Symphony of the Seas Review

4.5 / 5.0
392 reviews

A Tale of 2 Cruises

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Symphony of the Seas
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longjohn49
6-10 Cruises • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Feb 2020

Let me preface this by saying we took a RCCL cruise on Anthem of the Seas last fall (2019) to Canada and New England; and, our experience was terrific. The crew was friendly, the ship offered plenty of activities planned to keep us busy, many food choices (non-premium), excellent shows, and the music offered was varied/enjoyable. Now fast forward about 6 months to our cruise on the Symphony of the Seas. The crew was not outgoing or friendly, the were fewer activities planned for us (even though it is a larger ship), less food choices (non-premium choices), sub-par shows, and many services seemed less organized (one night in the main dining room, our server was so frustrated at the slow service that he pointedly asked us to say on the survey that it was management's fault, not the servers!). Just 1 small example of the difference: Athem cycled 2 comedians during the 7 night cruise, while Symphony only had 1 the entire time. It was as though the crew expected us to be entertained by the ship itself, rather than them needing to entertain us. Yes, it is an amazing ship in terms of size and engineering, but the crew and activities are what make or break a cruiser's experience. In short, we will not take another cruise on the largest of RCCL's ships. In contrast, we will absolutely look for another one on the Anthem (or another cruise line). It is a shame that there was no consistency.

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