I'll go a different route. We sailed on Independence in May and of my 33 cruises that I've done, it was my least favorite. Full disclosure, we are not specialty dining people. My view is that you pay to get on the ship and things should be included. Many things are upsell, especially dining. So, on Indy, you have your choice of the MDR, the Windjammer (which I found to be about 60% Indian food), Sorrento's, and the Cafe Promenade (which tries to be like the phenomenal Princess International Cafe, but fails miserably). That's it. What really perplexes me (and this is true of RCCL in general) is a noticeable lack of poolside dining. There is no grill or quick serve restaurant poolside, except for the Fish and Ships place, where the Fish and Chips are $7 (weirdly, when I was researching this cruise, someone on Cruise Critic vehemently argued that they were free... come to find out on Ovation in Alaska, apparently it is, or was, free, but not on Indy). At least Oasis and some others have the El Loco Fresh place which is pretty good as well as a Park Cafe. However, the deck food doesn't come close to what say Carnival Mardi Gras offers or even lines like Princess or HAL (though those aren't necessarily kids lines). IMHO, Royal really needs to give up the Johnny Rockets facade and add a complimentary grill option.
Second, our room was an OV on deck 2. Now, I am taller (6' 3"), but I don't think that's too terribly tall. I hit my head more than once on the exit signs hanging from the ceiling because it is so low down there. And my fault was not realizing our room was a connecting room, so we did not have a sofa in the room. Our friends were on Deck 9 and there was a sewage smell just off the elevator bank (though to be honest, that can happen on any ship). I also didn't care for the fact that there are only 2 elevator banks (as does the Disney Wish). Made it a longer walk to the aft rooms.
So, for me, if you are going out of Port Canaveral, I'd upgrade to Harmony if you could. Or, if you want a curveball, try the new Carnival Mardi Gras. It is NOT your father's Carnival ship. They have made IMHO a pretty drastic departure from their prior ships. We loved it, in fact, we liked it much better than Oasis OTS that we had sailed a few months prior to Mardi Gras (granted, Oasis has some points knocked off because of "Cats"...).
