saytheb

@SpeedNoodles - Very jealous right now that we handed off the ship to you and I drove to work today in a sudden snow storm ? How was the ride out on Saturday from Miami? We came into port early for a medical emergency and arrived around 1am instead of ~6, but still had wind at 40 knots and 15ft swells from Coco all the way in! Are those Salukis, or Borzois? We've got Greyhounds.. given the amount they still manage to shed I can't imagine luxuriously long needle nose hair everywhere haha Enjoy the trip! If you end up having drinks in Central Park, the bartenders there were outstanding. Sadly I can't remember their names, but we spent a few hours there at a table drinking away and never waited for our drinks. The managing bartender even went so far as to track down a 12-pack of Coke Zero during some down time even though I was perfectly fine without one at all. Some of the most considerate our entire trip, really. Watch out for Rock Em by the way. He loved spilling my drinks. Must have been sneaking some of his own every so often..

Don't forget the roosters! One made it very clear his presence was not to be ignored... from behind the bushes.

Just was at Coco beach club on 2/21 at the ~$80 price/pp. I gotta say.. I wouldn't do it again unless it was ~$50 or less... I may make a separate review thread, but here's at least my reasoning based purely on our experience that day.. The Good: 1) The availability of loungers was decent for only Symphony docked even at ~10:30. We were on the far left side but still had an umbrella in one of the last rows, so our view was of other people and the floating cabanas primarily. 2) The provided towels are pretty nice, especially as a chair topper! 3) Bar service was extremely quick (AT the bar) 4) (Specifically for our desires), minimal children. There was a few that came over from the cabanas and were yelling/screaming for a while, but otherwise it was a pretty quiet area and great to relax & nap a bit! The Bad: 1) The sand beach itself was flat out painful.. it was riddled with broken seashells everywhere from about the first row of chairs down to the water itself.. It'd be nice if they groomed it just a little even.. 2) When we arrived about 10:30, we were told we should immediately make lunch reservations as walk-up dining was not an option.. that seemed strange as it was the first time hearing that. Unfortunately the options were right then (10:30.. we just had breakfast an hour earlier!), or 2pm - bumping against our 5:30 MDR but we took it. They did manage to seat us at 1:45 though as most of the proper lunch crowed was gone 3) We must have had a lousy area as we didn't have a bartender come by to the loungers for drinks until nearly 1pm (they were walking the other areas even when we first arrived) 4) We actually noticed it was emptier and quieter just north west of Oasis outside the club at about 12-1pm.. TONS of chairs empty, barely anyone in the water, and only blocked by the beach club boulders so you're essentially on the same beach! 5) The overall feel of the area didn't seem that different in terms of occupancy than most other areas we walked around with the exclusion of oasis lagoon itself which was packed like sardines. Even given the food was good and the area , it definitely doesn't make strides towards our original booking fee at $80, so for $200/pp I'd kick myself every day for months paying that price. I'd be OK at $50, and happy at ~$40.

Miami passport coming back form the cruise was incredible. I've done a lot of international travel for work and thought having Global Entry was nice, but just having my face scanned and a "thanks, keep going" was absolutely mind boggling.

We got hit with rain at about 2pm (4:30p back on ship) on 2/21, didn't cancel anything but it was a bit funny looking down the balcony at the entire pier lined up with people shielding themselves with the towels! We also ended up going through some rough seas heading back to Miami that likely would have canceled the trip otherwise (40mph winds, ~15ft+ seas - we were rocking pretty good haha)

Wow!! This is crazy.. we were there on Symphony docked there on the 18th and everything seemed fine. Guess we lucked out!

Anecdotally I'm on Symphony right now (rest time!) and Hiro seems to be pretty easy to snag a seat.. but of course that's this week :) Also.. the first few rows definitely get wet, and others get dripped. I only mention that as there was a few folks who seemed upset having come to the show on formal night!

I was able to snag $57 for Symphony on Feb 15th as well during the last sale, sitting steady in the $60s otherwise during all of the other sales including now..

I'm really surprised that they are going for $200 after having gone from $79 when I bought to ~$93 on the 4th. Maybe they're trying to push the cabanas at the other spots? I noticed South Beach cabana is down to $899 after having been shy of $2000 for the last few months.

I bought a couple passes for the Coco beach club for our Feb 15th cruise for $80/ea and was a bit unsure it was really worth that much (was hoping for some folks reviews to really seal the deal). I noticed today though that it seems they've adjusted the price just slightly... I got a steal! ?

I went back and did a fake booking to see what might have been available to purchase, but those rooms weren't available for me to actually bid up to (sadly..). The bid page will only show what rooms you're eligible to bid for, so it's pre-filtered. I was a bit concerned about this, so honestly I just looked at any possible location we may have got a room and decided if I would be OK with absolutely all of them. In the end I decided I was, so it was an easy pick. That said, having won this bid and mentally realizing I still would have preferred to stay with my original room over what the JS offers me (not much!) I do wish I removed my offer for a JS when i first considered it.. Oh well.

Had done a bid in December for our upcoming Feb 15th cruise on Symphony for JS/Owners/GS 1 & 2BD - just got notice today our JS bid was accepted. This is our first cruise and the bid effectively only saved about $1k over booking 1-2 years out, but hey - savings is savings! Few interesting things.. I was looking about 10 minutes before I got the email to see what suites (if any) were available, and the only one on the RC site was the one I was upgraded to. Surprising! They did have a Star Loft and Aqua Suit still available previously before, but they're now gone too. I'm assuming a few of us did the upgrade shuffle..

I see a lot of people mentioning using TAs.. can other make some suggestions (even if in a direct message) or point me towards some previous threads? Seems like I'm missing out! ?

Was looking through some of the options and curious what the soda package was. $28 for 12 - 12oz Cokes?!

It definitely seems at least partly tied to passport. I had expedited on my pass but my wife didn't. My info was from scanned passport, her's hand-typed by me. I went in a few weeks later and scanned her passport, then checked her pass after which immediately showed "Expedited"! Kinda interesting..

If the unlimited dining is sold out, does it typically get the sold out "treatment" like other items do in the cruise planner? I ask because as of last week or so, the option is just... gone. No rhyme or reason, just gone!

Aha! That explains why the drink package suddenly dropped about $80.. I certainly won't be complaining.

I chose the room directly via a TA (website) and specifically the OV Balcony -- wife is only other one on there and definitely didn't call them ? It still shows only the oceanview room and the room number still shows as a balcony room, not a JS.. really weird! If I remember, I'll reply with how it goes... not expecting much though

Definitely gonna try it hahaha I have expedited arrival on my pass as well, but my wife does not but does also show as SEA.

Yup, but it was showing as Sea class a few weeks before I put in bids. Really confusing..

Room 10536, I'm pretty sure it's just an oceanview, but I wish it were a JS instead! ?

Hello All! Is there a reason why my SetSail Pass for upcoming Symphony cruise is showing as "Sea" class on the website (including when printing) and app? We're booked into OceanView Balcony rooms, not suites. From my understanding, we shouldn't have any class at all... Thanks!!