Symphony of the Seas: My Review & Best Tips for 2023

First, if you’re curious about WHY I like cruises or what I do on them, watch this video about how to be productive on a cruise that I made a few years ago:

Now, on this cruise, we hung out with monkeys and macaws in Roatan, Honduras.

We lounged on the beach in the Bahamas at RCL’s private island (which I liked a LOT more than I thought I would).

man with a Capuchin monkey on his shoulder

man wearing all blue on the beach in Bahamas with blue rash guard and blue hat

woman wearing a wetsuit riding the Flowrider machine

And we surfed our faces off on the two Flowrider machines located at the back of the ship.

Plus lots more!

This was our route, departing out of Miami:

map of the Caribbean journey for Symphony of the Seas — Costa Maya, Mexico; Roatan, Honduras; Cozumel, Mexico; and finally CocoCay, Bahamas. We sailed on the Symphony of the Seas in February 2022.

The Symphony of the Seas

The Symphony of the Seas is currently the second-biggest cruise ship in the world.

It was built in 2016 at a cost of US $1,350,000,000. More facts about the ship on its Wikipedia page here.

But to get an idea of the size comparison, see this photo from port one day:

Two cruise ships side by side: Mariner of the Seas and the Symphony of the Seas by Royal Caribbean — Look how much bigger our ship, the Symphony of the Seas by Royal Caribbean, is compared to a normal “large” ship to its left

Here are some of my favorite things from this ship.

Central Park

Wow. Central Park on the Symphony and similar-class ships is a common area on the 8th floor. It absolutely blew my mind. It really felt like we were outdoors!

It is a half-ship length oasis of plants and sunshine.

This was one of our favorite spots to read, use our laptops, or play board games.

Here’s a picture of me at the entrance:

man standing inside Central Park aboard the Symphony of the Seas cruise ship — There’s a map of the park area when you enter Central Park on the 8th deck.

Pro tip: There’s a free cafe in this area (called Park Cafe) which has tasty roast beef sandwiches, salads, and more.

Our Room

Room 6226 was where we called home aboard the ship. It was fine!

If you cruise correctly, you don’t spend a lot of time in your room.

Having a balcony was nice to listen to the ocean at night and to be able to get fresh air in a private space.

door opens into a balcony room on a cruise ship showing bed and carpets

Monkeys and Macaws in Roatan

We went to Gumbalimba Park in Roatan, Honduras based on all the positive reviews online.

I highly recommend this. We paid $35 per person for admission, plus an optional $40 tip to our tour guide.

Pro tip: Go later in the afternoon for more private time with the animals! We skipped the crowds and were the only visitors when we arrived at 1:30 PM.

Pro tip: We did not need a reservation and had no problems buying tickets and getting a guide at the entrance. We walked off the ship and hailed a taxi on the street outside the port. The taxi fee after negotiation was USD $30 round-trip, including waiting time.

At first, I was scared to hold the macaws. They are big birds!

Then, once they started to sit on me, I was…curious.

Finally, once I got used to them, I was happy!

man with many macaw parrot birds on his arms and shoulders

Flowrider Surf Machine

This is my favorite amenity on any cruise ship!

Almost anyone, including young children, can quickly learn how to boogie board on this ride.

Pro tip: Go early or right at the opening time for zero lines. Often times the ship agenda did not list it open until 3:00 PM, but on our cruise, the Flowrider was open almost every morning at 9:00 AM with no wait.

Standing up is a lot more difficult. You must pass an evaluation test in order to do standup, or “Advanced surfing.”

I was lucky enough to figure it out and maintain my balance. And I learned some new tricks.

man standing on a Flowrider surf board on the back of a cruise ship

finger pointing at a Flowrider surf machine on a cruise ship

CocoCay, Bahamas

finger pointing to ocean and private island — Pointing to Chill Beach at CocoCay

I’ll admit: we all wanted to hate this. We thought that it would not be a good day.

CocoCay is a fully-developed private island which is only for Royal Caribbean cruise passengers.

I thought it would be tacky and a huge profit-center for the cruise line, with them trying to sell us things at every chance possible.

But you know what? We actually loved it.

It was just so easy! Free beach chairs, food, fruit, hammocks, and more.

With half-decent snorkeling, too.

woman wearing hat and sunglasses in a beach chair

topless man holding a phone and a plate of fruit with watermelon and pineapple and mango

woman wearing a sweater and bathing suit walking on the white sand beach with nice blue water and rocks behind her

Pro tip: You can snorkel at Chill Beach which is located to the left after you exit the pier. Start at Bay 1 or 2. The best and most fish were found at the sunken cannons near the far floating dock.

Life Aboard the Ship

Here are a few other things to note aboard the Symphony of the Seas that we appreciated during our trip.

The Shows: Ice and Water

We were pleasantly surprised by two of the shows aboard this: Ice, and Hiro. Definitely check them out.

Photo from Hiro, a show at the back of the ship that impressed us all.

COVID-19 Restrictions

We always had to wear our masks inside. But they were not required to be worn in outside areas.

After 2020, you probably know that buffets on cruise ships are no longer self-serve.

Even the taco bar (what a perk!) requires you to get condiments served from a waiter.

Gym on the Symphony of the Seas

The gym was great. I went every single day.

There are a ton of free weights, weight machines, and cardio equipment.

There was a 37-person capacity limit. But I only saw it closed due to capacity limitations on the first sea day, in the morning around 9:00 AM. Every other time I was able to enter with no problem.