jennyumaa

No Broadway show on our spring break sailing. It's supposed to be Hairspray. Also, the aqua show Hiro had no divers, which was supposed to be the highlight of that show.

Happy to answer any questions about Symphony.

Yes two skating shows. Both are good although I enjoy 1977 more.

Oh yes, that one. It’s the first show we went to. We liked it, but not as much as 1977.

No. The ice rink was not open to the public. They said it's a covid policy yet to be reversed. The bigger disappointment was that laser tag was not open either.

Here's the Abyss part: For thrill-seekers, the ship boasts a zipline hovering above the boardwalk 9 levels below, as well as the Ultimate Abyss, plunging 10 stories onto the same boardwalk. If I’m going to be honest, I’m a scaredy-cat. I never rode an actual roller coaster until my sister dragged me to the Electric Eel in San Diego, and I haven’t ridden a large zipline since I hit my head on one and got staples. For the zipline, I’m usually scared of heights, and had just made myself go rock climbing the previous day. However, on the zipline, as I stepped into the open air on my harness and started moving forward, it didn’t feel bad at all. It’s so slow that it’s almost lame. Ultimate Abyss is fun–I rode it twice with my sister and twice with my mom–but if you’re looking for something to really get your blood pumping, I’d say neither the zipline or the Ultimate Abyss is it. Sure, there are parts that go fast and are pretty fun, but if you’re a thrill seeker, don’t have high hopes for them. Otherwise, if you’re a casual like me, you can enjoy these rides without fear.

I showed him your comment. He said: "Yeah I know. My writing becomes plain. That's what middle school literature class does to you..."

We are avid travelers, with many items on the to-do list. Cruising does not always get the priority. 😄This cruise was the 3rd rebooking from our Mediterranean cruise scheduled for 2020. Now we are debating whether to we should book another Mediterranean cruise or do Italy by land.

My youngest was 5 when she's on her first cruise, and absolutely loved it. (The review I linked above was written by my son when he's 8.) Teens, on the other hand, can be so different from each other. My son (the one who wrote the reviews) was so busy from morning to evening vs. my older daughter just sat in the Central Park with her phone (plus drink + chips from Park Cafe).

He said he’d add abyss and zip line later. He also forgot the milkshake from Johnny Rockets. 😄

Some photos from the trip:

Review from four years ago:

I have been on two cruises so far, this being my second. This is also the second cruise review I have done, except I have grown by 4 years. I’m not the only thing that’s grown, though. This ship, The Symphony of the Seas, is over twice as big as my previous ship. With a ship of this magnitude, even just wandering the ship is an activity by itself. This ship also has just as much quality as quantity. Every activity went smoothly, with all of the crew members being incredibly helpful. I’m going to be recapping my opinions on the ship, starting with the pool. The pools seemed average. Of course, take this advice with a grain of salt, because I didn’t spend much time in the pool and have no idea what makes a pool good. But if you call “good” a clean, solid-sized pool with a few shallow zones, the pools are pretty good. However, if you’re looking for a water sport to cool off in while seeking some thrills, both the Flowrider and the waterslides are superb. The Flowrider, as you probably heard, is a highlight of the Cruise. It’s a sensational, exhilarating ride where you get to ride waves in a controlled environment. While my family arrived at peak hours(Halfway into the first day) and got to enjoy a 1½ hour wait, the line is usually about 15 minutes, which is well worth the experience. But you should be careful, as I wiped out on the first day and scraped my elbow. That scrape prevented me from riding on the Flowrider for the rest of the cruise. But with the number of activities I did on the cruise, I wasn’t upset at all. The other water attraction on the cruise is the slides. These slides are your average waterpark slide, with a blue and yellow one which winds down six stories. But there is also another green slide, which had people whirl into a basin. I’ve been down the blue and yellow one, and both are fun rides, where you whirl down at a reasonable pace. I haven’t been on the green slide, so I will ask my little sister, who did ride it, to write a report on it: “I like the green slide because it goes REALLY FAST. Also it dumps you into a big bowl. AND, it has lights inside. And they are very colorful. AND the green slide is transparent sometimes.” And there you have it. The green slide is a fun slide that goes fast, equipped with lights and transparent panels. Although I’m not big into pools, I enjoy sports. If you’re also into athletics, this ship will deliver. Though seemingly simple, throughout my trip, I made frequent visits to the two ping pong tables located on deck fifteen. They were always being used, and surrounded by interesting people. The paddles were decent, but the ship should probably replenish its stock of ping pong balls more often. By the end of the cruise, so many ping pong balls were broken that it was hard to find one intact. During my visit, there were also two rock walls. One was closed, so I can’t say anything about that. The one that WAS open featured courses for beginner to intermediate climbers, but the walls are harder than they should be due to the fact a fourth of the grips are missing. Whether this was intentional or not, I couldn’t tell. In addition to the rock wall, the ship also features a court, a running track, a minigolf (green?), and a gym. On the court, I observed that it was usually filled with young adults playing basketball. The court also occasionally holds events for Teens, such as soccer and dodgeball. I never went to the gym, and the minigolf was like any other: Some clubs in a bin, little putting greens, and windmills. While the rest of my family never went there, I would highly recommend the running track. Not only is it filled with motivational messages, but you can see out on the open sea, with a great breeze. I highly recommend going there at night. In the pitch black, it’s impossible to see the water, and you can occasionally see another cruise ship, with the only sign of it being many dots of lights in the dark. On this cruise, I grew out of Adventure Ocean and went into Teen Club. And to be honest, at first, I was disappointed. The Teen Club itself is simply a number of tables, along with an assortment of chairs and TVs. But as a competitive spirit, the selling point of the club, and the thing that kept people coming back, was their contests. Now, if you’re not for activities hinging on social activity, you may not want to join. However, in my personal experience, most of the activities are fun. One thing I noticed was that after the first day, there seemed to be a certain group of people that otherwise didn’t get together that always showed up there. They also know the teen schedule very well, with the club starting events after 8:00. The club was also most active around 11:00, so if your kid has a curfew for the ship, you should remove it. But for some reason, despite all the tables, food and drinks were outlawed from the club. And speaking of food… The food was incredible. With the variety and skill with which the food is prepared, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who can’t savor all the food. Let’s start with Windjammer, the all-encompassing buffet. This buffet featured many dishes, ranging from everyday items prepared ten times better than they usually are, to exotic dishes that will satisfy your palate. While most of the food changes to give you a larger range of tastes, there is always food that stays on the menu. El Loco Fresh was the first restaurant I ate at on the cruise. The food is very nice, besides the chicken, which was dry. With beef tacos, quesadillas, and more, I would highly recommend you pay a visit to it. Do you know that hour for snacks, that hour of unhungry cravings? Or the time before dinner when you’re craving a quick bite? Well, Sorrento’s is perfect for that. Not only does it run from 11:00 am to 3:00 am, but it also has an array of small side options, along with small slices of pizza. Not only are the portions perfect for this restaurant, allowing you to grab a slice, then easily eat a full meal elsewhere, but the pizza is GOOD. Until this restaurant, I didn’t think much of gourmet pizza. But when I tasted the high-quality cheese, perfectly slightly melted, along with the perfect crunch, of the dough, this pizza place serves the perfect pizza on the go. While I didn’t go there often, when I went to Park Cafe, I always just grabbed some chips or some cookies. The cookies were incredible, but I simply never ate a meal there. While the creatively named Main Dining offered breakfast, lunch(on sea days), and dinner, I always considered it an exclusively dinner option. Why? Well, you know how breakfast goes. It’s not fancy, but you want to eat some good grub to start the day. Lunch is where you eat a good, yet informal meal, such as some El Loco Fresh and some Park Cafe. Dinner is where the good, more sit-down meals are. And Main Dining’s tastes were too good for anything besides dinner. While the menu swaps for newer foods, there are always options like the classic New York Steak and the delicious Roasted Chicken Breast. The starters are always both delicious and new, featuring food such as Shrimp Cocktail and Lobster Bisque. The meat is tender and delicious and prepared perfectly for things such as Prime Rib, and the dishes’ accompaniments are no slackers either. Whether it be mashed potatoes or carrots, every aspect of the meal is perfectly done. Not to be outdone, the desserts are the best and my favorite part of the meal. While I have some bias, being a sugar-hungry kid, nothing rivals the flavor of the Apple Blossom a la Mode. And let me tell you, even as all the desserts are amazingly mouthwatering in their own right, they can’t compare to the apple pie. There are sponge cakes coated in warm caramel, Triple layer chocolate cakes decked out with melted chocolate, and more. But as a suggestion, I suggest you start with that hot apple pie, covered with high-quality ice cream that blends into the best dessert I have ever eaten. With so many shows around 8, the staff was incredibly gracious about trying to hurry our orders at dinner. Speaking of shows, the ship offers many shows every evening. The ice rink on the ship, which was closed to the public due to COVID, was utilized nicely with the shows. However, in my opinion, the music was too loud and didn’t tie into the story in many of the shows. For example, in the show about flight, there was a creative alien segment, but for some reason, there was a “Try Everything” remix playing. However, if you’re not an avid indulger of shows and don’t have very high expectations, I would recommend the shows, which have impressive visuals, and in the case of the ice shows, great tricks. If you were to watch any show, I would recommend 1977. The show on ice features cool props, impressive ice skating tricks, and confounding magic tricks. While I didn’t like the premise or the storyline that much, the stunts alone are reason enough to watch it. I’ve spent too much time on the ship. Let’s talk about the destinations! The first stop the ship makes is at St. Maartens. It’s a lively city with rum punch hard enough to make an older sister pass out and still want more. It’s a town with a deep history of drink fests between the Dutch and the French. It’s a very fun place, where everyone loves drinking. The beaches are beautiful, there are a lot of free keychain coupons, and it’s just the whole quaint seaside village package. Its beaches are beautiful hues of blue and green, and the salt in them makes it easy to swim in. My family’s snorkel reservation got canceled due to a glitch, so we took the DYI approach and bought some snorkels. It was actually pretty cool, except for the fact my sister and I weren’t allowed to go 10 feet past the beach line. We also went on a JetSki rental, and after my dad figured out the controls, it was exhilarating. For only $50, we were the king of the waves for 30 minutes. The next stop is the famous St. Thomas. My family didn’t spend that much time on it. Instead, we took the boat over to St. John to spend the day. We didn’t have much time on the island, due to the hour-long boat rides to and from the island, along with the fact we chose to go on the tour bus. St. John is particularly famous for its beaches, especially Trunk Bay. However, as my tour guide says, “All the beaches here are good. The only thing special about Trunk Bay is its changing stations and showers.” During the tour, while we didn’t have enough time to go to a beach to play, the driver dropped us off at Cinnamon Beach for 15 minutes. And within those 15 minutes, I could already tell that it was the best beach I’ve ever been to. The water was a beautiful shade of turquoise, the sand was unique, shaped like flakes of sandy oats, and the temperature of the water was perfect. While our family had to miss the beach due to the tour, I would 10/10 recommend the tour. Do you get to miss a few hours on the beach? Yes! But the payoffs are much better. The tour will show you to some of the most scenic places on St John, all while regaling you on the geography and stories of the island. You can also stop at an old mill, now repurposed into a restaurant. Cococay just happened to be in horrible weather when we got there. All of it looked really fun, and I think usually it would be nice, but it was just rainy there. Overall, the cruise is a joyride. Whatever way you like to travel, this cruise can satisfy it. All the staff was kind and patient, and the food was scrumptious. On this ship, it’s hard for things to go wrong, feel bored, or want to go home. Within the span of a week, I only explored a portion of the ship, while keeping active almost every minute of the day. I’m wondering what you would do when you are on the Symphony of the Seas.