Biggest Cruise Ship in the World Provides Big Fun for Kids

T’was the night after our eight day cruise and all through the house, the only creature stirring was my husband’s mouse on his computer (as he searched online for another cruise).

The children were nestled all snug in their beds and visions of the soft serve ice cream at the pool everyday danced in their heads. A tear streamed down Emma Claire’s cheek. Her little brother Reid (3) was the one to speak…”We miss dat cruise ship soo bad.”

Was it the putt putt or swimming at the water park pool - or… could it have been the ship’s ice skating rink that made being back home depressing enough to cry?

“It was all of it,” said Emma (7).

“Dat cruise ship” we went on for spring break this year is Royal Caribbean’s newest of the Freedom class ships – the Independence of the Seas released in April of 2008. At 208 feet tall, measuring 1,112 feet long (the height of the Eiffel Tower) and weighing in at just under 160,000 tons (the weight of approximately 80,000 cars), it’s currently the largest cruise ship in the world and offers more for kids than any of the other Royal Caribbean lines.

“When people ask me which ship they should go on, I say definitely, if you have children under the age of 18, you need to be on a Freedom class ship because there is just so many things for children to do on board,” said Independence of the Seas Hotel Director, Darren Budden.

SWIMMING/ WATER SAFETY
There are three different pool areas on the Independence of the Seas. The Solarium is exclusively for adults, but the H20 Zone screams “kids-only”. It’s an interactive water park with built in water toys, a pool and lazy river. The only thing missing is a pool slide. Some of the other smaller Royal Caribbean ships have pool slides as well as Carnival, Norwegian, Disney and others. Independence of the Seas is however, the first to have heated fresh water pools. With this being our fourth Royal Caribbean cruise, it was noticeably more comfortable to swim.

Water for the pools, the rooms and for even drinking comes directly from the sea. Independence’s exclusive $2 million advanced water purification system makes the water completely safe to drink, shower and swim in. “You can make 1,200 tons of fresh water from the sea every day. We take it in, we boil it, we make fresh water. This is how we can afford fresh water on the cruise,” said Independence captain, Teo Strazicic.

TOP DECK ACTIVITIES
Surf’s up for kids 58 inches or taller. A 40 foot long wave simulator called the Flow Rider is on the ship’s top deck. Guests can hop on a wakeboard and ride the waves on a padded slope. Even older dudes like my husband were giving it a try after getting a list of tips from the 14-year-olds in line. Invented by surfer Tom Lochtefeld (says Wikipedia.com) for on-land resorts, Royal Caribbean’s three Freedom Class ships are the only resorts at-sea with Flow Riders.
 
Above the surfing is a full-size basketball and hockey court and rock climbing wall. To the side…is the nine hole miniature golf course. All have spectacular views of the ocean as the ship, by the way, travels 21.6 knots per hour burning enough gas in that one hour to fill up the average car gas tank every week for the next two and a half years.

INSIDE ENTERTAINMENT
Inside activities for kids include a full video arcade, movie theater, an inside shopping mall called the Promenade - and – the crème of the crème, the highlight for my 7-year-old daughter’s trip – the only cruise line to be able to pull this off – an ice skating rink. Skating is open to passengers on days at sea. There’s also at least one professional ice skating show at night during the week.

PORTS OF CALL
We’ve always done the Southern Caribbean route and found St. Thomas, St. Martin and Royal Caribbean’s private island, Labadee to be the most fun for children. Labadee has a great water park and activities on the beach. On some ports, we stay on the ship while everyone is off to have the pool to ourselves.

CHILDCARE/SAFETY
Fisher Price joins Royal Caribbean for exclusive programs designed for children ages six months to three years old and Adventure programs for children four and up. All staff have four year degrees in child education and work to blend education and fun while children are in their complementary care. Different themes for each day and a grand finale talent show broadcast in cabins make it fun. Night time babysitters are also available to come to your cabin for a charge.
 
Upon boarding, identification bracelets are put on every child and are not allowed to be taken off until the end of the cruise to ensure safety.

FOOD/ SPECIAL DIETS
The ship’s Windjammer Café is an open buffet perfect for breakfast and lunch with anything and everything you would ever want to eat – even specially ordered cheese-less pepperoni pizza for my daughter and soy milk for myself. 25,000 meals a day are served on Independence.

“We go through 8,000 pounds of melons here, 6,000 pounds of bananas and at least 5,000 bottles of wine in just one week,” said food and beverage director, Errol Saldanha.

Formal dining is at night and waiters make it fun for kids. There are specialty restaurants on board that charge for meals including kid-friendly Johnny Rockets.

For specific diet and allergy needs, e-mail requests ahead of time to the following sites. Include reservation information and sail dates.

• Food allergies - foodallergies@rccl.com
• Kosher meals - kosher@rccl.com
• Indian-style vegetarian meals - Indianvegetarian@rccl.com
• Gluten-free/celiac meals - glutenfree@rccl.com

BIGGER AND BIGGER
P&O’s Ventura is the only other cruise ship measuring up to Independence at just 45,000 tons lighter, 48 meters shorter and holding 3,597 passengers compared to Independence’s 4,370.
 
Come December, Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas will blow both out of the water when the 220,000 ton giant claims the title as the absolute biggest ship in the world with 5,400 guests. It will be 40% bigger than Independence and will have two Flow Riders!

Rates for a 6 night stay on the Independence in the Western start at $399. Click here to check availability on the Royal Caribbean's Independence.To check availability and rates prices on other boats or cruise lines, go to Trekaroo Cruises.

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