SFchick

Giant Purple Abyss Slide = also the sound of people screaming "weeeeeeeee!!!" as they slide past your balcony

Sad ending but it sounds like she had a great life with multiple roles. My very first cruise, I sailed on NCL along side her on a three day Mexico cruise. My mom and were so jealous and wanted to be on Viking Serenade instead because it was just so cool! Farewell!

I don't think the magic is confined to cruise ships. I think it is part of ships in general. I grew up on an island (Nantucket) and was in love with the steamers that serviced it. Every day I was down on the docks watching the boats come and go. Always got so excited when we would be doing a crossing to the "other side" mainland to visit family and then returning home. Our first cruise when I actually got to live on a ship, Celebrity Horizon, for a week was very special.

Totally agree. I geek out whenever I see a A380 at an airport or in the air :)

One thingI don’t understand is that the Norway was bigger in 1993 so why do people say sovereign was the largest back then. I’ve seen this stated on many threads.

 

Norway was bigger in GT 76k and was longer. Was it height they were using?

No idea but RCI used the "largest ship in the world" messaging wherever they could in their marketing!

Right before I started high school in 1993, my mom and I cruised on Sovereign of the Seas - the biggest cruise ship in the world at the time. I remember this ship being HUGE compared to anything I've ever seen, especially next to a much smaller RCI ship we sailed on in Mexico. I remember being in awe that had 13 floors (according to the elevator), getting lost on the ship and never running out of new areas to explore. I swear both my mom and I suffered post cruise depression for two weeks after we went home.

Fast forward to 2007, my mom and I went up to Alaska and sailed on Splendour of the Seas. Coming upon it, I was sad to see it was so much smaller than the Sovereign. I figured the Caribbean was more accommodating to large vessels, and a ship needed to be small and nimble to navigate the Alaskan straits. Hmm...

I finally looked up numbers today and was shocked at how wrong I was. Tonnage wise, Splendour is 69,130 GT, Sovereign is 73,192 GT -- only a fraction of a difference! (Note: according to stats on Wikipedia).

Then I looked up pictures of Sovereign and I couldn't believe it. Looking at it now it looks so tiny.

The point of this post is how magical it can be to encounter a magnificent cruise ship. That experience left such an impression of my tween self, that for years I held this illusion that Sovereign was the biggest, baddest b!tch on the seas.

Even more insane, my family and I are booked on Symphony this summer. Again, we are going to be on the reigning biggest cruise ship in the world. Symphony is 228,081 GT!! That three times the size of Sovereign!! I can't wait for my mind to be blown again.

Let me rephrase my question. Are non-potty trained babies allowed in Splashaway Bay, or do they need to go to another area?

I didn't even think of this, thanks for bringing it up. Is the Splash Pad for little humans in swim diapers = Splashaway Bay, or something separate? Asking for Symphony.

If you have any other questions, I'm happy to answer them for you. We took our son on the Allure when he was 10 months old and Oasis when he was a few months shy of 2 years old.

First of, Go Kings Go! Yay for fellow Kings fans.

Your post was so helpful. We're booked for Symphony this July, my first time with a little human in tow. I hope you don't mind sent you a friend request to pick your brain further.

First off, this thread is super helpful. This will be my first time cruising with a toddler (on Symphony).

Sitters fees are billed to our SeaPass accounts, and is tip automatically added? If it's at our discretion, how much do people typically tip their sitters? 20%?

Thanks!

Hello! We're sailing in July on Symphony with a 1.5 year old. Does anyone remember the hours for the nursery, specifically how late does it stay open? For late late nights (i.e., past our son's 8:30 pm bed time) do we use an in-room sitter instead?

TIA

74 days until Symphony of the Seas! We just got our confirmation :)

I'm so glad I can geek out here on these message boards. I don't want to go on and on about how excited I am to my friends, because then I'd just be bragging. YOU GUYS UNDERSTAND!