**Live Report** Symphony of the Seas 17th June

[jimbri]

Enjoying your review and photos!

[lovesickmelodyx]

Good afternoon all, I must update you on our antics from yesterday...

 

Day 3 in Marseille was a super relaxed day for us as we decided not to go into port and instead gave ourselves a sea day and stayed on board. We began our day super late at around noon! (very rare for us) with lunch at El Loco Fresh. We’re both Mexican fans and I was hoping this lived up to the hype and it truly did. Delicious make your own tacos and burritos. The cheese quesadilla was awesome. The best part of El Loco Fresh was the salsa station where you could add every single topping imaginable to your food. Our nachos were swimming in queso and guac and they were divine. Desserts were fine but I thought that personally, I make a better flan! After lunch we took a walk around the ship’s running track (to aid the digestion) and also went to explore the gym and spa and had a quick session of table tennis. (I won but I’m told it’s beginners luck) Thanks to the deluxe drinks package we indulged in a fresh juice. Mine had carrots, oranges, ginger and apples.

 

 

After the eventful lunch I decided I needed to lie down as moving was a little too difficult lol. We came back to the room and watched some tv before heading to the Solarium, our favourite spot, for even more chill time. Rob tried the water slides (not my cup of tea) and said they went super fast and wants to do them again today. Good signs.

 

After the Solarium and in between all the cocktails we did a quiz. We came second this time around! The entertainment staff on board have been really fun and we love our CD Michele and Activities Manager, Margot. They have only been working together for a couple of weeks but the chemistry is great and we can’t help but smile when we spot them around the ship.

 

After our quiz we got ready for dinner and headed to the MDR around 7pm. We’ve been going for dinner between 6.30pm and 7.30pm and we have been put at a table with Davinci who is a great waiter. We will request to be sat with him again tonight as he is so funny. Always singing and yesterday he did a cool magic trick (small things amuse small minds like mine!) I didn’t manage to get a picture of the menu but I do remember I had consommé, chicken, and a warm cookie but the highlight was the rack of lamb!

 

 

Davinci has me and Rob pretty sussed out. Being big eaters we love to clean our plates and are often indecisive between dishes as we love all foods. Davinci saw we were thinking what dishes to choose and brought out an extra main course (the rack of lamb) for us to share as we couldn’t quite decide, which was incredible. This also meant however, I once again could not move.

 

We shuffled around the shops in the evening then watched 1977, the ice show. Definitely go see this show as it was really exciting, even if the storyline was a little questionable. We ended our night with a drink and a quick karaoke at On Air and a chat with or Scottish friends before crashing at around midnight. Another day done and dusted.

 

 

Sorry there have not been many pictures in today’s update. We were enjoying the day too much! I will update tomorrow on what we’ve done this morning and what we end up doing tonight. Expect lots of Cinque Terre pics.

 

Rachel

 

 

 

 

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[lovesickmelodyx]

Will you try Escape the Rubicon?

 

 

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Probably not this time around. I have done plenty of escape rooms before and being stressed out trying to solve puzzles wasn’t quite on the agenda. Maybe next time!

 

 

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[lovesickmelodyx]

If you get a minute can you look at the shops (particularly Michael Kors bags) and let me know how they compare to UK prices. Also do they add Spanish VAT to the price? Hope you have a great cruise we are on at the end of July and looking forward to it.

 

 

 

I did this for you yesterday. The large size Michael Kors bags are approx $330 with the Spanish VAT. The smaller ones were around $300 with the Spanish VAT. They had a huge selection though and I had to peel myself away before I attempted to buy one. Hard to resist!

 

 

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[lovesickmelodyx]

Thank you to everyone who has replied and said they enjoy the review and are following along. I’ve been reading everyone’s comments and haven’t had the time to reply to every single one but I have read and listened so thank you for engaging. Please feel free to ask anything I’ll do my best to help out. I am also saving all the cruise compasses and will scan them when I am back home next week.

 

 

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[Bizzie07]

I did this for you yesterday. The large size Michael Kors bags are approx $330 with the Spanish VAT. The smaller ones were around $300 with the Spanish VAT. They had a huge selection though and I had to peel myself away before I attempted to buy one. Hard to resist!

 

 

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Thanks so much for taking the time to look. The prices seem to be in dollars what we pay in pounds so roughly £100 cheaper for us. Better prepare myself for my daughter convincing me to buy her one! ;p

[Magnelasagne]

It’s been very nice to follow your journey. Your writing is very useful and entertaining:)

I wonder if you explored the Cinque Terre villages by train?

Would like to know the distance from the boat to the train station in La Spezia, and how long time it takes to the villages by train? Only 18 days to my cruise:-)

[DailyGirl]

I’m following and loving your review. I’m also following you on IG!

 

It’s my dream go to Europe one day!

 

 

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[neilp]

It’s been very nice to follow your journey. Your writing is very useful and entertaining:)

 

I wonder if you explored the Cinque Terre villages by train?

Would like to know the distance from the boat to the train station in La Spezia, and how long time it takes to the villages by train? Only 18 days to my cruise:-)

 

Hi

 

I did this cruise a few weeks ago. The train station is just over a mile away, really easy to find. The trains run regularly and it takes about 25mins to the furthest village, stopping at the other 4 on the way.

 

We did a boat trip to monterosso so we could see the villages from the sea. it took about 2 hours and then got the train back (4 euros)

[Magnelasagne]

Hi

 

I did this cruise a few weeks ago. The train station is just over a mile away, really easy to find. The trains run regularly and it takes about 25mins to the furthest village, stopping at the other 4 on the way.

 

We did a boat trip to monterosso so we could see the villages from the sea. it took about 2 hours and then got the train back (4 euros)

 

Thank you very much(y)

[Shocked91]

Hi loving your live report.I'm on Symphony this September also on deck 9 boardwalk cabin.Never done this before always have an ocean view balcony.Enjoy the rest of your cruise.

[er345]

Love the photos you’ve been posting! I can’t wait to see Symphony next March.

Really appreciate seeing the menus too.

[kontraxed]

I am a little confused by the pool in the solarium. I have seen pictures of what looks like a large hot tub with a picture window. Is that the pool or is that the hot tub? Is there an actual solarium pool? I and my wife really enjoy the solarium on different ships and we look forward to spending time at this one! Thanks for your great review!

[Norwich Cruiser]

I am a little confused by the pool in the solarium. I have seen pictures of what looks like a large hot tub with a picture window. Is that the pool or is that the hot tub? Is there an actual solarium pool? I and my wife really enjoy the solarium on different ships and we look forward to spending time at this one! Thanks for your great review!

It's not really a pool just a bigger hot tub which in the afternoon is packed with cruisers in it drinking.

Or at least that was our experience.

[lovesickmelodyx]

It’s been very nice to follow your journey. Your writing is very useful and entertaining:)

I wonder if you explored the Cinque Terre villages by train?

Would like to know the distance from the boat to the train station in La Spezia, and how long time it takes to the villages by train? Only 18 days to my cruise:-)

 

 

 

Hello. Thank you so much! We did explore the Cinque Terre villages by train. It was 16 euros for the Cinque Terre pass which gives you unlimited train travel between La Spezia and all the villages. It is around a 25 minute walk to La Spezia train station and around a 25 minute journey to Monterosso which is the village furthest away. I will explain a little more in my post for La Spezia which will come very soon.

 

 

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[lovesickmelodyx]

I’m following and loving your review. I’m also following you on IG!

 

It’s my dream go to Europe one day!

 

 

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Thank you so much. I hope you get to achieve it soon!

 

 

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[lovesickmelodyx]

Hello all! Hope you are having a great day wherever it is you are. Here’s my Day 4 update from La Spezia.

 

We began our day relatively early heading to breakfast at the Solarium Bistro around 9am. We really enjoyed the breakfast here as we felt it was pretty similar affair to the Windjammer but slightly less overwhelming. For example, they still had cereals, but a choice of four instead of nine varieties. We’ve been eating and drinking so much the last few days we thought we’d take it down a notch. I had an omelette (made to order it was yummy) and some french toast for breakfast. We then set off pretty early into La Spezia via the port shuttle bus which dropped us off at the cruise terminal, about a 10 minute walk from the centre of La Spezia.

 

As I mentioned previously we intended on doing all stops on our own rather than going on a ship organised tour. Our plan was to visit the Cinque Terre villages which were indeed incredible. I became interested after seeing some YouTube videos by Jeven Dovey and a few others who were on the inaugural cruise and visited earlier in the year. The process of getting there was super simple and I would recommend it to everyone. We walked from the cruise terminal to La Spezia Céntrale train station which was just over 20 minutes walk. We then purchased our tickets from the Cinque Terre point in the station which were 16 euros each for unlimited travel between La Spezia and all five villages. Note: there was a very long queue and even though we got there early we still had to wait around 20 minutes to buy the tickets, when we left the queue had doubled in size. I’ve heard it’s worth buying your tickets online beforehand. I was very happy I got to practise my limited Italian at the very least but all the vendors spoke English. Trains between the villages run every 30 minutes or so, so we hopped on the train line to Levanto which had all the Cinque Terre stops and headed to the village furthest from La Spezia, Monterosso, and worked our way back. (Don’t forget to punch your ticket once at the validation machine before you board at La Spezia)

 

It was fast approaching midday and it was beginning to get very very hot. It actually reached around 33 degrees Celsius that afternoon so we opted to visit three of the villages instead of all five. Anyone visiting July or August please prepare yourselves because it’s only going to get hotter.

 

Monterosso was our first stop and this was a cute little spot with the most beautiful pebbly beaches. We wandered around the town centre and saw all the shops and church as well as a few street cats (I love cats so here’s a pic of me chasing some for pictures)

 

 

Rob also bought a hat as we definitely needed the protection from the scorching sun. There were at least lots of fountains around you could dip your hands in and put some water on your face and head to cool off. I don’t recommend it for drinking though as one can never be too sure.

 

 

We then waited a few more minutes for the train to Vernazza. This was the village I was the most interested in seeing as it looked so much like my home town of Gibraltar, and I was right! We grabbed some cool photos and a delicious gelato. I had a scoop of custard cream flavour and Nutella flavour. You could find gelaterias at every stop so just pick one and go for it. You’re in Italy, no such thing as bad gelato. After this we went back up to the Vernazza train station via all the back streets and headed on over to Riomaggiore, the biggest of the towns.

Just as a little note, the trains are super simple to navigate and there’s always space to sit down in the 5/10 travel time between the villages. But sometimes they are a few minutes late. Don’t worry, they will arrive.

 

 

We were quite hungry by the time we got to Riomaggiore, so we walked around a little and enjoyed people watching and stopped at a cafe. I was also overjoyed I got to practise my Italian again. Here I had a plate of pesto pasta and Rob had focaccia with pesto, goats cheese and sun dried tomato. We were in absolute food heaven. If you like pesto, this is the place to have it, can’t get more authentic than this spot where it originates from! We also finished our meal by sharing a slice of Nutella pizza. At this point I was on the verge of requiring a piggy back all the way back to the ship.

 

After spending around 4 hours out we decided to go back to the ship as our feet were hurting. I’ve just checked my steps for the day and we walked over 20,000 steps, around 13km. No need to worry about all that gelato. So I’ve seen both Pisa and Florence before and Pisa is such a quick stop and there isn’t huge amounts there apart from the tower. Florence is much more beautiful with more to see. Overall though, I would say the Cinque Terre villages is a unique day out but be prepared to wait for trains a lot and see a lot of tourists too. A welcome change from the usual.

 

In the evening we went to the MDR and finally got to try Deck 4. Our waiter Victor from Trinidad and Tobago made us laugh so much and we also had a chat with the head waiter and the chef. We probably had our best meal to date too.

I had the Moroccan tuna and Rob had the pork chop. I didn’t get pictures because we ate it in around 4.27 minutes flat. We could have had another but opted to take it easier today.

 

 

We finished our evening with a nightcap at the Schooner Bar (I had a tropical manhattan which was one of my fave drinks so far) then by jumping in our swim suits and heading to the main pool until 10pm.

 

 

We hadn’t had a chance yet to visit any of the pools apart from the solarium pool as its been pretty packed everyday, but we finally got a chance to enjoy the super quiet pool (only a couple of kids there) and watched from the pool with a lava flow as the ship left La Spezia. Following this we had a dip in the Solarium hot tub and a few drinks at the pool bar until late.

 

 

We were shattered from our busy day and fast asleep by midnight. On the plus side, I slept straight through until 9am today. Must be something about the deluxe beverage package and the motion of the boat helping me sleep.

 

I am writing this from the Beach Pool at midday on Day 5 in Rome. Having been three times in the past, we decided to skip it and give ourselves yet another sea day! Being European we can catch a two hour flight to Rome for a weekend in the future for €50 in off season. We’d much rather do that than try and cram everything into a few hours.

 

Now to try and find Rob, he’s been on the water slides around 7 times now and wants me to take a video as he comes out. Typical!

 

Rachel

 

 

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[lovesickmelodyx]

I am a little confused by the pool in the solarium. I have seen pictures of what looks like a large hot tub with a picture window. Is that the pool or is that the hot tub? Is there an actual solarium pool? I and my wife really enjoy the solarium on different ships and we look forward to spending time at this one! Thanks for your great review!

 

 

 

Thanks so much for your kind comments. I will grab you some pictures today. There is an actual Solarium pool with the picture window but it is pretty small and I would say it is a similar size to a very large hot tub. There is also a separate hot tub too. We quite enjoy the pool but it is usually busy and you won’t get any actual swimming done like you might in a main pool. We enjoy it for the peace and tranquility.

 

 

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[lovesickmelodyx]

Love the photos you’ve been posting! I can’t wait to see Symphony next March.

Really appreciate seeing the menus too.

 

 

 

Thanks so much. Hope you have a great cruise in March.

 

 

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[lovesickmelodyx]

Hi loving your live report.I'm on Symphony this September also on deck 9 boardwalk cabin.Never done this before always have an ocean view balcony.Enjoy the rest of your cruise.

 

 

 

Thanks so much. You will really enjoy the boardwalk cabin I think as you will still have a partial sea view and get to see all the boardwalk action. Just take earplugs if you plan on sleeping anytime before midnight as the Aqua Show can be kind of loud.

 

 

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[beachnative]

I am enjoying your live review of the Symphony.

 

Cinque Terre is one of our favorite vacation places. We stay in the old part of Monterosso in a Bed and Breakfast where they provide abundant complimentary wine and focaccia on their second floor terrace.

 

You didn’t go to Rome......it is difficult to wrap my mind around that but it is understandable. It is a long train ride in and back. We agree...much better to land vacation in Rome which we’ve done several times. Once when we were doing Rome from the cruise ship and trying to get back to the ship on our own, the train went underground and stopped when the workers went on strike. We almost missed the ship.:o

 

Keep those nice pictures coming. You are doing great!! We are also receiving text photos from friends who are on board with you....wish we had booked the SY.

[Biker19]

It was fast approaching midday and it was beginning to get very very hot. It actually reached around 33 degrees Celsius that afternoon so we opted to visit three of the villages instead of all five. Anyone visiting July or August please prepare yourselves because it’s only going to get hotter.

About 92 F.

[cruiseturbo]

I am loving your review!! Glad you guys are having such a great time and still have plenty of time to relax and enjoy the ship!

 

If you happen to go to Playmakers, can you ask them if food there is included in the Ultimate Dining Package?

 

Thank you!!

[Shocked91]

Thanks so much. You will really enjoy the boardwalk cabin I think as you will still have a partial sea view and get to see all the boardwalk action. Just take earplugs if you plan on sleeping anytime before midnight as the Aqua Show can be kind of loud.

 

 

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Thanks for the heads up.Will probably only be in bed by 12am the first night.We choose the boardwalk cabin so we could watch the Aqua show.Thank younfor all the photos.

[barb in ga]

I have a question about the excursions to Palma de Mallorca:

the website gives a very abbreviated description, and I can't tell what the difference would be in these 3. Can you look at your excursion listing and give me a description?

 

City of Palma Guided Tour

 

Palma City Sights PJ10

 

City of Palma Excursion Plus PJD1

 

Thanks in advance if you are able to help.

Barb