Symphony Strikes back, 11-18 December (the short version)

[Traveler]

Yap me again (or should I say is again). Back home (AKA Symphony OTS).

Was debating if to do another live blog for the same ship and itinerary and almost decided to drop it this time.  Started to see so many questions regarding international cruise participate, testing before and after so I thought I will focus mainly on subjects around it. 

This time we are going to be in CLS (thanks Royal up) , no drinking/dining packages (we still recovering from our last cruise). Pre cruise we are visiting Miami only , sorry Micky and Harry.

Feel free to ask any questions .

 

[Traveler]

Here we starts our recovery , mmm maybe we need to reconsider the no drinking package .l?! 

 

[Traveler]

Flight / test prep.

We scheduled the flight to Thursday early morning, that due to time zone difference bringa us to Miami at 8 am. This time we took a direct flight. The plan was again to do the test for the flight at Wednesday and to use the same test for the cruise also. As you know Royal Caribbean change our plan since now they are asking to have the test two days before the cruise which mean that  we had or to change our flight plans or to take another test. Changing the flight plan was more complicated so we decided we will take another test at Miami. Now we had  the task to find where to take the test. Unfortunately the test that can be done by yourself is not shipped outside of the US so we could not guarantee that it will arrive on time. I checked  the option of do some free testing at the CVC or Walgreens but the information I got was regarding if it's possible to do it for international travelers or just for locals seems contradict.  For  some of the places it's a matter of gambling. So we decided to go with  the options that the cost  money but much easier  and will take less time from our  vacation. After  checking online I found out that there is a testing place at the airport which allow you to take a rapid antigen test and cost around $79. We booked it   for the same time that we are landing. For backup option I did order the the self-guided testing from Royal Caribbean. There is an option to order it from Royal Caribbean or directly from the company that produced them the second option costs less. $150 for 6 test directly or $69 for two tests kits via Royal Caribbean. Royal Caribbean guarantee fast delivery usually two business day it's also gives you a time  table to show you when you supposed to get the kits per the day that you order it. We asked to ship those test kits to the hotel in our case there is a FedEx location where you can ship any order before you  come to the hotel. So we had plab A and plan  B which allowed me to sleep much better. After a quick short flight of 13 hours we landed at Miami airport immigration took 10 minutes,  custom was did not woke up so it was very fast. We collected our luggage and went to find the testing location that was around 300 ft walk from us. There wasn't any lines and the test took 5 minutes. The result is being sent after 10 minutes  to your email. The location is operate by Nomi helth care. They also offer PCR test  and Rapid PCR (that cost almost 230$ but good as a lady minute option). We took a  taxi to our  hotel and during  the ride we got  already the result , both negative and ready for the cruise. While arriving to the hotel , waiting for our room to be ready I went to collect our other option from the FedEx office the package we're waiting for us and all arrive as planned , while I was in the office I also printed our results it's around 40 cents to print the result for both of us. Royal Caribbean actually encourage international travelers to use the option and send the package to the hotel so it's also working well even if you cannot ship it to your home address. I preferred the option to take the test in the airport as it's take all the stress out and we could enjoy the rest of our vacation without thinking about testing results or even where to take the test. The free option might also work ,there are few locations in Miami that offer free PCR test but the result can take up to 48 hours they have walkthrough and drive through. Now we could start and enjoy our vacation. Our  room has a very nice view of the harbor and we can make sure that Symphony will not live without us. The downside is the noise from the ships that insist to let anyone know that they enter to the harbor ...

 

View from our room

Our plan B if Symptoms will not arrive on time 

 

[WAAAYTOOO]

WOW.  I am so glad to hear that everything went EXACTLY as you planned.  WOOHOO !!  Welcome to sunny Florida

[Traveler]

Shoo , Shoo go away Freedom , make space for a real ship

[Mark M]

Great Info, Thanks, I will be on SOS 12/23. Keep us updated.

[Traveler]

Nothing like working at 4:30 am just to watch the parade and make sure everything going as plan.

Good morning , it's a cruise day

 

[WannaCruise]

Have a wonderful cruise!  So exciting!  We were on Symphony in 2019. My favorite ship!

[wannabecruiseexpert]

Happy cruise day!! Excited to be following along!

[Traveler]

We are on board.

We arrived at 10:45 after our Uber driver missed the turn and got is another round in the port. No lines at the suite door , did not notice any big lines on the other side either. The only thing they asked to verify is the testing results as they already verified our vaccine card we uploaded to the app. They started to board around 11:15 , meanwhile people were looking who is the crazy person goes from one window to another raising is cellphone against it. Yes it was me trying to connect to the ship WIFI to start and reserve some shows

[Traveler]

 Day 1 - boarding.

So the jet lag keeps up during strange hours, that time it was a bless since I could watch all the ships entertaining the harbor. I was also busy in trying to handle the big security issue that started in the weekend (Log4J vulnerability if anyone really interested) that's after I had to handle another issue while flying. I wonder how it's always happens when I try to take  vacation.  Our check-in time was 11:30 and with the flexible 1 hour you get when you are in sky class it mean 10:30) quick repacking , cofee from the hotel Starbucks and we started our long 5 minutes journey to the port. This time we were staying at the Intercontinental Miami which I booked as found many recommendations for it  in this blog. I must join the recommendations , it's a very nice hotel , located near many restaurants and supermarket and a good choice if you do not have a car. I ordered the regular room but we were upgraded to an harbor view room

We got to the port fast although the u turn the Uber had to take , the cost was 9$ plus tip. I suggested to to swim to the ship but it was overruled , something about the luggage will get wet or another excuse. Immediately after boarding we have been directed to our muster station which we planned to do anyway. Apparently many people didn't do it and around 5 PM there were still 300 people that the crew chased to complete the very complicate process... I do hope Royal will not consider to go back to the old way but if it will happen I will ask RCL for the address of all the people that failed the process and send them a sack of onions so they can cry as we will cry going back to the old horrible muster drill. We grabbed some food at the WJ as CK was still closed and I completed all the show booking. Fly is back !

 

Next we went to the CK to confirm our must day one CK reservation and to drink coffee. The cabin was ready at 1 pm , the luggage already arrived so we could unpack. This time we got one of the crown loft suites which facing the mini golf. I thought I might not like it but the view is nice and the balcony is bigger from the previous CLS we had, anyway as the old phrase says " you do not check the teeth of an horse you got using Royal up". We love the cabin , two bathrooms  much like two internet packages helps allot to any couple relationships  

We enjoyed the balcony for a while before we went to check if anything is  new on the ship , I can tell you one very important change was replacing the tune of the piano stairs! Beside that more and less the same. I went to check for the disembarkation PCR test but there were always lines to the concierge , apparently this  cruise we have only one concierge comparing to the regular two that you have in Oasis class. Finally when I go to speak to him the first thing he  asked me if I'm Canadian, I guess he hears this question a lot from the people of the north. Told him that we are not but we still need to schedule a PCR testing to get back to our country. He told me that on  day 3 we will see the QR code on the cruise compass that we will need to scan  and schedule a PCR test,  no issues at all , he also offered he can guide me to the process. Of course I needed to try and book it earlier so I went to The Cruise compass of one of the previous Symphony of The seas cruise , scan the code and try to see what happens, apparently they were already ready for such attempts  so it was not working even when I tried to play with the dates in the URL. Oh well I tried. We went to catch some nap  and get ready for the evening . First dinner was in CK , we cannot miss the first night filet mignon ,as always it was perfect especially when you remember to order medium if you want to get medium well and medium medium rare if you want medium. Not sure if we are going to eat in CK every night something is weird in the atmosphere of the CK at Symphony I cannot pinpoint what exactly it is but maybe lack of waiters comparing to the number of tables or something else in  the ambience. We'll try to do a few dinner at the main dining room. Yes I know the subject will start a riots , I guess every person see it differently. I proudly say we skiped  the dessert. Apparently we were The last ship to leave the harbor today that means we had ability to take very nice pictures of Miami Port during the dark. That was first time for us as usually the ship is leaving around 5:00 p.m. this time we left only around 7:30 p.m. quite late.

That's also mean that they could open some of the venues only after 8:00 p.m,  like the casinos and the shops. We enjoyed some live music at Park Cafe and  the promenade before closing the night trying to recover from the long day. Tomorrow a sea day .

 

 

 

 

 

[Traveler]

Interesting , I can see they brought up back the Official night, no dress your best.

[Traveler]

They 2 -sea day.

We woke up quite early around 6:30 a.m. we went to find something to eat and we found ourselves at the WJ as it's the only place that is open at 7:00 a.m. after breakfast we went to tour the ship as we like to tour it when  it's quite empty and you can take a nice pictures , it's also a good time to add to the steps count to clear our calorie conscious. After getting organized and giving some shirts to iron we went to catch one of the morning trivia we did quite all right but not as I would like two teams got 14 answers out to 15 but still I was quite proud to know some of the answers including one that other didn't know. We went to the park Cafe to get some fruits and enjoy the Sun  at Central Park. The ship is quite full I think around 5,000 people but I don't have the official number but it looks that still no hair issues and enough space for everyone.

For lunch we choose to go to the coastal kitchen which was very good. Service was very fast and excellent I guess it's all about the number of waiters per the number of tables as the CK was quite empty. We both got the  salad as  the main course and some starter that were very interesting.

We went back to the cabin as I really needed to have a good nap. We had reservations fort the 3:00 p.m. Flight show , this is the second time that we see it and we enjoyed it very much. I think this is one of the best productions that Royal Caribbean has. The effects are amazing and there is a storyline that easy to follow, something that I cannot say for most of the other productions, at least regarding the aspect of the storyline. I wish we could see it again. We came 15 minutes before the beginning of the show and found  very nice seats near the stage.

There was a huge standby line of people who didn't reserved or didn't successfully reserved the show on time I do believe that most of them entered although the theater was quite full. Remember to book all the shows that you want at the moment you board the ship , well maybe after you complete the muster drill. After the show we went to a quick session at the casino and went to get organized for the official night. We decided to go to the main dining room for dinner, we asked to be seated at a table that is served by waiters we knew from our  last cruise  to the Symphony. Apparently they both recognized us from the last visit and brought us our favorite dish to  start with even without asking, that was nice. Dinner went quite quick and we both utilized the  the diamond vouchers for couple glasses of wine. After dinner we went to see the comedy show one of the comedian was okay the other one was hilarious, I think this was the first time we went to the comedy show on the ship. For sure we'll try it again. Coming back to the room I found the Cruise compass with the QR code for the testing  reservation I tried it several time but it seems that the QR code brought us to a page which didn't have anything there. I tried it both fron my cell phone and from the laptop. Maybe they only open the  reservation page during day three. One more visit to the casino before going to bad and try to catch finally a decent sleep.  While taking the elevator up to our cabin , we were already  six people , on the next floor two ladies came in , one without mask. The first one asked the one without mask how she is feeling today , she replied "better , the stomach nausea was much worse yesterday". Now one can argue if masks makes any difference or not but that's the current rule, there are many rules I do not like in RCL but still I follow them to respect others. As I am not from the mask police I did not say anything , just went out  the next floor, flu stomach scares me more than C19 .

Tomorrow another sea day 

[Traveler]

Day 3 PCR test update.

The link we got in the cruise campus did not work also during the morning. I went to the suite lounge to try and see if there is something to do. The link did not work also to the concierge so I guess it was not a problem with my cell phone or laptop. The concerns did some calls and apparently there is some Excel that he needs to put our names in he located the Excel and asked me a few questions regarding my flight and regarding the date of birth, the passport information you already. He told me that the PCR test was scheduled for Thursday which is the 6th day around 4:00 p.m. he also told me that I supposed to get a letter in the room  with some more details so I will wait for it. So my recommendation is to try and close this on the first day using all the concierge or the guest services. We are scheduled to be with group two of the test. For us taking the test on the 6th day is working quite well with our flight schedule but anyone that is going to take a flight not on the same day as departure it's recommended to try and see if you can schedule it to the last day. Since the last days Coco Cay for us I believe it's much better  to do it a day before so no need to do it in the middle of the day or even in the morning when we all want to go as early as possible to the island. I'm not sure if there is a difference between ship to ship but this is the current information that I got here. The test is currently complimentary. Even if Royal Caribbean will start to take money for this test I still hope that they will be able to do it on board since it's saving a lot of time and stress from people that need to take it.

[Traveler]

Day number three the second sea day.

Not going to get  you bored again with what we eat in the morning or what we did every minute but few observations from this day.

Dining room service is excellent just to give you one example,  comparing to all the other places when we drink our coffee they already remember the kind of sweet and low that we are using  (and the sugar I use ) and bring it already to the table without asking and that's only after one day, those small things that do the change. 

CK lunch contains many of the evening menu from other days but services much more rapid and in general better than the evening service at least this is what we feel. 

Everybody show - so by mistake I reserve the ice show time that was for everyone. Even for the everyone show they still separated the crowd and on one section only adults on the other sections adults with children. Although it was already the same crew from the last 3 months there were many many incidence during the ice cream almost every session somebody felt, one time it was so bad that I told that we are going to hear alpha alpha alpha , gladly no one being hurt and all the performer continue as nothing happened. I admire their ability to continue without any fear since such incidents  might impact dramatically the  self-confidence any veteran performance. Maybe there were some issue with the ice  surface. Anyway the show was fun as always. 

Weather was strange yesterday, mostly sunny but every 30 minutes or so there was one minute of heavy rain. It was fun to watch people behavior once it happened. Some just didn't mind, some just started to run for cover, most funny where people that running from the pool , you already in the pool do you think you are going to get more wet due to the rain ?  

Due to the high winds the 16 deck was closed during all the day, let's created some chair availability on Deck 15 but still do some free chairs just not on hotspot.

Water and juice are now back to sled service in most of the places , this is a blessing change.

Tomorrow out first port - St Maarten.

[Ampurp85]

We had several performers on the Allure ice show fall as well. Thankfully nobody was hurt in any serious way, but it makes me wonder if the ice isn't quite right.

[Traveler]

31 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

We had several performers on the Allure ice show fall as well. Thankfully nobody was hurt in any serious way, but it makes me wonder if the ice isn't quite right.

The ice ring is very small so I am sure it takes some time to adjust to it . I noticed not like other show they do not change all the team at once but replace few team members every time not sure why. Anyway I think it's quite challenging to participate in this show , this is why it's even more impressive

[Neesa]

32 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

We had several performers on the Allure ice show fall as well. Thankfully nobody was hurt in any serious way, but it makes me wonder if the ice isn't quite right.

I had the pleasure of speaking with an ice skater on our Oasis sailing 20 days ago, she said the ice rink is really small in size for them to perform everything they do and that they are hampered by this as they are used to much more ice. Maybe this is the reasoning for the falls. 

[Traveler]

Day 4 St Maarten.

Today was our first port day.  The day before we got a message in the room about balcony maintenance , guess who forgot about it , guess who in is underwater suddenly notice people working there. Sorry you had to witness that guys , but I am not going to pay for any required psychological  therapy, professional risks , .

Since as part of the process they also removed the binder it was a good time to check the other cabin balconies.

The family suite

View from the balcony

 

 

[Traveler]

Day 4 part 2.

For St Maarten we booked a two hours sunset catamarans sail. The sail started at 3:30 pm and was supposed to end at 17:3o which was also the all aboard time. No way I would book such a excursion. Not from RCL and be on a YouTube video as 10 most funniest pier runners 2021. The boat ride was awesome. We went to a ride around the Island while heaving open bar and some local Caribbean snacks (like Hummus and cheese ).

 

Going back the ride was bumpy  , we stood in front of the ship in a " I am the king of world" position and enjoyed every jump like the pirate ship ride in a theme park. We got back to the ship exactly at 5:30 PM to sea Symphony after dark.

 

[Traveler]

Day 5 St Thomas.

We planned to have a another Catamaran tour with some snorkeling and island tour but unfortunately it was cancelled. We done a mistake and replaced it with a tour in Villa Botanica  and mountain too , the combination of rain and too much time planned for the vila tour was not working well for us. Oh well lesson learned for next time. 

Chef's table came back to Symphony , still not advertised but we were encounter by someone that offer it for us with 20% discount. Since it was my spouse birthday we jumped on the offer as we both love it. The meeting was in Vintage and after that we were escorted to a table in the solarium. I think the location is much better than the previous one in CK. The table is limited to six people. We two other nice couple and allot of chats and good laugh. As always I think the most important thing in Chef's table is the company.

Food:

We got the 150 bread , scallop carrpacio which was not that good .

Tomato smoked soup , lobster salad , a fish plate and filet mignon which were all good.

One not so welcome changed was the fact they gave us 5 white wine and only 1 red, but still it was allot of fun.

 

[MattG]

1 hour ago, Traveler said:

Chef's table came back to Symphony , still not advertised but we were encounter by someone that offer it for us with 20% discount. Since it was my spouse birthday we jumped on the offer as we both love it. The meeting was in Vintage and after that we were escorted to a table in the solarium. I think the location is much better than the previous one in CK. The table is limited to six people. We two other nice couple and allot of chats and good laugh. As always I think the most important thing in Chef's table is the company.

 

Okay, i'm so glad you posted this. We did Chef's Table on Anthem last week, and had the same dishes, but a dramatically different preparation. 

• Our scallop carpaccio was only 6-8 slices of scallop, versus an entire plate on yours!
• Our lobster salad was unimpressive, while yours looks decadent

This really makes me think that while the Chef's Table menu is fixed across the fleet, the chef's are open to interpret preparation on an individual basis. This really underscores Chef's Table on one ship may be different than on another, even with the same menu. 

 

1 hour ago, Traveler said:

The table is limited to six people. We two other nice couple and allot of chats and good laugh. As always I think the most important thing in Chef's table is the company.

Ours was 14 people in a private room in Chops. I agree, the company you make at Chef's Table is the best part of the meal!

 

Here's our Chef's Table experience from last week:

 

[Dan Curtis]

Those ships are so awesome looking all lit up at night, beautiful pictures.

[Traveler]

Yesterday we had Alpha alpha alpha at evening. The ship had to change route to get near Puerto Rico and around 10 pm an helicopter from US cost guards evacuate him to the Island. The route change will bring us one hour late to Coco Cay but we might stay there extra hour. I wish whoever evacuate to feel well soon , One hour less in Coco Cay is not compatible to saving lives.

[WAAAYTOOO]

Wow.  2 medical emergencies yesterday.  The other one was on Oasis.  Sorry to hear it.

[Traveler]

 PCR test update.

We went at 4 PM to do our return home PCR testing. There were almost no lines (only tow Canadian before us) . They verified the passport information and  the test took 30 seconds for me and was quite easy. My spouse complained that her test was rough as they really tried to find something hidden there , I guess it's depends who is your tester. I had to take her to drink Kraken Lava flow to recover :-).

The email with the results came back after 15 minutes  (both negative) gso we are clear to go and we can relax and enjoy the rest of the cruise. 

[Traveler]

5 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Wow.  2 medical emergencies yesterday.  The other one was on Oasis.  Sorry to hear it.

Now we got another alpha alpha alpha , this time on the central park , hope it's just something minor.

Another strange thing , first time on the last day we still have not got the numbers for the luggage (and not only us) 

[Traveler]

Good morning on the way to Coco Cay

[Traveler]

Interesting , we visited the diamond club at the morning , it seems it went back to self service , at least for the coffee machine. The suite club is still full service.

[WAAAYTOOO]

17 minutes ago, Traveler said:

Interesting , we visited the diamond club at the morning , it seems it went back to self service , at least for the coffee machine. The suite club is still full service.

That's the best news I've heard in weeks !!

[Missangie]

can you please upload in cruise compass a new symphony of the seas compass. thank you in advance

[Traveler]

1 hour ago, Missangie said:

can you please upload in cruise compass a new symphony of the seas compass. thank you in advance

Sure I will try to load them

[Traveler]

We arrived Coco Cay around 11 am and cleared around 12 PM. So I guess we had 1 hour delay due to the medical emergency. The good news is that we will leave at 5:30 pm whiche one extra hours. Still for whoever booked the over the sea cabena it is around 350 $ per hour . We had the Jet ski excursion bit when we arrived to the island excursion desk they said it's all cancelled due to water conditions. The sea looks flat to me so maybe it's a matter of under water streams . I know such things can happen I just wished they would let us know while we still on the ship so we would plan differently. Oh well there are many more things to enjoy on the Island. By the way Jewel of the seas is also here 

 

[Traveler]

C19 update .

The Captain just let us know C19 cases were detected on board of the Symphony. From another reliable source it more than 15 , only two are crew. That's mean tomorrow Symphony boarding process will start very late , maybe after 3 PM since CDC will need to visit . Let's hope everything will goes well and everyone will feel better soon.

Update , some people were sent to Nassau ( I guess the cruise  crew ) the other will disembark in Miami . 

[Traveler]

Currently they ask people to use the mask in the theater ...

One not welcome change is the self  luggage disembarkation protocol change . Now you need to use luggage tags and show them once disembark so no flexible time anymore.

 

 

 

[MLH]

4 hours ago, Traveler said:

C19 update .

The Captain just let us know C19 cases were defected on board of the Symphony. From another reliable source it more than 15 , only two are crew. That's mean tomorrow Symphony boarding process will start very late , maybe after 3 PM since CDC will need to visit . Let's hope everything will goes well and everyone will feel better soon.

Update , some people were sent to Nassau ( I guess the cruise  crew ) the other will disembark in Miami . 

Sorry to hear of this.  I hope it is smooth sailing for you until you return.  Thank you for keeping us updated. 

[Traveler]

Funny , huge line in guest services , every second guess carry tons of used towels. It became a huge revenue for RCL

[MLH]

Do you know how many passengers were on board?

[Traveler]

36 minutes ago, MLH said:

Do you know how many passengers were on board?

I think around 4500-5000

[Traveler]

This is the email we got today: (Omericon came to visit)

ABOUT YOUR UPCOMING TRAVELS   Dear Guest, Earlier this evening, we were informed by the CDC that a guest who sailed on the December 4th, 2021 Symphony of the Seas sailing tested positive for COVID-19 after they returned home. This guest did not report symptoms to our onboard medical teams as outlined in our health protocols. Their post cruise test results were subsequently confirmed as the Omicron variant. Additionally, as the Captain announced, we have a small number of asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic COVID-19 cases on our December 11th cruise – fewer than 0.7 % of the total population onboard. While these cases are unrelated to the Omicron case from the guest who sailed on December 4th, our goal is always to keep you safe, healthy, and well-informed. Per CDC guidance, here’s what to do next: Within 3 – 5 days after you depart the ship, please be sure to visit an accredited laboratory to take a test for COVID-19. The health and safety of our guests and crew remain our highest priorities. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. Sincerely, Royal Caribbean International