teacherdl

This is our first time using a travel agent, which I decided to do after listening to about 10 podcasts. ?. Well, lo and behold she called me earlier this week.  Our cruise went down almost $800!!!!  Such awesome news and reinforced to me to always use a travel agent for cruises in the future!

Yes, your sailing is quite a ways away. I wouldn't expect many things to appear until perhaps end of this year at the earliest.

I read your live blog post earlier, and I loved it!! It was so helpful. I appreciated the information.  We have a central park balcony room.  My daughter is staying with her grandmother in a Jr. Suite (way more money than me..lol).  When did your shows become available? Will I get an email or do I just need to check the planner often?  Also, when I click on "internet and more", it says "key", but when I click on it, it just takes me to the voom/arcade/etc. page.  There's no key to purchase.  When can I expect that to be available?  It's something I'm interested in for sure.  One more question...since my daughter is in a separate room, how can I purchase the key for her?  Thanks so much!

@teacherdl -great post by @ChessE4 above.
We just got off Symphony 2 weeks ago, You can see my live blog here
Here are some things for you to think about..hope this helps.
For a GREAT view, go to deck 14 port side, all the way forward past the cabins. Go through the door on your left and you'll be on a bridge wing overlooking the helipad. It's a great uncrowded spot with chairs and loungers. Can get pretty windy, but great anyway.
Speaking of uncrowded, this was our first time on an Oasis class ship and we were absolutely amazed that it never once felt crowded. What a pleasure. Take your time to walk around the ship and explore. Every deck, every staircase, every nook and cranny has amazing and sometimes interactive art work. Check out the musical stairs on deck 15 leading up to the Windjammer. Also check out the picture on deck 5 in the entrance lobby to the MDR...it actually puts you into the picture when you stand in front of it.
The entertainment on this ship is the best. Make sure to make all your reservations as soon as they come out. Every show on this ship is great. Most importantly, make your reservation for the Aqua Theater show for as early in the cruise as possible. Reason for that is because that show can easily be cancelled and rescheduled due to ocean caused movement. If your reservation is scheduled towards the end of the cruise, you may well miss it altogether. (In our case the day 2 show was cancelled, but we got to see the rescheduled show on day 6.)
Suggestion: make your reservations on cruise planner as soon as they become available. Standby lines for the shows were all very long. Same thing if you want bungalows, beach beds or clamshell loungers on CocoCay. They don't have a lot of them and they sell out quickly. aaaah, Cococay...what a magnificent job they did (are are still doing) there. Phenomenal. 
For events on the Promenade (such as the 80's show, which despite what I said before, obviously does get crowded))...instead if standing there, we arrived early  at the Schooner Bar on Deck 6 (Promenade is on Deck 5) and got a small table and chairs that overlooked the stage. It was perfect.
If your itinerary includes St. Kitts, I highly recommend the Thenford Gray Grand tour.  Others on this blog have also recommended it and everyone we have sent has had a great time. He is the best tour guide we ever had. Even if you are not lucky enough to get him personally, it will most likely be one of his family members and you won't be disappointed. It's a 6 hour tour, includes beach time and costs only $55 per person. He WILL get you back to thip on time. We have done it and this past rip my sister in law and her friend went and loved it.
If your itinerary includes St. Thomas, we chose the Royal's Trunk Bay (in St. John) outing just to have the piece of mind of the ship waiting for us. We paid $66 for it and felt it was worth it. It included a narrated 40 minute or so boat transport from St. Thomas to St. John, a narrated 20 minute or so ride from dock in St John to Trunk Bay Beach, guided snorkeling with free rental gear. The driver to the beach (on very winding roads) was the safest, nicest driver we've ever had. If you get the chance, ask for Smittie. The beach was actually not crowded at all (because most on the tour did the snorkeling further down). It came in 3rd on my beach list, tied with Megan's Bay in St. Thomas.  1 is Barbados and 2 is Bermuda (we have not been to Europe).
Cabin: We stayed in 10264 (ocean view balcony). We loved the location, no noise at all, close to elevators and midway between dining on 5, pool on 15, Windjammer on 16, Boardwalk on 6 and Central Park on 8.
If you happen to be doing any specialty dining, 150 Central Park was the best ship restaurant we have been on. Loved it--food and service were top notch.
We did buy the KEY at $19.99 per person and thought it was worth every penny. The debarkation day breakfast and escort off the ship to awaiting luggage was fantastic. Alo, an unpublished perk we had was that we never had to get our card scanned for pool towels. What made that so great, besides avoidng any erroneousd charges for unreturned towels, is that we have had to wait on line to get our card scanned when returning them. Just drop them in the bin and walk away.
Feel free to ask about anything else and happy sailing!

My recent discovery on Oasis-class ships is Central Park.  Not only will you find specialty dining and complimentary dining (Park Cafe), but in the late afternoon and evening, there are small concerts, such as a classical guitarist or a vocalist and musician.  We found many music venues simply to loud for us, so we made it a point to check the Cruise Compass everyday and show up about 10 minutes before a scheduled performance.  We got ring-side seats, and it felt like we had our own private concert.  On the whole, in good weather Central Park is simply delightful.  Being in crowds on the Promenade can be thrilling, too, but when you want something more peaceful, don't overlook Central Park.
Also remember that Windjammer isn't the only place to eat breakfast or lunch.  If it becomes too crowed for you, try the other venues spread throughout the ship. 
As a teenager, my son joined the teen group on several cruises, but he enjoyed them more at 16-18 then at 12-14.   What I have learned is that you don't have to try everything -- go at your own speed, but don't be afraid to try something new.  At 66, I tried the zipline and lived to talk about it.  Spread your show reservations over the entire cruise so you don't feel rushed.
 

Amazing ship!  Any specific questions?  Booking specialty or sticking to MDR?  
Pre-book shows (and don't miss them!), take time to explore the ship and art work.  Matt on here posted a wonderful blog about "secrets" which lists some fun things to find or go.
 

I would also suggest going through the “live blog” section here on the message boards. There have been some great ones from Symphony and there is so much information hidden in live blogs. They are great for learning.

I'd start with  the video that @twangster suggested and then just search the word "tips." You will find a ton of information. 
Have a great cruise!

Start with a look at this blog post:
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2018/12/31/symphony-of-the-seas-family-cruising-guide
You've picked a great ship, love Symphony!

Regardless of what you intend to do with your internet plan, I recommend everyone get Voom Surf and Stream.  The reason is Surf and Stream is overall a better experience, regardless of if you stream video or not.

Just got off Harmony on a brand new itinerary:  Port Canaveral, CocoCay (2nd time this ship visits here), Cozumel, Roatan (first time for Harmony), & Costa Maya
Here are a few stray observations I had:
1)  I did NOT purchase Voom, but discovered that if I simply connected to the Harmony-Guest wifi (for the app updates and schedules), I was easily able to send/receive iMessages to anyone, including those back at home!
2)  The Stowaway Piano Man was on this sailing.  I had the privilege of riding the elevator with him!
3)  First time Harmony visited Roatan.  The captain changed our arrival / departure times.  Roatan local time was 2 hours earlier that ship time (that remained on Eastern time).  Original ship scheduled time was 8AM - 5PM (ship time).  New schedule was 9:30AM - 6:30PM (ship time).  Evidently, the local vendors didn't want to be there at 6AM (their local time / 8AM ship time) to open up shops, so the captain delayed the arrival / departure time.
4)  Got WOW bands for everyone in our group.  They worked extremely well, and could be used anywhere on the ship in lieu of a seapass card.  They also worked for entry into Thrill Waterpark on CocoCay.  Every station on the ship had portable readers that read either your WOW band or your seapass card.  This worked for everything from towel checkout to shops to entry into reserved shows & events.  You still needed your seapass card for getting off the ship, and for entry in the ports back onto the ship.
5)  The Soda cups for the freestyle machines were the same old-style ones I've seen before.   I did see a few of the new ones (with straw and looped carry handle), but didn't know where they came from.  I had a boardwalk balcony cabin, so got complementary soda cups.  Even those that were for sale on board (with various drink packages) were only the original style ones...
6)  There seemed to be professional photographers on the ship most every night, and not just formal dining nights.  I didn't recall seeing this many days with photographers and various backgrounds on prior cruises.
7)  Did the escape room (and made it out with 5 1/2 minutes to spare!).  This event was extremely popular.  Spoke with someone in guest services, and they said the escape room was completely booked within two days (all days and all sessions) of it becoming available to book on the cruise planner.  Glad I booked it as soon as I saw it available!
8 ) CocoCay - Two things: 
     A)  Plan on doing the "highest" waterslide and the slingshot ride as soon as you can.  With the volume of people on Harmony, the lines were extremely long (2+ hour wait for these two rides) past about 10AM.  The lines finally shortened closer to about 3:30PM to 4PM.  
     B)  The lockers in Thrill Waterpark were complementary to use.  Cost was included in the Thrill Waterpark ticket purchase.  You just found a open / available locker, put our stuff in, and locked it.  We could then open it and access our stuff, and simply re-lock it as needed.  I have no idea if lockers outside of Thrill Waterpark were complementary or not...
9)  Cruise Director, Marc, was excellent!!!
Overall, we had an awesome cruise!!!
 

As of right now, that whole side of the island is still open.  It contains regular loungers, bungalows, beach beds, and the clamshell things. This is based on pictures and videos that have been posted.  I’ll be there at the end of the month to confirm. Eventually some of this are will be taken out of service to begin construction of the Beach Club stuff.

The Coco Cay, Coco Beach Club and South Beach are not built yet and are not scheduled to be completed until December 2019 or January 2020, so there will not be much information out about them yet. 

I would say that if for some reason texting doesn't work on voom, both instant messenger and Skype work well on the wifi.  Jane

If you're phone has the option to turn off roaming connections you can do that as well. Then if for some reason your phone isn't in airplane mode you don't incur roaming charges in or near a port.

HAHA--had to update. DW just got a text from her boss. She apologized for the late reply. Said she wasn't feeling well and took a nap, but time off dates are fine.

This is so true, Wife works at a school, so can only take off when they are out of school. I'm like @WAAAYTOOO I can take off whenever I want.
Told her if she got a different job we could cruise more and for less money since we wouldn't have to book at peck calendar dates.
She didn't buy it

SUCCESS--sort of! DW spoke to boss today who said--as long as we have coverage in the office (which DW already arranged with her coworkers) it should be fine but let me check the schedule when I get home and I'll text you. Office closed at 2 today and no text yet.  But DW said 'I'm sure it's fine-and they are out on vacation next week. Book the air and then it will have to be fine". Looks like we are good to go???
Based on previous threads about airfare---Some flights would actually be deal breakers, but I see a couple of flights that are not all that horrible. Do I book those now or take a chance on waiting for the 90 mark? Thanks.
 

Yes. There are also different perks for a Boardwalk balcony. Nothing for an ocean view balcony ?
Although despite what it says, there is no Sabor on Symphony.
Dine.Drink.Discover Perks for Central Park Balcony
Savor a complimentary lunch for two at Jamie's Italian, Sabor or Johnny Rockets®. A complimentary bottle of red wine welcomes your arrival. Step up your game with casino gaming lessons from an onboard expert. Dine.Drink.Discover Perks for Boardwalk Balcony
Classic hamburgers and more at a complimentary meal for up to four guests at Johnny Rockets®. Enjoy unlimited soft drinks throughout the cruise with a soda package for two guests. Tackle the Rock Climbing Wall at a session for the entire family.

Correct

Buy the Voom multi device plan for as many devices as you will want to be connected at the same time, it doesn't matter what cabin your daughter stays in. 
You'll want to activate airplane mode then connect to the ship wifi.  If you have never used wifi calling on your cell phone at home make sure to set it up and test it at home before sailing.
Most US post-paid cell plans include wifi calling, not all pre-paid services do.  It depends on your cell phone company.  If in doubt talk to your cell company now, well before sailing. 
You can test wifi calling and wifi texting at home before sailing assuming you have wifi at home.  Turn on airplane mode, connect to your home wifi.  Try making a call.  Try sending a text to your daughter.  That is pretty much how a paid Voom plan will work once on the ship.  If it doesn't work at home, it won't work on the ship with Voom.  By testing it now you have time to troubleshoot any issues you have.

We buy Voom for everyone with a cell phone so for us that means a 4 device plan.  There are too many instances where we separate for a bit only to text "where r u?"  You can price out the difference between a 2 and 3 device plan but a 3 device plan is usually only a few dollars more a day over 2 devices.  

Hit send too fast, on the how many devices, you’ll need it for each device that you think you’ll need to use at one time. If you only have one you’d be kicking your daughter off the voom each time you want to use it.