RCCL has gone WAY downhill
Symphony of the Seas Cruise Review to Europe - Western Mediterranean
Contributor Level:
Deck Hand
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 14
7 Night Western Mediterranean (Rome Roundtrip)
Sail date: October 05, 2023
Ship: Symphony of the Seas
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 8154
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 7 months ago
Review summary
We chose this cruise because of the itinerary, since it hit the ports we wanted and left enough time at each. The ship was bigger than we wanted, but it was manageable. The service was, overall, poor. Each trip to guest services lasted about an hour. Other than the appetizers and our 'upcharged' meals, the main dining room food was pretty poor. We couldn't use the casino because of the smoke, incidentally which billowed out into the line you waited in to be seated for dinner. I mentioned this to the dining staff, they concurred as well. Drinks were inconsistent. I can deal with pricey if their good, but pricey and poor is a bad combo. This is around our 10th cruise, but 10+ years with RCCL. I'm not sure why I would go back to them.Embarkation
Getting on the ship was easy, as was setting up the sail pass in advance. Room was ready on time
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
I would like to give them a 1.5, but that's not possible. The main dining room entree's were almost inedible. NY Strip steak was basically raw and tasted like it sat a week in a salt brine. When the waiter replaced it with a 'medium' cut, it was no different The Prime Rib looked nice, but we're not sure what it tasted like, definitely not Prime Rib. The Pasta dishes were overly salted, this coming from someone who salts just about everything. So I tried the 'safe' turkey dinner one night, not sure how they messed up turkey. The 'Carne Asada' in the buffet was overcooked to the point of shoe-leather, again with little taste. On a positive note, the appetizers were all good, so we would load up on a couple appetizers and a salad, knowing the main course would be all but inedible. The Taco bar was very good as well, we ate there for lunch regularly. The drinks were poor and inconsistent. We had 2 good drinks at the Latin Bar, the Ginger Cooler ( A mule). We then went to the comedy show and ordered the same drink again, only these had a completely different look, color, and taste. This shouldn't have been the case since this was a drink listed ON THEIR MENU. and for $14 + tax + tip, really disappointing. The only saving grace was the surf-and-turf we were given in the main dining room after speaking with the head waiter. This would have been a $35 upgrade for each of us, a small lobster tail and a piece of filet mignon,,, but they were both excellent. This used to be the meal you would get on the 'formal' night.. oh well, thanks to the head waiter for recognizing our complaints with this offer, but food in the main dining room should be edible, if not good! RCCL used to be very good with their food, but our last voyage with them was a while ago.
Onboard Activities
Nice gym, we used it on the day at sea. Hot tubs were nice, many covered from the sun. Adult 'wading' pool to keep cool was a nice touch. Didn't use the main pools due to the abundance of kids, but that was ok. Rock Climbing and 'surf rider' were all xtra charges, we didn't use but they looked cool. Pool slides were free, they were nice!
Entertainment
Good comedians. Show's were decent, but every one had a glitch. HIRO, the water show, had to stop for technical difficulties, as did the 'flights' show having to actually rewind and restart after a 15 minute interruption.
Service and Staff
Wow, has service gone down! 1 night we never saw our assistant waiter, and our main waiter was running ragged. Another night the only time we saw our waiter was when she dropped off our entree's without any interaction with us. Everything went through our assistant waiter, who I had to flag down after being seated for 15 minutes. I always love getting my coffee AFTER my dessert! As far as our room goes, I don't need 2 services per day, but showing up once would be nice. we had the DND sign up until 11 since we slept in 1 morning, but later called since we had not received any service or fresh towels. Attendant stopped by to explain that he was only on duty until 1pm,but I'm not sure what happened between 11 and 1?? I heard a neighbor complaining as well, no service... Finally, my wife commented a few times that our floor hadn't been vacuumed. I guess she saw the same dirt multiple times.
Ship Quality
We like the ship and it was well taken care of. Common areas were pretty compressed though, and since we did the 'photo package', we later noticed so many of our photos ruined by people in the background. On a ship so big, it seems as though everything was condensed into 1 small area. Unless you went to the merry go round on the boardwalk that is, this would have been great for a kids field trip, but a lot of wasted area for an adult Mediterranean cruise.
Cabin / Stateroom
Best cabin we've ever had. Spacious area, decent size bed, 2 closets,a few drawers and a nice balcony. bathroom not bad for a cruise ship, but still could have been a little nicer.
Ports of call
Palma De Mallorca, Balearic Islands
Disembarkation
Them disembarkation itself went fine, but only after spending much time with guest services to straighten out our airport transfers. At first they told us we would receive a voucher for the airport, but later we learned we would just be put on a list. I learned of this after being given a late disembarkation time slot, despite having an early flight out of Rome. So upon following up the night before, they still thought our flight was 2:30, despite me supplying the flight time when booking the transfer, and again when speaking with guest services earlier in the cruise. 12:50 was our flight, and the airport is a long drive. So we just left the ship early, carried our own luggage since they gave us the wrong tags, and got on the first bus to the airport. That all went fine, but not becauseof their doing.
10 Comments
UncleDerb 7 months ago
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