Symphony was amazing!

So great to hear. We're going in March with a 13 and 9 year old.
How were the shows? The food? What type of stateroom were you in? What were their favorite activities?
 
So great to hear. We're going in March with a 13 and 9 year old.
How were the shows? The food? What type of stateroom were you in? What were their favorite activities?

We stayed in an ocean view balcony on deck 8. Loved it!!!! I did miss the split bath on DCL, but that’s about it. Service was outstanding all over. We saw all 4 shows- Hiro was our fave. Everyone raves about Flight and 1977, but they were just okay to us. Really liked Hairspray too!!! Make reservations ahead of time on cruise planner. The food was typical cruise food. I’m gluten/dairy free and they were wonderful to work with! Our favorite place was El Loco Fresh!!! Yum! Also the solarium bistro makes omelets for bfast. We did main dining every night for dinner.
Kids clubs don’t even compare to DCL. My kids stayed very busy doing putt putt, ping pong, sports court, laser tag, scavenger hunts, zipline, flowrider, water slides, rock wall, and the abyss! Can you tell we miss it already?
 


Sounds like everything was great. Really looking forward the shows....esp Hairspray, Hiro and Flight. Was it hard to get a good seat? And did you have a headliner? We have already done our bookings but no headliner there.
Great that they had food for you. El Loco Fresh looks great , and different from other places. Can't wait.
Can see your kids (and you) all had a blast. Can't wait.
Thanks for sharing.
 
Sounds like everything was great. Really looking forward the shows....esp Hairspray, Hiro and Flight. Was it hard to get a good seat? And did you have a headliner? We have already done our bookings but no headliner there.
Great that they had food for you. El Loco Fresh looks great , and different from other places. Can't wait.
Can see your kids (and you) all had a blast. Can't wait.
Thanks for sharing.

We got to the shows 30-45 min early to get good seats. I read that the best seats for Flight were center section, 7-8 rows back. They did not disappoint! There was a comedy show one night, but we didn’t go.
 
You are making me want to cancel our December cruise on the Magic and switch to RCCL. It's our first cruise and we have been told by friends that Disney is a cut above. Reading all these comments is making me think that's not true. RCCL would save a chunk of money also.
 


We are on Symphony now and again next week (doing a western/eastern back to back) and agree it is amazing. Definitely make reservations for the big shows. They let people with reservations in first, and then closer to showtime they let everyone else in. There are no "headliners" but Hairspray is a Broadway musical and Hiro and Flight are excellent original productions. Hiro is done in the aqua theater and is amazing.
Denise
 
We are on Symphony now and again next week (doing a western/eastern back to back) and agree it is amazing. Definitely make reservations for the big shows. They let people with reservations in first, and then closer to showtime they let everyone else in. There are no "headliners" but Hairspray is a Broadway musical and Hiro and Flight are excellent original productions. Hiro is done in the aqua theater and is amazing.
Denise

Nice!!!! We got off Saturday :(
 
You are making me want to cancel our December cruise on the Magic and switch to RCCL. It's our first cruise and we have been told by friends that Disney is a cut above. Reading all these comments is making me think that's not true. RCCL would save a chunk of money also.

I think it depends how old your kids are.
 
We are on Symphony now and again next week (doing a western/eastern back to back) and agree it is amazing. Definitely make reservations for the big shows. They let people with reservations in first, and then closer to showtime they let everyone else in. There are no "headliners" but Hairspray is a Broadway musical and Hiro and Flight are excellent original productions. Hiro is done in the aqua theater and is amazing.
Denise

If you see this - I am dying to know if there is a kids only cupcake class on Symphony or if it’s just a shared kids/adults class?
 
We stayed in an ocean view balcony on deck 8. Loved it!!!! I did miss the split bath on DCL, but that’s about it. Service was outstanding all over. We saw all 4 shows- Hiro was our fave. Everyone raves about Flight and 1977, but they were just okay to us. Really liked Hairspray too!!! Make reservations ahead of time on cruise planner. The food was typical cruise food. I’m gluten/dairy free and they were wonderful to work with! Our favorite place was El Loco Fresh!!! Yum! Also the solarium bistro makes omelets for bfast. We did main dining every night for dinner.
Kids clubs don’t even compare to DCL. My kids stayed very busy doing putt putt, ping pong, sports court, laser tag, scavenger hunts, zipline, flowrider, water slides, rock wall, and the abyss! Can you tell we miss it already?

My daughter will be almost 9 but we are traveling with a 12 and 14 year old also - and have 3 ocean view balconies on deck 8!! We are aft / port side - not far from dazzles... Did you experience any extra noise from being on that floor with people?

Any other thoughts or advice to share?

When you said the kids clubs didn’t compare - what did you mean by that?
 
Kids clubs operate differently on the two lines. Oceaneers (DCL) is quite open and less structured, although they have CM-led activities. Seems to work better for kids that are a bit shy. Adventure Ocean (Royal) slots kids into 3 age groups and the program is a little more regimented. If kids are a little more social, this seems to be better as the smaller groups kind of force you to interact with the other kids.

FWIW my kids were ok with both clubs.
 
My daughter will be almost 9 but we are traveling with a 12 and 14 year old also - and have 3 ocean view balconies on deck 8!! We are aft / port side - not far from dazzles... Did you experience any extra noise from being on that floor with people?

Any other thoughts or advice to share?

When you said the kids clubs didn’t compare - what did you mean by that?

We had 3 rooms right by Dazzles! 8670, 8674, and 8678. Great location!!! No noise at all.

DCL kids club is a huge room with a great design/decor. RCCL literally has a room about the size of a classroom (for each age group). My son and nephews were ages 9-11. No comparison! Also, there were barely any kids ever in there. Just very different. Not a big deal- they loved doing all the fun stuff outside of the club anyway.

Also, my daughter is 12 and my other nephew is 13. They tried the teen area and my daughter didn’t enjoy it. My nephew was often the only kid in there. They combine ages 12-17 in one space. I think more kids hung out there as the week went on.
 
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We had 3 rooms right by Dazzles! 8670, 8674, and 8678. Great location!!! No noise at all.

DCL kids club is a huge room with a great design/decor. RCCL literally has a room about the size of a classroom (for each age group). My son and nephews were ages 9-11. No comparison! Also, there were barely any kids ever in there. Just very different. Not a big deal- they loved doing all the fun stuff outside of the club anyway.

Also, my daughter is 12 and my other nephew is 13. They tried the teen area and my daughter didn’t enjoy it. My nephew was often the only kid in there. They combine ages 12-17 in one space. I think more kids hung out there as the week went on.


Wow! Our group is in the same rooms on the other side!

We have been on a few Royal cruises and my kids have liked the kids clubs (ages 4/8 and then 6/10 on our last cruise), but I am a little worried that with so much else to do that my daughter won’t enjoy it as much this time. It will only be my 8 year old with me and while I will have a 12 and 14 year old in our group - I am still hoping she loves it enough to go whenever I need her to!

I am worried the teens won’t make friends but trying to encourage them to go the first night and meet some folks so that they have others to do all those onboard activities with!
 
Any chance you kept a copy of the kids compasses? I haven’t been able to find any online for the 12-14 year olds...
 
Any chance you kept a copy of the kids compasses? I haven’t been able to find any online for the 12-14 year olds...

They passed one out on the first day for the whole week. It’s for 12-17 year olds all combined. We didn’t keep it as my daughter wasn’t really into the club. She did do a scavenger hunt with her cousin and one other kid. Not many kids on our cruise for some reason!
 
Thanks for the reply!

One more question or two if you don’t mind!

Did you do any of the cupcake making sessions or see if there was a kids only class vs the kids/adult class?

And did you happen to remember the weight/height requirements for the zip line?
 

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