Balcony

Inside

Suite

Outside

Royal Caribbean International

Miami

Barcelona

Rome (Civitavecchia)

Fort Lauderdale (Port Everglades)

U.S.A.

Caribbean - All

Bahamas

Caribbean - Eastern

Europe - All

Europe - Western Mediterranean

Mediterranean

Spain

Italy

France

USVI

Caribbean - Western

Mexico - All

Transatlantic

Jamaica

Caribbean - Southern

Europe - Eastern Mediterranean

Excellent

Very Good

Average

Poor

Terrible

Oasis of the Seas

Allure of the Seas

Anthem of the Seas

Liberty of the Seas

Freedom of the Seas

Navigator of the Seas

Adventure of the Seas

Harmony of the Seas

Explorer of the Seas

Enchantment of the Seas

Grandeur of the Seas

Independence of the Seas

Serenade of the Seas

Jewel of the Seas

Brilliance of the Seas

Rhapsody of the Seas

Voyager of the Seas

Mariner of the Seas

Radiance of the Seas

Vision of the Seas

Ovation of the Seas

Quantum of the Seas

Symphony of the Seas

Odyssey of the Seas

Wonder of the Seas

Spectrum of the Seas

Beautiful Ship, Cruise staff was rude and unhelpful

We have about 20 cruises under our belt, most of which have been with RCI and the overall experience and value made it our first pick for cruise lines.  Just 3 weeks prior to our trip on Symphony of the seas, we took a cruise with Virgin on valliant Lady.  With such a recent cruise as a benchmark me found ourselves disappointed and frustrated at every turn with RCI and will be unlikely to ever come back.

1. Lines, lines, lines.  The lines were rediculous.  The taco bar had a 30 minute line, the Flow rider was an hour for a 5 minute run. Getting into the main dinning for my time dining was 45 minutes. I guess I didnt realize that "my time dining" meant it I was spending my time in line forever to get a table.

Food quality was aweful.  This may be the first cruise that I lost weight because the food was inedible.  Windjammer was full of so many trays af hog slop. The Virgin experience of free specialty gourmet dining options really spoiled us. After a week of fantastic eateries with Virgin it really exposed just how bad RCI was in comparison.  Stale bread, greasy burgers, stinky seafood that makes a high school cafeteria look good.  Soo much food goes to wasre because it is aweful.  Virgins departure from buffets and focust on high quality and low waste probably cost them less in the long run and is such a better experience. I would like to report that there was at least one thing I ate that was good but it was never good, it was only tolerable at best.

Service: I dont know wat happened with the staff but it was rare to see a smile. Bartenders were grumpy as was a large number of the staff for the sports arras.  Our cabin steward was great and the waiter at the dining hall, but other than that, service was hard to find and a smile was almost non existant.  It seemed to be extremely understaffed in general.  Getting a table at windjammer meant you either sat at a table with the last persons trash or you clean your own. 

That is extra:  It seemed like everywhere you turned, it was an extra fee. We thought about doing the escape room. But not for $160.  Internet, that will be $200. $240 Mandatory gratuity for grumpy and non existent service.   

On Virgin, there were no kids. We have great memories of cruising with our kids but now that the nest is empty, the Virgin cruise with a no children policy was awesome.  We figured we could just hang out in the Solarium as this was the adult only area but unfortunately RCI doesn't enforce this policy and there are kids there too.

We have been long time customers of RCI but unless they step it up, we are done and already booking our next cruise on Virgin

Last RCI cruise for us

Ketchikan

First the good:

The ship is huge and awesome.  Felt like we were in a large hotel.    Minimal sway on the “rough days”.   Room a Central Park balcony was clean and had plenty of storage.   Zero wind and nice music in the evening from the band playing in Central Park.  

Some random things I really disliked in no particular order:

Upon unpacking, our cabin steward told us they no longer store empty luggage. So, our large, empty suitcases took space out on the balcony the entire trip. First time I’ve ever been on a cruise, where they would not store your empty luggage and was a fairly dead disappointment as space is very tight.

They had two comedians for the entire trip. Although before the cruise, it showed every night of the comedy club sold out, I was able to book once on the ship. Unfortunately, the comedians were really bad. I go to live comedy often and if I had actually paid to see these guys, I would be upset. having just two comedians giving 20 minutes sets for a 14 day cruise seem odd. Despite being sold out before the cruise started the show I went to was only 1/3 full. Perhaps Ward had gotten out on how bad they were? I don’t know but the whole comedy experience was disappointing. 

The food in the main dining room, and the windjammer were the worst I have ever seen on any cruise. Although the service in the main dining room was incredibly quick and attentive, they were serving up food that you would expect to see at Sizzler. Windjammer was not much better. For example, one day, I put some hummus on my plate. It was literally the consistency of Play-Doh.  The main dining room was quick however, the food was really subpar. I personally ate maybe 20% of what was given to me throughout the entire cruise. If you are trying to keep vegetarian, your choices are even more limited with some really horrific vegetarian dishes served up.

The food in the Windjammer was not much better. However, the desserts tended to be above average every night and was the only redeeming quality of the windjammer.

We went to all the specialty restaurants on the ship, and the hibachi place was the clear stand out. Not only was the food superior, the show was really fun and pleasant. A distant second would be Jamie‘s Italian, which put together a spaghetti and shrimp, garlic dish, that was decent. The last place for specialty restaurants was Wonderland. The food was below average and the service was really bad. The food was like warm at best and a huge disappointment.  They were clearly understaffed. We got our first drink approximately one hour after our reservation started. There were multiple dirty tables in the restaurant that hadn’t been cleared and it appeared to me There was like three people working when there should’ve been 10 to 15. It was insanely bad.  

While the service in the dining room and specialty restaurants, with the exception of Wonderland was good, the little things seem to have been forgotten, and they don’t do anymore. For example, they don’t do fresh cracked pepper anywhere anymore.  

Another problem was the lack of a basic cover band. Every single ship I’ve ever been on has a basic cover band somewhere that plays the popular tunes. Nothing on this ship. Kind of insane.

The jazz club on level four was closed for the entire trip with no explanation. It appeared they were using it as storage, which was very disappointing.

The attic on level 4 was almost never open.   The perfect venue for hanging out listening to a band, never happened.   

The specialty dining restaurants almost always showed no availability on the app yet when we were eating at them, there was clearly space at every dining experience. I don’t know why they would limit it so much. I’m guessing they just didn’t have the staffing. For example, the hibachi grill was amazing and showed sold out every day. There was four empty seats at our table for no apparent reason.   

While the shows were good, they often came with unreasonably long lines. They would state in the app to “come early“ yet they would lock the venue door and open it up Like those Four minutes before the show starts making hundreds of people lots of elderly stand in line when there was really no reason for it. I’ve never seen any other cruise ship do that, and it was baffling as to why they would  do something like that. The  Skating rink on the fourth floor was probably the worst offender.

Despite the things listed above, our family had a good time, and we would cruise again.  Knowing the food situation in the Windjammer and main dining room, we would probably do the unlimited dining package in the future to avoid those places.

Disappointing food, great ship

Wedding anniversary trip, seen so many places of interest, great way to see different cities, 6 ports of call, booked our own excursions, ship is wonderful and our balcony cabin was lovely, One gripe would be we encountered some rude people,at buffet who did not seem to notice others waiting in orderly fashion and just stepped in front of other passengers with no regard for manners. Lots of large groups together who were too loud at times otherwise there are plenty of places on ship where we could totally relax. Staff on board are cheerful and friendly, shows are plentiful and entertaining,  only one staff member on disembarking was somewhat rude. Entertainment crew were terrific, as were 99% of crew, our cabin steward was the best, very helpful and friendly. The Royal app is very informative and easy to use for planning before and during the cruise for daily activities.

Enjoyable 

There are plenty of activities for your family. Water sports, zip line, Court games, walking track, kids zone, etc. Do not miss any of the shows because they are all spectacular. Especially Hiro, so many talented people. The ship is like a world of us all. It’s almost like a little city in itself. Our favorite spot was Central Park. Second to that would be the solarium. It was always peaceful and beautiful ocean views. My complaint about the atrium/shopping area, is that the music is so loud you cannot even have a conversation at any of the bars. It really is something they should look into. Cabin was on the hump and gave us a little larger balcony. We ate at three specially restaurants and of those, our favorite was Hooked. The food was delicious and service spectacular. 

Ports good and cruise excursions were decent. Would loved to have had more time on the Capri, Sorrento, Pompeii excursion to spend in the towns. Spent most of the time transporting here and there. Palma by land and sea was a little disappointing. I’d choose another excursion. We chose Cassis over visiting Marseille and it was really nice. The beautiful countryside and a taste of the French Riviera. 

Overall, nice cruise with good ports of call.

Lots to do on this ship!

Saint-Tropez

I admit, this class ship was the last one I had planned on for this trip. My husband has always been more interested in the huge mega ships than I ever was. We were going as a celebration of our 20th anniversary and I had wanted a smaller more intimate ship, possibly on Celebrity or Princess or a smaller Royal ship. But in looking around and narrowing down the itinerary I found this one that left on a Thursday. Which was a miracle to find and worked out well for me and my work schedule and my need to not have to take both weekends off. So Symphony it was. As my title says I was pleasantly surprised about a lot of things. The ship is huge but it was beautiful. There were lots of areas around that were not crowded and even though the pools were fairly busy we always were able to find lounge chairs around the pool or reasonably close by. The Windjammer was busy some of the times we went but we always found a table without too much trouble. 

I had chosen the set time Late seating dining when I booked but a couple days before the trip I noticed on our documents it said My Time Dining so we went to see about changing that. The lady I spoke to at the dining room said it couldn't be changed but she did make us a reservation for 8pm every night. And we ended up with the same waiter and assistant waiter every night so that worked out. That was the main reason I wanted the set times so we would have the same staff every night. Our waiter was Igor and our assistant was Brian and they were both from Brazil. They were great, treated us very well. Most nights they brought out an extra app and or dessert for us to share/try other than what we ordered which was nice. The food was good. my husband wasn't too crazy with the menu overall, mostly with the variety but he is pretty picky and ended up ordering almost the same things every night. Caesar salad or French onion soup whenever those were available. NY strip 3 or 4 of the nights. I found the menu a little better than he did and got more variety. The food was good, came out nice and hot (or cold if that's what it called for). Although one night there was Chicken Picatta which I ordered and it was good but it was definitely NOT Chicken Picatta. At least not the way I have had it before, the only thing that resembled Chicken Picatta were the capers. I was disappointed in the lack of soup on the menu in the dining room and then in the windjammer, there was soup but not any that I was really interested in most of the time. The one day there was "chicken noodle" but it was really sad, it was spaghetti noodles and more al dente than I usually like too. It wasn't that great.

We tried El Loco Fresh one day and that was pretty good. We didn't do any of the other specialty dining places. We had room service breakfast a couple times and it was good. The pizza at Sorrento's was decent. We had specialty coffee at Promenade Cafe one morning. 

We didn't do a lot of stuff at night, we had pretty early mornings every day with shore excursions so we went to bed not too long after dinner. We did go to the party on the promenade one night and it was fun. We saw Hairspray the one night, it was good and I enjoyed what we saw of it. They had technical difficulties about 3/4 of the way through so we left and I actually don't know if they ever finished it. 

Both Embarkation and Debarkation were very easy, Quick and painless. 

I had some spa treatments (Swedish massage, facial, seaweed wrap with a massage, manicure) which were very enjoyable and relaxing.

Pleasantly surprised

This is my first cruise since the pandemic.  This is also my first European cruise and my 8th cruise.  I stayed in Barcelona for 4 days before the cruise and loved the city so much.  Embarkation was a breeze, even easier than in Florida.  First day was so busy but managed to get my early dinner sorted out.  The dining room staff was very kind and helpful.  I enjoyed the food in the dining room even though there were not as many options as before.  My inside room with Central Park window was spacious and clean.  My room attendant was too busy but was friendly and I saw him.  Love the Oasis class ships and will keep sailing them.  The WindJammer seems smaller than the other ships but it has been 6 years since I sailed Harmony.  The itinerary was perfect.  I would do them again in a heart beat.  Favourite port was La Spezia where I took to train to the 4 villages out of 5.  The tours I took with the cruise line were well organized.  There was only 1 sea day when I went to the gym and was able to use the machines.  Loved the shows.  I attended 6 of them.  I had a fantastic time and would 100% recommend this itinerary and this ship.

Wonderful cruise

Chose this ship as we loved Oasis and other RCL cruises. This one however was torturous with the amount of noise around the pool decks from the really loud amplified music to the blaring screeching voice on the microphone.   Even in Central Park 5 decks down we could not escape the noise and even the brass band could not be heard over the voice commentary from deck 15.  The promenade deck had music blaring out from each venue, like they were in competition so that it all merged into one loud sound. Could only shout at each other in conversation.  Spoiled our holiday and reconsidering any future cruise. 

The staff were always friendly and accommodating but there are definitely cutbacks.  We found the Windjammer buffet had a good variety but the main dining menu is much less choice than ever before, and very ordinary- think high street menu. However it was good quality

Far too noisy 

Where do I start? This was our first ever cruise. We decided to push the boat out and book a 2 Bedroom Grand Suite for a week. Worked out at €14,000 including gratuities so not cheap. We enjoyed it, but learned some lessons along the way. Would we go again? Probably.

The Mediterranean isn’t the best destination in the world for a ship like Symphony because the ports are miles away from the places they purport to be. It’s Ryanair-esque. Civitavecchia, for example, is 90 mins, at best, from Rome. That’s 3 hours of travelling, nevermind the waiting around time. The ports tend to be dodgy looking industrial places nowhere near the actual destinations.

Our cabin was lovely. The service generally was very good. However, there is an annoying aspect to the ‘pay extra’ restaurants. The staff harass you at the end of the night to leave ‘good reviews out of 10 at the end of the week’. One staff member told me that unless she gets 9s and 10s, she has to work seven days in a row and doesn’t get time off.

In relation to the dining options, the Main Dining Room is nice. Coastal Kitchen, just for Suite guests is nice. The Sushi and Teppanyaki place is nice. The buffet is too chaotic. Hooked is poor. El Loco Fresh is nice. Johnny Rockets is decent. Chops Grille is nice. Solarium Bistro is poor. Sorrento’s Pizza is nice. Park Cafe is nice.

The entertainment is excellent, Hiro, the ice skating, Hairspray, all superb.

The casino is as dodgy as one would expect. Full of odd characters. The smell of smoke is vile.

The biggest issue I’d have with the cruise is the interaction between the suite guests and the, how can I put this, ‘the great unwashed’. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. If you go to a €14,000 a week hotel, it’ll be full of people paying €14,000 a week. But on a cruise there are tatooed people in string vests paying €1,500 a week and boozing and smoking at 10am. So be prepared to see all sorts of human life.

2 Bedroom Grand Suite - ‘Two Worlds Collide’

My mother invited the entire family on a 7 day cruise in the Mediterranean to celebrate her birthday. This trip was a painful ordeal - every part of ship blared music from speakers. Every pool features music so loud you had to shout to be heard - pretty much the opposite of a relaxing vacation. At one point their tested their emergency warning system, and the emergency horns were literally lower volume than the endless Bob Marley. So, if your kids want to be in the pool, you suffer through the noise. I literally cannot wait to get off this ship. 

Many other aspects of the cruise were fine - good food, pleasant and attentive personnel, lots of activities. The Hiro water acrobatics show was a highlight. I can’t comment on any of the special dining options, as they were sold out before the cruise even departed. 

The cruise app is a disaster. It rarely works, the messaging app won’t send alerts so you can’t use it to reliably communicate. Trying to book a show on a specific time sends to you the next available show - even if it’s at 11pm (not doable with young kids).

7 days of audio torture

We have been on at least four cruises with Royal and we enjoyed the cruise to Europe last year that we took with our daughter and two teenage grandsons. The cruise was a nice experience for them with all the various activities aboard that they took advantage of along with friends that they met. They took private excursions along with other friends. My husband and I took excursions with Royal and were disappointed in the guides, and how they handled situations that happened. We believe strongly that guides should have first aid kits available if needed as in the case of my husband, especially accessible tours.  We would like to see more mild activity tours offered for shorter periods. The tour to Sorento was just too crowded with a number of ships in at the same time, difficult to locate our guide. Marseille, II  went off  with the family and enjoyed the fresh air , cafes and shops small seaport area. The lake tour was pleasant, beautiful scenery. 

The food in specialty restaurants  was good, but not served hot and the same in the dining room. Service slow for specialty restaurants as well as Key breakfast. The shows were good especially Flight highly recommend for creativity and Hiro nice outdoor area. The dining room server was very observant about my allergy, although there were too many selections offered that didn't have nuts including deserts even in the Windjammer. We did appreciate the listing of the ingredients. and washing hands before entering nice improvement. We had Key membership which was great to embark early, have a nice lunch and have luggage waiting by cabin. The day of departure, we had breakfast, first and only in dining room took more than 45 min. to serve us. We got off early nice. One complaint about Key was priority to shows, we were turned away first night Hiro no seating. There should be designated area for Key members which we didn't notice in other shows attended. 

We did have a lovely balcony cabin and our attendant was wonderful.

Ports nice but excursions not great

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