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

[safcftm]

I like an in depth review with details about non ship related things!!

[bm2wong]

A little food pr0n for those that enjoy these food related pics...

 

 

If anyone is interested, the place is called “Pizza Dai Cinque” on Viale Ippocrate. Not a bad snack for €12!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[bm2wong]

So despite my best efforts to "power through" the day on little sleep, I cannot resist the urge to lie down and close my eyes for a bit. My wife does the same. The kids are thoroughly entertained with various tablets and TV, so my wife and I manage a shutdown for about an hour. My parents venture out a bit and wander around the neighbourhood and we start an iMessage thread of "What are we going to eat tonight?". Luckily, I had looked into that too...

 

I recommend we go to a restaurant just down the road. I had seen the menu online previously and the reviews seemed a bit mixed (the Internet is filled with "meh" and "so-so" reviews that you just don't really know). I think that locals may have their own opinions of what is "good" or "bad" so it is tough to judge based on who sent in reviews... but I digress. In a nutshell, the restaurant we went to, called "Braci e Abbracci", was simply a hidden gem for us. This place was outstanding. It was homey, comfy, perfect for what we wanted - local, traditional Roman cuisine. We sit down and were immediately taken care of by our waiter Filippo and he takes care to know what we are looking for and what we need to make our meal enjoyable. We try appetizers of various meats, including prosciutto, as well as arancini (my kids are obsessed with these). For mains, we try a number of various pastas and guzzle down house wine (practically cheaper than the water). Finally, we think we're going to skip dessert until Filippo goes through our options - and they are wonderful. We sample of couple of different ones, including a light offering with pastry and marscapone cheese - really good. All for under 20 Euro a person. Who could go wrong?

 

What's next? Onto a private, 2 day tour of Rome booked with Romecabs...

[regent218]

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:

Can you include any observations on the dress of any teenage boys in the dining rooms. I'm going with two seventeen year olds.

thanks

[bm2wong]

Can you include any observations on the dress of any teenage boys in the dining rooms. I'm going with two seventeen year olds.

 

thanks

 

 

 

I can’t say I really paid attention to the dress of anybody other than my family. I’m thrilled when my boys have a clean shirt and underwear on so perhaps my standards are different... [emoji41]

 

In all seriousness: the most formal my boys were in were golf/polo shirts and nice shorts for formal nights. Some people loved to get dressed up. I’m not that thrilled with hauling the extra clothes around anyways.

 

We were not denied access to the MDR. We were not snickered or sneered at. My kids looked just as adorable as they normally are, but I’m a little biased...

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[PopeyeDaSailor]

I can’t say I really paid attention to the dress of anybody other than my family. I’m thrilled when my boys have a clean shirt and underwear on so perhaps my standards are different... [emoji41]

 

In all seriousness: the most formal my boys were in were golf/polo shirts and nice shorts for formal nights. Some people loved to get dressed up. I’m not that thrilled with hauling the extra clothes around anyways.

 

We were not denied access to the MDR. We were not snickered or sneered at. My kids looked just as adorable as they normally are, but I’m a little biased...

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

I'm glad you posted this. I have an 11 year (boy) and a 5 year old (girl) that I will be cruising with next May. This is my first cruise with kids and I was wondering how strict they were with enforcing kids in "formal" attire. I personally don't want to go out and buy my son a shirt/tie/shoes for dinner on a cruise. My daughter will LOVE getting into a nice dress though! ;)

 

I'm glad to hear a nice polo shirt will do for my son.

[bm2wong]

I'm glad you posted this. I have an 11 year (boy) and a 5 year old (girl) that I will be cruising with next May. This is my first cruise with kids and I was wondering how strict they were with enforcing kids in "formal" attire. I personally don't want to go out and buy my son a shirt/tie/shoes for dinner on a cruise. My daughter will LOVE getting into a nice dress though! ;)

 

I'm glad to hear a nice polo shirt will do for my son.

 

My daughter loved to get dressed up in different sundresses too, but that's far easier to pack. The most formal my boys will be in are clean shirts... No need to get all fancy for your kids if they don't want to - last thing you'll need are the complaints you'll hear about the shirt/tie/shoes you made them wear!

[bm2wong]

Day 2 of vacation, Day 1 of 2 for Rome touring, Day -2 for cruise...

 

We all sleep like champions until 7AM. We start heading down for breakfast at the hotel when my brother comes in a panic - our tour guide is here! Wait, WHAT? We're not supposed to start until 9AM! I go downstairs to the lobby and meet Vincenzo, tell him our booking shows 9AM. No problem, Vincenzo, meet you back at 9AM.

 

We have a nice breakfast at the hotel. Nothing fancy - cold cuts, cheeses, various breads (really good), pastries (EVEN BETTER), some eggs/bacon, fresh fruit and yogurts. They'll also make whatever coffee you want - so it was cappuccino time! We fill up our water bottles and head to the lobby to meet Vincenzo.

 

Now, before we booked this trip, we knew we wanted to hit the major tourist sites in Rome - Vatican, Colosseum, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, etc. But the thought of us roaming around finding taxis or hopping on the subway with 8 of us wasn't as exciting as we thought. So we booked a 2 day tour of Rome with Romecabs. Yes, it was a bit pricey but we felt like it was worth it. Boy, were we right...

 

Vincenzo loads us up and we head to the Catacombs, specifically the Catacombs of San Callisto. The area where the Catacombs are located is a really quiet and quaint part of Rome within the hustle/bustle of the city. You would think you were in the countryside or in Tuscany but you're still in the middle of bloody Rome. Amazing.We weren't sure what we were going to see but this was cool - there are over 4 different levels in these catacombs but you only go down to level 2. Sadly, no photos from the inside of the catacombs but I recommend this. Wasn't too expensive to enter if I recall. We spend about 45 mins on the tour and meet Vincenzo back at the parking lot.

 

Next, we start driving out of the Catacombs area, with Vincenzo pointing out a number of different spots and buildings. Vincenzo takes the time to go through the history of Rome, discussing Mussolini and his impact on Rome and what he changes, what he decides to do, etc. We stop at the Basilica di San Paolo Fuori le Mura, or St. Paul's Basilica Outside the Walls. This church was beautiful, and a highlight of our trip. One of the most beautiful churches I have ever been in - the mosaics are unreal and the marble everywhere was a highlight to see.

 

After St Paul's, we head out to another hidden gem in the city (Vincenzo is pulling out all the stops now...). We stop at the "Orange Grove Park", or Giardino degli Aranci. This garden has an amazing view of the city, coupled with a number of orange trees growing in the park. Not far away, we stop at the Aventine Keyhole - it is literally a keyhole in an non-descript door - where you can essentially see three countries in one view - you're standing in Rome, looking through the keyhole into what is considered Malta, with a view of St. Peter's Cathedral. Pretty cool!

 

We're starting to get hot and hungry, so Vincenzo takes us to a nice trattoria for lunch. We sit and have a nice lunch at Trattoria da Luigi, a spot not too far from the Vatican. Pastas are not quite as good as Braci e Abbracci, but still way better than I can make :p

 

Happy and hydrated, we head out to the Vatican. We have passes booked for 130PM (it's past 2PM now!), but Vincenzo says no worries - as long as we had the tickets in hand, we're good. We meet up with our private Vatican tour guide Valentina who will be our guide inside the Vatican. Valentina helps us turn our reservations into tickets, and we skip the lines and head up in the museums. Valentina stops at an interactive panel to explain some things for us since we can't really talk inside the Sistine Chapel. She points out a number of different things to look for in the Chapel, but in this area, t's packed, it's hot. Are my kids going to melt? They are troopers, I must say. We walk through some of the outside gardens/square, before we walk through the "map room". This is pretty cool with maps of all over Italy. This long (!) hallway is breathtaking, while it takes us into the Sistine Chapel. The chapel itself is amazing, with lots of people stopping at various points though (many ushers are shushing people and trying to move them along). Valentina takes us to the less crowded back of the chapel where we all sit and admire Michelangelo's work. It's simply a masterpiece. We don't think it can get any better, but then we arrive at St Peter's Square and St Peter's Basilica. Again, spectacular square coupled with one of the holiest places on the planet. In retrospect, I wish we had a bit more time here as it's very hard to take it all in such a short period of time.

 

We had outside of the Square, head into a shop for a quick bathroom break and some souvenirs. We meet up with Vincenzo again and he has the car ready and the A/C is refreshing. A couple of more stops to go... he takes us to Campo de Fiori to show us the famous square where the market is. At this time in the day, the market is done and all that's left are the cleaning crew. Must go see this again when it's open - I love browsing these markets. We then end up at Piazza Navona - a beautiful square in the middle of the city. It's hard to beat having a gelato in a Piazza, so everyone has a nice gelato as a way to cool off. We meet up Vincenzo again and head back to the hotel.

 

We rest up for a few hours at the hotel and head out again around 7PM in search of something to eat. Some of us are craving pizza today so we wonder where we can go for pizza. We check with the hotel and they mention a place down the road - we head there only to find no space for 8. So, I remember Braci e Abbracci had pizza on their menu - why no go there? I float this out there and everyone agrees. We go and enjoy another awesome meal there (did I mention it's a hidden gem?) and have some awesome Italian beers too...

[bm2wong]

Random pics from Day 1 of 2 of touring Rome...

 

Gardens near catacombs:

 

Outside St Paul’s:

 

Views from the Orange Grove:

 

Enjoying gelato in Piazza Navona:

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[PopeyeDaSailor]

Well done. I spent two weeks in Italy alone (3 days in Rome) and still didn't see 80% of it! So much to do there!

[bm2wong]

Day 2 of Rome touring...

 

We wake up and need to start earlier today to get everything in - so we meet Vincenzo at 8AM. He's ready to go outside the hotel with the van and we're ready to tackle day 2.

 

Vincenzo heads out and takes us to the Colosseum. Parking at a hill just beside the Colosseum, he walks us through the ticket pickup window and directs us to the "right" skip-the-line line (which still has a 15-20 minute wait time...) We spend about an hour touring the Colosseum and take in the site itself - I can't say we have anything like that in Canada :cool:

 

We meet up with Vincenzo again down the road by a tent where the Italian Army is stationed (hey, it's a good landmark...) and we head through some more of the Rome streets - we see some different buildings related to an old mall and older obelisks in the heart of the city. Vincenzo drops us off near the Trevi Fountain - and wow. I mean, we keep seeing neat site after neat site, but this was breathtaking as well. We stop and admire for a while, and then we head towards the Pantheon. Another cool site. Wish we had a chance to stay longer here (pictures of the outside only) and spend some time inside the Pantheon so we'll have to come back to this one.

 

Time to head for a break and lunch - so it was back to Trattoria da Luigi. We decide on a couple of nice appetizers and have linguini with clams... delish!

 

We then head out after lunch to Castel Sant'Angelo (Angel Castle) - Vincenzo advises us that it might be busy but if not, purchase a ticket and walk to the top. At this point - day 2 of Rome touring, hot afternoon - I'm expecting lots of complaining from my kiddos that they won't be happy about this... but our surprise, they are all gungho to explore A REAL CASTLE! So we buy tickets and start heading up - it's well worth it. We go through a number of different rooms, places added, rooms for the Pope, all different types of architecture over time... but the best is the view from the top of the castle. Wow - simply breathtaking. Views into the Vatican, views back into the old city, views of the Tiber River. If anyone has doubts of whether you should go, my advice - GO. Budget the time for this - my kids raved about this.

 

Vincenzo meets us a few hours later and tells us he has a surprise for us... we're not quite sure what he has in store, but he takes us to a final lookout. I wish I could remember where but we head to what appears to be another small piazza on the side of a hill with another set of amazing views of the city. From here, we can see little countryside villas on the mountain, views of the Vatican, we can spot the Colosseum... wow.

 

Well, we've had quite a second day in Rome. If I haven't said it enough, for us, it was well worth it to use Romecabs and do a 2 day tour - Vincenzo treated us like royalty and took us as close as we could to all the major sites and allowed us the time to see what we needed to. We had the time to do things in depth and explore the right things with the right amount of time - just awesome. If you have a large group or are able to organize a group together through Cruise Critic, DO IT.

 

We head back to the hotel and spend a few hours of downtime before heading out for dinner. We stop by a local grocery store and load up on some wine for the cruise - we try to research and find some wines that we know but it's stocked with a number of local wineries. For me, this is perfect - I'm all for trying new wines that I can't get at home. We pick a few bottles and head out to dinner at (you guessed it) Braci e Abbracci. We're nothing if not consistent. Philippo welcomes us back with open arms and he recommends some nice dishes to celebrate my wife's birthday. We decide on a beautiful roasted fish (pan roasted with capers and potatoes) that simply delicious. We enjoy house wine and a nice birthday surprise for my wife. We head back to the hotel full and happy, ready to start our cruise.

 

Symphony of the Seas... here we come...

[bm2wong]

Some pictures from day 2...

 

Colosseum from the outside:

 

Colosseum from the inside:

 

Trevi Fountain:

 

Angel Castle:

 

Checking out St Peters from Angel Castle:

 

Vincenzo and the kiddos:

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Kennycapes]

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:

Yes please. First ever cruise and on her in 9 days time out of Barcelona.

[bm2wong]

Yes please. First ever cruise and on her in 9 days time out of Barcelona.

 

First ever cruise? Wow - are you are ever in for a treat :)

 

Happy to answer any questions - this was our 3rd cruise and we're still finding out new things :D

[m0m2princess]

I'm looking forward to reading your review. We are just back home from the Symphony. There are so many similarities between our trip and yours I just want see how different our trips were. We're also a family of 5 from Canada (but we live in Quebec), traveling with the grandparents, and a family friend, so a group of 8 as well. We also arrived in Rome a few days earlier to tour that wonderful city before our cruise.

[RCThanksgiving2018]

Thank you for the informative post.

 

If you don’t mind answering a question I have one regarding Playmakers. It looks like it is an open establishment that is right on the main deck (sorry, I’m not sure of the exact location name), but it doesn’t allow anyone below drinking age in the establishment. Is that true?

[Clarea]

Thank you for the informative post.

 

If you don’t mind answering a question I have one regarding Playmakers. It looks like it is an open establishment that is right on the main deck (sorry, I’m not sure of the exact location name), but it doesn’t allow anyone below drinking age in the establishment. Is that true?

Bars on RC ships are open to guests of all ages. An exception might be wherever they hold the nightclub function in the evening, were they require guests to be 18 and over.

[bm2wong]

Day 1 of the Cruise - BOARDING DAY!

 

We decide to sleep in and catch up on some shuteye - not sure if we've fully adjusted to the time zone (yet) but all of the touring and sightseeing makes us all crave a little extra sleep. We enjoy a nice final breakfast at the hotel - maybe it's me, but the cappuccinos are REALLY GOOD. That, or it's just because we're in Rome. We shuffle our luggage a little to put our bathing suits into the carry-on bags so the kiddies can jump into the pool when we get on the ship, if they so choose.

 

We meet our Romecabs driver in the lobby at 11:15am (he's early!) and we're ready to go. We load up the van and head out. Our driver speaks a bit more English this time and makes a bit of small talk with me. He's from Romania and has relatives in Mississauga - not far! We slowly snake our way towards Civi - it's a nice drive once we finally get our way out of Rome. We pull into the port area - for some reason, I was expecting something a bit bigger but there isn't much in the actual city of Civitavecchia. We pull up to a huge new cruise terminal - it's not busy at all. Are we in the right place? We unload and tip our driver and bring our luggage for drop off - we already have our luggage tags all ready to go so we drop them off in the "tagged luggage" line. We drop them off and head to the security line with no more than 20 people in front of us. We breeze through security and head upstairs to start checking in. Again, nobody in line. We're Gold C&A members and think this will help us in checking in - but there are more counter people waiting for us than people in line :) Check-in process was a breeze - we already uploaded our photos before and we get our SeaPass cards and start heading towards the ship. Every time we see the ship for the first time, we're still in awe - it's a gigantic beast. You see if it from a far when driving and you don't really get to appreciate it until you get up close and personal. We stop for a boarding photo op (why not? WE'RE ON VACATION DAMNIT) and head up the gangway. We're greeted with glasses of champagne - yes, Royal Caribbean, you have won me over and I've just stepped on the ship.

 

So from hotel to the port to luggage dropoff to security to checkin to stepping foot on the ship - a little over 90 minutes. I look and see it's a bit after 1PM local time. We are told that our rooms are ready, so we head up to drop off the carry on luggage. The rooms are clean and surprisingly spacious (we're used to the inside cabins from the last time we were in Allure). We look to lock up our valuables - phones, passports, cash - but the safe is locked, but open. How is that possible you ask? Not sure. I call housekeeping and maintenance is coming to help. The boys see that laser tag is on and my wife takes them to see if they can join. Meanwhile, I stay back with my daughter and wait for maintenance. Five minutes later, they are here and have the safe ready to go. Sweet! We lock up our stuff and head up to Windjammer for some eats... there is plenty of selection and it's not very busy. We decide to spend the rest of the afternoon doing ship stuff - ziplining, heading to the pool and checking out the Abyss slides.

 

At night, we head to the MDR for dinner - we are greeted by our waiter Drazen and our assistant waiter Mariana. I will just say that we were treated like royalty throughout the cruise by these fine folks. It was a bit of a rough start - I think they were dealing with a number of other tables that were a much larger party and had special dietary restrictions (I want to say there was a party of 20 or so that were all vegetarian). This caught the wait staff off guard and I want to say we were not their top priority. But we were patient, let them handle their situation and we were rewarded. Sometimes it does pay to wait things out and let people deal with things as they come up. No need to push - I'm on vacation anyways.

 

After dinner, we head out to see Hiro and then the boys go skating at the ice rink. We head back to the room and are happy to say the cruise has started!

 

Next stop: Naples.

[bm2wong]

Thank you for the informative post.

 

If you don’t mind answering a question I have one regarding Playmakers. It looks like it is an open establishment that is right on the main deck (sorry, I’m not sure of the exact location name), but it doesn’t allow anyone below drinking age in the establishment. Is that true?

 

Playmakers is on the Boardwalk area, next to the Aqua Theater. I saw kids in their hanging with their adult friends in there the whole week. Not sure why it was mentioned to be restricted? They serve bar food as well so I would not expect any bar on a cruise ship to be restricted.

[bm2wong]

Some pictures from day 1 on Symphony of the Seas

 

 

Looking up from the Boardwalk

 

Ultimate Abyss up close and personal

 

Boys hit the ice

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[alaska_planner]

great pictures!! your kids are so cute!!!!

 

how does the ice skating work?

i assume you have to pay to rent the skates, yes?

[Kennycapes]

great pictures!! your kids are so cute!!!!

 

how does the ice skating work?

i assume you have to pay to rent the skates, yes?

 

Would like to know this too?

 

Great post and really useful insight.

[Clarea]

great pictures!! your kids are so cute!!!!

 

how does the ice skating work?

i assume you have to pay to rent the skates, yes?

Ice skating is free, including the skates. You must wear long pants.

[bm2wong]

Cruise Day 2, Vacation Day 5 but we're at the point we have no idea what day it is...

 

We arrive in Naples at 7AM - today, we're booked on a ship excursion to Sorrento (it is called "Sorrento with Pizza Making for Families"). We did realize this would be a fairly "touristy" excursion - making pizza is not really a worthwhile event but the itinerary allowed us to do some sightseeing in Sorrento and feed the kids with the excursion. Both my wife and I are interested in more sightseeing but with kids, we didn't want to do too much that would make it difficult to enjoy. So consider this a compromise :D

 

We wake up and get prepped for the day - we head up to Windjammer for breakfast and fill up our water bottles. Our tickets tell us to gather down in the Comedy Club for 8:15AM - being our first ship excursion ever, we arrive early but I suspect this time is to ensure everyone is there before the *real* time to start the fun (8:30AM). We are shuffled off like a herd of sheep to the gangway and head outside to meet our coach bus. Walking outside and seeing Naples, I still have a "holy cow" moment - I'm still in freakin' Italy! We pile into the bus and start heading out to Sorrento. The port of Naples is a bit of an industrial area at first glance but you are actually dropped right into the city. Our bus weaves out of the port area and we get a glimpse of the city of Naples. Very different vibe than Rome, that's for sure. We start the drive out of Naples and head out through some highways to Sorrento. Our guide explains a bit about the area and explains that Pompeii is along the way and points out a few things along the drive. As we get closer to Sorrento, the scenery changes a bit and we get into a bit more of country drive through winding highways and roads. Our guide point out olive and orange groves along the way - we're *definitely* not in Ontario anymore. After about an hour drive, we arrive at Cuomo's Lucky Store - the main meeting point for our excursion. We are shuffled downstairs to get a quick demonstration of the wood inlay furniture that is commonly found in Sorrento - very cool. We politely decline the upsell opportunity and we're provided about 90 minutes to explore Sorrento and walk around. We start walking towards the water and the view from here is amazing. Sorrento itself is beautiful - cobblestone streets, narrow buildings filled with small shops. We find a candy store and buy some lemon candies. We find a little food shop off the main street and buy ourselves a nice bottle of Villa Massa limoncello for us to bring home. Is 11AM too early to have gelato? Perhaps for some, but not us. I decide on having another cappuccino though and get my caffeine fix (when in Sorrento, do as the Sorrento people do...?)

 

We meet our bus and tour guide at the designated spot and everyone's here. That must be a first... we pile into the bus and head to the restaurant where we'll make pizza and eat lunch. The restaurant has a large area with a long table. We're shown by our host at the restaurant how to make our pizza and it's a standard pizza margherita we're making today. Sorry, no additional toppings available. Only 8 of us can make at a time for this long table so we all wait patiently until there is some space available - it takes about 20 minutes until we're up for pizza making. People watching at this point - it's clear to me that many people have not handled pizza dough before or made anything homemade. We have people doing things out of order, putting pizzas on the paddle that look like a train wreck... who knew I was getting lunch and a show? We finally make our pizza - mine looks more oblong than round - but such is life. The dough is surprisingly wet, something I should note for my own homemade pizza at home and we follow the restaurant staff to the wood oven where our pizza is done in about 4 mins. We head upstairs to the terrace and enjoy a salad, drink and dessert - those adults reading this can know that the drink can also be a glass of wine. I suspect the wine is almost cheaper than water... before we head out of the restaurant, I find the free WiFi code for the restaurant. I need connectivity! I hop on quickly and catch up on what's happening back home... nothing exciting. We pile back into the bus and head back to the ship. Some people doze off but I can't stop looking at the scenery and the countryside.

 

After the excursion, it's another trip to the pool and teens club. We enjoy another nice dinner in the MDR - if I recall, this is formal night. We get a drink from the bionic bar for fun and if I recall, we watch the extra ice show in Studio B (can't reserve this one online).

 

Next day: sea day.

[bm2wong]

great pictures!! your kids are so cute!!!!

 

how does the ice skating work?

i assume you have to pay to rent the skates, yes?

 

You show up at Studio B during the times they offer the skating. You are assigned a timeslot when you are skating - for us, it was 10:20 to 10:40. Once it's your time, they call your group over and you pick out skates and a helmet. No charge for the skates or helmet. Long pants are recommended. My kids play hockey so the novelty of skating on a cruise ship in the Med was too much to resist. Skates aren't exactly sharp and the rink isn't that big so they couldn't build up any speed or do the usual skating nonsense they do at hockey...