SOTS - 4/27 Sailing (Warning ramdom thoughts)

[California_Cori]

Room: 9236 (Jr. Suite)

Just some random thoughts I wrote down while on board:

       THE NOT SO GOOD

·         “Computer glitch” took 90 min to board.  The whole process was really unorganized.  No room credits or anything for the inconvenience.

·         The Wi-fi that the crew uses to ring up purchases kept going out so they had to hand write room charges and receipts.  Delayed everything.

·         The “smoking allowed spot” is PORT side, deck 15 or something like that.  I could smell it on deck 9, always.

·         WAY too much Casino smoke.  Very poor air filtration.

·         High speed internet. Not so much.  (Some days it worked well but other high traffic times was awful).

·         Windjammer sucks: EVERYTHING was cold and ALWAYS crowded.  Lots of dirty dishes sitting on open tables.

·         Ship felt short staffed.  Had to cancel scrapbooking so the gal who was supposed to host it could go help run “the parade”.  A parade? Really?

·         Many staff members don't know the "rules".  I have to go to guest services just to get a dinner reservation in Coastal Kitchen.

·         Walls are thin. (And yes I had LOUD neighbors on one side)

·         Beds are hard.

·         Towels are scratchy.

·         Room attendant was just okay. I asked for ice and never once had ice.  Also took the empty box of Kleenex but never put a full box back.  Service was very inconsistent.  One day we had 4 bath towels, then we had 2, then we had 3… just odd.  He also kept talking our washcloths, without replacing them.

·         Johnny Rockets closes for breakfast at 10am which is too early. IMHO

·         Casino “learn to play” was a joke.  We showed up and one guy kept complaining about wanting to go to lunch and then when we got to the next table, she said she couldn’t “teach” us because they were open for business.

·         Playmakers was just so so. Service was slow.

·         Offer drinks in Windjammer and only tell you after the fact that they will be charging you for them.  I should have known… NOTHING is free!!

·         When we arrived at the room, there were NO keys outside the door.  Our room attendant locked keys in the room so had to go get duplicates from guest services just to get in.  Apparently we were told that our room attendant was supposed to be there to greet us and let us in the room.  He was MIA for most of the first day.  We didn’t meet him until day two.

·         Spend too little time in Ports.

·         Copper Kettle waitress showed extreme displeasure that we didn't tip here MORE THAN the default 18% gratuity.

·         All-inclusive food venues close at 6 except pizza. Kept pushing everyone to Windjammer

·         Hotdog place closed very early as well.

·         Spa is severely overpriced and the hard sell is VERY annoying.

·         Walking pathways suck, on many decks you have to walk down the room hallways to get past the hole in the middle of the ship

·         Deck 5, 6, 7 ran out of water day 7

·         Can’t preview pictures if the picture place is not open.  The pictures are on a computer… why can’t I see them?

·         Laser tag was booked SOLID on the first day – for the WHOLE trip.

·         Show times were often changed or delayed.

The floor that covers the ice rink broke a few times.  They managed to get it moved, but it delayed the show.

THE GOOD

·         Chops excellent. Best service aside from Coastal Kitchen on the ship.

·         Room service is even pretty damn good

·         Starbucks is always good, although not included in the drink package.  If you have the beverage package just go to Promenade Café.  They have TAZO tea and make great coffee drinks.

·         1977 is awesome

·         Solarium is beautiful & quiet

·         Flight was good but had some moments that were boring. (For me)

·         Hiro is good as well.

·         The App was nice to have for directions and times.  When the internet was working well.

·         Sorrento's is good and open until 3am

·         Restrooms all around the ship are very nice and clean

·         Forcing persons entering the buffet to wash their hands first is a very good thing!

       Love the Purell machines everywhere.  Even though Purell doesn't kill Norovirus, I loved it.

·         AC in room is great

·         Cans of Coke & Diet Coke available at the Promenade Café.

·         Go see Henry in Wonderland bar (in 2 months when he is back from vaca).  Best bartender on the ship!!

·         Mini golf was fun.

[Clarea]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

[taglovestocruise]

A lot of con's, surprising as were we on Symphony for 12 nights, and the ship was fantastic. I will make a blanket statement and say I disagree with them all. happy cruising

[KmomChicago]

Sounds overall pretty darn miserable. Hope your next cruise is worth bothering with.

[Ashland]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.....Thanks for the long review...however next time you start a thread you might want to avoid just using initials of the ship in the title and spell it out...Very confusing.

[fdthird]

Wow...sorry you were so disappointed.  Are you done with Royal?

[PCWalton1]

3 minutes ago, fdthird said:

Wow...sorry you were so disappointed.  Are you done with Royal?

I am curious too. They may be less of them but did the positives outweigh the negatives?  👍?

[Merion_Mom]

On 5/6/2019 at 4:56 PM, California_Cori said:

 

·         Many staff members don't know the "rules".  I have to go to guest services just to get a dinner reservation in Coastal Kitchen.  The Concierges wouldn't make reservations for you?  Or the host/ess of CK?

 

·         Johnny Rockets closes for breakfast at 10am which is too early. IMHO What's the right time, in your opinion?

 

·         Casino “learn to play” was a joke.  We showed up and one guy kept complaining about wanting to go to lunch and then when we got to the next table, she said she couldn’t “teach” us because they were open for business.  Casino lessons are given when the casino is not open for play. 

 

·         ·         Offer drinks in Windjammer and only tell you after the fact that they will be charging you for them.  I should have known… NOTHING is free!! I agree.  You should have known that drinks are not free, (unless it's water, ice tea or flavored waters or coffee or tea)

 

·         When we arrived at the room, there were NO keys outside the door.  Our room attendant locked keys in the room so had to go get duplicates from guest services just to get in.  Apparently we were told that our room attendant was supposed to be there to greet us and let us in the room.  He was MIA for most of the first day.  We didn’t meet him until day two.  That's annoying.  The cabin attendant is NOT in charge of the cards.  They should have been outside your door.  Well, one of them should have been.

 

·         Spend too little time in Ports.  Did you not have the port times when you booked your cruise?

 

·         Copper and Kettle Pub waitress showed extreme displeasure that we didn't tip here MORE THAN the default 18% gratuity.  I'm curious.  How did she show her extreme  displeasure?

 

·         All-inclusive food venues close at 6 except pizza. Kept pushing everyone to Windjammer.  Cafe Promenade is open (almost) 24 hours a day.  Solarium Bistro is open until  9:30.   Dog House is open until 7. Coastal Kitchen is open until 9:30. 

 

·         Hotdog place closed very early as well.  It's open until 7.

 

·         Deck 5, 6, 7 ran out of water day 7  Please explain this.  I don't understand.  "ran out of water"?

 

·    

 

 

 

Thank you for sharing your opinions.  I had a few thoughts and questions.  (in red above)

[Merion_Mom]

One more question - was this your first cruise, @California_Cori?

[Milwaukee Eight]

13 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

 

Thank you for sharing your opinions.  I had a few thoughts and questions.  (in red above)

I was thinking, they were in a JS. Their SeaPass doesn’t open the doors to CK. Maybe that’s the reason????

[Cruisegirl6]

It was the OP second cruise, if you look at the signature states I believe went on the last cruise around 1987...the OP is new here...oddly, I have traveled numerous times on the Oasis class ships and never encountered any of the problems the OP has mentioned.

 

OP, when did you take this cruise?  Was it one of the first sailings last year?

 

I do have to agree with the OP on a few things, I do believe JR closes for breakfast at 10am is too early, at least another half hour I would make it.  If the internet is not good I also would find that a negative.....smoke in the casino, heck you show me a casino that doesn't have smoke its expected, although it never bothered me much and I do have asthma.  Beds hard, well, I rather have a hard bed (probably because they are new and not worn in yet) than a bed that your butt and back sags in.

 

But honestly, knock on wood, I never had a bad bed, or bad towels or found the casino to be too smokey or had bad WiFi on the Oasis class ships.  I have to read other people's reviews on the Symphony but I wonder when the OP took this cruise?

[mac_tlc]

14 minutes ago, Cruisegirl6 said:

.....smoke in the casino, heck you show me a casino that doesn't have smoke its expected, although it never bothered me much and I do have asthma.  

We were on the Celebrity Edge a couple weeks ago. No smoking in ANY inside space, including the casino -- it was glorious. Same for all Celebrity ships.

 

 

mac_tlc

[danp2482]

I was on the same sailing as the OP and was very surprised to see so many negatives because we had an amazing cruise.

 

We used the wifi to video call with our daughter and never had a single issue anywhere on the ship at any time.

 

I do agree with 2 of the things.

 

The beds were insanely hard. Not the soft bed I'm used to but I slept fine.

 

The smoke in the casino was pretty bad and lofted out into the main entrance to the dining room.

 

They didn't "run out of water". There was a broken pipe that required the engineers to shut off the water to those sections to be able to repair it.

 

[California_Cori]

1 hour ago, Merion_Mom said:

One more question - was this your first cruise, @California_Cori?

 

Not my first cruise.  I read the app and saw all of the restaurant times.  Just thought they should have been open later.  Just my opinion.  I was expecting more from Royal Caribbean, that's all.  I can appreciate the fact that other have had fantastic cruises and fantastic times on Symphony.  My cruise started off rough with a computer outage and I just happen to notice other "issues" that the ship was having.  That's all...  so I thought I would share them.

 

Ran out of water - could not shower in cabin, could not flush toilets, could not run water of any kind.  I wasn't on that floor but plenty of people from that deck were talking about it on the excursion bus.

[danp2482]

5 minutes ago, California_Cori said:

Ran out of water - could not shower in cabin, could not flush toilets, could not run water of any kind.  I wasn't on that floor but plenty of people from that deck were talking about it on the excursion bus.

 

Did not run out. There was a broken pipe that required repair and they had to shut down the water to those floors to repair it.

[Cruisegirl6]

I was on two cruises with Carnival and also had broken water pipes, no water for awhile so we showered in the gym shower, it was actually very nice, so there is another place to shower if you need to while the water was shut off.

 

Yes, its true, Celebrity has no smoking casinos, but the smoke never gets to me, unless there is somebody playing on a slot next to me, then I just simply go to another slot machine.  I been on over 91 cruises so far and aiming for 100, not interested in Celebrity just yet but maybe when I make my 100th which should be in two and a half years I may just try the Edge or one of the newer ones out at that time.  🤔

 

I love hard firm beds, that is the first thing I do when I get to my cabin check the bed and hope that the mattress isn't too soft, if it is my back is doomed. lol. Maybe they should get sleep number beds this way we all can adjust it to our liking?

[BixBebe]

I was on the same cruise and I think the issues with boarding causes a lot of frustration to be carried over into the cruise for a lot of people. While we had a fantastic time, the ship was pretty glitchy. With such high expectations and previous positive reviews, this was surprising and unexpected. 

 

We generally experience a ‘great, but....’ week.

 

We had no issues with our room attendant. We had adjoining cabins on deck 8 and the service was great but...we were supposed to get three coke cups in our room and only had two on arrival. When I tried to get the additional one, I had to go to numerous bars (didn’t know I was supposed to do it as soon as we boarded) and was eventually accused of losing it (evening of day 1) and was told I would have to pay! When I balked, she talked to her manager and ‘graciously’ gave me one, with an eye roll. 

 

We went to the windjammer often, enjoyed it very much, always got a table and good service, but.....if you weren’t there before 9 am there was a long line to enter and tables for bigger parties were scarce. We were often offered drinks and knew we had to pay (we had the drink package, so no biggy) but....I agree that if you were new to cruising, it was not clear that these were extra charge until you accepted one.

 

We ate evening meals only at the MDR and had a lovely table, great waiters and great service. We had early dining so I did find the evening snack options were limited. (We ate a lot of pizza, I mean A LOT!! It was very good) It would be awesome if El Loco Fresh re-opened later for snacks. The pool deck had nothing f&b related open in the evening but...that was the best time to go soak in a hot tub or for a quick dip. It would have been nice to have a little snack and have a bar open. 

 

The wifi worked well the beginning of the week, but...as the cruise went on, it became slow and I often had to renew my lease to reconnect. Social media and news sites wouldn’t load. The ship experienced a total network outage one afternoon and everything that relied on network shut down (which, on this ship, is most things). Point of sale, laser tag, robot bar, kids casino (aka arcade), photos, next cruise, guest services all were affected. The wifi seemed exceptionally slow for the rest of the week after that issue. The robot bar was a hoot, when it worked or there was an attendant there to have it open. Only one robot was in service and it was affected a lot by the flaky wifi, which caused the attendant to have to reboot the iPads often. (I loved it though!). 

 

On day 7 some decks truly were without water. It came back on quickly but....it happened as a show was letting out (massive rush to washrooms), we did not hear an announcement, we did not see staff outside warning anyone and there were no notices posted. It was an inconvenience and it upset my party as they were worried that we may have indeed ‘run out’ and would be without water for the rest of the cruise. I guess if you’ve experienced this before it’s not big deal, but I agree it was alarming for a short while, and was another glitch in glitchy week.

 

Most staff were wonderful but...a couple were downright nasty to me and my teens. I had to have it out with a cafe promenade guy one afternoon, and I am NOT that kind of person! It upset me a lot. The attitude of one of the rising tide bartenders was enough to make me avoid the thing.

 

As for ports, we loved every stop but....all affordable excursions seemed short activity wise but with ‘time in port area for shopping’. We’re not big shoppers, I’d rather spend my time doing the excursion. Also, when we booked we were supposed to have a long day in Nassau, which was rescheduled to a very short day. I know a lot of people have been to Nassau ‘so many times, they don’t even bother to get off, blah blah’, but...we wanted to get off and visit the Bahamas. We went to Blue Lagoon island, which was beautiful and fun, but....it felt like we just got there and had to turn around and leave. 

 

Like many other passengers, we booked this cruise almost two years ago based on the hype, had huge expectations and paid a lot of money (for us). It was disappointing to have so many small issues that seem to add up over the week. While I would say we had a better experience than OP, they have valid points and I appreciated hearing their perspective. Through the week we eventually adopted the mindset that we can’t expect perfection and just roll with it. 

 

We really had a great week and feel like we got our monies worth and would definitely go again. We’re already dreaming about Harmony or the mysterious ‘oasis ultra’ we heard about.  Just a good lesson to manage our expectations in the future!

[SAmome]

8 hours ago, BixBebe said:

I was on the same cruise and I think the issues with boarding causes a lot of frustration to be carried over into the cruise for a lot of people. While we had a fantastic time, the ship was pretty glitchy. With such high expectations and previous positive reviews, this was surprising and unexpected. 

 

We generally experience a ‘great, but....’ week.

 

 

Thank you and the OP for posting reviews that had positives and negatives because without reading some of the negatives occasionally cc members or those finding information via a google search will tend to develop overly optimistic expectations.

 

People are posting opinions they are allowed to have and knowing hiccups possible and have happenned before might help others deal with them in the future.  Useful information in this thread that might encourage one to pack something to make beds softer or to report missing cup sooner, etc.

[BixBebe]

I should also note that we are experienced cruisers. This was our fifth cruise (four with Royal, one with Disney). All have ups and downs but still better than a week at work!

[jenniferop]

On ‎5‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 4:56 PM, California_Cori said:

 “Computer glitch” took 90 min to board.  The whole process was really unorganized.  No room credits or anything for the inconvenience.  We got to port early also and yes there was a delay - I think if we had arrived at our normal "Noon" time we would have been after the delay.

The Wi-fi that the crew uses to ring up purchases kept going out so they had to hand write room charges and receipts.  Delayed everything. We didn't notice any delays when ordering?

The “smoking allowed spot” is PORT side, deck 15 or something like that.  I could smell it on deck 9, always.

 WAY too much Casino smoke.  Very poor air filtration. Agreed the smoking was strong on the deck near the casino and that seems the same with every ship - thank goodness RC puts the Casino somewhere you aren't forced to walk through (Like Carnival) but I just avoided the outside smoking section

      High speed internet. Not so much.  (Some days it worked well but other high traffic times was awful). didn't notice a slow speed

         Windjammer sucks: EVERYTHING was cold and ALWAYS crowded.  Lots of dirty dishes sitting on open tables. Can't offer an opinion - only ate there once and this was because I know I will not be happy with a buffet so I don't eat there

      Ship felt short staffed.  Had to cancel scrapbooking so the gal who was supposed to host it could go help run “the parade”.  A parade? Really? Can't offer an opinion other than we didn't notice any staff shortage

Many staff members don't know the "rules".  I have to go to guest services just to get a dinner reservation in Coastal Kitchen. - no Coastal Kitchen for us nonsuite people :(

Walls are thin. (And yes I had LOUD neighbors on one side) Luckily we did not have loud neighbors (one side of us was with people we were traveling with and they opened our balcony between all 4 of our cabins so we spent a good amount of time outside on the balcony.

Beds are hard. I AGREE A THOUSAND TIMES - I had our cabin attendant add a few extra comforters and that helped a tiny bit

Towels are scratchy. Luckily I didn't notice scratchy towels

 Room attendant was just okay. I asked for ice and never once had ice.  Also took the empty box of Kleenex but never put a full box back.  Service was very inconsistent.  One day we had 4 bath towels, then we had 2, then we had 3… just odd.  He also kept talking our washcloths, without replacing them. Our Cabin Steward was great - although I did not see him most days - our room was cleaned twice everyday. We asked the first day (with a note on the bed) to add the extra padding, keep us with 3 towel sets at all times (because I use 2 every shower) and I asked for a couple extra pillows - we had all these things all week and never had any issues - we didn't ask for ice.

Johnny Rockets closes for breakfast at 10am which is too early. IMHO - If we got around to breakfast after 10am we just waited for lunch

Playmakers was just so so. Service was slow. We ate here 3 days for lunch and never had a problem - friends ate here 1 day after a port trip and they said it was  little slow because so many people showed up at the same time

Offer drinks in Windjammer and only tell you after the fact that they will be charging you for them.  I should have known… NOTHING is free!! We had the drink plan so no concern about being charged for a drink - but I would never have thought a drink was free unless it was water, tea or lemonade. Why would they have a drink plan if they were just going to give out drinks in the buffet (the most crowded location on the ship)?

When we arrived at the room, there were NO keys outside the door.  Our room attendant locked keys in the room so had to go get duplicates from guest services just to get in.  Apparently we were told that our room attendant was supposed to be there to greet us and let us in the room.  He was MIA for most of the first day.  We didn’t meet him until day two. Our cards were outside out cabin so no opinion on this comment

Spend too little time in Ports. No real opinion - we did a tour in St Kitts and St Thomas through the ship and had plenty of time to do the tour and shop in port - Nassau was a short day (even though we arrived early and left late)but we still had time to walk on our own to the Queens Staircase and then wander slowly back to the ship and watch the poor couple get left behind after they were 35 minutes late to the ship after all aboard.

Copper Kettle waitress showed extreme displeasure that we didn't tip here MORE THAN the default 18% gratuity.- this I will disagree with - C&K was our home base hang out for our group all week - we loved Malcolm!! The female waitress waited on us a few time but I can't remember her name - we didn't tip until the last day but never once during the week did she give us attitude or seem unpleasant that we should be tipping??

All-inclusive food venues close at 6 except pizza. Kept pushing everyone to Windjammer We ate at every specialty restaurants and never had an issue getting food or finding something open or available?

Hotdog place closed very early as well. it was open when we ate there?

Spa is severely overpriced and the hard sell is VERY annoying. N/A for me - first time in many cruises I didn't go to the SPA - never had time too much other stuff to do but I was never approached with a sales pitch either - the while week.

Walking pathways suck, on many decks you have to walk down the room hallways to get past the hole in the middle of the ship by day 3 we knew which decks to use to get where we wanted to go.

Deck 5, 6, 7 ran out of water day 7 - Deck 10 also (our deck) but the water was only off for a few hours so we actually didn't notice until we were told it was off

Can’t preview pictures if the picture place is not open.  The pictures are on a computer… why can’t I see them? we did run into this problem also - weird that they don't keep the computers up while in port but we just came back later and viewed them

Laser tag was booked SOLID on the first day – for the WHOLE trip. So was the Escape Room which bummed us out - we had been looking forward to trying it - they should have more spots open

Show times were often changed or delayed. Only show I know that was cancelled and then rebooked for the last night was the 10:45pm of HIRO on night 4 because the seas were so choppy

The floor that covers the ice rink broke a few times.  They managed to get it moved, but it delayed the show. This I have no opinion on - I saw Skate2.0 on the 1st night and then 1977 on night 5 and neither were delayed.
THE GOOD

       ·         Chops excellent. Best service aside from Coastal Kitchen on the ship. first time we went it was great the second meal we had was not so much

·         Room service is even pretty damn good N/A for us

·         Starbucks is always good, although not included in the drink package.  If you have the beverage package just go to Promenade Café.  They have TAZO tea and make great coffee drinks. Café Promenade made so good coffee drinks and yes that is covered under the drink plan

·         1977 is awesome  - AGREED - Skate 2.0 was even better

·         Solarium is beautiful & quiet - too hot and humid for our taste but we are from Florida so we can get hot and humid quickly

·         Flight was good but had some moments that were boring. (For me) - we liked it

·         Hiro is good as well. Agreed

·         The App was nice to have for directions and times.  When the internet was working well. loved the app

·         Sorrento's is good and open until 3am - Pizza after drinking is a must

·         Restrooms all around the ship are very nice and clean - agreed

·         Forcing persons entering the buffet to wash their hands first is a very good thing!

       Love the Purell machines everywhere.  Even though Purell doesn't kill Norovirus, I loved it.

       ·         AC in room is great - agreed

·         Cans of Coke & Diet Coke available at the Promenade Café. we don't drink soda but someone in our party did an she loved being Able to get a  full can

·         Go see Henry in Wonderland bar (in 2 months when he is back from vaca).  Best bartender on the ship!! Malcolm in Copper and Kettle was awesome! we even requested to be FB friends with him

·         Mini golf was fun.  - yes it was

 

 

We were on this sailing also - we are not RC cheerleaders because we cruise with many other lines - but I will disagree with most of these comments...comments in Red

[cot427]

Sorry to hear you had so many negatives/issues.  I will say after reading the list, a lot of your "issues" are just the norm fleetwide. Complimentary food venues do close early with the exception of Cafe Promenade/Sorrentos. You cannot view pictures unless they are available for sale. Spa is always overpriced and a hard sell. Internet is slow on every ship. Beds are not comfortable. These things are on every ship and you just accept them and move on. I feel like the only legit issues were with the service level of your stateroom attendant and moving of show times, which is annoying since every show and dining time HAS to be scheduled precisely on these big ships. 

[flcruising89]

On 5/6/2019 at 4:56 PM, California_Cori said:

 

·         “Computer glitch” took 90 min to board.  The whole process was really unorganized.  No room credits or anything for the inconvenience. Yes, agreed. We arrived at 11 thinking we'd be on the ship by 11:30 like everyone says but didn't get on for over an hour and half the time had to stand in the blistering sun.

·         The Wi-fi that the crew uses to ring up purchases kept going out so they had to hand write room charges and receipts.  Delayed everything. I didn't have this happen to me.

·         The “smoking allowed spot” is PORT side, deck 15 or something like that.  I could smell it on deck 9, always. Didn't have the problem on deck 9, but didn't enjoy having to walk by it to get to the back of the ship on deck 15 so would always go down a level or walk to the other side after making that mistake not knowing where I was walking the first time.

·         WAY too much Casino smoke.  Very poor air filtration. HORRIBLE. We smelled it the minute we got off the elevators to go to dinner on deck 4 aft. We really wanted to try out the casino too but couldn't take the smell. I didn't remember that from my last cruise on RC.

·         High speed internet. Not so much.  (Some days it worked well but other high traffic times was awful). Yes, the WiFi we purchased was good the first few days and then crapped out for the rest of the cruise. 

·         Windjammer sucks: EVERYTHING was cold and ALWAYS crowded.  Lots of dirty dishes sitting on open tables. Didn't enjoy it either. The food was subpar at best so we didn't go back after the first lunch.

·         Ship felt short staffed.  Had to cancel scrapbooking so the gal who was supposed to host it could go help run “the parade”.  A parade? Really? Didn't run into this

·         Walls are thin. (And yes I had LOUD neighbors on one side) Agreed. We heard our neighbors every morning and in the event we didn't, we sure heard the door slamming to wake us up.

·         Beds are hard. They are but I actually liked them.

·         Towels are scratchy. Didn't have that

·         Room attendant was just okay. I asked for ice and never once had ice.  Also took the empty box of Kleenex but never put a full box back.  Service was very inconsistent.  One day we had 4 bath towels, then we had 2, then we had 3… just odd.  He also kept talking our washcloths, without replacing them. Our attendant was super good! The first day she came and asked if we needed anything and I asked for ice (meaning only then) and we had ice the whole trip which we loved having.

·         Johnny Rockets closes for breakfast at 10am which is too early. IMHO Agreed. I would've preferred all breakfast be open until 11 and lunch open later too.

·         Offer drinks in Windjammer and only tell you after the fact that they will be charging you for them.  I should have known… NOTHING is free!! I can see how not knowing what is free and what isn't would be confusing.

·         Spend too little time in Ports. Only one we did was Nassau which changed after we booked the cruise. The other ports we had enough time to do most everything we wanted.

·         All-inclusive food venues close at 6 except pizza. Kept pushing everyone to Windjammer. Didn't run into this problem besides port days when we'd get back and it'd be a weird time. In that case we'd go to Park Cafe or Pizza.

·         Walking pathways suck, on many decks you have to walk down the room hallways to get past the hole in the middle of the ship. We didn't notice this besides going to dinner at the back of the ship but it didn't bother us.

·         Deck 5, 6, 7 ran out of water day 7. As others have said a pipe busted and they had to repair it but we were never told what was going on, we had to go to guest services. Also, we had just left a show in the theater and all the ladies in the bathroom couldn't flush and were walking out with soap all over their hands. I thought an announcement of what happened might have been a good idea. Then again, could've caused panic in some.

·         Show times were often changed or delayed. We did have Hairspray change to a day showing, but thankfully we went to the box office right when we got on the ship to reserve laser tag and they told us so we could change it to another day. Also Hiro changed (not for our showing) but that was to be expected as it seems to happen often since the seas can't be predicted.

The floor that covers the ice rink broke a few times.  They managed to get it moved, but it delayed the show. When we saw the first showing of 1977 we didn't experience that.

We were on the same cruise as you and thought I'd comment on some of your thoughts as well.

[SamTimeDining]

Just curious if you had VOOM Surf or VOOM Surf+Stream? Also, just so you know, SOTS could be Symphony or Serenade. 

[flcruising89]

47 minutes ago, SamTimeDining said:

Just curious if you had VOOM Surf or VOOM Surf+Stream? Also, just so you know, SOTS could be Symphony or Serenade. 

I had surf+stream on Symphony the same cruise as the OP and it was more like surfing in a pool the last 3 days. Streaming was not even an option. I tried watching one 3 minute YouTube video and it took so long to load I turned it off before it started playing.