the casino and the cool bars to have an evening drink in. The whole experience was amazing, and I can’t wait to go on another cruise as soon as possible and hopefully see Indy again!
The Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas will be departing from Southampton and visiting destinations across the world, from Europe to the Caribbean, until November 2018. Thank you so much to Royal Caribbean for inviting us to check out the beautiful Indy!
We were invited on a two-night trip onboard Independence of the Seas, but all words and opinions are my own. See my full disclosure policy here: About this site.
Welcome to Birds and Lilies! I'm Lou: mother, blogger and freelance writer. This is my lifestyle blog, where I talk about motherhood, infertility and IVF, beauty, my love for food and wine, as well as my thoughts about stuff, and our real-life and travel adventures.
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