Symphony of the Seas: 13/05/18-20/05/2018 Review with pics!

[accio_7]

That's awesome that you and Luke found the pop-up piano player! I love Muse too, which songs did he play?

[Binkyzig]

Brilliant review, were the photos taken at Windjammer please? It looks really nice x

[ardilla]

Loving the review. What time did the 80's party start?

[tlaffin]

Subscribed to learn... "the rest of the story" (5 points if you read that in Paul Harvey's voice as you may be too young to have heard the saying)

 

Love the Paul Harvey reference!

[Coolcruise02]

Loving your review!!

[RN4Nsy]

Absolutely love your review. I will be onboard in 6 weeks! I rarely sleep much on Cruises because there's so much to do. Your review proves this!

 

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[LSM212]

Hi

 

Following your review! We are from Scotland and cant wait to go on Symphony in October.

 

Can you, or any other experienced cruisers, advise of the dress code for the main dining room at night. We have a 13yr old son and unsure of the code esp for the males in our party!

 

Any advice appreciated, thanks

[Mikeandliz]

Gotta wear the Kilt

 

 

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[LSM212]

Not sure if it’ll fit in the case :confused::D

[Preziosa]

We Will Be on Symphony the 7. Th of october. See you on the meet and mingle.

[ckelly14]

In July, I saw all manners of dress in the main dining room.

 

However, I did notice that the dress was certainly up a notch in Europe compared to the US. I would say the average dress was pants and a button down or golf shirt for men and my 13 year old son. I never wore a jacket out but the family next to us had blazers each night. Did not go to during formal night, but noticed a number of tuxedos walking around afterwards.

[Guest]

On 5/31/2018 at 2:17 PM, accio_7 said:

That's awesome that you and Luke found the pop-up piano player! I love Muse too, which songs did he play?

 

Sorry for the extremely delayed response! 

 

Everything!! New Born, Space Dementia, Starlight... of which i can remember. I'm sure he played something from Showbiz as well! It was just us two in the lift for about 5 minutes haha

[Guest]

OK so i have no idea why i forgot to finish this review? I was so near yet so far to the end. 

 

I SHALL CONTINUE! 

[Guest]

Day 6:

Naples!

 

We chose to visit Pompeii for our stop in the Pizza capital of the world. I had already visited Pompeii twice, but as Luke had not, i was up for going again. We booked "Pompeii on your own" a) because it was the cheapest excursion and b) see point a. If Luke had been super into his history (he isnt) i would have booked a guided tour. The tour gave us around 2h30 on our own, which we determined would be just about right to see the "sights". 

 

Now, we made one crucial error. As we had bought our tickets in advance, we did not need to wait for the driver to go and buy ours for us. So we sauntered off into the distance. It was only until we were looking at one of the many phallic rocks on the floor of the grounds that we realised that he had not told us a meet up time. Big oops. We continued looking at the ruins, took some awesome photos, queued up to see the brothel and then gingerly headed out of the site. 

 

SOMEHOW, we manged to get back to the place we left the man at the exact time the rest of the group appeared. The phallic gods were on our side. 

 

 

Our plan after Pompeii was to head into Naples to get some authentic pizza. However, as it was one of the warmest days of the cruise, we decided to have a slice at Sorrentos and sit by the pool. We also decided to give the two slides another go. It seemed like a great idea until we realised that 22 degrees is fine to sit out in when you are dry, but felt like a British winters day once you had got wet. Oops. 

 

 

Next up: Formal Night #2, aka, did no-one else get the memo?

 

 

[Guest]

Day 6 Part 2: Formal Night

 

I am a big lover of formal nights, and love how each cruise line do it differently. Princess (used to) give canapes, P&O have free drinks (including Gin and tonics!) and Celebrity do their own weird evening chic thing which just confuses everyone.... The last Royal cruise i went on was the Adventure in the med, and they gave out prosecco in the promenade on formal night. I did not notice this on the Symphony. Probably a cut back. 

 

I had hyped it up to Luke before we got on the cruise, but after the disappointment of the first night, we did not have high hopes for the second night. Shame. 

 

Now, i did not think it could get any worse, but it did. We genuinely thought we had not got the memo and that it had been cancelled. I felt ridiculous in my sparkly dress, and Luke in his lil bow tie. 

 

Food was very good. Here is me with my goto starter. French onion soup without the crouton. ( i don't really do melted cheese unless its on a pizza). 

 

 

 

After the meal, we headed up to the Solarium bar for a drink during sail away. We may have been the only ones dressed up but at least we looked fabulous! 

 

 

(Note the Caribbean cooler in Luke's hand. I had opted for a Belvedere Appletini as it was formal night and i wanted a cocktail to match my attire)

 

 

I can't remember doing much else that night. We probably got an early night as we had had 2 early mornings! 

 

Next up: Day 7: Sea Day! 

[Guest]

Day 7: Sea Day! 

 

As this was our only Sea Day, we planned on spending it sunbathing. Brits love lying in the sun, and we were no exception to that rule. We ordered Breakfast #1 on the balcony, and got a second helping in the WJ whilst we waited for the sun to come out to play. 

 

 

We ended up by the pool for around 11am, and we managed to get beds right next to the pool. Like, this would never have been possible on any other cruise!!!!! 

 

So for the rest of the morning, we drank cocktails, read our books and waited for the event of the year. No, not our free lunch at Johnny Rockets, the Royal Wedding. 

 

(they are Luke's legs not mine)

 

We headed down to Johnny Rockets around midday, to find they were showing the Wedding in the Aqua theatre! We sat outside with the intention to watch during our Lunch. However, the slides kinda got in the way and we couldn't hear anything. Oh well. 

 

Lunch was surprisingly good! My previous visit to JR's was on the Adventure, and it was not great. The burgers were juicy, the onion rings were constant and the chili cheese fries were great. 

 

 

 

It was bloody typical that the hottest day of the cruise was our last day. It must have been 26 degrees. Oh well. 

Edited January 26, 2019 by Guest

[Guest]

Day 7: Part 2, QUICK! I forgot to film x, y and z for the holiday video! 

 

After a lovely day sunbathing, i went into full on panic mode as i had not got much footage for our holiday video. It actually worked out really well as we got some awesome photos, video footage and we got to ride the Ultimate Abyss again. 

 

It was a near flat calm out at sea, and we spent about an hour in the solarium after dinner watching the sun set. We were both so upset that it was our last day. I knew i would love this cruise, i was just so nervous whether Luke would like it. It was a lot of money for him to spend for a holiday he knew nothing about. But he absolutely loved it!!! Yay! 

 

 

 

 

As the sun went down, we decided to film a walk from the front of the ship to the very back. It took us 5 minutes. That is how long this ship is. We each took a side and met on the public balcony at the end! 

 

 

[Guest]

Day 8: Home time 😞

 

We woke up to beautiful blue skies in Barcelona (typical). Our flight was 11am so we were one of the first off the ship. I remember taking this photo and thinking we should have booked a week later. Oh well, hindsight is a wonderful thing. 

 

 

Why do we look so happy?!! We were about to get off the boat! 

 

 

Final thoughts:

 

This cruise was incredible. Incredibly overpriced, incredibly incredible and incredible memories were made. I would honestly recommend this ship to anyone. It is the best i have ever been on, and i would love to sail on her again in the future. The Oasis class are so big, 7 days are not nearly enough time to see/do everything.

 

I know cruises are not cheap. I think i scared Luke with the price of this one. It came to just under £2000 each after the drinks package and spending money/excursions. For 7 days. Wowza. 

 

We decided that this year we would have a cheaper holiday, and gave ourselves a budget of £1000 each. So, i began my research. Which was Luke's first mistake.... mwhaha

 

I found a week in Tenerife, in a 4* hotel, all inclusive and with butler service (private sun terrace, speciality meals etc). It came to £1000. 

 

I also found a week on the Navigator to the Western Caribbean (with drinks), direct flights with Virgin and 2 nights in Miami for £1000. 

 

All excursions are booked, airport hotel booked and we've not even hit £1200 yet. In addition to this wonderful deal, we found out literally a week after booking it that the Navigator was going into the drydock for a $120 million refurb. El Loco Fresh we shall meet again! 

 

So the moral of the story is, don't always go assuming Cruises have to be expensive! 

 

Thank you Symphony, for persuading Luke that cruises are not just for old people. 

 

The end. 

 

 

If anyone is interested, here is our video!! All filmed on a Go Pro Hero 5. 

 

[sgmn]

Thanks for coming back and finishing the great review. You both look wonderful all dressed up for formal night. We went on Allure a few years ago out of Barcelona around third week in May and the weather was nothing special. Enjoy your Navigator cruise, that's a great price to include flights and hotel 

[Guest]

20 minutes ago, sgmn said:

Thanks for coming back and finishing the great review. You both look wonderful all dressed up for formal night. We went on Allure a few years ago out of Barcelona around third week in May and the weather was nothing special. Enjoy your Navigator cruise, that's a great price to include flights and hotel 

 

Ha, thanks for coming back and reading it!! 

 

Thank you, we are really looking forward to it. Hopefully the weather will be better this time around!