Excellent ports, beautiful Med cruise

Symphony of the Seas Cruise Review to Europe - Western Mediterranean

kellzcruz

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 58

Overall rating:

4.7 out of 5

7 Night Western Mediterranean (Rome Roundtrip)

Sail date: July 12, 2018

Ship: Symphony of the Seas

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 10278

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

Overall excellent cruise! Very port intensive but that is what we wanted. Time spent on the ship was relaxing and the food was good but could use some improvement in the main dining room. We noticed the crew was very geared towards upselling, (even little popcorn boxes ) but we just skipped whatever was not included. We did not purchase a drink package due to it's high cost, however we brought two bottles of wine on board, had a bottle of champagne waiting for us when we boarded, and enjoyed the flavored water and coffee/tea. (Coffee was a tad strong for me though) We loved the solarium! The restaurant was excellent and we ate there twice, there were couch hogs on the little cabana beds, which was unfortunate because they did not use them all day and no one else could. Zip lined and it was awesome! The balcony room was the best part of our stay on the Symphony. We hope to sail her again soon!

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Very clean ship, when walking about the ship we always saw someone wiping down or cleaning sections of the ship. We also had a scheduled balcony cleaning. The windjammer was a mess at certain times of the day, but that was due to the high volume of people all eating T the same time.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Absolutely loved our cabin, the bed was situated next to balcony glass doors, which was nice to just lay down at the end of the day and look out our balcony. Our room was very clean, and well thought out, there was plenty of storage in the bathroom and we never felt crowded. I loved our towel animals!

Ship tip

It can get crowded at meal times, I would suggest eating off popular times and or booking reservations. We also loved eating at the park cafe for lunches.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy

5 out of 5

We stayed over night before our embarkation which was nice, and made for a relaxing embarkation process.

Thumbs Up 4

Naples, Italy

5 out of 5

Beautiful day in Capri! Do not miss!

Thumbs Up 2

Barcelona, Spain

5 out of 5

Free shuttle to Barcelona center was nice, highly recommend getting tickets to Park Guell ahead of your cruise. We did not and could not get into the Park that day. We did purchase La familia de Sagrada tickets in advance and climbed the tower, it was breathtaking. Also the hop on hop off bus covered alot of ground which made the most of the short period of time we were there.

Thumbs Up 7

Palma De Mallorca, Balearic Islands

5 out of 5

We reserved a car rental ahead of time and drove to outside alcudia. Amazing scenery! Note, there is no shuttle from the port of Mallorca to the city center, so you will need to pay for cab fare approx €14 per two people each way.

Thumbs Up 1

Marseille (Provence), France

5 out of 5

We did an RC excursion to Luberon villages and the lavender museum. Beautiful way to see the french countryside! Our tour guide was a little flat, and disnt like his job much, but the excursion was excellent and we did not have to worry about getting back to the ship on time.

Thumbs Up 2

La Spezia, Italy

5 out of 5

Loved la spezia! So much to do, so little time! Although this was the longest time in port for the entire trip, we wished we had more time. We hopped a ferry to Portovenere, and spent the day by the Med.

Thumbs Up 1

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

Traveler Photos

3 Comments

graham123 6 years ago

Thx

Thumbs Up 0

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cruiseluv 6 years ago

Per the chair/ lounger/ couch hogs-if the stuff hasn’t been touched for thirty minutes or longer, alert any staff member and they’ll remove the hoarders stuff and put it in lost and found , to give someone else a chance. Just got back from a two week Mediterranean cruise and as an early riser, had people coming down before the crack of dawn/ marking their stuff/ then going on all day excursions leaving the equipment unavailable for anybody else. After a few days of this, the crew members were more than happy to remove the hoarders stuff Much better 😀

Thumbs Up 3

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PoohBear1101 6 years ago

Re: The couch hogs. It can be a bit frustrating when you're looking for a relaxing spot but a towel beat you to it.🧘‍♀️😎

Thumbs Up 1

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Other reviews of this sailing

Symphony was clean and beautiful, the service however was terrible.

Magnificent, Marvelous & Relaxing Mediterranean Cruise