Fantastic highly entertaining memory making cruise
Symphony of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western
6 Night Western Caribbean & Perfect Day (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)
Sail date: May 04, 2024
Ship: Symphony of the Seas
Cabin type: Oceanview
Cabin number: 3650
Traveled as: Family (older children)
Reviewed: 6 months ago
Review summary
This is a review of Symphony of the Seas. But, I want to give a shout out to Oasis of the Seas for making me want to go on another Royal Caribbean ship only a couple of months later. Symphony is beautiful! I loved just walking around and discovering different things to do, artwork and live music. There is beautiful artwork all over the ship. There is always live music from noon to night. The pool deck, the main promenade and central park are some of the places where you can find some-not to mention some of the bars feature live musicians as well. I said the same thing for Oasis of the Seas- the ship itself is a destination. The ports are just a bonus… The activities: My mom and I only slept 3-4 hours a night trying to get to as many activities, events as possible. We loved all of them! There was one day that we missed nearly all of the events we wanted to go to. Tip: Jamaica is 1 hour behind (certain times of year?) and my phone was set to Jamaican time until the next day around 4PM. Because of that I missed some of the things I wanted us to attend, however we ended up stumbling into a carnival on the boardwalk. The scene: Balloon twisting, cotton candy, carousel, live band, cupcakes and more. So much fun. Another thing we stumbled upon was the belly flop competition on the pool deck. It was hysterical. In addition to that we caught the live Caribbean band a few times at the pool deck and they were fantastic! We did do karaoke the first night as my mom loves to sing and it was a great venue for that. This was just a sampling of the events that we attended. They also have trivia, gameshows, scavenger hunts, disco parties and much more. The Solarium/Adults only section: Loved this. We hung out here mostly because it was just the two of us with no kids. It’s a beautiful space. I wish the pool was a little bigger in here but otherwise I enjoyed this area. Watching the views as we sailed away from one of the sky decks there was beautiful too. The Stateroom: It was a nice room with a big window. We were right over the gangway so that was kinda funny, but we enjoyed the room. Enough closet and drawer space. The only thing I’d wish they had in the rooms were more hooks/edges so there is a place to hang wet bathing suits and such. The stateroom attendant was great. We had to ask for a few things and he brought us whatever we needed. The shows: We saw Hiro which was the Aqua show. This included diving, tight rope walkers and dancers. It was great! I liked the Aqua show a little better on the Oasis just because there was more diving in that particular show and I am partial to swimmers/divers. But it was still very entertaining. What a cool concept. You just gotta see it. The ice-skating show: 1977 plus the Iskate 2.0. Wow!! Such talented skaters/athletes. The choreography, the music and the stage settings all were fantastic. Highly entertaining. The Broadway show on this ship is Hairspray and WOW. This surprised me. I heard great reviews and it really lived up to the hype. The entertainers were just fabulous. I would see all of the shows again. Also, did not get a chance to see the Flight show, but I heard good reviews. The Food and Service: The food was great overall. Some things I liked more than others, but the great thing is if you don’t care for something too much you can go to a variety of complimentary places such as the Windjammer, the Solarium, Sorrentos pizza, the Mexican restaurant on the pool deck and more so you won’t go hungry and there is something for everyone! The main dining room: I really liked some of the dishes such as the escargot and others were just so so. Again, you can ask for whatever you want if you do not care for something or if you love something you can order it again. I really liked the breakfast at Windjammer. We went to try it for dinner once (on the last night) but it was so crowded we decided to go somewhere else. Not sure if it was just because it was the last night. The Solarium bistro was beautiful inside. It is buffet style. The food is great, if you like Mediterranean. My only recommendation would be to change the plates that the food is served on because they are hot plates and it’s hard to pick up with the pie like utensil that they put out to grab your individual hot dishes on the buffet. I really liked the lamb, fish and desserts. The baklava I absolutely loved. We did one upgraded dining: Wonderland. This was a great experience. The food was super unique. They brought us out a lot of appetizers/tapas to start. Then we picked our main dish. Then the dessert. I really enjoyed most of the items and was always left wondering what it all was and how they made it which I found to be fun. The dessert was the highlight! You just got to try it, I thought they could have done a little better job with the concept experience. Maybe telling some kind of story or being more interactive with the theme, but other than that the staff was great. It’s nice that you can see the Aqua theater from there. When we were dining, we saw them practicing. However, I’d recommend they take at least 1 of the tables away from the window so you can have an even better view of that! Miscellaneous: I am a big fan of Jacuzzis, so I was in at least one of them daily. I would recommend, if possible, to have the timer of the jets go more than just 10 minutes or so. We had to keep pressing the button. This is minor, of course, but not sure why it’s on just a short timer. The same on the Oasis, not sure why you cannot hear the captains’ announcements from the stateroom. Wondering if this is just how it is on all ships.. Final comments: Overall, the crew was fantastic and friendly. We were very pleased with the experience. Lots of great times and memories. The crew and the amount of excitement and entertainment has me ready to get back on the next cruise and I would choose the Symphony of the Seas again!Embarkation
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
Its just wonderful. Something for everybody, Make sure to check out what all the activities are each day. So much to do.
Ports of call
Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida
Falmouth, Jamaica Did not visit port
Perfect Day At Coco Cay, Bahamas
Disembarkation
Traveler Photos
