The Symphony, The Key, Two Teens, and Me: A March 2019 Review

correct, when i checked in , there was a section called "Onboard Expense Account" and there you will find 3 options: Credit Card, Cash or No Charging Privileges, i checked the "no charging privileges" for my kids. you will know if you click on the "Credit Card" option because it will prompt you to enter in a credit card info.

YES!!! I KNEW IT!!! You are my new favorite person.

So now I have a new issue to take up with RCI because DD should not have been able to spend a dime in that arcade.

They still haven't responded to my 2 emails about The Key and The Discover Card Incident. Time to escalate, I guess.
 
I just got a call from someone at Royal Caribbean regarding my email about The Key. She apologized for the issues, and said that most likely the issues with reduced private hours and no priority debarkation were due to the amount of people who had purchased The Key on our sailing. She said she understood that the idea of telling guests they can cut the line at activities is uncomfortable and she wouldn't want to do that either. It sounds like they are working on figuring this stuff out but it is going to take a while.

If anyone is still looking to communicate with RCI regarding disappointment (or satisfaction) with The Key, I would recommend going beyond the post-cruise communications options and heading to operations managers etc. Be polite, obviously, and let them know that you are telling them about your experience so they can work on making the experience better for future guests.

I also brought up the issue of charging privileges, and the Discover. card that was somehow linked to my account. She did not confirm whether I should or should not have been able to turn off charging privileges, though she acknowledged that it is a step in the check in process. She is refunding the amount that DD spent in the arcade as a courtesy. I did NOT ask her to do this, and I even said it wasn't a huge amount and I didn't care about the amount of money, just that I thought I had done something to prevent ANY money from being spent at all.

She has no idea how the Discover card thing happened and agreed that this would be concerning. She is going to look into it, though.

So the moral of the story is that if you have issues, reach out to RCI. It might take a while to hear back, but they will respond if you go to the right people. She had copies of all of the communication I had sent, including my emails to post-cruise services, so be aware that everything you send them *is* being read. I have a tendency to get hot-tempered when I feel like I am not being heard, and I am glad I managed myself this time because it would have been embarrassing to deal with someone who had read an angry email that I had written.

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Recently booked a "last minute" sailing on the Harmony for Dec 15-22 and your trip report has me ready to leave tomorrow!! Seriously, the BEST trip report I have ever read. I love your humor and hints of sarcasm when discussing your DD and DS! LOL!! You sound like a super cool mom and your kids are blessed to have you! <3 We will be traveling with DS16, DD22 and her DDB23 (boyfriend) as a college graduation trip. We are also celebrating DH and my 50th bdays and our son turning 16 last spring. Gotta rationalize spending this money, amirite? Ha! After pricing DCL and NCL, it was cheaper for us to get 2 Ocean View Balcony Staterooms on RCCL than 1 on both NCL and DCL. I could not IMAGINE spending 7 days in a room the size of my master bathroom with 3 grown children! Thank you, NEXT!! We saved almost $1000 by cruising RCCL. Of course, the difference will be made up in the drink package, The Key, etc. but to have 2 staterooms is so worth it!!

Also, @nancy drew what kind of camera did you use? Your pictures are STUNNING! I've been an iPhone user for going on what seems like forever and have ditched my Nikon because it's so easy to get good photos with the iPhone. Not having to lug around a big camera is such a joy. Anyway, your trip report was amazing and you gave me so many good ideas!! Thank you and enjoy your August Disney trip!!
 


Thanks for this. First time with RCL in two years with the Harmony. Enjoy reading your report.
 
Recently booked a "last minute" sailing on the Harmony for Dec 15-22 and your trip report has me ready to leave tomorrow!! Seriously, the BEST trip report I have ever read. I love your humor and hints of sarcasm when discussing your DD and DS! LOL!! You sound like a super cool mom and your kids are blessed to have you! <3 We will be traveling with DS16, DD22 and her DDB23 (boyfriend) as a college graduation trip. We are also celebrating DH and my 50th bdays and our son turning 16 last spring. Gotta rationalize spending this money, amirite? Ha! After pricing DCL and NCL, it was cheaper for us to get 2 Ocean View Balcony Staterooms on RCCL than 1 on both NCL and DCL. I could not IMAGINE spending 7 days in a room the size of my master bathroom with 3 grown children! Thank you, NEXT!! We saved almost $1000 by cruising RCCL. Of course, the difference will be made up in the drink package, The Key, etc. but to have 2 staterooms is so worth it!!

Also, @nancy drew what kind of camera did you use? Your pictures are STUNNING! I've been an iPhone user for going on what seems like forever and have ditched my Nikon because it's so easy to get good photos with the iPhone. Not having to lug around a big camera is such a joy. Anyway, your trip report was amazing and you gave me so many good ideas!! Thank you and enjoy your August Disney trip!!

So jealous of your upcoming cruise! We sail again in March and I.Cannot.Wait. Of course we have a little visit to The Mouse to give me something to live for in the meantime, though that isn't in August. Our August trip is a National Park/hiking trip. I would love to write up a TR for it but there is absolutely no place to do that here. It would be so much fun to share the crazy stuff we come up with on the trail. Last time we went on one of these trips we outlined an entire musical, with a full song list. I just found it the other day and I think we might just write the sequel this time. It was hilarious.

Thank you so much for your kind words! I am so amazed that people are still reading this! You are going to LOVE Royal. There is just so much to do, the ship is so nice and new, the shows are awesome... you will have a blast! And you are very smart to get 2 rooms. You will be soooo glad, especially for the extra bathroom! And if your rooms are next to each other you can have the balcony opened up so you share the balcony!

Thank you for the kind words about my pictures. I used my phone (Samsung Galaxy S7) or my Nikon D55 with a lens... not sure which one but probably my favorite mid-range lens that I cannot find at the moment. That's helpful, right? :rolleyes: I promise when I find it I will come back and let you know which lens it was.

Thanks for this. First time with RCL in two years with the Harmony. Enjoy reading your report.

Thank you! You will love it!! Since you are planning far in advance you have plenty of time to learn as much as possible about the ship. Keep an eye on your Cruise Planner and book excursions and packages as they come up. You can always cancel and rebook if the price drops, or if you change your mind.
 
Thank you for your trip report! We just booked Harmony for August 2020. This will be our first RCCL cruise.
 
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Amazing information, we are sailing with RCCL in June of 2020 although we will be on the mariner of the seas. I found lots of your information helpful.
Do you remember how long before your cruise that you booked the key?
 
So jealous of your upcoming cruise! We sail again in March and I.Cannot.Wait. Of course we have a little visit to The Mouse to give me something to live for in the meantime, though that isn't in August. Our August trip is a National Park/hiking trip. I would love to write up a TR for it but there is absolutely no place to do that here. It would be so much fun to share the crazy stuff we come up with on the trail. Last time we went on one of these trips we outlined an entire musical, with a full song list. I just found it the other day and I think we might just write the sequel this time. It was hilarious.

Thank you so much for your kind words! I am so amazed that people are still reading this! You are going to LOVE Royal. There is just so much to do, the ship is so nice and new, the shows are awesome... you will have a blast! And you are very smart to get 2 rooms. You will be soooo glad, especially for the extra bathroom! And if your rooms are next to each other you can have the balcony opened up so you share the balcony!

Thank you for the kind words about my pictures. I used my phone (Samsung Galaxy S7) or my Nikon D55 with a lens... not sure which one but probably my favorite mid-range lens that I cannot find at the moment. That's helpful, right? :rolleyes: I promise when I find it I will come back and let you know which lens it was.



Thank you! You will love it!! Since you are planning far in advance you have plenty of time to learn as much as possible about the ship. Keep an eye on your Cruise Planner and book excursions and packages as they come up. You can always cancel and rebook if the price drops, or if you change your mind.
You MUST put the National Park trip report somewhere!! Seriously--you should do a facebook page or something with your trip reports. We've always wanted to do a National Park trip and your tips would make or break it! We've always done Disney every year as we own DVC but once the kids got older and had so many activities, we are on an every two year cycle for Disney. So sad! haha!! I think we may fit a Disney visit at the end of this coming school year, hoping the newness of Star Wars has worn off--or maybe it will still be in full freak out mode and we can go to AK and ride Flight of Passage over and over! LOL!! My dream! Anyway, thanks again for the tips and please let us know if you publish those other trip reports somewhere!
 
Just finished your report. Thank you so much for all of it. You definitely sound like my kind of person (introverts unite, but separately).

We have only been on the older ships (Explorer and Liberty) but have had a fantastic time on them. We miss DCL but not enough to pay three times as much (our last cruise was 1/3 the price for two interior promenade rooms vs one interior DCL room for us four).

Your report definitely makes us want to try one of the mega ships. Thanks.
 
Day 2 continued

Tonight was formal night, so we were dressed fairly nice. I had decided DS had to come to dinner with us every night, so we all went together. I am sure I ordered the Caesar salad again, and this appears to be the beef tenderloin.

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For dessert, DS ordered the carrot cake

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DD had something, and I had the souffle. It was good, kind of eggy but that's how souffle usually is. The sauce was really good.

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Then DS ran off to the Teen Club, and DD and I were left to wander until our next show. We had reservations for Hairspray, but much later in the evening.

Now, I had heard about the restaurant called Wonderland, and I went back and forth and back and forth on whether to reserve it. In the end I realized I really just wanted the dessert, not the main courses. We don't really eat seafood and that seriously limits what we can have at Wonderland, and at pretty much all of the other specialty restaurants.

I had asked online if we would be able to go to Wonderland for dessert, and I was assured that wouldn't be a problem. We would pay out of pocket per dessert, but it should be fine.

Well that is not how it works any more.

I had mentioned to our servers, who used to work in Wonderland on the Harmony, that we wanted to have dessert there one night. He said "Well, that might not be possible. Let me see what I can do, I will talk to my boss and see what we can do." He said they used to let people go there for dessert but they stopped allowing it because they are too busy now. I decided to stop by, and walk through the place, and ask there if we might be able to stop in for dessert.

It is definitely a cool space.

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To enter, you go down the rabbit hole.

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And through (or around) the magical door.

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There is this cool seat here.

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Now, you may not want to eat here, but maybe you just want to stop by and experience the place for yourself. You CAN go to the bar, and I believe they have a 2 for 1 Happy Hour.

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And here, below, is the restaurant. If you look carefully, you will see the whimsy: mismatched chairs, chairs with rabbit ears, some random woman with a St. Patrick's Day fascinator looking at me, etc.

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So I walked up to the host stand, and asked if we could have dessert. When I was looking over at the restaurant, I saw a couple that was just being seated and given menus. The place closes officially at 9:30, but they were just being seated, and there were empty tables, so I figured no problem, squeeze us in for a quick round of desserts.

Nope.

I asked if we could just go ahead and make a reservation for later in the week for dessert.

"Oh let me check, no, sorry, we are fully booked. And with such a full booking we can't really let people in for dessert. We used to allow it, but not any more, not for a year or so." (Um the ship is not a year old but ok sure.)

So we left, and were thinking about going back to the room, because I thought we had some time. I looked at the time for the show, maybe on the app, and realized I had the time wrong. I had been thinking about another show that started at 10:45 later in the week. Hairspray started at 10:30, and it was currently 10:35. Oh great.

We rushed to the theater and of course if had already started. So no Key benefit here, but it was 100% my fault.

We grabbed seats off to the side, so we weren't disrupting anyone. It wasn't the best location, but the show was still amazing.

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Seriously, another winner. Go see the show. And check the time, and double check the time. This wouldn't be the last time this happened to us.

After the show I summoned DS to the room, where we found this guy waiting:

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And that's the end of Day 2! Day 3 would be another day at sea, so more sleeping in! Yay!
Can you tell me a little about "Formal night"? We've cruised DCL, and there was a dress up night, but only about 50% of the people participated. We are not formal attire folks--so I see recommended suit and ties, cocktail dresses, etc. and we'd need to buy a whole new wadrobe for our family for this. Can you still go and dress casual, and are you totally out of place if you do?
 
Thank you for your trip report! We just booked Harmony for August 2020. This will be our first RCCL cruise.

You will truly enjoy it! It will be very similar to Symphony, and it will be awesome!

Amazing information, we are sailing with RCCL in June of 2020 although we will be on the mariner of the seas. I found lots of your information helpful.
Do you remember how long before your cruise that you booked the key?

I just went and checked. I booked it 2 months before we sailed, *BUT* it had been available before that, and then disappeared from CP for a while. As soon as it was available again at about 2 months out, I booked it.

I am so curious to hear your experience on Mariner! I really want to sail on one of the "Amped" ships! Our next sailing is in that class, but not on an Amped ship.

You MUST put the National Park trip report somewhere!! Seriously--you should do a facebook page or something with your trip reports. We've always wanted to do a National Park trip and your tips would make or break it! We've always done Disney every year as we own DVC but once the kids got older and had so many activities, we are on an every two year cycle for Disney. So sad! haha!! I think we may fit a Disney visit at the end of this coming school year, hoping the newness of Star Wars has worn off--or maybe it will still be in full freak out mode and we can go to AK and ride Flight of Passage over and over! LOL!! My dream! Anyway, thanks again for the tips and please let us know if you publish those other trip reports somewhere!

Wow, such a huge compliment!! I have thought about doing a website or something, since the reports are currently all over the place, but figured 1) no one would read it and 2) no one would think it was worth reading if they did. I will consider it, though.

But seriously, GO TO A NATIONAL PARK!! I cannot believe how amazing these places are! And, if you like all of the planning stuff about Disney, then National Parks are a GREAT choice because you have to plan a year in advance to get lodging, and there are SO many hikes, lakes, trails, etc. and you need to plan so you don't do what we did in Grand Teton and set out on a challenging hike with no water and no idea what to expect. NEVER AGAIN!

How old are your kids? We started the National Parks when they were maybe 9 and 11? I don't recall. But it was a great time, and they still remember it fondly. If you have questions please reach out. We did an organized tour in Yellowstone and it gave me the confidence to figure out our own tour in Glacier National Park and now in our upcoming trip. I would be happy to share my experience if you are considering Yellowstone, Grand Teton, or Glacier. And once our vacation has ended, I will be happy to share that experience as well! PM me any time.

And I suppose I will be taking notes, just in case a trip report happens!

Just finished your report. Thank you so much for all of it. You definitely sound like my kind of person (introverts unite, but separately).

We have only been on the older ships (Explorer and Liberty) but have had a fantastic time on them. We miss DCL but not enough to pay three times as much (our last cruise was 1/3 the price for two interior promenade rooms vs one interior DCL room for us four).

Your report definitely makes us want to try one of the mega ships. Thanks.

I would love to hear about your experience on Explorer and Liberty, as our next 2 sailings will probably be on ships in those classes! Symphony was amazing and I know I will miss the "shiny new ship" vibe. But we do love the smaller ships, and I hope we won't be disappointed on our next cruises.

Can you tell me a little about "Formal night"? We've cruised DCL, and there was a dress up night, but only about 50% of the people participated. We are not formal attire folks--so I see recommended suit and ties, cocktail dresses, etc. and we'd need to buy a whole new wadrobe for our family for this. Can you still go and dress casual, and are you totally out of place if you do?

I don't recall it being any more or less formal than DCL. It is really one of those things where some people dress up, some don't. We sort of did. I really don't care much about what other people are doing in situations like that, so I didn't notice how others were dressed. I think as long as you have long pants and a shirt with a collar (men) and something other than shorts and a tshirt (women) and shoes that are not flip flops (all of you) you should be fine. I have always brought maybe 1 pair of "not jeans" pants, and at least one casual dress (like, from Target, Nordstrom Rack, or similar). I use those for formal night and haven't noticed much side eye. Just enjoy that beverage package and you won't care much about what anyone is wearing ;). I will look through my photos later and see if I can find examples of what people were wearing.
 
I’m not planning a cruise, but I too, really enjoyed your trip report! As far as a trip report on your upcoming National Park visit, why don’t you just put it right here on this thread? You do have a very engaging writing style and once people read through your cruise trip report, they’ll want to read more from you. Or...you could always leave your National Park trip report on the Community Boards page. People bring up National Park trip questions all the time over there.
 
I’m not planning a cruise, but I too, really enjoyed your trip report! As far as a trip report on your upcoming National Park visit, why don’t you just put it right here on this thread? You do have a very engaging writing style and once people read through your cruise trip report, they’ll want to read more from you. Or...you could always leave your National Park trip report on the Community Boards page. People bring up National Park trip questions all the time over there.

Thank you. I really appreciate the compliments. Maybe the community board would be a good place for a report, or here. I will think about it.

We are back from our trip and I took notes, more or less, with the intention of writing up a report. We will see if it happens. It will have to wait, though, because I left my camera in California. I cannot believe I did this. Who leaves their nice camera behind in the hotel? I think I left it in the safe. We only had a safe in one hotel (the last one) so I wasn't used to checking in there when we were moving on.
 
Thank you. I really appreciate the compliments. Maybe the community board would be a good place for a report, or here. I will think about it.

We are back from our trip and I took notes, more or less, with the intention of writing up a report. We will see if it happens. It will have to wait, though, because I left my camera in California. I cannot believe I did this. Who leaves their nice camera behind in the hotel? I think I left it in the safe. We only had a safe in one hotel (the last one) so I wasn't used to checking in there when we were moving on.
:(Oh no! I hope they find it and send it back to you quickly.
I’ll be lurking to see when/if you get that trip report going. :thumbsup2
 
Great TR! I love your sense of humor and writing style. You had me chuckling many times. We're planning to sail in November on Symphony so this was informative and fun to read.
 
Great TR! I love your sense of humor and writing style. You had me chuckling many times. We're planning to sail in November on Symphony so this was informative and fun to read.

Thanks so much! We are sailing again soon, and I am hoping to take enough notes to provide a report about our experience! Enjoy the Symphony, she is an amazing ship!

:(Oh no! I hope they find it and send it back to you quickly.
I’ll be lurking to see when/if you get that trip report going. :thumbsup2

Somehow I did not see this or reply until now! I am so sorry!

I did end up getting my camera back. I realized it when we got to the airport (4 hours away from the hotel). I called, and they had it. Thank goodness! I had left it in the safe and forgotten about it. Good thing it was safe! (See what I did there?). The really dumb thing is that the safe was open, because we had to take other things out. I just somehow did not notice my huge camera in there. Sigh.

They shipped it back to me (at my expense) and it is now back at home. I didn't even bring it on our last vacation to Disney. I am undecided on whether I will bring it on our next cruise.
 
Great report. We are going on Symphony of the seas in the fall. Started out just 4 of us. Now we are up to 9. I'm trying to convince my sister that her and her husband should join us.
I'm impressed that you got your daughter to even try the teen club. My girls hated the kids club when they were 11 and haven't been back in 2 other cruises ( one at age 12 and one at age 14). We have 3 cruises booked so I'm hoping they will give the teen club a shot on them.
I am undecided on whether I will bring it on our next cruise.
What ship/line are you going on next?
 
Great report. We are going on Symphony of the seas in the fall. Started out just 4 of us. Now we are up to 9. I'm trying to convince my sister that her and her husband should join us.
I'm impressed that you got your daughter to even try the teen club. My girls hated the kids club when they were 11 and haven't been back in 2 other cruises ( one at age 12 and one at age 14). We have 3 cruises booked so I'm hoping they will give the teen club a shot on them.

What ship/line are you going on next?

Thanks! You'll love the Symphony! I've had mixed feelings about the "Mega Ship" thing, and our next sailing is a much smaller ship (Adventure of the Seas) but I think we'll be back on the big ships, much to DD's dismay. We were just talking about how this upcoming cruise is a much smaller ship, so the teen club might not be quite so overrun with people. I know she appreciates a much smaller group. But she is almost aging out of the teen club (!) so this won't be an issue much longer. I am sure we will be back on a smaller ship, because there are some sailings I want to do that are only offered on smaller ships. But I am already panicking at the idea that we have to eat at the buffet on this sailing, and won't have Sorrento's available whenever we want. 🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕
 
I just read your whole trip report. What a great report and a beautiful ship. I have sailed DCL twice and looking to try RC someday. I love your sense of humor
 

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