Symphony of the Seas Oct 5th to 12th, 2023

dmrrn73 · November 30, 2023

My husband and I went on this cruise to celebrate our 20th Anniversary (our actual anniversary was the 4th so I was glad the dates worked out.)

We stayed in Rome for 2 nights before the cruise at the Hotel Smeraldo. It was recommended by a few people on here on the Rome Hotels thread. We flew Business class from Rochester, NY with stops at JFK, Paris then to Rome on Delta/Air France. The stops on the way home were London Heathrow and JFK on British Airways/Virgin Atlantic/Delta.

We left on Monday October 2nd. I worked Saturday and Sunday, I work 16 hour Evening/Night shifts so I got out of Work Monday Morning at about 7:30 or so. I got home by 8:15 and in bed shortly after that. I woke up at about 3, I had done most of the packing on Friday when I had off and my husband did his over the weekend. I had a few last minute things to do (toiletries, etc) We left the house at about 4:30, Our flight was at 7:13. We got to the airport and were getting off the parking shuttle at the departure entrance when I realized we didn't have one of our bags. I ended up having to drive all the way back home to get it since I realized we left it in the guest bedroom. Luckily we don't live all that far from the Airport and it's a pretty small one. I got back to the airport just before 6. Thankfully there wasn't a line at bag check and security wasn't too bad either. The whole trip all our flights left pretty much on time. Business class was $$ but worth it for the extra space especially on the longer flights.

We landed at JFK and had to get a shuttle bus to the next terminal and had to go through security again. Then because of the business class we were able to go in the Air France Lounge. There were some nice seating areas with charging stations and a little buffet set up with dinner/snacks. Then we boarded our flight to Paris. On the flight we had the individual compartments. They gave us a dinner and then before landing they gave us breakfast. I did take a few pics and I will attempt to post them here. Hopefully it works.

Edited November 30, 2023 by dmrrn73

dmrrn73 · November 30, 2023

I tried editing the previous post to add pics but it took too long (tried 3 different ways to post them) and wouldn't let me edit anymore so I will add them here.

This was my plate in the lounge, Broccoli cheddar soup (was really good I had 2 bowls) chicken and veggies in sauce. Quiche.

dmrrn73 · December 1, 2023

Day 2 Oct 3rd.

We landed in Rome at about 5pm. We got our bags fairly quickly then it took some time to figure out the Uber situation there. We were seeing signs directing us to an area across the street saying this was where to pick up the Uber. But my husband's phone kept thinking we were back home. We had 2 guys that work at the airport trying to help us figure it out but the language barrier was difficult. Finally I figured out how to fix it and we had an uber fairly quickly after that. The drive to our hotel was about 20-30 minutes.

Check in was quick and painless. The front desk guy was great and he would be there every day we were there. Our room was in a different building across the street. It was a very nice and comfortable room with a good size bathroom and a great shower. I got a few pics

It was a rain shower but I didn't get a pic of that part. I wish I had gotten pics of the bedroom part but I didn't before my Husband laid down on the bed right away and I thought we would get some later but never did. There was a small balcony. I took these the next day.

We took a short nap then started looking around to see what to have for dinner. We decided to go check out the rooftop bar/restaurant and it turned out to be really nice. It wasn't too crowded. I had a cosmo and then Some spinach ravioli and my Husband had Lasagna. Both were really good. It was a gorgeous night.

We went back to the room after dinner and hit the sack shortly afterwards. We were both pretty tired from all the travel. We had an early tour in the morning.

Edited December 1, 2023 by dmrrn73

dmrrn73 · December 3, 2023

Day 3 Oct 4th

We were originally had a plan for The Papal Audience experience for this morning. Hubby's Aunt had arranged for it a few months ago for his Birthday. But on Sunday she got notified that it was canceled that wasn't due to a special mass that day that wasn't open to the public. On the last post I said we had an early tour but I was wrong. Our tour that day was later in the day. We did get up early and had breakfast at the main building at the hotel.

It was a nice breakfast buffet. Lots of choices. Breads bagels, pastries. Coffee, tea, OJ, Apple Juice and then they had a Peach juice that was really good. Then there were eggs, potatoes, etc.

After breakfast we went walking around the area near the hotel just to look around. There was a park down the road a little ways and we went in there and walked around and took a couple pics.

We saw lots of People walking dogs and just hanging out.

At this point we went looking for an ATM to get some Euros (We had to pay for our booked ride to the Ship and the ride to the Airport from the ship to the drivers in Cash in Euros). We tried to get some before we left home but it turns out we had to order them in advance. The guy at the desk at the hotel told us where to go. Well, we got there and our card didn't work. I had told the bank we would be out of the country and I think the guy put some kind of hold on it instead. I called our bank and the lady I spoke to said that she couldn't see any reason that it shouldn't work. I was really upset but luckily we had another card we could use for some things. All our tours, etc were already paid for so it was only things like our meals these first couple days.

Our tour for the day was a Golf Cart tour of Rome. It was a private tour that I booked through Viator and I highly recommend it. It was about 4 hours and We really enjoyed it. The guy picked us up in his golf cart at our Hotel and off we went!

I have to say that all of the pics for this report/review are cell phone pics (I have a Samsung Galaxy S21+) I have a better camera that I did take a lot of pics with but I haven't been able to upload them to a photo sharing site. I have tried but the uploads keep failing. If I figure it out I will add them later. My phone takes decent pics, though and I did manage to use both for most places we went so there are still plenty of pics for the report. I will say I don't remember most of what he told us about what we were seeing. I should have taken notes although it would have been difficult in the golf cart, he zipped around pretty quickly and the roads were pretty bumpy in most areas, cobblestone, brick, etc.

One of the first places we went was to the Castel Sant'Angelo. It was just a drive by, well, he stopped a few minutes to take pics from across the river and then he crossed the bridge on route to another stop. There is a statue of Michael the Archangel there and then on the bridge there are other statues.

One of the next stops was the Basilica S. Andrea Della Valle. I took a pic of the sign. Ohh wow this was gorgeous inside...

We went in a couple more churches, then to the Piazza Navono, and the Trevi Fountain (that was much smaller than I was expecting, and VERY crowded, I was lucky to get right up to the barrier though. We also drove by the Pantheon, and the Colosseum.

Church of Saint Nicholas des Lorrains. This was small and there was a gate across the entrance but we could see inside. It was a very pretty church.

I think this next one is Santa Maria Dell' anima

The Pantheon

The Trevi Fountain

Next post: Golf Cart tour continued

sgmn · December 3, 2023

Thanks for doing the report, and Happy 20th anniversary ❤️

We were on Symphony at the beginning of the European season. Was October a pleasant month to travel ? Not too hot not too chilly?

loman · December 3, 2023

Nice pics, thanks for sharing.

dmrrn73 · December 3, 2023

10 hours ago, sgmn said:

Thanks for doing the report, and Happy 20th anniversary ❤️

We were on Symphony at the beginning of the European season. Was October a pleasant month to travel ? Not too hot not too chilly?

Thank you!

It was really nice weather. Warm not too hot. Not chilly at all. No Rain.

dmrrn73 · December 3, 2023

2 hours ago, loman said:

Nice pics, thanks for sharing.

Thank You!

dmrrn73 · December 3, 2023

Day 3, Golf Cart tour continued.

The area around the Trevi Fountain was so crowded. It took some doing to get to it and then to squeeze our way through the crowd back to where the guide dropped us off and was waiting for us to come back.

Before the trip my husband had heard from multiple people about the pickpockets that are supposed to be pretty common there. We were pretty careful and didn't have any issues but hubby ordered a fanny pack that he wore mostly for our days in Rome and at the airport. A few times throughout the trip we were approached by men who would complement my husband's shoes (it was always the shoes, happened 3 or 4 times) and then try to give us a homemade bracelet "as a gift" "for free" then they would ask for money to send to their family back home, etc. Well at one point this first day the guy kept at us after we told him no and gave the bracelet back (the only time we accepted one) our driver/guide came over and made him go away.

We got back in the golf care and continued on our tour. A few more pics:

This was an area above the top of the Spanish Steps, they were down past that railing.

Another view over the city:

We drove around the Colosseum, wish we could have gone inside, oh well, next time. They were doing some construction.

More city views:

After the tour was over he took us back to the room. We took a little nap then went out to look for something for dinner. There was a bakery/cafe next to our building (across from the main building) and had some pizza. It was more of a flatbread but it was pretty good. We also bought a bag of little cookies and a couple sodas. We took it back to the room and ate it there. Then later we went out to get some Gelato at a place on the corner. It was really good, we each a small cup. I had 2 different flavors- Tiramisu and a caramel flavor. I think he got one that was chocolate banana but not sure if he got another flavor or not.

We went to bed pretty early, we had an early tour the next day. I had booked a Vatican tour for before we went to the ship.

dmrrn73 · December 4, 2023

Day 4 Oct 5th

We had a tour booked at the Vatican that I booked through Viator. The company was called City Wonders. We had an early breakfast then tried to get an Uber to get us to the area in front of the Vatican. For some reason the rides kept getting canceled and then it kept saying finding another driver. Many times, then it would say the ride was 15, 20, 30 minutes away. We were going to try to book a regular cab but by then we were going to miss our tour meeting time anyway. We still went there thinking that maybe we could still see some of it on our own. The Basilica at least. When we got there we saw some guys with clipboards on the steps with the name of the Tour company I had some hope that maybe our tour hadn't left yet. I approached one of them and asked about our tour and he said it did leave already but to wait off to the side and he would see if they could get us into another tour group. Luckily after about 15-20 minutes he came back and said that he was able to get us into another tour. Unfortunately, it didn't include the Basilica and was not a "Small Group" like I booked but at least we were able to get on a tour.

It was very crowded there today. I guess it's not that unusual. It was also pretty hot, they had various types of fans stationed every so often all down the halls.

The Vatican museums were beautiful. We saw lots of things, The guide took us through multiple rooms that were sleeping quarters of many past Popes. I did get a lot of pics, I have no clue what most of it is because our guide was usually too far ahead and was talking about things we hadn't gotten to yet. His English was decent but it was so crowded and the earpieces got somewhat staticky at times. I'll just post the pics I have. I got a lot more with my camera and I do still have hope that I will be able to post those at some point.

I was surprised that there were so many steps to go up and down there. after a few hours of it, I was Done. It seemed every where we went, it was up the steps, down the steps, up, down, ad nauseum...

I loved all the ceilings there...

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Hall of Maps

The view out of one of the windows

These next few are from some of a couple former Pope's private rooms:

After the tour we were led down towards where the Sistine Chapel was, well, it was up and down more steps and more hallways, following arrows. Finally we got there and I have to be honest, It was underwhelming. It was a big open room, the ceiling was really high and you couldn't take pictures so it's not like you could zoom in to get a good look. There wasn't really anything else in the room, not much on the walls. There were some benches but there weren't any free ones so to see you had to lean way back to look up. We didn't spend much time in there and started looking for the exit. By this time I was done. But it took forever to get out, back in and out of more rooms, up and down more steps. I was getting nervous by this point because it was after Noon at this point and we had a car picking us up at our hotel at 1:30 to take us to Civitavecchia to get on the ship and I didn't know how long it would take an Uber to get to us. FINALLY we got outside and luckily the Uber didn't take long. We just barely made it back to the hotel in time though.

I'll stop here for now and next post we will be getting on the ship.

Edited December 4, 2023 by dmrrn73

dmrrn73 · December 5, 2023

Thurs Oct 5th, cont'd

We got back to the hotel and got the key to the luggage room where we had stored our luggage for the day. We were in the room gathering up our bags and the front desk guy called my cell to say that our car was there. I had booked a car service to take us from the Hotel to the Port and then from the port to the airport. It was through Rome Cabs and cost 160 Euros for each ride. I thought it was worth it to have a private car (they were both Vans). Our problem was that we weren't able to get any Euros yet at this point. I was at first afraid about our card not working but it did work to pay at the hotel but we didn't have time that day to go back to the ATM before the car guy came. We didn't say anything to him at first, I was afraid he would refuse to take us if we didn't have Euros. We did have the right amount in cash in US dollars though so I hoped he would just take that. Turns out this guy had a little credit card scanner so it ended up working out.

Check in was really easy and fast. Just remember to do all the check in stuff online or on the App beforehand. There was almost nobody there. We got there about 3 I think. Our time wasn't until 4:30 but they let us check in when we got there. We completely forgot to print the luggage tags before we left home and I thought I would ask at the hotel if we could print them there but in the car on the way there I realized we had forgotten. I thought we might just have to carry all our bags with us but they had blank ones at a table at the entrance so they put them on there. We ended up just having them put them on everything, carry ons as well so it was nice we didn't have to carry them around with us.

We had gotten the "Refreshment Package" so we got our cups right as we got on the ship. Then we just went over to Sorrento's and had pizza and used our cups at the freestyle machines.

We then went to the area where they were making dining reservations and asked about switching our My Time dining to the Set time Dining but we were unable. What they did do was make a reservation for us for every night right then. So we had an 8pm reservation for our dinner in the 4th floor dining room.

After that was settled we went to see our room. I had booked us in a Balcony room on the 9th deck at the front of the first hump and it was a really great room. #9192

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dmrrn73 · December 6, 2023

A few more pics from our balcony and around the ship:

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We were out on deck for a little while, we watched a few people trying out the FlowRider, that was fun. It was pretty warm outside but the pool area wasn't all that crowded. We headed back to the room for a rest before getting ready for dinner. A few weeks before the cruise I had gone on the site and filled out the form on the Special needs page that my husband and I both had C-Paps. I got an email from them a few days later that said that they would have an extension cord and a jug of distilled water in the room. Well, it wasn't but a few minutes after we got in the room the Cabin Steward (Eddy) knocked on the door and introduced himself and asked if there was anything we needed and I mentioned it to him. When we got back after dinner that night it was there.

At about 7:40 or so we headed to the dining room for dinner. We had a table for 2 on the end of a row of 2 tables for 4 and another 2 top at the other end. Another couple was sitting at the 4 top next to us. Our Waiter was Igor and the Assistant was Brian. They were both from Brazil and very nice. Spoiler Alert: we did have them every night and we were very happy with them.

The ship left port while we were at dinner.

I had Shrimp Cocktail, the turkey and the dessert called Crema Catalana Everything was good, the dessert was basically a Creme Brulee. Tim got the Caesar Salad and the Spaghetti and the Brownie. Brian brought the apple cobbler for us to try and that was really good too. They did this most nights either with an app or a dessert. Some nights both.

After dinner we were really tired, we had a very long day and we had an early meeting time for our tour tomorrow so we just went back to the room and to bed early.

We ended up using the outlet on Tim's side of the bed for My C-Pap. The cord for it is pretty long and we just ran it behind our pillows. The 2nd outlet he used for his phone. Then we used the extension cord plugged in to the outlet at the desk for his c-pap. There were 2 US outlets and I think 2 USB's at the desk so we used one of the USB's for the camera and the other US outlet for my phone.

We slept pretty good but the bed was a little more firm than I like. After a few nights I asked Eddy if we could get some kind of mattress pad to help that and he did put something on that helped a little. I just lived with it at that point.

I will wrap up day 4 here and tomorrow will be our first port day in Naples.

TeeRick · December 6, 2023

Thank you for the report and great pics. Following along. We will be on Symphony soon in Feb 2024 in the Caribbean.

RedSails1968 · December 6, 2023

Great review so far. Symphony is my favorite ship!

dmrrn73 · December 6, 2023

8 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Thank you for the report and great pics. Following along. We will be on Symphony soon in Feb 2024 in the Caribbean.

6 hours ago, RedSails1968 said:

Great review so far. Symphony is my favorite ship!

Thanks for reading. It is a beautiful ship. I wish we could have had more time to enjoy all the amenities.

Symphony of the Seas Oct 5th to 12th, 2023

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