bm2wong

does anyone have the compass out of Barcelona from Symphony of the Seas saved so we can copy it

 

thanks

Have all the Cruise Compasses from our trip in early July. Will upload soon.

Random pics from Day 1 of 2 of touring Rome...

Gardens near catacombs:

Outside St Paul’s:

Views from the Orange Grove:

Enjoying gelato in Piazza Navona:

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Day 2 of vacation, Day 1 of 2 for Rome touring, Day -2 for cruise...

We all sleep like champions until 7AM. We start heading down for breakfast at the hotel when my brother comes in a panic - our tour guide is here! Wait, WHAT? We're not supposed to start until 9AM! I go downstairs to the lobby and meet Vincenzo, tell him our booking shows 9AM. No problem, Vincenzo, meet you back at 9AM.

We have a nice breakfast at the hotel. Nothing fancy - cold cuts, cheeses, various breads (really good), pastries (EVEN BETTER), some eggs/bacon, fresh fruit and yogurts. They'll also make whatever coffee you want - so it was cappuccino time! We fill up our water bottles and head to the lobby to meet Vincenzo.

Now, before we booked this trip, we knew we wanted to hit the major tourist sites in Rome - Vatican, Colosseum, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, etc. But the thought of us roaming around finding taxis or hopping on the subway with 8 of us wasn't as exciting as we thought. So we booked a 2 day tour of Rome with Romecabs. Yes, it was a bit pricey but we felt like it was worth it. Boy, were we right...

Vincenzo loads us up and we head to the Catacombs, specifically the Catacombs of San Callisto. The area where the Catacombs are located is a really quiet and quaint part of Rome within the hustle/bustle of the city. You would think you were in the countryside or in Tuscany but you're still in the middle of bloody Rome. Amazing.We weren't sure what we were going to see but this was cool - there are over 4 different levels in these catacombs but you only go down to level 2. Sadly, no photos from the inside of the catacombs but I recommend this. Wasn't too expensive to enter if I recall. We spend about 45 mins on the tour and meet Vincenzo back at the parking lot.

Next, we start driving out of the Catacombs area, with Vincenzo pointing out a number of different spots and buildings. Vincenzo takes the time to go through the history of Rome, discussing Mussolini and his impact on Rome and what he changes, what he decides to do, etc. We stop at the Basilica di San Paolo Fuori le Mura, or St. Paul's Basilica Outside the Walls. This church was beautiful, and a highlight of our trip. One of the most beautiful churches I have ever been in - the mosaics are unreal and the marble everywhere was a highlight to see.

After St Paul's, we head out to another hidden gem in the city (Vincenzo is pulling out all the stops now...). We stop at the "Orange Grove Park", or Giardino degli Aranci. This garden has an amazing view of the city, coupled with a number of orange trees growing in the park. Not far away, we stop at the Aventine Keyhole - it is literally a keyhole in an non-descript door - where you can essentially see three countries in one view - you're standing in Rome, looking through the keyhole into what is considered Malta, with a view of St. Peter's Cathedral. Pretty cool!

We're starting to get hot and hungry, so Vincenzo takes us to a nice trattoria for lunch. We sit and have a nice lunch at Trattoria da Luigi, a spot not too far from the Vatican. Pastas are not quite as good as Braci e Abbracci, but still way better than I can make :p

Happy and hydrated, we head out to the Vatican. We have passes booked for 130PM (it's past 2PM now!), but Vincenzo says no worries - as long as we had the tickets in hand, we're good. We meet up with our private Vatican tour guide Valentina who will be our guide inside the Vatican. Valentina helps us turn our reservations into tickets, and we skip the lines and head up in the museums. Valentina stops at an interactive panel to explain some things for us since we can't really talk inside the Sistine Chapel. She points out a number of different things to look for in the Chapel, but in this area, t's packed, it's hot. Are my kids going to melt? They are troopers, I must say. We walk through some of the outside gardens/square, before we walk through the "map room". This is pretty cool with maps of all over Italy. This long (!) hallway is breathtaking, while it takes us into the Sistine Chapel. The chapel itself is amazing, with lots of people stopping at various points though (many ushers are shushing people and trying to move them along). Valentina takes us to the less crowded back of the chapel where we all sit and admire Michelangelo's work. It's simply a masterpiece. We don't think it can get any better, but then we arrive at St Peter's Square and St Peter's Basilica. Again, spectacular square coupled with one of the holiest places on the planet. In retrospect, I wish we had a bit more time here as it's very hard to take it all in such a short period of time.

We had outside of the Square, head into a shop for a quick bathroom break and some souvenirs. We meet up with Vincenzo again and he has the car ready and the A/C is refreshing. A couple of more stops to go... he takes us to Campo de Fiori to show us the famous square where the market is. At this time in the day, the market is done and all that's left are the cleaning crew. Must go see this again when it's open - I love browsing these markets. We then end up at Piazza Navona - a beautiful square in the middle of the city. It's hard to beat having a gelato in a Piazza, so everyone has a nice gelato as a way to cool off. We meet up Vincenzo again and head back to the hotel.

We rest up for a few hours at the hotel and head out again around 7PM in search of something to eat. Some of us are craving pizza today so we wonder where we can go for pizza. We check with the hotel and they mention a place down the road - we head there only to find no space for 8. So, I remember Braci e Abbracci had pizza on their menu - why no go there? I float this out there and everyone agrees. We go and enjoy another awesome meal there (did I mention it's a hidden gem?) and have some awesome Italian beers too...

I'm glad you posted this. I have an 11 year (boy) and a 5 year old (girl) that I will be cruising with next May. This is my first cruise with kids and I was wondering how strict they were with enforcing kids in "formal" attire. I personally don't want to go out and buy my son a shirt/tie/shoes for dinner on a cruise. My daughter will LOVE getting into a nice dress though! ;)

 

I'm glad to hear a nice polo shirt will do for my son.

My daughter loved to get dressed up in different sundresses too, but that's far easier to pack. The most formal my boys will be in are clean shirts... No need to get all fancy for your kids if they don't want to - last thing you'll need are the complaints you'll hear about the shirt/tie/shoes you made them wear!

Can you include any observations on the dress of any teenage boys in the dining rooms. I'm going with two seventeen year olds.

 

thanks

I can’t say I really paid attention to the dress of anybody other than my family. I’m thrilled when my boys have a clean shirt and underwear on so perhaps my standards are different... [emoji41]

In all seriousness: the most formal my boys were in were golf/polo shirts and nice shorts for formal nights. Some people loved to get dressed up. I’m not that thrilled with hauling the extra clothes around anyways.

We were not denied access to the MDR. We were not snickered or sneered at. My kids looked just as adorable as they normally are, but I’m a little biased...

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I have been reading the reviews on the new Symphony. I can't get over the amount of bad to very mediocre complaints about the food. I don't think most of the reviewers were being picky since they mostly raved about everything else on the ship. The MDR seems to have the worst of the reviews. we are going on the Aug19th sailing. I guess i will find out for myself. My bw and i sailed last Feb out of Dubi on RC. The food was not great but also not awful. If this trip produces the kind of food many seem to be complaining about, it will probably be our last RC cruise.

Just got back off of Symphony on July 12. Food was more than fine. I think people are being overly critical. Service in MDR was outstanding, and it's been really good for us on the last few times on Allure. Perhaps people are complaining of being gluttons on extra portions of lobster? There were new dishes every night to try and some of them were excellent (short ribs, some of the fish dishes...)

Not sure what other people were saying...

We have a car scheduled to pick us up at our Rome hotel at noon and should get to the ship around 1:30pm. RCL said checking doesn't start until 2:30, should we try to change the time of our pickup?

 

I was hoping not to have to be at the hotel that long after checkout but I also don't want to have to wait at the cruise terminal for a few hours.

 

Thanks.

We left our Rome hotel at 1130AM and were at the port by 1PM and checked in. You should have no problems - in fact, maybe more your transfer up and get more time on the ship!

So despite my best efforts to "power through" the day on little sleep, I cannot resist the urge to lie down and close my eyes for a bit. My wife does the same. The kids are thoroughly entertained with various tablets and TV, so my wife and I manage a shutdown for about an hour. My parents venture out a bit and wander around the neighbourhood and we start an iMessage thread of "What are we going to eat tonight?". Luckily, I had looked into that too...

I recommend we go to a restaurant just down the road. I had seen the menu online previously and the reviews seemed a bit mixed (the Internet is filled with "meh" and "so-so" reviews that you just don't really know). I think that locals may have their own opinions of what is "good" or "bad" so it is tough to judge based on who sent in reviews... but I digress. In a nutshell, the restaurant we went to, called "Braci e Abbracci", was simply a hidden gem for us. This place was outstanding. It was homey, comfy, perfect for what we wanted - local, traditional Roman cuisine. We sit down and were immediately taken care of by our waiter Filippo and he takes care to know what we are looking for and what we need to make our meal enjoyable. We try appetizers of various meats, including prosciutto, as well as arancini (my kids are obsessed with these). For mains, we try a number of various pastas and guzzle down house wine (practically cheaper than the water). Finally, we think we're going to skip dessert until Filippo goes through our options - and they are wonderful. We sample of couple of different ones, including a light offering with pastry and marscapone cheese - really good. All for under 20 Euro a person. Who could go wrong?

What's next? Onto a private, 2 day tour of Rome booked with Romecabs...

A little food pr0n for those that enjoy these food related pics...

If anyone is interested, the place is called “Pizza Dai Cinque” on Viale Ippocrate. Not a bad snack for €12!

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Day 1 (or is it Day -3 for the cruise? Not sure what to call it...) or Travel Day.

We departed the hot and humid city of Toronto on Sunday July 1 (Canada Day!) - we spend the weekend doing laundry and packing our things. I must admit - it was nice to travel for an evening flight. Typically, for us to find an economical flight for 5 people, we are usually on the first flight out of Toronto - a 6AM jet out of Toronto is not uncommon for us and that usually means a 2-3AM wakeup and a groggy day of travel. For this trip, we're flying Air Transat out of Terminal 3, leaving at 7:50PM. Admittedly, there was a bit of trepidation prior to this trip given this is the longest flight for all of us. Our longest flights as a family have been to Florida so this would be the first overnight, trans-Atlantic flight.

Overall, no issues with the flight - but I do not that airplane food has NOT improved at all since they started stopped serving food on North American flights. I do wonder about the "pace" and layout of what the airplane staff have to deal with during these flights... "First, we're going to offer you headphones and comfort packages (pillow and blankets). Then, we'll serve you drinks. Then, about 3 hours in, we'll serve you a meal. Then, we'll try and hawk you some duty-free goods. Only then will we leave you alone for a bit to sleep. Then, we'll walk around and serve you a light "snack". Hopefully by then, you'll be sick of us and get off the plane quickly..."

Anyways, plenty of entertainment for the kids, but little sleep for all of us. I had hoped to doze for a few hours of the flight, but alas, I think I might have only snoozed for about an hour or so. Those dollar store travel pillows? Yeah, they filled one of our carry-on suitcases but did not bring the required sleep. The end of the flight could not come soon enough for my butt too, since it had either fallen asleep or became numb - I can't determine which one it was. Sadly, the landing of the flight did result in my DD having some tummy trouble and a reversal - hard to manage when there are no sick bags to be found :(

We arrive in Rome to a hot and humid day. After waiting what seems like an eternity to have everyone visit the bathroom, we go through Passport Control and pickup our luggage without incident. We exit the terminal area to what seems like a thousand people holding signs with names on them for rides. Great - how are we going to find our pickup? Luckily, my brother finds our Romecabs guy and we make a long and winding trek to the short-term parking to find our vehicle. Navigating FCO with several large suitcases, a couple of carry-on suitcases, AND kids while swiveling my head 360 degrees should be an Olympic sport. I might win bronze.

We finally arrive at an 8 passenger Mercedes Benz - hooray! Does it fit 8 people - yes, but two people need to ride in front. We chuck our luggage into the trunk with room to spare and they have a booster for my DD. NICE! I snugly squeeze into the front with the driver and my Dad and we make the 45 mins or so drive into Rome. I need to stay awake and make sure we arrive where we need to go and I always like to see what the drive is like in a new location. Of course, I'm just thrilled that I'm actually in Rome... I try to make small talk with the driver, but alas, our driver speaks little English. We navigate through the outskirts of Rome into the city and I'm in awe of the sights - but also the crazy drivers and traffic in Rome.

Our destination - the Best Western Globus Hotel. I will say this - if anyone is looking for a hotel off the beaten path, but looking for good, clean (and reasonably) spacious accommodations, we found this hotel to be excellent. It's in the university area so there is a ton of stuff around, including shops and restaurants. It's a no frills hotel - no pool, no fancy gym, etc. but I'm in Rome - all I need to do is have a bed for the night. Limited TV channels, but decent WiFi. Really good breakfast included with the room. Everyone in the back of the van has had a nice 45 min nap, so we haul our stuff upstairs, wash up and head out for a quick bite. I had done a bit of research beforehand and remembered a good pizza spot and gelato place down the road. Sure enough, the pizza place is waiting for us with Roman pizza and it's excellent. Maybe it's because I hadn't eaten anything decent in almost 18 hours, but it's ridiculously good. And I feed a good snack for 5 of us for about 12 Euros. We head out to walk about 25 metres more, and find the best gelato in Rome. Sorry, but it's true. Handmade, real ingredients - nothing artificial (the pistachio flavour is not bright green - it's barely green with real chunks of nuts). Now happy and full, we stroll for a bit more before heading back to the hotel - I need a nap!

Folks, I'm humbled and flattered that there are more than a few people interested in my little review. What a wonderful community :cool:

Before I get knee deep into the review, a little about us - for this particular adventure, it was my family of five: myself, my wife and my three kids (DS13, DS11, and DD6). The trip also included my parents and my brother, making a total of eight in our party.

This would be our third Royal Caribbean cruise - all on Oasis class ships. Our previous two cruises were both on Allure of the Seas, back in March 2015 and March 2016. We booked this itinerary back when the deployments for 2018 were first announced and the thought of a sailing as part of Symphony's inaugural season.

Since we were a party of eight, we were able to book two rooms to share between us, but we were able to squeeze out family of five into our room. We are typically frugal and book inside staterooms but because we booked early, we were able to secure two Central Park Balcony staterooms (cabins 11577 and 11581). I'll get into the room itself later in the review but overall, we were extremely happy with the room.

For this trip, we decided to spend a few days in Rome touring around before we boarded Symphony in Civi on Thurs July 5... this was well worth the time spent and highly recommend it for anyone who might be going to board Symphony or other ships before your cruise.

But first, we need to get to Rome...

We just got off Symphony on a Western Med itinerary and there were no tender ports. All ports were docked.

Thanks everyone. I'm honestly a bit surprised and humbled that people would be interested to hear about my European vacation. I'll start to post over the next little while - stay tuned!

Hello fellow CC members,

Just got off the Symphony of the Seas after a Western Mediterranean cruise last week. Anyone interested in a post-cruise review? If so, I'll post details over the next few days. :cool::cool::cool:

My 18 year old daughter and I are cruising together in July. The dining confuses me. I am looking on line and it is just giving me the option of My time dining to reserve as complimentary. It was the only complimentary dining option. Do I just keep reserving every day there? I don't think we would be interested in the restaurants that you pay for unless there is one "not to be missed" Would we be missing something if we just do the complimentary option?

You won't be missing anything. You're essentially not doing traditional dining of having dinner at a set time (6 vs 830) in the MDR. You can choose to have dinner at different points on different days (Mon @ 630, Tues @ 730, etc.) For 2, should not be much of an issue but I do recommend making reservations for the first few nights (especially embark day, it's a zoo at MDR for MTD)

I didn't even wear a tie last cruise. Just a nice collared shirt and slacks. The thought of hauling a suit on a cruise does not excite me.

Not sure on the low fat cream cheese. You can try by the breads/bagels station where they serve fried eggs.

Personally, I eat regular cream cheese. I do not like any "light" products as they are typically with more chemical stabilizers/other ingredients that I'm not a fan of. But I understand that for some individuals counting calories, they are a great option. Just not for me. I just eat less of the regular stuff.

Best place fora better Bagel selections is at the Park Cafe. You can just pick one upon e way to the WJ. Only found Smoked Salmon one day in the WJ. It was at the side bar were the lunch time hamburgers are served. I was told by the Park Cafe I could get Salmon at the Wipe Out Cafe as we have done on previous cruises on Allure which turned out to be false. May this be just another cut back such as I could not even find any low fat cream cheese even though I asked for it at the Park Cafe counter. The senior server retrieved several tubs from the back room, but it was same regular CC. Although I am sure it is served in the MD. I have found from past experience,when cruising on the same class of ship, you will most always find there will be some trival differences.

I did order it once from the MDR as well.

Is the deli station open at breakfast time in the windjammer to request it? Thanks.

Yes, it is one of the "middle" stations that usually has someone carving items for breakfast.

In windjammer go to the deli station. They store it in the fridge behind the cold cuts display.

Did you get a day pass through the resort directly?

Your kids will either be in the kids club or with you. No need for electronic devices to keep track of them.

Yup, this is so true. We brought a pack of sticky notes too to message back and forth but didn't use more than a few.

You won't need them. You'll be with them in the pool or they will be at Adventure Ocean. Your kids will beg you to go to Adventure Ocean by the end.