Holiday cruise: Symphony, Wonder, Oasis, Harmony, Odyssey or Allure?

[Sigyn]

I'll be on my first-ever Royal Caribbean cruise on the Harmony on April 1 and plan to book a holiday 2023 cruise while on board. It will be for myself, my husband and our son, who will be 16 at the time of the holiday sailing. The ships and itineraries I'm considering are as follows. I am showing all of the room types that are available in the balcony categories. Which ship and room would you book, and why? I'm leaning toward Symphony as my favorite.

 

Symphony of the Seas - Dec. 30 - Jan. 7 - 8 nights

Sat., Dec. 30 - Ft. Lauderdale - 4:30 pm

Sunday, Dec. 31 - Sea Day

Monday, Jan. 1 - Sea Day

Tues., Jan. 2 - St. Johns, Antigua - 8 am - 6 pm 

Wed., Jan. 3 - St. Maarten - 8 am - 6 pm

Thurs., Jan. 4 - San Juan, Puerto Rico - 7 am - 2:30 pm 

Fri., Jan. 5 - Labadee, Haiti - 9:30 am - 5 pm 

Saturday, Jan. 6 - Sea Day

Sunday, Jan. 7 - Fort Lauderdale

Boardwalk View Balcony Guarantee - $4,986

Ocean View Balcony Guarantee - $5,990

Ocean View with Large Balcony - $6,876

 

 

Allure of the Seas - Dec. 26 - Jan. 2 - 7 nights

Tuesday, Dec. 26 - Port Canaveral - 4 pm

Wed., Dec. 27 - CocoCay - 7 am - 4 pm 

Thursday, Dec. 28 - Sea Day

Fri., Dec. 29 - St. Thomas - 11 am - 6 pm  

Sat., Dec. 30 - St. Maarten - 7 am - 5 pm  

Sunday, Dec. 31 - Sea Day

Monday, Jan. 1 - Sea Day

Tues., Jan. 2 - Port Canaveral

Balcony Guarantee  - $5,243

Ocean View Balcony - $7,921

 

Odyssey of the Seas - Dec. 31 - Jan. 6 - 6 nights

Sunday, Dec. 31 - Ft. Lauderdale, depart 5 pm

Monday, Jan. 1 - CocoCay 7 am - 5 pm  

Tues., Jan. 2 - Sea Day

Wed., Jan. 3 - Labadee, Haiti 7 am - 5 pm

Thurs., Jan. 4 - Puerto Plata, DR 8 am - 5 pm

Fri., Jan. 5 - Sea Day

Saturday, Jan. 6 - Ft. Lauderdale

Ocean View Balcony mid-ship,  $4,971

Ocean View with Large Balcony mid-ship, $5,629

 

 

Wonder of the Seas - Dec. 30 - Jan. 7 - 8 nights

Sat., Dec. 30 - Port Canaveral - 4:30 pm

Sunday, Dec. 31 - CocoCay - 7 am - 4 pm  

Monday, Jan. 1 - Sea Day

Tues., Jan. 2 - St. Thomas - 1 pm - 8 pm

Wed., Jan. 3 - St. Kitts - 8 am - 6 pm 

Thurs., Jan. 4 - St. Maarten - 8 am - 6 pm   

Fri., Jan. 5 - Sea Day

Saturday, Jan. 6 - Sea Day

Sunday, Jan. 7 - Port Canaveral

Boardwalk balcony - $7,183

Central Park Balcony - $7,315

Oceanview Balcony - $8,283

 

Harmony of the Seas - Dec. 31 - Jan. 7 - 7 nights

Sunday, Dec. 31 - Galveston, Texas - 4 pm

Monday, Jan. 1 - Sea Day

Tues., Jan. 2 - Sea Day

Wed., Jan. 3 - Costa Maya - 8 am - 5 pm   

Thurs., Jan. 4 - Roatan, Honduras - 7 am - 4 pm   

Fri., Jan. 5 - Cozumel - 8 am - 5 pm. 

Saturday, Jan. 6 - Sea Day

Sunday, Jan. 7 - Galveston

Balcony Guarantee - they pick the room - $4,950 (could be neighborhood, doesn't say, but seems expensive for neighborhood guarantee)

Ocean View Balcony category 3D - #6316 - $6,844

Ocean View Large Balcony category 1C - #9204 - $7,304

Ultra Spacious Ocean View with Large Balcony - category 1A - #7730 - $8,926

 

 

Oasis of the Seas - Dec. 29 - Jan. 7 - 9 nights

Fri., Dec. 29 - Miami - 4:30 pm

Sat., Dec. 30 - CocoCay - 7 am - 4 pm

Sunday, Dec. 31 -  Sea Day

Monday, Jan. 1 - Sea Day

Tues., Jan. 2 - Willemstad, Curaco - 9 am - 8 pm

Wed., Jan. 3 - Oranjestad, Aruba - 8 am - 11 pm

Thurs., Jan. 4 - Sea Day

Fri., Jan. 5 - Falmouth, Jamaica

Saturday, Jan. 6 - Sea Day

Sunday, Jan. 7 - Miami

Ocean View Balcony - $8,148

Boardwalk Balcony - $7,508

 

Edited March 20, 2023 by njsmom

[firefly333]

Symphony ots has 4 nice ports but I also like sea days. Hard to pick for someone else. I'd do a boardwalk balcony and hope you can see out the aft. I prefer aft view to side view. Very nice ports, unusual somewhat. 

 

Can you drive to any of the ports. Maybe look at airfare to help you decide. 

 

Odyssey does both private island. Are you a beach person. At least no extra money for excursions these ports if you just want to do the beach. 

[Tlbecker1]

I would pick the Odyssey, since you are going on Harmony soon.  That way you can experience a ship in the Quantum Class.

[Sigyn]

2 hours ago, firefly333 said:

Symphony ots has 4 nice ports but I also like sea days. Hard to pick for someone else. I'd do a boardwalk balcony and hope you can see out the aft. I prefer aft view to side view. Very nice ports, unusual somewhat. 

 

Can you drive to any of the ports. Maybe look at airfare to help you decide. 

 

Odyssey does both private island. Are you a beach person. At least no extra money for excursions these ports if you just want to do the beach. 

I want to get scuba certified on my next Royal cruise, so I'll be busy at a couple of ports doing that. Good point on the boardwalk balcony. We are in a Central Park balcony on the upcoming Harmony cruise so I'll see how we like that. Definitely seems worth saving $1,000 over an ocean balcony or $2,000 over an ocean large balcony if we go with the Symphony. As for driving, we're too far to drive to any of the ports. They're all an overnight stay away, so we'd fly to them. 

 

1 hour ago, Tlbecker1 said:

I would pick the Odyssey, since you are going on Harmony soon.  That way you can experience a ship in the Quantum Class.

That's a very good point. This is why I ask such questions. You all think of things that I wouldn't. 🙂

Edited March 20, 2023 by njsmom

[soupchef]

We will be on odessey for new years. The itinerary looked good and I am excited to try a quantum class 

[OCSC Mike]

I'd go with the Symphony Boardwalk Balcony b/c it's 8 nights, the cheapest price-per-day, and I'm not interested in trying Quantum-class. But I'm also frugal and don't care a ton about ports at this point.

 

Like most questions of this type, only you know which factors are most important to you personally.

Edited April 9, 2023 by OCSC Mike

[PhillyFan33579]

Oasis would be an easy choice for me. Nine days is better than 6-8 days and Oasis is going to two of my favorite ports in the Caribbean (Aruba and Curacao). 

[Merion_Mom]

@njsmom - since your experience on Harmony last week, are you still going to go on a holiday cruise on Royal Caribbean?

[Surfguyxxx]

I personally like the Eastern Caribbean better.  I also would ignore the "larger balcony" as I don't spend that much time out there to shell out an extra $500 to $1000 bucks.  I've also not done Wonder yet but schedule to next March.  Allure is a fun ship for your teen son.  Have fun.

 

[mandyleighflies]

I vote for Odyssey here! Two private island stops and beautiful ship. I was just telling my family I wish RCCL had a cruise that was just the private islands 😆

[MoWanchuk]

Having been on Odyssey last summer for 8 nights in the Med after 4 Oasis class cruises, it was a bit of a letdown.  We just returned from our 5th Oasis class cruise last night, and that just cemented that felling. Personally, I would do Wonder then Symphony OCV. DR and Labadee aren't our jam.  Allure is a great ship and my sons are the same age group as yours, barring "amplification" it would be last pick of the Oasis Class ships. 

Edited April 10, 2023 by MoWanchuk

[5280mom]

We’re on the Symphony sailing, good mix of ports and sea days.  Wonder was our preferred, we were booking three cabins in close proximity to each other and could not make it work on this sailing.  I guess I waited too long to make a decision.  Symphony will be new to us, looking forward to ringing in the new year at sea. 

[OCSC Mike]

1 hour ago, mandyleighflies said:

I was just telling my family I wish RCCL had a cruise that was just the private islands 😆

 

You're not alone. We did a B2B 3-night/4-night last summer just to go to Coco Cay twice and otherwise not leave the ship. Had a great time!

[Oceansaway17]

I would say go on Wonder as the aqua show is best one of all the big girls and it is newest ship

[topanga49er]

We loved Wonder.  Still has the "new car smell" to it.  But the Symphony itinerary also looks good...

[Sigyn]

On 4/10/2023 at 12:44 AM, Merion_Mom said:

@njsmom - since your experience on Harmony last week, are you still going to go on a holiday cruise on Royal Caribbean?

No, I didn't like the food enough to warrant a new cruise for the holidays. I would do it again over spring break for my son, tho. He really, really loved it. 

[lcpagejr]

From a cost and cruise days analysis...Symphony is clear winner. 8 nights iat that cost is a bargain. Odyssey is a beautiful ship...we were on her over Thanksgiving. But the itnerary shown is only 6 nights....   Best bang for buck and great itinerary is Symphony!

[Sigyn]

I ended up booking a land-based island vacation for the holidays. It seemed like a better option than a cruise since I wasn't a fan of Royal and we want to go diving and I wanted to make sure we can make it to our dives. However, that said, I did book a spring break trip for next year on Royal, as I mentioned above that I might do. I did that since spring break is about my son and he loved Royal. It's fine if I'm not a fan of the food. That just means I won't gain weight over spring break. lol.