Some Thoughts on Symphony of the Seas

[drrich2]

Hi. Saturday got off a Perfect Day and Western Caribbean cruise aboard Symphony of the Seas July 16-23. Intended to write a longer review, maybe I eventually will, but instead I think I'll rattle of some 'stream of consciousness' comments while the cruise is fresh on my mind.

 

Itinerary:

Sat. Board. Casual dress code.

Sun. Perfect Day at CocoCay. Did Thrill Water Park. Formal dress code I think.

Mon. At Sea. Caribbean theme dress code.

Tue. Cozumel. Did a manatee encounter with Dolphin Discovery, booked through a 3rd party. Probably casual dress code - didn't write it down.

Wed. Roatan. Did a Christopher Tours trip to AJ's Monkeys and Sloths, then a little snorkeling. 70's dress code. 

Thu. Costa Maya. Did a ship excursion dolphin encounter with Dolphin Discovery. Wear Your Best dress code (I think a bit less than formal, I heard?).

Fri. At Sea. Casual dress code. 

Sat. Disembarked; did a post-cruise ship excursion to Sawgrass Recreation Park for Everglades airboat trip, with drop-off at Miami Airport. 

 

1.) Big, beautiful ship with fine staff. Easy to get around.

 

2.) So much to do we (me, wife, 9-year old daughter) didn't get to everything we wanted, or get our fill of the things we got to.

 

3.) Got the soda package and we got the traditional style insulated mugs as in the past, not those thinner, orange cups I've seen mentioned on Cruise Critic.

 

4.) The ship's water recreation area didn't have a lazy river; some other ship (Allure of the Seas? Or Adventure?) did.

 

5.) Ultimate Abyss wasn't as extreme as I thought. Don't know what I thought the bottom would drop out from under me; I sat with a sack thing pulled over my feet, grabbed a line to the sack, leaned back, scooted forward and took off. Moderately intense dry slide.

 

6.) We stayed on ship's time, which matched EST the whole time (so that determined when to be back). Costa Maya and Cozumel were an hour behind that, Roatan 2 hours behind it. Be careful; even on airplane mode (with wifi enabled for ship's Internet service), my iPhone 12 Max Pro changed time to local time. I have a watch that doesn't change itself, so I could keep up with the time all week. Be careful! 

 

7.) Sorento's pizza was quite good. On one prior cruise it was pasty and unappealing, so this was a nice perk.

 

8.) The free blue pendant we were supposed to be able to drop by and pick up per the Royal App. daily planner was replaced with multiple little bracelets (think thread-like cord with a tiny metal charm) spread over several days, some requiring one sit through an extended sales pitch presentation by Regalia shop staff. Can get miserable when you're a cheapskate there for a freebie who's not gonna buy anything, but collecting souvenirs for your kid. These people are over-enthused about their product by my standards (granted, I'm a cynic); it was said their merchandise ran from $295 up to 4 or 5 hundred thousand dollars. 

 

9.) Arcades were underwhelming compared to what I recall from other RCI ships. Kid is like an addict jonesing for a fix where arcades are concerned; I did the $79 for $100 credit pre cruise, and put it on her sea pass card. I put her on a $12/day plan, with the balance to be shot the last Friday. That teaches budgeting, paying attention to spending, and how fast an arcade can blast through money, while keeping her from blowing all her (hah! 'My') money right off then whining all week wanting more. Oh, and once she burned through the credits, it switched to charging to our onboard account. I was there, but if you've got a young kid, don't expect running out of credit to stop them. Games tended to be $1.50 to $2.00 per play. The claw machines (except the little ones grabbing from an assortment of rubber ducks) are, in my opinion, a gross ripoff (I keep hoping our kid's grasp of practical physics with evolve so she can understand this). 

 

10.) Lots of weird art on the ship...which seems standard for cruise ships. 

 

11.) Staff wore masks consistently; passengers seemed to almost universally not wear masks, and elevators at times got crowded. Social distancing seemed mostly ignored. If you are from an area where lots of people are stickers for COVID-19 prevention measures, this may be a bit nerve-wracking for you, and yes, judging from a Facebook page for people on our sailing, a number of people have since tested positive. My family and I were fully vaccinated and boosted; wife had COVID-19 last November. I did see staff out cleaning, and I'm come to view COVID-19 as a permanent resident illness (e.g.: like cold or flu), so this is not a criticism of Royal Caribbean, their ship or staff, I'm just telling you what I saw. Depending on your family situation, preferences (and maybe politics), you may or may not much care. They checked our vaccination cards (and asked about our kid's status) before we got on the ship; I don't recall anyone taking our temperature? We had proctored testing with BinaxNOW tests at home observed by Rapid Test & Trace U.S.A. ($20 apiece; the tests were free at Walmart Pharmacy) the Thursday 2 days before the cruise with negative results. 

 

12.) Very pleased with waiter (Ikadek), assistant waiter (Sujati) and stateroom attendant (Agus Suryantara).

 

13.) We ate dinner in MDR all week, did no specialty restaurants, food was good. Wife impressed with herb-crusted salmon (available nightly); I really liked the chicken parmesan. Windjammer was pretty good; we ate breakfast there, and one day lunch. One lunch was hot dogs at the Dog House, and others were on excursions. 

 

14.) Windjammer can be a zoo because it's hard to find a table. When someone leaves a table, a sign says unavailable till cleaned by staff. I...had a different definition of 'available,' and then found seating easier. Serve yourself - I know some want staff servers, but people, I can serve myself faster, and most anything that moves people through the 'jammer faster I tend to favor. 

 

15.) The comedy show with the 2 comedians was funny.

 

16.) Formal night - well, looks like the dress code warriors have lost the war. I don't pay much attention to what others do, and I didn't see blue jean cut off shorts and tank tops, but wearing an ordinary black suit, I was about the most formal person I noticed. 

 

16.) Wife and daughter really liked Hairspray, daughter liked Hiro (impressive athleticism; I have no idea what the story was), Flight was okay (but on front row, far side, very loud at times!), iSkate 2.0 rocked. 

 

17.) Kid spent very little time in Adventure Ocean but I think it went fine.

 

18.) Pools were crowded, but hot tubs were not. 

 

19.) Splashaway Bay is nice for kids. 

 

20.) The water slides are nice...but we didn't spend a lot of time on them.

 

21.) The soft serve frozen yogurt was good, but people were after it so much sometimes it was a bit soft. Crew served, and if soft the servings on a cone were small (understandable). 

 

22.) The line for laser tag was ridiculously long, so we skipped it. I saw 2 offerings our week. 

 

23.) The Boardwalk Dog House hot dogs were good; really like the Apple and Chicken sausage dog with sourkraut and onions. 

 

24.) The Royal Promenade has 2 Coke freestyle machines; one seemed out of most sodas all the time (which I've noticed on other cruises, and suspect is deliberate). The other worked most of the time, but occasionally was getting maintenance. The machines in the Windjammer tended to work fine.

 

25.) Learning how to get into the t.v. menu options via the remote took quite some doing. 

 

26.) It's easier to use a paper Compass than Royal's app. or the Compass you can find via the t.v. (eventually), but you need to request this early in the cruise (I'm guessing swiping them off service carts as you pass in the hall might be frowned upon...but we won't talk about that...). 

 

27.) The muster drill process where you watch a video elsewhere, then go check in at your muster station is a big improvement over the old way. 

 

28.) The ventriloquist headliner was very good. 

 

29.) Voom Stream version was pretty good. Got slow at times, and we weren't watching Netflix movies, but pretty good overall. My iPhone, my wife's and the kid's iPad mini were on the 3 device plan. My iPhone 12 Max Pro got randomly kicked off, but they didn't have that problem, and getting back on was easy. 

 

30.) Bought the digital photo package precruise as soon as I could; the 45% off was only offered early on. And they do limit you to the 100 photos; late in cruise, I went to the photo gallery place and had to go through selecting which ones I wanted. If I wanted the rest (42), I was told it'd be another hundred dollars). Was told I'd get an e-mail link in 4-6 days; it came today (2 days). The website it led me to had both my selected (unlocked) and the ones I didn't choose (I'm guessing for a fee I could still get them). The ship photographers do a fine job; they took some photos of me I actually like! 

 

31.) If you disembark with a cruise excursion, take advantage of one of the porters; big, big help in getting to your stuff, getting it loaded and getting where you need to go. 

 

32.) Customs was basically look at something, a machine took a photo, and go. Didn't have to fill out a form. Amazingly minimal experience and went pretty fast. 

 

34.) Enjoyed all our excursions; the Everglades tour was neat. Airboats are amazingly loud; a staff person handed out ear plugs (do not decline!). Saw 2 alligators, not counting the juvenile I spotted before we reached the boat. When we got back, there was an educational presentation and several animals were on exhibit. 

 

35.) We had an inside stateroom with a Royal Promenade window view on Deck 7 (room 587). Not much more expensive than a regular inside stateroom, and the wife and daughter like to people watch some. 

 

36.) Between Decks 15 and 16 as you head up to the Windjammer, there's a staircase with steps like piano keys that plays notes when you walk on it; the kid loved it. 

 

37.) Seldom felt any ship motion the whole week; cannot imagine even people very sensitive to motion sickness would've needed to take anything. 

 

38.) Luggage Valet was not an option. 

 

39.) Captain's announcements were daily but not excessive and obnoxious. 

 

40.) I did find the ambient noise level through the week when out on the ship often 'boisterous' - but our room was pretty quiet. There was modest noise from the Royal Promenade the first part of some nights, but not too bad. 

 

41.) If you book the Thrill Water Park at CocoCay, be aware of a few things. It didn't show up on our Royal App.'s Calendar, and we didn't get those cruise excursion tickets in our excursion envelope, but I went to the excursion desk and confirmed we were still booked for it. Your SeaPass card is your 'ticket' to get in. If you want to buy souvenirs on CocoCay, you'll need to exit the Thrill Water Park and take a modestly long walk around to another area. If you exit Thrill Water Park kinda late when it's close to time to head back to the ship...

 

42.) Flew into Miami the night before; stayed at Holiday Inn Port of Miami Downtown. Turns out I was later told they don't have a shuttle; we took a cab there, but the next day, somebody was taking people to the cruise terminal...which was $32 (that wasn't mentioned till we got there, IIRC, and was without any tip). I'm used to name brand hotels near airports having shuttles. Our taxi (a van) from the airport to the hotel was a buck cheaper with a nice tip! 

 

Symphony of the Seas is a great ship; it rocks. Recommended. 

 

That's not big on narrative and loaded with photos, but it's got the talking points I might've liked to know before the cruise.

 

[Cherries Jubilee]

Sounds like a good time! I’m boarding Symphony on Saturday. 

[deliver42]

The Symphony is by far my favorite ship.

[time4u2go]

8 hours ago, drrich2 said:

4.) The ship's water recreation area didn't have a lazy river; some other ship (Allure of the Seas? Or Adventure?) did.

Allure or Adventure has a lazy river?

[drrich2]

58 minutes ago, time4u2go said:

Allure or Adventure has a lazy river?

Well, to be fair, 'river' would be a bit grandiose...I've seen it called that (which is why I did), but the reality was more like 'lazy circular donut pool.' Digging through my 2019 photos wasn't productive, so I did a quick Google search - here's a YouTube video where someone shows it on Allure of the Seas. It's not one where you'd float around it atop an inner tube; rather it's a donut where current sweeps kids around (and it was fun for them and popular). I don't think Adventure of the Seas had one.

 

Apologies if I inadvertently gave the impression one of the ships now had a full-on lazy river with adults on inner tubes floating around the pool deck!

 

I don't know whether the amplification Allure of the Seas was scheduled for ever happened, or whether the lazy 'tub' will survive when slides are added, etc...

5 hours ago, Cherries Jubilee said:

Sounds like a good time!

It was! I still wish we could book shows in advance like in years past, rather than have to get on the ship, get on their Internet system with the Royal app., and book the shows that way once aboard. It wasn't all that difficult (though I somehow managed to miss getting us to the 1977 ice show), but that need to get us booked before availability dropped had me busy shortly after boarding, a day when things were busy and noisy (we couldn't go to our stateroom till maybe 1 p.m.? Our check-in time was in the 11 - 11:30 a.m. range).

 

Oh, forgot to mention the MDR dining time situation. In the past, I liked My Time Dining, but on Cruise Critic I'd read MTD users on recent cruises were seeing some lines. I booked us for early dining at 5:30 p.m., our table was 639 on Deck 4's MDR, and we walked right in every night...sometimes past (what I assume were MTD) lines. There weren't always lines nor were they extreme, but sometimes it looked like people might be waiting awhile. 

 

Richard.

Edited July 26, 2022 by drrich2

[drrich2]

I'll throw in some photos for visual relief. 

Manatee photo courtesy of Dolphin Discovery photography at Chankanaab park in Cozumel; we purchased the digital photos package from them.

Broslo 1983/1985, Norwegian. Dream. Lenticular panel. 

 

Edited July 26, 2022 by drrich2

[ramja96]

9 hours ago, drrich2 said:

Sun. Perfect Day at CocoCay. Did Thrill Water Park. Formal dress code I think.

 

 

Formal dress code for Perfect Day at Coco Cay???? Wow!  They're really stepping it up.  We usually just wear our swimsuits and flip-flops on the island. 😕😉

[drrich2]

2 minutes ago, ramja96 said:

Formal dress code for Perfect Day at Coco Cay????

Just the evening, of course. Now you've got an image in my head of me going down a water slide in a suit. Oddly enough, one of my main memorable moments was when our 9-year old spotted a chicken roaming free and fixated on it, pointing it out like it was a big deal (despite my pointing out the sea gull standing nearby; oh, no, the chicken ruled!). 

 

Despite the fact my parents have chickens, and Kadence has been around them quite a bit in the past. One never knows what a kid may decide is important. At Chankanaab Park in Cozumel she became obsessed with breaking open a coconut, went around the grounds beating one on the ground, drug us into helping a bit, one of the staff saw her and cut off the exterior, she kept at it, and finally succeeded. 

 

[drrich2]

[drrich2]

Photo courtesy of Royal Caribbean staff photographer; we bought the 100 digital photos package.

 

I forgot to mention we didn't see a Build-A-Bear store on Symphony of the Seas (which means ol'Dad probably saved some money!). Here we see Kadence holding Rex, her dinosaur ship captain Build-A-Bear from our 2019 Allure of the Seas cruise (the photo is from our Symphony cruise). 

 

When I was a kid, when my parents wanted professional photos of me they hauled me (rarely) to Kmart (maybe elsewhere sometimes? Been too long to remember). A 100 digital photo package on Royal has repeatedly proven to be an excellent value for us in getting professional photos of our family, and in the setting of memorable vacations, not just posed portraits. 

[drrich2]

Well, just found out from RoyalCaribbeanBlog.com's page this blurb:

 

"Pets at Sea

Remember when Build A Bear was a really big deal? As a parent, I remember my kids always wanting to go get a new pet every time we went to the mall, and I guess that trend made it to Royal Caribbean as well.

Royal Caribbean's first Oasis Class ships had a dedicated shop in the Boardwalk neighborhood where you could create your own stuffed animals, many with a nautical theme.

Pets at Sea was a souvenir option where guests picked an animal and outfit, and then stuffed the pet with a fun machine before taking it home with them.

 

Alas, the shops were replaced during ship refurbishments to make way for other retail experiences."

 

Figured I'd better post, in case anyone assumed Allure of the Seas would have Build-A-Bear going forward (I don't know whether it still does) and get some kid's hopes up. 

[aubreyc1988]

Thanks for the recap. 

 

I do want to add, if  the freestyle machines are broken or out of stuff, that is all on the cruiselines and supply issues. I've worked at a restaurant that has those machines and ones that didn't. These machines, well they are SO user friendly and easy to maintain. Royal may be saying out of service because they don't have the cartridges but my own personal experience with the machines is that they are well made and really easy to fix when they are "Broken" or malfunctioning. 

[liv789]

Does anyone know how much the drink package is now on the symphony?

Thanks

[Oceansaway17]

15 hours ago, deliver42 said:

The Symphony is by far my favorite ship.

Yes I liked and smashed up VW bug in the promenade as well as the musical steps leading up to the WJ.

I also love the show called "FLIGHT"

[LeeW]

Funny about Freestyle on Symphony.  Back in August 2021 the left machine on left side in Windjammer looking toward stern had a busted sensor.  Wouldn't recognize cups.  Still busted in April 2022.  Apparently they needed a vendor to fix the problem and it is really hard to get one out there on Sunday turnaround days.

 

Thought the airline scenes and Rosie riveter scenes were terrible in Flight and they were half of show.  Floating in space and the manned Wright Flyer over the audience were great.  No desire to see this one again.

Edited July 27, 2022 by LeeW
more

[drrich2]

13 hours ago, Oceansaway17 said:

Yes I liked and smashed up VW bug in the promenade as well as the musical steps leading up to the WJ.

I've seen various auto.s on the Royal Promenades of 5 other RCI ships, so I was a bit baffled to encounter this one on Symphony.

 

I took the 1st photo; a crewman who saw me offered to take the 2nd. 

 

Regarding the show Flight, it started at some future point, then did segments in reverse sequential order back to the Wright brothers, hitting different parts of aviation history. For our 9-year old, I doubt it made a lot of sense. Adults with a bit of nostalgia for history would probably love it. Some inspirational quotes were included.

[Babyjax12]

Very helpful info for those of us sailing this ship in the future. Thx! 

[Oceansaway17]

1 hour ago, Babyjax12 said:

Very helpful info for those of us sailing this ship in the future. Thx! 

well make sure you enjoy the musical steps in back of ship near the WJ

 

 

[JLvacation]

- We just got off a 9 Day out of Baltimore on the Enchantment of the Seas , as Well in a few weeks We are going out of Orlando on the Harmony of the Sea’s for 7 Days ! We booked a cruise on the Symphony of the Seas for our Anniversary next year ! How would you say the Symphony of the Sea’s compares to these Ships ? Just Curious !       Thanks Sincerely for any info !                   J.L. & Bree 

[TheHawk1]

On 7/26/2022 at 8:41 AM, drrich2 said:

I still wish we could book shows in advance like in years past, rather than have to get on the ship, get on their Internet system with the Royal app., and book the shows that way once aboard.

Amen.  Was on the Symphony in early 2020 when you could still book all your shows on the cruise planner in advance and it was such a breeze.  For my upcoming Sept cruise on Wonder, I have to wait until I'm actually on the ship to use the dumb app, which is not what I want to be doing on my first day of vacation.

[yogimax]

On 7/27/2022 at 12:04 AM, LeeW said:

Thought the airline scenes and Rosie riveter scenes were terrible in Flight and they were half of show.  Floating in space and the manned Wright Flyer over the audience were great.  No desire to see this one again.

Yes, I know smoking was allowed back then but not to amount depicted.  Detracted from the show.

Edited August 10, 2022 by yogimax

[mytee4ever]

Thanks for the "stream of consciousness" review! We are going our first Royal cruise in October on Symphony, so your observations were very helpful. I have also purchased the 100 photo package. Is there an option for us to bring a flash drive to download the photos before we leave the ship? And not that I am super musical, but will definitely check out the staircase.

 

Towanda

[drrich2]

On 8/10/2022 at 2:17 PM, JLvacation said:

We just got off a 9 Day out of Baltimore on the Enchantment of the Seas , as Well in a few weeks We are going out of Orlando on the Harmony of the Sea’s for 7 Days ! We booked a cruise on the Symphony of the Seas for our Anniversary next year ! How would you say the Symphony of the Sea’s compares to these Ships ?

I haven't been on those; Harmony and Symphony should be a great deal alike. 

 

Haven't done a Royal Caribbean cruise on a vessel smaller than Voyager class, and I see Enchantment is Vision class. IIRC, Vision class don't have the Royal Promenade, and you wouldn't get Central Park or the Boardwalk neighborhoods, either. The ship I've been on most similar to how I envision that class to be was the Celebrity Constellation many years ago. It was a fun cruise, but I really like the Royal Promenade. We've done Voyager class, that have the RP but not Central Park or the Boardwalk, and that's okay (Adventure of the Seas did have water park-style offerings).

 

From prior threads, I got the impression Vision class appeals to people who like cheaper cruises (yah!), a more traditional cruise experience (e.g.: not enthused with big rock climbing walls, giant water slides, etc...), and the option to hit some points huge ships don't. 

 

An Oasis class vacation demands more of you in terms of planning. Voyager class cruises, we'd eat at the Windjammer or Main Dining Room, then go to 'the show' playing that evening at a couple of times. Other than going out of my way to book us for a showing of the ice figure skating at Studio B, there was no juggling multiple shows offered at various times and days. 

 

Oasis class also have several speciality restaurants to choose from, and with a dining package to drive down the price, those can be quite good. The grilled octopus at Giovani's a few years back rocked. 

 

On the other hand, last I heard, Oasis class ships can only be accommodated at a select range of destinations, and given their passenger numbers they don't tender, so after a few cruises, if you want to hit new islands, you may have to scale down a bit. 

Edited August 11, 2022 by drrich2

[drrich2]

On 8/10/2022 at 5:32 PM, mytee4ever said:

Is there an option for us to bring a flash drive to download the photos before we leave the ship?

I did not notice such an option offered. I was told I'd get an e-mail in a time frame after getting home, and could download the pics that way. This worked out; I had the option even then to buy additional photos had I wished to (but I'm too cheap). 

[Beth 2001]

Did they enforce assigned boarding times at the port? DH and I are thinking of booking a last-minute cruise on the Symphony next week so I'm guessing we'll end up with a late boarding time. We are Diamond Plus (don't know if that lets us board early anymore).  

 

Also, were they still offering the UDP on board or was it only sold pre-cruise? Thanks!