Just off Symphony, brief review

Hi, my teen boys and I boarded Symphony in Rome (Civatevecchia) 7/26. Here's a brief review, organized by topic rather than chronological.

Executive summary:

Great cruise! Great ship!

Review:

We have cruised many times, our first Oasis class was last year and we really like the bigger ships. We had a JS for the first time. We were on deck 6 port side just forward of the aft lobby (on the first hump)

Cabin was great, the walk in closet was very useful as a private changing area in addition to bathroom. One could be in shower and another changing in closet. The sofa bed was fine, pretty much the same size as single beds.

The ship is beautiful and shiny new. Lots of art and some cool interactive art.

Food as always was amazing. We always do traditional second seating, and as usual this worked out very well. It's nice staying by pool at 7pm when everyone else is at dinner. Also having late seating (8:45) makes it much ore feasible to get a 4th meal in! We usually went to Windjammer at 5:30 for "first dinner" and could still eat second dinner at 8:45 easily. There's not much to eat late but eating dinner at 8:45 meant we were never that hungry before bed (although we did often manage a slice of pizza!)

All the food was great, we didn't have anything we didn't like. We are diverse eaters and had duck, beef, lamb, fish, escargot, and it was all perfect.

Service was outstanding. My assistant waiter constantly refilled my wine glass without me asking, it was actually kind of dangerous (I had the drink package.) They now have bread waiting at table rather than coming around and serving it, which makes much sense to me as it frees them up for other things. Plus if you're hungry you can dig into the bread immediately.

Second seating traditional is also a lot more formal, everyone we could see was dressed at least in jacket and tie and there were several tuxes. Only a few people on another deck (we were right up against railing) could be seen in t shirts and shorts. (My son noticed them and was quite taken aback, good for him.) So if you like dressing consider second seating traditional dining.

It seems to me that the key to a good MDR experience is to show up on time, a table near us was always 10 minutes late and I heard them complain about service and food temperature. There is a rhythm to the service and if you're off by a beat your results may be sub-optimal.

I'm still a huge fan of second seating traditional dining and highly recommend it.

We ate once in coastal kitchen, it was great but not really much better that MDR. We were allowed to eat there because of our JS but our cards did not open door so we had to knock. It felt like a speakeasy.

We ate in Hooked once, also quite good but not sure if it is worth the money. The service was great and the waiter came over and did some tricks/brainteasers with my boys.

We loved El Loco Fresh, a great addition. The burritos were awesome with chunks of beef rather than ground beef.

There were more ice cream machines than on Oasis and never a line.

Windjammer was awesome as always, I don't get people who complain there is "nothing to eat." It does get a bit monotonous for breakfast though but we didn't go there too often for that, we usually just had room service continental or a quick danish from cafe. Service was great with waiters walking around with trays of beverages and offering to get you bar drinks or coffee. Plates were cleared almost instantly.

With this new ship they have taken hand hygiene up a level. Rather than a sanitizer station there are about 10 sinks at the entrance to buffet and you wash your hands with soap and water. All public bathrooms have automatic doors activated by waving your hand by a sensor.

One thing I really liked that was different from last year on Oasis is no more paper receipts for drinks with the drink package. Before you sometimes got them and sometimes not.

We got Wow bands when we checked in, I guess they are included in JS. I wouldn't buy one but I did find them quite useful. It solves the old problem of how to open cabin door with a plate of food and/or a drink. You can use them at bars but they only have so many scanners so unless you want to awkwardly squeeze between people you wind up taking it off and handing to bartender. I found myself just using my seapass card at the bars usually.

Speaking of bar service was great and I never had to wait but a second or so. Once I counted 8 bartenders at the pool bar!

I'm not a big show person but I did really like Hairspray, it seemed Broadway caliber and certainly there was a long, enthusiastic standing ovation at the end of it. Flight was ok but I thought it strange they listed the "first man" this and "first woman that" and when they listed the only non-American (Yuri Gargarin) they said "first human in space." I'm sure it's not deliberate but it was weird. There was a magic show that was good also. The aqua show was great as always. We skipped the ice show.

There is a lot more I could say but I'll keep it brief. There were very few negatives, most of which had to do with passengers rather than RCCL.

Many people talked during shows, why? LOTS of kids, although usually well-behaved.

Ping-pong tables were hogged by a few small groups, I had to basically kick someone off after they finished a game (they were going to play another one) so my son and I could play. I would like a sign or something stating that if people are waiting you get one 21-point game. It was very hard to get a table.

There was a taxi strike in Barcelona and I feel RCCL should have told us ahead of time, as happened on NCL Epic per some folks on our tour. It's possible they did and I missed it but unlikely. Since we did not know we were almost late for our tour.

This was a very European crowd, mostly Spanish (as one would expect.) If you like night life you will be thrilled as the promenade was hopping even at midnight (the latest I stay up.) People were having a blast. I'm not a big nightlife person but luckily we could not hear anything in our cabin despite being fairly close.

Let's see, what else? Deck chairs were few on the one sea day, but we had no problem finding one in our "secret spot" - by mini golf. Embarkation was the smoothest and quickest ever, there is a more full discussion in another thread.

My boys were not interested in teen club so I cannot comment on that.

This was our first Med cruise and it was a very nice change from the Carib. Although we only had one sea day we did not feel too busy. We had 2 all-day tours and 2 shorter ones. I think late seating dinner helps as you can relax on ship for several hours between tour and dinner.

So overall 10/10. I'm pretty easy to please but I do feel that each cruise on RCCL is better than the last, and the trend continues. It seems they put more effort into the newer ships in terms of crew and service in general. Of course they also charge more. It was worth it for me.

Great review, we are 81 days out for the transatlantic back to Miami.

Great review. It's refreshing to hear someone else praise the food.

I don't understand either how some people claim that there is "nothing to eat" in the windjammer.

I've always found food to be of a good buffet quality with a great amount of variety.

Thanks for taking the time to write this :)

Best review! Informative and succinct. Love it!

Love your review!

Is Michele still the cruise director?

Great review, we are 81 days out for the transatlantic back to Miami.

Ditto. Looking forward to exploring the ship on all the sea days to Miami!

Thanks, DrD.

Good job

JC

 

There was a taxi strike in Barcelona and I feel RCCL should have told us ahead of time, as happened on NCL Epic per some folks on our tour. It's possible they did and I missed it but unlikely. Since we did not know we were almost late for our tour.

 

 

 

This was a very European crowd, mostly Spanish (as one would expect.)

 

Thanks for your review! As you know, we were onboard with you [emoji16] and it’s just so interesting how people can have such different experiences and different opinions on the same things, though we too loved the cruise and had an amazing time [emoji4].

They did announce the taxi strike on the morning show a couple of days before Barcelona and they put a piece of paper informing about it in our state room the day before Barcelona with all of the options available, including a free shuttle bus they were providing to Las Ramblas. They also went over all of the options on the morning show the day before Barcelona.

The make up of the cruisers was quite interesting! The captain said who were the top six countries onboard. The majority were Americans, with a thousand and something. Second place were Brits, also a thousand and something. Third were Spanish, with four hundred and something. Fourth were Israelis!! (That’s us [emoji28], we were shocked!!) at 395. Fifth were Canadians, with two hundred and something, and sixth were Norwegians, with I don’t remember how many, I think also in the two hundreds.

Is Michele still the cruise director?

Yes, I think he’s leaving in September. He’s fantastic!!!!!!

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Thanks for such a positive review! Too often, some reviewers focus only on the negative, and though we've had one or two issues over the years, staff has always worked to take care of things. We love RCCL and especially the Oasis class ships. I'm just 50 days out from our Symphony cruise, can't wait!

Like you, we love the food on the Oasis class; if we ever end up with something we don't like, our servers have been happy to change it for something else. I can only think of 2 times this happened in 20+ cruises. The Windjammer does a great job, too, and my DH never has trouble getting gluten-free selections to accommodate his celiac.

We always love the shows; looking forward to those also.

Looking forward to additional comments on your experience including how you spent your port days.

Barb

did you use any kind of texting to keep in touch with the family? In La Spazia what was the earliest you could leave the ship, and did you have to take a shuttle to get out of the port. We have a private driver picking us up.

did you use any kind of texting to keep in touch with the family? In La Spazia what was the earliest you could leave the ship, and did you have to take a shuttle to get out of the port. We have a private driver picking us up.

The gangway opens at 9am and you must take the shuttle as private vehicles are not allowed in port area.

thanks for taking the time to share your experience!! :)

Thanks for your great review!

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Love your review!

 

Is Michele still the cruise director?

Yes.

Thanks for your review! As you know, we were onboard with you [emoji16] and it’s just so interesting how people can have such different experiences and different opinions on the same things, though we too loved the cruise and had an amazing time [emoji4].

 

They did announce the taxi strike on the morning show a couple of days before Barcelona and they put a piece of paper informing about it in our state room the day before Barcelona with all of the options available, including a free shuttle bus they were providing to Las Ramblas. They also went over all of the options on the morning show the day before Barcelona.

 

The make up of the cruisers was quite interesting! The captain said who were the top six countries onboard. The majority were Americans, with a thousand and something. Second place were Brits, also a thousand and something. Third were Spanish, with four hundred and something. Fourth were Israelis!! (That’s us [emoji28], we were shocked!!) at 395. Fifth were Canadians, with two hundred and something, and sixth were Norwegians, with I don’t remember how many, I think also in the two hundreds.

 

 

 

 

Yes, I think he’s leaving in September. He’s fantastic!!!!!!

 

 

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Thanks, we never watch the morning show (or TV in general.) Maybe we should. We definitely didn't get that paper as I carefully look at everything left in cabin.

I'd have guessed more Spanish based on how many people I heard speaking Spanish, it seemed about half to me. Also all the announcements etc were in English and Spanish.

did you use any kind of texting to keep in touch with the family? In La Spazia what was the earliest you could leave the ship, and did you have to take a shuttle to get out of the port. We have a private driver picking us up.

We had Voom and used that to text each other.

One thing I forgot to mention is that although we only had the 2-device package, we were always able to use 3 devices without any signing out.

I did have an international data plan through AT&T and it's possible I was using that without knowing, but it was definitely through ship's wifi as I had my cellular turned off. I have no idea if one can access an international data plan through ship's wifi. I will have to find out as the $10/day that AT&T charges is a lot cheaper than voom.

In La Spezia we did a RCCL tour and went off as a group so I can't answer that, sorry.

Thank you for your review. 38 days and I will be on the Symphony. First Oasis class and first Med cruise.

Thanks, we never watch the morning show (or TV in general.) Maybe we should. We definitely didn't get that paper as I carefully look at everything left in cabin.

 

I'd have guessed more Spanish based on how many people I heard speaking Spanish, it seemed about half to me. Also all the announcements etc were in English and Spanish.

When we were talking with the Loyalty Ambassador she said there were over 4,000 Spanish as it was the start of their holidays.

Thanks, we never watch the morning show (or TV in general.) Maybe we should. We definitely didn't get that paper as I carefully look at everything left in cabin.

 

 

 

I'd have guessed more Spanish based on how many people I heard speaking Spanish, it seemed about half to me. Also all the announcements etc were in English and Spanish.

When we were talking with the Loyalty Ambassador she said there were over 4,000 Spanish as it was the start of their holidays.

Annoying that you didn’t get the paper!! Then there really was no way for you to know. I’m glad you didn’t miss your tour!

Thinking about it now, I’m guessing the captain was missing a zero for the number of Spanish cruisers, that would make it 4,000 and something instead of four hundred and something and would make more sense in terms of how many people cheered whenever a question was asked in Spanish [emoji16]

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When we were talking with the Loyalty Ambassador she said there were over 4,000 Spanish as it was the start of their holidays.

 

Thinking about it now, I’m guessing the captain was missing a zero for the number of Spanish cruisers, that would make it 4,000 and something instead of four hundred and something and would make more sense in terms of how many people cheered whenever a question was asked in Spanish [emoji16]

 

 

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Yeah that was my impression, very many people were speaking Spanish. I'd have guessed half or more.