This ship has become my new favorite cruise ship. It is HUGE.
The Symphony is one of the ships in the Oasis class. Each Oasis Class ship focuses on a variety of neighborhoods – breaking up the public spaces so that no space ever feels too crowded. Dining and entertainment venues are spread out all around the ship.
The Central Park Neighborhood is located on deck 8.
I frequently put clients in a cabin on deck 8 because of the convenience of the Central Park there. The Park Cafe offers a complimentary quick bite for breakfast and lunch. There is a handy self-serve soda machine for those who purchased a soda package. The Central Park houses s a couple of shops and specialty restaurants. In the evening, the lido band on the upper deck quits playing and there is always a pianist or guitarist or some other calm entertainment offered here.
The Boardwalk Neighborhood on deck 7 has a Coney Island feel with a complimentary hot dog venue beside the carousel.
The carousel is free to ride. There is an arcade with games (for a fee), a candy store (for a fee), and there are two specialty restaurants (also for a fee): Playmakers Sports Bar (get wings here!) and Johnny Rockets for burgers, onion rings and milkshakes. The Ultimate Abyss slide exit is located here, too. The rock climbing walls can be accessed by climbing the stairs here and there is a smaller climbing area for younger tykes.
Royal Caribbean really focuses on quality entertainment for these Oasis Class Ships. My favorite venue is the Aqua Theater with high-divers, synchronized swimmers, and acrobats. It is a thrilling show. (But don’t sit on the first few rows unless you want to get wet.) The Aqua theater is located here on the boardwalk with an aft view in the background. When there is not an aqua show, they sometimes use this area to show movies, video concerts and major sporting events. (We even saw our Tennessee Titans on the big screen!)
The Pool and Sports Zone Neighborhood is on the upper decks.
Of course I had to try the Zipline,
And the mini golf,
And race hubby down the Ultimate Abyss slide. A ten-story dry slide.
I did not try the flow rider. I value my bones!
There are multiple pools, a kids’ splash area with small water slides, and the “Perfect Storm” made up of three different waterslides.
The Royal Promenade Neighborhood is on deck five and is the first neighborhood anyone sees when boarding the ship. This area hosts multiple shops, Sorrento’s Pizza (complimentary – and has a self-serve soda machine) and the Cafe Promenade where folks can get self-serve complimentary hot tea and coffee, and I would get my morning specialty coffee (for a fee). The On Air Club hosts trivia events during the day and karaoke in the evening. They really decorated the promenade for Christmas!
Entertainment Place is the next neighborhood. The main theater shows the broadway musical, Hairspray, and another production show called, Flight: Dare to Dream. Both shows are excellent.
Studio B is an ice skating venue. Guests can go ice skating (bring long pants and socks to participate.) And they offered two different ice skating shows with professional ice skaters.
We did not have any children with us, so I did not get any photos of the Youth Zone Neighborhood. Royal does an outstanding job with her youth programs, and I look forward to having our grandchildren with us on an Oasis class ship soon. I also did not get photos of the Vitality Spa and Fitness Neighborhood either, but the ship does have a large gym and a full spa.
There are multiple lounges, pubs and nightclubs offering live music every evening from jazz clubs, to piano bars, to Latin clubs, to acoustic guitar, to pop music, to karaoke. I didn’t go to any of these venues except to snap a few photos for this post:
The Main dining room spans three decks.
We think the food in the main dining room is really good, but we also enjoy trying at least one specialty dining restaurant each time we sail. Since we sailed several times, we have had the opportunity to try most of them.
Hooked Seafood
Jamie’s Italian
Chops Grill
Wonderland: A Mad Hatter Themed Restaurant – Definitely a Unique Dining Experience. On the Symphony, this restaurant overlooks the Boardwalk
One week, we won an upgrade bid for a Grand Suite which gave us access to the suite lounge and the Coastal Kitchen – private dining room for suite guests.
Suite guests also have their own private sundeck accessible with the room key card.
We have sailed on the Symphony of the Seas several times taking advantage of the lower prices and lower capacity for some of the early post-pandemic sailings. Even though we had to follow all the Covid protocols, we still had an extremely enjoyable time on the ship, and I would go back again and again. The first time, we stayed in an ocean view balcony cabin on deck 11 in September 2021. The second time was in October 2021. We bid on an upgrade and had the thrilling opportunity to stay in a Grand Suite. The third time was in late November 2021, and we stayed in a Central Park Balcony cabin, and the last time was in the spring of 2022 where we were back in an Ocean view balcony on deck 8. You can click on any of the blue links to watch my youtube reviews of those cabins.
Royal Caribbean ships do not have self-service laundry facilities, but about mid-way through our cruise we received an offer to send a bag of laundry for a discounted wash/fold service.
Regular prices for sending laundry are much higher. (Sorry for the wrinkled photo below. I guess I should have pressed this laundry list.)
There are some big differences between cruising on a mega-ship and cruising on a smaller one. For instance, on a small ship, I book the ship primarily for the itinerary. On mega-ships, the ship IS the destination.
One thought on “Symphony of the Seas – Royal Caribbean”