Orchestrating an Intergenerational family vacation on Symphony of the Seas, March 23-31, 2024

[jbrinkm]

We leave on Friday for our 8-night Southern Caribbean cruise. I will be very busy Thursday - Saturday of this week, so I'm starting now in hopes that it will be easier to keep up with some smaller posts as we begin our travel. 

This will be our first time on Symphony - I'm super excited to cruise on this ship! There will be six of us: me, DH, DD (just turned 17) and DS (14) plus my parents (more below).

Our itinerary is -
Day 1 Cruising from Fort Lauderdale/Port Everglades
Day 3 Labadee (I'm fairly sure we won't stop here, but haven't heard yet what we'll have instead)
Day 5 Aruba
Day 6 Curacao

I'm bummed about Labadee. The last time we were here was in 2014 (kids were 4 & 7) so we were very excited to do all of the adventure activities this year - superman zip line, coaster and jet skis - and bought them all on Black Friday special. Hopefully we'll have some sort of stop since they've had two weeks to figure it out. With an eight night, spring break (crowded) ship, I'd prefer for 3 of the days to be in port.

We're flying from Newark, which is not our home airport - it is about 2 hours away - but was half the price. We also have a mix & match flight: JetBlue to FLL on Friday night and United back from PBI on Sunday. I've prebooked a parking space at a private location.

My parents are cruising with us for the first time. The company my Dad works for used to charter ships in the 80s so they have cruised before, but nothing like what they'll experience on Symphony. They are retired so got a good flight deal by going down on Wednesday. They are renting a car and have a great price for the three nights for a room in a condo complex (offered as an add on to their Southwest flight). They will be picking up a bottle of wine, some bottled water and maybe a few other things since they'll have so much time. We don't get in until 9pm so essentially just sleeping, breakfast and an Uber to the port. We have an 11:30am check in but plan to get there around 11am. 

They originally booked a GTY ocean view, which was the same price as an interior at the time. I caught a sale and upgraded them to a GTY ocean balcony, they were assigned 6th floor really early, and then our fabulous TA moved them two doors down from us on the 8th floor.

On our last cruise, we did a Discover Scuba for the first time and loved it. So we decided to do our PADI cert over the summer and our OW dives in a quarry in October - that was not fun at all - but we're fully certified and have a dive planned for both Aruba and Curacao. We also rented a car in Aruba. We have a very late day there (9 or 10pm) so we'll dive in the morning and then plan to drive around sightseeing for the rest of the afternoon. We rented from Top Drive and added on the chairs/snorkel/cooler package so my parents will hang out at Eagle or Palm Beach while my family dives. 

On Curacao, we will dive, my parents will snorkel, we'll change and grab lunch back on the ship and then we plan to just do a self-guided walking trip to the bridge, etc. I also want to check out the artist that @FionaMG mentioned and maybe pick up a print or two. 

We have all the shows reserved, Escape room booked, specialty lunch at Giovanni's on boarding day, and a meal at Wonderland booked to celebrate my daughter's birthday. I also got the birthday package for her, with the room decorations and cake. 

Have to run, but more to come!

[GatorCruiser]

Amazing! Enjoy !! Symphony was my first Royal cruise. Love her , awesome ship , will always have a soft spot for her. You’ll love her. 

[FionaMG]

Following! Hope you have a really amazing time.

[WAAAYTOOO]

You’ve really done your homework, @jbrinkm.  I’m impressed.  I know you will have a great time.  You have chosen a magnificent ship with a top tier itinerary.  Congratulations on achieving your OW cert.   Looking forward to your live blog.

[LandstromCruise]

Great ship to do this itinerary. I had similar itinerary in Nov(just PDCC instead of Labadee) on Odyssey, and do that same itinerary on Oasis in March 2026. 

[Ampurp85]

Ooooh parents and children, I hope your parents enjoy.

I have Symphony planned as part of my Jan annual S2S2S, she is the last Oasis ship I need to complete my set, I am not counting Utopia as she is "sub" class

[asquared17]

YES I AM HERE FOR THIS!!!

symph my favorite ship

can’t wait til you’re aboard!!

[ScottD]

Awesome, looking forward to this...Symphony is most likely our next ship, so definitely following along for this one! Excited for you and your family! 

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

I’m following your adventures!  I will be boarding Symphony in 58 days with my two grandsons and their mom (my daughter ).  We have 2 OV connecting balconies.

I'm looking forward to your ship and food pictures as well as your “off ship fun!”!

[Sweety]

Have a wonderful and beautiful memory cruise. I have said many times before, this blog is expensive. Now I have Symphony on my list for 2026.

[jbrinkm]

5 hours ago, Sweety said:

... this blog is expensive

Yes... I pulled out all of my cruise stuff plus all of the new Bezos stuff I bought and it almost fills up a full suitcase. I blame @asquared17   A lot is still in packaging so I hope it shrinks down substantially when I unwrap it all. Once I get back in there to reorganize, I'll take pics of it so you can see the madness. 

Went to the bank and got our cruise cash today. Makes it feel really real! 

It looks like Falmouth, Jamaica is our replacement stop for Labadee. What should I do there? Any suggestions? I am definitely a "planner" @WAAAYTOOO so this Labadee situation is throwing me for a loop, to have to pull something together last minute. My husband jokes that I'm the chess player of life - always thinking 5 steps ahead - and he is a checkers player of life, just responding to what's happening in the moment. 

20 hours ago, LandstromCruise said:

I had similar itinerary in Nov(just PDCC instead of Labadee)

I WISH we were getting PDCC! I've never been...

19 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

I hope your parents enjoy

I am fairly confident they will! I can't imagine not having a good time on a ship like Symphony. (AND I don't have to share a room with them!! LOL)

9 hours ago, ScottD said:

Symphony is most likely our next ship

So many of you just went on or are going on Symphony soon. She honestly seems like the perfect ship to me, except for missing those little Central Park balconies.

8 hours ago, PPPJJ-GCVAB said:

We have 2 OV connecting balconies.

We do too, and my parents' room is just down 3 doors (2 rooms between). I hope we don't annoy the people in between us by yelling back and forth from our balconies 

[Sweety]

When we go to Jamaica, we have family come to visit.  I like taking a rafting trip on one of the many rivers. It is so relaxing. I had a couple of cousins that were river captains.  I always get the jerk seasonings and blue mountain coffee to bring home.

[jbrinkm]

15 minutes ago, Sweety said:

When we go to Jamaica, we have family come to visit.  I like taking a rafting trip on one of the many rivers. It is so relaxing. I had a couple of cousins that were river captains.  I always get the jerk seasonings and blue mountain coffee to bring home.

Awesome! Is the rafting senior friendly? I see a lot of trips offered for Martha Brae river. My parents don't have any serious mobility concerns but they are in their late 70s... We might get them some sort of tour and then go do something adventurous with the teens. 

[Sweety]

8 minutes ago, jbrinkm said:

Awesome! Is the rafting senior friendly? I see a lot of trips offered for Martha Brae river. My parents don't have any serious mobility concerns but they are in their late 70s... We might get them some sort of tour and then go do something adventurous with the teens. 

My 95 year old uncle at the time went on it. It is very relaxing.

[Sweety]

Just now, Sweety said:

My 95 year old uncle at the time went on it. It is very relaxing.

Dunn's River Falls might be for your teens. It is a a famous waterfall.

[jbrinkm]

Wow, there are some really, really nice resort day passes available in Jamaica!!! Maybe I'll send my parents there and then my husband and I will take the teens on a more adventurous tour... Although my husband might lobby to go with my parents.

[asquared17]

3 hours ago, jbrinkm said:

 

9 hours ago, Sweety said:

... this blog is expensive

Yes... I pulled out all of my cruise stuff plus all of the new Bezos stuff I bought and it almost fills up a full suitcase. I blame @asquared17 

it’s always my fault

honestly though, i am all for MORE luggage. 

on our most recent trip (non cruise related), i brought TWO suitcases, a rolling carryon AND my personal item/bag that sits on top. 

…i don’t travel light, friends

[jbrinkm]

I tentatively booked a half day river tubing to the beach that gets good reviews on Viator for the day we're in Falmouth. I can cancel until the day before so when we get on board, we'll check out what the ship is offering and make a decision then (and also see what type of discount they might offer as per @DoomSlayer in the Labadee thread). The Hilton Rose Hall resort was fully booked already or we would have happily gone there. I was looking at the Chukka Estate+ options but they seemed pretty expensive for what you get and then I saw a few comments that it isn't as nice as it looks, i.e. small, broken, dirty

So when we board, my priorities are: book laser tag, check out shore excursions, and try to line up our Wonderland dinner with Italian night in the MDR. And get the soda cups. 

My parents fly tomorrow and get into Fort Lauderdale around 7:30pm. I'm excited to see the condo where they will be staying.

Tomorrow will be a serious packing day - I've already told the kids to get started but I might need to stand in their rooms tomorrow to make sure it gets done. Thursday I'm helping with a fundraiser at their school and Friday we're keeping them home so we make our flight on time (it is a no learning day anyway). We have a new dog sitter - a college student - coming to stay with our Golden Retriever, Pancake, while we're gone and I'm a little nervous about having someone new. We also have another puppy here that we are raising for the Seeing Eye and we'll deliver her to a Seeing Eye volunteer family on Friday morning. The Seeing Eye has very specific procedures to follow with their puppies so it is always best to have someone who knows the system to watch the pups while their families are on vacation.

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

1 hour ago, jbrinkm said:

tentatively booked a half day river tubing to the beach that gets good reviews on Viator for the day we're in Falmouth.

I’ve used Viator tours several times in the last year and they are terrific.  Every tour guide I’ve had is great…very knowledgeable, great personalities, love their jobs!  

[ScottD]

12 hours ago, jbrinkm said:

So many of you just went on or are going on Symphony soon. She honestly seems like the perfect ship to me, except for missing those little Central Park balconies.

21 hours ago, PPPJJ-GCVAB said:

What balconies are missing..the little elevator lobby ones?  And yeah, we loved Oasis so much last year, would love to check out a newer version, lol. Plus she sails from NJ all next summer and that's likely when we'll be able to go again after this little run of cruises we got going. 

[WAAAYTOOO]

I guess my only warning regarding excursions in Falmouth is.....since Falmouth is a fairly new port and is located in a more remote area (relative to the more established ports), many of the excursions are a bit of a distance away since they have built up around the older, existing ports.  Just be aware of that before you book and if you're ok with it, cool.

[jbrinkm]

We got official word today of the cancellation and Falmouth stop from Royal and from our TA.

1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I guess my only warning regarding excursions in Falmouth is.....since Falmouth is a fairly new port and is located in a more remote area (relative to the more established ports), many of the excursions are a bit of a distance away since they have built up around the older, existing ports.  Just be aware of that before you book and if you're ok with it, cool.

Good point! I just double checked and it is Rio Bueno to Bengal Bay which looks less than 30 minutes away - which we're ok with. My husband kept saying, why don't we just walk around a bit and go to a local beach? From what I can tell, there's not much to see and not many local beaches. 

9 hours ago, ScottD said:

What balconies are missing..the little elevator lobby ones?  

Yes, that you access from the 9th floor. That was a main hang out place for DH and I last year on Allure, but with more to do on a new-to-us ship and having my parents along, I probably won't miss them that much this year.

 

 

[jbrinkm]

18 hours ago, asquared17 said:

honestly though, i am all for MORE luggage. 

on our most recent trip (non cruise related), i brought TWO suitcases, a rolling carryon AND my personal item/bag that sits on top. 

I am dreading today's task of trying to fit everything. We were tight last year (darn kids keep growing and so do their clothes...) and we have more this year due to the diving and random stuff. I may end up trading one of our smalls for another big. We try to have four 20" (come with fare) and two 28" (paid extra) for the four of us, plus backpacks, but not sure its going to cut it this year.

15 hours ago, PPPJJ-GCVAB said:

I’ve used Viator tours several times in the last year and they are terrific.  Every tour guide I’ve had is great…very knowledgeable, great personalities, love their jobs!  

The reviews seem great and they do mention the tour guide as being someone very personable and funny. We did Viator two years ago and were very happy.

[jbrinkm]

The suitcase of extras. I'm a bit embarrassed to share this pic but I literally just threw everything in to bring it upstairs from the basement and have not done any organization yet. I just spent some time up in our room getting travel stuff sorted. My attention was so divided - I had about 8 packing projects going at the same time. In the middle of pill sorting, I saw my toiletry bag that I brought up a few nights ago, left the pills and started pulling out toiletries. Then remembered my wet delicates and ran down to washer, then remembered on the way back up that I needed to pull scuba boots and masks then went back to wet clothes and realized I had other clothes still to hang from laundry, pulled stuff to steam or iron, finally started working my way back to the pills still left all over the counter.  I'll tackle this suitcase in a little while. The dogs are SO nosy about this stuff. I'm surprised I didn't capture a snout while taking this pic.

I bought some ducks but haven't had time to do a clever tag. Can someone point me to a cute tag that I can steal and customize? 

[jbrinkm]

I've told my teens twice since they got home from school to pack. Under/over on whether they did it?

[LandstromCruise]

7 minutes ago, jbrinkm said:

I've told my teens twice since they got home from school to pack. Under/over on whether they did it?

I would say 1 did and 1 didn't.  Everyone has the 1 kid that listens right 

[jbrinkm]

Got this letter emailed today. Has anyone else seen this?

[Cactus527]

I'm here for this cruise! Woot woot! I'm also in love with Pancake - fabulous dog name. 

That's an interesting email from RC. What is the survey about?

[Lovetocruise2002]

12 hours ago, jbrinkm said:

Got this letter emailed today. Has anyone else seen this?

A bunch of us got that before Icon inaugural sailing. 

[jbrinkm]

17 hours ago, LandstromCruise said:

I would say 1 did and 1 didn't.  Everyone has the 1 kid that listens right 

DS is packed and DD is not. She says, "I put some outfits together in my head."

[jbrinkm]

13 hours ago, Cactus527 said:

That's an interesting email from RC. What is the survey about?

Just a few questions - asked specifically about how many times we've cruised on different lines and whether we do specialty dining.

[jbrinkm]

My parents sent some pictures of where they are staying. They are spending under $100/night here - as I mentioned before, they were offered this option through Southwest when they bought their flights. It is called something like Johnson Tennis Club condominiums. Looks ok, but small. 

[jbrinkm]

Also, my mom just texted this and then said she scheduled it for day 2.

[SweetPea]

11 minutes ago, jbrinkm said:

Also, my mom just texted this and then said she scheduled it for day 2.

Definitely here for this! We'll be on Symphony for the first time in like 2 months. Save travels tmw out of the armpit of our state!

Hmm, i would probably do the survey, but I'm a nerd and $150 for an hour without a sales pitch doesn't seem like a bad deal .... to me. 

[jbrinkm]

7 minutes ago, SweetPea said:

Definitely here for this! We'll be on Symphony for the first time in like 2 months. Save travels tmw out of the armpit of our state!

Thanks! We decided to keep the kids home tomorrow vs pulling them early just to make sure we make our flight with Friday/holiday traffic!

7 minutes ago, SweetPea said:

Hmm, i would probably do the survey, but I'm a nerd and $150 for an hour without a sales pitch doesn't seem like a bad deal .... to me. 

I would have totally done it if they sent it to me! I wonder if it is because it is their first time on Royal?

[asquared17]

42 minutes ago, SweetPea said:

Save travels tmw out of the armpit of our state!

ah, newark. 

what a gem you are.

[WAAAYTOOO]

1 hour ago, SweetPea said:

$150 for an hour without a sales pitch doesn't seem like a bad deal .... to me. 

What makes you think there is no sales pitch ?  The first thing that popped into my mind was, “…timeshare…”.  

[GatorCruiser]

Safe travels !

[JohnK6404]

We loved Aruba and Curacao! Have an amazing time! 

[jbrinkm]

5 hours ago, GatorCruiser said:

Safe travels !

41 minutes ago, JohnK6404 said:

We loved Aruba and Curacao! Have an amazing time! 

Thank you! 

We have all the suitcases in our living room right now but are still moving stuff around and weighing them so no pics yet. I'll try to remember to get one tomorrow, either just as we are about to leave or once they're in the car. Activated our Samsung SmartTags so we'll see how those work. I realized that I did not pack a warm outfit for our return home so I hope it is not freezing here when our flight lands back in Newark.