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Just off Symphony. Everything was awesome. Food was great, shows were superb, service was outstanding.

Momto3girlsintheCarolinas
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Momto3girlsintheCarolinas

Momto3girlsintheCarolinas

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We cruised in December for the first time post-Covid.  I have to say, I was unimpressed.   The food, service, and entertainment on Serenade were the worst I've ever experienced on RCI.  Everything was just....meh.

 

We just got off Symphony.  OMG, I am ruined for any other class.  We've done Anthem, but this cruise was the best ever.  The food was amazing and the shows were fabulous!  Boarding was a breeze.  We had a 1:30 check in but were on the ship by noon.  We sailed with about 5,500 guests, so we must be near capacity.  The ship did not seem crowded and wait times were low.  Best....cruise...ever.  

 

A piece of advice:  Book everything you want to do on board soon as you board the ship via the app.  We only missed the comedy show because it was full and we couldn't get in stand by.  But we "snatched up" laser tag and other shows as soon as we boarded.  We also got in on "stand by" for a few things.  Hairspray was fantastic, but was booked very quickly and folks were locked out.  

 

My only complaint:  The teem club was disappointing.  Our daughter went to two of the "meet and greets" - including the one of the first night.  The guides let them know the rules of the teen club and then said "Y'all know each other, so go have fun!"  Um. what?  No, they don't - that's the point of a meet and  greet.  The second was the same.  

 

There were no (none) activities for teens for the entire week in the teen club and the fabulous space for them sat empty.  Of course, there was more  than enough to keep the 15 y/o occupied, but  am sure she would have liked some time with those her own age.  They did allow teens to "cut" the line on the Abyss one afternoon, but that's hardly interaction.   

 

Anyway - that's it!  Oh, except to say that we flew the day before and weather cancelled our flight.  We had to fly the next day - the day we sailed - from a different airport because there was nothing from that one that got us to Miami on time (storms in Miami).  So, my advice will always be to fly the day before you sail.  

 

We had a great time!  Thanks to all of you who helped with my many questions and made the experience smoother!

 

 

Edited by Momto3girlsintheCarolinas
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Momto3girlsintheCarolinas

Momto3girlsintheCarolinas

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7 hours ago, Cherries Jubilee said:

Thank you for the review! What did you do on your port days?

Ucccgh.  Good question. There is a story there.  

 

St. Maarten:  We walked around.  We shopped.  We listened to our teenager complain it was hot.  Instead of giving RCI $200 to take us to the beach, we hopped a water taxi to said same beach for $21 for the three of us.  It's a public beach.  Other than being asked if we wanted a foot massage or hair braiding every 3 minutes, it was lovely.  

 

St. Thomas:  Okay, I went a little "Karen" on this one.  I bought an extremely expensive shore excursion to  have my husband and daughter go snorkeling.  I wanted walk-in-from-the beach snorkeling, rather an jump-off-a-boat snorkeling.  Hubby and daughter are prone to sea sickness.  I stayed on the ship to grade papers (I know, right?).

 

They showed up and no ne knew they were coming. The group was literally told "We didn't know you were coming."   Everything was locked up.  Equipment, beach chairs, all of it.   After an hour on the beach with no equipment (or other things we paid to have), they managed to get the equipment there.  Still no beach chair we paid to have.  

 

Yep, I complained.  We got literally half the experience we paid for (also, no "beach drive" at all).  I went and companied and asked for half our money back.  They said "No" because they'd already paid the people.  Not my problem.  The woman at the Shore Excursions desk tried to brush us off.  "This is the best we can do - $10 off."  It was not, in fact, the best they could do.  I asked to speak with the manager (KAREN!!) and got a half refund.  Yep. But  have you seen the price of those excursions? My daughter was hot, unhappy and disappointed.  That's not what I paid for.  

 

Coco Cay:  

 

We had water park tickets.  Our 15 year old did every slide.  Waits for the big ones were 40-60 minutes.  Lunch was about what you'd expect, but good.  Lots of "free" food and non-alcoholic drinks everywhere.  The island has a lot of shade, which RCI clearly did on purpose.  I had  no trouble finding a chair to park my butt while the two of them ran around.  The weather was gorgeous.  It is a smaller park than I'd imagined, but enough to do to fill an afternoon.   We had a really good time.  

 

I am often not a fan of ports.  Often, there are too many sketchy places and I grow tired of being approached to buy something every 5 minutes (although I do understand that people need to survive).  Once, Disney Cruise line wanted an obscene amount of money to braid our child's hair.  I found a local with two kids and no shoes and paid her what she asked and then tipped her the difference between her price and Disney's. However, these were three very good ports.  We enjoyed them very much.  

 

Are you sorry you asked?  😉

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Cherries Jubilee

Cherries Jubilee

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2 hours ago, Momto3girlsintheCarolinas said:

Are you sorry you asked?  😉


Not at all lol. I’m going on Symphony in July and stopping at all the same ports. It’s always good to know what I could be doing and what I should avoid!

 

 I definitely would have complained about that excursion too. I hate complaining but not as much as I hate being cheated.

 

 I also wish the vendors would slow down on the repeated sales pitch. 
 

And I have only been to Coco Cay once but I also loved it!

 

Thank you for replying 😉

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baelor

baelor

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8 hours ago, Momto3girlsintheCarolinas said:

They actually weren't bad.  Zipline and the Abyss were 5-10 minutes.  Flowrider on sea days was about 20 minutes.  

Thanks--not bad at all from my perspective.

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baelor

baelor

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8 hours ago, Momto3girlsintheCarolinas said:

Ucccgh.  Good question. There is a story there.  

 

St. Maarten:  We walked around.  We shopped.  We listened to our teenager complain it was hot.  Instead of giving RCI $200 to take us to the beach, we hopped a water taxi to said same beach for $21 for the three of us.  It's a public beach.  Other than being asked if we wanted a foot massage or hair braiding every 3 minutes, it was lovely.  

 

St. Thomas:  Okay, I went a little "Karen" on this one.  I bought an extremely expensive shore excursion to  have my husband and daughter go snorkeling.  I wanted walk-in-from-the beach snorkeling, rather an jump-off-a-boat snorkeling.  Hubby and daughter are prone to sea sickness.  I stayed on the ship to grade papers (I know, right?).

 

They showed up and no ne knew they were coming. The group was literally told "We didn't know you were coming."   Everything was locked up.  Equipment, beach chairs, all of it.   After an hour on the beach with no equipment (or other things we paid to have), they managed to get the equipment there.  Still no beach chair we paid to have.  

 

Yep, I complained.  We got literally half the experience we paid for (also, no "beach drive" at all).  I went and companied and asked for half our money back.  They said "No" because they'd already paid the people.  Not my problem.  The woman at the Shore Excursions desk tried to brush us off.  "This is the best we can do - $10 off."  It was not, in fact, the best they could do.  I asked to speak with the manager (KAREN!!) and got a half refund.  Yep. But  have you seen the price of those excursions? My daughter was hot, unhappy and disappointed.  That's not what I paid for.  

 

Coco Cay:  

 

We had water park tickets.  Our 15 year old did every slide.  Waits for the big ones were 40-60 minutes.  Lunch was about what you'd expect, but good.  Lots of "free" food and non-alcoholic drinks everywhere.  The island has a lot of shade, which RCI clearly did on purpose.  I had  no trouble finding a chair to park my butt while the two of them ran around.  The weather was gorgeous.  It is a smaller park than I'd imagined, but enough to do to fill an afternoon.   We had a really good time.  

 

I am often not a fan of ports.  Often, there are too many sketchy places and I grow tired of being approached to buy something every 5 minutes (although I do understand that people need to survive).  Once, Disney Cruise line wanted an obscene amount of money to braid our child's hair.  I found a local with two kids and no shoes and paid her what she asked and then tipped her the difference between her price and Disney's. However, these were three very good ports.  We enjoyed them very much.  

 

Are you sorry you asked?  😉

We are going to all the same ports.  My group chose not to get waterpark passes because we do not want to wait in line.  We do have one brief CocoCay excursion.

 

For St. Maarten and St. Thomas, is there much you recommend other than just sitting on the beach?  We do not like shopping/tchotchkes at all and are not sure whether there is much historical/cultural to see.  Honestly, it sounds like maybe we should just get off the ship for like 30 mins to an hour to walk around and then get back on if we are fine not doing the beach.  Thoughts?

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Sunshine3601

Sunshine3601

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On 6/5/2022 at 7:51 PM, baelor said:

We are going to all the same ports.  My group chose not to get waterpark passes because we do not want to wait in line.  We do have one brief CocoCay excursion.

 

For St. Maarten and St. Thomas, is there much you recommend other than just sitting on the beach?  We do not like shopping/tchotchkes at all and are not sure whether there is much historical/cultural to see.  Honestly, it sounds like maybe we should just get off the ship for like 30 mins to an hour to walk around and then get back on if we are fine not doing the beach.  Thoughts?

St Maarten is a beautiful island.  I always enjoy going to the French side, Marigot.  

https://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&client=ms-android-boostdish-us-revc&source=android-browser&q=marigot+st+maarten

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Momto3girlsintheCarolinas

Momto3girlsintheCarolinas

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On 6/5/2022 at 1:36 PM, Oceansaway17 said:

I was surprised the ship spend most of Saturday off the coast of Fla.

Why were they delayed a full 24 hours.  Could the ship not of docked around noon or 1pm to let you off and then load up again and just sail say 7pm?

I was on the sailing before that one.  My understanding is that the sailing was delayed due to weather.  

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Momto3girlsintheCarolinas

Momto3girlsintheCarolinas

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21 hours ago, IBookHePays said:

Thanks for your input! We will be on Symphony on the 18th! Do you know/remember if there is an escape room? TIA

 

There was.  Both laser tag and an escape room.  My daughter and husband did them both.  They said it was cool.  One needed reservations (and filled FAST) and the other did not.  I can't remember which is which now...

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