Symphony of the Seas - Western Mediterranean

[ckruetze]

So, the big question: Do I write a live blog or do I not write one?

The problem, if I start, I have to finish it or it will look silly. But if I don’t even start nobody would notice it. ← That question is what has kept me busy the last couple of days.
I guess since you can read this I decided to write one (or at least start and then look silly if I abandon it).

Who is travelling? Me, my wife and our daughters (8 and 6 years old).

We arrived in Barcelona yesterday. Two days before our cruise but better safe than sorry. Our two flights were short and we would have plenty of other options to get here by Sunday. But we only ended up with a roughly 30 minute delay on arrival.

The trip started at home (a small village in Northern Germany). We drove to Billund (Denmark) on Thursday to spend a day in Legoland and then fly Friday morning from Billund to Barcelona (Spain) via Frankfurt (Germany). For anybody from the US – Europe is really small or the countries are. So we left our home country to go to another country to fly to Barcelona with a stop over in our home country. Have I managed to confuse you enough? If not, yes, Denmark is North of Germany and Barcelona is South. But we live so close to the border to Denmark that the closest bigger airport is actually Billund / Denmark for us. Oh and let’s not forget a day in Legoland is always fun.

OK, now to the actual cruise stuff or rather pre cruise stuff as we won’t start until tomorrow.
We asked our girls what they wanted to do today, so we ended up going to the zoo. Not a typical tourist thing I guess but the girls wanted to see animals so we did that. And it was fine. The zoo had nice animal enclosures and it seemed big enough for them and clean enough. I’m always sceptical if animals are kept in an animal friendly way, but the Barcelona zoo really looked nice (I’m not an expert on animal keeping (other then the 8 and 6 year old ones travelling with us).
We split up after that. My wife wanted to do lots of museums and touristy stuff – the girls and I didn’t, we wanted to relax.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a LEGO store. That raises the question how many more of them can we visit during the cruise. I’m a little annoyed about myself that I didn’t research that beforehand. But I still have time.

We finish of the day with some dinner later on and then after a nice relaxing breakfast we will be picked up at 10am to get to the cruise terminal tomorrow morning.

I guess since I started writing here on this forum, I will have to include something about the actual cruise too. So we are barding the Symphony of the seas tomorrow morning for a nice time on our first Royal Caribbean cruise through the western Mediterranean Sea. Our cabin will be 1733 – our girls have selected that cabin (at least that’s what I’m telling everyone) as yes, that is the Ultimate Family Suite.
Our Genie will be Stepan and from the communication so far he seems to be very friendly and we look forward to meeting him tomorrow. I have given his WhatsApp number not only to my wife but also to our 8 year old so he might get a little upset with me – if they have too many requests.

One final note:
While I said I will try to write a somewhat life blog I didn’t say that I would write daily. If I manage I will try to write at least something every day oh and if I find something interesting I might even include a picture or two. I’m just not 100% sure if it makes sense to include the same picture of a cheesecake or a water slide or … that you can find 1000 times on google or even on this website. I guess wait and see how many pictures I will include (yes, definitely some room pictures but again there are already so many on the internet).

 

That’s it for today. To everybody else who is on this cruise – see you tomorrow,

Christian

[LandstromCruise]

Have a great time. I’m sure your daughters will love that room. I cruised on Symphony in 2019. Overall really liked the ship. The food in the dining room that trip was a little disappointing, but loved the shows. 

[Sweety]

Have an awesome cruise.

[cedricmr]

Thanks for the blog.
The symphony is a beautiful ship. Parents and girls will find fun without any problem.
Since you are European, I imagine that you already know almost all the destinations of the cruise. In this case, take the opportunity to relax on the boat and in the cities. Some ice cream in each Italian city to motivate children!

[berkeleykel]

You hid the ball with this being a sailing in the Ultimate Family Suite! I’m excited to follow along. My family will be in the UFS on Symphony next month and it’s been so hard to find recent trip reports about it. Would love some photos of the room. Yes there are thousands out there already, but a lot date back to when the suite was first introduced and I’m curious to see how well it has held up.

Hope you have a wonderful time!

[ckruetze]

Day 1 – embarkation

 

Yesterday was embarkation day. That means I’m only one day behind in writing this and also I have now managed to write the second entry here

The pre-arranged driver picked us up at the hotel and about 20 minutes later we arrived at the Star Class entrance at Terminal C.

We had printed luggage tags already attached to each piece of luggage. So the staff only attached a Star Class sticker to each item. We didn’t need to wait around as a member of staff walked through security to check in with us.

Security took about 2 minutes. Mainly due to the fact that my belt was too metallic for the metal detector. – This is a hit and miss. Usually I get away with wearing it but I had to take it off and step back and forward again through the detector.

Check in itself was faster, less then a minute. I guess they looked at the pictures of the star class guests checking in around that time since when we walked to the counter they greeted my daughters by name. So the only thing I had to do is confirm it is us by showing them the app.

Then we had to wait about 5 minutes for Stepan, our Genie, to arrive and after that we walked on the ship.

At 10:35 we arrived at the Terminal and we wear on board at 11.

The muster station wasn’t open at 11 so we went to our cabin instead. Thanks to Gloria and her team the cabin was ready at 11.

We got in and went through some things with Stepan. We didn’t need a big tour through the room as we were well prepared thanks to Danny from Harr Travel and other great YouTubers.

Stepan managed to surprise me with two things that I didn’t know about.

The Ultimate Family Suite is apparently the only room that includes free, unlimited “Sugar Beach” candy – not healthy but good for the kids (of all ages). We tried it, it is very simple, fill a bag with sweets, go to pay for it, scan the sea pass and it shows up as a 100% discount.

The other thing that I didn’t know was this room comes with an “unlimited” number of blue towels that you can change or return at the towel station – more useful then the sweets.
The small devil in me is thinking what happens if I insist of returning more towels then I got from the towel station? Do I get a positive credit on my account?

However, we are not planing on abusing either of those things. We won’t buy all sweets and we won’t lose or steal blue towels.

 

Lunch was at Jamie’s Italian. The service was really good and very friendly. Service was fast I guess that was due to the fact that during our entire lunch a max of 4 tables were occupied (we had lunch at 12:30). I’m a picky eater so there weren’t too many things on the menu for me but I found something and so did everybody else. We’ll try it again on day 3 for dinner, I’ll report back on the food then.

 

After that we sort of wondered around a bit, had a look here and there. My wife went the the spa to sign up for whatever she had booked. And the girls and I went on the Ultimate Abyss. Again that was very empty, about 3 people in front of us.

 

At 5:30 we went ice skating. One of my daughters is good at it but both loved it and they want to do it again on Saturday. Let’s not talk about my wife or me on it. It is too many years ago that I last tried it.

 

Dinner was at 7pm at Chops Grille. We all found something easily and enjoyed our dinner. My wife went for fish and I couldn’t decided if I should try the lobster or the filet. The waiter was really good and suggested that instead of deciding he will get me a special surf ‘n turf option that wasn’t on the menu with both I loved it was great. Just I now know that I’m not a big fan of truffle french fries. Next time I ask for them without truffle. The kids had “normal” french fries and they were excellent.

 

After dinner the plan said HIRO.

The show was really good and we all enjoyed it. Stepan had seats reserved for us and escorted us to them and organised our drinks and popcorn.

I think there is supposed to be a plot/story in HIRO, if so I’m not sure if I got it. Is it supposed to be 3 factions fighting against each other and in the end they are all happy and party together?

It didn’t really matter. The show was great and we all enjoyed watching it. I think twice we got slightly sprayed with water, if you don’t like that don’t sit too close. I think the first two rows are marked with warning signs but in row 3 we also got slightly wet.

 

My wife and the 8 year old went to the balloon drop at midnight but the youngest one was tired (me too). So we went to bed before then.

 

 

Slightly annoying our phones show that we have a message – that means blinking red lights, but we couldn’t turn it off or listen to the message. So we covered two phones with towels for the night.

Oh and we wanted to use the hot tub on our balcony but it was too cold. It needed maintenance. They fixed it this morning. Now it does what it is supposed to do.

 

Anything else to report on the first day? Not really but here are some random observations:

Symphony of the Seas big – who would have guessed. But for the size I would have personally put in more elevators or smarter ones that don’t stop on the way if they are already full.

The Ultimate Family Suite is great but also has some strange aspects. There is a “kitchen” type wall next to the gaming TV/ LEGO wall, but the fridge is in the hall way – why?

The two massive TVs downstairs share a remote. Depending on how you point / hold the remote one or both TVs react.

The kids bathroom mirror has a build in TV – I can turn it on and off but not find any channels. Maybe I have to ask for help on that one. But I had to ask twice already (I couldn’t find the remote for the second big TV and I could “fold up” the TV in the bedroom into the ceiling. I might wait a day or two before I ask again how to operate a TV.

[WAAAYTOOO]

Great info on the sweet treats at Sugar Beach.  I think the towel thing is pretty standard for all SC suites but it's still a nice perk.

Sounds like you're off to a great start.  Enjoy your week on Symphony !!!

[Lovetocruise2002]

5 hours ago, ckruetze said:

The Ultimate Family Suite is apparently the only room that includes free, unlimited “Sugar Beach” candy –

The UFS also is the only Star suite that includes a free Thrill Waterpark cabana + 6 passes if the ship visits PDCC. I know you are doing a Med itinerary but good to keep in mind for future sailings.

 

[ckruetze]

34 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

The UFS also is the only Star suite that includes a free Thrill Waterpark cabana + 6 passes if the ship visits PDCC. I know you are doing a Med itinerary but good to keep in mind for future sailings.

Yes, I did read that and we are looking forward to it next year around Easter time

[WAAAYTOOO]

32 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

The UFS also is the only Star suite that includes a free Thrill Waterpark cabana + 6 passes if the ship visits PDCC. I know you are doing a Med itinerary but good to keep in mind for future sailings.

 

Oh....this is a biggie !

[Lovetocruise2002]

1 minute ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Oh....this is a biggie !

Most definitely a good perk of that suite.

[ckruetze]

Day 2 – Palma

 

Ok, it turns out holidays are stressful. A balloon drop at midnight doesn’t go too well with an early morning breakfast – at least not for my girls.

 

Maria is the only one of us four leaving the ship today. She had booked an excursion through Royal. She went to the “Flamenco Show at Son Amar”. Despite the name the excursion included more then just a flamenco show. It was also a small city sightseeing tour. Maria had fun and she really enjoyed the show.

The kids and I stayed on board but we also had fun. Most of the time without mum the kids went to “Splashaway Bay” the kids water play area. Something we really have to get used to is the level of presumed safety. 3 life guards for “Splashaway Bay” is a lot, one for each slide and one to wonder around. Don’t get me wrong, I think safety is important, but I think it is also possible to overdo it. My guess is this has something to do with the crazy US laws, you can sue anybody for everything. I’m more used to “use your brain” and kids will hurt themselves playing. - But ok, doesn’t really bother us so back to the blog.

 

While the kids were playing I relaxed in a hot tub and then spend some time watching the kids with a (non alcoholic) drink from the “Sand Bar”. Like the other venues I tried so far the bar staff was very friendly and fast. After the first drink I didn’t need to show my sea pass again for the rest of the morning.

 

We went for a late lunch to “Sorento’s”. Pizza always works. We each had a couple of slices – not too much as we had a big dinner planned. For around 6pm.

After the pizza we stopped at the “Vitality Cafe” for a smoothie. It was nice and I think I will get another one during the holidays. Next time I have to enquire if they can customize it and use more fruits of one type for example. Very strangely even my 6 year old liked it – usually she doesn’t like anything new.

 

We then returned to the room for a while. The 8 year old went out on her own to go down the “Ultimate Abyss Slide” twice. She proved that she can do it. So I feel comfortable to let her or both of them together wonder around alone for a limited time.

 

After her trip to the flamenco’s Maria went to the thermal spa to relax for an hour and then met us all on time for Hibachi at Izumi. The kids were tired (the 8 year old actually dozed off for a good 15 minutes while sitting there. But apart from the youngest one we all enjoyed the food.

Two negative points – I should have guessed that, but the “show” doesn’t actually start until everybody at your table has arrived. We arrived about 5 minutes early and others about 10 minutes late. So we had to wait for 15 minutes – that’s somewhat boring not only for the kids.

But really the one thing I didn’t expect at all was the noise level. I think after the dinner an hour at an airport runway or an AC/DC concert would be really relaxing for the ears. The room is somewhat small with a low ceiling and the chef has to scream over the noise the other chef’s make and the other two tables. The girls didn’t like it at all especially the youngest one.

So my wife and I might go back later this week or next week but without the kids.

 

After dinner we went to 1977: “A Thrilling Adventure on Ice”. Our Genie met us at the door got us popcorn and drinks and nice seats front row near the middle. Oh and something I didn’t know, he had blankets so no need to worry about being underdressed for an ice show.

The show itself was good the plot or the story wasn’t the best but the performers were great. We wouldn’t have minded if the show would have been longer. And we look forward to the other ice show “iSkate 2.0” later this week.

 

Since it was fixed we had a working hot tub so late in the evening it was used

I think I agree with the comments online that the location of the Ultimate Family Suite is better on Wonder of the Seas. Here on Symphony the balcony is a little too public.

 

Maria went down to the silent disco for a while when I watched over the girls and ensured that they got to bed slightly earlier.

 

Maria and I were talking about the laundry bag that we filled early morning and that it sadly didn’t arrive the same day – not that we needed it that day. But when we went to get ready for bed we noticed it in the wardrobe. Shirts hanging up nicely and everything washed and returned on that day. Gloria did a fantastic job in not only returning it but hanging it up inside where it should be.

 

We had a little problem with the phones the night before as there were those annoying blinking lights indicating about a message. Gloria figured out how to listen to it. Only one of the three phones works for that – and that is the only phone I did not try.

The messaging system is strange. The automated voice prompts are in German (I guess since I’m German) but the message from shore excursions itself was in English. That also meant that Gloria couldn’t delete the message. She listened to it and understood that it was late, and not really necessary in the first place but, more a friendly reminder to be on time and bring the stuff you need to bring. But since the message “Press 1 to repeat, press 2 to delete, …” was in German she couldn’t do it. But she met us in the evening after the ice show and together we figured out how to delete the message – so no more blinking phones.

Is that automated message normal for the first excursion on the cruise? Since we didn’t get one for the day 3 excursion.

When we were about to go to bed an office from the technical team showed up to fix the phones – I was a little embarrassed that I couldn’t delete a simple voice message but really nobody told me to try all three phones.

 

So that’s it for today, we all 4 managed to be in bed just before midnight. Tomorrow we’ll be in Marseille

 

Random observation for today:

The background noise on a cruise ship is something I need to get used to. At home we here birds when it gets light outside and usually the first car around 6:05 (one of our neighbours going to work) and then only nature until around 6:30am. The advantage of living in a small village in the middle of nowhere. But here on board you constantly hear air-conditioning, elevators, engines, ...

 

[SweetPea]

On 7/31/2023 at 10:39 AM, ckruetze said:

Just I now know that I’m not a big fan of truffle french fries. Next time I ask for them without truffle. The kids had “normal” french fries and they were excellent.

Sacrilege!

You are off to an excellent start! Thanks for blogging and taking us with you. 

[Lovetocruise2002]

1 hour ago, SweetPea said:

Sacrilege!

+1 lol

I could eat a ton of truffle fries!

[ckruetze]

On 7/31/2023 at 5:06 PM, WAAAYTOOO said:

Great info on the sweet treats at Sugar Beach.  I think the towel thing is pretty standard for all SC suites but it's still a nice perk.

Sounds like you're off to a great start.  Enjoy your week on Symphony !!!

The best part about the towels is if you return them at the towel station without showing any sea pass cards. The staff have a smile/smirk on there faces indicating they are happy that they have earned some extra money. And other guests are shocked.
However this morning we are down to 8 of them. Hopefully we get more during the day.

[Lovetocruise2002]

6 hours ago, ckruetze said:

However this morning we are down to 8 of them. Hopefully we get more during the day.

Usually in the star suites, the stateroom attendant keeps track of your supply and just keeps restocking them throughout the week. We have never had to ask for more. They just show up.

[SweetPea]

On 7/30/2023 at 11:17 AM, berkeleykel said:

You hid the ball with this being a sailing in the Ultimate Family Suite!

IKR! Way to bury the lead! i would love to take my neices and nephews in this suite.  

[ckruetze]

On 7/30/2023 at 5:17 PM, berkeleykel said:

You hid the ball with this being a sailing in the Ultimate Family Suite!

Yes, sorry for hiding that. But I might be hiding something else, wait for day 8 when we are back in Barcelona.

[ckruetze]

Day 3 – Marseille

Sorry for slacking off and now already being two days late. I’ll try to catch up somehow.

We again started the day with an (for us) early breakfast at 8ish. Maria had to be at the meeting point at 9 for the “Marseille By Open-Top Bus” tour. She enjoyed it and had fun oh and despite the name the tour also had two longer stops to walk around at places.

Me and the girls met some new friends for lunch at “Sorento’s”. The girls used the Coca Cola cups for the first time and yes they work but for smaller people (kids) it is hard to fill them or rather hard to stop before they overfill as they can’t see when they are filled to the top.

After that we briefly returned to the room to relax and chat before we went to the pool deck. They must have read my blog from yesterday as there were times with only one life guard at “Splashaway Bay”. Despite the windows on that deck 15 it was somewhat windy and a little bit cold on that deck.
My 8 year old went up to the big slides and she came back and said not again it is too cold up there with the wind. Actually when leaving the harbour it was the first time on this cruise that we really felt we were on a ship. No big waves or glasses moving just before that it was so calm that it didn’t feel like a ship at all.

Dinner was at Jamie’s. We were welcomed back as we went there for the boarding day lunch. Service was good and it was again not very crowded. We had dinner at 6 pm and by the time we left I would say about 50% to 70% of the tables were occupied.

As evening entertainment we went to “Hairspray! The Broadway Musical”.
Maria and I liked it it was really good. Our 8 year old daughter also thought also it was good but for our 6 year old one it was too long (1 hour 45 or so).

After the musical Maria took the girls to the room to get ready for bed and I spent my first ever hour in the casino. I used $ 20 from my sea pass card. And after the hour I had $ 0,18 left (please note I’m from Germany so I write it 0,18 and not 0.18).
Oh and I got 15 casino points – not sure what to do with them but I have them now.
When I started in the casino there was a distinct popcorn smell, but after about half an hour it slowly turned into cigarette smell despite being on the non smoking side.
Also on deck you find signs every 5 meter that a wet floor is slippery (something that is obvious for people from outside North America or at least something we don’t sue a cruise company for that). But the casino was definitely lacking signs that one side is none smoking – I wonder, can I sue Royal for any health problems I might ever get due to the fact that too many people smoked in the none smoking side?

Random observation for the day:
A ship this size needs more elevators (I think I mentioned that one before)

[ckruetze]

Day 4 – La Spezia

I’m back to only one day behind the actual trip.

Breakfast was again at Coastal Kitchen around 8:30.
The day before I forgot to mention that our Genie asked us in the evening if we enjoyed the fruit, chocolate covered strawberries and cake. We looked confused at him and said it was day 2 and not day 3. That made him confused as he definitely said he ordered some for us and he will enquire what happened. So at day 4 for breakfast he was able to report that the order arrived in the kitchen for chocolate covered strawberries – wherever that is on the ship – and they also noted that the strawberries definitely left that kitchen but they never made it to deck 17. As we weren’t worried at all it’s rather funny that they investigate that. And I really wonder if they ever found them.

We didn’t do much in the morning. Maria went to the spa. The girls played here or there. They also found the arcade and I allowed them one game each – surprisingly they sicked to it.

For lunch we went to Coastal Kitchen which was not only empty but more importantly the lunch was nice. We will go there again for lunch during this trip.

After lunch we went to the meeting place for the Pisa tour. It was really nice that it was an afternoon tour instead of early morning. The meeting was in Studio B the ice rink, but everybody was dressed for a hot day out in Pisa.
The bus ride took about one hour but that hour went very quickly. I checked on google maps the route and then I was able to choose seats in the shade instead of the sunny side of the bus. If you don’t like too much sun I suggest you always do that before longer excursions.
Pisa itself was ok, I can now confirm having seen it with my own eyes that the tower is really leaning. What I didn’t expect was that the place where the tower is is relatively small and a lot of tourists want to visit that tower so it is very very crowded. Oh and no, I didn’t take the usual picture while pretending to hold the tower up or push it over.

During the tour my kids met another 8 year old girl and they had a lot of fun together playing and chatting.
On the bus ride back to the ship two rows behind us a small boy had a slight problem (a sick bag would have helped) but we arrived back at La Spezia before the smell got too bad.

We only had about 45 minutes to get ready for dinner at Hooked.
Hooked was great, the food was nice and finally no truffle fries. They offered “normal” ones and spicy cajun ones – I liked both. Maria and the girls also found something they enjoyed so overall it was a great dinner. The girls really wanted strawberry ice cream for dessert – that wasn’t on the menu but the waiter went to get some from Windjammer. What a great service. The girls were really happy and both want to go back – not sure if it was due to the food or the ice cream.

After dinner we had to go straight down to level 4 for the show “Hector is Magic”.
Our Genie greeted us at the entrance with popcorn ready for the girls. A random family decided to ignore the reserved for Star Class banners on the seats and occupied them. That didn’t go down too well with the Genie – I felt a little bit embarrassed for causing some trouble but then again how could you ignore about 10 big purple seat covers in a room with 1000 seats?
The show was really great and something for all ages. All four of us would visit it again. Also sitting just next to us were some new friends we from Germany we met on the first day. It wasn’t planned but they had the seats just next to us.

The girls had decided to go to the ice show 1977: “A Thrilling Adventure on Ice” a second time. Both because they really enjoyed it but also because the Genie greeted them with popcorn a second time that evening. From the Royal Theater to Studio B is just past the elevators so that was really quick and no queuing to get up.

After that we returned to the cabin and decided to use the hot tub as a family. It was late and dark outside so we used the function to have lots of different coloured lights in the tub and relaxed for 20 or so minutes before turning in for the night.

[ckruetze]

A quick question. Should I post some pictures? If so of what? I don't think I've seen anything so far that hasn't already been shown here on the forum and definitely on the internet.

I can try to add photos I just don't know what would be interesting.

[Lovetocruise2002]

5 minutes ago, ckruetze said:

The day before I forgot to mention that our Genie asked us in the evening if we enjoyed the fruit, chocolate covered strawberries and cake. We looked confused at him and said it was day 2 and not day 3. That made him confused as he definitely said he ordered some for us and he will enquire what happened. So at day 4 for breakfast he was able to report that the order arrived in the kitchen for chocolate covered strawberries – wherever that is on the ship – and they also noted that the strawberries definitely left that kitchen but they never made it to deck 17. As we weren’t worried at all it’s rather funny that they investigate that. And I really wonder if they ever found them.

This happens sometimes. On our last cruise, we were getting ready for dinner and the doorbell rang. Not really expecting anything, we answered it anyway. Room service was there with a giant case of ginger ale. We told room service that we did not order that and he said our Genie ordered it for us. I told him no way, I don't want it, because we don't even touch Ginger ale, nor did I ask our Genie to stock it in our room. 30 minutes later, when our Genie met us for dinner, it was discovered that it was supposed to go to her other guests. Had we accepted it, room service would have just left it with us and those other guests would have been left wondering what happened. Might be what happened with your strawberries. Room service messed up, and someone got a nice little surprise lol

[Lovetocruise2002]

8 minutes ago, ckruetze said:

Should I post some pictures?

I cannot speak for anyone else, but YES! Pictures are always great!

[WAAAYTOOO]

19 minutes ago, ckruetze said:

A random family decided to ignore the reserved for Star Class banners on the seats and occupied them. That didn’t go down too well with the Genie – I felt a little bit embarrassed for causing some trouble but then again how could you ignore about 10 big purple seat covers in a room with 1000 seats?

Did they move without any incident ?  This has only happened to us once...at the Aqua Theater on our first or second SC sailing.  In our case, the man who was sitting in one of the reserved seats refused to move.  It got quite testy.  Security was eventually called and the man finally relented and moved but he made his wife STAY in her seat so we sat next to a very embarrassed and unhappy lady.

We were quite embarrassed about it as well.  We offered to sit somewhere else but the only other seats available were also reserved (not Star Class but reserved, nonetheless) so we really had nowhere else to go.

[DDaley]

5 hours ago, ckruetze said:

A quick question. Should I post some pictures? If so of what? I don't think I've seen anything so far that hasn't already been shown here on the forum and definitely on the internet.

Yes! Speaking for myself I come to the Live Blogs FOR the pictures. I always still read the entries but blogs with pictures are the best! Pics of literally ANYTHING would be greatly appreciated! You were in Italy!! Any pictures from off the ship, any pictures from on the ship. LITERALLY ANY pictures from your crazy cabin you barely mentioned!! Pretty please!!! 

[SweetPea]

Of course you should post pics!

[berkeleykel]

2 hours ago, ckruetze said:

Yes, sorry for hiding that. But I might be hiding something else, wait for day 8 when we are back in Barcelona.

My eyebrows were already raised at:

On 8/1/2023 at 9:57 AM, ckruetze said:

So my wife and I might go back later this week or next week but without the kids.

 

 

I'd love some photos of the gaming area.  Is there much of a selection of video games?  Is there still a chalk board and Lego wall?  

[ckruetze]

Day 5 – Civitavecchia

Didn’t last long with being up to date. Now I’m already more then three days behind. Sorry for that.
Oh and I will add pictures just have to find some.

There was a question about the games in the gaming section of the suite. We have a PS4 and an Xbox One. Three games each but we haven’t used them. The connection also shows an Input for a Nintendo Switch but there is none. My girls would have played Nintendo games but they are not really into Xbox or Playstation games. However it is really not important for us. We didn’t come here to play video games.

I just figured out what the problem is with being 3 days behind. I can’t remember what we did 3 days ago.

We didn’t leave the ship, we stayed on board. Maria went to the spa for some treatments – don’t ask me what it was. Even if she would be here right now and explain it to me, I wouldn’t be able to understand it. Maybe the female readers would understand her but I don’t.

Breakfast was interesting. We went to Johnny Rockets. Maria was the only one of us who enjoyed a bacon milkshake. While the food was good, the portions were too big for all of us and not really something we would order for breakfast. We would eat there again but not for breakfast.
As everywhere else on board the staff were friendly and helpful.
Interesting observation sometimes sometimes the checks have a $ 0 as the item price and sometimes they have a real price and then a 100% discount below them to get to $ 0 again. Not sure what happens when or why.

We went to the pool and the girls had some fun. For lunch we got some smaller things from El Loco Fresh. Surprisingly for us even our girls who are picky eaters enjoyed it.

In the afternoon our 8 year old one went to play with another 8 year old girl she met. Both girls asked if they could play ONE game in the arcade. And both kids managed to play 25 $2 games for a total of $50 each. So, lesson learned – no more unsupervised arcade privileges for the girls.

On dinner we went to Chops Grille. All 4 of us found something we like.
I have no idea why but since the cruise started the girls love strawberry ice cream. At home they eat it but not constantly. So as usual during this holiday they got strawberries ice cream for dessert.

We didn’t do anything new for entertainment after that. We went to HIRO again. The girls really had fun and want to go again – not sure if we will manage to do that this week as there are shows we haven’t seen at all.
After HIRO the girls and I went to the room and Maria went to “The Greatest 80’s Party Ever!”

[ckruetze]

Day 6 – Naples

I’m sorry, but I forgot what we did for breakfast. I think we went to Coastal Kitchen.
In general I’ve never seen Coastal Kitchen being full for breakfast. But I wish the opening hours would be longer.

Several crew members told us that they enjoy Naples since the ship docks right in the city.
Maria tried it and used that opportunity to walk around Naples for some hours. She had fun in the city.

The girls and I did the usual thing, hang out at the pool and play. While I found a nice place in the shade to relax. I also went up to the suite sundeck for the first time. They had two bar tenders up there for a total of 4 guests (before I went up). It was nice and if we wouldn’t be hanging out with none suite friends I think we would spend more time up there - maybe next time.

For dinner we went to Wonderland.
It was an interesting, fun experience. Just our 6 year old didn’t find anything to eat she liked. In the end she just got fresh fries. Overall the food quality was good but the main thing was the presentation and that was excellent.
We generally like to eat early with the girls between 6 and 7pm. On Mediterranean cruises this is a good time as restaurants are empty. A waiter at Jamie’s told me on Caribbean cruises he said it was usually the opposite, lot’s of people really early for dinner and empty later on.
But not only does early dinner work well for the girls, it also works well with the shows. No stress at all. On some days we even go to the room for half an hour after dinner and before the show.

Evenings entertainment was “Flight...Date to Dream”. Maria and I loved the show, but both girls didn’t like it. Our Genie asked us where we would want to set before the show, he had blocked some seats at the front and some on the mezzanine level (Still on deck 4) but more back and slightly higher up. As we had never seen the show, I didn’t know, so he choose for us. And for Flight the mezzanine are the better seats at least for the end part with lots of flying around in the theatre.
I really enjoyed it and I would go and see it again if I can.

I think I forgot on one of the earlier days that we managed to sneak in a second 1977 ice show. As the girls loved it so much.

Random thoughts for the day:
I think there should be more elevators or smarter elevators where you select the destination before getting on. Going from level 5 to 17 with 10 stops in between really takes very long. Also I’m surprised on how many people go to 17 my guess is because it is the top. But then they figure out there is nothing on 17 they can access and only go down again. Coastal Kitchen requires a card to access it so why not make the 17th floor on the lifts the same?

[LandstromCruise]

53 minutes ago, ckruetze said:

In the afternoon our 8 year old one went to play with another 8 year old girl she met. Both girls asked if they could play ONE game in the arcade. And both kids managed to play 25 $2 games for a total of $50 each. So, lesson learned – no more unsupervised arcade privileges for the girls.

But Dad, it didn't ask for money so I thought it was free 

[ckruetze]

Day 7 – at Sea

Day 7 was rough. Windy and high seas. I don’t mind that but others do. Maria and our 6 year old took some seasickness medicine around lunch time.

I’m not sure at all what we did yesterday. I think Maria went to the spa in the morning for an early treatment – again don’t ask I wouldn’t be able to tell you what it was anyway - but she returned happy so all is good. I went to Coastal Kitchen alone. I took two plates of pancakes to the room for the girls.

All of day 7 feels strange, you can see suitcases here and there or people with luggage tags. I think this is somewhat sad. It would be so much nicer if a cruise ended around lunch time and not early morning, to be able to have a great day 7 and not get into the departure mood.

At 9 am we were supposed to have a Star Class exclusive Flowrider session but that got cancelled due to the waves. (Strangely enough we had higher waves later on and both Flowrider were in use.)
About 8:50 our Genie rang our door bell to inform us about that. But he had an alternative. Ice skating. The girls were a little annoyed that they had to change quickly, but a bathing suit isn’t really allowed for ice skating.

All day long the app annoyed me with stupid departure messages. Like settle your account, do this do that. Be prepared at 7:45am to leave the ship etc.
Royal, if you are reading this, please improve your IT. You have my credit card on file to settle the account, so don’t tell me to go to Guest Services to settle my account. Also the app knows my cabin number so the app should know that I’m star class and there is some flexibility with leaving so please don’t remind me constantly to be somewhere at 7:45 in the morning where I don’t really have to be. Sorry for that – back to the regular daily program.

At 11:30 we had the Star Class bridge tour. That was great. The captain was also on the bridge and came over for a minute to say hi. During a normal sea day 3 people need to be on the bridge not more as the autopilot is taking care of everything anyway. I didn’t know they had several special radars to measure the wave height. But they could switch and show wave heights forward and for both sides. At the point of the tour 7,4 or 7,5 meter was the highest wave for the day. And according to the bridge office that is very unusual for the Mediterranean usually it is much calmer.
What impressed me the most, the bridge is a really big room, there are some consoles at both ends and a little bigger in the middle. However, it seems that most of the room is filled with sofas and coffee tables. It definitely looks like a nice spot to hang out and enjoy the view.

For lunch we had planed on sushi at Izumi. But the day was really packed and with two people not feeling too well, we cancelled it.

Early afternoon Maria and the girls had a booked cupcake decorating session. I had seen it online and I thought it was – you know – decorating the top of cupcakes. But instead every participant turned 3 cupcakes into a hamburger with fries. It looked really good and was something different.

Dinner was again early at 6pm. We went to 150 Central Park and again all 4 of us found something we liked.

After dinner we went to the last show for the week - iSkate 2.0. It is hard to compare that with 1977 as both shows were really good and both shows had good music but if I could see one of them again and only one I would choose iSkate 2.0. There must be a reason but I think it is strange that 1977 was on on 3 days and iSkate only on one day.

After that we had some more pictures taken. Not knowing how useful it is we pre booked a 50 photo package before the cruise. And on the morning of day 7 we only had a total of 24 photos.
The last guy taking photos we met around 10pm, I kept telling him, we need more, we needed 14 photos at that point. So he took enough.
All of them are nice and I don’t regret buying the photo package but I wouldn’t do it again. Also it doesn’t help that you have to select your photos before the end of the cruise.
Royal, if you are reading this please improve your IT. There is no way to select multiple photos to include them in the “shopping basket” also if you really want to be smart if people have selected a photo package but not selected enough photos just fill it up for them automatically from the start, form the back, randomly, but if someone buys a 50 photo package and you have at least 50 photos of that room, send him/her 50 photos.

That’s it for the day, we said good buy to our loft attended assistant (I’m sorry, I haven’t figured out what the correct job title is). Fun fact, he is changing on day 8 to a different position on the ship.
Actually several people have told me that during the week. Bar tenders and waiters moving to different locations.
Oh and the app was busy sending me reminders about luggage etc. I ignored them until day 8!

 

[LandstromCruise]

2 minutes ago, ckruetze said:

All of day 7 feels strange, you can see suitcases here and there or people with luggage tags. I think this is somewhat sad. It would be so much nicer if a cruise ended around lunch time and not early morning, to be able to have a great day 7 and not get into the departure mood.

Agree with this, and honestly wouldn't mind if that meant getting on the ship day 1 was delayed a few hours and departure was at 9pm instead of 5pm.  

3 minutes ago, ckruetze said:

All day long the app annoyed me with stupid departure messages. Like settle your account, do this do that. Be prepared at 7:45am to leave the ship etc.
Royal, if you are reading this, please improve your IT. You have my credit card on file to settle the account, so don’t tell me to go to Guest Services to settle my account. Also the app knows my cabin number so the app should know that I’m star class and there is some flexibility with leaving so please don’t remind me constantly to be somewhere at 7:45 in the morning where I don’t really have to be. Sorry for that – back to the regular daily program.

I never get off when I am "supposed" to.  I know there isn't much to do in the morning, but I want to enjoy every last minute and not rush off.  

[ckruetze]

I'm getting old, I forgot something. On day 7 we hosted a small party for 3 new friends we met on the cruise.

The cabin is always stocked with plenty of drinks anyway so no worries here. And we figured we should really use the bottle of champagne provided on day 1 for arrival. The poor staff members who changed the ice daily on it. But with me not drinking a whole bottle was too much for Maria, so having some friends over was perfect. We ordered some drinks. I asked our Genie about it and it was no problem at all. The daily amount of snacks was just slightly increased for the day but no other changes.

Also I guess since we didn't order any alcohol or large amounts of other drinks and our friends all had drink packages with alcohol (except the child) there was no charge for that.

[ckruetze]

Day 8 – back in Barcelona
(6th of August 2023)
We started the day early. Maria had an excursion booked for Barcelona.
Something that was tricky without a Genie. The excursions for day 8 I was able to book on the app or online before the cruise all ended up at the airport, but that wasn’t really a place we wanted to go to.
I figured Coastal Kitchen would be busy in the morning so we ordered room service breakfast the day before for me and the girls, Maria didn’t want anything that early.
The girls and I went down to deck 5 where the exit is for our 9:30 appointment. There were some queues to leave the ship. But we didn’t really have to queue. A nice staff member took our three sea pass cards and scanned them to leave the ship.
Day 2.1 – still on Barcelona
The same person who scanned our cards for us to leave had an envelope with three new cards and new wow bands for us. She scanned us in again and our second week starts. All without having to actually leave the ship. Only a security guard looked at the pictures on the screen to confirm that we were the three people she scanned out and in.
She also gave us three new WOW bands. She asked us if we wanted to keep the old sea pass cards – I said no. Thinking back I’m not sure it was a good idea the old cards would have been nice to keep but then again even more junk to store at home.
Fun fact: As Maria left really early at 7:45 for the excursion that isn’t usually bookable by people attending this cruise. It is bookable only for people who get on in Italy she was too early for the B2B cruise meeting. So our Genie got her her new sea pass card almost 24 hours early. With the explicit instructions to not use the new one until she is back from the excursion and to leave the ship with the old one but scan the new one when returning.
The small devil in me would have loved to try, what happens if you use a sea pass card for a future cruise on the current one?
So I guess the surprise was we have a B2B cruise in the Ultimate Family Suite
As we didn’t change the state rooms or anything else like that we didn’t have to pack so all those app messages about luggage and when to leave were not important. Gloria our loft attendant was also happy as it meant one room less to deep clean for a guest change.
Lunch was at Coastal Kitchen. Initially it started as me and the girls as Maria was still somewhere in Barcelona. But she returned just as the girls were about to leave. So  I stayed longer with Maria.
In the afternoon we didn’t do much. We finally managed to all go to the Suite sundeck. For the two hours or so we were there the 4 of use more then doubled the number of guests up there. We had the hot tub to ourselves and plenty of seating everywhere
Dinner was at Jamie’s. As always very friendly staff and we all found something we like. Also we were not greeted with “Welcome aboard” but instead “Welcome back” – I guess they will miss us next week. (I can already reveal right now that there won’t be a third week in the Ultimate Family Suite for us or even anywhere else, we all miss our home, our work, our friends, ...)
After dinner Maria and the girls went to HIRO again – I guess at this point we have seen all the bigger shows.
And I used the time to catch up on writing the blog. I have now finally managed to catch up to right now, week: 2, day: 1, time: 23:14.
The only thing that I haven’t managed to sort out is the photos to upload but I have taken a lot of them so I will get around to that too – I promise.
The day is not finished. At midnight is the balloon drop on the Royal Promenade and both girls would like a balloon. The 6 year old ones would like a blue one and the other a yellow one. But they are both too tired to go so mum has to do it. I’ll report the next day if she managed to get the desired colours.

Oh and finally, if you are on board right now and your iPhone is called “tamik” I’m not giving you the code to connect to the TV in our cabin. I know you have tried it several times this evening but forget it, you won’t get the code from me!

[SweetPea]

5 hours ago, ckruetze said:

Maria was the only one of us who enjoyed a bacon milkshake.

Batman loves all things bacon, but i read him this part of your post, and he was wondering how this would be any good I imagine it's a vanilla milkshake with bacon bits?

A B2B is so awesome! Enjoy your second week!

[ckruetze]

6 hours ago, SweetPea said:

imagine it's a vanilla milkshake with bacon bits?

Yes it is more or less vanilla with two or three bacon slices stuck in there.

I usually also really like bacon just not in milkshakes.

[berkeleykel]

18 hours ago, ckruetze said:

There was a question about the games in the gaming section of the suite. We have a PS4 and an Xbox One. Three games each but we haven’t used them. The connection also shows an Input for a Nintendo Switch but there is none.

Thanks! I was the one who had asked.  Not going to lie I'm a bit annoyed by this, obviously kids who are young enough to enjoy the slide are probably only playing Nintento level (hell I only play Nintendo), and the PS5 came out like 3 years ago.  Seems kind of cheap to not keep the video games updated.  We'll have to bring our Switch with us.

Do you think the room overall is in good condition?

[ckruetze]

OK, I know I have already some days to catch up with but let me try some answers and hopefully some pictures first.

 

The room overall:

It is really nice, we love it and it is in a great condition.

If I should pick out some negative things I guess I would start with the technology. It feels like a smart home 5 to 10 years ago. Some things have older touch screens, others have lots of buttons. Example, next to my side of the bed I have light switches labelled 1 to 6 and off. I'm now here for 10 days and I still couldn't tell you what 1 to 6 do. Theyx turn on lights - but what the difference is - no idea. Also while very nice, it is confusing the off switch turns everything off but with various delays. Some lights turn instantly off, the longest one has a 30 second delay - now that is cool, but it took me about 5 days to figure this out.

Also some of the TVs share a remote (others even the program - I think).  And there is no way to turn individual sets of lights off. For example the stairs have some nice lights but from where I'm sitting at the table right now they are really bright in my face, but I can only turn them off with the rest of the room.

The curtains are also interesting, they are big, heavy and electric, but you can either open or close them, not half close them for example. If you want them closed but leave a gap to go to the balcony that is not possible - or I didn't figure out how.

I guess if you have teenagers the consoles would be a problem. Not the latest generation and not that many games. We don't play that much, but don't you just log into your account anyway and then have all the games you play at home?

 

OK, now the smaller things

- I love a pitch black room for sleeping but there are a lot of smaller lights here and there, that are a little annoying.

- I understand real estate on a ship is tight, so they use smaller toilets but why are they so low? Please build them higher in the future. Also the flushes are so hard that my kids need help to press them ???

- If you have a kitchen, please build the fridge in the kitchen and not away from it.

 

Really the negative points are only there because I needed to write something. We love this room and the ship and we would book it again.

[ckruetze]

Afternoon snacks
We started with something really nice looking, one plate full of snacks, more then adequate.

But it got more. By day 2 we had 3 plates

 

Then it got more and more.

This is day 7 (yes, we had some friends over so it was more):

The friends left again but the plates didn't. We don't like to waste food so I politely asked to reduce it again by at least one plate.

This is day 11:

If it stays at this level everything is good, otherwise I will add another picture.

 

[ckruetze]

The video games available. Please not I have not turned on either console so I don't know if more games are available as downloads without disks.