Saturday, 22nd October, 2022
We were a bit worried about how long it would take to board the ship, there seemed to be hundreds of people milling around, but we were pleasantly surprised by the quickness and efficiency of the Royal Caribbean staff and in no time at all, we were boarding the ship!
As luck would have it, we spotted Denise, our friend, straight away and she led us to her husband, Ian, who was busily booking our specialty restaurants, as we had pre-paid for the specialty restaurant package which entitled us to eat at three restaurants during the week. The main one we wanted to make sure we could do was Alice in Wonderland on Tuesday, as that was Phil’s, my husband’s, birthday. We were in luck, we could book it, but the other two restaurants were already quite full up, so we had to settle for five o’clock sittings, which was a bit frustrating.
As we hadn’t eaten at all that day, the first stop was the Windjammer – we have cruised with RC on a few occasions and were familiar with the setup and we have never been disappointed with the food or the service before.
Windjammer done, it was time to explore the ship and we couldn’t resist a game of crazy golf. The game was a bit flawed though, as every time we hit the ball, the wind took it further by a couple of feet, normally in the wrong direction! We were truly thrashed by our friends, but vowed we would beat them on a re-match!
Phil then spotted the zipwire, as we are all involved in scouting, you can imagine that this was something they wanted to do (not me, I have a bad back, or a china back as my husband would say!) We went to enquire and found out that you needed to be wearing a covered t-shirt and closed-in trainers or shoes, which Denise and Ian didn’t have, but Phil did, so he had a go.
After this excitement, it was time for a Pina Colada cocktail. We didn’t buy the alcohol package, we bought the refreshment package as we’re not big drinkers, but you need a cocktail to start off a holiday!
We then went our separate ways to find our cabins as it had just been announced that the cabins were ready. We were on Deck 8, cabin no 293, overlooking the Boardwalk. We knew that the carousel was underneath our balcony and we were a bit concerned about the noise, but on entering the cabin and opening the balcony doors, the sound from the carousel wasn’t at all loud.
It was a nice change to have a different view than the sea, but I do love watching the ocean and waves at the end of a busy day.
At about 4:45PM the Symphony of the Seas left Miami, it was very hot up on the top deck but the views were incredible. We are used to sailing out of Southampton, so this was a treat for us to see the amazing hotels and buildings and especially the beach.
We arranged to unpack and then get ready for dinner, we had already booked this on the App before we had boarded as we were Any Time dining and Denise and Ian came to have a look at our cabin. We made our way to the Main Dining Room (MDR) and sat down for our first of many meals on board.
I have to say it was a little bit manic, our waiters seemed to have quite a few tables and a very demanding table sat behind us. He forgot one of our drinks and brought me the wrong starter. This was rectified and he was very apologetic, but when my dinner arrived which was roasted chicken with vegetables, the gravy was very spicy, which obviously it’s not supposed to be. I think the wrong sauce was put on this dish, because I’ve never heard of a spicy gravy!
Again, he was very apologetic, offering me a new meal, but I had eaten what was not covered in the sauce and couldn’t have possibly eaten another plate full of food.
We went for a wander and ended up at the On Air Club, where there was a karaoke session in full swing. There were some very good singers and some not so good ones!
We then decided to call it a night as Phil wasn’t feeling too good, so we said our goodnights and headed back to the cabin. Phil was up all night with a bad stomach, so not much sleep was had by either of us. Hopefully in the morning, he will feel better.
Take a look at the video:
To see a video of what we got up to with lots more photographs and videos, take a look at the YouTube video:
And lastly….
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