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Symphony Dec 2018, Suite Cruise Review - Lots of Photos


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I know, I know, its been sixish months, how can I do a review of a cruise. I can’t, and don’t plan to. Instead, this is a review of what stood out to me, what I can remember six months later. It won’t be a day to day what I ate and drank, but more what was the ship like. The room, with a few tips and tricks of a first timer thrown in. First time on an Oasis class Ship. First Time in these ports, First time Leaving Miami, First Time in this type of Room, First time on Symphony. But Fifth Cruise overall.

If you want a more day to day review, here is a one done by someone else on the same cruise.

But here is the unashamed plug for my own previous reviews on Ovation around New Zealand

And Celebrity Solstice around the pacific.

I also split out the cruise compass, so if you want to see those for the cruise, follow this link.

 

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I will also start with some Towel Animals, as I am not sure where else to put these pictures in and everyone loves towel animals, so maybe this will get you to read more! It is after all, what most people read the reviews for, to see what towel animals are likely to be on future cruises, it's true, don't deny it. But overall, there are over 200 photos for this review.

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Some background, a couple of years before the cruise we said to our daughter who was about to finish high school, where in the world would she like to go when she finishes? Thinking, Milan, London, Tokyo. Answer, from the sophisticated 16 year old - Disneyworld!

 

So back to Orlando it is, how about a cruise while we are there? And where else would you like to go? New York for Christmas – but not New Year, been there, done that – won’t do it again.

 

We looked at a few options for cruises, we wanted to try an Oasis class ship as none operate from Australia and really wanted to do Maho Beach. Everything came together when an Eastern Caribbean cruise on Symphony the week before Christmas was listed in the inaugural US  season. Within minutes, I mean seconds of the cruises opening for sale, I had the four of us booked in an A1 – 2 Bedroom Aqua Theatre Suite.

 

Fast Forward 2 years, and we spent a month in the US. Starting in Orlando, doing Universal Studios, Shopping, then Disney World before driving down to Miami to go on board the largest cruise ship in the world before heading to New York for a Week at Christmas and then heading back to Australia.

 

 

Edited by GottaRequalify
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While I could share the Journey to Universal and Disney.

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I will concentrate on the cruise and hints from a first timer in Miami.

 

We stayed at a hotel with views of the port. I would suggest never to do that again. The lifts couldn’t handle everyone checking out at once, and you could tell everyone was heading to the port for a cruise. Any time we saved getting from the hotel to the port we lost waiting for elevators and the huge lines at checkout.

 

Waking up the next morning, we did have a good view of the port and in the distance, the Symphony.

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Now I will confess, we as a family don’t travel light. Needing clothes for both Orlando and New York in December, as well as cruise attire, meant we had a lot to start with. Then we hit the outlet shops in Orlando and by the time we headed to the cruise, for the 4 of us, we had 7 Large Suitcases, 3 Carry on wheelie bags, two back packs and a couple of hand bags. 

 

We ordered two Uber XLs thinking that we would never get all our luggage into one car. The new terminal is listed in Uber as “Crown of Miami – Cruise Terminal A – Royal Caribbean Cruise Line”. That also made it easy to order a pickup when we left the cruise. A Honda Odyssey turns up and takes all the luggage and two people. We head off to the port, and then my wife and daughter hop into a Suburban by themselves.

 

Edited by GottaRequalify
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Check IN – New Terminal

 

For those that haven’t been to the new Royal Caribbean terminal in Miami. It is fantastic. For Taxi and Ride Share drop offs, there is a very long section that easily lets cars get in and out. The one mistake we made was not telling the driver to go as far forward as possible. He took the first space. If travelling in Star Class, try and get as far forward as you can, as that is where check in is.

 

When we got out of the car and we unloaded all of the bags, porters came over to grab them, but I kept on saying Star Class, which eventually got the attention of a supervisor who told one of the porters to grab a trolley and take us and our bags to the Star Class Checkin, which is just near the main entrance that everyone uses. Our names were checked off on their list, but they wouldn’t take us or our bags inside until my wife and daughter turned up.

 

Once everyone was reunited, we then went through the doors that lead to the base of the escalators, but rather than taking them, we were escorted to an elevator on the right and head up, with our bags closely following.

 

Our carry on was x-rayed and we were shown into the waiting area. I then notice that our 7 large suitcases are then put through the same bag x-ray as our carry on. There were some questions early on if large carry-ons could go through the x-rays or do they need to fit into tubs. The answer is, they can take everything. Once x-rayed, they were put in a storage area near by waiting for people from the ship to come and collect them.

 

In the waiting area, our passports were checked and final photos taken by a person carrying a tablet. The family was then able to wander around while we waited for our Genie. Boarding had started so we were on our own in the waiting area.

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I found the seats above quite hard, mainly because they won't get used very much. Once boarding begins, most people would just walk through here, without sitting down. So while the room might get used by hundreds of passengers, the seats won't.

 

If we were not in star class, we could have got onto the ship at that point. All up from the moment we hit the curb until we were ready to board was 15-20 minutes, and that was with us going slow so we could look around.

 

I will have more to say about out Genie later, but Alina was very good and made the cruise really enjoyable. We had exchanged a few emails before the cruise, but Alina came over and introduced herself (wasn’t hard, we were the only ones in the room) then escorted us onto the ship and straight to our room. Going through the doors that say do not enter and past all the cabin attendants who were getting all the cabins ready.

 

I will do first impressions of the room shortly, but our Genie gave us a few minutes to check out the room then went through the weeks agenda with us. Internal tours she had booked for us, Escape Room, Laser Tag, restaurants etc. She went over the ground rules with us and reviewed the e-mail wants and needs that I had sent in earlier.

 

Overall she spent a good 20-30 minutes with us, discussing the different ports and what we wanted out of the cruise. We never felt rushed like she needed to get to other passengers. All-in-all, a very relaxing start to the week. Alina left us so that we could explore the room and enjoy the deck.

 

As a family we had been to Chops on Legend and Ovation, we didn’t enjoy either of those visits, so we asked not to be booked into Chops for dinner on this cruise. But I did ask to go there for lunch on embarkation day, as I had read on another review that it was open. I will finish the check-in process with lunch.

 

Chops being on deck 8 was easy for us to get to. But there was a line of people waiting to talk to the Maître D. They were trying to get their weeks worth of dining reservations changed or setup. So I grabbed a passing waiter and told him we have a reservation for lunch and he said we need to wait. I then flashed the star card, and he said come on in – sit wherever you like. Lunch, the food and service was fantastic, so much so that we went back there during the week for an evening dinner. Very relaxed, only a couple of tables were used so a quiet place to have embarkation lunch, and lots of room if you still had your carry-ons with you while waiting for the cabins to open.

 

 

Edited by GottaRequalify
More White Space
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On 6/24/2019 at 8:25 PM, driftersdream said:

We are booked in this room on our next cruise.  Anxious to read about your experience!

That's good, because the next section is about the room. Hopefully, you will read until the end as well. Thanks for reading and following.

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On 6/24/2019 at 2:56 PM, perfect match said:

Following. 😀. Looking forward to re-living our recent Symphony cruise! 😍

Thank you for reading and following. I hope this helps relive the cruise and helps with the reentry jitters.

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The Cabin – A1 Aqua Theatre – 2 Bedroom

Waiting for us in our room when we first arrived was this.

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Here are some photos of the room.

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Second bedroom showing the two beds split and the bunk bed.

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Second Bedroom showing the other side of the room

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View from Entrance. You can see pool towels waiting in our room as well as the laundry bag next to them. Door on left is main bedroom and open door is to the Toilet / Shower.

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Main Bathroom

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Master Bedroom

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View from the bed in the master bedroom. Door on left is to the ensuite.

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Outside – view of left balcony (if facing Aft), back towards the Crown of Miami Cruise Terminal

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Seating on Left Balcony

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Main balcony area showing dining table and fixed binoculars.

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Right side of the wrap around balcony showing table and high chairs

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View into the ship

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View up into Ultimate Abyss

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Looking Across

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The Balconies are Decks 7 - Rock Climbing Wall, Deck 8 - A1, Decks 9,10 - A2,  Decks 11,12 - A3, Deck 14 - A4. To help show the differences in balcony sizes in the different categories of rooms.

 

Looking Down at Theatre

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How Close is the Rock Climbing Wall. Very Close, but I never heard anyone on it while we were in our room. You would hear a bell ring every so often, but it was not intrusive. Not sure if it was just this cruise, but only the wall on the right side was used. The left side wall was used for storage for the shows and never used for rock climbing. There is also no climbing hand holds right next to the room balconies.

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At night, the ship was light up as you would have seen in the publicity shots of the Symphony. It was okay and not intrusive when going out on the deck.

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As I had never been in an Aqua Theatre suite before, I had 3 concerns before the cruise.

  1. Noise from performances
  2. People looking in from the Rock Climbing Wall
  3. Vibration from the propellers.

 

In terms of Noise – if you were in the main living room area when a performance started, you definitely knew it. Lights, noise was massive. I hope you like the song “War” by Edwin Starr, because if in the cabin, you heard it 2 times a night, some of the performances started at 10pm, so late if there are kids trying to sleep. However, the sound proofing in the doors is fantastic. Close the doors to the bedrooms and you could hear nothing. So sound in the living area bad, sound in the bedrooms not a concern.

 

As the pictures for the rock climbing wall above show, the wall is angled away from the rooms. Also the closest window to the Rock Climbing, has a net curtain over it and just looks into the hall way, so they can’t see into the rooms even if they stopped and tried. The only time you would use the balcony on that side is if there is a performance in the aqua theatre, therefore it is unlikely the rock climbing would be scheduled at the same time, even then the balcony is private, apart from all those below looking up at you!

 

When we were on Ovation (a quantum class ship), we had a suite in the middle of the rear on Deck 8. We felt the azipods every time we went into port, or they started up. The vibration was annoying. Even though this room also was on deck 8, being on the side made a big difference, we never heard or felt vibrations at any time during the cruise. I would happily take a deck 8 room on the side again, but would never book deck 8 centre rooms on Ovation.

 

Overall we loved the location on deck 8. Most of the dinners at night were at specialty restaurants which are on deck 8, so we never had to face the lifts going to or from dinner. If we wanted a snack, down to the park café for a roast beef roll. We really enjoyed the Trellis Bar. We had drinks there most afternoons, fast to get to, never crowded and a great bar tender. The garden area was relaxing to walk through or just sit and relax in. Only a couple of flights of stairs down to the Boardwalk.

 

Inside the cabin was a good layout for us, with the two bathrooms and enough seating both inside and out for everyone. A huge amount of closet space both inside the bedrooms and in the main living area. Even with all our luggage it never felt crowded when we were all together. With seating on 3 different balconies, everyone could spread out and find a location out of the wind and be outside watching the ocean.

 

The room was enjoyable to be in. There was lots to see, from the ocean, to things happening in the Aqua Theatre (both performances and rehearsals). We had lots of food delivered to our room, so there wasn’t a need to leave it. If you want a relaxing time on a ship, even one as massive as Symphony, this room gives you that.

 

I asked the kids if they preferred the Penthouse Suite on the Celebrity Solstice or this room, and the answer came back this one. Mainly because everyone got a bed. They also prefer a Genie to a Butler.

 

Let me know if you have any other questions on the A1 Room.

 

 

 

Edited by GottaRequalify
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Leaving Miami

This was our first time leaving port where there were multiple ships leaving at once. We really enjoyed leaving the port from this vantage point. Our room offered great views.

 

Not a great view, but not uncommon around the world. Nothing I would worry about or even think about when choosing departure ports.

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During the day – Everyone filling up.

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Those facing the wrong direction can go first.

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Edited by GottaRequalify
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There was one ship left behind when we left. From memory, I think the MSC ship was late into port.

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Then it is a short dash to the ocean.

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With ships going in all directions to their first port. One thing about the Caribbean, you are never alone.

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(and on other days)

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The Crown of Miami Terminal

 

Leaving port, we got some really nice views of the new terminal and the parking structure next to it.

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We could see the new large propellers in the building.

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And where they are building the new terminal next to it.

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Edited by GottaRequalify
Duplicate photos replaced with correct ones
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The Ship - Symphony of the Seas

What can you say about the largest cruise ship in the world. Its Big! There are a lot of passengers on it. But you know, it never felt crowded. I will also have to confess a few things. I never made it to Windjammers. There were so many places to eat, and with the roast beef rolls on deck 8, there was no need to go there. I also didn’t make it to El Loco Fresh, but the kids did. The ship was just so big, on a 7 day cruise, even through I walked a lot around the ship, I never made it to a lot of places. You could do lots of cruises on an Oasis class ship and still discover new places. It helped that we had so much food delivered to our room, that we didn’t need to go and hunt and gather.

 

My biggest HATE of this ship was the casino. It STANK! The ship was only a few months old, but the cigarette smell coming from the casino meant that you couldn’t even walk past the doors without needing to change your own clothes afterwards. Even when it was closed on port days, the smell was vile. So much so, that we normally drop a few dollars in the casino, or walk through it to get from one end of the ship to the other, but this time changed floors rather than go near it, and kept all our money.

 

My biggest like? There was so much to do. If you are bored on this ship, its you not them. The shows, the food, the different areas of the ship made it feel like it was a different ship, Star Class, the views.

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It was just a really good week.

 

Here are some photos that don’t fit into the rest of the review.

 

This was what was being shown in Playmakers on the Saturday and Sunday.

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The Diamond Drinks Menu from the Suites Lounge

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Coastal Kitchen Menu from the first night

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And a Coastal Kitchen lunch menu

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Edited by GottaRequalify
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I am loving your review so far, and the first of your photos.  In some ways our cruise styles could not be more different and in other ways we are on the same level.

 

On our only (so far) Oasis class sailing, we also really enjoyed those roast beef sandwiches at Park Café and enjoyed the Central Park area very much. Lovely, serene, just a place we wanted to be. 

 

As you mention, it feels there is more to see and do on this type of ship than you can experience in a week's time. Simply wandering around is entertainment, aside from the endless scheduled activities.

 

And like yourself, I just love watching the other ships in port with me. Watching them leave before us, sometimes watching them come in when we arrive in port first. Big ships, small ships, new ships, old ships, just a lot of fun checking them out, waving to their passengers, wishing I could do a quick tour of their decks.

 

We are at polar opposites in other ways. In order to make Oasis of the Seas a viable financial option we had to sail in steerage. . . I mean an inside guarantee, and the only consumable upgrade we bought was the non-alcoholic refreshment package for my husband only, which he enjoyed but felt was unnecessary.  We spent lots of time foraging among the included food venues including WJ. We were assigned deck 10 forward just off the elevator / stair lobby and found it a serviceable location, and the room efficient and comfortable for its compact size.

 

This is your review, not mine, and I give the information only as a comparison for perspective.  You are giving me a window unto a world beyond my wildest dreams!  Looking forward to the rest!

Edited by KmomChicago
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4 hours ago, nalrudaini said:

 

That would've been awesome to watch App St. on a cruise ship 😍

You Sir are a champion! You quoted a post and kept only the photo you wanted to reference. You kept the response police at bay.

 

I am also impressed out of all the photos, you looked in depth enough to find a sports team that interests you. I wouldn't even know who App St. was, especially coming from Australia.

 

Thanks for reading and commenting.

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1 hour ago, KmomChicago said:

I am loving your review so far, and the first of your photos.  In some ways our cruise styles could not be more different and in other ways we are on the same level.

 

 

My wife and I have been very lucky in our career choices. At one point she put her career on the back burner to focus on mine. At the moment it is the other way around. Our careers haven't been in a straight line or with the same company which has allowed us to now get into a very comfortable life style. During the year we don't spend much money, don't go out a lot as the workload is very high. So when we do get to do the one cruise a year on the other side of the world, we go all out, to give my wife some "Me" time to reward her for all the hard work she puts in the rest of the year.

 

We also know we are very lucky to be able to afford to go into a suite. And I, like you spend the rest of the year reading all the other suite reviews to get as much info as I can, to learn as much as I can so that when we do get into them, we don't waste a minute. Often my photos and reviews are to answer questions that no one has managed to answer, just in case someone gets into a suite for the first time, they too have the anticipation, as much as the journey.

 

And the first suite we got into, was an upgrade from a connecting balcony room to the penthouse on an oversold ship, as they were desperate to pack as many in as possible, so never say never.

 

Thank you for reading and commenting. It may be my review, but feedback is important and it is everyone's perspective that makes Cruise Critic great.

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And back to the main event ...

 

Where our cruise went.

Day 2 – Sunday – Sea Day

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There was a bit of a detour on the first night. We had to make a stop off in Nassau to drop a passenger off. There was an announcement (during the night) that went into every cabin asking for blood donors to make themselves available. During the bridge tour there was a question asked if this put us behind schedule, the answer was no, but we were going to spend a lot more on fuel for this cruise than normal.

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Day 3 – Monday – Sea Day

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Day 4 – Tuesday – St Martin

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Day 5 – Wednesday – San Juan

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No, I haven't got the photos mucked up, the label for St. Marten Covers San Juan.

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Edited by GottaRequalify
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Day 6 – Thursday – Labadee

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Day 7 – Friday – Sea Day

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On the last evening, we had been warned that the seas were going to get a bit rough, as there was a bad storm in the Gulf of Mexico. This was the same storm that stopped Rhapsody? when it finished its Trans Atlantic 2018 crossing to be diverted to Port Canaveral rather than sail around the bottom of Florida and go to Tampa. In the last picture above, you can see that we started to turn north. That is when it got really rough.

 

The ship was sailing along and then someone on the bridge must have decided enough was enough, as the ship speed up. You could feel it and when you looked at the info screen, the ship picked up to 22-23 knots. It was hard to sleep that night and everyone in the cabin started to feel not very well, but you could tell when we passed the cost of Florida, as the wind dropped as did the motion of the ship. If they hadn’t sped up to get through the rough weather faster, much longer in the rough water would have led to a few calls of “Clean up in Aisle 2”. That was the only real time that the ship moved a lot. Even on other days when it rained it wasn’t noticeable. Not an enjoyable end to the cruise.

 

Edited by GottaRequalify
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