Mediterranean Symphony of the seas May 7th cruise review

[cruisin73]

This was our first time in Europe and our 25th wedding anniversary celebration cruise. Nothing short of amazing.  
 

Little bit about us.  We are Andy and Nancy from New Jersey.  In our late 40’s.  This was our 5th cruise with Royal.  3rd time on an Oasis class ship. We stayed in a grand suite which was our 3rd time in a grand suite.  Once you go to the suite class it’s hard to go back. 
 

We originally booked a land vacation to the Canary Island's. After about a month my husband said you wouldn’t want to do a cruise would you?  Before he could even finish that sentence I booked  this cruise.  Lol

 

Im a researcher so I had everything planned out before we left.  We flew to Barcelona from Newark airport on Wednesday the 3rd. Jet lag is no joke when we landed we were exhausted and our hotel wasn’t going to be ready until 3 PM. We decided to get on the hop on hop off bus and just ride around and see the sights. By 2 PM we were completely exhausted and couldn’t go anymore. Went back to the hotel to ate a late lunch early dinner. By the time we were done the room was ready for check-in. It is now 4 PM and we crashed. Woke up at 9 AM the next morning best sleep we’ve ever had. 
 

to be continued…

[shilu]

Can't wait for the rest. We will be on the same cruise on 9th July

[TheHawk1]

We did this itinerary last year on the Wonder and liked it so much we're doing it again this fall on Symphony. Looking forward to your ship review, especially since there have been a lot of comments lately about new MDR menus and food in general.

[ocean sounds]

Thank you for doing the review.  Can’t wait to read more.

 

We’ll be on her in a month, but boarding in Rome.  
 

Pleased that the Royal app finally updated for us, even though we are interporting.  Calendar updated with all our excursions, and entertainment days and times showing.  I wasn’t expecting to see anything, boarding in Rome instead of Barcelona. 

[CynBeth6]

We will hopefully be on our cruise we are close to our 45 days but on Enchantment. We are also flying out of Newark to Barcelona a few days early but flying back from Rome after spending time in Venice and Rome. What ports do you go to? 

[Ilikebigboats]

Looking forward to your review. We are doing the same cruise on July 23. 

[bonsai3s]

Which hotel in Barcelona? Would you recommend it?

 

How did you get from the airport to your hotel?

 

Thank you. 

[Norwich Cruiser]

52 minutes ago, bonsai3s said:

Which hotel in Barcelona? Would you recommend it?

 

How did you get from the airport to your hotel?

 

Thank you. 

Hotel Jazz is well worth staying at highly recommend.

[cruisin73]

First day  pictures we took from the hop on hop off bus. 

[cruisin73]

15 hours ago, CynBeth6 said:

We will hopefully be on our cruise we are close to our 45 days but on Enchantment. We are also flying out of Newark to Barcelona a few days early but flying back from Rome after spending time in Venice and Rome. What ports do you go to? 

Our cruise went to Palma de Mallorca Spain, Marseille France, LeSpezia Italy, Rome Italy and Naples Italy. 
 

 

6 hours ago, bonsai3s said:

Which hotel in Barcelona? Would you recommend it?

 

How did you get from the airport to your hotel?

 

Thank you. 

we actually stayed at 2 different hotels.  The first one was AC hotels by Marriott https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/bcndl-ac-hotel-diagonal-lilla/

the second one we stayed at just for 1 night which was after the cruise.

Renaissance Barcelona also by Marriott. 

 

The  second one seemed nicer in my opinion.  The first hotel we were able to use our points which was why we stayed there.  
I would honestly recommend both.  The first one was only a 5 min walk to the hop on hop off bus and there were many restaurants to and coffee shops near by.  
The second one had an excellent paella restaurant near by that was only 6 blocks away. 

We took a taxi from the airport to the hotel. No problem getting a taxi to the hotel there are plenty. 

[cruisin73]

Day 2 was Friday May 5th. After our 17 hours of sleep we woke up refreshed.  We walked to a cute little coffee shop. El Fornet coffee shop.  Very good coffee and croissants. 
From the coffee shop we walked to our meeting spot for our winery tour. The meeting place was just a block from Casa Mila.  We stopped and took pictures from the outside.  You can pay to get inside but time was short for us so we just stayed outside.  
The winery we went to was Can Bas winery.  They pick you up in a small bus and drive you 45 minutes to the winery. 
https://can-bas.com/en/tourism/

If you take the tour you will go to a second winery close by that has all cava wine.  
The tour was about 6 hours in total.  After the tour those in our tour group decided to go out to dinner after.  
It was a great day and highly recommend the winery tour.

[CynBeth6]

We were supposed to go on our cruise the summer Covid hit and on that one it was round trip from Rome and the ports were Barcelona, Palma, Valencia, Nice, and La Spezia. Even when cruising opened I have family members with health issues who were not comfortable traveling very far until now and found this one that works with my schedule of how long my company will let me be away. On our current cruise it is one way leaves from Barcelona and goes to Marseille, Nice, Genoa, Portofino, and Livorno but ends at Civi for Rome. We are flying in a few days early to tour Barcelona and after the cruise ends will stay in Venice for 2 nights and Rome for 3 nights.

Edited May 16, 2023 by CynBeth6

[cruisin73]

2 hours ago, CynBeth6 said:

We were supposed to go on our cruise the summer Covid hit and on that one it was round trip from Rome and the ports were Barcelona, Palma, Valencia, Nice, and La Spezia. Even when cruising opened I have family members with health issues who were not comfortable traveling very far until now and found this one that works with my schedule of how long my company will let me be away. On our current cruise it is one way leaves from Barcelona and goes to Marseille, Nice, Genoa, Portofino, and Livorno but ends at Civi for Rome. We are flying in a few days early to tour Barcelona and after the cruise ends will stay in Venice for 2 nights and Rome for 3 nights.

That sounds like a great trip.  

[cruisin73]

Pictures from the very cute cafe. 

[cruisin73]

This is all from the winery 

[mapleleaves]

11 hours ago, bonsai3s said:

Which hotel in Barcelona? Would you recommend it?

 

How did you get from the airport to your hotel?

 

Thank you. 

The area around Placa Catalunya and Las Ramblas is a great location to stay.   It's a 5 minute walk to the famous Boqueria Market, the HOHO bus stop, bakeries/restaurants/bars, a supermarket, and of course Las Ramblas.  The Hotel Jazz is in this area, so go to booking.com and use the map feature to find the Jazz and look at the surrounding hotels.  The Jazz is lovely but out of my price range. I stayed at the Hotel Lleo for half the price; a simple hotel but very clean and comfortable and a great location.

We took the Aerobus Express from the airport to Placa Catalunya then walked 5 minutes to the hotel. The bus ride was about 30 minutes and cost about 6E. 

[Cruisingnew123]

We are looking at this cruise for our 25th anniversary trip in October.  Going to hopefully book soon so can't wait top hear about the rest of your trip!

[gail-s]

Thanks for sharing your trip information!  I'll be on the same trip as CynBeth6.  We're staying at the Hotel 1898 so I'll report back how it is after the trip.  I seriously need to sit down and book my entrance to Sagreda Familia and Park Guell.  We're only in Barcelona for 1 full day and 1 half day, so I'm not booking too too much.  

[Bmederson]

Love reading this-we are on this cruise June 25 also celebrating our 25th anniversary plus my son’s high school graduation. Congratulations on your anniversary and can’t wait to read the rest!

[cruisin73]

16 hours ago, Bmederson said:

Love reading this-we are on this cruise June 25 also celebrating our 25th anniversary plus my son’s high school graduation. Congratulations on your anniversary and can’t wait to read the rest!

Happy anniversary!  What a great way to celebrate. Congrats to your son too.

[cruisin73]

It is now Saturday.  Yay only 1 more day until the cruise.  
We went out to another coffee shop for more cappuccino and croissants.  Then got on the hop on hop off bus to the aquarium.  My husband is really into tropical fish so he was pretty excited to visit the aquarium.  They have this tunnel you walk through and the fish including sharks and stingrays swim all around you.  They also have penguins which I really enjoyed seeing.  Of course we had to walk through the gift shop.  They got us as usual and we purchased some t-shirts. 
Then back on the HOHO bus to Montjuïc castle.  But first we got on the montjuic cable car  to the  castle.  We didn’t go inside the caste but we did walk around the outside.  There are great views of the city and the port.  We stayed long enough to watch some of the cruise ships sail away. It was fun to watch.  We went back on the cable car to catch the HOHO bus back to the hotel.  We went to a nearby restaurant for dinner and then back to the hotel.  
We had to repack our carry on for the cruise.  We only wanted to carry our back packs on the ship. 
The  HOHO bus for a one day pass is $33 per person.  You can buy The tickets online or on the bus but we got our tickets at the hotel.  The bus runs from 9am -7pm daily. 
it may not have been the most cost effective route but for us it was worth it especially to see some of the sites of the city.  There are a few different bus routes so just make sure you get on the right bus.  
https://www.hop-on-hop-off-bus.com/barcelona/barcelona-city-tour-hop-on-hop-off-ticket_5850

[seba1]

Following! We are on the July 31 sailing for our 30th anniversary! Cannot wait and am obsessively thinking about it. 

 

Stephanie

[cruisin73]

54 minutes ago, seba1 said:

Following! We are on the July 31 sailing for our 30th anniversary! Cannot wait and am obsessively thinking about it. 

 

Stephanie

Happy anniversary!!!  That sounds like me. 🤣

[cruisin73]

Some aquarium pics 

[cruisin73]

Views from the castle