KimS

Thanks!  Glad to have you along!  And Happy Anniversary to you too!
That is true until you step back into reality ?

Agreed. Flight is my absolute favorite!! I wish I could buy a sound track 

One last thing before I go to bed...the things you wonder was you try to maximize #teamDX....
Food coma was so real with Star Class that we gave up our UDP for this sailing and went with CK and complimentary venues. Tonight I feel so full it is beyond food coma!!  How can that be possible??  Hubby thinks that it is because we pretty much have been eating cruise food all month.  
Will this deter me from eating tomorrow? Nope! Haha. 8 month dry dock coming up. Lots of time to detox ?

Flight was hands down, the best Royal Caribbean original production. We have now seen 5 of them and where The Gift is on one end of the spectrum, Flight is at the other.
The special effects and set designs are amazing!  Royal has really outdone themselves with this one.  Really impressive all around. We still found this cast a bit weak vocally, but the rest more than made up for it. 


I had high hopes for this show as I taught Grade 6 for a number of years and the History of Flight is in the Grade 6 curriculum.  I have always enjoyed teaching that unit.  
I thought they did a wonderful job giving a nod to all the important figures who contributed to Flight. My favourite scene was probably the “In Memorial” scene and the one following with the Wright Bothers.
Love the underlying theme in this production as well as this is the one thing, if only thing, I try to teach my students all year, Dare to Dream, Dare to Fly. ?

Nope. I asked the suite concierge and she explained that it has not been approved for Terminal A yet.

No luggage valet ?  That’s a surprise to me. I thought all of the big 3 had LV.

Symphony Final Thoughts
What a perfect week this has been.  So different from our last few sailings with our kids, this one was the other extreme.  So relaxing, and an abundance of down time. It was just what we needed to recharge. 
This ship is amazing, it did not disappoint one bit!  However, is it my favourite now? I don’t know.  If there is a noticeable price difference between HM and SY, I would have a really hard to picking the more expensive one over the other.  I find both ships to be so similar to the point where there honestly were times that I forgot which one I was on.  
The entertainment was the same caliber as the rest of her sisters.  The one that stood out the most was Flight. Other than the drones, 1977 was quite comparable to 1887.  We enjoyed Hiro more than The Fine Line just slightly because we preferred the music and choreography of Hiro. I did miss the spinning guy though. The Broadway production is subjective. I still think We Will Rock You is best. YMMV.
As far as dining goes, I love El Loco Fresh. Way better than Mini Bites on HM but not enough to justify the cost difference of SY.  
Coastal Kitchen/Suite Lounge is identical to HM.  This was probably our least favourite CK experience though thus far.  There was nothing that went wrong but they did not do anything to exceed expectations either, like others have in the past. If I had to put my “teacher hat” on, I would say they were just average, both the crew in there and the quality of the food. Good, but did not go above and beyond what was expected.  Like I mentioned before, there was also some inconsistencies the earlier nights with the quality of the food itself. We still enjoyed our time here but if I were to rank it among our other times, this would not be ranked as high. In my opinion, that honour goes to Anthem’s CK.  Both times we were there, the crew and quality of the meals were spot on and outstanding. 
So to wrap it up, I loved Symphony because she’s OA class. My favourite? It’s whichever one that has the lower priced loft suite between HM and SY. ?
Please continue to ask any questions that I haven’t answered.  @tiny260 and his DW tell me that this is a good place to end it.  In the theme of seventeens, this is Page 17. ?

Dinner Night 7: CK
We tried to keep things light tonight...

The usual salad

Cauliflower Fried Rice
This dish is easily passed over but it is actually really light and delicious.  The flavouring is really authentic with this dish. However, we found that the portion size on Symphony was much smaller than the other CK’s that we have had this dish on. 

Hubby went all out with dessert.  I stuck with fresh fruit.

With no shows to rush to, we spent the rest of the night taking a walk around the top decks. The ship is moving quite slow on it’s way back to Miami and the seas are calm, so it made for a nice post dinner walk.  Currently back in our cabin to wrap up the dreaded packing. 

Did I mention how much I love El Loco Fresh?! ?

Our suite lounge concierges on the other hand, have been wonderful this sailing. Jennie and Jackie are so effortlessly efficient.  I would not say that they have bubbly personalities but they know exactly what they are doing and they are right on the ball with everything. This is the first time that I have ever received emails each day of the sailing from a concierge outlining the next day’s events and highlights.  These two are highly organized and capable individuals. 

Departure Info


Suites 

Sky Class Benefits Welcome Literature 


 

Diamond Benefits Welcome Letter

But cruise calories don't count. Isn't that the rule?!

Day 7:  At Sea
“The perfect orchestration of the Symphony of life is one of God’s greatest and most beautiful miracles.”
Another beautiful morning today as we wrap up our last day on the cruise.  Slept in a bit this morning and made it to CK just in time before they stopped serving breakfast.  Shockingly, Hubby actually made it with me today and we can show a Hubby breakfast pic ? I had my usual fruit and French toast.

Happy to report that as we sit here from CK and people watch, it’s past 10 am and there are plenty of chairs left on the pool deck.  Chair hogs are not too apparent this cruise, but parents who don’t supervise their children are ?
Again, no plans for today other than to sit around and soak up our last day on this amazing ship. 

Happy Happy Anniversary ❣️ Following when I can, we go Aug 17th for our 40th anniversary! Was going to do decorations ahead, but since they just deliver, will skip & maybe take something along. 
Enjoy! ❤️
KimS

?: Royal Caribbean International
“Whenever you are with me, life plays a beautiful symphony!” --- Avijeet Das
For Hubby and I, there is no better way to spend quality couple time together than to go on a cruise.  We started off that way on our honeymoon back in 2002 and we have tried to get away around this time every year to celebrate our anniversary.
Symphony was on our radar almost two years ago.  Being huge OA class fans and having sailed every Oasis class ship so far, sailing this one was a given.  I booked this cruise knowing that this summer would be our first chance to sail it since she spent last summer in Europe.  Even upon booking back in the Fall of 2017, prices were crazy for this ship.  However, because of fixed vacation times, that is just something that we are used to.
How did the title for this blog come about? 
Other than being fond of cruising and shopping, I also love music.  Trained in classical music since I was a little girl, and with a ship named Symphony, I could not resist to draw parallels between this blog title and music. 
So why Symphony No. 17? 
Symphonies written by the same composer are often given a generic name that involves a number so that one can identify which piece it is by that composer.  Playing on that thought, this is cruise #17 for us, and, as coincidence would have it, it is also our 17th anniversary on this sailing.  Notice the theme?  In addition, a Symphony is typically written in four movements.  So there lies the logic behind the rest of this title.  I expect that those will be our four experiences on Symphony this sailing.  <Music geek off>
Let’s begin…

Just a heads up - I checked my cruise planner today and apparently there is an unannounced sale because all the drink packages are cheaper than the most recent advertised sale.  Go figure but it pays to check often as @matt says.

I have ordered the Bon Voyage decorations for one cruise and the Birthday decorations/cake on another cruise.  The description said they would be in the cabin on Day 1.  That didn't happen either time.  I had to go to guest services, explain things, show them my email confirmation, wait while they made numerous phone calls to other departments, etc.  Both times they did finally deliver decorations to the room, but both times they were still incorrect.  In one case they delivered the wrong decoration package, even after detailed discussion with Guest Services.  The other time they failed to deliver all of the amenities.
Royal usually makes things right, but these were frustrating experiences, especially when I was trying to surprise my spouse.  Both times Royal ruined the surprise aspect and I ended up paying for stuff that I didn't get.  That's just my experience but I'm done with ordering any more decorations through Royal.  I'd suggest doing it yourself, as others suggested above.

You can always get decorations from a party store and put magnets on the back of them for your door or in the room.  I know you say you want them up before he gets there, I have sent mine to take care of a "dining check" to make sure the table is good at 1 pm so that I could take things to the room and then I decorate while he is busy.

The Aqua theatre is outside.

Here is the link to the deck plans for the Symphony.  We always do a little research on our ship before the cruise.
https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/symphony-of-the-seas/deck-plans/1856/03
There have been other discussions about outside movie screens (Aqua Theater)  vs. the small inside cinemas on Radiance class ships.

Update:  I forgot to mention you can check old cruise compasses for show times.  For example, in a recent June trip there was a 9:30 Movie at the Aqua Theater on Day 1.   Have a great cruise!

No theaters, but they do show movies in either the Aqua Theater or in the main theater on less-common occasions.
As @ChessE4 said, you should look at a past Cruise Compass to get an idea of movie locations and times: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/cruise-compass?ship=1167

Funny stuff...
Hubby was wondering why our fridge was empty. ?
He also just left a bunch of clothes out on the couch for our loft attendant for complimentary pressing and cleaning ?