Skid

3 hours ago, Chaosgirl426 said:

My question- what do you recommend? what are must do's on Symphony

Here is a posting of mine after being on Symphony in May. I think you are going to love that ship!

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! 

Also, here some use useful information posted on June 6 from @ChessE4

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.

Mango LavafMango Lavaflow w/Kracken

Garden Martini from 150 Central Park on Symphony

26 minutes ago, karl_nj said:

It's certainly convenient to Johns of Times Sq!

Another place we like is Brasserie Athenee, 300 West 46th St at the corner of 8th Avenue. Wife loved the seafood linguini and I had one of the best burgers ever. It kind of needs a refresh inside,  but still nice. " Corner bistro with a Parisian ambiance plating French classics plus a pre-theater fixed-price menu".

5 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

I think that the 9/11 memorial was quite thought provoking for them.  

OK, wasn't going to mention this, but since you brought it up. I was in my office in NY on 9/11 and watched Tower Two crumble. You have my email...if the girls have any questions feel free to have them contact me. And prayers still out for all affected.

40 minutes ago, Kurtp13 said:

I didn't realize there was a Solarium bistro on Adventure

I am so sorry. I was thinking of Anthem.

24 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

I need a cruise from all this land vacation nonsense!

You really hit the good spots---and a lot of them. Looks like a great tour you picked. Loved the pictures. The things you saw will last forever in your girls' memories. No nonsense (well, maybe Naked Cowboy-haha).

13 minutes ago, Kurtp13 said:

Sailing on Adventure in Nov

Solarium Bistro (complimentary) should be open for lunch on embarkation day. Not as big a choice, but VERY nice and way less crowded than Windjammer.

No list but just wanted to say sorry for the bad news. So here's the happy news:

58 minutes ago, Hoski said:

(YOU) have a few cruises booked

34 minutes ago, ChessE4 said:

check out the Schooner Bar.

One of my favorite places on every ship that has it. Also like Boleros (but no trivia there).

9 hours ago, Skid said:

@Lovetocruise2002 try out John's Pizza on 44th st. We recommended it to@hayley_bopp recently and she liked it. Biggest bar in a pizza place you have ever seen.

8 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

That is where our meet up is tonight! Stay tuned

OK @Sweety, you don't see the RC Blog group going to Chicago for pizza, now do you? Yeah, I said it!

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

29 minutes ago, Richard Huntington said:

Did you book directly with Royal or through a TA? Some people have found the email went to their TA.

Good point. And welcome to the forum!

35 minutes ago, AJK said:

The Key was the chance to have a leisurely breakfast and then be escorted off.

The debarkation breakfast on Symphony was one of the best meals of the wee! Hopefully you will have the same menu. The Royal VIP Signature breakfast was to die for. And after that an escort brought us off the ship with the Suite and Star Class passengers right to our luggage. It was great!

Royal

1 minute ago, Nikkoo said:

I might persuade her that we should avoid windjammer on the first afternoon unless we get on early ish. 

Every Royal ship we have been on, although not nearly as many as others here, has multiple complimentary places besides Windjammer for embarkation lunch. Solarium Bistro is our favorite, but check what your ship has and you can easily avoid Windjammer.

7 minutes ago, kuruczpa said:

I need a special tag line under my name 

How about "The Initiator"

9 minutes ago, Kpak said:

Thanks everyone. We have got the key showing on our pass so that’s good. We had Jamie’s reserved for us rather than chops but despite contacting customer services it seems we can’t change this as it’s a random allocation. 

We have been told to contact customer services on embarkation day to try and change to chops but we’re a little disappointed with this. 

 

Still very excited about our first cruise. 

Thanks for the help.

I think you'd be much better off going directly to Chops. If they can fit you in, they probably will. Worst that can happen is that you then go to Jamie's. Customer service will be packed. Not worth the time or effort in this case. Just my opinion.

13 minutes ago, CGTLH said:

Made it to Newark. Wish it wasn't so hazy when landing.

Welcome to NJ. Don't judge by the turnpike. There are some really nice towns here despite what @WAAAYTOOO thinks!

18 minutes ago, JennyJenny said:

Added to my Amazon cart! Thanks!

14 minutes ago, JennyB said:

  I'm hoping to be able to get more things off the floor and desk area

We had a hanging shoe rack type organizer with about 6 or so pockets. Kept flip flops, papers, misc items in it. We put a hook in the top left and top right corners and attached to bathroom door. Held all week. Slid down once and that was my fault (reached in too hard).

@JennyJenny remember that every wall, door and even the ceiling is metal, so you can hang anywhere.

That is the best I've ever seen!

Darn...all the extra work now. Excuse me while I go cancel my wife's soda package!

7 minutes ago, mom2mybugs said:

that ONE day I was off to have a medical procedure done

So this turned out to be literally a pain in the A$$ for you! Sorry, couldn't resist.

@kuruczpa Thank you again for the original posting. Let's hope Aurora Yera-Rodriguez doesn't know who you are!

1 minute ago, AshleyDillo said:

It was fixed before 1:30AM EST on the cruise I was trying it on..who should I complain about that to? 

HAHA--follow the letter:

Yup..just looked and got the same letter (email)!

27 minutes ago, Aeroman380 said:

What app is optimized for Ovation? Is the Royal app good for this ship?

Ovation uses the Royal IQ app (as opposed to the Royalapp).

1 hour ago, Cat mom said:

If they are going to cancel they need to do it soon at this point they have held on to and made interest on (a low as rates are ) everyone’s money for 36 hours are more. 

That may not actually be the case. My purchase is still in pending status at the bank. I would think that until it actually clears, Royal doesn't have the money yet so no interest. If Royal decides not to honor the orders, they'll just have to release the holds instead of issuing refunds. I am not a banker or a merchant...these are just my thoughts.

I am watching with interest because my statement closes in 2 days.