Great cruise! Though room for improvement..

Symphony of the Seas Cruise Review

Cruises: 1 cruise (first)
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 45

Overall rating:

4.9 out of 5
Symphony of the Seas

7 Night Western Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: October 12, 2019

Ship: Symphony of the Seas

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 14572

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 4 years ago

Review summary

Great cruise and would definitely recommend. However I felt we came in with the wrong expectations, you are on a ship with 5000 guests and that is noticeable in certain times and situations.. As long as you keep that in mind and do your homework you will have a great time!

Embarkation

5 out of 5
Came early at 10:30. They told us we officially can embark at 12:30 but will probably board sooner. We ended up boarding at before 11:15! Enjoyed the ship for pictures and strolling before it got busy

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5
Ate at the bistro for breakfast every morning. If you come during peak hours there was a 10 minute wait for a table.. Salad bar at central Park was great for lunch. Dinner we mostly did at the main dining room. Food was excellent and we definitely recommend. However during peak hours wait was 15-20 minutes wait even though we made reservations (mtd)

El Loco Fresh℠

2 out of 5

Food was delicious but for some reason there was a huge 15 minute wait at all times during the day

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

Center Ice Rink

1 out of 5

They only had two time slots scheduled for ice skating with both during excursion days. We were planning on ice skating and embarking later on the last day only to find out they canceled the ice skating in the beginning of the cruise and never updated anyone. The worst part was that even guest services was surprised and didn't belive us until they called the rink. Didn't even get an apology.. If a schedual is changed they should update the whole staff.

Zip Line

5 out of 5

Felt very safe and secure. Doesn't go very fast but still enjoyable.

Casino Royale

1 out of 5

Full of smoke. If you don't like second hand smoke it's not the place for you

The Perfect Storm℠ waterslide trio

5 out of 5

Great water slides. Get busy during the day but are pretty empty in morning or evening..

Ultimate Abyss℠

4 out of 5

As young adults that like thrills we did it once and enjoyed but didn't feel a need to do again

Entertainment

4 out of 5
Hairspray and ice skating 2.0 are amazing! Flight was great and hiro was completely different than anything I've ever seen. We felt that 1977 was pretty weak, especially after seeing what the skaters are capable of during 2.0. The adult comedy club is amazing. We liked the usual comedian a lot more than the guest..

Laser Tag

4 out of 5

Really fun and a great experience! If you don't have reservations go early! We arrived 20 minutes before opening and still waiting an hour and a half

Video Arcade

1 out of 5

Was shocked by the prices. 5$ for simple skiball

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
Great room.

Ship tip

Book everything in advance! We booked all the shows 2 months before the cruise and everywhere we went people were complaining how there wasn't room for anything

Ports of call

Perfect Day At Coco Cay, Bahamas

5 out of 5
Did our own snorkeling which was great! Go relatively early as by the afternoon lots of sand has been kicked up and the water isn't very visable. You don't need to snorkel far, just loop around the boulders for the most fish. The island blew us away by how organized and clean it was.

Cozumel, Mexico

5 out of 5
We booked through CozumelCruiseExcursions.net a 3 stop snorkel tour with nachos stop. they were great! The meeting point was clear, and our snorkel guides were nice and professional and made some great guacamole. However only once we boarded the boat we were told that the government has shut down the best snorkel locations and that we were going to different ones. While I don't blame them for adjusting and giving us the best snorkel possible, I was a bit surprised they didn't email an update since the change happened weeks before. Overall if you plan on snorkeling in cozumel temper expectations no matter who you book through as the the government ban is at least till mid December.

Coxen Hole, Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras

5 out of 5
We booked through shore excursioner- Roatan City Highlights, Monkey and Sloths Hangout, Snorkel and Beach Break Excursion. It was amazing!!! Everything was private just for the two of us- the driver, snorkeling guide etc. While we loved the excursion, we didn't feel like the island is that pretty overall, and the snorkeling wasnt as otherworldly as we expected

Miami, Florida

5 out of 5

Costa Maya (Mahahual), Mexico

5 out of 5
Did not port here due to swells. However we did not feel like the ship opened enough activities once they cancelled which caused us to feel the crowds

Disembarkation

3 out of 5
Great until you leave the terminal, where it looks like hell broke loose and everyone is stuck in traffic. we did however manage to get an Uber within 10 minutes

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