Symphony - A Sweet Celebration - Preview and Semi-Live Trip Report

[dreadpirate3]

Hello and Welcome! This is my 7th cruise and my 7th preview and trip report on the CC boards. I consider myself an avid cruiser, but not a critic per se. I am not trained to critique. I will report on all the things I consider to be important, and I hope you enjoy reading my report.

 

This is our second cruise this year, and we greatly enjoyed Adventure of the Seas for the 9 day Eastern Caribbean itinerary in January. That report is linked in my signature.

 

This is our first time on an Oasis class ship and this cruise will be a 4-day, 3-night out of Port of Miami. It is our first time cruising out of Miami, which is a 4 hour drive from our home.

 

Who are we? My husband C and I are both busy at work 5 days a week and spend the weekends gardening, taking walks, practicing our photography, and catching up on all the chores missed during the week. When we travel, we go offline (mostly) and use that time to catch up with each other.

[dreadpirate3]

This cruise is a special milestone birthday for our son, H, who is turning 21! on the second day of the cruise, the day we are in Nassau. He and his friend Z are in their own cabin.

 

This cruise was booked over a year out, and directly through RC, with H,  C and I in one ocean view balcony. Although we had traveled this way before, we thought it would be nice to change to two balcony cabins and called RCL. Unfortunately, we could not remove H from our cabin into his own without changing cabins and rates, and the new price would have been $800 more than we had been charged.

 

Instead, we canceled that reservation, and booked through a third party travel site and paid a little more than what we had originally received per person, for two balcony cabins. C and I in an oceanview balcony cabin on deck 9. H and Z in a boardwalk balcony cabin, which is still listed as a guarantee.

 

Will H and Z get assigned a cabin? Who knows. We booked these 100 days out, and the other cabin was assigned at 70 days. Stay tuned…

[TimeToGetNauti]

When does your cruise leave and where are you headed? Looking forward to following along. 

[dreadpirate3]

Our itinerary

 

 

Itinerary Map

 

 

Thank you for following along.

 

[blueridgemama]

I am looking forward to your review as I am on a 4 night cruise on Symphony in September. There are no reviews on the short Symphony cruises so it will be great to see how the short cruises are set up and how they schedule the shows. It would be great if you would post the Cruise compasses.

[dreadpirate3]

I will save and post the cruise compasses.

 

What I am interested in is to see if they offer a shorter version of the week spa pass.

[dreadpirate3]

Parking is through Safe Cruise Parking, which had the lowest rate and highest rating, since we will have two cars parked there during the cruise.

 

Nassau

I spent months deciding what to do during our extended port visit to Nassau. Since we are in Nassau from 8 AM to 12 Midnight, we needed to choose something that would be enjoyable for all but not too expensive.

 

We’ve been to Nassau on four occasions prior to this. Twice in 2008, once in 2013, and once in 2015. In 2013, we stayed on the ship, but every other time we have gotten off.

 

The only excursion we have done in Nassau is the Rose Island trip. It was fun, but I felt it was not enough time to enjoy the island, as well as being rather expensive ($99 per person) for not including drinks.  

 

The big contenders were Sandals day pass for $110 or Breezes day pass for $104 per person. A down side to Sandals was that you cannot book or reserve until the day you are in Nassau. That made me too nervous since I am a planner.

 

Then I saw information about the Warwick Resort and their AI pass for $95 per person. The grounds look lovely, the reviews are good, and the price was reasonable to me. I booked it.

 

More info here: https://www.resortforaday.com/warwick-paradise-island-bahamas-nassau/

 

We will need to take a taxi, but I’m very excited about the day.

Edited May 10, 2019 by dreadpirate3

[tcmagnum]

Following...

Have a great trip!!

[dreadpirate3]

Entertainment

 

This is our first time on a ship with entertainment reservations, and we have booked these shows.

 

We have booked everything but Hairspray and Laser Tag.

 

Hiro

The latest Royal Caribbean AquaTheater spectacular, HiRO, amazes with more high-flying feats, unexpected stunts, and extraordinary acrobatics than any aqua show before. Brought to life by the world's best extreme-sport athletes, HiRO pushes the limits of a theatrical production at sea with cutting edge technology, future-forward choreography and highly innovative physicality. No two shows are ever exactly the same, and anything can happen!

1977

Join the time-traveling hero Tempus on a new adventure in 1977. After visiting Paris on Harmony of the Seas in 1887, his latest journey brings him to Symphony of the Seas - and to London, England.

Her Majesty's Crown Jewels have been stolen on the eve of her Silver Jubilee by a mysterious jewel thief with special powers of his own. And the clock is ticking. Luckily, time is always on Tempus' side.

Flight

Take off on a spectacular journey through time chronicling aviation milestones in Flight, a Royal Caribbean Productions original that's unlike anything you've ever seen. Your adventure begins in the distant future, as the audience boards the Lunar: Us for the launch of the world's first aerospace cruiser on its maiden voyage to Mars. And it ends with a stunning dramatization of the Wright Brothers' monumental first flight at Kitty Hawk. Buckle up for an awe-inspiring - and uplifting - first on both land and sea.

[dreadpirate3]

Food

 

My cruising companions and I enjoy the service and food at the main dining room. We always choose my time dining. I have already scheduled our times on the calendar.

   

New this time, we have reserved Jamie’s Italian for lunch on the sea day.

   

We generally get up late on sea days, enjoy breakfast in the MDR, and have not participated in the Happy Hour events at the paid dining venues, but this time we will. Our plan is to visit Hooked one day and Wonderland another day.

 

[dreadpirate3]

Beverage Packages

I have the Refreshment Package pre-booked for this cruise. It was $20 per person, per day during a sale on Cruise Planner. It includes most non-alcoholic beverages on the ship.

   

    A typical day for me:

   

    Specialty coffee

    Freshly squeezed orange juice (split with DH, since it's too much for me alone)

    Bottle of water back to the room

    Diet Soda or sparkling water

    Diet soda at lunch

    Coffee for the afternoon

    Sparkling water at dinner

    Cappuccino with dessert

    Soda or water before retiring to the cabin

   

    More info here: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/experience/beverage-packages

   

Enjoy our entire selection of premium coffees and teas, bottled water, fresh-squeezed juices, non-alcoholic cocktails, plus fountain soda with a free Coca-Cola® souvenir cup. Onboard pricing is $29.00 per day for 2019 sailings.    

Premium coffees and teas    

Bottled still and sparkling water    

Fresh squeezed orange juice    

Non-alcoholic cocktails    

Fountain sodas / Coca-Cola Freestyle® beverages

C has the Deluxe package which includes all of the above and alcohol. I had to call Crown and Anchor to get them to book that for him, it was $53 per day.

Edited May 10, 2019 by dreadpirate3

[dreadpirate3]

No more waiting.

My son was guaranteed a boardwalk balcony and was assigned a 4D Oceanview Balcony 12 days from sailing. I am waiting to hear if the complimentary soda drink package that was included with the original category remains.

[blueridgemama]

Approximately when were you able to book entertainment?  I read somewhere that on the rare short cruises on Symphony that it was closer to the sailing date.

[dreadpirate3]

32 minutes ago, blueridgemama said:

Approximately when were you able to book entertainment?  I read somewhere that on the rare short cruises on Symphony that it was closer to the sailing date.

 

Right around 60-65 days out.

[dreadpirate3]

Today, some cruisers received notice that our itinerary has changed. I did not.

 

We are now going to be in Coco Cay on Sunday and Nassau on Monday, for a shorter time. 

[dreadpirate3]

Until this morning, I could not find my passport. I had searched all over my house, in my car, in our luggage and nothing. 

 

This morning I looked under some magazines next to my laptop and I don't have to worry about that anymore!

 

[dreadpirate3]

This will be the first time since December 2015 that we have been to Coco Cay. I am pretty excited, and looking forward to taking lots of pictures there. 

 

I'm trying to decide which of my five cameras to bring.

 

A sampler of my photos. 

View from El Morro in San Juan, PR.

 

Cozumel, the wild side

 

 

Waters off of Coco Cay, Bahamas

 

 

Beach Sunrise, Cocoa, FL

[blueridgemama]

I see that you are from central Florida so are you driving to the port in the morning or staying in a hotel the night before?

[dreadpirate3]

1 hour ago, blueridgemama said:

I see that you are from central Florida so are you driving to the port in the morning or staying in a hotel the night before?

We are driving down the morning of. We had originally planned to stay overnight, but that doesn't work with all of our schedules. 

[dreadpirate3]

Just 6 days until we sail!

 

 

[dreadpirate3]

Our driving route. We are leaving at 7 AM to be there at parking by 11. Our check in time is at 12.

 

 

[katiel53]

On 5/13/2019 at 12:13 PM, dreadpirate3 said:

No more waiting.

My son was guaranteed a boardwalk balcony and was assigned a 4D Oceanview Balcony 12 days from sailing. I am waiting to hear if the complimentary soda drink package that was included with the original category remains.

I very seriously doubt your son will receive the Boardwalk balcony perks as they only apply to those booked in a Boardwalk (view) Balcony and NOT an ocean view balcony.  We have stayed in both and when we had the Boardwalk Balcony we received the perks, when in an ocean view we did not.  The ocean view is a more expensive category cabin and I think the perks for the Boardwalk Balcony as well as the Central Park Balcony are to encourage people to book those cabins.  JMO.

[dreadpirate3]

5 minutes ago, katiel53 said:

I very seriously doubt your son will receive the Boardwalk balcony perks as they only apply to those booked in a Boardwalk (view) Balcony and NOT an ocean view balcony.  We have stayed in both and when we had the Boardwalk Balcony we received the perks, when in an ocean view we did not.  The ocean view is a more expensive category cabin and I think the perks for the Boardwalk Balcony as well as the Central Park Balcony are to encourage people to book those cabins.  JMO.

 

You are correct. He does not get the soda package. 

I will say that the perks you book with not following you to your new category, especially in this case where we did not bid for an upgrade, are extremely confusing for new cruisers. Or cruisers unfamiliar with RCCL.

[dreadpirate3]

This begins my cruise week! Of course, I am at work today. I will endeavor to keep my head in the game.

 

I started planning my packing for the cruise yesterday and will get that started tonight. My husband will most likely start packing Friday night at about 11 PM.

[jjjhill]

hang in there you're almost there.