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Post cruise review - Symphony of the Seas (July 5 to 12) - anyone interested?


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Hello fellow CC members,

 

Just got off the Symphony of the Seas after a Western Mediterranean cruise last week. Anyone interested in a post-cruise review? If so, I'll post details over the next few days. :cool::cool::cool:

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Thanks everyone. I'm honestly a bit surprised and humbled that people would be interested to hear about my European vacation. I'll start to post over the next little while - stay tuned!

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Folks, I'm humbled and flattered that there are more than a few people interested in my little review. What a wonderful community :cool:

 

Before I get knee deep into the review, a little about us - for this particular adventure, it was my family of five: myself, my wife and my three kids (DS13, DS11, and DD6). The trip also included my parents and my brother, making a total of eight in our party.

 

This would be our third Royal Caribbean cruise - all on Oasis class ships. Our previous two cruises were both on Allure of the Seas, back in March 2015 and March 2016. We booked this itinerary back when the deployments for 2018 were first announced and the thought of a sailing as part of Symphony's inaugural season.

 

Since we were a party of eight, we were able to book two rooms to share between us, but we were able to squeeze out family of five into our room. We are typically frugal and book inside staterooms but because we booked early, we were able to secure two Central Park Balcony staterooms (cabins 11577 and 11581). I'll get into the room itself later in the review but overall, we were extremely happy with the room.

 

For this trip, we decided to spend a few days in Rome touring around before we boarded Symphony in Civi on Thurs July 5... this was well worth the time spent and highly recommend it for anyone who might be going to board Symphony or other ships before your cruise.

 

But first, we need to get to Rome...

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Day 1 (or is it Day -3 for the cruise? Not sure what to call it...) or Travel Day.

 

We departed the hot and humid city of Toronto on Sunday July 1 (Canada Day!) - we spend the weekend doing laundry and packing our things. I must admit - it was nice to travel for an evening flight. Typically, for us to find an economical flight for 5 people, we are usually on the first flight out of Toronto - a 6AM jet out of Toronto is not uncommon for us and that usually means a 2-3AM wakeup and a groggy day of travel. For this trip, we're flying Air Transat out of Terminal 3, leaving at 7:50PM. Admittedly, there was a bit of trepidation prior to this trip given this is the longest flight for all of us. Our longest flights as a family have been to Florida so this would be the first overnight, trans-Atlantic flight.

 

Overall, no issues with the flight - but I do not that airplane food has NOT improved at all since they started stopped serving food on North American flights. I do wonder about the "pace" and layout of what the airplane staff have to deal with during these flights... "First, we're going to offer you headphones and comfort packages (pillow and blankets). Then, we'll serve you drinks. Then, about 3 hours in, we'll serve you a meal. Then, we'll try and hawk you some duty-free goods. Only then will we leave you alone for a bit to sleep. Then, we'll walk around and serve you a light "snack". Hopefully by then, you'll be sick of us and get off the plane quickly..."

 

Anyways, plenty of entertainment for the kids, but little sleep for all of us. I had hoped to doze for a few hours of the flight, but alas, I think I might have only snoozed for about an hour or so. Those dollar store travel pillows? Yeah, they filled one of our carry-on suitcases but did not bring the required sleep. The end of the flight could not come soon enough for my butt too, since it had either fallen asleep or became numb - I can't determine which one it was. Sadly, the landing of the flight did result in my DD having some tummy trouble and a reversal - hard to manage when there are no sick bags to be found :(

 

We arrive in Rome to a hot and humid day. After waiting what seems like an eternity to have everyone visit the bathroom, we go through Passport Control and pickup our luggage without incident. We exit the terminal area to what seems like a thousand people holding signs with names on them for rides. Great - how are we going to find our pickup? Luckily, my brother finds our Romecabs guy and we make a long and winding trek to the short-term parking to find our vehicle. Navigating FCO with several large suitcases, a couple of carry-on suitcases, AND kids while swiveling my head 360 degrees should be an Olympic sport. I might win bronze.

 

We finally arrive at an 8 passenger Mercedes Benz - hooray! Does it fit 8 people - yes, but two people need to ride in front. We chuck our luggage into the trunk with room to spare and they have a booster for my DD. NICE! I snugly squeeze into the front with the driver and my Dad and we make the 45 mins or so drive into Rome. I need to stay awake and make sure we arrive where we need to go and I always like to see what the drive is like in a new location. Of course, I'm just thrilled that I'm actually in Rome... I try to make small talk with the driver, but alas, our driver speaks little English. We navigate through the outskirts of Rome into the city and I'm in awe of the sights - but also the crazy drivers and traffic in Rome.

 

Our destination - the Best Western Globus Hotel. I will say this - if anyone is looking for a hotel off the beaten path, but looking for good, clean (and reasonably) spacious accommodations, we found this hotel to be excellent. It's in the university area so there is a ton of stuff around, including shops and restaurants. It's a no frills hotel - no pool, no fancy gym, etc. but I'm in Rome - all I need to do is have a bed for the night. Limited TV channels, but decent WiFi. Really good breakfast included with the room. Everyone in the back of the van has had a nice 45 min nap, so we haul our stuff upstairs, wash up and head out for a quick bite. I had done a bit of research beforehand and remembered a good pizza spot and gelato place down the road. Sure enough, the pizza place is waiting for us with Roman pizza and it's excellent. Maybe it's because I hadn't eaten anything decent in almost 18 hours, but it's ridiculously good. And I feed a good snack for 5 of us for about 12 Euros. We head out to walk about 25 metres more, and find the best gelato in Rome. Sorry, but it's true. Handmade, real ingredients - nothing artificial (the pistachio flavour is not bright green - it's barely green with real chunks of nuts). Now happy and full, we stroll for a bit more before heading back to the hotel - I need a nap!

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