Symphony of the Seas - desired cabin category booked

[BeachVacation]

Hello.  First post, looking for some tips/positive outcomes from more experienced cruisers than I.  My family went on SOTS last year and had a wonderful cruise.  We have three young children and were interested in the Icon and booked connecting balcony rooms for next March.

 

One of our sons has since been diagnosed with some neurological and visual issues and we think it would be better for him to not be on the Icon in prime time and have a repeat experience on SOTS where he will be more comfortable and familiar.

 

Here is my question, we need connecting balcony rooms because of the three kids and my son needing time to decompress. We could do this in interior but its not a pleasant.  A family suite is out of our price range.  All connecting balcony rooms are booked Feb and Mar of 2024. Has anyone had luck eventually booking the category of your choice after it was initially sold out? 
 

The royal person i spoke with on the phone was kind but didn’t have any advice.  I planned to just keep checking every so often. If anyone with more experience has insider tips, please share!

[firefly333]

@Ourusualbeachmaybe has suggestions but I agree very early for connecting balconys to be sold out but they run a lot kids sail free lately. 

 

Imo I dont find ships that much different it would be worth changing to a different ship. It's hard to watch for certain balconys. Did you book refundable deposits? If not there will be some cost to change.

[Ourusualbeach]

44 minutes ago, BeachVacation said:

Hello.  First post, looking for some tips/positive outcomes from more experienced cruisers than I.  My family went on SOTS last year and had a wonderful cruise.  We have three young children and were interested in the Icon and booked connecting balcony rooms for next March.

 

One of our sons has since been diagnosed with some neurological and visual issues and we think it would be better for him to not be on the Icon in prime time and have a repeat experience on SOTS where he will be more comfortable and familiar.

 

Here is my question, we need connecting balcony rooms because of the three kids and my son needing time to decompress. We could do this in interior but its not a pleasant.  A family suite is out of our price range.  All connecting balcony rooms are booked Feb and Mar of 2024. Has anyone had luck eventually booking the category of your choice after it was initially sold out? 
 

The royal person i spoke with on the phone was kind but didn’t have any advice.  I planned to just keep checking every so often. If anyone with more experience has insider tips, please share!

You were given wrong information and it appears that the person you were talking to was clueless.

 

The first Symphony cruise I just checked I was able to find balconies that connect on the first deck that I checked.

 

First off you need to know what you are looking for.

 

You want balconies that connect versus connecting balconies and yes there is a huge difference.

 

The Connecting Balconies (category CB) are only able to hold 2 guests per stateroom which for you as you need 2 in one room and 3 in the other room is why they appeared sold out.

 

What you want is balconies that connect and you have to do separate searches as there are lots of double occupancy balconies that connect with triple or quad occupancy rooms.  The specific categories that you are looking for are a 2D and a 1D (midship balconies) or a 3D and a 4D (forward or aft balconies)

 

 

[BeachVacation]

I really appreciate this information. Thank you both for the guidance!

[BeachVacation]

You were right, there are a good amount of connecting balcony rooms available but none with one room being able to hold 3 guests.  All the available rooms that connect hold only 2.  This solves my mystery of seeing available room and then having nothing when i tried to book for 2 in one and 3 in the other.  Im just going to check periodically.  Again, thank you for the insight!

[Ourusualbeach]

35 minutes ago, BeachVacation said:

You were right, there are a good amount of connecting balcony rooms available but none with one room being able to hold 3 guests.  All the available rooms that connect hold only 2.  This solves my mystery of seeing available room and then having nothing when i tried to book for 2 in one and 3 in the other.  Im just going to check periodically.  Again, thank you for the insight!

What date are you looking at? Like I said the first date I checked there were cabins available on the first deck I looked at.  Royals consumer site does not list all available cabins. 

[BeachVacation]

Editing bc I double posted. Any of the southern sailings in Feb or Mar 2024.  Connecting ocean view balcony room.  Room 1, for 2 and Room 2, for 3 people

Edited February 27, 2023 by BeachVacation

[Ourusualbeach]

2 hours ago, BeachVacation said:

Editing bc I double posted. Any of the southern sailings in Feb or Mar 2024.  Connecting ocean view balcony room.  Room 1, for 2 and Room 2, for 3 people

Feb 10th

 

The first sailing that I went to I found 8 connecting balconies and I only checked the 1D/2D combinations

 

9178 and 9180

9564/9562

8174/8176

8588/8566

7186/7188

7576/7574

7588/7586

 

Not going to check the other sailings because I can pretty much guarantee the results will be similar...there is lots of availability.

[BeachVacation]

I really appreciate all that effort! I will check with RCI on how many they allow for sleeping in the room.  That is what they told me was the barrier last time that the available rooms were for 2 ppl only which is strange since the online booking says most rooms fit 4.

 

Your insight is exactly the info I needed to have confidence when i try again, thank you!

[Ourusualbeach]

38 minutes ago, BeachVacation said:

I really appreciate all that effort! I will check with RCI on how many they allow for sleeping in the room.  That is what they told me was the barrier last time that the available rooms were for 2 ppl only which is strange since the online booking says most rooms fit 4.

 

Your insight is exactly the info I needed to have confidence when i try again, thank you!

Of the rooms I listed one room holds 2 guests snd the other holds up to 4 guests.