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Symphony of the Seas - Apr 13 2019 - Eastern Caribbean


LindaN

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Our Symphony of the Seas cruise leaves tomorrow, Apr 13th, 2019.   “Our” being my husband Mike and 7 year old daughter Delilah.  This is Delilah’s first cruise, Mike and my second.  Our first cruise was Freedom of the Seas in 2007.

I’m hoping cruising will become our family thing, but it depends on how this cruise goes with my daughter.

I printed my Set Sail pass, cruise docs, and luggage tags.  I packed magnetic hooks, a USB hub and sea sick bands and pills.  I am at the airport in Sacramento as I type.  We fly Sac to Denver to FLL arrive in FLL tonight at 12:30am.

We have our drink packages purchased, alcohol one for Mike and I, refreshment one for Delilah.  We have ordered the picture package, the octopus stuffed animal for D, and water in the room.  

We got the key because at 19.99 is was only $3 more than the internet and with the chops lunch, it was a no brainer.  I would have even paid 24.99, since you don’t have to wait in line for shows and to get off the boat.   Waiting in any line with my ADHD daughter  is a nightmare.  I was going to also take advantage of the key for flow rider and zip line times but I read in the cruise docs my daughter is not old enough for those.   Had I realized that I would have probably picked a boat with iFly instead and dreamworks characters.  My daughter loves zip lining.

We booked an ocean balcony, #12610.  I’m kind of worried this room is going to be too far from an elevator.  We tend to forget stuff a lot and I think it’s going to be a pain having to run that far to the room.  To make it less painful I bought a Fitbit watch, so I can be happy getting so many steps.  We made low bids for each RoyalUp category, but doubt we’ll get an upgrade since the ship is full.  It would be nice to get a bigger cabin but I mostly bid in hopes of getting something closer to an elevator.

We requested early dining and have all our shows booked.  My daughters bedtime is usually between 7 and 8 so we’ll see if she can stay awake through the shows.  We have all our excursions booked, Atlantis in Bahamas, dolphin encounter in St. Kitts, and Turtle island Sail and snorkel on St Thomas.

Most of my posts will be more pictures than text but I thought I would make an introduction post here.  I have read all the other Symphony blogs and got a lot of my questions and info from them.  I had lots more questions on traveling with young kids, so I’ll try and include info on that too.  I have no idea if my daughter will like Adventure Ocean or if she’ll be with us mostly.  25 to 1 ratio of adults to kids with 40 kids may not be her thing.  If anyone wants pictures of anything or has any questions let me know. 

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YIPPEE !!!  This sounds like it's going to be GREAT fun.

You mentioned that you all 3 have drink packages of some sort yet you said you ordered water for the room ?  Are you aware that bottled water is already included in all of your drink packages ?  I can certainly understand if you just wanted to have a stash of water already in place.  That makes sense.  Just wanted to make sure you are aware that you can have all the bottled water you want at no additional charge, with the drinks packages.

Have a GREAT time !  I am very envious that you are on Symphony.  I have not yet made it to Symphony !!!

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32 minutes ago, LindaN said:

My daughter loves zip lining

Hey Linda,

Symphony has a zip line, but, your daughter may not meet the height/weight requirements. Hope she does! Have a GREAT cruise and let us know how much fun you are having, if you have time! :3_grin:

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My family and I just did a 7-night cruise on Symphony March 30-April 6.  It was our first time with RC and all we could expect was what I researched and read.  Let me tell you that this blog got us more than prepared for what to expect.  We LOVED the ship, the size, the activities, the food, the drink, all of it.  I know you will too.  We have two girls (7 and 9 years) and they really did like Adventure Ocean.  It appeared that the staff there really kept the kids busy having fun.  You will definitely get your steps in...haha... We were in an ocean balcony 10310 and 10312 (connecting roooms) and we felt that these cabins were very well laid out and comfortable.  As I type this it brings me back to our sailing and I get a little sad that its over and we have to wait till May 2020 to do it again.   Have a blast and be in the moment. 

Oh, one thing our girls loved doing was ordering drinks from the IPad at the Bionic Bar.  Go during the middle of the day as it gets quite busy at night. 

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2 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

YIPPEE !!!  This sounds like it's going to be GREAT fun.

You mentioned that you all 3 have drink packages of some sort yet you said you ordered water for the room ?  Are you aware that bottled water is already included in all of your drink packages ?  I can certainly understand if you just wanted to have a stash of water already in place.  That makes sense.  Just wanted to make sure you are aware that you can have all the bottled water you want at no additional charge, with the drinks packages.

Have a GREAT time !  I am very envious that you are on Symphony.  I have not yet made it to Symphony !!!

Yes I know.  I just wanted to make sure we always had it.  It looked like a long walk to go get water somewhere if we forgot some.  We drink a lot of water.

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20 hours ago, LindaN said:

If anyone wants pictures of anything or has any questions let me know. 

Definitely, as many angles as you can of Playmakers...as I expect to spend a lot of time there later this year; and, Jamie"s...wonder If there"s an outside dining area as well.

Have a great cruise...hope your daughter have the time if her life. Bon voyage! ?️

 

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Day 1

After waiting in the first room to board for maybe 30 mins we went to another area, on the other side of the glass, to wait with the Diamond and above people.  We waited there maybe another 30 mins because they were doing “enhanced sanitation”, then we boarded.  They tried to tell us we couldn’t go with the diamond people to wait, but I said we had they key, so they let us go too.  First picture is us in the second room.  

We knew from reading here to drop our carry on luggage at the theater and then we went to chops for lunch.   We got the steak and these 3 appetizers, all were awesome.  We gave our daughter Dramamine for kids at the beginning of lunch and after just a few hours of sleep the night before, she fell asleep.

 

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The Room

We finished at chops at 12:50 and decided to see if the room was ready, it was.  We passed our luggage in front of a room down the hall, so we picked it up on our way to the room.  We have a ocean balcony on deck 12, right in the middle.  Room 610.  

My biggest concern was it being too small with 3 of us, we tend to overpack.   We have 3 large suitcases and 3 roller bags and 3 backpacks.  I’m happy to report all our bags fit easily under the bed and all our stuff fit in the space provided.  I listened to all the blogs and read up on other things to bring so I also brought 2 over the door shoe things for toiletries etc, a small laundry hamper, magnetic hooks, towel clips and a USB hub.  There are 3 shelves in the bathroom so I ended up not using the over the door things in there, I used it for guess what, shoes!

 

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On 4/13/2019 at 11:33 AM, Zambia-Zaire said:

Definitely, as many angles as you can of Playmakers...as I expect to spend a lot of time there later this year; and, Jamie"s...wonder If there"s an outside dining area as well.

Have a great cruise...hope your daughter have the time if her life. Bon voyage! ?️

 

Have not seen Jamie’s yet but here is playmakers from lots of angles.

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43 minutes ago, Zambia-Zaire said:

Good shots LindaN...thanks. Pretty interesting seeing how they post televised games on the chalkboard, synonymous for the menu's "Catch or Choice" of the Day. I love the low light atmosphere & a few outside TVs...I wrongly assumed all of them would be inside.

 

I took the Picts waiting in line to see Hiro at the Aqua theater, so around 8pm.

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@AshleyDillo Ok...make sense it would be in Central Park. Not sure how I missed that from some of the videos I've seen.

Great to hear that...one thing my wife likes to do when we frequent restaurants or eating establishments is eat outside, enjoying the breeze & ambient sounds of the day, as well as the sometime tranquil atmosphere, when smokers are not around(no offense to smokers).

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So today we explored the ship.  We ate breakfast at the windjammer and then took my daughter to adventure ocean.  She is not always the most well behaved, especially when there are lots of kids and things don’t go the way she wants.  We got a phone for from them when we dropped her off in case they needed to call us, or she wanted to leave.  I’m very happy to report she loved it and wanted to go back for every session.  When I picked her up I didn’t hear 1 bad thing.  They must have amazingly fun stuff and very patient staff!!

We saw Hiro tonight, I can’t believe what they can do in such a small space.  The show started at 8:30 and we got there at 8.  I was worried when I saw the long line but when I got in they said the key people could sit in any of 4 rows, and they were the best seats.  We must have been one of the first key people in because we sat right  in the center and most of the 4 rows they told us to sit in we’re empty.

They took formal Picts of us but I think we get them at the end.  I asked a table mate to take a pict but it came out a little blurry.  After dinner and the show we played the game Majority Rules and my daughter won a key chain because they thought her answer was cute.  They question was if you were on a sinking ship and could only take one thing what would it be?  The 2 answers that tied for majority winners were phone and life jacket, her answer was “teddy”.   After the game my daughter made a drink at the bionic bar and we went back to the room.

We’ve had a great time so far.  I do have 3 little things that could be better.  First, we didn’t get the flyer on how to get onto the internet until after dinner.  I went down right after we got unpacked in our room but guest services was closed for the muster drill.  Luckily a guy down in the lobby told me how because when guest services opened the line was long.  Second, we got 3 cups in our room for the refreshment package and they were all the same color.  Come on, with 3 people in a room why not give them 3 diff colors.  My last issue is we have a horrible view at our table in the main dining room.  After eating at the windjammer watching the waves out the window at lunch, i’m staring at a lifeboat at dinner.  These are not giant issues, and they first 2 are easy fixes that seem just like poor planning.

 

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17 hours ago, Andrew72681 said:

On the Cup issue, we had the same thought about “how Will we keep track of them” we ended using my daughters hair ties and putting a different color one on each cup to keep track of which one is which. 

That’s a good idea.

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6 hours ago, WannaCruise said:

PS - Love the shoe racks!  Wondering what they are attached to?

They are attached to metal hooks I brought.  I bought packages of magnetic metal hooks and have them everywhere.  3 hold up each shoe thing and I am also using them for wet clothes, lanyards, and to hold up the compasses.

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Day 3

My daughter went to part of both AO sessions and loved it.  Yesterday after lunch we watched the sexiest man contest at the pool so today after lunch my daughter wanted to run down to the pool to see if there was another contest.  I was about to tell her there wasn’t but it turns out there was a belly flop contest.  We sat on the edge of the pool and cheered people on.  After that it was adventure ocean time and then finally relax time for an hour.

At 4 we picked Delilah back up and went To use the private key hour to climb the rock wall.  My daughter was the only one that wanted to try it and she got really high.  She was too scared to come down though so the guy had to go up and get her to come down.  She was too scared to just let go.

We spent a lot of time walking from place to place.  AO is on one end of the ship and food is on the other.  We also spent a lot of time waiting at elevators.  My husband discovered that there was no 13th floor so that helped the elevator waits.  We’re on 12, AO is on 14, we just walk there now.

We saw hairspray at night, it was amazing, my favorite show so far.

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Day 4

The night is young but today we stopped at St. Kitts.  We did the dolphin experience and loved it.  My daughter was scared of them at first but by the end loved them.  She also loved the monkeys in the market place area.   We were worried going into today because our excursion tickets said to meet at 9:30 but compass said the gangway opens at 9:30.  We went at 9 to the gangway so we could be first out but they were already letting people out.  The guy said they tell people it’s 9:30 but really you can get off at 9.  We did some shopping and got back on the boat.  

There is an 80’s party tonight so they were teaching line dancing at 3 and my daughter and I went while my husband stayed in the room on our balcony and longed to have his fishing pole with him.  He said next time he’s bringing it for sure.

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On 4/13/2019 at 11:33 AM, Zambia-Zaire said:

Definitely, as many angles as you can of Playmakers...as I expect to spend a lot of time there later this year; and, Jamie"s...wonder If there"s an outside dining area as well.

Have a great cruise...hope your daughter have the time if her life. Bon voyage! ?️

 

Finally got to Central Park today

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28 minutes ago, LindaN said:

He is awesome!  I don’t have much to compare him to since it’s my second cruise.  I see him at all sorts of events.

Hi Linda,

I can tell you and your family are having such a wonderful on the wonderful Symphony!  I can't wait to explore this new Symphony ship next Sunday April 27th on your exact same itinerary!!!  Also great to hear that the CD Mike is so present in so many events!  He sounds awesome!  We are sailing with cruise friends this time too so this will be so much fun!

Keep sending your fun photos!  Your sweet daughter is sure having the time of her life!

Thanks!

Michelle

Ps.  Personally so excited to be sailing our first as Diamond Plus too!

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37 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Don't want you to miss your ship !  It is either Saturday, April 27 or Sunday, April 28.  We are on Freedom which departs on Sunday, April 28...that's the only reason I have any clue about days and dates !!

Thank you!  I'm sorry I know it is Saturday the 27th!  I had a 50's moment not a senior moment!  Ha!  We are flying down to Miami Friday!  I love the Freedom we did a back to back out of San Juan in August of 2016 and hit 9 different islands in 14 days!  Had a terrific time!  Are you going out of Miami also or San Juan?  

I have read your wonderful blog of your Anthem cruise this year and drooled over your room and all your experiences!  I'm so happy for you both!  I know you were Star Class so you had everything possible, but did you happen to notice if Diamond Plus had specialty seating for the shows in 270 or the theater?  We just turned diamond plus and in a balcony on our Symphony cruise.  We are in one of the x large Jr. Suites on our 9 night Anthem on May 23rd and wondering if Diamond Plus or just Suites and Pinnacle possibly? I've heard from Twangster it depends on the ship but was hoping you could share in additional info on specifically the Anthem.  I can ask once onboard also. Any help would be appreciated!  We have our reservations of course!  Also how full was the Coastal Kitchen for dinner since we are hoping to get reservations once we get onboard like on Oasis class ship.

Thanks so much for any information!  And have a great cruise!!!

Michelle

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1 hour ago, Cruising to Retirement! said:

Are you going out of Miami also or San Juan?  

San Juan

1 hour ago, Cruising to Retirement! said:

did you happen to notice if Diamond Plus had specialty seating for the shows in 270 or the theater? 

I did not notice in 270.  I don't believe there are any reserved areas on the ground floor of 270 HOWEVER there may well be a reserved area in the upper section of 270.  I never went up there so I don't know what is really even up there !  If there is a reserved area I do not know if D+ are eligible or not.  

There is definitely a reserved area in the main theater but whether or not D+ are included...I just don't know.  I should have been more thoughtful of such things when we were there.  It seemed like the time just flew by.

1 hour ago, Cruising to Retirement! said:

how full was the Coastal Kitchen for dinner

I don't recall the CK ever being particularly busy.  We ate dinners there only twice but both times I remember thinking that there were lots of available tables.  It is my impression (based only on 2 visits !) that you would have no trouble getting a reservation at the CK.  You might have to be flexible with your times but I think you will get in without any trouble.

I know you will have a great cruise.  Anthem is beautiful.  Enjoy.

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Thanks for the info.  I'm not holding my breath, but since DP is entirely new to us I appreciate your feedback.

That is great news about Anthem's Coastal Kitchen though.  We are excited since we've never been on Anthem.  We haven't had trouble on our Oasis class ships but had to be flexible with times sometimes.  We have a 3 night dining package that was super inexpensive from about a year ago and a free dining from our travel agent so we can be flexible with days a bit also!  I'm so sorry to see Anthem leave Port Liberty!  We wanted to sail her again to Bermuda and the 3 Caribbean ports on her one more time!  We sailed her her first year in May 2016 and love We will Rock You and their great cover bands.  We sailed her again in 2017 when she sailed the night night up to Canada and had an Eagles cover band.  I've heard it will be the Bon Jovi which we saw in 2016 so looking forward to that!  Fingers crossed!

We are sad, sad to see Anthem leave!  I'm sure she will come back someday in the future!

I will check with loyalty ambassador in Conceirge lounge for tour possibilities for Diamond Plus also!

Thanks again!  I really appreciate hearing cruise loving people's wonderful cruise experiences and advice and of course the great pics on this great blog!

Michelle

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2 hours ago, Cruising to Retirement! said:

That is great news about Anthem's Coastal Kitchen though.  We are excited since we've never been on Anthem. 

Please come back and let us know how easy it was to get reservations in CK.  We are in a JS again for the RCBlog GC in July but this time I cannot make reservation online (last time I could).  Nervous that I will have to beg my way in.

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48 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Please come back and let us know how easy it was to get reservations in CK.  We are in a JS again for the RCBlog GC in July but this time I cannot make reservation online (last time I could).  Nervous that I will have to beg my way in.

Would be happy to!  It will be the first place I go when I get onboard!  We will be very early too!  

If I happen to forget, please remind me!

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