Symphony Live, September 28th to October 5th - Now watch me Sip, Now watch me Lay Lay

[bobmacliberty]

Andrew - I've been traveling internationally on business for the last 2 weeks and missed this completely (other than seeing your Chill Island scope pop up on my phone at some point).  Just took me a couple of hours to read everything.  Great review, as usual.  I appreciate the time that you take to create your videos.  You always find the right music.  We're doing your exact itinerary on Symphony on Nov 9 in an L1 (1754).  First time for us on deck 17 and greatly looking forward to it.  

[ashleyriley]

3 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

We have stayed at the Royal Bahamian, Grande Antigua (Mediterranean Side) and will be going to Royal Barbados.  We do stay in the Butler level suites as they help to arrange things such as restaurant reservations and will actually reserve loungers for you either by the pool or beach.  One of the bigger complaints we have read in general is making dinner reservations once you arrive.  It can be a pain and not the most fun way of starting your holiday. I guess it would be no different than the dining package reservations process. I will say chair hogs at the resorts we have stayed at were out at 6am and no towels were pulled.  In this case having someone do it for us was amazing. 
 

We also tried Paradisus Playa del Carmen La Perla, which is the adults only side of that resort.  We selected a room with Royal Service which has it’s own butler, pool, private restaurant, and other amenities which were not as important.  I was always able to get a pool front chair even at 10am.  It does share some restaurants with the family side and we did venture over there for some dinners. Some kids were well behaved and others had poor parents 😉  It is about 40 minutes from the Cancun Airport with a private transfer where as the group bus one took much longer.  I’d return as the service was great and the cost was half of Sandals for a very similar service, but Lisa wants to always try somewhere new for land destinations. 
 

We started doing a land trip in late January every other year a few years ago.  I have commented every time how nice it is not to have to muster and get right to the fun. I do find it a bit boring compared to the ship, but there is life other than at sea.  
 

Hope this helps out. 

It does help, thanks so much!😀 Paradisus Playa del Carmen sounds great and I will look into it for sure. Especially at half the cost of Sandals. We actually have stayed at two Sandals properties, the one near Dunns River and St Lucia. Dunns River was great, St Lucia was very disappointing.  And of course, St Lucia was where we booked the butler category room and spent quite a bit, as you know. Also, my husband almost ended up in the St Lucian jail because another guest was very inappropriate to me on two occasions and Sandals security and management did nothing about it. 

[Glide_Path]

14 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

I just think 3 weeks on a ship out of 6 makes for things to be repetitive.

It was truly an honor to be on the same ship as you.  Your live reviews are so good, that I stopped following the weather channel and Royal for updates.  Weather forecast originally called for 50%+ chance thunderstorm at every single port.

 

I know it's no Flow, no go for you.  I think Allure and Anthem will be in Europe next year.  Any chance of that happening?

[jagsfan]

Thank you so much for sharing another cruise with us. We’ll be on Harmony March 29, but will keep up with your cruise via Voom if that’s when you’re cruising 

I hope Owen has a terrific school year. 

[dani negreanu]

17 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

We are headed to Sandals this January in Barbados, but since this is Cruise Critic there will be no reviews.

 

I'm sure if we propose a vote to honorary name "Sandals" a cruise ship, there will be many willing to say "yes" 😁

[James4me]

1 hour ago, dani negreanu said:

 

I'm sure if we propose a vote to honorary name "Sandals" a cruise ship, there will be many willing to say "yes" 😁

Dani is it possible for you to change your font?  It’s pretty but hard to read and gives me a headache 🤣

[dani negreanu]

7 minutes ago, James4me said:

Dani is it possible for you to change your font?  It’s pretty but hard to read and gives me a headache 🤣

 

Sorry, on my computer the font looks great... But, I've just saw it on my IPad, and .... well ... you're right -- it looks terrible. Banishing the font from appearing on CC as of this moment 😥

[James4me]

Just now, dani negreanu said:

 

Sorry, on my computer the font looks great... But, I've just saw it on my IPad, and .... well ... you're right -- it looks terrible. Banishing the font from appearing on CC as of this moment 😥

I’m sorry as it was a pretty font 😄.

[perfect match]

7 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 

I'm sure if we propose a vote to honorary name "Sandals" a cruise ship, there will be many willing to say "yes" 😁

 

Sandals Of The Seas? I like that!  😂

 

Or maybe Andrew wants to just relax and enjoy his vacation, and not spend all of his time entertaining us 😱. Andrew, you’ve gotten us so spoiled with your excellent, fun to read reviews that we want to go on all of your trips with you. 🤩

Edited October 7, 2019 by perfect match

[zencruisers]

Thanks for taking us along for the ride. Great pictures and commentary as usual. I appreciate the time you take to share your vacation with us. 

[A&L_Ont]

On 10/6/2019 at 8:43 AM, mac_tlc said:

A little more focus on Celebrity when it is just the two of us, and Royal with the family.

 

mac_tlc

 

We might try Celebrity one day.  They run an all inclusive out of our hometown including flights, parking, drink package etc at a very reasonable price.  If the ports are different it does seem appealing.  

 

On 10/6/2019 at 8:52 AM, Jimbo said:

Holland America has great food also, worth a try.

 

I have read that too, but we have to add a few more years to our ages.😉

 

On 10/6/2019 at 9:33 AM, Lionesss said:

and upcoming for us is our fall get a way to DisneyWorld..................

 

The hustle and bustle of taking the child is over, we do what we want when we want and the only scheduled activities are 3 spaced out fast passes and of course our dinner reservations.  We usually get our 25,000 steps in by 2pm.  Love walking.

 

Take care.

 

We haven't been for a few years now, and it would be nice to return.

 

On 10/6/2019 at 9:36 AM, Lady Hudson said:

Thanks again, Andrew.  You are a prolific writer and I really enjoy your reviews.

 

I hear everyone on food repeats.  But we tend to eat the same dinners at home week after week anyway.   Guess we are “food boring”.

 

Best of luck to Owen with hockey and the school year.  Your son seems to be one of whom you can be very proud.  Katherine

 

PS — going on Anthem 10/19 and our first chance to try Coastal Kitchen.  Looking forward to it.  😁

 

I hope you enjoy the CK.  As for meal repetition, we do the same here at home.  I was missing veggies like green beans, and having milk with my meal.  I actually had one glass at the last dinner on the ship, while Lisa had sangria. LOL

[A&L_Ont]

23 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

Andrew - I've been traveling internationally on business for the last 2 weeks and missed this completely (other than seeing your Chill Island scope pop up on my phone at some point).  Just took me a couple of hours to read everything.  Great review, as usual.  I appreciate the time that you take to create your videos.  You always find the right music.  We're doing your exact itinerary on Symphony on Nov 9 in an L1 (1754).  First time for us on deck 17 and greatly looking forward to it.  

 

Thanks for taking the time to catch up.  I always keep my eyes open for music along my journeys and if I find something good along the way I mark it for later.  I never made it over to the 1754 area of Deck 17, but I am sure your steward will be amazing.  Enjoy deck 17, but remember to close the glass door behind you... it will make sense in a few weeks.

 

23 hours ago, ashleyriley said:

It does help, thanks so much!😀 Paradisus Playa del Carmen sounds great and I will look into it for sure. Especially at half the cost of Sandals. We actually have stayed at two Sandals properties, the one near Dunns River and St Lucia. Dunns River was great, St Lucia was very disappointing.  And of course, St Lucia was where we booked the butler category room and spent quite a bit, as you know. Also, my husband almost ended up in the St Lucian jail because another guest was very inappropriate to me on two occasions and Sandals security and management did nothing about it. 

 

We went there in late January and there was a cold spell reaching as far south as Florid and it made it mid 70s in Mexico.  By the end of the week it was back to the mid 80s but Lisa wanted warmer.  So by that rate we have to head further South from then on.  We have also looked at other Sandals resorts but Lisa doesn't want to do extended buss rides to get to them.  As for your hubby, that says he loves you.  It is unfortunate that they did nothing to quell the other guests actions.

 

22 hours ago, Glide_Path said:

It was truly an honor to be on the same ship as you.  Your live reviews are so good, that I stopped following the weather channel and Royal for updates.  Weather forecast originally called for 50%+ chance thunderstorm at every single port.

 

I know it's no Flow, no go for you.  I think Allure and Anthem will be in Europe next year.  Any chance of that happening?

 

The weather man, I am not.  There were storms around us but thankfully they did not amount too much.  We actually sailed on Allure a few years ago right after her Med dry dock.  If we sail the Med again I think Lisa wants to do the Greek Isles.  There have been many great reviews of them here. 

 

20 hours ago, jagsfan said:

Thank you so much for sharing another cruise with us. We’ll be on Harmony March 29, but will keep up with your cruise via Voom if that’s when you’re cruising 

I hope Owen has a terrific school year. 

 

Who knows, if we swap we might just see you there.

 

11 hours ago, perfect match said:

Sandals Of The Seas? I like that!  😂

 

Or maybe Andrew wants to just relax and enjoy his vacation, and not spend all of his time entertaining us 😱. Andrew, you’ve gotten us so spoiled with your excellent, fun to read reviews that we want to go on all of your trips with you. 🤩

 

You are with me in "spirit".  

 

And you should trademark that name.  I like it... Sandals of the Seas.  What's the sister ship named.... "Banana Hammock of the Seas", followed by "Thong of the Seas".  Yah, maybe don't do that.

 

39 minutes ago, zencruisers said:

Thanks for taking us along for the ride. Great pictures and commentary as usual. I appreciate the time you take to share your vacation with us. 

 

You are most welcome.

[A&L_Ont]

Lisa and I were chatting this afternoon and two other stories we forgot to share have come to mind.  

 

The first was at CoCo Cay.  When we got to Chill Island we went to the Cabana area check-in.  The nice lady gave us wrist bands and she proceeded to lead us to our cabana.  We came to the from of it, and on the caulk board sign it had our family name written on it.  However, for some reason it didn't register to the two Asian Ladies who were sitting on our lounger, which wasn't their "home" for the day.  Our guide quickly escorted them out of the cabana and they didn't even apologize. 

 

The second story is about our taxi driver on the way to the airport for our flight home.  He was sharing how he had once been in Toronto back in the 80s.  We asked him why, and he said it was to pick up his green card for the US as he was originally from Haiti.  We asked how was it that he ended up in Miami.  He then shared with us that he had actually worked for Royal Caribbean back in 1975, in the days of Nordic Prince, the Song of Norway and the Sun Viking.  

 

The three ships just rolled off his tongue.  He had been on two of them but we don't remember which ones they were.  Pretty cool that our taxi driver had worked for RC back in the day.  He asked us about guest capacity, dining venues, bars, clubs on Symphony with the same type of curiosity that anyone interested in cruising would.  The world just seemed a little smaller in that taxi.

 

Now, I think that's it.  Owen's team tied their hockey game yesterday, he has his cross country run of 2.5 km (1.5 miles) tomorrow afternoon followed by and a hockey game at 7:30pm.  It's going to be a busy one again tomorrow.

 

 

Edited October 7, 2019 by A&L_Ont

[CruiseMomTX]

On 10/6/2019 at 10:24 AM, ashleyriley said:

It does help, thanks so much!😀 Paradisus Playa del Carmen sounds great and I will look into it for sure. Especially at half the cost of Sandals. We actually have stayed at two Sandals properties, the one near Dunns River and St Lucia. Dunns River was great, St Lucia was very disappointing.  And of course, St Lucia was where we booked the butler category room and spent quite a bit, as you know. Also, my husband almost ended up in the St Lucian jail because another guest was very inappropriate to me on two occasions and Sandals security and management did nothing about it. 

We Love Paradisus!!   

[A&L_Ont]

OK, thought the review was done, but there is one more thing to add. 
 

Look at Owen run the 2.5 km. 
 

 

 

3rd place in the regionals today from at least 100, and now city finals in 2 weeks. We are eating dinner now followed by a hockey game  at 7pm. 
 

[purduemom1]

Congrats to Owen and congrats to mom and dad for keeping up with him!

[ashleyriley]

Does anyone else immediately start singing Whip/Nae Nae in their head whenever one of the notifications from Andrew's very clever thread title come up? Probably just me. 😄  (Now watch me whip, now watch me nae nae...🎵🎶)

[mcgore83]

Of course, what me sip, what me lay, lay, or what we whip, now watch me nay any.  Andrew does such great and informative reviews.  Sad, we have to wait so long for the next one. But anticipation is great.

[#55worktoplay]

Andrew, Lisa and Owen,

 

It seems that winter has arrived quite heavily your way???

 

5cm here

[Jj343434jj]

How was dining in the MDR? What it structured times like 6 & 8, or could you show up whenever and get a table pretty fast?

[A&L_Ont]

On 11/7/2019 at 7:34 PM, #55worktoplay said:

Andrew, Lisa and Owen,

 

It seems that winter has arrived quite heavily your way???

 

5cm here

We are in the Collingwood area for a hockey Tournament for Owen this weekend.  
 

There was snow at home when we left, and it was cold. We had about 20cm with more on the way. 
 

 

 

And since the tourney is close to our cottages I checked in on them. Other than the lake is high, all was good. 
 

 

 

 

And this is our view from the hotel window.  Two wins yesterday and a game later today. They are already in the semis tomorrow at 1:30.  Finals at 4:40 if they win.
 

Edited November 9, 2019 by A&L_Ont

[A&L_Ont]

3 hours ago, Jj343434jj said:

How was dining in the MDR? What it structured times like 6 & 8, or could you show up whenever and get a table pretty fast?

I’m sorry I can’t answer this as we didn’t eat at the MDR.

[luvcruzing]

Nice pictures, but YUCK!

[#55worktoplay]

6 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

We are in the Collingwood area for a hockey Tournament for Owen this weekend.  
 

There was snow at home when we left, and it was cold. We had about 20cm with more on the way. 
 

 

 

And since the tourney is close to our cottages I checked in on them. Other than the lake is high, all was good. 
 

 

 

 

 

And this is our view from the hotel window.  Two wins yesterday and a game later today. They are already in the semis tomorrow at 1:30.  Finals at 4:40 if they win.

 

Sorry for the quoting pictures I can’t master the deleting and this is what I end up with the delete attempt!

Winter wonderland far too early!  We got about 5cm Thursday overnight in the country, in town they got about 2.

 

Sounds like a fab tournament so far.

 

Good luck to Owen and team.  Safe travels too.

6 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

 

[A&L_Ont]

3 minutes ago, luvcruzing said:

Nice pictures, but YUCK!

One day in and I’m so over it.