Excellent first trip to Europe!

Symphony of the Seas Cruise Review to Europe - Western Mediterranean

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 6
Helpful Votes: 122

Overall rating:

4.7 out of 5
Symphony of the Seas

7 Night Western Mediterranean (Rome Roundtrip)

Sail date: September 06, 2018

Ship: Symphony of the Seas

Cabin type: Balcony

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

This is a big ship but well designed so as to not feel crowded (other than the in demand entertainment productions). Very smooth.. No sense of motion whatsoever. Rooms were larger than we have had on other RC ships. Dining in the my time dinner was fine...did not need other restaurants. Staff was outstanding.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Children's Programs

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ship tip

We had pre cruise reservation to see Hairspray but did not realize many of the other shows also required reservations. I called guest services to schedule our choices once we were underway and it turned out only one was actually reserved for us so we were turned away at 3 others. They had a stand by policy but all were filled so that didn't work out. Make your reservations. Also be aware that excursions all ran longer than scheduled by 30-60 minutes. In La Spezia we had both morning and afternoon tours and almost didn't make it to the second one. This cruise had two ports taking on and letting off passengers. Barcelona and Rome. For some reason that made it feel a little disjointed. Passengers were not on the same experience schedule with a split in the comings and goings. However the merchandise sales took place on two nights so you can take advantage of that.

Ports of call

Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy

5 out of 5
Toured with ViAtor because our ship excursion was cancelled for some reason. Got a good skip- the- line Vatican tour through them.

Naples, Italy

5 out of 5
Loved Pompeii and Sorrento excursion. Didn't really explore the port.

Barcelona, Spain

4 out of 5
Drive by tour was not so good for variety of sights, mostly glances from the bus other than the big mammoth cathedral.

Palma De Mallorca, Balearic Islands

5 out of 5
Did the Valdemossa tour with a shopping stop. Nice town.

Marseille (Provence), France

5 out of 5
A lot of time in the bus but the sights at the quarry art exhibit and the two villages of Provance were delightful. Got to use my high school French!

La Spezia, Italy

5 out of 5
Pisa tour and Tuscany wine tasting. Both were fun but again a lot of time spent in the bus.

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

Traveler Photos

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4 Comments

graham123    6 years ago

IkeDeb    6 years ago

way2go    6 years ago

Great review! Anxiously waiting for our 2020 cruise on Symphony! We've been on Allure and Harmony. Enjoyed them both. Good to hear you had a great time. Thanks for the info!

IkeDeb    6 years ago

Thanks for your reviews

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