Independence of the Seas, Royal Caribbean

Lovely cruise but a few issues. We had an inside cabin which was fine, a little hard to get into the bed when single beds put together due to space around bed but very comfortable and expected in this type of accommodation. Shower one of best I have every experienced anywhere, very powerful. Tea/coffee facilities in cabin but ran out of the small milk cartons on two occasions and were told to ring room service or get some from buffet on deck 11 (We weE on deck two). Room service fetched some for us but what a waste of their time. We were on second sitting in the dining room on the fourth floor which was very nice. The waiting staff were excellent but some of the food was a bit lacking. I personally enjoyed my meals but my partner had some food below par. For example the duck was very dry, some of fish dishes lacked any type of sauce (Meal was fish,rice,vegetables). To be fair staff kept coming round asking if food alright and exchanged food if people not happy which they did. I just found it funny that if someone complained they said well we would not recommend that particular dish, we'll surely it should not be on the menu? There were quite a lot of empty seats on the second sitting now that people visit the different dining facilities around the ship and have more options to done. The Windjammer food was excellent on the occasions we used it perhaps the amount of people that use it ensures a quicker turnover of food so it is fresher? We enjoyed all the food in there, the breakfast menu is vast as is the lunch and dinner menu. W are not keen on shows but most passengers enjoyed the shows we spoke to, they had Darren Day and Roy Walker when we were on. We enjoyed the live music around the ship especially Will in the piano bar. The bar staff in Schooners were very friendly and called you by your name when you went in. They have excellent recall. There is a lot more facilities for children on this ship, I would think it is really geered up for families now with the fantastic water facilities and rock climbing wall/flow rider etc. Although there appeared to be a lot if children on board the majority of passengers is still middle/older people. It was nice to see families enjoying themselves. A bug bear of mine is the chained off segregated sun bed area for people in suites etc around the pool. If the people have a suite then they will have a balcony do you have to have an area where they appear to look down on other people. I feel this is very outdated and everyone should have the same opportunity to enjoy these prime positioned sun beds. While I agree loyalty should be rewarded can it not be more descreet? Similarly in the Viking lounge you have a cordoned off area for several times a night for diamond members to sit in with snacks. Do you really need this area cordoned off when the diamond lounge is just next to it and they have a buffet in there? Quite a few people I spoke to agree with myself that this segregation is very old fashioned. I personally do not like this on RC. The ship is very nice and clean but seating can be an issue in the popular entertainment venues. The television has quite a lot of channels for a ship in English and an excellent picture. I wish itinaries would state for example when putting Rome it stated that the ship is a long way from Rome and it would cost around 100 dollars plus to take a ship excursion to get there which must be factored into the holiday. If you drink you really need a drink package as drinks are quite expensive I.e beer around eight dollaRd. It is a lovely ship and we had a great time on it but ther are a few issues that need addressing.