Symphony of the Seas

[janfebmarch]

Booked on a September cruise on this ship. If anyone has cruised on her can you give me any tips/advice on life on board this magnificent ship. The size is a bit daunting! Thanks  

[Host Kat]

@janfebmarch

 

Howdy!

 

Thank you for your new thread on the Ask a Cruise Question forum that is for general questions about cruising. 👍  

 

Since you mention a specific RCI ship I have moved your thread to the Royal Caribbean International forum where it will be on-topic. The majority of your fellow Cruise Critic members that have sailed RCI frequent that forum. I feel sure anyone that has sailed on Symphony of the Seas will help you with feedback there.

 

I sincerely hope this will be helpful and glad to have you aboard Cruise Critic!

 

Happy sails,

 

Host Kat

[bobmacliberty]

Book your shows early. Symphony has tremendous shows. You will still likely get a seat without a reservation but they let those with reservations in first, so the better seats are often taken.  You don't reserve a specific seat, just A seat at a show.  Other than specific seats reserved for Star Class guests, and possible sections of seats reserved for other suites and upper C&A levels, seats are all first come, first served.  You almost certainly won't be able to see/do everything that these ships have to offer in one week.  Symphony is my favorite ship to date.  You'll love it.

[deliver42]

The ship is unbelievable, as are the shows. You should book the shows you want to see, and that includes the main theater, aqua shows, and ice shows.Enjoy your cruise.

[dreamer976]

My best tip?  Bring your most comfortable walking shoes!!!

 

Yes, she is huge, but beautiful.  I concur with the entertainment comment. I would also urge you to at least take a walk through the Solarium after dark. The “art piece” in the center is quite interesting during daylight hours, stunning after dark. 

 

Enjoy your cruise ... and, I’m a little bit jealous 😉

 

Ellen 

[Grenouille21]

I have a review of Symphony in my signature, with lots of photos of the ship and stories about our experience. Feel free to check it out! You'll have a great time!

[taglovestocruise]

On 1/29/2020 at 11:10 PM, janfebmarch said:

Booked on a September cruise on this ship. If anyone has cruised on her can you give me any tips/advice on life on board this magnificent ship. The size is a bit daunting! Thanks  

No charge breakfast at Johny Rockets every day before 10am. 

[thrifty99]

Something to study before you go are the restaurant choices on this ship as there are so many.  I remember my first time on the Oasis class and at the end of the week wishing I had known about all the options.  

 

Not sure if this link will work, but it is a great description of the dining options on the Symphony. 

 

https://eatsleepcruise.com/2018/12/symphony-of-the-seas-restaurant-menus/

 

Our favorite for lunch is the Park Cafe... love the roast beef sandwiches.  

[mtsnd1900]

Favorite area for an OV balcony - deck 6, aft, back side of the Boardwalk.  Easy walk to the coffee shop in the AM, and kids could easily run to the carousel. 

 

Buy the coffee card if you are a coffee drinker - make sure they dont double punch for large coffees (they should not)

 

get to shows about 30 minutes (or more) before the doors open to standby.  Make reservations for the aqua theater show on the first night it occurs - if it is cancelled you can still catch it later on.  if you wait, you may miss it.  Skating rink is small, and you want a good seat for that show.

 

book shows as soon as you can

 

Wonderland is a great experience.  If only doing one specialty restaurant, this should be it

 

watch the hours of the flowrider and rock walls / zip lines - sometimes they closed for a few hours while the ship was in port.  if looking to stay onboard (Nassau, looking at you), you may be disappointed if they close down.

 

 

[Ron Don]

On 1/31/2020 at 6:34 AM, deliver42 said:

The ship is unbelievable, as are the shows. You should book the shows you want to see, and that includes the main theater, aqua shows, and ice shows.Enjoy your cruise.

The shows are IMHO, a bit better than other ships and as deliver42 says, book the shows early online as soon as you can.  Once onboard, if the show is at 8pm, as an example, the line for the show starts forming for the reservations at around 7:30 or so.  To get a better seat, you need to get there around the 7:30 timeframe.  This is true for each of the shows, at least it was for us in September.  You need to take the extra time into account for your dinner reservations as well.

 

We also felt like everything on the Symphony was on the "inside" vs. availability of "outside decks.  There are outside decks (pool deck) but it seems like more of the activities happen on the decks where everything is "inside".  Again, just an opinion.   

[lovelife]

12 hours ago, mtsnd1900 said:

Buy the coffee card if you are a coffee drinker - make sure they dont double punch for large coffees (they should not)

 

 

 

 

Just returned from three weeks on Symphony and they do punch twice for large specialty coffees (even though the difference in price is 25 cents!).

 

IMO, Hooked Seafood is the best specialty restaurant I have experienced on any ship.

 

On boarding day we head to Solarium Bistro for lunch.  It's lovely, quiet, and a great alternative to the Windjammer mayhem.  It usually is scheduled to open at noon but we have found it is already open about 11:45.

 

Enjoy this amazing ship!

[AUgirl]

18 minutes ago, lovelife said:

 

Just returned from three weeks on Symphony

 

THREE WEEKS on the Symphony??!! That sounds like a dream come true!!!! Were you on the Eastern Caribbean that went to St Maarten, San Juan, and CocoCay? If so, would you happen to still have your Cruise Compasses for that week and be willing to share them, please?  

 

Edited to add: apologies for hijacking this thread. But I'm sure the OP would like to see some more up-to-date cruise compasses for the Symphony too. 😉😄

Edited February 2, 2020 by AUgirl

[lovelife]

1 hour ago, AUgirl said:

 

THREE WEEKS on the Symphony??!! That sounds like a dream come true!!!! Were you on the Eastern Caribbean that went to St Maarten, San Juan, and CocoCay? If so, would you happen to still have your Cruise Compasses for that week and be willing to share them, please?  

 

Edited to add: apologies for hijacking this thread. But I'm sure the OP would like to see some more up-to-date cruise compasses for the Symphony too. 😉😄

 

Sorry, they were Eastern and Western Caribbean but St. Maarten and San Juan were not included.  Yes, it was quite the dream!!

[luv2cruizrccl]

We will be on the Symphony in a couple of weeks.  I'm just wondering what is the coffee card?  What coffee's are included and where do you buy it?  Does anyone remember the price of the card?  

[Biker19]

2 hours ago, luv2cruizrccl said:

I'm just wondering what is the coffee card?  What coffee's are included and where do you buy it?  Does anyone remember the price of the card?  

It's the same one you should have in your planner $31+18%. You can get any coffee with it, the issue is how many punches they use - the math only works in card's favor with one punch. Ask on board before you buy - same price as in the planner.

[luv2cruizrccl]

Biker19 Thank you...I never saw that option before.  I will check it out!

[lovelife]

7 hours ago, luv2cruizrccl said:

We will be on the Symphony in a couple of weeks.  I'm just wondering what is the coffee card?  What coffee's are included and where do you buy it?  Does anyone remember the price of the card?  

 

The card includes 15 specialty coffees and you can take the card ship to ship and share with anyone you wish.  At $36.58 including tax, this is about $2.44 per latte as opposed to the regular $4.00 charge.  I get a small caramel latte per day, so I'll take the 39% savings.  Just off Symphony and they do punch twice for a large but I occasionally sail on a ship where they will give me anything/any size for one punch.  No consistency.