darthvadrouw

Same here, I contacted Royal about it they just told me to make the payment over the phone instead.

World class 3 and 4 have not been confirmed yet also but msc is counting them in the total of there new ships ...

 

 

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Oasis 6 and Oasis 7 have not been confirmed and Royal are not counting them at the moment in their new ships.

Don't get me wrong I would love for them to get built and would appreciate it even more if they were done in St Nazaire. All signs point to this happening (placeholders in the STX calendar, Mer and marine talking about it,....) and it will probably be done.

But at the moment they are still negotiating, until an official press release confirms the orders we can only speculate on it.

I think that is STX's load plan, to deliver 19 ships. Not the same as firm orders?

No not the same, once again nothing has been confirmed. The caption in the picture says "commandes ET projets". That basically means firm orders and projected ones, so still not confirmed it is just a place holder in case they get the order.

There is another article on the mer et marine website (https://www.meretmarine.com/fr/content/stx-france-compte-sortir-au-moins-19-navires-dici-2026) about St Nazaire's orders that was published today that says the following :

En 2016 et 2018, STX France a livré à sa filiale Royal Caribbean International deux géants de la classe Oasis, l’Harmony of the Seas et le Symphony of the Seas. Avec leurs 362 mètres de long, 57 mètres de large, 228.000 GT de jauge et jusqu’à 2759 cabines, ces navires hors normes sont les plus gros paquebots actuellement en service. Et la série va se poursuivre. D’ores et déjà, une nouvelle unité de ce type a été commandée pour une livraison en 2021. Mais l’armateur, comme nous le révélions en mars dernier, compte en plus faire construire deux Oasis supplémentaires, avec comme objectif des entrées en flotte en 2023 et 2026

Roughly translated it says that they delivered Harmony and Symphony, that a 5th ship has been ordered for 2021 and that the cruise line (l'armateur in the article) intend to build an extra 2 ships for 2023 and 2026. Semantics are very important in this article, they once again never confirm that oasis 6 and 7 have been ordered and that they will be built in St Nazaire.

The issues encountered are not specific to Symphony.

1) Asking to leave windjammer is common on Oasis class ships during rush hour. Not enough tables. There are other venues available that tend to be less crowded (Solarium Bistro, Park cafe)

2) The drill. Same with every ship, I've never witnessed priority departure from the drill. The chaos might have been caused by the different culture of your fellow passengers that may not be the same as yours, leaving a venue in a non orderly fashion can be considered normal for some people.

3) Didn't witness this when I was on Symphony but it can happen at any buffet, there are plenty of other choices available.

4) What was the crew member supposed to say ? What kind of answer was your mother seeking ? You already had free room service,free movies for your cabin, excursions refunded, if the condition got worse the medical staff would have been available to you if you called them... I fail to see why your mother had to go and see GS about this when they had already done all they could. What more could they have done ??

5) Happens on all Royal ships.

If you are apprehensive about sailing Symphony in the future, you'll be apprehensive sailing any other Royal ship...

There is a small down side: they are sorta “Zone Busters” if it’s just you and your significant other in the pool. DW and I are usually first in on Embark day, we used enjoy that special 30 to 45mins of having the pool to ourselves, not that we ever did or would do anything crazy, but it felt like he was watching us to make sure we wouldn’t.

 

On the plus side, besides reducing chance of injury or death, they do a great job of keeping kids out of the solarium pool and also less splashing for adults who feel compelled to cannon ball in.

 

 

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There are always the hot tubs that are not supervised if you want to get in the "Zone" :D

Great review so far! We are going on the Harmony in November...question: if you get the chance, can you PLEASE check by Guest Services on deck 5 IF RCI has a Cruise Compass IN FRENCH? We are going with a couple from Paris on their first cruise, and the gal doesn't read English too well ( the guy is OK), so I know they have the Compass in different languages ( on the right of the main desk against the wall on other ships..) because I get one for my wife in Spanish every cruise..thanks!!!

 

 

Big Al :cool:

They do have one in French, but IMO it is badly translated and incomplete, it is understandable however but I much prefer the English one.

Please also take into account that the cruise does not cater to french speaking passengers, there will be no activities, announcements, ... in french, a basic understanding of English will be needed.

For me a cruise ship is still not a crowded waterpark or beach where you can easily loose track of a child. I am also not talking about big Oasis Class ships and crowded hudge pool areas in the Caribbean, I noticed this on smaller ships with 15 degrees outside in the North Sea with nearly no children around. However, let‘s close this topic!

 

 

 

 

 

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Doesn't need to be crowded for someone to drown. Unfortunately, people have lost track of their children in the past, big or small ship. Adults can also drown, some of us are crazy and even go swimming when it is freezing outside .Royal have decided to add lifeguards to their pools in order to prevent this, this decision should be applauded and not criticized.

During my cruise on Symphony, I noticed on two occasions the supervisor putting dummies at the bottom of the pool before the change of lifeguard, both times the incoming guard blew his whistle and jumped immediately into the pool upon arrival.

Wonderland Deck six - is this medical? In the middle of the ocean on our way back to Barcelona.

 

 

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Yes medical

The med isn't an ocean ;)

I think the pub name is the Copper and Kettle, but I have not been on it yet and you have.

I've been on it and it is Copper and Kettle ;)

No sir do not try to put words in my mouth. I said the country cruise ships are flagged in. So why talk about Canada or Australia. The numbers given are correct, if you want a complete study go out and find it.

You didn't specify 'cruise' ships, ships can be flagged in Canada, Australia, UK, ... .

Besides no numbers were given just a simple 'the USGC performs many more rescues', we are still waiting for that study, we weren't able to find it by ourselves, so please enlighten us on where it can be found.

What's more, if you were on a cruise and required medical assistance that was beyond the ships medical facility you would be glad that the USGC would be sending out the best equipment for you. It is not because you think another country is not putting the effort that the USGC has to follow suit.

I'm also glad that they have chosen well known figures for the godfamily of this ship. I will never understand why they chose a Thomson Travel Agent for the Anthem.

It depends for whom, I had never heard of them before the announcement :)

Royal have an history of nominating 'unknown' Godmothers for their ships :

- Donnalea Madeley for the Liberty, Travel agent

- Brittany Affolter for Harmony, an high needs school teacher

- Kathy Mellor for Jewel, 2004 teacher of the year

- Adventure has 5 'unknown' godmothers/godfathers that were chosen for their actions during 9/11.

- Each Vision class has the wife of one of Royal's chairmans/directors, also unknown.

They are chosen for what they have brought to their communities, to Royal or the cruising industry in general, which I think is a better idea than choosing some random celebrity.

They also like to choose a Godmother based on a feature that was first introduced on the ship :

- Katrina Witt, an ice skater for the Voyager

- The PenaVega family for Symphony, first ship to feature an ultimate family suite ...

At least they aren't imaginary like Allure's Fiona, that one I will never understand ...

Royal Caribbean have chosen the PenaVega family to be the godmother/godfamily of the ship.

https://www.royalcaribbeanpresscenter.com/press-release/1357/royal-caribbean-honors-actors-carlos-and-alexa-penavega-with-baby-son-ocean-as-first-ever-godfamily-for-global-cruise-line/

In the back as I said before. Different location on Oasis and Allure. Martikus asked about deck 5.

Regarding Deck 5 :

On oasis/allure/harmony/symphony : You will find at the very aft of the ship under the aquatheater a nice little quiet area with great views of the ocean, it is often not crowded. On allure they have chairs there, they were missing on Symphony when I went on.

On Symphony/Harmony, at the very front the ship you will find on both port and starboard sides the 'secret' areas, on harmony they have loungers there, on Symphony you will find on the port side ping pong tables and on the starboard side a shuffleboard playing area. Those areas are not available on oasis/allure. On Allure the area was supposed to contain a lifeboat but they had to move it further back due to them noticing with Oasis that the waves coming from the bow were damaging the lifeboat in that position.If you look at pictures of Allure there is a gap before the first lifeboat. The lifeboat is still there on Oasis but they had to add an extra protection for it. For harmony/symphony they had plenty of time to re imagine what to do with the space and came up with the 'secret' areas.

Extra protection for oasis

No extra protection for Allure but lifeboat moved further back, hence the gap.

Secret area on Harmony (it's the same for Symphony)

Yes Samsung TVs. Some channels were also in HD quality.

Might work in Caribbean embarkation ports but we don’t turn our phones on in Europe so we will stick with paper. I think if they want to give the consumer a choice they can but to require a device to check in is a no.

I think it was available offline, it was certainly not required, only a few people knew about it. Airlines do not require the phone version either.

The airlines all do it, why can't the cruise lines do it? When I check in for a flight a QR code is already sent to my phone, no paper required, just show it at airport. I just checked in for a upcoming cruise out of Bayonne. The have you upload your security photo and input your onboard account info. Then you must print out a setsail pass for each person on the reservation, using double the amount of paper. There is no place to sign on the setsail pass as the info is in their system already. The important info is the bar code, which I feel can be sent to any smart phone. Think about it, They scan your phone, give you a seapass card, and that's it. done! :rolleyes::rolleyes:But please don't let the IT guys that designed the "new and improved" web page get their hands on this idea.

On my recent Symphony sailing, my set sail Barcode was available in the Royal app, I did not have to print it. The check-in agent scanned my phone, however she still printed a copy of it for me. The only reason I can think of why she did was to be able to stamp the document with her 'checked in' stamp.

It might be completely paperless once the ship reaches Miami, we will have to wait and see but at least they have started going down that path.

And re: venues not being ready" Why is the ship being launched without the venues being ready for business? I get not wanting to fall behind on business but...why is not being ready considered a normal thing?

What venues were not ready ? The only one that wasn't on my sailing was the escape room ....

Regarding the shows, Hiro wasn't available but Royal did put on an alternative show instead (AquaNation) and they had warned us beforehand that it wouldn't be available. Flight will only be shown as from May, again they didn't hide this and had other shows instead. Hairspray,1977, the parade were also ready.

The ship was ready (unlike the Harmony when it started sailing), the staff was experienced, the service was great, what you experienced were one offs that added up and are common to all cruise lines. Service was better than what I've previously had witch is amazing considering that the ship is brand new, Royal did a great job with the start up of this ship. When I first boarded I was expecting to have the same inaugural problems that previous ships had experienced but was pleasantly surprised to find out that that wasn't the case with Symphony.

 

This cruise was an awful experience. To their credit, a Guest Services Officer did offer 10% off our next cruise but we declined (got $50 on board credit instead) because we will never sail Royal Caribbean again and will never recommend it to our friends.

Yep, all of Carnival's doors work perfectly and have never malfunctioned, all of their phones have never had any issues, when they bother to come to Europe they adapt their menus to the reflect what is available locally, have some of the most amazing food available at sea and they never have any billing issues, I completely get you :) I would be curious to see what Carnival's Horizon is like.

I must have a completely different mindset than you, but come on all of what you described hardly make it an 'awful' vacation. You were on one of the most beautiful and technology advanced ships there is doing one heck of an itinerary, great ports, amazing stuff to see. Staff on board were also some of the best and most experienced that Royal has. If you had a room steward that didn't do his/her job correctly, why didn't you report it ?

Back to the phone: our room phone needed 3 work orders so we basically had to go to guest services or do it ourselves every time we need something. Why am I paying $14.50 a day for service?

The $14.50 is not all for the guy repairing your phone or guest services, it's mostly for your stateroom attendant, Maitre D , waiter , assistant waiter and some people working behind the scenes. These gratuities can be removed if you are not satisfied by the level of service provided.

I should clarify. One side of the doors malfunctioned. So the right half opened at a normal pace and the left half slowed down partway through so that's why it slammed as I was going through...I thought the pace was already established by the right half and so I moved as such.

It's most likely fixed by now, minor technical issues as that one will appear on any ship, new or old. Like I said it was working on my sailing, got broke by the time you went on it and is now probably fixed. The staff member might have already reported it before or did it after, I also understand him chuckling at someone walking into a door, although it must not have been fun for you I can see the funny side of it from an external point of view.

Wow what a completely different experience you appear to have had than we did. We sailed on Symphony's pre-opening cruise on 31st March and found it incredibly good.

We thought that from beginning to end RC pulled out all the stops to impress. The service, cleanliness, food and wow was probably the best we have experienced on RC.

Completely agree with you, sailed on the maiden voyage and it was wonderful, food was good, no door issues in central park, cabin spotless everyday, solarium bistro was always clean. There were several skating sessions, several laser tag sessions ... App did its job, was able to book shows, look at the daily activities, didn't need more. Wine list/food issue is not specific to Symphony but to Royal.

Regarding activities, according to the Cruise Director some of the activities (love and marriage/belly flop ...) are not scheduled on the med cruises as they do not appeal to the majority of the passengers that tend to do these cruises (different crowd than in the Caribbean), they will be available when the ship gets to Miami.

That's interesting. Maybe they have added a comedy performance? There might be an additional one in the Opal Theater that is first come, fisrt served.

On allure it was on late during the last night , on Symphony they had it on the penultimate night. It was indeed first come first served but was poorly attended on both ships (about 1/2 of the theater on Allure , and less than an hundred people on Symphony).

I stopped by Shore Excursions and tried to explain to the young lady that two of the three sites were closed. She stated they posted updates on the TV and I should have seen them.

 

So it was my fault for not checking for updates? Not surprised by the response.

 

I pressed it saying we should get more than 40 minutes for a cultural stop in a 9 hour tour. Also mentioned the broken escalator and the driving in circles to find more shopping places so she said we will get some refund. Wait and see.

 

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Maybe try and contact Corporate. I had booked a post cruise shore excursion with Royal after my recent cruise on Allure, the tour missed some landmarks that were in the tour description and that I was looking forward to see. After calling Royal they refunded me completely. Now this was for a post cruise excursion and they were willing to look into it, it might be different for a 'normal' shore excursion, but I would give it a try anyway.

Yes they are, 4 in Windjammer, 1 at El Loco and 2 at Sorrento's.

(Symphony is brand new and hasn't been renovated ;) )

 

And in your heart somewhere you wanna go there...it is okay, I know you are jealous!

 

Still you don’t go there…because you didn’t reserve a cabin, book a flight or really make any effort to a part of this sailing. So you are stuck at home following me.

 

I did reserve a flight and made an effort so I wouldn't have to be stuck at home following you :D