Beautiful ship - too busy

Symphony of the Seas Cruise Review

Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Reviews: 2
Helpful Votes: 67

Overall rating:

3.4 out of 5
Symphony of the Seas

7 Night Eastern Caribbean & Perfect Day (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: August 13, 2022

Ship: Symphony of the Seas

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 7420

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 2 years ago

Review summary

A beautiful ship but sometimes bigger isn’t better

Embarkation

3 out of 5
Too much faffing about with paperwork.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5
I’ve cruised before and the food here wasn’t as good as I had expected. During the day you don’t have loads of choice and it feels there isn’t enough space for all the people on the ship

Onboard Activities

2 out of 5
Laser tag was only open for one day so with 6000 people all wanting to do it - unless you were up early and willing to waste a day queuing there was no chance. Queues for everything were ridiculous. The pools are too small for the amount of people and it was all a bit manic.

Entertainment

4 out of 5
It was ok, the evening entertainment was a bit lame. Our 21 year old had the best time though running about with all the younger cruisers.

Service and Staff

3 out of 5
Awful service from our first two waiters. One glass of wine over dinner and things just going wrong all the time. We changed tables and then it was ok but all a bit weird. Strange things happened like a random waiter bringing my husband an apple martini that he hadn’t ordered and then calling his manager over to show him that he’d done it. All just. Odd.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5
Everything was clean and sparkly.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5
The cabin was a good size but very basic. Towels were the cheapest and smallest I’ve ever had on a ship or in a hotel. No products, no extras just all very basic. It was clean and tidy.

Ports of call

Perfect Day At Coco Cay, Bahamas

5 out of 5
This place is perfect. Either for a quiet beach vibe or a party pool vibe. Really fun, good food and drink. Perfect!!

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

5 out of 5
Loved it here. Everyone so happy and lovely. Beautiful place

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

2 out of 5
Not much going on here at all. Jewellery shops and a nice view point.

Disembarkation

1 out of 5
What an absolute faff. It took around 2.5 hours to get off the ship and then another hour in the baking sun waiting for taxis. Dreadful.
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6 Comments

javawoody    2 years ago

Thanks for the review

Gwbigdog    2 years ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us

AuntPinkie    2 years ago

Sorry this cruise didn’t meet your expectations

WhippetMum    2 years ago

You are right that bigger is not always better.

willwork4cruz    2 years ago

Nobody likes faffing

CVCruiser    2 years ago

Not enough choices for food at lunch?? Lol. You apparently did NOT do your research... 🤪 The Oasis class ships have more free food options than any ships Ive been on... by far! The biggest mistake made for first time Oasis class cruisers do is NOT research the ships layout, and assuming the Oasis class are like other ships where all the food is on the same deck or two decks.... WRONG.

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