Leaderboard

From ISkate we hurried to the Boardwalk to get in line for Hiro, the Aquashow. Finally we’d get to see one! Guess there had been a lot of complaints as the movement of the ship hadn’t changed much since yesterday but they were still running the shows. Unfortunately, our seats again weren’t the best as a) we weren’t the first in line due to ISkate and b) the whole center part of the Aqua Theater is reserved for PiT (Pinnacle in Training), Pinnacle and Suites. Hiro is a brilliant show with a storyline (see Twangster’s blog for details), but there’s so much going on with dancing, high diving, fighting, synchronized swimming and slacklining – you just can’t take it all in. I guess you’d have to watch it at least twice to see all the details – good luck with the standby line ? Fun part: we kind of got our revenge for the seats. The screeches from the high status crowd when they got wet from the dripping aerialist amused us immensely ? With another detour for a cocktail, we just fell into our beds. Side notes 12.2 steps Planning on getting up early for our way into Port of Miami, as Symphony is rumored to turn before docking. Estimated arrival time is 4.30 am in case you wanted to watch, Matt. If you suffer from night blindness, Escape the Rubicon is really hard. Speaking from experience here. Found yet more staircase artwork I liked – and some elevator art: Stopped by at Vintages – here’s the current menu for tapas:

Sugar Beach A first for Oasis class we have space to dedicated to anything that contains sugar. Located on the Boardwalk right next to the Carousel. Sugar Beach is a self serve fill a bag to your hearts delight pay by the pound candy store. Take a bag, fill it with whatever you want and place it on the scales. $11 per pound. You don't have to spend $11 if you want a lesser amount of candy. They also serve ice cream and sundaes. 1 scoop $3, 2 scoops $4.50, 3 scoops $5.75. Sugar cone or bowl. Plus they have some stuffed animals.

With my artistic juices flowing (the wine in the Solarium Bistro at dinner was really good) I was inspired to take more night photos around the ship. The Perfect Storm slides were still open. Inspired by the color changes within the art in the Solarium that I saw during dinner in the Solarium Bistro I knew I had to try to capture it. It really is pretty spectacular and something anyone who sails Symphony needs to experience.

The face you make when you realize someone else is live blogging from a ship and you're stuck at home

Day 9 Another early start for us – after yesterday‘s change of breakfast plans, we returned to Solarium Bistro – only way earlier. At 7.15 am, we stood in the ever-growing line – fortunately we were early enough to get seated. Solarium Bistro is a nice venue for breakfast, as you can get made to order omelet and also pre-cooked omelet options as well as fruit pancakes. Unfortunately, it’s just too much hassle on this cruise – too many people know about it. After breakfast, we headed to Central Park for a bit of blogging. After more than a week I finally got one of the Hide & Seek items – this cute teddybear from Joe. At least I was wearing the perfect shirt for the occasion. Sadly, we didn’t have much time to chat as we were on our way to Dazzles for the Guest Talent Show rehearsal. This was our final meeting because we would miss the other ones due to Escape the Rubicon and the All Access Tour. Escape the Rubicon is an escape room game where your mission is to use the old submarine SPS Rubicon to fire a torpedo at an active volcano and thereby saving the world from its fatal outburst. It's in a dedicated room in front of Adventure Ocean. Our group comprised of 12 people, with us, two indivduals and a group of 8. We were the only non-US citizens so again no language barriers. A staff member introduces you to the story and is present in the room for the whole time. She also instructed us to not touch anything with a red hand on it. Guess what, somebody didn’t heed to the instructions and reset the game when we were on it for about 5 minutes. Fortunately, we could still go on. With a group as big as this, the game is quite chaotic because it’s impossible to know who is doing what. We still managed to save the world with 8 minutes to spare (3 if you count in the 5 minutes in the beginning). Escape the Rubicon is great fun, but you’ll have to decide for yourself if it’s worth the 19.99 $ fee. Taking into account that escape rooms are more expensive at home, it was worth the money to us. Instead of taking a lunch break, we raced down the stairs to On Air for the Royal Heist – another puzzle break experience (without a fee attached). We already did Royal Mystery the week before and had great fun doing it. We joined the same European team as last time. PIty this game is not as well designed as Royal Mystery – you have 45 minutes and we were done with all riddles except the final one after half the time. We then stared at the final riddle for 22 minutes without coming up with a solution – or even a way to the solution. As there were no hints, no team solved the final riddle ? Time for lunch – we headed to Park Cafe to grab a bite. The afternoon was spent at Playmakers, then a quick wardrobe change and off to Wonderland we went. You know the drill – speciality dinner will get its own post. Next stop: ISkate 2.0 in Studio B. As we had to hurry there from Wonderland, we didn’t get the best seats – can’t always get what you want. ISkate is a show where the cast choses the music as well as the choreography – so don’t expect a storyline – just let yourself be wowed by the performance. Funny enough, one of the songs they chose was This is Me from The Greatest Showman – exactly the song, we’d been rehearsing all cruise for the choir. Yes, we sang along ?

Day 3 – Crystal Caves, Bermuda The bus dropped us off at the stop for Crystal Caves, which is actually the start of a walking path that leads you to the caves. Next to the path is an ice cream shop, and across the street from the bus stop was the Swizzle Inn. I'd been told it was a short walk from Crystal Caves, but I had no idea it was literally right across the street from its path entrance! We were both ready for lunch, so we decided to do that before going to the caves. As soon as we were seated and I had a chance to look through the menu, I ordered a Rum Swizzle. I had to try one, in the name of research! I'm not a big rum fan, and it was definitely no Kraken in this brew, but it wasn't bad by any stretch. I'm just glad I only got the single serving and not the next size up (a half-pitcher) -- that is one strong drink! I was feeling a hefty buzz before I'd even gotten halfway through what was in my pitcher! Knowing I had to navigate a lot of stairs in the caves, I figured it was better at that point to finish the drink quickly, and hope it cleared out by the time lunch was done. Swizzle Inn, swagger out! The food was pretty good. I had locally caught Wahoo, which to me was about the same as a good swordfish steak. Cathy wasn't super hungry and just had a flatbread pizza. Then I saw they had bread pudding as one of the dessert options... Yeah, I'm weird that way; I love bread pudding, especially if it's got a good vanilla sauce (which this preparation did). With a full belly and the vestiges of my swizzle still in me, we headed out to the path that would take us to the Crystal Caves. It had rained while we ate, and everything was still pretty wet, but that didn't discourage the large group of people ahead of us. We ended up having to wait for the tour at three o'clock, which was OK as my feet were pretty worn out from all the walking earlier in the day and could use the rest. Cathy took the opportunity to check out the gift shop, and got a couple more items for the girls along with a small stone bracelet for herself. Our turn to see the caves came around, and we made our way through the gate and descended the 83 stairs down into the caves proper. Along the way, we could see open pockets where the water from the sea was already visible, as well as some smaller stalactites and columns. When we got to the bottom of the stairs, our guide directed us to the smallish dark opening in the ceiling. This was the original entrance to the caves, the one that the boys who lost their cricket ball crawled through in their effort to find it. Now here is a part I didn't know about the caves. The water level changes with the tides, to the tune of between two and three feet deeper at high tide. Our tour happened to be going through pretty much at peak high tide, so when we went down the floating walkway to reach the rear of the chamber, several of us had to bend over almost double to get past some of the stalactites without hitting our heads or getting our back's badly scraped by the stone. Our guide stopped us about two thirds of the way back to talk about the water here, and how deceptively deep it was. It ranges between 50 and 75 feet deep at the spot we were standing, and it's so clear and the refraction from it so strong, that you don't realize that the rocks below that you think are fairly short are actually themselves between 40 and 50 feet tall. We made our way to the far end of the main chamber, where I noticed there was a small opening in the columns that had a light mounted inside the space there. I leaned down and got what I think was actually one of the prettiest photos of the space, despite what the brochures typically show. The limestone in that space looked more like mother of pearl than rock. I was kind of wishing I could explore that space more instead of this main chamber. Our guide turned the lights down and showed how, depending on the angle of the light that was hitting the water, you could see just the cave floor below, or the reflection of the ceiling above forming what looked something like the Manhattan skyline, or the head and long neck of a dragon. The actual tour only lasts about 20 minutes, and that was plenty. Caves are supposed to be chilly places, but either the smaller space created by high tide, or the high humidity there, or the sheer number of people being taken through all day made the place feel like an oven by the time we started walking out. We headed back to the bus stop, where we met a mother and her two daughters holding a picture of their father, her late husband. They came here on the Disney Magic, and were visiting Bermuda to honor his passing, as it was one of his favorite places to vacation. I took their picture when they asked, the three of them holding his photo and standing with the Swizzle Inn, one of his and his widow's regular places, behind them. After that, we spent the time waiting for the bus just talking about Bermuda, how beautiful it was and how nice the people were. We learned that the Magic was in Bermuda for three days, not just two; if we didn't already know how much more expensive it is to sail Disney than sailing with Royal, we might well have decided to book a return trip on that ship so we could get that extra day! The bus to Hamilton arrived, and just like before it filled up before we could get on. Partly it was our mistake, we were standing at the wrong end of the stop and a bunch of people who got there after us boarded first; partly it was because it was getting to be rush hour there, and with this stop mid-way on the trip to Hamilton any bus was going to be more crowded when it arrived. Just like before, we waited about ten minutes and another bus arrived. This time we were at the front of the line and got on right away, but we knew that there was no way we were making the 4:30 ferry from Hamilton back to the ship. Sure enough, we arrived at the bus terminal in Hamilton just a few minutes before 4:30. Could we have walked really fast and gotten to the ferry pier in time? Maybe, but it was raining again and we didn't feel like chancing it. A bus going to the dockyard was right there and leaving momentarily, so we got on and just accepted that we'd have an hour's ride back to the ship, instead of the 20-minute ferry trip. We got to the dockyard closer to six than five-thirty, and hurried back on board as best we could with our tired feet. We had a reservation at seven-thirty for Wonderland, and while we weren't dressing up, we did want some time to rest and get cleaned up.

Do you remember day one I showed my balcony pictures and the obstruction from the black bag that hangs across the boardwalk behind the Abyss? It turns that contains a fishing net that is part of the HiRO Aqua show. It's function is artistic only. At the end of the show it flies out in the air over the Aqua Theater and remains suspended in the air as guests are walking out of the show. It's secondary function is to turn premium boardwalk balconies into obstructed boardwalk balconies. Here on day 11 they have lowered the fishing net and it's bag down to the floor for maintenance and the glorious unobstructed views aft returned (for a few hours at least). I can actually see all of the aqua pool and stage now! I can see ocean sitting in my balcony chair! It actually make a huge difference in the boardwalk balcony experience. After 11 days this is my only gripe with the cruise. I guess that's not bad.

Day 11 - Dinner Dinner tonight would be in the Solarium Bistro. It's a pretty great location for dinner and with the Solarium changes on Symphony it is a pretty awesome venue for dinner. For those that want a short summary - come eat here. Must. do. The Solarium at dinner is by reservation but at no charge unless you want to enhance your dining experience with a special entree. The 'menu' is offered outside on flat panel displays for your consideration. Solarium Bistro is not a full sit down specialty dining venue. You will be escorted to your table but you will not be presented a full menu to order from. With the Solarium right outside the floor to ceiling windows of the Bistro make it a pretty great dining location. Instead of a dinner menu I was offered a wine list to start and informed that the Bistro is more of buffet of sorts. A foodie buffet. My waiter did mention some specials one of which caught my ear. A filet for $12. Like a land restaurant the nightly specials don't appear on the menu. I decided I better try the filet. For $12 it's all in the name of research. Having ordered the filet special I was invited to eat from the buffet as if I had not ordered an extra cost item. The Bistro is a collection of small items that you are free to pick as many of one, or a selection of many, as you see fit. There is also a pasta station where you can pick your ingredients and have them make a unique pasta entree. A salad station offers different types of salads to pick from. My 'appetizer' tonight. Mixed Salad, Chicken Kabob and Kofta. By this point the sun had set and the beautiful art of the Solarium was illuminated with ever changing colors. Quite mesmerizing to watch. Perhaps it was the wine, but it is a very unique and nice dining venue that really struck a chord with me. Very quickly my filet arrived. Cooked just as I requested and very good. Yum. Time for dessert. O. M. G. I would have taken pictures of dessert but I found myself diving into the wonderful flavors. The Baklava really was good. So were the two other dessert items I managed to eat. Three desserts? I don't normally do that but they were so good. I wish I had found the Solarium Bistro earlier in the cruise. While I'm not a foodie by nature the Kofta and Chicken Kabobs were really good as an appetizer. I would gladly pay the $12 for the filet again. Dessert - just wow. Between the ambiance of the venue itself and the food offered it was a highlight meal of the cruise for me.

Day 11 - Last Sea Day Sometime around 4:30pm I was in Central Park having a glass of wine when the sky caught my eye. Have I mentioned I love Central park? I saw the early signs of a sunset so I headed up to the Solarium. The Solarium Bar is back open! When sailing into the sunset the Solarium is a pretty great location to take it in. I was joined by several sunset enthusiasts tonight. It was really kind of special. Our last sunset in the Atlantic before making Port Canaveral tomorrow for Symphony of the Seas first ever U.S. port of call.

I blame you @Matt and those Insiders. Horrible influence. And now Hubby has the YOLO mentality too, but not towards cruises...suits instead. It think @CruiseLifeRick has something to do with that! I can only dream to cruise like @twangster! And I feel like you in 2019. I literally maxed out all available days off.

I love how you went from like "OMG, one cruise a year is all we can handle" to full Twangster booking mode! ?

Day 11 - Sea Day Breakfast in the MDR this morning. Given the large numbers on this sailing, deck 4 has been set aside for Diamond and Diamond Plus. Breakfast menu for the MDR Solarium Bar update It looks complete at this point. Caulking in between glass panels was added last night. Did someone ask for some pool pictures?

Noon Update Our progress... At noon ship time we are now in sync with the Eastern time zone of the U.S. after changing times for the final time last night. Total cruise distance so far 4,226 nm.

Late night nightclub - RED in Studio B After a stop in Boleros for a drink with friends, it was time for bed.

A boat is something you get into when the ship is going down. The Symphony is a SHIP.

Not quite. Running about 18 hours behind in my time line. Right now I'm on Symphony's port bridge wing getting to sail away to Miami. My last night on board before Serenade tomorrow.

Let me say up front that I have not yet sailed on Anthem. I am going in Feb but that doesn't help you now... I love Grandeur...but if I were a 20-something I think I would prefer Anthem. It's a bigger and newer ship and there are by FAR more activities - especially activities for children and young adults - on Anthem vs Grandeur. Grandeur may be a little less expensive, but there is a reason for that ! As I said, Anthem is a newer, bigger and more "equipped" ship than Grandeur. If it were just you and your wife I would say Grandeur would be very nice, especially at a lower price...but thinking of the children and young adults, I would have to say that I BELIEVE they would find more to do on Anthem. The advantages of booking with Next Cruise have been dwindling so I would say to go ahead and book with MEI and get the free grats. Also, if you find any price drops on whichever ship you choose, MEI can help you take advantage of that. If you book directly with Royal, you would have to do all of that yourself. It's just nice to have a good TA on your side !

I've been on two Southbound Radiance Alaska cruises out of Seward. Of all our cruises, these two were hands down our favorite. It is a long trip from Florida, but worth it. My wife and I fly into Anchorage a day early, stay at the recommended hotel there, and in the morning they collect your luggage downstairs and truck it down to Seward. Sure beats lugging it around!! The first time (2013) we took the three hour bus ride from Anchorage to Seward, it departs from that same hotel so its very convenient. We thought it was some of the best scenery ever (compared to flat, hot, and boring Florida) and the bus driver did a fantastic narration of all the landmarks. The older couple seated next to us laughed at us as we were wide eyed and taking pictures of the "mountains" we drove by as we exited Anchorage, they said "This must be your first time here, right?" They said don't worry about those mountains, the good ones were coming up later in the trip. Boy were they right!! The second cruise (2016) we dropped off our luggage and then took the shuttle over to the train station located next to the airport. We then had an AWESOME five hour glass domed train ride down to Seward - each car has two attendants serving food and drinks. The train would slow down and the conductor would also point out things of interest along the way (moose, bears, etc). We were seated at a four top table and had a very nice couple we shared the table with. The first hour or so, the train parallels the path the bus took, but after that it veers off into the mountains for HOURS of stunning scenery. What a great way to start your voyage! You step off the train right at the pier and walk a short distance to the Royal Caribbean building where they check your ID and then you board the ship. Regarding the differences in itineraries, if you take the Serenade, you would miss out on Icy Straight and Hubbard Glacier. We really love Icy Straight, there is some nice hiking and scenery, although its becoming very "touristy". Both give you Skagway, which has the White Pass train tour that is a MUST to take. The ships are both the same class of ship (Radiance class) and will give you roughly the same on board experience. I was on the Serenade last month out of Boston for a Fall Foliage cruise. The outside of the ship was looking a little tired, rusty, and in need of painting, but inside, both ships are well maintained with identical layout. So...my vote is the South bound cruise. But either way, you can't lose!

Sick days...cough, cough, cough...YOLO! ?

I'm sure you took great photos, but I scrolled quickly past all the photos to avoid the spoilers! ?

There are a lot of Pinnacle members on this sailing. Usually, it's just a few rows in the middle that are reserved for Suites and Pinnacles and then Star class guest have their Genie reserve seats wherever requested.

Just off Majesty with MTD. Went to the MTD desk when we boarded to request a table by a window. Hostess told us to go in and pick out a table which we did and had that table waiting for us each night. It was pretty darn perfect!

Nope, that threw me for a loop, too! It's a dry slide, and based on @twangster's photos it seems you go down using some kind of sack or cloth to sit on and put your feet in. Reminds me of the Giant Slide at Dutch Wonderland in PA. Fun Fact -- On one of the group cruises that sailed on Harmony, the gang doing the pub crawl used the Ultimate Abyss to get down to the next bar on the route! ?

We booked too last week when the plans were announced ?

Day 3 - Ferry and St. George's, Bermuda (FINALLY) We woke up at 7, knowing we had to be off the ship as soon as we were cleared to disembark if we wanted to get our transit passes and board the 9:30 ferry to St. George's. We grabbed a quick breakfast from Cafe Two70, and once again sat in the far back of the Two70 area while we ate and watched the ship finish docking. We were ready to disembark just before our scheduled clearance time of 9 AM and walked down the stairwell to deck 2... Where we were told to go back up to deck 3 and wait until we were actually cleared. Even though it was 8:58. ? The good news is that we were only about a half-dozen people from the very front of the rapidly growing line of passengers who also had time-sensitive plans. We all were getting antsy as 9:00 passed, then 9:05. Apparently we needed a little more time to get cleared, or maybe we were running a bit late with our docking, as we didn't actually hear the announcement that it was OK to disembark until about 9:10. Once cleared and outside the ship, we hoofed it over to the booth just outside the pier where transit passes could be purchased. Most people ahead of us were boarding shuttles to Horseshoe Bay beach, or waiting for taxis or excursions, so we only had a couple of people ahead of us when we got there. I got us a pair of single-day passes, figuring that tomorrow we'd only be doing Horseshoe Bay and just needing the private shuttle. Tickets in hand, we had ten minutes to make our way over to the ferry before it departed for St. George's. Thankfully, it was a fairly short walk to the ferry pier, and we were finally able to relax a little and just walk over at a normal pace. We boarded the ferry with a couple of minutes to spare, and made our way up to the top deck where we'd have a better view as well as a breeze. While we waited for the ferry to depart, I got a shot of the far side of the pier, where the dockyard shops were located, and also a half-decent shot of Anthem. We departed on time, and as we made our way into the water I saw our companion from yesterday, the Disney Magic, making her way into the port to join us. We had to share the view with our daughters, but our younger one was already in school. Still, it was early enough thanks to the time zone difference that it was still possible to catch our older one before she went off to college for the day. I'm on Verizon's pay-as-you-go international plan, where for a flat $10 a day I can use my phone's data plan just like if I were home. I took the phone out of Airplane Mode, made sure I had a good cell signal, and fired up FaceTime. We spent about half the trip chatting with our older daughter and showing her the view of the coastline. She was horribly jealous, and tried to make us feel the same by cuddling with the puppy. Eventually the cell signal got too weak, and it was close to when our daughter had to go to class, so we hung up and enjoyed the rest of the ferry ride. At one point, we passed what looked like a fort of some kind on the coastline. Before much longer, we were entering the channel to the port at St. George's. We started to see brightly colored homes peeking out through the foliage. The channel quickly widened, and the number of buildings rapidly grew. I took some video as we got closer to the pier, and much to my surprise there was another cruise ship docked here! The Regent Cruises "Seven Seas Navigator" was paying a visit to this end of the island. We were almost to the pier now, and the area was getting progressively more dense and colorful. We finally docked, and once the ferry was secure we got off and started making our way towards the town center. Before we got very far, we saw a car that was just too awesome looking not to take a couple pictures. I'm not a car guy by any measure, but even I was impressed at the work that went into customizing this Suzuki! Even the dash and seats had been modified to match the general design theme... Tearing ourselves away from this awesome vehicle, we continued until we made our way onto Water Street, passing a place that had quite an assortment of hats for sale. We walked down Water Street, admiring the buildings along the way and just loving the general quiet vibe of this town. By this point, Cathy was already saying that we had to come back for another visit. We followed the sounds of a steel drum being played, and found this gent next to a small shop that had just opened. I tipped the fellow a couple of dollars before taking his picture, remembering what the busker I'd met in San Juan last April had told me. There wasn't really anything interesting in this particular shop, just typical t-shirts and other touristy knick-knacks. We continued down Water Street until we came to a craft shop on our left that sold various pieces made from sea glass. a We found a couple of nice paper weights that we thought the girls would like and would hold up to travel and being bounced around in my backpack. While we were looking at the various items for sale, we chatted with the shop owner. She was born and raised in Bermuda, and while she didn't look a day over 60 she said she was actually in her eighties! Clearly this island's air is good for the body and soul! I half-jokingly told her that we were already debating the idea of relocating here. We proceeded to get an interesting but brief description of how to actually do that, and it's not that hard really. The only tricky part is that until you've lived on the island for ten years and earned "landed resident" status, you either have to rent an apartment (which would be tricky with a family of four), or buy a home worth at least a million dollars! After reaching the "landed resident" milestone, you're free to buy any house you want on the island. Having bought some small gifts for the girls, we thanked the shop owner and went back out to explore the town more. We stopped in a couple more shops, these ones selling art prints and various hand-made glass decorations, but didn't buy anything more. We already planned to visit the shops in the dockyard area the next day, and didn't want to blow through our spending budget in the first hour we were there. Little did we know... Eventually we reached the center of town proper, and found the St. George's town hall. If I read the various descriptions hung on the walls correctly, this building was both a historical site and also still used for town meetings and other local matters. It certainly looked like it could still be actively used, but the photos of a young Queen Elizabeth and Duke Philip, plus the original charter under sealed glass, spoke to the age of this place. Having looked around, we headed back out to try and make our way over to Tobacco Bay Beach. The sea glass craft shop owner had told us about it, and said it was a very beautiful spot that we really should try and see before we left the town. We were still getting our bearings, and while ambling around we saw a much closer Seven Seas Navigator, along with some other sights. Here's a statue of Admiral Sir George Somers, for whom the town is named. There was nothing there to indicate why his statue was posed in this way. We figured out we must be heading the wrong way for Tobacco Bay beach, and started going back the way we had come. Our shop owner friend had told us one of the ways we'd know we were going the right way was to just watch for the old men shambling along, who would all point in a general direction and mutter, "Tobacco Bay, that-a-way" as they passed. Sure enough, we hadn't gone a hundred feet in our new direction when a man with deeply tanned skin like old leather and sun-bleached hair walked past us, and sure enough pointed vaguely in the direction we were walking and said just that! Even with this "help", we still had to ask another shop owner for some slightly more-precise directions after buying a couple of drinks to stave off the growing heat. Knowing the way, we walked away from town and up Duke of Kent Street. We came to a side street with some interesting looking ruins. Not the abandoned church that @coneyraven saw, as we could see that further up the street. This was something different. On the other side of the intersection, we were suprised to a banana, or maybe plantain, tree growing on the far side of a low wall. As we hit the roughly half-way point, we paused to take a breather and admire the view back the way we'd come. The walk is about a half-mile each way, and going out is definitely harder as you're going uphill for about two thirds of the way, some of it steep. We finally reached the point where we started going downhill again, and to my surprise I started hearing techno music! Some really good stuff, too, like there was a club nearby. Not long after we saw Tobacco Bay and its beach spread out before us. We walked the remaining distance and finally were standing on the beach, admiring the view. The source of the music was the beach's bar and small restaurant, and I couldn't have been happier. Not only did we have a gorgeous view laid out in front of us, our ship faintly visible off in the distance; I had a great soundtrack to enjoy with it! We were trying to figure out how on earth this mostly submerged bench ended up here, and whether it could even be sat on without the waves pounding you. Neither of us had brought our bathing suits since we didn't even know this place existed before we got into town, so we'd just have to wait for a return trip to find out. I was amused to see some birds taking advantage of a puddle that had formed in one of the lava outcroppings. We humans weren't the only ones who wanted to swim at this beach! Unfortunately, we couldn't stay as we still wanted to have lunch at the Swizzle Inn and see the Crystal Caves. A young woman there was nice enough to take our picture before we left. We walked the half mile back without too much trouble, although we were very hot by the time we got back into town and very much needed something to drink and cool off. We gulped down a couple of sodas, then made our way to the bus terminal to wait for the #10 or #11 to show. The first bus to show filled up before we could board, but then another one showed up with plenty of space. We showed our day passes, got them punched (not sure why the ferry pilot hadn't done this when we boarded back at the dockyard pier), then sat down for the relatively short ride to Crystal Caves and the Swizzle Inn.

Booked a Grand Suite yesterday for May on Navigator, so excited to see the upgrades!

See this blog post: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/questions/what-wow-band They are now only complimentary in suites, otherwise $5 each, unless you can trade in one from a past cruise.

Since Royal has ended it's relationship with Michael Schwartz the menu at 150 Central Park will be different going forward. While I didn't eat there this cruise, I saw the menus in the lounge and I am including them here along with the Jamie's Italian since that menu varies slightly ship to ship. Wine list Desert Menu Jamie's Italian - Dinner Menu

This comes up from time to time, so the coffee served in Café Promenade is... Seattle Best. Seattle's Best is a subsidiary of Starbucks.

Given that it's a sea day I worked much of the day. A periscope notification told me some of the RCPeriscopers and Royal Caribbean Blog readers were starting their Yeti Pub Crawl. Then they were sliding down the Ultimate Abyss. Not long after they were below my cabin in Playmakers. Soon enough they did the Carousel. All in their bathrobes. @Big Dawg Ron @cookingyo and Mrs. Cookingyo What happens on Symphony of the Seas stays on the internet.

@twangster Here Are Some Photo I Took Of Your Boat Docking In Port Canaveral. Hope You Enjoy

Enjoy the Enchantment - we love that ship!! We are so glad it is back local to us and the Majesty is gone. The new terminal at Port Canaveral (10 minutes from my front door) is really nice and is much more efficient at getting people checked in. For a ship the size of the Enchantment, check in using the "general" line isn't too bad. It looks worse than it is, waiting through the security line out front takes the most time. Once you get through that, the line upstairs to the counter moves really quick because they have a huge number of check in agents working. On an Oasis class ship, unless your Diamond or a suite guest, it takes a LOT longer to get those thousands of extra passengers checked in...... My wife and I are counting down until Dec 14th when we will be going out on the Enchantment. ? We have been on a lot of Royal Caribbean ships and still feel that the Chops restaurant on the Enchantment is the best in the fleet, topped only by 150 Central Park restaurant on the Oasis.

Based only on itinerary as I've never been on Sereade. Radiance - Icy Strait Pointe and Hubbard were highlights of our Alaska cruise.

@yzfmik I would check with restaurant services once on board. If you purchase the UDP you are eligible for a discount that you can only get once on board. That's what my fine print said from earlier this month.

Thank you Matt. That is what I will do. Trust me, if anyone in our group shows up in gym shorts or anything else that I don't feel is appropriate, I will personally send them back to their cabin! ?

Taking the crown and anchor discount is not always cheaper so it pays to compare before booking. For example if sales promotion has obc that can be better value than C&A discount as you don’t usually get the obc using C&A discount. I also find the room rate can change when using C&A so the discount can be off a higher room rate. We rarely use the C&A discount because quite often the promos are better value.

Vintages is definitely included, but depending on the ship's stock and your preferences in wine, you may find that there are very few options that are sold by the glass and fall within the $12 or $13 limit. I'm almost exclusively a red wine drinker; while Freedom's Vintages had a huge menu with a pretty decent selection of my preferred styles of reds around $14 to $17 a glass, along with a couple of what I call "red water" table wine options at the $12 mark, I found that Anthem had a far smaller menu with almost nothing that was offered by the glass, at least in any varietal I cared for. Anthem was very much pushing buying entire bottles, not just at Vintages but also in the dining rooms.

OMG, that is amazing! Is there a dentist office on board?

It's a new sports bar on Mariner and Symphony, coming to more ships soon.

Well, I just looked and the Drink Package is now $99/day

WOW. Just WOW. Thanks for another amazing live blog @twangster. They're so legendary I see you even have fan accounts popping up! Haha that's awesome. That tour of Central Park was really cool. Is this something offered on all ships? I hope to do the same on Harmony. Can't wait to see both Flight and HiRo as well one day when I can make it on Symphony. Both look incredible.

Between the stairwell art, the Flight pictures, and all the other added features all I can say about Symphony is...

Day 10 - HiRO Take 2 From my Boardwalk balcony I noted that the wet zone in the Aqua Theater was pretty empty as tonight's first showing of HiRO was filling up. I threw on some shorts and a water shirt and headed to the standby line. It was amazing near the front of the theater like I was the only person in the theater. Seeing the performers up close was pretty special. I won't include all the same pictures but here are a few just so you see what the front row in the wet zone is like.

Next the theater is lit up by a huge mirror ball Ropes in water are next The aerialist returns

Day 9 - HiRO HiRO is the story of three competing tribes that start separate and uniquely represented by their own color, red, white and black. We first meet the three distinct tribes The tribes begin to compete with a series of dives.

In the afternoon I saw the aqua theater staff testing various components that I assumed would be used during the aqua show. A diver was on hand to assist. They seem to be load testing these by placing them under tension. I was hoping these would come into play during the show. It turns out they would.

Day 9 - Misc. Splash away Bay Perfect Storm rules and limits They've finished placing the glass on the new Solarium Bar cover. My guess is the next step is to caulk or otherwise fill the gaps between each glass panel otherwise it won't be watertight. The bar remains closed. From my balcony I saw some Aqua Theater cast rehearsing. That's promising, hopefully the aqua shows will be a go tonight. If any body doesn't think swinging around in the air isn't a workout, think again. Mid day progress... For a ship with a published maximum speed of 22 knots, we're flying at 23 knots. Must be a good tail wind, the highest I saw so far was 23.1 knots. Our target destination is getting closer.

Here is a pic of the Mariner docked at Terminal A. You can see how close the garage is to the terminal. From the pictures I've seen it appears the bag drop area is underneath the garage beside the terminal building.

I haven't really addressed our cruise director on this sailing - Bobby Brown. I have to say a CD doesn't make or break a cruise for me. I like some more than others but it's not a deal breaker for me. I had Bobby as a CD on Harmony (I think). To be honest he didn't leave a great impression on that cruise. However in the "always keep your mind open" department he has been better than I anticipated on this cruise. I've actually watched the Morning Show more than I usually do. One thing he added to this sailing was a unique special - "How Do You Maintain An Ice Skating Rink On A Cruise Ship?". As a cruise geek this was really cool. Ice cool. Just kidding, but really informative. We enter Studio B to see someone.. watering the ice. Joining Bobby in this presentation is Rubin, the stage manager who looks after Studio B. They discuss thing like where the dance floor used during "RED" or Laser tag is stored (hint, it's under the center section and it slides out from under the seats). That's different from other ship in different classes. As it turns out sailings like a 12 night transatlantic are an opportunity for some maintenance activities. The ship has been in service for several months and while things like the ice surface could go on, once the ship enter routine seven night sailings it would be much more disruptive to perform certain essential maintenance including replacing the ice in Studio B later on, so they took advantage of this 12 night sailing to melt Studio B. To. The. Floor. They melted it down to the bare floor. Like defrosting a freezer at home, once in a while it just has to be done. They began melting it down right after (ok, during) the last ice skating show. That took overnight, then they had to clean it all up and get ready to make new ice. They have since been building the ice up, millimeter by millimeter, by hand, watering each layer every 15 minutes or so, around the clock, since. In fact as we listened to the presentation, the crew came out to repeat the watering process we saw when we first arrived. Then again. The water is special filtered water. This will continue for the three days, around the clock, until the ice approximately 3.5 cm thick (1 1/2"). But that's not all. If anyone follows Nick Weir, VP of Entertainment for Royal he has been touting how they have AMPED up the projection technology on Symphony over Harmony. That in part starts in the ice. Within the ice is embedded a membrane that enhances the resolution of the surface as a projection technology. That membrane was just replaced here on Symphony and you can see it now only because this new ice is crystal clear. At a distance you don't even see it. Zoom in closer and you do. Symphony is the first to employ this projection surface embedded within the ice, not even Harmony has it. Not yet. Studio B has it's own mini-Zamboni used to dress the ice surface each day. The projection technology consists of six side mounted projectors that project onto this surface. Each projector costs around $100k. Combining the six projectors, three port, three starboard into what appears to be a complete image requires precision. The manufacturer is based in Japan and when they need to re-align them (it's a moving ship in seas, stuff moves) they need to fly the engineer in from Japan to align them occasionally. Next they talk about drones. Very interesting. Forty eight drones with twelve spares on hand. Very special technology because within Studio B there is no regular GPS signal like a consumer drone might use. They have to create a reference 'cube' within Studio B for the drones to fly within. That's where these black boxes hanging from the ceiling come in. There are several of them mounted around the perimeter of the ice. Combined with some floor mounted reference points and two portable white cubes placed on the ice surface they create a 3D GPS-like environment for the drones to operate in. Now that they told us this, I recall seeing two white cubes sitting in the middle of the ice floor at the start of the show '1977'. Before the show starts, while we are all waiting outside in line, the drones have to be checked to ensure they are happy with this reference cube. If they aren't it has to be recalculated. This is very new technology in use and with 48 drones operating in synchronicity, it's very precise. The drone batteries are very special and they can't be flown due to HazMat laws. That means when they need new batteries, they'll need to be shipped to America now that Symphony is on her way to Miami. As we listen on, two more crew come out to "grow" the ice. Another few millimeters accomplished. It turns out these are two of the Ice Skating cast. Even they get into the act. It's a team effort, four times an hour, around the clock, for three days. You know how they don't seem to open the doors soon enough? I certainly felt this on Adventure of the Seas recently when the Ice Skating show had long lines. It turns they can't. The room is temperature controlled and letting all that air conditioning out affects the ice surface. They have to keep the doors closed as long as they can. Lesson learned, be patient. It was a very interesting presentation unlike others I've seen on a ship and I thank Bobby for putting it on. It gives me a greater appreciation for the level of effort that Royal puts into their entertainment. One last note. On the way out I saw these coins embedded in the ice. Seems to be a tradition for the current cast who just changed over. The previous ice skating cast, their first contract complete, has just headed home for a short vacation.

I saw some questions about ship motion in his highness' blog so instead of seizing the amazing bot's blog I'll give you my 2 cents on it. We're currently experiencing a lot of motion - as in 4m (~14 feet) waves, all pools empty, postponing of Hairspray, solarium closed motion... our cabin is the first inside stateroom from the front on deck 8 so it's especially noticeable in here. Luckily, we don't mind - no sea sickness or anything up to now - hope it stays that way. The view from the running track (yes, you can get wet in the open spaces): VID_20181031_151925.mp4