LARGEST SHIP NOT ALWAYS THE BEST CRUISE

Symphony of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 4
Helpful Votes: 65

Overall rating:

3.2 out of 5
Symphony of the Seas

7 Night Eastern Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: April 27, 2019

Ship: Symphony of the Seas

Cabin type: Balcony

Traveled as: Large Group

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

We missed the personal experience from smaller ships. Arrival at the port of Miami was terrible! We were dropped off and NO ONE was available with wheel chairs for the handicapped in our party. Then we had to stand outside in the heat as the computer system had went down and they could not start embarkation. When we tried to get someone's attention to get helop for the handicapped in our group, they either looked the other way or did not help in any way!

Embarkation

2 out of 5
The "embarkation computer system" had went down before we arrived at the port of Miami. Poor way to start a cruise.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5
main dining room was SLOW service and food was Not HOT. We have had better food on other smaller RC cruise ships. This large ship seems to have lost the personal touch we love.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5
put put golf, zip line, wave runner/flow rider

Entertainment

3 out of 5
We had scheduled all our entertainment and shows before getting on board the ship. once on board, our calendar was not applicable as some shows were over booked so we were not allowed or our reservations were cleared off our calendar. We did not get to see any shows except the ice show. Others were cancelled without notice. MUCH better set up on smaller ships.

Service and Staff

3 out of 5
Our room steward was wonderful! Waiters in the main dining room had to be told to speed up our service as our group had three tables, different waiters and we were last leaving the dining room because our wait staff attended to three other groups tables before us! Not happy with dinner service.

Ship Quality

3 out of 5
Ship was very clean and well maintained. However, design did not include enlarging the main gathering of everyone - the Promenade Café. instead the company chose to add more rooms. If you are going to add that many more paying customers, more seating SHOUD HAVE BEEN ADDED in the promenade bars & restaraunts for functions held there. Seating was minimal. More Customer Service Reps need to be added as well. Always a long line to get any help.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
Beds were Too hard - We had to ask for something to give us additional comfort sleeping.

Ship tip

Don't expect small ship personal service! Liked a smaller ship better for this reason.

Ports of call

Miami, Florida

2 out of 5
Miami is WAY too congested to try to do anything in the port area

Basseterre, St. Kitts

3 out of 5
Did an excursion

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

3 out of 5
excursion taken

Disembarkation

3 out of 5
Did Not enjoy personnel in the port area yelling at us!!! No help for the handicapped - same as embarking.
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4 Comments

PaTravelers    5 years ago

Please cruise another line, maybe someone else can make you happy, but I doubt it.

mgoblue44    5 years ago

Omg...maybe you should anticipate cruising with a huge group is going to need some concessions. And handicap people suck to travel with. I prefer them not on my ship. They slow everything and everybody down.

missnotanlines    5 years ago

We prefer a little smaller ship like you say service is better

SuannNGary    5 years ago

The ship had help for handicap leaving the ship. There was a check in at Starbucks. I was in a wheelchair and went off on our own. The port staff immediately stepped up to help us. It was refreshing.

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