In summary.....overall, best cruise I've had. The main things I will do different next time will be to book direct through Royal Caribbean, get an upgraded room. And rely on them for better details about the contract excursion companies and sites. Also, easier to make changes working direct with the cruise line. Sorry ....but I won't use you again.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Simple and pretty quick. RC appeared very organized.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
Main dining is always good. We tried Johnny Rockets, Jaime's Italian and 150 Central Park. All were absolutely fantastic. Service and food was just amazing.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
We did nearly everything and had a great time on everything....water slides, Abyss, Yoga, Spa for a message, pool, all were great. Abyss had some difficulty....when it was hot you can get stick in the tube but not a big deal.
My only concern was that all three pools felt crowded for a ship that was only about 35% capacity. If the ship was full I could see how the pool capacities would not be sufficient for everyone to enjoy (especially during COVID and RC did not appear to be limiting pool capacity due to COVID).
Otherwise, I felt RC did a fantastic job of cleaning and observing COVID protocols. The crew was constantly cleaning (everywhere) and the boat stayed immaculately clean during the whole trip.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
We attended a lot of shows (more than I normally do on cruises) and these were best shows and performers I've ever experienced. I really felt like RC hit a home run on these. The broadway shows, ice skating show, comedians and, the water show were all fantastic.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
I've always thought the service and staff on RC was top notch but this cruise you could tell they were all putting forth 110% to make sure you were enjoying yourself. They all went over and above and our cabin steward, Mario, was the best. Always waiting on us and going the extra mile.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
The new Symphony is amazing in every way. Plenty to do, well designed and kept super clean by the staff. My only concern was the Windjammer got a bit crowded for my comfort given the COVID situation, especially with the ship being only 30% full but they only opened one side. We reverted to other breakfast spots (Main dining room and small cafes).
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Comfort and cleanliness of cabin was supurb. However, when I tried to upgrade the room, prior to the cruise (due to my concern with how small it was), I was told by RC I had to go through Cruise.com. Cruise.com told me it was $6,000 to upgrade from my standard balcony room to a Jr. Suite. That did not seem reasonable to me given the initial price of the cruise for 2 of us was only $2,500 (plus taxes and fees). I had received 2 emails from RC offering upgrades at much lower prices (only $1,100 for the Jr. Suite) so I know Cruise.com was trying to make a huge profit. RC wanted to sell the upgrades to make as much as they could on cruise with only 30% so I know if I had booked direct with RC I would have been able to get an affordable upgrade. As a result, we stuck with our small balcony room. Needless to say, I will never book through Cruise.com again. I will always book direct with the cruise line to provide greater flexibility and pricing for upgrade options.
Ship tip
Book your cruise directly with the cruise line. Do not go through .
First of all, they packed us on a bus where every seat was full. No social distancing there...this was my biggest fear come true with doing any excursions. Beach was not very nice and they had all the beach chairs right on top of each other.....20 or more in a row even though there was plenty of beach space (what are they thinking?). We had a real concern with this given the COVID situation. So we moved our chairs to space them away from others and one of the beach attendants put more chairs right beside us!! They are clearly were not practicing social distancing. Also the beach had a lot of seaweed and the umbrella we were provided was rusty, looked like it came from a dime store and was barely big enough to shade my foot, much less both of us.
Beautiful beach but the beach vendors were a nuisance. At least one or more approached me with every trip to or from the beach. Day bed could use some upgrades such as cupholders and hooks for towels. Day bed was too short to fully stretch out and I'm only 6 ft tall. Most day beds you can fully lay down.
We cancelled our excursion as we were informed by RC that the beach had seaweed again. We greatly appreciated their honesty and will always stick with RC because of this. We did go ashore just to the shops right at the pier. Nothing else interesting about this port.
We did the Coco Beach Club. All of it was amazing. Best beach stop of all. Beach was beautiful, bar was well stocked, lunch was fantastic, infinity pool was amazing. Best day of the trip!
Easy and quick. Smoothest process I've had of all the cruises we've been on. The only problem was the shuttle that I booked through RC prior to getting off the boat. Again, crammed us on a bus and made us wait until others arrived. For $32 for 2 of us to go from the Miami port to the airport, I could have gotten an Uber or Lyft for half the price and been at the airport 30 - 45 minutes faster. I won't do book the shuttle again.
Thanks for your review. We always book directly with Royal. They guarantee you a lowest price. We monitor their website regularly and if prices drop we call them an they always honor the lower price.
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