Credited and Written on Wed Nov 19 2008, by travel Trade Staff

Royal Caribbean International’s newest Freedom-class ship, Independence of the Seas, made its US debut today as it docked at Port Everglades in Ft. Lauderdale.Sharing the title of world’s largest cruise ship with sister-ships Freedom of the Seas and Liberty of the Seas, the 3,634-guest Independence will be the line’s first Freedom-class ship to sail from Port Everglades.

The ship will sail from Ft. Lauderdale and alternate between eight-night Eastern Caribbean and six-night Western Caribbean itineraries. The Eastern Caribbean itinerary will call at San Juan, Charlotte Amalie (St. Thomas), Phillipsburg (St. Maarten) and Labadee, RCI’s private beach destination in Haiti. The Western Caribbean itinerary will call at Belize City (Belize), Costa Maya and Cozumel in Mexico.

In addition to standard Freedom-class amenities, such as the FlowRider, H20 Zone water park, adults-only Solarium and others, the Independence also features some of the other offerings RCI is known for including, an ice-skating rink, a rock-climbing wall, several choices of dining venue and the Royal Promenade — an entertainment boulevard stretching the length of the ship with shops, restaurants, bars and lounges.