drrich2

I scrolled through over 3 pages. Maybe this'll be repetitive, but my 2 cents, as they say. 1.) If 5 cruises were really good, and 1 lackluster, I think it's a bit early to ditch cruising, or Royal Caribbean. You see on Cruise Critic a number of positive recent trip reports on Royal ships, including mine from Symphony of the Seas. 2.) Familiarity may or may not breed contempt, but some of the magic passes as we get more familiar with a type of experience. Our first cruise (on Adventure of the Seas!) was magical; no other has quite matched that. 3.) This is a very strained time, particularly in manpower, not just for the cruise industry but for land operations. Don't be surprised if your land-based A.I. resort option also has difficulties. 4.) Did you pay list for specialty diving? Always book an advance, multi-night package for that. It can be quite good, but don't pay list. 5.) When there are shortages, such as of skilled staff, I suspect not all ships may be loved equally. I agree with others, try a bigger, newer ship. 6.) I agree on the soft serve frozen yogurt angle; saw no reason not to let us self-serve. I, too, wonder why there were pool closures during At Sea days on your cruise - maybe someone had an accident? 7.) If you want more places to get food, an Oasis class ship may be your friend. 8.) I liked MDR food just fine on our recent RCI cruise, but that wasn't on the same ship. It'll be interesting to see if you think a land A.I. resort has better included food, if you choose an A.I. that's not expensive. Every time I've priced Sandals or Beaches, I've been put off by price. Enjoyed Sunscapes Resort in Curacao, but food was okay/good, not great. 9.) I don't use room service. With all that food, I really needed to get moving and burn some calories. Plus I'm cheap. 10.) It's often possible to get more than one appetizer or even entree in the MDR. On our cruise, we had no trouble getting plenty to eat (and I eat big). 11.) Will all the different individuals, organizations and perspectives involved in pandemic mitigation, I've all but given up on things making sense. Just go with the flow.

You should get the same points and status if you did the same cruises. One difference; it's possible for a minor child to gain the status of a higher status parent if they both cruise Royal. Going into our last cruise, my wife and I were Emerald by points, our daughter Platinum...but she was given our Emerald status as our daughter. At the end of the cruise, my wife and I turned Diamond status, which our daughter will have gained, too. Wife and I have 87 points and kid has 56 points (she'd now be Emerald by her own points). This status sharing stops when the kid hits 18, but they get to keep the parent's status at that time (but only their own points, not the parent's). If I understand correctly, if my wife and I never cruise again, and our daughter goes on a Royal Caribbean cruise at age 25, for example, she will be Diamond, but have the points she got from her own cruising, not ours. So if she ever hits Diamond Plus, she'll have to build off her actual accrued points, not mine.

That's an impression I shared from a recent Symphony of the Seas cruise; it's a great ship with a lot of offer, but it offered more than we could do in a week. We didn't get to every last thing we'd have liked (and we didn't even do any specialty restaurants, to keep costs down and life simple), and while we did most of what I'd hoped, we didn't get all of it we wanted. Talk about first world problems... We were very blessed to enjoy it. Richard.

My one Celebrity cruise was aboard the Constellation back in 2008. Enjoyed it (though I missed the Royal Promenade and the entertainment learned toward talented vocalists who could imitate famous performers and catered to an older set; not the more 'athletic' performances we'd seen on Royal). 3 Things about this cruise: 1.) It was on Celebrity, a line associated with a somewhat older clientele. 2.) An 11-day cruise, so longer than the typical 7-day week cruise many families can get away for. 3.) In February, when school's 'in' and the kids already had a big 2-week break for Christmas and New Year not long ago. I recall seeing one little kid, a little girl in someone's arms, the entire week. I looked at her like someone had brought aboard a pet monkey. So if you want the dodge kids, there are some options (besides Virgin Voyages).

It's been awhile since I cruised with Dreamworks characters, when our 9-year old daughter was much younger, but having bought the digital photo package, were I to find they weren't included, I'd have been really ticked off. So what 'characters' are there these days? On a July Symphony of the Seas cruise I didn't see any sort of 'character.'

I don't know; we overnighted at a hotel and showed up in our time window. I didn't overhear anyone complain of any issues. UDP? I don't know about the unlimited drink package onboard (the 3 of us did the unlimited soda package), but it's been my experience Royal is quite happy to sell people things. If you meant unlimited dining package, I still don't know. We didn't do specialty dining since our daughter has no evident appreciation for it and we were happy with the 'free stuff.' Interestingly, maybe it was just luck + my introverted mental tunnel vision, when out and about onboard I didn't notice people trying to sell me dining plans and similar 'upscale' annoyances on this cruise (other than jumping through hoops to get Regalia to give me another one of those little metal charm bracelet things). I've seen that in the past, but this cruise I didn't find annoying upscales when walking around.

It is a quandary. I in my 50's, not like late 80s with multiple medical co-morbidities, so perhaps the old adage 'Where you stand on an issue depends on where you sit' comes into play. I'd prefer to ditch testing. To book a cruise, round trip flights, excursions and a photo package, wrestle with all those decisions and look forward to the cruise for several months, then not even know whether we're going until 2 days prior to the cruise, at which point a false positive or a legit positive with no serious illness issues in ourselves can shut it all down, in a country where vaccination is extraordinarily effective and widely available to those who want it... I'd rather just declare a free-for-all and go. Personal preference, not saying my position is clearly right and those who disagree are wrong. I'm fully vaccinated and I've had 2 boosters. I figure at some point we have to accept that SARS-CoV-2 is perpetually circulating and a fact of life. People will argue when that point is.

I did not notice such an option offered. I was told I'd get an e-mail in a time frame after getting home, and could download the pics that way. This worked out; I had the option even then to buy additional photos had I wished to (but I'm too cheap).

I haven't been on those; Harmony and Symphony should be a great deal alike. Haven't done a Royal Caribbean cruise on a vessel smaller than Voyager class, and I see Enchantment is Vision class. IIRC, Vision class don't have the Royal Promenade, and you wouldn't get Central Park or the Boardwalk neighborhoods, either. The ship I've been on most similar to how I envision that class to be was the Celebrity Constellation many years ago. It was a fun cruise, but I really like the Royal Promenade. We've done Voyager class, that have the RP but not Central Park or the Boardwalk, and that's okay (Adventure of the Seas did have water park-style offerings). From prior threads, I got the impression Vision class appeals to people who like cheaper cruises (yah!), a more traditional cruise experience (e.g.: not enthused with big rock climbing walls, giant water slides, etc...), and the option to hit some points huge ships don't. An Oasis class vacation demands more of you in terms of planning. Voyager class cruises, we'd eat at the Windjammer or Main Dining Room, then go to 'the show' playing that evening at a couple of times. Other than going out of my way to book us for a showing of the ice figure skating at Studio B, there was no juggling multiple shows offered at various times and days. Oasis class also have several speciality restaurants to choose from, and with a dining package to drive down the price, those can be quite good. The grilled octopus at Giovani's a few years back rocked. On the other hand, last I heard, Oasis class ships can only be accommodated at a select range of destinations, and given their passenger numbers they don't tender, so after a few cruises, if you want to hit new islands, you may have to scale down a bit.

I've seen various auto.s on the Royal Promenades of 5 other RCI ships, so I was a bit baffled to encounter this one on Symphony. I took the 1st photo; a crewman who saw me offered to take the 2nd. Regarding the show Flight, it started at some future point, then did segments in reverse sequential order back to the Wright brothers, hitting different parts of aviation history. For our 9-year old, I doubt it made a lot of sense. Adults with a bit of nostalgia for history would probably love it. Some inspirational quotes were included.

Well, just found out from RoyalCaribbeanBlog.com's page this blurb: "Pets at Sea Remember when Build A Bear was a really big deal? As a parent, I remember my kids always wanting to go get a new pet every time we went to the mall, and I guess that trend made it to Royal Caribbean as well. Royal Caribbean's first Oasis Class ships had a dedicated shop in the Boardwalk neighborhood where you could create your own stuffed animals, many with a nautical theme. Pets at Sea was a souvenir option where guests picked an animal and outfit, and then stuffed the pet with a fun machine before taking it home with them. Alas, the shops were replaced during ship refurbishments to make way for other retail experiences." Figured I'd better post, in case anyone assumed Allure of the Seas would have Build-A-Bear going forward (I don't know whether it still does) and get some kid's hopes up.

Photo courtesy of Royal Caribbean staff photographer; we bought the 100 digital photos package. I forgot to mention we didn't see a Build-A-Bear store on Symphony of the Seas (which means ol'Dad probably saved some money!). Here we see Kadence holding Rex, her dinosaur ship captain Build-A-Bear from our 2019 Allure of the Seas cruise (the photo is from our Symphony cruise). When I was a kid, when my parents wanted professional photos of me they hauled me (rarely) to Kmart (maybe elsewhere sometimes? Been too long to remember). A 100 digital photo package on Royal has repeatedly proven to be an excellent value for us in getting professional photos of our family, and in the setting of memorable vacations, not just posed portraits.

Just the evening, of course. Now you've got an image in my head of me going down a water slide in a suit. Oddly enough, one of my main memorable moments was when our 9-year old spotted a chicken roaming free and fixated on it, pointing it out like it was a big deal (despite my pointing out the sea gull standing nearby; oh, no, the chicken ruled!). Despite the fact my parents have chickens, and Kadence has been around them quite a bit in the past. One never knows what a kid may decide is important. At Chankanaab Park in Cozumel she became obsessed with breaking open a coconut, went around the grounds beating one on the ground, drug us into helping a bit, one of the staff saw her and cut off the exterior, she kept at it, and finally succeeded.

I'll throw in some photos for visual relief. Manatee photo courtesy of Dolphin Discovery photography at Chankanaab park in Cozumel; we purchased the digital photos package from them. Broslo 1983/1985, Norwegian. Dream. Lenticular panel.

Well, to be fair, 'river' would be a bit grandiose...I've seen it called that (which is why I did), but the reality was more like 'lazy circular donut pool.' Digging through my 2019 photos wasn't productive, so I did a quick Google search - here's a YouTube video where someone shows it on Allure of the Seas. It's not one where you'd float around it atop an inner tube; rather it's a donut where current sweeps kids around (and it was fun for them and popular). I don't think Adventure of the Seas had one. Apologies if I inadvertently gave the impression one of the ships now had a full-on lazy river with adults on inner tubes floating around the pool deck! I don't know whether the amplification Allure of the Seas was scheduled for ever happened, or whether the lazy 'tub' will survive when slides are added, etc... It was! I still wish we could book shows in advance like in years past, rather than have to get on the ship, get on their Internet system with the Royal app., and book the shows that way once aboard. It wasn't all that difficult (though I somehow managed to miss getting us to the 1977 ice show), but that need to get us booked before availability dropped had me busy shortly after boarding, a day when things were busy and noisy (we couldn't go to our stateroom till maybe 1 p.m.? Our check-in time was in the 11 - 11:30 a.m. range). Oh, forgot to mention the MDR dining time situation. In the past, I liked My Time Dining, but on Cruise Critic I'd read MTD users on recent cruises were seeing some lines. I booked us for early dining at 5:30 p.m., our table was 639 on Deck 4's MDR, and we walked right in every night...sometimes past (what I assume were MTD) lines. There weren't always lines nor were they extreme, but sometimes it looked like people might be waiting awhile. Richard.

Hi. Saturday got off a Perfect Day and Western Caribbean cruise aboard Symphony of the Seas July 16-23. Intended to write a longer review, maybe I eventually will, but instead I think I'll rattle of some 'stream of consciousness' comments while the cruise is fresh on my mind. Itinerary: Sat. Board. Casual dress code. Sun. Perfect Day at CocoCay. Did Thrill Water Park. Formal dress code I think. Mon. At Sea. Caribbean theme dress code. Tue. Cozumel. Did a manatee encounter with Dolphin Discovery, booked through a 3rd party. Probably casual dress code - didn't write it down. Wed. Roatan. Did a Christopher Tours trip to AJ's Monkeys and Sloths, then a little snorkeling. 70's dress code. Thu. Costa Maya. Did a ship excursion dolphin encounter with Dolphin Discovery. Wear Your Best dress code (I think a bit less than formal, I heard?). Fri. At Sea. Casual dress code. Sat. Disembarked; did a post-cruise ship excursion to Sawgrass Recreation Park for Everglades airboat trip, with drop-off at Miami Airport. 1.) Big, beautiful ship with fine staff. Easy to get around. 2.) So much to do we (me, wife, 9-year old daughter) didn't get to everything we wanted, or get our fill of the things we got to. 3.) Got the soda package and we got the traditional style insulated mugs as in the past, not those thinner, orange cups I've seen mentioned on Cruise Critic. 4.) The ship's water recreation area didn't have a lazy river; some other ship (Allure of the Seas? Or Adventure?) did. 5.) Ultimate Abyss wasn't as extreme as I thought. Don't know what I thought the bottom would drop out from under me; I sat with a sack thing pulled over my feet, grabbed a line to the sack, leaned back, scooted forward and took off. Moderately intense dry slide. 6.) We stayed on ship's time, which matched EST the whole time (so that determined when to be back). Costa Maya and Cozumel were an hour behind that, Roatan 2 hours behind it. Be careful; even on airplane mode (with wifi enabled for ship's Internet service), my iPhone 12 Max Pro changed time to local time. I have a watch that doesn't change itself, so I could keep up with the time all week. Be careful! 7.) Sorento's pizza was quite good. On one prior cruise it was pasty and unappealing, so this was a nice perk. 8.) The free blue pendant we were supposed to be able to drop by and pick up per the Royal App. daily planner was replaced with multiple little bracelets (think thread-like cord with a tiny metal charm) spread over several days, some requiring one sit through an extended sales pitch presentation by Regalia shop staff. Can get miserable when you're a cheapskate there for a freebie who's not gonna buy anything, but collecting souvenirs for your kid. These people are over-enthused about their product by my standards (granted, I'm a cynic); it was said their merchandise ran from $295 up to 4 or 5 hundred thousand dollars. 9.) Arcades were underwhelming compared to what I recall from other RCI ships. Kid is like an addict jonesing for a fix where arcades are concerned; I did the $79 for $100 credit pre cruise, and put it on her sea pass card. I put her on a $12/day plan, with the balance to be shot the last Friday. That teaches budgeting, paying attention to spending, and how fast an arcade can blast through money, while keeping her from blowing all her (hah! 'My') money right off then whining all week wanting more. Oh, and once she burned through the credits, it switched to charging to our onboard account. I was there, but if you've got a young kid, don't expect running out of credit to stop them. Games tended to be $1.50 to $2.00 per play. The claw machines (except the little ones grabbing from an assortment of rubber ducks) are, in my opinion, a gross ripoff (I keep hoping our kid's grasp of practical physics with evolve so she can understand this). 10.) Lots of weird art on the ship...which seems standard for cruise ships. 11.) Staff wore masks consistently; passengers seemed to almost universally not wear masks, and elevators at times got crowded. Social distancing seemed mostly ignored. If you are from an area where lots of people are stickers for COVID-19 prevention measures, this may be a bit nerve-wracking for you, and yes, judging from a Facebook page for people on our sailing, a number of people have since tested positive. My family and I were fully vaccinated and boosted; wife had COVID-19 last November. I did see staff out cleaning, and I'm come to view COVID-19 as a permanent resident illness (e.g.: like cold or flu), so this is not a criticism of Royal Caribbean, their ship or staff, I'm just telling you what I saw. Depending on your family situation, preferences (and maybe politics), you may or may not much care. They checked our vaccination cards (and asked about our kid's status) before we got on the ship; I don't recall anyone taking our temperature? We had proctored testing with BinaxNOW tests at home observed by Rapid Test & Trace U.S.A. ($20 apiece; the tests were free at Walmart Pharmacy) the Thursday 2 days before the cruise with negative results. 12.) Very pleased with waiter (Ikadek), assistant waiter (Sujati) and stateroom attendant (Agus Suryantara). 13.) We ate dinner in MDR all week, did no specialty restaurants, food was good. Wife impressed with herb-crusted salmon (available nightly); I really liked the chicken parmesan. Windjammer was pretty good; we ate breakfast there, and one day lunch. One lunch was hot dogs at the Dog House, and others were on excursions. 14.) Windjammer can be a zoo because it's hard to find a table. When someone leaves a table, a sign says unavailable till cleaned by staff. I...had a different definition of 'available,' and then found seating easier. Serve yourself - I know some want staff servers, but people, I can serve myself faster, and most anything that moves people through the 'jammer faster I tend to favor. 15.) The comedy show with the 2 comedians was funny. 16.) Formal night - well, looks like the dress code warriors have lost the war. I don't pay much attention to what others do, and I didn't see blue jean cut off shorts and tank tops, but wearing an ordinary black suit, I was about the most formal person I noticed. 16.) Wife and daughter really liked Hairspray, daughter liked Hiro (impressive athleticism; I have no idea what the story was), Flight was okay (but on front row, far side, very loud at times!), iSkate 2.0 rocked. 17.) Kid spent very little time in Adventure Ocean but I think it went fine. 18.) Pools were crowded, but hot tubs were not. 19.) Splashaway Bay is nice for kids. 20.) The water slides are nice...but we didn't spend a lot of time on them. 21.) The soft serve frozen yogurt was good, but people were after it so much sometimes it was a bit soft. Crew served, and if soft the servings on a cone were small (understandable). 22.) The line for laser tag was ridiculously long, so we skipped it. I saw 2 offerings our week. 23.) The Boardwalk Dog House hot dogs were good; really like the Apple and Chicken sausage dog with sourkraut and onions. 24.) The Royal Promenade has 2 Coke freestyle machines; one seemed out of most sodas all the time (which I've noticed on other cruises, and suspect is deliberate). The other worked most of the time, but occasionally was getting maintenance. The machines in the Windjammer tended to work fine. 25.) Learning how to get into the t.v. menu options via the remote took quite some doing. 26.) It's easier to use a paper Compass than Royal's app. or the Compass you can find via the t.v. (eventually), but you need to request this early in the cruise (I'm guessing swiping them off service carts as you pass in the hall might be frowned upon...but we won't talk about that...). 27.) The muster drill process where you watch a video elsewhere, then go check in at your muster station is a big improvement over the old way. 28.) The ventriloquist headliner was very good. 29.) Voom Stream version was pretty good. Got slow at times, and we weren't watching Netflix movies, but pretty good overall. My iPhone, my wife's and the kid's iPad mini were on the 3 device plan. My iPhone 12 Max Pro got randomly kicked off, but they didn't have that problem, and getting back on was easy. 30.) Bought the digital photo package precruise as soon as I could; the 45% off was only offered early on. And they do limit you to the 100 photos; late in cruise, I went to the photo gallery place and had to go through selecting which ones I wanted. If I wanted the rest (42), I was told it'd be another hundred dollars). Was told I'd get an e-mail link in 4-6 days; it came today (2 days). The website it led me to had both my selected (unlocked) and the ones I didn't choose (I'm guessing for a fee I could still get them). The ship photographers do a fine job; they took some photos of me I actually like! 31.) If you disembark with a cruise excursion, take advantage of one of the porters; big, big help in getting to your stuff, getting it loaded and getting where you need to go. 32.) Customs was basically look at something, a machine took a photo, and go. Didn't have to fill out a form. Amazingly minimal experience and went pretty fast. 34.) Enjoyed all our excursions; the Everglades tour was neat. Airboats are amazingly loud; a staff person handed out ear plugs (do not decline!). Saw 2 alligators, not counting the juvenile I spotted before we reached the boat. When we got back, there was an educational presentation and several animals were on exhibit. 35.) We had an inside stateroom with a Royal Promenade window view on Deck 7 (room 587). Not much more expensive than a regular inside stateroom, and the wife and daughter like to people watch some. 36.) Between Decks 15 and 16 as you head up to the Windjammer, there's a staircase with steps like piano keys that plays notes when you walk on it; the kid loved it. 37.) Seldom felt any ship motion the whole week; cannot imagine even people very sensitive to motion sickness would've needed to take anything. 38.) Luggage Valet was not an option. 39.) Captain's announcements were daily but not excessive and obnoxious. 40.) I did find the ambient noise level through the week when out on the ship often 'boisterous' - but our room was pretty quiet. There was modest noise from the Royal Promenade the first part of some nights, but not too bad. 41.) If you book the Thrill Water Park at CocoCay, be aware of a few things. It didn't show up on our Royal App.'s Calendar, and we didn't get those cruise excursion tickets in our excursion envelope, but I went to the excursion desk and confirmed we were still booked for it. Your SeaPass card is your 'ticket' to get in. If you want to buy souvenirs on CocoCay, you'll need to exit the Thrill Water Park and take a modestly long walk around to another area. If you exit Thrill Water Park kinda late when it's close to time to head back to the ship... 42.) Flew into Miami the night before; stayed at Holiday Inn Port of Miami Downtown. Turns out I was later told they don't have a shuttle; we took a cab there, but the next day, somebody was taking people to the cruise terminal...which was $32 (that wasn't mentioned till we got there, IIRC, and was without any tip). I'm used to name brand hotels near airports having shuttles. Our taxi (a van) from the airport to the hotel was a buck cheaper with a nice tip! Symphony of the Seas is a great ship; it rocks. Recommended. That's not big on narrative and loaded with photos, but it's got the talking points I might've liked to know before the cruise.

Wife and I had a junior suite on our honeymoon, later a big aft balcony room on Celebrity's Constellation, and we've had inside and Royal Promenade view insides. Unless considering a major occasion like an anniversary, or a big jump in price has little impact on you, I'm solidly in the 'save money, cruise more' camp. An inside stateroom works fine for us. Even with our (now age 9) daughter. A junior suite offers double crown and anchor points, more space, access to Coastal Kitchen I'm told, and a bathtub (which I've learned some females prefer over showering), but at a price roughly double. I'm not paying that much. A balcony is fairly nice, but not worth several hundred dollars to use for a week when we can go up to the pool deck area and have a fine view for free. The idea of coughing up a lot of money so sit on that little area by a little table staring at the sea...no. I could buy a souped up iPad I'd enjoy for years for that money. Not paying several hundred more just to have a window view of the ocean, either, so ocean view is out. Royal Promenade view inside rooms are cool; my wife and daughter people watch and if the room only adds a couple hundred or so to trip cost, for a 7-day cruise, that seems reasonable.

So the question becomes, if the sticker falls off your cup, and you take a long piece of scotch tape and run it clear around your 'bring your own' tumbler, will it work in the freestyle machine? While I liked the old style okay, I wish they had a big recycle bin for them at the end of a cruise. Our first cruise, it was something special. Over time, nah. Even with the top shut, it'd leak if it fell over. Didn't see much use at home. Wonder what Symphony of the Seas is using right now? Those tumblers cost some money and baggage space; would be annoying to bring them and find out unneeded. Richard.

After reading the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World, compiling notes, reading articles and watching videos online, getting a travel agent, having selected a list of which attractions in each of the 4 main theme parks I wanted us to get to, I subscribed to a paid service whereby an app. on my iPhone would give me a customized schedule for the day, telling me which order to go after the rides in (e.g.: hit the highest demand rides right away), estimating the time it'd take us to get from one to another, and basically the service calculated us an itinerary intended to keep wait times as short as possible, based on usual foot traffic patterns in the parks. We went during the pandemic restrictions, so the Fast Pass system wasn't in effect, and this was before newer options got put in, so planning wasn't as complex as it can be. In comparison, for an Oasis-class ship, it was needful to decide on a dining time, a shore excursion at each stop, and unfortunately they're not letting us book show times until we get on the ship so I imagine boarding day will be a bit of a rush. But it still entails much less research and planning than Disney. On a cruise, after we're back from the day's excursion, if any, I might ask my wife and daughter what we want to do. At Disney, I was often telling them what we were gonna do. And people who just wander around pursuing whatever draws them are apt to face much longer line times. I'm glad we took our kid to Disney World; none of us had ever been. Just wish the planning didn't feel like I bit off more than I could chew.

Thank you for the detailed listing of varied experiences, the good, the bad, etc... Regarding the Disney World tangent, we took our then 8-year old to DW near Orlando summer of 2021. More 'work' than a cruise in terms of walking around and waiting in line. Far more work in terms of advance research to try to wrap my mind around the options and offerings so as to make informed decisions and plans. Total cost for our family for a 7-day trip was maybe a grand over what a Royal Caribbean Oasis-class cruise would've cost. Definitely a different experience, very 'apples to oranges' vs. cruising, and it's a blessing to do either, but...as a parent, I look forward to cruising as a relief. Disney was more like a 'challenge.'