Neaxan

Here's hoping that you get to see all the shows.

I guess it's just for the crossing as there's so many higher tier cruisers onboard.

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:

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 ?

Our feelings exactly - before we went there. We were pleasantly surprised.

No worries, it doesn't affect us at all. I was quite sure this was the only reason for the added port so I planned accordingly. This is where vacation OCD comes in handy. Btw keep in mind we'll be waving you goodbye from South Pointe Park. Well, tbh we'll be waving Symphony goodbye but count yourself included ?

No worries for us mere mortals there. Only PiT, Pinnacles and Suites were in the danger zone, at least for our show. No central seats for the low status crowd - couldn't quite contain my schadenfreude when royalty got wet without sitting in the splash zone ?

I'm doubting they'll show Aquanation when we're in Port Canaveral. We received a letter stating that due to US immigration everybody will have to get off the ship and be processed in the terminal. Reboarding will be from 1pm if we're lucky as there's also the US Coast Guard inspection. Hubby should be grateful that I booked Kennedy Space Center with Royal. Way better than standing around in the terminal.

There's only one correct answer to that: YOLO, book it! I'm sure you won't regret it.

Well, I got good news for you. There's no way the pictures could ever do Flight justice. They're only pictures after all. No matter how good the pictures, you'll still need the whole ride. The goosebump feeling is only achieved when being in a live audience. I guess the whole audience knew what would happen in the finale - with all the hints and spoilers from Bobby and Katy. That didn't dampen the feeling of sheer amazement. This show is truly magical.

Day 8 - Part III - The Grand Finale Evening entertainment was Flight – done by the cast of Hairspray. While Twangster was in this cruise's first show, we went to the late night session. Finally another production show for us! And what a show it was – the pictures really don’t do it justice. Apart from the non-existent storyline this was top notch entertainment with goosebumps at the finale. We could rewatch this show over and over and recommend you do it as soon as you get the chance! Needless to say that the cast got a well-deserved standing ovation for this. And we were quite happy that the 45 minutes in an ever-groing line before the theater opened was time well-spent.

Day 8 - Part II Dinner was at Windjammer – well kind of. We were still quite full from Johnny Rockets, so it was more a litte bit of salad and a few desserts. As this is likely our only evening in Windjammer, we did a bit of recon. A bit more choice than TUI Cruises, but overall we’d say they’re on par as TUI has way better gelato. Side notes: 12.6 k steps Do Americans ever use spices on fries and the like? I start to understand your penchant for ketchup and other condiments. No idea what the h*** Aqua Theater is for. If they can’t run a show in the conditions we had today, they’d need perfectly flat seas to do it. Is the Caribbean sea always completely flat or do they just cancel most of the shows? If you see the Starbucks on board, you'll come to the conclusion that being a Starbucks addict is a requirement to get promoted to officer with Royal. Towel animal of the day: peacock (at least I'm certain of that one) More staircase art – I think we’ve got them all now – well, the ones I liked anyway. Finally, the best piece of art on Symphony of the Seas:

Day 8 Another day that didn’t start as planned. As this venue still wasn’t crossed off our to do list, we wanted to have breakfast at Solarium Bistro. It opens at 7.30 am and we arrived at 8.10 am (we were just slow getting out of bed). The lines were literally around two corners with every seat in the venue taken. Quick change of plans: off to the MDR we went. MDR breakfast for us mere mortals (lower than diamond) is on deck 3 – we’ve never been that far down on the ship. There were a few lines here, but we got in quick as we were willing to share a table. Of course we are – that’s half of the fun! We were seated with couples from the US and Canada. Really enjoyable conversations all around the table – in fact so enjoyable that we nearly missed choir practice ? Breakfast choices were Eggs Benedict (never tried that before) and banana or strawberry pancakes. Guess Eggs Benedict are not our cup of tea, but we’ll return to the MDR for breakfast. Service might not be the fastest, but other than that it’s really enjoyable. The rest of the morning was spent on Boardwalk at – you’ve guessed it - Playmakers. At 1 pm, when the crowds were thinning out, we went to Johnny Rockets for lunch. Good onion rings, wishy-washy fries, ok Smoke House and Route 66 burgers, very dry BBQ Chicken Bacon Melt – but the shakes were fantastic (and included in the drink package). After my burger I wanted to go the healthy route and ordered a Crispy Chicken Club Salad – as hubby put it: chicken and bacon with a few green spots ? The salad was delicious, just not what I had expected. I had to pass on dessert but hubby got a Strawberry Super Sundae – easily lunch’s highlight apart from the milk shakes. Ice cream at Sugar Beach wasn't that much better - especially considering a price of 3.54$ per scoop (service charge included). With that crossed off our list, it was time to meet the Twangster bot at Schooner. He’s the one mostly responsible for us doing this blog and solely responsible for us finally buying an DLSR so thank you for that! Was really interesting to hear the perspective of a seasoned Royal cruiser. No pictures as bots are like vampires in that regard – mirrors and cameras don’t work ? Next stop was the running track – a necessary evil after this lunch. We even checked if Aquanation was still on before changing in the cabin – everything was fine then. But as we got back, the Aqua Theater was closed off – both Aquanation shows were cancelled ? Instead, we went to Playmakers to watch NFL. We met a couple from Mexico, her father is German. She even went to Germany to study the language, but unsurprisingly forgot everything except a few words ? Yes, we know that German is not the easiest language - but try Polish or Hungarian ?

Guess you'll like him just fine. We also like the chemistry between him and Katy (Acitivies Director).

Both hubby and me actually like Bobby. We love his Scottish humour and the fact that he's all around the ship and quite approachable. He did get all contestants to play along and was very good at teasing answers out of them. I know Bobby isn't a favourite on this board, I guess you have to be used to British humour - it helps ? Mind you, Bobby is our first CD so we can't compare.

There's one vegetarian entree: cauliflower steak with pumpkin seeds, thyme, garlic confit and greek yogurt. If your buddy is a pescetarian, there's also halibut.

Sure, it's a Lava Flow. Or at least that's what I ordered ?

Izumi Hibachi Welcome to our first ever experience with teppanyaki style dining – this just isn’t a thing in Germany. Only the more reason to try it! For those who haven’t experienced this, you are seated around a grill and watch your chef prepare your dinner. In Symphony’s case, there are 8 seats per grill table. We were seated with a couple from Orlando who weren’t very talkative. The other 4 seats were two couples from London who were only talking on their own. Luckily, we had a very entertaining chef in Ryan. Before the teppanyaki itself starts, you get the chance to order from the normal Izumi menu (at à la carte pricing). We didn’t, because we’ll be back for sushi anyway. Included in the restaurant fee there’s your choice of two meats/seafood etc. I chose beef and tiger shrimp, hubby chose steak & chicken. Before your chef moves on to the good stuff, he’ll prepare veggies and rice for you. While you’re waiting for that (and enjoying the show, I might add), you’re served edamame and a salad with ginger dressing. We don’t like edamame but the salad was quite good. Veggies and rice were just as you’d expect them, good but nothing to write home about. The meats/seafood on the other hand were really good. Afterwards, we had a chance to order mochi ice cream for dessert (included in the restaurant fee). Dessert tasted quite interesting, but we’ve had better on this cruise. Final verdict: Hibachi is more about show and entertainment and less about the food. I’d say you should do it once for the experience, but for us once is enough. Side note: maybe don't don your best clothes, we were showered in veggies by the chef on the table behind us - guess his skills weren't quite up to par ?

Day 7 Welcome to another beautiful day in the middle of nowhere! Unfortunately, the day started on a bad note for me. As our late night check yesterday revealed two filled pools, I got up way too early to finally get some swimming done. Cue me arriving on deck 15 after all these steps to find all pools but the sports pool drained – and the sports pool closed due to the swell. I’m putting it mildly when saying I was not amused. Guess it’s an American thing when they’re so afraid of something happening and maybe being sued. We’ve had worse seas from Gran Canaria to Morroco on Mein Schiff 3 and they didn’t even put up the partition for the 25 metres (82 feet) pool. But as Germans, if I’d injured myself in the pool I’d have thought it was my fault and not the cruise line’s – they’re not responsible for me misjudging my abilities after all. Well, nothing to be done here with an US cruise line – so back to the cabin to try to wake up hubby – a feat of its own. After finally getting him out of bed and presentable, we went back to Johnny Rockets as we enjoyed the food yesterday. Well, the wait was even longer! Today’s order was Patty ‘n eggs for both of us, hubby also got pancakes, I also got The Works. We still liked the food but it’s just too much trouble for us to do it regularly. After choir practice (hopefully we get there for day 10) we just went to Playmakers for blogging and some beer. As were now 3 hours behind Germany, we’d hoped to watch German soccer. Unfortunately they only showed England‘s premier league, so hubby had to listen to his team on the radio. By the way, we’ve finally done it! We had lunch at Playmakers – Classic Popcorn Shrimp for me, Base Loaded Potato Skins for hubby. The shrimp was just as you’d expect it, but the potato skins were exceptionally AWESOME! We’ll have to get them again, they’re so delicious. As our dinner reservation was for 9 pm (12 am European time, and it finally feels like it!), we had a second lunch at Park Cafe. That’s where I also spotted this flag – it’s not only fellow Germans, but they’re routing for MY soccer team ? Evening entertainment was the love & marriage show – another premiere for us. We’ve been married for 9 years now, so no sense in volunteering – to be honest, we wouldn’t have anyway We had four couples (1 year, 4 years, 25 years, 50 years married) – it’s no surprise the longest-married couple won. We really enjoyed the show and had so many laughs, unfortunately it wouldn’t work with Germans because they just wouldn’t volunteer that kind of information ? For dinner, we did Izumi hibachi – again coming up in its own post. Side notes: 12.7k steps Funny story about the difference between Americans and Europeans: one of our progressive trivia team mates from the UK chipped off part of a tooth when eating in Windjammer. Due to pain and an infection, she had to visit the doctor. Instead of just receiving treatment, they dragged her to Windjammer where she had to show exactly where she got the food and where she sat when the mishap happened – even though she explained countless times that it was her fault as she was distracted. She was really embarrassed by this and didn’t want to return to Windjammer because all staff know her now – and not for good reasons. Only pool open today was the Solarium Pool – better than nothing, I guess – but not usable for swimming. My mum finally got the hang of Whatsapp calling. No news on the baby front. More staircase art:

We never got to discussing incentives because sadly there was nothing we were interested in booking.

Yeah, it's 7 decks. Worst thing was going from Izumi to the pool deck to check the pool situation. On the bright side: no waiting at the elevators after shows ?

150 Central Park Here it is, the restaurant we were least looking forward to. In the other restaurants, the challenge was to narrow down our choices – here the challenge was to find enough to not leave hungry. In the name of research, we still couldn’t skip this one. Spoiler alert: even though we planned to, we didn't need a post dinner at Windjammer. For starters, hubby chose the waiter’s recommendation, Braised Short Rib. I got the other recommendation, Seared Honey-Glazed Scallops. We also ordered Crispy Berkshire Pork Belly as I had read much about it on certain boards. What can I say? Our attitude towards this restaurant was way off! I had my doubts about the scallops because I’ve often received overcooked ones (I know they’re tricky to prepare, that’s why I don’t do it myself) – but they were absolutely perfect. Same goes for the short rib. I also had doubts about the pork belly, especially when it arrived and I saw the huge amount of grease – this jelly texture is a pet hate of mine. To our surprise, the pork belly was really crisp and absolutely delicious. We can wholeheartedly recommend all three appetizers. For entrees I again didn’t really see anything appealing to me, so I went with the most recommended choice on the boards – Roasted Tenderloin of Beef – which they graciously let me order for one person as hubby followed the waiter’s recommendation of Lamb Wellington. Guess who regretted his choice? Although the lamb was positively delicious, the tenderloin was just so much better – a class of its own. Food envy is well and alive on board ? Usually this part oft he verdict is reserved for the highlight of the dinner – not so much this time. Guess the tenderloin was just too hard an act to follow. For dessert we chose Fried Cheesecake (waiter’s recommendation) and Peanut Butter Chocolate Tart. Hubby prefered the cheesecake, I prefered the chocolate tart. Both desserts were good but just couldn’t measure up to the entree. I might be a bit preoccupied on this one as all this deep frying isn’t really my cup of tea and I hate peanut butter except for homeopathic doses. Good news: the tart really only has a bit of peanut butter so I could cope. Final verdict: much to our surprise, we really loved 150 Central Park. Food’s taste and presentation was quite perfect and so much better than the menu made us expect. We’d rank it at the same level as some one star Guide Michelin restaurants we’ve tried – I don’t think you can give a higher compliment than that for a restaurant onboard a ship crossing the Atlantic as landbased restaurants have free access to fresh ingridients. Only aspect that was REALLY underwhelming was our waiter, who didn’t care much about us at all – guess he was completely busy with doing everything and anything for the star class couple next to us. At least we couldn’t help but notice that they got a much better service. But that isn’t really a problem – it’s more of what you’d expect from German waiters (he was from India), maybe it’s just that Baptiste, Juan Carlos and Shadiek are a hard act to follow. Funny side note: we’ve met all our favourite waiters when roaming around the ship and they all remembered and greeted us – not so this waiter, he walked right past us a few times in Central Park. Guess you can gather our verdict about him from the fact we can’t even remember his name ? TLDR: If you’re on the fence about this restaurant – please do try it! Believe me, you’ll be amazed!

Yes, they're way higher. Another reason we chose the TA because prices were quite reasonable for this (at least when we booked - let's not talk about what the prices evolved to). This being our first Royal cruise I can't really compare, but I think the price we paid was more than warranted. Only problem: I don't think we could ever go much smaller. We're planning to try Quantum class as Anthem will be based in the UK but I don't see us doing anything smaller than that. We just had our next cruise appointment, unfortunately they had nothing for us other than the Oasis eastbound TA and we're not doing that. As it stands now, Oasis will be doing the westbound TA after drydock without passengers - I hope they change their mind on that one or we'll have to hope for Oasis 5. Also no pre-cruises for Spectrum, the first cruise will be from Barcelona to Dubai (we were hoping for some Med pre-cruises). Also no booking something different altogether and switching cruises afterwards - not under German rules ? Guess we'll just have to keep an eye on the itinerary releases. And I'm just dropping another hint to Matt here: Oasis 5 transatlantic group cruise ? The higher airfare might level out with the lower cruise fare.

Hubby had the same problems. We'll have to practice getting some speed without any accidents. I think you're right. We were wondering about the legs but as we couldn't come up with anything with legs we thought it was a swan gone wrong ?

Day 6 Time for something new was the theme of the day. So we went to Johnny Rockets for breakfast. There was a line to be seated but it moved quickly. Unfortunately, service (or more likely the galley) wasn’t nearly as quick. It took ages to get our food (The Works, Patty ‘n Eggs, Omelet), but at least it was really good! Due to the slow service, we were too late for morning trivia and just went to pop choir practice. We had to change our reservation for Escape the Rubicon as it clashed with the guest show. There weren’t many slots available so we had to compromise – guess we’ll have to be quick for the CC minigolf tournament. The morning was spent with minigolf practice (I’m terrible at it), people watching at the flowrider and some arcade games. We might spend our arcade credit on shooting monsters, but we’ll give mario kart a try first Lunch was in El Loco Fresh as thankfully it was operational today. I’d stick to the nachos and tacos if I were you. Quesadillas and burritos are prepared by staff and not the greatest taste. You can build your own tacos and nachos. With the superb weather today hubby finally went on the zipline and even on the Ultimate Abyss. Funny enough, he went down really fast – guess I’m doing it wrong. Today’s visit to Playmakers was during Ultimate Abyss opening hours. No idea how Twangster copes with the sound effects, they’re really annoying. At 4 pm we had our final round of progressive trivia. Guess it was also our last trivia alltogether, hubby is pretty taken aback that it has nothing to do with knowledge, many people just remember the questions and answers from other vacations. Not convinced? Well, final question was in what country you can find the Caledonian Canal. The answer sheet said Portugal and quite a few of the groups put down that answer. Unfortunately, there’s absolutely no connection between Portugal and the Caledonian Canal – it’s in Scotland. Caledonian should be a hint, as it’s Latin for Scotland. Funny enough, even after showing proof of this, the Portugal answer got 2 points, 0 for Scotland. We’re fine losing because we didn’t know enough, but that’s a bit too much stubborn stupidity for us. Guess it’s true, us Germans are very pedantic. On the plus side: more time freed up for using the drink package ? After that debacle, we went rock climbing, a first time for hubby. We didn’t do very well but it was much fun. Guess I lost all my grip in the last 10 years ? With that, it was time for dinner at 150 Central Park. This was the restaurant we were looking forward to the least because the menu didn’t really appeal to us. But the lenghts you go to in the name of research… as always, this speciality restaurant will get ist own post. Entertainment of the evening was another headliner show – Gary Williams – a rat pack style singer. While he has a great voice, the songs got old about halfway through. Mo5aic was our favourite guest artist so far, we’re looking forward to more production shows. Post-entertainment was something we should’ve done ages ago! Having some cocktails at Wonderland Bar – how could we have missed that place? The „Down the Rabbit Hole“ is my new go-to cocktail and hubby was also quite impressed. Not so much with his first choice, the Smoke Rings – great in presentation but not really his cup of tea. To make things even better, we love the bartender, Sorin from Romania. He’s as much car crazy as we are so you always have something to talk about. Before bed we headed up to the pool deck to check the pools – Beach and Sports were filled so I finally see some laps in my future. On our way to the cabin we made a quick detour to Sorrento’s (see, the pizza really isn’t that bad) and the 50s/60s party. There weren’t that many people out and about, but we liked the music. Sadly, we were just too tired to stay. Came home to a towel animal, we’d hazard a guess that it’s a swan, but we wouldn’t bet on it ? Side notes: 11k steps The app is annoying me again. The last few days hubby couldn’t see the menus in it, no I can’t either. We had no idea how busy you can be on a TA. I haven’t had any time to prepare for my next exam in December – this is completely unintentional of course ? The amount of maintenance going on is quite surprising for a ship that hasn’t been in operation for even a year. The perfect storm is still closed for maintenance (rumored to be operend from Nov 6th onwards), one entrance to Central Park has been closed for days, pools also needed maintenance… Royal needs to improve on icecream. Tried soft ice today – not worth the calories to us. That was the only time I really missed being on TUI Cruises – they offer real icecream with no surcharge. We’re still staying true to the no-elevator-rule – here’s some of my favourite „stairs art“ as proof.