TealDukie

Great review! I was on the Symphony the week before last. It has been interesting to hear about your key experience as I had the key and had a much different experience than you. 

When we got to the port and inside we just just told them we had the key and they shuffled us right through. When it came time for boarding the ship, we were ushered on with the suite and pinnacle guests. Once on the ship we asked someone about the carry on drop off and they checked and directed us to the theater. Waited in a very short line and received our key bands. If your band  becomes loose or is falling off you can go to the desk by the flowrider and they will give you a new one. Our lunch at Chops was great and the server very friendly. All of our key stuff was in the rooms when we got to them about 1 or 1:30.

We went to the late shows and only showed up 15 to 20 minutes before the show started and told them we had the key. They checked us in right away and told us where to go. No waiting in line. The only issue we had was in the theater for hairspray the usher wanted to see our sea pass cards even though we had wow bands and key bands. Thankfully a couple of our group had sea pass cards on them and we all got the seats with no problems.

We didn’t do any of the special activities as we were only interested in the zip line and had forgotten about the special time by end of the week.  We didn’t know you could tell them you were a key holder and cut to the front of the line at other times. We didn’t do the priority disembarkment at the ports because by the time we were ready to head off the ship. About 10 minutes after we could get off there were no lines. The last day breakfast was good and we were off the ship, through customs and on the street with our luggage in a matter of minutes. Our only complaint with the key was when we purchased it you didn’t need reservations for the shows and they had changed that after we bought it. We already had the reservations made before we purchased and had not canceled them so we were fine.

I was there a couple weeks ago. We didn’t do the sting rays but just the beach break. I would never go back there! The place is very beautiful, but it did not live up to all of the great reviews I had read about the Blue Lagoon. They were very ill equipped to handle the 4 or 5 ships that were in port that day. I was on the Symphony of the seas and we had a short day in port not arriving until 10 and had to be back on ship at 3:30. Blue lagoon only had one boat running to shuttle back and forth to the island. Many people waited well over an hour to get on the shuttle. By the time they arrived, they barely had an hour there. The line for the included lunch was so long many people didn’t get to eat. I literally felt sick to my stomach seeing the small cages the poor sea lions are kept in.  It was overall such a bad experience Royal refunded everyone on the excursion 20%. The day would have been better spent browsing the port area and hanging out at the pool. 

Edit it to add: another turn off was seeing a male staff member slap a female staff member.

Hi, DH and I are looking to book our first cruise. We are considering the Magic and the Glory. Both have itineraries that are similar and the cost of flights is less then a $200 difference. I am hoping to get some opinions as to which ship would be better for a first time cruiser. Thanks :)