Thoughts on new Symphony of the Seas cruise ship?

[LuCruise]

Allure is my favorite but will be on Harmony in Dec and again next Sept for the President's cruise, so hoping we like it as much as Allure.

 

We will probably do Symphony at some point just to be on the next ship in that class, but will wait for a decent price.

 

For our cruise over March break, I was surprised to see that Harmony was a substantial amount more expensive than Symphony. Maybe it depends what week, but I still don't understand why.

 

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[Kfamilycruise]

Our last Royal cruise was the Oasis, so I'm really looking forward to seeing the Symphony next June. I was really surprised about the solo cabin removal, but glad they accommodated those that booked in other ways. Can't wait to see what she looks like! I'm afraid the only down size will be not being able to see everything to do because the Med is so port intensive. Great problem to have!

[Swath]

I wonder how Good the Seafood Restaurant will be, I wish that Royal had Not taken it off Oasis

[molly361]

I wonder how Good the Seafood Restaurant will be, I wish that Royal had Not taken it off Oasis

I'm curious about that as well.

 

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[Ourusualbeach]

I'm curious about that as well.

 

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Add another to the list waiting to see the menu.

[Ourusualbeach]

For our cruise over March break, I was surprised to see that Harmony was a substantial amount more expensive than Symphony. Maybe it depends what week, but I still don't understand why.

 

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I think that it may be due to the fact that Harmony is a Sunday departure. For many the Saturday departure means flying in the day of or taking an extra day off work

[Paulette3028]

Harmony is not as good as Allure.

One absolute improvement they made on Harmony was the closets in staterooms. The closet on Allure (which we have sailed on) was horrible; we have since sailed on Harmony and they have put wardrobes in cabins on each side of the sofa. Each wardrobe had plenty of space for hanging items and it has shelves and drawers. Great improvement.

 

We did not enjoy the solarium on Allure, it was brutally hot, but at least had a pool. Harmony's solarium was cooler, but lacked a pool and those misters are terrible.

 

I loved Harmony for the slides as well.....so in the end to each their own. We very much enjoyed sailing on Allure....we are sailing on her again over Thanksgiving.

[LuCruise]

I think that it may be due to the fact that Harmony is a Sunday departure. For many the Saturday departure means flying in the day of or taking an extra day off work

Good point. We would have preferred Sunday too as we'll have to take our kids out of school a day early (which is whole reason for picking March break).

 

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[mac_tlc]

Looking forward to the Symphony OTS, as much for the vastly improved Western Caribbean itinerary (IMHO) as anything else. I am not a fan of the Ultimate Abyss. I think it took what is a very unique feature of the Oasis class (Boardwalk/Aquatheater/aft view, and ruined it. I hope they lose the plans for it before Oasis and Allure go into drydock in a couple years.

 

Haven't been on Harmony, mostly because it is substantially more expensive than Oasis when I have compared similar weeks, and the fact that our house in Orlando is 40 minutes from PC.

 

mac_tlc

[BNBR]

One absolute improvement they made on Harmony was the closets in staterooms. The closet on Allure (which we have sailed on) was horrible; we have since sailed on Harmony and they have put wardrobes in cabins on each side of the sofa. Each wardrobe had plenty of space for hanging items and it has shelves and drawers. Great improvement.

 

We did not enjoy the solarium on Allure, it was brutally hot, but at least had a pool. Harmony's solarium was cooler, but lacked a pool and those misters are terrible.

 

I loved Harmony for the slides as well.....so in the end to each their own. We very much enjoyed sailing on Allure....we are sailing on her again over Thanksgiving.

 

I agree that the Harmony staterooms are very nice. I personally just don't care that much about things like that. Allure and Oasis are perfectly nice enough. I didn't love the Harmony closets smashed up against the side of the bed, so when I opened my eyes, I was looking at a closet... not ideal if you have the bed closest to the door version of the room. I had to sit up just to see outside. But from a practicality standpoint, the Harmony rooms are stellar. We discussed the fact that we see no reason to get a Junior Suite ever again during our Harmony cruise. The cabin was just that good overall.

 

The solarium, the angles of the roof on Harmony are so much different, and with the shaded panels and the flapping, broken, foggy plastic panels, I felt that unless you are down on the lower solarium decks, the view was highly obstructed from the bar area. And not only was it missing the pool, but missing the little ponds and water and sitting areas near the bistro. It's very "blah" and missing that tropical vibe, plus a highly obstructed view.

 

Notice the difference below. On Harmony, unless you are in front of the glass on the lower deck, you basically can't see out. It totally loses that 180 degree ocean view. The plastic panels, broken and flapping in the wind, many missing... are angled so you just can't see out from the mid and upper decks at all.

 

 

ALLURE:

 

HARMONY:

 

 

Harmony is also missing the great little tropical areas near the bistro. It's just all so plain.

 

Allure, for example:

 

 

Harmony:

[Ourusualbeach]

Good point. We would have preferred Sunday too as we'll have to take our kids out of school a day early (which is whole reason for picking March break).

 

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We are lucky, our board designates the Friday prior to March break as a board holiday. It opens up a few more options for us.

[LuCruise]

We are lucky, our board designates the Friday prior to March break as a board holiday. It opens up a few more options for us.

 

Nice. That's great! We don't have that but am "counting on" the Friday before March break being more of a fun day and less of a learning day. ;)

[Ourusualbeach]

Nice. That's great! We don't have that but am "counting on" the Friday before March break being more of a fun day and less of a learning day. ;)

That would be the Thursday for our kids. I usually take them out of school Thursday afternoon.

 

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[earlydiner]

We have booked the Symphony for March 30, 2019. Question--When is your spring break in March 2019?

[Ethelfleda]

I wound up backing into the President's cruise on the Harmony. We are going with a group on the cruise right afterwards and my friend and I decided it would be fun to do our first B2B. I didn't have a clue it was the President's cruise until well after we booked.

 

This will be the first cruise I've been on with the bilateral flowrider set up. I can't wait for the extended hours for stand up!

 

If Harmony does me right, I'm sure I'll be trying out all of the Oasis class ships - so I hope Symphony is up to snuff.

 

 

Allure is my favorite but will be on Harmony in Dec and again next Sept for the President's cruise, so hoping we like it as much as Allure.

 

We will probably do Symphony at some point just to be on the next ship in that class, but will wait for a decent price.

[Ourusualbeach]

We have booked the Symphony for March 30, 2019. Question--When is your spring break in March 2019?

 

Spring break for kids in k-12 in Ontario is the week of March 11-15 2019.

 

From late February through to Easter it is spring break somewhere either for the younger kids or college / university students....lots of kids.

[KathleenM17]

Is the Symphony going to have the slides?

Yes I believe so - the same ones as Harmony - 3 water and the Abyss.

[KathleenM17]

Its interesting to see so many people favour Harmony and so many dislike it? Also, do you think Harmony sailings will be cheaper when Symphony launches? I wonder will it become less popular? Based on feedback on Oasis and Allure, probably not but maybe it will be a more budget attainable ship for those who are price conscious once Symphony comes out.

 

There's so much choice, its hard to know what to do! :)

[deliver42]

The funny thing is that when I booked the Symphony, it was actually less than the Harmony. Go figure.

[BecciBoo]

 

Yes, exactly, I loved Solarium on Allure. I realize there are some maintenance issues with water features and it seems that from the aquarium in Bolero's(Aquarium Bar on Voyager

to the Vision class and the removal of the fountains under the centrum stairs, RCCL has phased out the water features. Even the Freedom class Windjammer bar waterfall does not run anymore! I'll bet most people didn't even notice that wall of water trickling down under the Plaza Bar sign:

I love water features and have been so disappointed with the phase out of them all. Hoping Symphany has restored at least the pool no matter how small in Solarium.

Edited October 25, 2017 by BecciBoo

[Ourusualbeach]

Its interesting to see so many people favour Harmony and so many dislike it? Also, do you think Harmony sailings will be cheaper when Symphony launches? I wonder will it become less popular? Based on feedback on Oasis and Allure, probably not but maybe it will be a more budget attainable ship for those who are price conscious once Symphony comes out.

 

There's so much choice, its hard to know what to do! :)

 

Pricing wise I think you will for the most part see that both Harmony and Symphony priced at a premium over Allure and Oasis. You will probably see some weeks where Harmony is priced higher than Symphony based on demand for a Sunday departure vs a Saturday departure.

[Oceansaway17]

The Symphony will have Solo rooms but they are on deck 4 as Oceanview rooms. I know because I have one for Nov 2018. I was on the first full 7 days cruise on Harmony last year and a lot of folks had their dining and shows changed suddenly. I also did not like the Solarium and agree it was windy and noisy. I felt the Allure was better also without the ugly pink dry slide. Looks like Symphony will have that again.

[Oceansaway17]

one more thing I hope they line up the three sisters for Symphony when it comes over from Europe. Having all FOUR side by side would be cool too.

[BNBR]

 

Yes, exactly, I loved Solarium on Allure. I realize there are some maintenance issues with water features and it seems that from the aquarium in Bolero's(Aquarium Bar on Voyager

to the Vision class and the removal of the fountains under the centrum stairs, RCCL has phased out the water features. Even the Freedom class Windjammer bar waterfall does not run anymore! I'll bet most people didn't even notice that wall of water trickling down under the Plaza Bar sign:

I love water features and have been so disappointed with the phase out of them all. Hoping Symphany has restored at least the pool no matter how small in Solarium.

 

Water features are great! Harmony felt plain and barren. Solarium pool is a deal breaker for me moving forward.

 

I also prefer the bar over the slides on boardwalk though admittedly I did ride the slides a few times and they were quite fun.

[Biker19]

The Symphony will have Solo rooms but they are on deck 4 as Oceanview rooms. I know because I have one for Nov 2018.

 

Are you sure?

 

 

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