Stealthdog

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.

Hey all, we are getting ready to leave on a 7 night Symphony of the Seas out of Miami this Saturday. I normally do a review of our sailings. I don't think we are going to get a Wifi package this time, so probably won't be providing updates every day, but rather port days when wifi is available or at the end of the cruise. That said, feel free to post any questions or comments - anything before mid day Saturday I will definitely see and will make sure to look into while on board. This is the sailing itinerary: Sat (17th) - Miami Sun (18th) - Sea Day Mon (19th) - Costa Maya Tue (20th) - Roatan Wed (21st) - Cozumel Thu (22nd) - Sea Day Fri (23rd) - Coco Cay Sat (24th) - Miami We are flying from DCA to Miami first thing Saturday morning (530AM flight - ouch) with an 1100AM "wellness check" time. I assume the wellness check time is also boarding time. We are both vaccinated and will have our cards with us - will be interesting to see how boarding process is different from our last cruise. We will have a few hours to spend in Miami before we can board, so that will give us that time to pick up anything we forgot to pack (usually sunscreen) and test the water/wine carry-on policy. We didn't get a drink package and will roll a little suitcase on the ship with us. We are staying in an Oceanview Balcony and are Platinum C&A status. NCL Epic and Independence of the Seas are the largest ships we have been on, so this will be a completely new experience for us. We got the Ultimate Dining Package, and have mapped out the 7 days, so plan to make reservations first thing we get on board. We plan on doing Chops, Hooked Seafood, and Jaimes for seaday Lunches (on port days we'll do Johnny Rockets, Sushi, Playmakers, and/or free restaurants for lunch). For dinners we will check out Wonderland, Chops, 150 Central, Hooked Seafood, and Jaimes. We did all of our port days through the shore excursion group for this sailing. I don't think we have used them before. In Costa Maya we are doing "Chacchoben Extreme Tour" which includes time at the Seven Color Lagoon. In Roatan we are doing "Monkeys, Sloths, and Iguanas" at one of the local sanctuaries. In Cozumel we are doing "Snorkle El Cio and Columbia Reef with Playa Mia" - we usually stay on the ship at Cozumel, but are looking forward to snorkle time. We will probably go to the main production and evening shows, and check out the other entertainment on the ship. We will post daily activities, menus, or other pictures when we can. Let me know if you have any questions!