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Sleeves are most definitely recommended! 

I was one that got a terrible burn on the back of my arm from wearing short sleeves.  This has nothing to do with elbows being out.  I was holding the straps properly with elbows in.  But the mat tilted up one side and I ended up on my left side. I got a 5 inch burn right below my shirt sleeve.  My arm was in constant pain for a week. I had to be treated at medical on board. I still have a good size scab now, 10 days later.  So as I posted on another thread. Be safe and have fun.

I think it’s best to let her know in advance. She will appreciate it and know she has that to look forward to.  Just have her use your credit card through her cruise planner for this purchase.  And I don’t think you have to buy a soda package for your son.  I’m pretty sure you only have to buy for people over 21 in the same cabin.

36 minutes ago, SummerIsAStateOfMind said:

Based on sightings, he seems to spend most of his time in the forward part of the ship. Finding him however is part of the fun.

I never did get to see him last week.  I looked and looked. Friends finally saw him and got pictures on the last day.

Wow, I am so sorry to hear your story! To have booked so far in advance and have this happen is crushing news. I sincerely hope you find alternative plans for a vacation together. 

Doing a search for ziplines in Skagway.

I thought if I bumped this up we might get some feedback.

I’m trying to decide between the Grizzly Falls tour or the Adventure Park and ziplines through Royal Caribbean.  

The Adventure Park tour costs less and is a shorter duration.  I’m guessing it’s because Grizzly Falls takes longer to get to.

Grizzly Falls advertises 11 lines and the other has 6 with a bridge/ropes course.

We have done several ropes courses and in my experience the zip lines at these places are shorter.  

Anyone have experience with either tour?

I like your thinking.  I bought some chocolate bars in Miami to bring onboard so I could get my chocolate fix.  Then I was surprised to find I didn’t even touch them all week.   But if I didn’t have them I probably would have been wishing for them. 

I would be sad to see Vintages go away. It was one of my favorite spots on Symphony.  The bartenders were great about finding wines to meet our tastes that fit in the beverage package.  However after trying a $16 a glass wine that I loved, I didn’t mind spending the extra $3.54 per glass.

The tapas they serve are from Jamie’s restaurant.  It’s a great way to try some fantastic apps at a reasonable $4 each.  Twice we made a dinner out of a nice mix of these. Still less $ than reservations at Jamie’s.

Also since the bar service in the MDR is slow, we always stopped by Vintages on our way to dinner to bring our wine.  Better selection at Vintages.

Thank you for all of the gorgeous photos. 

Some of the bartenders told us there was.  This came up when several of us were getting drinks at the same time. They would say you can’t get another drink on this card because it was just swiped and we would explain it was to go on a different card.  I do not know the “official “ time between drinks.  Another in our group thought it was 15 minutes. It also came up again when a friend ordered a drink and took one sip and hated it.  She was going to wait the time limit to order another one, but I assured her if she explained she wasn’t going to drink that one, they would make her another.  And they did. 

I could have have sworn I’ve read on other threads that with the deluxe beverage package they put the time factor in to prevent you from buying consecutive drinks and giving them to friends. The old sharing one package topic. 

The way we handled this was to switch sea pass cards. I had my wow band and my husband’s sea pass card, he had his wow band and my sea pass card.  That way we could bring a drink for our spouse.  I was out and about earlier and more often than DH and would bring back drinks for us to share on the balcony. It was also helpful at the pool deck when we would take turns getting drinks.

And before the drink police get on my case this was not so we could get 2 drinks at a time for ourselves.  The time limit still applies so if he got a drink with my card then I couldn’t use my wow band until the time limit has passed.

We were just on Symphony last week and it was our 5th Caribbean cruise but the 1st one with no plans. We just wanted to relax. We did plan to at least get off and look around St. Thomas, but then I wasn’t feeling great and it turned into a nap day. We did exit the ship for about 90 minutes in St. Kitts just to pick up souvenirs.  It was very freeing to not have plans and to not feel guilty about staying onboard. I don’t feel like we missed out on anything. I was a bit surprised at how many people stayed on the ship.

On the big ships there just isn’t enough time to do everything even staying on all week. The ship was our destination this time.

Our next cruise is to Alaska so we plan to visit the ports because that’s why we are going.  But we picked an itinerary with 3 sea days and 3 port days which is just about right for our family. 

Central Park and the aquatheater shows.

5 minutes ago, orville99 said:

If the list is long enough that you have to do math to get an estimate of the total cost, you probably got your money's worth from the package

I completely agree! I started to keep track the first few days but then it got to be too much.  I was surprised how quickly it added up and by day 3 we were so far ahead that I knew it was well worth it and gave up trying to keep tabs.

42 minutes ago, Foosguy said:

Sailing on Symphony in 3 weeks, can anyone tell me what they are selling the Deluxe Alcohol package for once onboard on day 0 or day 1?

 

Kyle

Last week it was $70 a day if you bought it onboard.

I did see the 10 drink card advertised at bars at the end of the week. I think they were $85.  My husband and I commented that they would only pay off if used for the $13 drinks as the drink of the day was always about $8 and beer was less than that.

Not trying to lecture here, but if you have packed anything long sleeved like a rash guard swim shirt, think about wearing it on the Abyss. In a short sleeve shirt the odds are you will get to the bottom unscathed. And it is a fun ride. But after my incident our friends did carry up long sleeve t shirts just to wear while going down the slide.

 I have to tell you the burn I got on my arm from the slide got worse every day.  Day 1 it felt like a sunburn.  I applied aloe every day. Two days later it got nasty and I was in constant pain. I should have gone to medical but I thought I could get though it.  By day 3 it was excruciating to have anything touch it. So I did show up to medical to be the first in line at 8:00 am. I was happy to find out there was no charge because I was injured on the slide and just had to fill out a report.  They treated me and wrapped my arm in gauze which helped a lot.  They even called later that day to check on me.

I blame myself and not the ship, but I can’t stress enough how much this impacted the rest of my trip. So be safe and enjoy. 

Best place for a Bloody Mary is Copper & Kettle on deck 5. They have a make your own Bloody Mary cart set up in front from 10 am - noon on sea days. I’ve also had good ones at the Trellis Bar in Central Park.

The bartenders at Vintages are great and will find wines that are included in the beverage package but not on the menu.

I like the champagne cocktails at the Rising Tide bar. But it’s not a great place to hang out.

My favorite for cozy chairs is The Schooner Bar, and they have a big variety there. The ladies who bartender there are friendly.

We will be sadly leaving Symphony tomorrow.  So I will follow along and reminisce about our week. 

The time limit on the Symphony escape room is 50 minutes. The first 10 minutes is the worker going over the rules etc. Then once you are ready she starts the countdown clock. At one point a red light flashes with a panic blast that lets you know you have 10 minutes left.

If possible wear something with longer sleeves! About 10 of us went down all wearing short sleeve shirts which are required.  In the first 2 seconds my bag slid up the side to the right and my upper left arm made contact. I have a terrible burn about 5 inches long and 3 inches wide on the back of that arm. At first it stung but within 10 minutes it burned like crazy. Three days later is still is painful. When my husband put aloe on it I screamed and cried it hurt so bad.

Everyone else in my group was fine.  I’m sure it’s rare to have my kind of accident but I wouldn’t go again without long sleeves.

As for the shoes many people are going down in sandals.  Your feet are enclosed in the bag so it would be difficult to lose a shoe. 

We are on Symphony now. I never could print my set sail pass and the phone app worked just fine. I took a screenshot of the set sail passes just in case the app locked up for some reason. Check in really is as quick and easy as everyone has reported.

Once onboard some bartenders were just writing down room numbers to keep track of charges. They can just type in your room number and see your photo and if you have the drink package etc.

$44 is a great price. Prices have increased for 2019 so even if the cheapest ever prices were in the $30’s in 2017 and 2018 you shouldn’t expect those prices now. My advice is to book it now. If it goes lower, cancel and rebook. But if it goes up you will wish you had it.

The cheapest our Symphony cruise ever had it was $52.  It has easily paid off.  We don’t regret the purchase at all. 

For those really interested keep checking onboard even if it shows sold out. We did the Escape Room this week on Symphony and a family of 4 joined our group and said they had just booked it 45 minutes prior to the start time.

It is difficult to predict what time you will feel like doing things once onboard.  I picked a 4:00 time slot on the first sea day thinking our friends wouldn’t want to miss their sun time at the pool.  We had 3 couples booked.  One couple couldn’t go because of a quarantine and they were able to cancel that day. They received OBC for their refund. This must have opened up spots for that last minute family.  And one couple just decided to stay at the pool and were a no show.

We only had 8 people in our group which seemed like a good number.  We had enough people to complete all the tasks and it wasn’t crowded, so we finished in plenty of time. It was fun. They didn’t invest as much in props as a lot of land based escape rooms which was surprising considering the level of detail on the rest of the ship. Still I recommend it and will do it again on other ships. 

We are on Symphony and they opened the partitions yesterday during the balcony cleaning. So I do know that it is possible to open them.

#3. The automatic gratuities will be added to your account and paid at the end of the week, unless you pre-pay them. You can give extra tips to your waiters and cabin steward at the end for outstanding service. Some people tip bartenders a bit extra as they go.

#4. You will get a discount on bottles of wine with the deluxe beverage package. 40% off of bottles up to $100, and 20% off of bottles over $100. You can always order wine by the glass in the MDR. Bar service is sometimes slow in the MDR so we usually bring our first drink in with us. 

9 hours ago, fletch1027 said:

 

Personalized door signs sound like a great idea! Where can those be found? Someone like Etsy?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I just bought personalized door magnets for the 8 couples going on our cruise from Cynthia Young Designs on Etsy.  I ordered on a Monday, approved the proof that evening and they arrived on Thursday.  Excellent service.