JUST GOT OFF SYMPHONY

[montlee]

FYI - there were 9 of us on the week of Thanksgiving.  We tried 3 months out, 1 month out and daily until cruise time to book show and restaurants.  Each time it stated ‘can only reserve once on board ship’.  Because of traffic and parking conditions we were not able to get on board until 1:00.  I sat down immediately to book things.  Everything was totally booked.  Hairspray, aqua show and ice shows.  Every specialty restaurant, every time for the escape room.  There was nothing available.

 

I’ve defended large ships, having sailed Thanksgiving for three years on the biggest ship at that time, stating there was so much to do that it was never crowded.  COVID did keep me from sailing the last two years.  Well, this ship was crowded!  Because there was nothing to do.  Hairspray only showed 3 times, the aqua show 3 times, but on only 2 days.  The lines for those waiting in case reserved guests didn’t show up were enormous and took up a lot of space.

 

There were 2 or 3 trivia games per day that attracted, maybe 25 people.  The Promenade was packed with people wandering around.

 

We had my time dining and could only get 9:15 PM.  No amount of coaxing or waiting in line helped.  We were one of the last served in the main dining room and the food was cold.  Using the WindJammer wasn’t a help because it was a zoo.

 

There were only 12 seats in the smoking section on deck 15.  6000 passengers and only 12 Adirondack chairs?!

 

This was my 13th cruise with RCI and I got no welcome snack, no animal towels and the napkins in the dining room were just folded basically and laid on the plate.

They always put the tree up overnight on Thanksgiving.  Not this year.  When we left Saturday, it wasn’t up.

 

The final straw came when another passenger threw up on me and my scooter.  RCI did come quickly and cleaned the floor, my scooter and gave a very nice lady a cloth to clean my back.  After I showered and ‘Clorox wiped the heck out of my scooter’, I called for someone to launder my clothes.  They refused, stating it would contaminate the machines.  They stated they ‘take vomit very seriously’.  When I asked about all the other body fluids that are on the sheets regularly, they hung up on me.

 

This review is just to warn you about the reservation issue.  The rest is just my venting.  Thanks for listening.

 

 

[firefly333]

I've said my time dining is only good for those who like to eat any time and late ... earlier you might as well take a set time and work into the others. Rcl is horrible on my time. Imo. 

 

Idk about the shows, I used to book as soon as i boarded but never got on at 1 pm and then booked. 

 

Couldnt book ahead until dec and now jan . .its changing thankfully. I would have gone to the shows on standby rather than miss them.

 

I'm on allure sunday but shows are booked. Hope i have a better experience than yours. Sorry you were disappointed. 

[SG65CB]

I don't know why the shows are only three times. What do the performers do the rest of the week? Shows on Broadway (and touring) have 8 performances a week. The theater has 1,400 seats, so three shows would allow only 2/3 of the passengers to see the show. 

[sgmn]

It's not good enough that they don't give everyone a chance to see the shows. The shows are one of the reasons people choose Royal Caribbean over some other lines. 

I can understand limiting the Aqua shows if the weather is bad but the other main shows should be available to all, not just those who book early 

[Eddie Wilson]

35 minutes ago, SG65CB said:

I don't know why the shows are only three times. What do the performers do the rest of the week? Shows on Broadway (and touring) have 8 performances a week. The theater has 1,400 seats, so three shows would allow only 2/3 of the passengers to see the show. 

 

I believe on they have only one backstage crew, that work the Headline shows, then on other nights the Aqua shows, and at other times the Ice show. 

I have been told even the performers of say the Aqua show work wardrobe changes and other backstage duties while the headline show is playing, and vice versa when the Aqua show is playing.

 

So, the reason they don’t have 6 performances per week is that same as every other issue, .....staffing

 

Eddie

[nelblu]

56 minutes ago, montlee said:

FYI - there were 9 of us on the week of Thanksgiving.  We tried 3 months out, 1 month out and daily until cruise time to book show and restaurants.  Each time it stated ‘can only reserve once on board ship’.  Because of traffic and parking conditions we were not able to get on board until 1:00.  I sat down immediately to book things.  Everything was totally booked.  Hairspray, aqua show and ice shows.  Every specialty restaurant, every time for the escape room.  There was nothing available.

 

I’ve defended large ships, having sailed Thanksgiving for three years on the biggest ship at that time, stating there was so much to do that it was never crowded.  COVID did keep me from sailing the last two years.  Well, this ship was crowded!  Because there was nothing to do.  Hairspray only showed 3 times, the aqua show 3 times, but on only 2 days.  The lines for those waiting in case reserved guests didn’t show up were enormous and took up a lot of space.

 

There were 2 or 3 trivia games per day that attracted, maybe 25 people.  The Promenade was packed with people wandering around.

 

We had my time dining and could only get 9:15 PM.  No amount of coaxing or waiting in line helped.  We were one of the last served in the main dining room and the food was cold.  Using the WindJammer wasn’t a help because it was a zoo.

 

There were only 12 seats in the smoking section on deck 15.  6000 passengers and only 12 Adirondack chairs?!

 

This was my 13th cruise with RCI and I got no welcome snack, no animal towels and the napkins in the dining room were just folded basically and laid on the plate.

They always put the tree up overnight on Thanksgiving.  Not this year.  When we left Saturday, it wasn’t up.

 

The final straw came when another passenger threw up on me and my scooter.  RCI did come quickly and cleaned the floor, my scooter and gave a very nice lady a cloth to clean my back.  After I showered and ‘Clorox wiped the heck out of my scooter’, I called for someone to launder my clothes.  They refused, stating it would contaminate the machines.  They stated they ‘take vomit very seriously’.  When I asked about all the other body fluids that are on the sheets regularly, they hung up on me.

 

This review is just to warn you about the reservation issue.  The rest is just my venting.  Thanks for listening.

 

 

If you are disabled, there’s special areas set aside for the disabled. 

[Baowen]

That really  sucks! I'm booked on the Symphony December 17th. I was able to book all of the shows a few weeks ago.

I have found that sometimes using a different browser or clearing my browser's cache helps with some of these issues.

Beth

[blueslily]

28 minutes ago, Baowen said:

That really  sucks! I'm booked on the Symphony December 17th. I was able to book all of the shows a few weeks ago.

I have found that sometimes using a different browser or clearing my browser's cache helps with some of these issues.

Beth

He was sailing in November.  Booking shows in advance in the planner was just opened by Royal starting with December sailings. That was not an option for November sailings. 

[poocher]

And perhaps the large group made reservations harder.

[ARandomTraveler]

I'm sorry you didn't have a great experience. I was on that sailing as well, and had a completely opposite experience.
 

However, I got on early (11am) and booked all shows and dining immediately. I can confirm that most everything was completely booked by 11:30am. So a major bummer for people like you who got on later. I can also see it being difficult to accommodate 9 people (there were only 2 of us). 
 

We had the dining package, so we never ate in the main dining room. We did eat in the windjammer almost every day for breakfast, and sometimes for lunch. While it was often full, we always found a table for 2 available. I did notice bigger tables were harder to find when it was busy. 
 

We were told there were 6400 passengers on board, but I almost never felt like it was crowded. Perhaps our schedule was opposite of the masses though, and we just happen to do things at different times than other people. 
 

I also went into this cruise assuming that most people would be traveling in large groups, which would make it easier for us. I don't think I'd attempt a holiday sailing with a large group, or if I did, I wouldn't expect to do a lot of things together.

Edited December 3, 2022 by ARandomTraveler

[jamon]

What are your thoughts about the dining room menus that they started using on the cruise. Also, could you order more than one lobster tail without a problem or charge?????

[GetToLivin]

I'm so sorry that was your experience and I'd also be upset if I was unable to book any shows/entertainment, or specialty restaurants, those items are things to look forward to for sure. 

 

What's interesting is I was on Harmony a couple weeks ago and they didn't even have anyone checking reservations for the Aqua Show... people just showed up and found a seat or stood. 

[MightyMike]

It doesn't make sense to me why everything gets booked so soon. Everyone gets the opportunity for one reservation to each show, right? Sounds like they simply don't have enough shows. Entertainment is what distinguishes Royal Caribbean from the other cruise lines. If they can't deliver at least a couple shows to each passenger, then they might as well be Carnival. 

[lcpagejr]

WE cruised same week on Odyssey and had a completely different experience...Ship was packed with lots of families...but never felt crowded...had no problem booking shows and had MTD at 7 and 7:15 for all 8 nights plus we were always seated in the same section  (requested nightly)...Funny how different experiences happen on different ships

[montlee]

I guess I confused some people.  Yes, there were 9 of us, but that only applied to dinner and the escape room.  We did offer to sit at two different tables for dinner as long as they were beside each other, but that didn’t work either.

 

4 were teenagers who did their own thing, which was sleeping till noon, roaming the ship and eating pizza.  It was only the 5 adults that would have wanted to see the shows.  
 

yes there were places for handicapped, but they were all full too.

 

Another FYI for you with teens, you need tied shoes to do the zip lining.  3/4 of the kids on that ship wore CROCS 😃

[Tlbecker1]

I am sorry that this was your experience.  We are docked in Miami on the Symphony and disembark around 9AM today. We have had a great week.  Things were not too crowded and we were able to see all of the shows with no problems.  Hiro was cancelled twice, but they rescheduled it for the next day, so folks were still able to go.

[Husky1987]

2 hours ago, Tlbecker1 said:

I am sorry that this was your experience.  We are docked in Miami on the Symphony and disembark around 9AM today. We have had a great week.  Things were not too crowded and we were able to see all of the shows with no problems.  Hiro was cancelled twice, but they rescheduled it for the next day, so folks were still able to go.

+1

Sitting on Symphony waiting to self-disembark.  We were able to see Hairspray and Hiro, but by the time we wanted to reserve the ice show (probably 2nd or 3rd day), it was full as well.  No MDR experiences but Solarium Bistro was never full and we ate there 5 nights.

[RC Dancers]

We just talked to someone who was recently on Harmony of the Seas and they felt that it was overcrowded as well. We love the Oasis class ships, but our opinion is that they are currently overcrowded and overpriced.

[blueslily]

4 hours ago, Tlbecker1 said:

I am sorry that this was your experience.  We are docked in Miami on the Symphony and disembark around 9AM today. We have had a great week.  Things were not too crowded and we were able to see all of the shows with no problems.  Hiro was cancelled twice, but they rescheduled it for the next day, so folks were still able to go.

I sail on her in two weeks. What was your cruise experience this week?

[blueslily]

1 hour ago, Husky1987 said:

+1

Sitting on Symphony waiting to self-disembark.  We were able to see Hairspray and Hiro, but by the time we wanted to reserve the ice show (probably 2nd or 3rd day), it was full as well.  No MDR experiences but Solarium Bistro was never full and we ate there 5 nights.

Sounds great. We fail on her in two weeks. Would love to hear more about your experience this week. Ate Christmas decorations finally up? Did the ship feel overly crowded?

[gumshoe958]

12 minutes ago, RC Dancers said:

We just talked to someone who was recently on Harmony of the Seas and they felt that it was overcrowded as well. We love the Oasis class ships, but our opinion is that they are currently overcrowded and overpriced.

The problem is since the restart people have become accustomed to ships not sailing full and get a nasty surprise when they find they are.

 

Did people seriously expect to have the ship to themselves at the first fully restriction-free Thanksgiving for 3 years?

[Husky1987]

46 minutes ago, blueslily said:

Sounds great. We fail on her in two weeks. Would love to hear more about your experience this week. Ate Christmas decorations finally up? Did the ship feel overly crowded?

Yes, they put up Christmas decorations all week…should be fully up by your cruise if not already!

 

Honestly, for us the ship never seemed full.  Windjammer was busy at times but we never had to wait and always found a table.  We also wait to get off the ship so never got caught in the initial mad rush.

 

would be happy to answer any other questions!

[ARandomTraveler]

The only time I realized how many thousands of people were actually on the ship with us (Thanksgiving week) was during the parade on actual Thanksgiving.

 

I accidentally stumbled across it and I couldn't believe how many people were lined up on both the 5th and 6th floor to watch it, but even then, it seemed like pretty much everyone had a space to see something. I

 

Besides the parade and the windjammer, I feel like I never saw more than 30-100 people at a time on any area of the ship that I was on.
 

The ship is very well designed to spread everyone out. I've avoided Oasis class since the first time I saw one back in 2013 because I thought they'd be too big and too complicated, but I loved it. 
 

Edited December 3, 2022 by ARandomTraveler

[Daycare Provider]

I want to hear what is not to be missed.  We set sail in July for a Med Cruise…. DH and I are 53 and very active.  We have sailed on Royal multiple times.  

 

The flo rider isn’t our favorite activity… we would rather explore other aspects of the ship.

 

Thank You,

 

Angela

[ARandomTraveler]

1 hour ago, Daycare Provider said:

I want to hear what is not to be missed.  We set sail in July for a Med Cruise…. DH and I are 53 and very active.  We have sailed on Royal multiple times.  

 

The flo rider isn’t our favorite activity… we would rather explore other aspects of the ship.

 

Thank You,

 

Angela

I didn't find any one activity a "not to be missed." I would suggest you let yourself just explore the ship and go with the flow. There's so much to do that it's really easy to start feeling like you're missing out on everything. Even if you pack your day full of fun stuff, you won't have time to do everything, so you could end up feeling like you missed out if your "not to be missed" list gets too big. 

 

We went to bed every night around 11pm and we kept saying "how are all these old people out-partying us?!" Because they would still be up, energetic and dressed up and having fun, and we were too exhausted to keep up. And then we realized that we probably weren't seeing the same people during the day as we were seeing at night, and that the night-people probably rested more than we did during the day, and the day-people had probably gone to bed just like we did.

 

Or maybe not, who knows, all that is to say that we realized that we were comparing our energy levels to the amount of available things to do, which were endless, and  our energy wasn't endless. So we stopped worrying about our list of "not to miss" things and just started going with the flow and it was less stressful. One or both of us skipped a show or two, and opted out of hanging out at a music venue if we were too tired. We never did make it to Jazz on 4, which I was told was a "not to miss, but after the first 4 days, I let it go. 
 

I do suggest you make sure to book all the shows, because they're all fun and entertaining, but if you end up missing one, it's really no big deal. If any of the shows came to my hometown, I wouldn't buy a ticket, so it's not like you're missing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see Hamilton.

Edited December 4, 2022 by ARandomTraveler