We love to cruise, and to be more specific, we love to cruise with Royal Caribbean. There is something very special about settling into your cabin knowing that for the next week or two you will wake up every day to a new vista and enjoy amazing entertainment and relaxation on board a luxury floating hotel. The ultimate example of such luxury is the Symphony of the Seas, the largest of all the cruise liners. And we just had to give it a try.
The cruise was a back to back, Eastern and Western Caribbean starting in Miami. Our cabin was excellent, still with that new feeling about it, and out balcony gave us a beautiful panorama of the port of Miami.
The first night it was the welcome show with Abe, our cruise Director and Mosaic, an incredible vocal group.
The next morning, we enjoyed breakfast in central park, yes the ship has a park, complete with trees and plants. The first day we were at sea so most of the time we spent by the pool. To say it has over 5,500 passengers on board she seemed remarkably spacious and we never felt crowded at any time.
The first port of call was Roatan in Honduras where we went ashore on an excursion to the Mayan Beach Resort. That was followed by Costa Maya in Mexico. The third port was Cozumel in Mexico but we stayed on board for that one as it looked similar to the previous port. The next day we were at sea then the day after we docked in Nassau, in the Bahamas and went off on a visit to the Blue Lagoon resort where we did some snorkelling and enjoyed a great day in this fabulous location. There were rays, dolphins and much more to see and of course as you travel out and back you see the beautiful houses where the wealthy live.
The next day we were back in Miami, watching all the people leaving, safe in the knowledge we had another week to go. The first couple of days were at sea this time before we arrived at St Maarten. We took an excursion to the beach and learnt all about the damage they had suffered from a recent hurricane. The next day it was St Thomas, where we went ashore to look around the shops. That was followed by a day at sea before we were back in Nassau. This time we spent a few hours in the dock area looking around the shops and buying souvenirs.
All too soon we were back in Miami and with some time to kill took in an everglades excursion, fulfilling a life time dream to ride in an air boat and see Alligators in their natural habitat.
The two weeks seemed to literally fly by, but it was so memorable we have booked to go again in a years-time.
As for the boat itself, what can I say. The shows were amazing, we saw a show called Flight which was one of the best things I have ever seen on stage. We saw Hairspray, another Broadway calibre spectacular as well as a brilliant ice-skating show called 1977, complete with dancing drones. The back of the ship has a high diving facility and the skills of the performers are combined in an amazing show called Hiro.
The main board walk through the centre of the ship has shops and bars and for a couple of nights each cruise hosts spectacular shows where all the crew seem to be involved. There is a full size merry go round and up on deck there are a number of pools as well as pool bars. She also has two flow riders and some spectacular water slides plus a dry slide at the back of the ship, a zip wire and climbing wall. You can enjoy mini golf and play basketball or table tennis according to how energetic you feel. There is also a gym and spa.
If you don’t want to dine with everyone else, there are speciality restaurants including a Jamie Oliver. You may need to pay a supplement for exclusive dining.
We can’t wait to join the Symphony of the Seas again.