Cabin 8628 · Independence of the Seas

Cabin 8628 is a Spacious Ocean View Balcony, Connecting (category CB) on Independence of the Seas, 207 square feet plus a private balcony of 42 square feet. It sleeps up to 2. It connects to cabin 8626 through an interior door.

Cabin 8628 is a Spacious Ocean View Balcony, Connecting on Deck 8 of Independence of the Seas. You are aft of midship. There is some movement here, more than midship and a good deal less than the ends. Most people never think about it. We score it 8 out of 10 for steadiness.

You are 6 cabins from the aft lift bank, port. Close enough to be useful, far enough that it should not keep you awake. The aft lift lobby. Independence of the Seas carries four lift banks on most decks, a port and starboard pair forward and another pair aft, so few cabins sit more than half a corridor from one. These are conventional lifts, with call buttons in the lobby and deck buttons inside the car. Worth knowing: the cars are quiet. The lobby is not. A cabin beside one hears doors, waiting conversation and footfall in the corridor, heaviest when a show lets out and at the start and end of a port day. Quiet comes out at 6 out of 10, roughly par for this ship. For getting about, 8 out of 10.

Of the 179 cabin positions on Deck 8, this is the 101st from forward. You are about as central as the corridor gets, so it is a similar walk whichever way you turn out of your door.

The Spacious Ocean View Balcony, Connecting grade runs 207 square feet. The balcony adds another 42 on top of that. A balcony buys you outside space of your own and, on sea days, somewhere to sit that is not the pool deck. It is the step up most people make, and the one they find hardest to give up again.

Worth knowing before you book: Crown and Anchor pays one cruise point a night at this grade. A suite pays two, and so does sailing solo on a double occupancy fare, which is the cheaper of the two routes if you are travelling alone anyway. Checked against the line's own published terms on 8 September 2026.

Against the rest of the ship it is steadier in a swell than 87 per cent of them. It suits travellers prone to seasickness and families running back to the cabin several times a day. It is a poor fit for anyone who wakes when a door closes.

Scored by Cruise Ship Wiki using model v1.8, from the position of this cabin relative to every public space on the ship. Each part is out of 10.