Stealthdog

Stopping a line cutter is fine. Thats not the issue. There is a professional way of doing that. Telling a line cutter they should have gotten up earlier is a poor choice of words from a customer service employee.

Crew members are not there to provide commentary or to tell the truth. They are not your friends. They are there to provide a service. Ridiculing or giving rude comments to paying customers is not a good business model.

150 Central Park. Dinner Day 2 & Day 4. Hands down the best restaurant on the Symphony of the Seas. We had such a great experience, we almost cancelled our 2nd night at Chops to a do a 3rd night at 150 Central (In a very rare overrule with the better half, I pulled a trump card because I wanted a perfect filet our last night). We ate both nights in 150 Central inside. Their seating inside is really weird, but we had bucket seats (pictured below the first night). I don't know why their tables are all different, but didn't care - being sucked into these maroon huge seats was awesome. I think they had outside seating, but am not 100% positive. The 2nd night we weren't seated at the huge bucket seats. The ambience inside both 150 Central and Chops was very classy and well done. It felt like we were in a classy restaurant. The first night I think we had the pork belly and short rib appetizers. For us, they were not showstopping, but they were good. I do think the pork belly at Chops was better than 150 Central because I liked the BBQ taste better at Chops. The first dinner at 150 Central we got the Lamb Wellington and Lobster Thermador. The lamb wellington was amazing. I usually prefer the lamb medium rare and didn't even notice its temperature because of how good it was prepared. The Lamb Wellington and the Filet at Chops are the two best meals on the ship (in my opinion). The better half got the Lobster Thermador - he said it was good....but I think he liked the 2lb lobster at Hooked better. The 2nd dinner at 150 Central was the game changer. We ordered the Duck Duo, Seared Venison, and shared a small portion of the Tenderloin for two. All 3 were amazing and we would order them again if given the chance - tenderloin was best, followed by venison, then duck. Both nights we got the cheese board. It was awesome. They wheel a cart of cheese and fruit to you and slice off 5 different cheeses. Jaime's had the meat plank, 150 Central had the cheese plank. I think 150 Central's cheese plank was the best desert option on the ship - it was fantastic and we would order it any night we were there.

We always booked through a TA for 2 important reasons: 1) we get additional goodies from the TA in addition to whatever promotions the cruise has. Sometimes its a bottle of wine, chocolate strawberries, additional OBC. 2) If we encounter any problems or issues with the cruise, the TA deals with it. Sometimes its hours of calls with the cruise line to address or fix things. I'm happy with the TA getting his/her commission (the cruise price is still the same whether you book through a TA or direct), knowing that he/she spends the hours on hold or talking to customer service to resolve any issues we may have.

I was really impressed with Jaime's. We ordered the lamb chops medium rare. It seemed to come out medium to medium-well. We mentioned it to the server just to let them know, but it wasn't a huge deal because the lamb wasn't dry and didn't taste overcooked. But, I guess the server passed it on and one of the chefs came out to apologize, and we were able to discuss recipes with her, so it was a win-win. 🙂

Agree to disagree I guess.

The enforcement of the policies seem to depend port to port. We took 12 1-liter bottles and 2 1.5-liter bottles on our cruise out of Miami last week. Carry-ons went through the security scanners and no one asked us to open them. I'd recommend taking water on with you, especially if you are particular on brands. My better half is very particular about what water he likes, and the bottles offered on board appeared to be generic brands. We were happy to carry our own on board.

I hate line jumpers, but I'm not sure people potentially missing their flights would be my favorite experience. 😞 I don't know the whole situation you had, but if I was not in a rush and people had early flights, I probably would have offered them to jump in. If the crew member actually said they should have gotten up earlier, that crew member should be fired, or at best go through some remedial customer service training.

Wonderland - Dinner Day 1. This is probably going to be a controversial review, because Wonderland seems to be a favorite on Cruisecritic. It was ok, but definitely won't go again. The presentation of the food was outstanding and the service was good, but everything else about the restaurant was kind of meh. The concept is fun, but Royal Caribbean needs to go all in. They should go over the top with the design of the restaurant and make us feel like we are really in Wonderland (it is Wonderland after all - get crazy with it). Instead I felt like I was in a regular restaurant with a character walking around as the Mad Hatter and a server dressed as Alice. We spent about 2 hours in the restaurant. We started with coloring our menu with water so the words appear. We followed that with the recommendation of the server and received the first part of the meal tapas style - where she brought out a few waves of different foods to try. While you are eating, a crew member dressed as the Mad Hatter stops by your table with a stuffed rabbit, speaking for the rabbit. It was interesting the first time, but you hear him say the same exact thing to every table around you and it got very monotonous and boring. The presentation of the food was a 10 out of 10. Very interesting concepts and way of preparing and presenting food. The taste of the food was a 3 out of 10, which was very disappointing. We were expecting bold and contrasting flavors with things we have never tasted before. We didn't experience that - everything was kind of bland and boring, almost safe. The food itself (not including the presentation) was probably the worst we had in the specialty restaurants. I give RCL credit for the concept and really interesting and well done food presentation. They need to step up the culinary part and completely redo the restaurant and atmosphere to make people think they are actually in Wonderland. We have done similar kinds of eclectic or out of the box dining on Celebrity (the old Qsine and Le Petite Chef) and Disney (Animators Palate) and they were all better executed than Wonderland on the Symphony. We would like to acknowledge our server Queenie for taking great care of us while we were there. We also had a surprise when they brought out a cake at the end - we were celebrating our anniversary and were not expecting the cake. It was a very nice touch.

Jaime's Italian. Lunch Day 1, Dinner Day 6. We loved Jaime's Italian - it was our 2nd favorite restaurant on the ship. Jaime's is one of the restaurants located in the Central Park. Most people ate inside, but we elected to sit outside for both lunch and dinner. For dinner, there was often a Spanish Guitarist playing in the Central Park, so it was nice to be able to listen and have a nice meal at the same time. There is alot of foot traffic that pass by outside, so if you are bothered by people walking by your table and prefer a more quiet dining experience, eat inside. They did do a good job of maintaining temperature in Central Park, even though it was outside, and it never felt uncomfortable eating out there. Lunch and Dinner menus for Jaimes are attached. We always ask for recommendations from the server at every restaurant we go to because they have a good feel for what people are liking or not liking. The server at Jaime's for Lunch told me to get the Burger and that it was the best burger on the ship. I took him up on that offer and it was outstanding. We tried a few other burgers on the ship (Chops, some lunches, and other places) and I can confirm that the best burger on Symphony of the Seas goes to Jaime's Italian! The other half got the lasagna (another recommendation from the server) and was happy with it - but I got the better deal with the burger. For appetizers, we got the Arancini and the Prawns. They were ok....nothing special. Dinner is where food really got good at Jaime's. We got the Meat Plank, Burrata, and Bruschetta (all the things Vintages said we couldn't get there). All three were very good - I think our favorite appetizers on the ship (not including playmakers) were at Jaime's. We would order all three again if we went back. For dinner, I got the short ribs and my partner got the lamb chops. Both were also fantastic. The lamb chops were a little overcooked, but not so bad that it ruined the taste. We also got a small plate of the carbonara - it was ok, but something you can get at just about any Italian restaurant. The lamb chops and short ribs were definitely the star for dinner. I don't have the desert menu, but I think we got some kind of lemon meringue cheesecake and the warm brownie. We were hesitant with the brownie because we got it elsewhere on the ship and it was dry. Both deserts at Jaime's were fantastic. We would definitely recommend trying Jaime's on the Symphony. Special shoutout to Server Felicisima - if you go to Jaime's Italian, ask to be seated in her section and she will take care of you. Edit - slight issue with the selfie - looks like with android all selfies get posted upside down...trying to figure it out 🙂

Dining reviews. We pre-purchased the Unlimited Dining Package when it was on sale for "50%" off. In total, for the two of us the package cost a little less than $500. We wanted to make the most of it and use it for every lunch and dinner we could. We have been to hibatchi so many times on land and on cruise ships, that we don't normally do it anymore on cruise ships (same with cruise lines that do the brazilian steakhouse). The better half is convinced the UDP is worth it, I am still on the fence. We skipped Lobster night in the MDR and there were a few other nights that the menu in MDR looked good. But, we got 40% of wine bottles in the restaurants and access to Playmakers without paying. We will be on the Odyssey in December, and we don't know if we will buy the UDP (partly because there seem to be fewer specialty restaurants on the Odyssey). We used the UDP for: Day 1: Lunch - Jaime's Italian Dinner- Wonderland Day 2: Lunch - Hooked Seafood Dinner - Central 150 Day 3: Dinner - Chops Day 4: Dinner - Central 150 Day 5: Dinner - Hooked Seafood Day 6: Lunch - Chops Dinner - Jaime's Italian Day 7: Dinner - Chops In addition, we used it at Playmakers on the Boardwalk a couple times after the late show. We did not use it at Johnny Rockets (we did try the complimentary breakfast there). We did try to use it at Vintages for the appetizers (they called it tapas, but it was the same appetizers from Jaime's Italian), but were told we could not use. It was really weird, and the Restaurant Manager stopped by my table one night to apologize about it. Vintages is listed on the compass as both a restaurant and bar. Confirming the absurdness with the Restaurant Manager, we could have ordered the meat plate and bruschetta at Jaimes, took it to Vintages and ate it there, but we could not order the same exact meat plate and bruschetta at Vintages. I am going to follow up with RCL on this one. Beyond the UDP, we had one breakfast at the Main Dining Room, one breakfast at Solarium Bistro, one at Johnny Rockets, and rest at the Park Cafe. We also tried the Dog House a few times on the boardwalk. We did not go to the Windjammers or the MDR for lunch or dinner. I'll go through each of the specialty restaurants and give some thoughts, menu pics, food pics, and other recommendations. Please keep in mind that this is just our opinions, and everyone has different tastes and likes, and don't take it personally by our reviews - this is only intended to be a critical review to give people things to think about.

NCL prices are out of control right now. I have 4 Cruise Next certificates with them and I am having a hard time finding a NCL sailing worth it. I see cruises on Azama and Oceana with similar prices to NCL. I think NCL has jacked up the prices because of the certificates and future cruise credits out there and people feel obligated to spend the cost because their certificates/credits are expiring. I expect their prices will drop next year. Keep in mind though that the NCL prices with Free at Sea may be giving more value than a RCL cruise only fare.

One of the biggest decisions we had to make pre-cruise was To Beverage Package or Not To Beverage Package? We elected to go without a beverage package and it worked out for us. Before boarding we stopped at Whole Foods (299 SE 3rd Ave, Miami, FL 33131) and picked up 4 bottles of wine, 12 one-liter bottles of water, and two 1.5 liters of bottled water. The price for that was about $90. On board, we bought 3 bottles of wine at specialty dining restaurants for ~ $90. With the UDP, we were able to buy bottles of wine at the restaurants at 40% off. We kept these at the restaurants. Our TA also gifted us a bottle of wine to our cabin. In addition to that we spent about $250 on drinks over the 7 days (ports, mixed drinks, wine by glass, espresso, and frozen drinks), so our total cost for drinks came out to about $430 for the two of us, and we averaged about 4 alcoholic drinks per day per person. For us, we saved significantly by not paying for the package, which gave us more disposable spending for the casino. I'd recommend everyone do the math before buying a beverage package. If it makes sense, go for it. It can add up quickly if you do Bloody Mary/Mimosas during breakfast, something with lunch, drinks during dinner, frozen drinks at the pool, and some at the bars after dinner.

Upon boarding the ship on the 17th (around 1030ish), we immediately went to book dining reservations. We booked all 7 nights and 3 at sea lunches at the same time. The reservations they gave for lunches were all 1200, which is when the restaurants open. The lunch times seemed really flexible and the host who was booking our reservations said they were just placeholders and we could go whenever we wanted. The dinner times were all very undesirable times (most were 5-530 or 830-9), so we just booked the crappiest timeslot we could. After dining reservations, we went to the Attic to book the entertainment. Like the dining, we booked something each night and we found the timing was a challenge because of conflicts with the dinner reservations. The reservations for the entertainment are done on the royal app. The crew who was assisting with the entertainment was able to override some of the dining/entertainment conflicts - if the show was withing 2 (sometimes 3) hours of your dining reservations, it required an override. Next we did our obligatory muster drill training and sign and was off to Jaime's for lunch. After going through the dining and entertainment experiences and seeing the status of the restaurants during the evening and the long lines of people trying to get into shows they didn't have reservations for, I highly recommend booking the Entertainment First, then the Dining Second. The reason for this is: 1) The restaurants were often only 1/2 - 2/3rd full during the peak dining times, with some exceptions. We were able to change our dining times to better slots during the week and were able to show up early and/or late most nights without any problem. It felt like they blocked off tables between 600-800 from reservations for most restaurants. We probably could have gone to the restaurants between 600-800 without reservations as walk-ins if we wanted. 2) Every show seemed to have a very long line of people (from the looks 50+) who were trying to get in and did not have reservations. Even if they did eventually get in, they probably got very poor seating. So based on this, get all your shows booked right away to make sure you are reserved for what you want to see, then work dinner around those. Seating in the shows were all first come, first serve (with exceptions for blocked off seating for suite (and key?) guests. So as long as you are booked, you can get to the venue early for good seats if you want. After Jaime's we did our walks around the ship. The Symphony, and probably Oasis Class in general, is the easiest ship to learn and get around. Once you remember which decks the Boardwalk, Promenade, and Central Park are located, you pretty much have the ship down. The way the ship is organized is very well done. Attached are some ship pics from the first day. One last note - avoid guest services the first day if possible - everyone on the ship seemed to be there at the same time and it was a hot mess.

Yes - no issues at playmakers. Went there a few times and loved it.

Crew on Symphony told me there are currently 5 ships where masks are optional for crew. It looks like they will phase that to all over time.

I am already getting withdrawal! Thanks for continuing your pics and reviews. 😉

We can confirm this for the Symphony this week - blackjack was hit on soft 17. For the other question, Symphony had 1 deck tables and 8 deck tables. I assume Harmony is similar unless someone recently on has a different experience.

150 was by far our favorite restaurant on Symphony as well. We will post our reviews tomorrow.

Port of Miami. The port of Miami seems like a hot mess depending on when you arrive and depart. Royal Caribbean is Terminal A for all the Oasis class ships. Its towards the end of the port island for cruise ships, so not walkable from the downtown area. Arrivals information: Flights to Miami can be done either through Fort Lauderdale Airport (FLL) or Miami Airport (MIA). We have flown into both for cruises out of Miami. It is often cheaper to fly into Fort Lauderdale than Miami, and then take an uber/lyft/etc to the port of Miami (a few years ago an uber from FLL to port of Miami was about $60-70), so price out both airports and find out what is best for you. If you plan to arrive the day prior (or before) to the cruise, both airports are viable options and there are tons of hotels, and other private stay options, between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. Our personal preference is staying in South Beach (Miami), but you have options. Fort Lauderdale and Miami are only about 25-30 miles apart. If you fly in the day of your cruise, Miami is probably a less stressful airport experience. Our arrival time to the port for our cruise was 1100-1130. It was a nightmare. There seemed to be alot of passengers leaving the ship late and we were stuck in traffic at the port for 20-30 minutes just trying to get to the RCL terminal. Terminal A is not a very functional terminal - the whole area is a chokepoint for taxis and ride share vehicles. If you are not driving to the port to the parking garage, you will be dropped off in the same area as everyone departing the ship, so it will be very easy to find. The porters are all at the curb and will take your luggage for you as you leave your taxi/rideshare and direct you to where you need to enter the building. We arrived at the port around 1015 and were immediately processed into the checkin areas (and were on the ship around 1100). Miami is one of the easiest and quickest ports to process through. It seems like the designated arrival time is a recommendation (NOTE: other ports are much more strict on arrival times, so Miami may not be representative of other ports). For Miami, I highly recommend you arrive well before your assigned time so you can get on board and make your entertainment and restaurant reservations. I saw nothing there that suggested the port workers were even looking at assigned times for the sea passes. For this cruise, we flew out of DCA at 530AM the day of the cruise, and arrived in Miami around 8AM. We stopped at a whole foods in downtown Miami to pick up wine and water (discussed in another post) before arriving to the terminal. While going through the port, we only had to show our passport and sea pass (we already uploaded our vaccine cards, so we did not have to show any kind of COVID card or negative test). We also did not have to verify credit card information because it was already provided online. Departures Information: When you leave the ship, you will walk through the luggage warehouse. Your luggage number group are displayed and you just need to go to your section and find your luggage. Once you collect your luggage you will move through immigration and customs. This was the first time we did not have to present a passport - we walked thru cameras that conduct facial recognition, and after you will hopefully just move to outside the building to parking, taxis, rideshares, etc. If you are not a US citizen, I did not see what the process was to move through customs and immigration. Once you move thru customs, you are immediately back to the outside area where you arrived on embarkation day. You will have options of taking the cruise shuttle (need to reserve on board), taxis, or ride shares. The taxi line was very long, but seemed to be the cheapest option. The ride share option leaving at 730-800 was very quick. You will need to move to Zone 1-5 outside the luggage building to find the car from your app. We took an uber to the MIA airport at about 800 and it cost ~$25. Our uber driver said he stops driving to the RCL terminal after about 9AM because of how congested it gets, so if you have a late ship departure, your time to get a taxi or rideshare car may be alot longer. But.......for us we left the ship around 730 and we already through airport security (we are TSA pre) and at an airport lounge by 900, for a 1200 flight. Outside of the chokepoint for cars, Miami is a fairly easy port to get on and get off ships.

We just got off the Symphony and Vintages was very confusing. The compass lists Vintages in both the restaurant and bar categories. I tried to order the meat plate and bruschetta at Vintages and was told i couldnt use the UDP. I actually spoke to the restaurant manager about it and how its confusing on the compass. We ended the conversation with this clarification - couldnt order the platter and bruschetta from Vintages, but could walk the 30 feet to Jaimes Italian, order the same platter and bruschetta from them, and just take it to Vintages and eat it there. It was absurd.

For us, it used to be worth it. We enjoy Blu and the thermal suite access. But, recently Celebrity seems to have priced us out. Our upcoming Beyond sailing will be our first celebrity sailing we wont be in aquaclass. We are doing concierge instead and will just buy spa passes with the cruise savings. We will have a better idea this December if we should have gone aqua again.

Departure is a breeze out of the Miami port. Deboarding started a little late, but went quick once they started. No need for passports - they do facial recognition so you can keep your passports in your bags. We had a 730 ship departure, and by 900 we were already at the Turkish Airlines Lounge at Terminal E Miami Airport sipping a mimosa (me) and espresso. The Carnival ship still did not start deboarding when we were enroute to airport so that probably saved time with less congestion. When we get home this afternoon, we will move and organize all our photos to the laptop. Will start posting the reviews tonight and tomorrow. Ill go through each of the restaurants, all of the shows, other entertainment, general ship reviews, and the ports and excursions. For those boarding today (and going back to back), hope you all have a great time! Quickest recommendation for anyone boarding a RCL ship is reserve your entertainment (first) and dining (immediately after) the moment you get on the ship. Dont wait.

No. They were in backpacks and just went through the security scanner. For the water, we did the same thing - put it all in a roll on luggage and went through the security scanner. Noone asked us to open anything to inspect.

Roatan is 2 hours behind ship time. The paper compass tells you the difference (helpful hints for today on the right side of page 1). The online app only states ship time is different but doesnt give the hour difference. We stayed on ship time (Miami time) the whole time. The two Mexico stops are one hour behind ship time. All the tours knew when boarding time. For the Compass - there is a code in your room where you can download the compass to a smart phone. We went to guest services to ask for a paper copy, and they delivered it to our room like normal starting Day 2. Our tour voucher also provided local time and ship time in the instructions for when to meet our tour company. Based on that, i think it may be standard for all vouchers to have that. We didnt book anything through RCL, so not sure what their printout excursion tickets look like. The ship is great, lots to do. You are going to have a great time next year!!!