I have just come back from the Maiden Voyage on the Independence of the seas and was absolutely “blown away”! I saw the ship from a very long queue of cars to the port and was immediately struck on the scale, it’s absolutely huge!  After a long wait in the line of cars (the Ventura and Queen Victoria were also in port) we finally drew up to the car park which happened to be right at the bow of this majestic vessel.  We unloaded our luggage and handed to the porters, parked the car and walked into the terminal.  The check in was a breeze and we where onboard within 15 minutes of locking the car doors, and took the very long walk towards our cabin on deck 10, a category L inside, which was nicely decorated and had plenty of wardrobe and drawer space and the most comfortable beds that I have ever slept in on a ship!  They had very thick memory foam mattress toppers and lovely duvets and made for 4 very comfortable night’s sleep!  We made our way down to the royal promenade on deck 5 and again I just walked around with my mouth open!  It seems to me that every last inch of this ship has been carefully thought about and well designed to give a feeling of intimacy when needed and also of grandeur in the correct place!  We then went out onto the outside decks high up and again marvelled at the amazing H20 zone, a water park for the kids and the young at heart!  We saw plenty of “big kids” trying out the water guns and running thought the spraying arches of water with absolute glee!  The next excitement was the “flow rider” again something of which I have never seen on a cruise ship before, it’s stunning!  There where professional surfers demonstrating and the tricks they could do left every applauding until their hands where red!  Also in this area there is the rock climbing wall, a 9 hole mini golf course and a full size basketball court which can also be used for dodge-ball and 5 aside football!  We had a quick look in the kid’s club area and to be honest I wish I was younger!  The facilities are amazing and so much space! It was finally time to set sail and thousands of people had turned out to see us off!  There was much honking of ships horns from the other 2 vessels and we were finally on our way to Cork, well actually Cobh!  We then went inside the ship to carry on exploring and the excitement rose again when we found the ice skating rink, I just could not believe my eyes, an ice skating rink on a cruise ship, it was breathtaking!  The shows in here where wonderful and being a Crown and Anchor member we were treated to a members only showing of a production that had never been seen before called “Freeze Frame”!  It was superb!  Even thought the rink is relatively small the ice dancers do a wonderful job and there were no shortage of jumps and tricks to make us all cheer and whistle with absolute delight!  The dining was wonderful in an enormous 3 storey restaurant with brilliant and attentive service from the waiter and also a nightly appearance from the head waiter to check that everything was to our satisfaction, needless to say inevitably it was!  We used the dining room for breakfast in the mornings as, like many, I feel a bit tender in the a.m. and prefer the quieter waiter service experience than the bustling Windjammer café, although we did eat in the Windjammer one morning as we thought we should give it a try and where not disappointed by the selection or the ability to find somewhere to sit relatively quickly!  We also ate in the speciality restaurant “Chops Grille” and I have to say it was the best $25 I have ever spent!  We had a lovely table by the large floor to ceiling windows and where served by waiters who in my opinion would be an asset to any top class restaurant in London!  The beef filet was exquisite and melted in the mouth like butter, certainly a specialised experience!  We had an overnight in Cobh so got to see most of this pretty little town that was dwarfed by this imposing ship!  The entertainment in the evenings was top notch, as RCI normally is, and was polished to perfection!  I particularly enjoyed the “Big Top” show with its amazing set that gave the impression of actually being under the canvas at the circus – Brilliant!  The singers where fantastic and the acrobatics and aerial work was heart-stopping!  They also did a street party on the promenade and on the last night a brilliant parade which was obviously very well attended and we ended up high up at one end of the promenade looking down over the whole show rather than in the thick of it!  My advice is, get there early to secure a good spot!  I would heartily recommend this fantastic ship for all ages, families and couples alike, the old and the young, really everybody!  We had a fantastic time and cannot wait to go back to the fantastic Independence of the seas for a much longer cruise!