Live Cruising Review Symphony of the Seas 3/12/2022 - 3/19/2022 Plenty of Pictures!!!

[BennyBrun]

The time has come for yet another virtual cruise.  This week I will be trying out Symphony of the Seas with UDP in an interior room with a Central Park balcony (Royal Up $20) Thank you Royal Up!  Come along for lots of pictures, lots of food and lots of my random thoughts 💭 

[BennyBrun]

Pre Cruise Day

 

I took the MIA transfer from the Wonder to MIA to catch another shuttle to Fairfield Inn Suites West Doral.  There was another person on the bus who will be boarding Freedom at MIA today. I like this transfer options because it opens up new possibilities when looking at doing a side by side cruise.  Again the shuttle is not the most dependable but the hotel is fairly new and the breakfast area is nice and large!

[BennyBrun]

Pre Cruise Day Fairfield Inn & Suites West Doral 

 

Basic room, no bells no whistle, probably on the lower or the lowest end of Marriott brand but this room is about $238.00 for tonight when booked a month ago.  A good place to use those loyalty points.  It was only 20,000 points redemption for the night.

[Colorado Buffalo]

I know you have the UDP but is there any way you can report on the MDR at least once during your stay?  We will be on the Symphony May 28th which will also be our first ever Royal cruise.

 

The breakfast area in your hotel needs to erase the "Got Eggnog" sign ..lol 

[cruisin_123]

Following, as we are looking to book this ship for next year. It's been awhile since the last time we sailed on Royal.

[CityChickCruising]

It's like you never left! Following along and when you hop off, I'll only have one week until my first cruise in nearly three years! Feeling very prepared based on your reports!

 

Enjoy your downtime today! 

[BennyBrun]

34 minutes ago, Colorado Buffalo said:

I know you have the UDP but is there any way you can report on the MDR at least once during your stay?  We will be on the Symphony May 28th which will also be our first ever Royal cruise.

 

The breakfast area in your hotel needs to erase the "Got Eggnog" sign ..lol 

I certainly will report back for you on MDR especially since this will be your first Royal Cruise!  Relax and enjoy the virtual cruise and remember that you do not need to do everything an Oasis Class ship has to offer, enjoy what you like!  But do make show reservations ASAP!  They tend to evaporate quickly but then you can always stand by!!

 

They have no time to change the sign, they need to turn over the room quicker 😂 

[BennyBrun]

28 minutes ago, cruisin_123 said:

Following, as we are looking to book this ship for next year. It's been awhile since the last time we sailed on Royal.

Welcome aboard!  Feel free to ask questions!

[BennyBrun]

15 minutes ago, CityChickCruising said:

It's like you never left! Following along and when you hop off, I'll only have one week until my first cruise in nearly three years! Feeling very prepared based on your reports!

 

Enjoy your downtime today! 

Yay!!!  Enjoy your cruise … you have waited long enough!!  Feel free to ask last minute questions.

[BennyBrun]

Pre Cruise Day

 

My final bill arrived from the Wonder and NO surprise towel charges!!  I will have to keep my eyes wide open on the Symphony as well!

[Oceansaway17]

5 hours ago, BennyBrun said:

The time has come for yet another virtual cruise.  This week I will be trying out Symphony of the Seas with UDP in an interior room with a Central Park balcony (Royal Up $20) Thank you Royal Up!  Come along for lots of pictures, lots of food and lots of my random thoughts 💭 

and I hope it will be quieter for you and not have the big loud screen.

hoping you get a full aqua show as well

[Oceansaway17]

3 hours ago, BennyBrun said:

Pre Cruise Day

 

My final bill arrived from the Wonder and NO surprise towel charges!!  I will have to keep my eyes wide open on the Symphony as well!

wow I did not think they really did this.  See I bring my own towel just for this reason.

[BennyBrun]

1 hour ago, Oceansaway17 said:

and I hope it will be quieter for you and not have the big loud screen.

hoping you get a full aqua show as well

That is what I am hoping for!  It shall be fun!

[FionaMG]

Still trying to catch up on the final stages of your Wonder report. Work is getting in the way. I really need to win the lottery so I can take early retirement! 😄

I will be interested to see how you get on at Hooked; it's one of the few specialty restaurants that has a menu that appeals to me.

Have (another) great cruise!

[BennyBrun]

Pre Cruise Day

 

I was going to go out and walk around to find food but Uber Eats sent me a $20.00 coupon off of $25.00 so I ordered in instead from another one of my favorite Cuban place in town La Carreta.  For $15.00 including a tip, FEES, and misc charges I got myself a feast!  All my favorite, fried pork chunks, roasted pork with crispy skin plus all the trimmings!

[BennyBrun]

3 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

Still trying to catch up on the final stages of your Wonder report. Work is getting in the way. I really need to win the lottery so I can take early retirement! 😄

I will be interested to see how you get on at Hooked; it's one of the few specialty restaurants that has a menu that appeals to me.

Have (another) great cruise!

You can make it through!  The weekend is coming up 😂.  Don’t worry you will get to see pretty much everything they offer at Hooked!  I will be there often and not so much at Giovanni’s/ Chops though.

[Hogladyrider]

@BennyBrun that's a LOT of food!

[Colorado Buffalo]

5 hours ago, BennyBrun said:

Yay!!!  Enjoy your cruise … you have waited long enough!!  Feel free to ask last minute questions.

Show reservations can only be made once aboard ? Correct ?

[BennyBrun]

25 minutes ago, Colorado Buffalo said:

Show reservations can only be made once aboard ? Correct ?

Yes, as soon as you can connect to Wi-Fi (ship) put your phone on airplane mode, you may have to disable VPN/Private Relay (IPhone) so it will let you make reservations.  On the Wonder my private relay was causing havoc with making reservations, it thinks I am not on the ship.

[BennyBrun]

52 minutes ago, Hogladyrider said:

@BennyBrun that's a LOT of food!

Had to bring the order over $25.00 to use the $20.00 coupon 😂.  Not to worry, I ate most of it except the rice, one piece of pork and one piece of plantain.

[Oceansaway17]

2 hours ago, Hogladyrider said:

@BennyBrun that's a LOT of food!

yea and it looks like it could have come from a buffet on a ship. hmmmm

[Jimbo]

2 hours ago, Hogladyrider said:

@BennyBrun that's a LOT of food!

Long night.................

[JordanAndJJ]

7 hours ago, BennyBrun said:

I certainly will report back for you on MDR especially since this will be your first Royal Cruise!  Relax and enjoy the virtual cruise and remember that you do not need to do everything an Oasis Class ship has to offer, enjoy what you like!  But do make show reservations ASAP!  They tend to evaporate quickly but then you can always stand by!!

 

They have no time to change the sign, they need to turn over the room quicker 😂 

I’m excited to follow too! I’m on her next month and it is my first Royal cruise as well. We live in SC so all of our past cruises have been out of Charleston on baby Carnival ships so I’m REALLY looking forward to the change. Also, I am now old enough where the food does matter! I don’t want to spend 7 days living off fries and ice cream. I mean I don’t  mind fries and ice cream but I don’t want it to be my only edible option to survive 😂. 

[SNJCruisers]

2 hours ago, BennyBrun said:

Had to bring the order over $25.00 to use the $20.00 coupon 😂.  Not to worry, I ate most of it except the rice, one piece of pork and one piece of plantain.

I swear you have a hollow leg 🦵. I'm putting the over/under at 5 for an Izumi "snack".

[BennyBrun]

20 minutes ago, JordanAndJJ said:

I’m excited to follow too! I’m on her next month and it is my first Royal cruise as well. We live in SC so all of our past cruises have been out of Charleston on baby Carnival ships so I’m REALLY looking forward to the change. Also, I am now old enough where the food does matter! I don’t want to spend 7 days living off fries and ice cream. I mean I don’t  mind fries and ice cream but I don’t want it to be my only edible option to survive 😂. 

Welcome aboard the virtual cruise… this shall prepare you very well for your first Royal cruise.  You certainly picked a great ship!  It’s going to be very different than the baby ships… think of a floating mall (on deck 5) with Vegas Style Entertainment with an aqua / ice show.   There will be plenty of food options.  Please feel free to ask questions to prepare for your cruise.