If one wants the biggest ships, pick RC, no alternatives. Otherwise they are just another good cruise liner.

Symphony of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 11

Overall rating:

4 out of 5
Verified Review
Symphony of the Seas

6 Night Western Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)

Sail date: April 14, 2024

Ship: Symphony of the Seas

Cabin type: Oceanview

Cabin number: 3178

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 6 months ago

Review summary

RC needs free shuttles to and from airports for its customers. Other than being bigger ships they are just another cruise liner charing $18 gratuity per day per person like another poor liner. They definitely deserve one chance as others are not that bad either in the market.

Embarkation

3 out of 5
RC should run free shuttles to and from nearest FL airports. We had to spend money to cover 7 miles.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5
Serviceability by crew in dinning rooms and buffets is best. 5 starts for that. They help even more than what RC expects from them, hope RC pays them well. 4 stars for RC.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5
There are activities for everyone and option to just enjoy without any of them. Ship was well planned, however, they did not offer a free ship tour of basic operations. It is too costly to afford.

Entertainment

4 out of 5
Stage shows are best. One can see the hard work put in. They did not have magic show. Use of wires in stage to lift artists was best in the shows.

Children's Programs

4 out of 5
Kids always enjoy no matter where or what cruise line one is on.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
Service is best, of course everyone wants to save their job these days. Hope RC is paying them suitably for their capabilities. RC also should stop charing $18 gratuity per person per day, it is always good idea to hand tip to the person who deserves it, not a cruise liner company who are already making billions. It shows eventually they want to rip money whatever way these capitalists can.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
This is best one can think of, this is the reason we picked a biggest cruise liner for biggest ship experience, as size does matter here.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
No complaints, service guy was doing great everyday.

Ship tip

Size of ship, if you need that, take it. Or go with any cruise, nothing else is special.

Ports of call

Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida

3 out of 5
Port experience is normal, nothing special.

Falmouth, Jamaica

2 out of 5
Jamaica makes sense only if you go to Haiti first. Otherwise, Jamaica is the worst place, it is wastage to time. RC should think this twice before offering such port destination. We had to pay for chairs at beach!

Perfect Day At Coco Cay, Bahamas

4 out of 5
This is managed port by RC, so no complaints here. One enjoys well here.

Nassau, Bahamas

4 out of 5
We paid for our activities, good port destination, after all it is Bahamas Capital.

Disembarkation

4 out of 5
normal, nothing special.
Was this review helpful? 11

8 Comments

Gwbigdog     6 months ago

Thanks for sharing

karencruiser     6 months ago

If they included the cost of a transfer - that would raise the cruise price for EVERYONE - many who wouldn’t require it

TheVegasSphere     6 months ago

I’m going to be brutally honest. If the cost of a 7 mile transfer is a problem, don’t cruise. You can’t really afford it.

javawoody     6 months ago

Shuttles to and from airports have never been free

lsbs     6 months ago

Thanks for the review.

Dumfy75     6 months ago

Not going to get into the whole daily gratuity debate again, but if you’ve cruised other lines too then not sure why you’d expect shuttles to and from the airport and ship tours to be free for all passengers?

cruising2004     6 months ago

Thank you for your review.

HeavySeas     6 months ago

Thanks for sharing

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