Symphony of the Seas

[RicciardoPerez]

Has anyone been onboard this cruise ship? Any tips for it? Travelling with 13 and 15 year old and DH in September. Usually cruise on the smaller RCL ships and a bit nervous for how busy it may be..

Any tips?

@ClaireUnderwoodforPresident no problem!

I used this website to track where the ship currently is. A bit of fun but useful for planning port days as it tells you how many other ships are in port on the same day. It particularly helped us to plan our day in Santorini as it’s a tricky port with tendering and then getting the cable car up to Fira-it gets extremely busy and the queues can be long.

https://www.cruisemapper.com/

We are off to Odyssey of the seas tomorrow! We have a teen & preteen and we’re hoping the cruise will keep them busy.

Our check-in is at 11:30am, will pack swimmers in a hand luggage and book North Star & Flowrider straightaway. Will also request a mattress topper from the room attendant as they are limited in numbers. Anything else?
@SugarPlumpFairy3 What was your take on Santorini? We’re tempted to enjoy the boat whilst everyone else is there. Not sure I can deal with the ridiculous cable car queues 🤯

I'm on there right now, been on for 2 weeks, we leave tomorrow. DH and DDS stay on every day but I like to go on trips and look round. I have a pass to use the vitality spa. We are in the room with the red door and slide, there are videos on you tube.

@UglyModernWindows i adored Santorini but agree it’s a tricky port 😬 I’ve always wanted to go so was determined to make the most of it.

You will get instructions in your cabin the night before that will tell you that they start giving tender tickets out from 9am. DO NOT get there at 9am. One of our party queued from 7am and they opened the line at 8:30. This made ALL the difference as we got on the second tender boat which meant we virtually walked on the cable cars. We were also lucky in that there were only two other ships in port that day and had arrived in the morning so they were well out of the way by then.

We wandered around Fira and then caught the bus to Oia which cost €1.60 each way! Very easy to do. We enjoyed the afternoon there and headed back to the dreaded cable cars for about 6. We queued for an hour which wasn’t too bad-although the MSC cruise was departing at 7pm and a group tried to push in the queue. The Americans were EXTREMELY vocal in calling them out (and again when they tried to push in further down the queue!) so down the steps they went 😆 💩.

Try to not let it put you off, it’s a beautiful place 🥰.

Thanks @SugarPlumpFairy3 !! We have two other ships there too that day. We also purchased the Key which will give us a priority tender. I’m more concerned about everyone trying to get back at the same time once they’ve all taken their sunset pics.
One option of course is just to to walk down but concerned how much donkey poop there is along the way 🫣

If the other ships are leaving before Odyssey, I’m sure you’ll be ok. I’ve not heard good stories about walking down 😬navigating cobbles and donkey poop in the dark doesn’t sound good. We were happy to watch the sunset from the ship.

It REALLY smells too.

We are thinking of booking odyssey of the seas Greek isle cruise for summer holidays- agent said it will be overrun have > 1000 kids
but we will have 10 and 15 year old dc but don’t want to feel overwhelmed with crowds.
Never cruised before - other options west med cruise allure of the seas (£600 more)
and explorer of the seas slight less.

would be grateful for any advice - especially odyssey summer holidays.
Thank you

Celebrity Cruises also cater well for Children but they tend to carry fewer passengers so not as crowded with plenty of Quiet spaces. The Greek Islands is a great destination. Have a look on the Cruise Critic Forum some great info

Celebrity have better reports than Royal currently I think although both are good.

All the ships will be full. They will all have lots of children. However ships are massive. There is always somewhere that feels quiet.
Obviously top deck round the pool will be packed every afternoon but swim early before the families get up, eat in the restaurants not the buffet and sun bath on different decks ( usually right at the front or right at the back has somewhere less busy).

Thank you - have you been on either the rcl / celebrity Greek isle cruise ? Any feedback would e great. Thank you

Maybe just have accept it will be busy and adapt as you say. Will look at celebrity too, thank you for the tips