Newcruiser215

I just got off Symphony and I wore shorts every night I ate in the MDR. The staff doesn’t care and I’m definitely not worried about what other guests think.

You’re welcome & yes, I imagine this is how it was pre-Covid.

She’ll never allow it.

Hello Everyone. Just like the title states, we are fresh off the Symphony of the Seas and I wanted to briefly share my experience with everyone. Before I get into the actual cruise, I’ll share a little info about our travel party and our pre-cruise hiccup. I’m 34, my wife turned 30 today and we have 3 kids (10, 4 & 3) but they did not join us on this trip. We are frequent Disney world visitors so we decided to fly from Philadelphia to Orlando on Thursday and then Orlando to Miami on Saturday morning. This proved to be a major rookie mistake because our 9:30am flight to Miami was canceled and then 6 Uber drivers canceled our trip once they saw where we were going. One driver agreed to take us for $250 cash instead of going through Uber but I was not comfortable with that. Finally a driver agreed to take us, so 4 hours later and my bank account $286 lighter we made it to Miami around 11:45am. Now onto the show….. Embarkation - A little overwhelming. Very busy and very rushed but also, very efficient. We were on board by 12:10pm. First Impressions - Wow! Pictures and YouTube videos just don’t do it justice. Beautiful ship that shows no signs of aging. The Royal Promenade was a mad house and trying to make specialty dining reservations at one of the desks was chaos. Didn’t seem well organized and we ended up with the wrong reservations. Getting our freestyle cups was also a hassle. They were not in our stateroom so I went back down to promenade, walked over to where they were signing up guests for a beverage package and asked for two cups. I was directed to Boleros, but Boleros was all out so back to the desk I went. It seemed like they did not want to give out their cups to people who already had the package but after some hesitation, they finally gave me what I paid for. Gee thanks. Stateroom - We had a Oceanview balcony (2D) on deck 10. Very spacious, bed was comfortable, everything was in great condition and our room was cleaned twice a day. Entertainment - Hairspray (A+) was performed several times through the week, Hiro (A) was also shown multiple times, however, it was canceled one night due to a safety issue, 1977 (B) was shown 3 times towards the end of our sailing, as was Flight (B). We also saw the Love & Marriage game, which was very enjoyable. Specialty Dining - Chops was our favorite, with Jamie’s a close second. Hooked was a big miss for me but my wife really enjoyed her 2 pound Maine lobster. The crab cake was not good, my surf was very mushy and my turf was not flavorful at all. Izumi Hibachi was another miss. I’ve never had bland fried rice before that night. The chef was very entertaining but the food just did not do it for me. Complimentary Dining - The windjammer was okay. Solarium bistro was open everyday for breakfast, lunch & dinner and it was much more enjoyable than Windjammer. El loco was very popular with long lines everyday and the food was pretty good. The main dining room for dinner was hit or miss. The beef tenderloin was amazing, however, the following night the lamp chops were not good. My wife had the NY strip twice, one night it was very good but not the next time so there was some inconsistency. We also took advantage of the unlimited soft serve ice cream cones. Other dining - Playmakers overall was a good experience. I didn’t love the onion rings but everything else was good. Finally, my biggest dining disappointment…. Coco Beach Club. I was not expecting 5 star dining but I wasn’t expecting that both of us would have to send our lobster back because it was simply not edible. We were not the only guests who experienced this that day. Pools - We loved all of the pools especially the solarium pool. What we didn’t love was people reserving pool chairs at 7am even though there are numerous signs telling people not to do it. By 10am, good luck finding a couple chairs. Ports / Excursions- St. Maarten, we booked the Great Bay Beach experience. Decent beach, the only downside was locals asking you every 2 minutes if you wanted a massage or purchase a hat, bag, beads, etc. St. Thomas, we did the 5 star island tour. Driver took us around the island for picture stops, down to Magen’s Bay (great beach) for two hours and then 2 hours of downtown shopping. Perfect Day (amazing island), we did the Coco Beach Club. Voom - Terrible and very unreliable. Crew members - Excellent. Very friendly, attentive and very personable. I never felt like just another guest, which is amazing when you consider how many other guests are on board (over 6,000 for our sailing). Our MDR waiter Rande was excellent. He always went out of his way to stop and talk to us when he would see us in other dining venues. My wife wanted to take him home with us. A+ all around. Disembarkation - A breeze. Took no time at all. Final thoughts- Overall, this was a great experience. I can’t wait to share this experience with our kids and we’ve already booked our next cruise on the Wonder.