Symphony of the Seas Review
Royal Junior Spa Suite Cruise to St Martin, Saint Thomas and Nassau
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My wife selected this cruise to experience the new Royal Caribbean Symphony of the Seas. We've cruised RC on inaugural/early cruises for all the Anthem and Quantum class ships. The new boarding experience is much faster and exceptional and we boarded in record time with many fewer annoyances. Symphony does not depart from the standard of quality we've come to expect from the ships of the larger RC fleet. The form, fit, and finish of ship's accoutrements does not disappoint, and it presents itself as a world class cruising experience. The attitude and pitch control of the boat is well executed and provides a low deck pitching experience. The shear size of the ship helps to provide a smooth "ride" during rougher seas. As expected, the crew is exceptionally well trained, attentive, and helpful. We spotted several experienced crew members from previous RC ships that we've cruised. To have access to a bath tub, we booked room 9626 a starboard Junior Spa Suite more than a year ago. The friendly attentive stateroom attendant kept the room clean, neat and tidy, and did his work in timely fashion and did not interfere with our use of the room. We purchased VOOM internet and found that we could connect almost everywhere on the ship. Its speed was not fast enough to prevent video stuttering. Our main dining room wait staff were professional, attentive, friendly, humorous, and hard working and did their best to please us. The quality of the food in the main dining room varied from evening to evening. Most food items were good. Foods that disappointed including overly baked potatoes, overly fatty strip steaks, under-cooked, hard, nearly raw vegetables, and frost burned sugar free ice cream with a sandy texture. We were also disappointed that it was not made obvious that our junior spa suite class allowed dining in the upscale Coastal Kitchen during supper time. We were invited to attend a Suite upgrade seminar by the Next Cruise staff in which we found out about our eligibility for dining in the Coastal Kitchen in the evenings. We promptly made reservations for the only remaining time of 8:30 PM. We greatly enjoyed the food and staff there. The grade of sugar free ice cream served there was superb, In the future, if we stayed in a suite, we would switch our evening dining location to the Coastal Kitchen for the superior food items.
Cabin Review
This room included a starboard enlarged sea side balcony, larger bathroom with tub, walk in closet, king size bed, and fold out bed. It is well positioned in the ship to provide a more stable ride, and located far enough away from external noise sources to remain most isolated from deck noises. Once in bed, the motion of the ship was not noticeable. The amount of deck roll we experienced was minimal. The curtains exclude most light when closed. The toilet seat is too narrow for setting comfortably for any period of time. There are no electrical outlets near the balcony, so if you have electrical gadgets you may want to bring an extension cord. The TV swings out on its bracket to provide a better view while lying in bed. The programming is very limited and expensive if you want to take advantage of the video on demand feature. The bathtub is about 2/3 the size of a regular tub, but, worked fine for me. It may be too narrow and shallow and/or not long enough for larger people. The bathroom has hand rails in the shower which were strong and very handy getting into and out of the tub. When the ship is traveling about 20 knots or higher, on other than smooth seas, the paneling in the room begins to pop and squeak rather loudly which was annoying at night. At times it sounded like many mice chewing on wood. After a while, it becomes part of the ships noise, but, you might want to consider ear plugs if you are a lite sleeper.