Royal Caribbean Symphony of the Seas

[Anonymous]

We're doing our first Royal Caribbean cruise after years of Disney cruises. I'm interested in any recommendations on dining plans, reservations, etc. or your experiences on Oasis class ships. I feel a little spoiled by DCL and so far am taken aback by all the add-ons (dining) and the need to make reservations for things like the shows. Our teens really wanted to try this ship.

[Anonymous]

I think you will be disappointed if you expect it to be similar to Disney. Expect it to be less nice than Disney. It is not as nice in many ways and yet it is not bad. But it is also generally less expensive and with many more ships in its fleet, Royal Caribbean is a line I have cruised from time to time based on the itinerary. Disney cabins are big compared to most lines. Disney ships pay much more attention to little details than most ships. Disney obviously skews family friendly and that is simply not the case so if you are traveling with young children, you may find that some things aren’t for the family at all. Some comedy or cruise games can be very mature. Just avoid that stuff.

[Anonymous]

We had a fantastic time on Harmony which I believe is similar. Don't do the specialty dining--just eat the free food most of the time, get some Starbucks or little things if you need to. Definitely see the high dive show if they are still doing it. The dry slides are awesome, water slides were ok not amazing. Assuming you have two rooms so the teens are together? We put the teens in an interior and we got a balcony for us across the hall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had a fantastic time on Harmony which I believe is similar. Don't do the specialty dining--just eat the free food most of the time, get some Starbucks or little things if you need to. Definitely see the high dive show if they are still doing it. The dry slides are awesome, water slides were ok not amazing. Assuming you have two rooms so the teens are together? We put the teens in an interior and we got a balcony for us across the hall.

Thank you! We just did a family balcony room, which I know will be really tight. We couldn’t justify the expense of two rooms when the kids are rarely in the room on DCL and we’re dealing with spring break prices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you will be disappointed if you expect it to be similar to Disney. Expect it to be less nice than Disney. It is not as nice in many ways and yet it is not bad. But it is also generally less expensive and with many more ships in its fleet, Royal Caribbean is a line I have cruised from time to time based on the itinerary. Disney cabins are big compared to most lines. Disney ships pay much more attention to little details than most ships. Disney obviously skews family friendly and that is simply not the case so if you are traveling with young children, you may find that some things aren’t for the family at all. Some comedy or cruise games can be very mature. Just avoid that stuff.

Thank you! We have sailed NCL pre-kids so I am imagining this as similar? No young children in our family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a fantastic time on Harmony which I believe is similar. Don't do the specialty dining--just eat the free food most of the time, get some Starbucks or little things if you need to. Definitely see the high dive show if they are still doing it. The dry slides are awesome, water slides were ok not amazing. Assuming you have two rooms so the teens are together? We put the teens in an interior and we got a balcony for us across the hall.

Thank you! We just did a family balcony room, which I know will be really tight. We couldn’t justify the expense of two rooms when the kids are rarely in the room on DCL and we’re dealing with spring break prices.

If you can afford it, upgrade to the junior suite. It's cheaper than two rooms, a bit bigger than a normal balcony room, and you get access to the suites-only restaurant, which has much much better food than the main dining rooms.

[Anonymous]

Plan to show up early to popular activities (e.g., ice skating, if that's on your ship). There can be quite a line, so you'll likely miss out if you're not there 45 minutes to 1 hours early. Bring something to read and drinks to sip and try not to mind the wait.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you will be disappointed if you expect it to be similar to Disney. Expect it to be less nice than Disney. It is not as nice in many ways and yet it is not bad. But it is also generally less expensive and with many more ships in its fleet, Royal Caribbean is a line I have cruised from time to time based on the itinerary. Disney cabins are big compared to most lines. Disney ships pay much more attention to little details than most ships. Disney obviously skews family friendly and that is simply not the case so if you are traveling with young children, you may find that some things aren’t for the family at all. Some comedy or cruise games can be very mature. Just avoid that stuff.

This. It is budget. i've done the Royal Caribbean line. It was great when I was a stupid student but not now

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you will be disappointed if you expect it to be similar to Disney. Expect it to be less nice than Disney. It is not as nice in many ways and yet it is not bad. But it is also generally less expensive and with many more ships in its fleet, Royal Caribbean is a line I have cruised from time to time based on the itinerary. Disney cabins are big compared to most lines. Disney ships pay much more attention to little details than most ships. Disney obviously skews family friendly and that is simply not the case so if you are traveling with young children, you may find that some things aren’t for the family at all. Some comedy or cruise games can be very mature. Just avoid that stuff.

This. It is budget. i've done the Royal Caribbean line. It was great when I was a stupid student but not now

This is overly pessimistic. Nice RCL ships on an expensive week will have a more upscale crowd. And RCL has more for teens. We had a great time on our cruise.

[Anonymous]

Which Disney ships did you go on? I think the biggest difference for you will be:

1. Only one bathroom

2. Crowds - Bigger ship, more crowds. If you don’t have main dining room reservations at a set time, you’ll end up waiting. You’ll need tickets for events rather than just showing up. Hunting for seats in the buffet or on deck. (We prefer smaller ships…and crew members we’ve chatted with on Disney, Royal, and Celebrity agreed; they commented that you don’t get the same level of service on bigger ships.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which Disney ships did you go on? I think the biggest difference for you will be:

1. Only one bathroom

2. Crowds - Bigger ship, more crowds. If you don’t have main dining room reservations at a set time, you’ll end up waiting. You’ll need tickets for events rather than just showing up. Hunting for seats in the buffet or on deck. (We prefer smaller ships…and crew members we’ve chatted with on Disney, Royal, and Celebrity agreed; they commented that you don’t get the same level of service on bigger ships.)

Disagree on the need for main dining reservations. We had anytime dining and showed up every night with never more than a moment's wait. It was great to have the flexibility as we had a port heavy itinerary and were back on the ship at different times each day.

[Anonymous]

For crowd management, read reviews for your ship about where to eat on embarkation day, as the buffet is typically crazy that day. That is also the one day you might want main dining reservations, as everyone is on the same schedule and slow moving because they don't yet have a routine.

Read up on details on tickets/wait times for events and shows so you know how early to show up.

Just do a bit of research and you'll be fine. The cruise message boards and FB groups have tons of info.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which Disney ships did you go on? I think the biggest difference for you will be:

1. Only one bathroom

2. Crowds - Bigger ship, more crowds. If you don’t have main dining room reservations at a set time, you’ll end up waiting. You’ll need tickets for events rather than just showing up. Hunting for seats in the buffet or on deck. (We prefer smaller ships…and crew members we’ve chatted with on Disney, Royal, and Celebrity agreed; they commented that you don’t get the same level of service on bigger ships.)

Disagree on the need for main dining reservations. We had anytime dining and showed up every night with never more than a moment's wait. It was great to have the flexibility as we had a port heavy itinerary and were back on the ship at different times each day.

Okay.

But you won’t have the same level of service you would if you have the same servers each night who get to know you, anticipate you/your kids’ needs, etc.

We prefer a quiet table by a window with the same servers at an appointed time. No wait; you head to your table when you are ready.

[Anonymous]

I just got off an NCL cruise (Escape) and much preferred our RC Harmony cruise a few years ago. The food is about the same, the shows were better on Royal, the ship is waaaay better (Oasis class).

[Anonymous]

We did a spring break cruise on RC with my parents, and other elderly relatives and 3 kids under 6. The set dining time worked for that group because we could all meet up after doing different things during the day. We had a room with a balcony that was pretty big - had a queen bed, queen pull out and a crib for the baby. The first 2 days was like being on Frat row at UF until the captain kicked some of the spring breakers off at cozumel for bad behavior (fighting etc) and things settled down - before that the pools were full of 20 somethings doing shots from 9 am on. Didn't love that but we figured out places that weren't attracting the college crowd and had a nice time. It's a big enough ship to find room and places that aren't crowded