Symphony of the Seas Review
First cruise since pandemic, exceeded expectations
Rating by category
Additional details
We're a couple celebrating our first anniversary and also my birthday. This is the first cruise of a B2B. Since we're coming from outside the US, we arrived in Miami a couple of days early and stayed in the downtown area. This is our third cruise, all of them in Oasis-class ships (and, hence, also in Royal Caribbean).
On boarding day, we took an Uber to the port and arrived at around 10:30am, our designated arrival time. I have only one word to describe the checkin process: fast. It was a 3 step process: checking arrival window in your boarding side (happened near the entrance of the terminal), then upstairs to the actual checkin (mainly checking passports), then security, and that was it. Less than 30 minutes from the curb to the ship. Airlines should learn from this.
The ship was as good as expected and, being used to Oasis-class ships, made us feel "at home" right from the start. Compared to before the pandemic, we found it mostly the same except for the increased emphasis on hand washing. I really hope this stays beyond the pandemic.
Cabin Review
Central Park View Balcony
We stayed in cabin 14579, which is a central park balcony. It has the bed next to the balcony. We like the new layout of this cabin much more than the ones at the Allure of the Seas. We think that the space is much better used and offers much better storage space than in the older ships. Iwayan was our cabin attendant and he was as kind and helpful as you can get. Thanks to him, our cabin was always neat and tidy, also with an occasional towel animal. Can't really ask for more.