Symphony OTS Live! - Transatlantic Oct. 28, 2018 "Coming to America"

[twangster]

Since I had my fish eye lens on I was wondering how a round scrunched up car in the shape a sphere would look with a fish eye at close range.  It pretty much looks like it does in person.

 

 

Time for lunch and with Sorrento's right there...

 

 

Barbecue Chicken on the menu today.  This was actually pretty good on Adventure recently.  

 

I found Symphony's variation a little too cheesy for my liking.

 

 

I thought I might as well take some more ships photos instead of walking in the rain.

 

MDR Entrance

 

 

MDR

 

 

 

I ran into some friend's and one drink led to another, so...

[twangster]

With sail away approaching I realized I needed to get ready for my Hairspray reservation so I ventured up to the Solarium bridge wings to see what I might be able to see of Malaga.  The rain had almost stopped so I snapped the best photos of Malaga that I would get on this visit.  

 

 

 

 

 

A local fishing boat was returning to port.  They must have been tossing the remainder of their bait because the birds loved this boat.

 

 

With that I ventured down to the theater to line up for Hairspray.  I had a specific part of the theater in mind and I would need to be near the front of the line when they opened the doors.

[MrFunInTheSun]

Wow, looks like a super first few days.

[fielddreamer]

On 10/29/2018 at 7:12 AM, twangster said:

With muster complete it was time to prepare for sail away.  My friends had suggested to meet in the Solarium so that's where I headed.

 

 

 

The sun was beginning to set.

 

 

 

 

 

We had to wait for a departing cargo ship to make her exit.

 

 

With a blast of the ship's whistle we were away from the pier.

 

 

With the bow thrusters fully engaged the Solarium pool rippled from the vibrations.

 

 

Darkness was rapidly moving upon us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We slowly backed out of the harbor.

 

 

 

 

We then turned and with that our cruise had begun.

 

[fielddreamer]

Do you know what time the thermal opens in the morning and is that pass good any time of the day ?  Thanks

[twangster]

Day 3 - Hairspray

 

Let me start by saying I'm not into musicals.  In the past if I were asked to go to a musical I would rank it right there with "Go to the hair salon with me" or "Help me pick out a dress".  When Hairspray was first announced for Symphony of the Seas I paid it little attention because I had somewhat already decided to pass.

 

Since that time I have be able to go on a number of back stage entertainment tours on various Royal ships.  On those I learned a lot of technical details and the level of effort that Royal Caribbean puts into its shows.   When Symphony first started sailing earlier this, Hairspray was getting pretty great reviews.  Consequently I settled on taking in this show, after all, we have 12 nights on this sailing so why not?

 

I'll let the pictures tell the story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The music was good, the vocals were strong and the cast did a great job.  I never found it dragging or felt the need to come up with an excuse to leave.  It was a great performance and I highly recommend it, even for the non-musical types. 

 

If you've sailed Harmony and you couldn't find an excuse to book Symphony this just may be it. 

[FionaMG]

10 minutes ago, twangster said:

Day 3 - Hairspray

The music was good, the vocals were strong and the cast did a great job.  I never found it dragging or felt the need to come up with an excuse to leave.  It was a great performance and I highly recommend it, even for the non-musical types. 

 

If you've sailed Harmony and you couldn't find an excuse to book Symphony this just may be it. 

I'm interested to see that this musical is getting so many rave reviews. I saw it on Harmony and was seriously underwhelmed, although I did stick it out to very end. DH, on the other hand, disliked it so much that he got up and left after about 15 minutes. I wonder if it's a cultural thing? It just didn't hit the mark for us.

[BillOh]

16 minutes ago, twangster said:

Day 3 - Hairspray

 

Let me start by saying I'm not into musicals.  In the past if I were asked to go to a musical I would rank it right there with "Go to the hair salon with me" or "Help me pick out a dress".  When Hairspray was first announced for Symphony of the Seas I paid it little attention because I had somewhat already decided to pass.

 

 

........

 

The music was good, the vocals were strong and the cast did a great job.  I never found it dragging or felt the need to come up with an excuse to leave.  It was a great performance and I highly recommend it, even for the non-musical types. 

 

If you've sailed Harmony and you couldn't find an excuse to book Symphony this just may be it. 

I avoided the temptation to leave all the photos in my quote.   But I'm glad you posted them.  The first paragraph above describes me pretty well too.  I didn't get on Oasis till after Hair Spray, so your thoughts have helped me look forward to seeing this show.   I did sit through CATS despite thinking of plenty of reasons to leave, so this should be easy. 

[twangster]

5 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

I'm interested to see that this musical is getting so many rave reviews. I saw it on Harmony and was seriously underwhelmed, although I did stick it out to very end. DH, on the other hand, disliked it so much that he got up and left after about 15 minutes. I wonder if it's a cultural thing? It just didn't hit the mark for us.

 

Theatre, like food is personal.  I haven't yet found a place in my heart for Opera yet some people love it.  There is nothing wrong with disliking a production.  We all have our likes and dislikes.

[FionaMG]

11 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

Theatre, like food is personal.  I haven't yet found a place in my heart for Opera yet some people love it.  There is nothing wrong with disliking a production.  We all have our likes and dislikes.

Very true. We loved Cats, which we saw on land, but I've noticed it gets less than stellar reviews here on CC.

[BillOh]

Symphony is finally on her way to America having cleared the strait of Gilbraltar late last night our time.  Can't wait to see her in PC even if it means these folks cruise will be ending.  Sure wish I was there. 

[twangster]

I had a 6pm My Time reservation that I skipped so I could see Hairspray.  I went to the My Time non-reservation line since it was well past my reservation at this point.  At 8:15pm through 8:35pm I had moved about 20'.  Still 20' from the hostess stand I gave up and went to the Windjammer for dinner.  It too was busy but typical for an Oasis class Windjammer.

 

The rock of Gibraltar and our pass through the Straits was approaching.  I didn't want to be sitting in a dining room even if I could only see distant lights on shore.

 

 

[twangster]

While we were in Malagar the Captain had recorded a video which was placed on channel 14.  This would provide an update on our course for the next few days. 

 

The audio is digitized in a few places, it was that way onboard.

 

Here it is:

 

 

[twangster]

Writing this in the past tense on day 4 but to maintain the chronology of the thread, here is our position as we approached the Strait of Gibraltar:

 

 

 

I tried to venture up top but found the upper decks closed due to high winds so I headed to deck 5, the running track.

 

 

That pyramid looking object is the rock of Gibraltar. 

 

 

At this point we were in the Strait of Gibraltar and you could see lights on both sides.

 

Africa on the port side:

 

 

Spain and the rock of Gibraltar on the starboard side:

 

 

Walking a few steps, Africa on the port side:

 

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, BillOh said:

I avoided the temptation to leave all the photos in my quote.

Everyone thanks you for that.

Edited October 31, 2018 by Biker19

[BillOh]

50 minutes ago, twangster said:

While we were in Malagar the Captain had recorded a video which was placed on channel 14.  This would provide an update on our course for the next few days. 

 

The audio is digitized in a few places, it was that way onboard.

 

Here it is:

 

 

Do you remember the Captains name?  I only ask because I should remember, he was our Captain on Oasis back in 2016. Seems like a nice capable guy, great to talk to on the bridge tour. At the Captains Corner, he was congenial, but definitely stuck to the corporate script.   Thanks for the Gilbratar pics!

[twangster]

2 minutes ago, BillOh said:

Do you remember the Captains name?  I only ask because I should remember, he was our Captain on Oasis back in 2016. Seems like a nice capable guy, great to talk to on the bridge tour. At the Captains Corner, he was congenial, but definitely stuck to the corporate script.   Thanks for the Gilbratar pics!

 

It's Captain Rob Hempstead. Somewhat a last minute change as I've heard.

[BillOh]

20 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

It's Captain Rob Hempstead. Somewhat a last minute change as I've heard.

 

 

Yup, that's it, one thing I like about the older forum, I could look up THREADS YOU STARTED (me) where I could look up where I mentioned it on my Oasis review back in 2016.   I wonder how many all access tours they will do on a TA of a new ship? Thanks again, I hope you continue to have a great cruise. 

[twangster]

5 minutes ago, BillOh said:

 I wonder how many all access tours they will do on a TA of a new ship? 

 

They are selling them.  If it can make money, Royal will do it.  Why not?  They are a for-profit business.  Good for the shareholders.

Edited October 31, 2018 by twangster

[BillOh]

2 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

They are selling them.  If it can make money, Royal will do it.  Why not?  They are a for-profit business.  Good for the shareholders.

No doubt, I definitely enjoyed the one I did on Oasis.  Given the number of high level Crown and Anchor  people on board that have probably already done one, I have to imagine enough people on board have never done so.  I probably don't want to know the price, I think it was $150 per person back in 2016.  I hope somebody reports who has done it on another Oasis class and notes anything new and different. 

[twangster]

4 minutes ago, BillOh said:

No doubt, I definitely enjoyed the one I did on Oasis.  Given the number of high level Crown and Anchor  people on board that have probably already done one, I have to imagine enough people on board have never done so.  I probably don't want to know the price, I think it was $150 per person back in 2016.  I hope somebody reports who has done it on another Oasis class and notes anything new and different. 

 

Some 2,800+ eligible for C&A based tours.  So far I've only received an entertainment tour invite for day 10.

 

I did the all access on Harmony on a paid basis.  Very interesting.  

[Pratique]

We are doing the all access tour on Sunday. There was only one time offered when we booked it yesterday. The price is $119 pp. When I did it on Allure we were told that the money went to a crew welfare fund.

 

Also the Symphony tour is scheduled for two hours, one hour less than when I did it on Allure so they will probably skip something like the visit to the helipad.

Edited October 31, 2018 by Pratique

[crzndeb]

4 hours ago, BillOh said:

I avoided the temptation to leave all the photos in my quote. 

I also want to thank you for resisting the temptation. Hopefully, others will learn by example.

Edited October 31, 2018 by crzndeb

[BillOh]

1 minute ago, crzndeb said:

I also want to thank you for resisting the temptation. Hopefully, others will learn by example.

 

 

My Dad, God rest his soul, only used me as a bad example.  Happy to oblige. 

[Fitzget]

Wow! Just want to say, your photos are ridiculously good!