Vinnie14

On 7/19/2019 at 2:40 PM, CarmenCastalia said:

Cruise Photos: We normally do not purchase the cruise photos from Picture This!, but since this was our first full family vacation, and we have never had a family portrait, we did get group photos taken on  formal night.  They have backdrops set up on Deck 5 by the Bionic Bar and also take photos on the staircase and in front of the sculpture by Boleros.  There are also a photographer in Central Park.  You do not need to schedule a time, but the earlier you go, the less you will wait.  I believe they begin taking photos on Formal Nights at 4:45. You can view your photos in the Picture This studio on Deck 6 across from the Schooner Bar.  Check your Cruise Compass for their hours as you can only look at the photos during the hours listed. 

Tap your seapass or WOW band on a photo station kiosk and your photos come up.  If you are taking group photos, give the photographers all of your cabin numbers.   If all of your photos do not come up, you can do a photo search by date and time, add them to your portfolio and ask the photo attendant to add them to your folde.  You can purchase photo packages, the smallest being 10 print or digital photos for $159.99.  Prints are 8x10 size only.  Single prints or Digital photos are $19.99 each, but you may qualify for a BOGO 50% off with your Crown & Anchor Membership, making 2 photos $15 each.  We only wanted 6 of our photos, so 3 of us purchased 2 photos each with our discounts.  Package prices were 10 for $159.99, 20 for $249.99, all your photos for $309.99.

I suggest making your purchase before Day 7 as the studio was super busy all day and it was hard to get help from the attendants.  We chose digital prints and were able to download them on the ship onto our phones with the code you get from the kiosk after you make your purchase with your SeaPass card.  We then shared the photos with everyone in our group via email.  You will also get an email 4-7 days after the cruise with a link to all your photos from the ship.  The ones you purchased can be downloaded again and of course you can purchase any others you would like, but the price goes up to $24.95 for 1 digital photo, 5 for $99.95, 10 for $174.95 and 25 for $299.95.

 

Disembarkment:  Our flights out of FLL were at 1:30, so we arranged with our car service to pick us up at 10 am.  It was raining in Miami, so it was raining in Central Park too.  There are umbrellas to use at the door, but be careful, it is slippery in Central Park when it is raining.  We grabbed breakfast at Park Café.  All the breakfast venues close around 8:30 am, so if you want breakfast on departure day, don’t delay.

We have the Moblie Passport App that was helpful at Port Everglades, but we ended up not needing it in Miami.  They use facial recognition at customs.  You walk up to a kiosk, stand on the footprints and look straight ahead.  We never even had to show our passports.  There was another line for those who were travelling with a birth certificate and no passport.  I have no idea what that procedure would entail. 

The pickup area outside the building was chaotic.  Everyone was all bunched up.  There didn’t seem to be a clear area for Uber/Lyft/taxi/van etc. Our driver called and said there was a 30-minute line to get to the port.  We were told to wait with our phone in hand and he would call with a location to meet him.  When he finally got close, he told us to cross the driveway into the center section where we were dropped off at the beginning of the cruise.  It was about a 30-minute commute to the Ft. Lauderdale airport.

 

Hope all this info helps someone else to enjoy their Symphony Cruise as much as we did. Bon Voyage!

(As someone stated in a reply to one of my posts, the WOW bands, Royal Mobie App usage, etc that I am referring to, only apply to my experience on the Symphony of the Seas and may not be applicable to other RC ships.)   

 

this is the best review for us! I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to lay this out per day. Thank you so much!

Symphony of Seas - April 18-25, Eastern Caribbean

Thank you!

What is my time dining - 6:45pm to 9pm?  We are scheduled for late dining but if we have a show to attend, can you switch to early for that one day?  Is that something that has to be done on the ship or can I reserve before hand on the APP?

Thanks

Trying to plan which nights to go see a show but also don't want to miss the 2 formal nights at dinner.  The APP does not have this information (yet?).  If we book a show at the later dinner time, how can we go to the early dinner for just that one night so we don't miss the formal dinner?