Just Off Symphony (11/17-11/24) 1st Western Caribbean

[LisaT91403]

Hi all,

 

We were on the first week-long journey on Symphony out of Miami. There have been lots of great live reports from Symphony, so I am not going to outline what the ship is like -- that's been covered. Some background...I was traveling as part of a group of 23 people, ranging in age from 10-81. We had all cruised before,  and most had access to the Diamond Lounge, Suite Lounge, or both. The same group did Oasis 7 years ago when she first sailed, and my immediate family has also been on Allure and Harmony. This is all just background info so you can know where we are coming from,  and ask any questions that you might have.

 

We had a great time. We all felt that we could have used about 3 more days on the ship just to get a chance to do and see everything that we wanted to. I know that some Royal Loyalists get upset when there are criticisms on the board...but I am going to offer my observations (both good and bad) for whatever they are worth 🙂 

 

Some random thoughts, in no particular order:

 

- We really enjoyed being able to use our Diamond drinks in the MDR. We only ate their twice, but it was nice not to have to worry about bringing D drinks in with us. 

 

- We liked Coastal Kitchen a lot. To us, it feels much more relaxed and upscale than the MDR. It's not loud, the service isn't rushed, and the tables are not on top of each other. On the other hand, it seemed like the meals would be well-paced until it was time for dessert, and then it took forever. Not sure what was up with that.

 

- We have been on all 4 Oasis class ships. Whenever people would ask me if the big ships felt crowded, I always said "Not at all!" Symphony, however, is the exception to this. For some reason, the events that people in our group attended (Bingo, karaoke, Finish the Lyric game, etc.) were all held in On Air. This venue was too small to accommodate everyone. People were bringing chairs in from the Starbucks area outside, and there still weren't enough seats. Take Bingo, for example. After a morning session on a sea day, the Bingo guy said that we should come back at 3:00 if we wanted to get a seat for the afternoon session. So several of us showed up then, and we were told that cards weren't going on sale for another 45 minutes. Further, there was a different even going on in the venue, so getting there early didn't help in regards to getting seats. Even the final Jackpot Bingo was held in On Air. On every other ship, the big Bingo sessions were held in either Studio B or the Royal Theater. It really made no sense, and it was frustrating not to be able to attend events because there were no seats available.

 

- We enjoyed the shows. Hairspray wasn't the best version I've ever seen, but we were entertained. Hiro was really good, and we liked Flight as well.

 

- Our Stateroom Attendant was excellent. She was visible in both the morning and evening, was really friendly, and quickly took care of the requests that we had.

 

- There was no kid's menu at Coastal Kitchen, whereas there definitely was one when we sailed on Harmony 2 years ago. We also asked for a kid's menu the one day that we ate lunch in the MDR, and they said there wasn't one there either. I'm not sure if there was one at the MDR for dinner, as we didn't ask for one the couple of nights we were there.

 

- In our experience, there was no trouble getting lounge chairs by the pool, and the lines for slides were not bad. 

 

- The vending machines up near the arcade were pretty cool. They are well stocked with items you might have forgotten to pack. There was also a cell phone locker/charging station in the vending area. You could lock your phone into one of the little charging lockers -- convenient if you were swimming and didn't want to leave your phone unattended. There was no cost to do this.

 

- The Coke Freestyle machine in El Loco Fresh was out of order for the entire cruise. We didn't really like El Loco Fresh. The salsa/condiment area always seemed kinda yucky (maybe it's because we don't like buffets?), and we missed having burgers up by the pool. 

 

- We kind of missed "the good old days" when early diners went to a late show (but not all that late), and late diners went to an early show. We felt like we had to eat earlier than we wanted to, and that we were rushed to get to a show each night. I think there were "late" shows, but with the kids in tow, those didn't really work for us. 

 

- The WiFi was pretty awful, maybe because I only got Surf. But you couldn't Surf with it, and could barely check email. And boy oh boy did it drain your battery fast! When ships were smaller, it was easier to find friends and family. You could leave notes and use message boards. But with these super ships, that just doesn't seem practical. It's a lot of walking! Royal should have a texting-only plan, similar to other cruise lines.

 

If I think of more, I will come back and post. In the meantime, please feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Edited December 2, 2018 by LisaT91403

[vacationlover_mn]

Love the idea of the phone charging stations!

[Biker19]

11 hours ago, LisaT91403 said:

When ships were smaller, it was easier to find friends and family. You could leave notes and use message boards. But with these super ships, that just doesn't seem practical. It's a lot of walking! Royal should have a texting-only plan, similar to other cruise lines.

It's coming with the RCI app.