5 Ways Symphony of the Seas Makes the Biggest Ship Yet Still Feel Intimate

Carousel on the Boardwalk — Ride the painted ponies on the Boardwalk--Photo by Wallace Immen

Even though Royal Caribbean Cruise Line once again has bragging rights with its newest ship, there isn’t much emphasis on the fact it’s the largest in the world. Instead, the first impression of Symphony of the Seas is that they’ve managed to pack in more experiences than ever while making the ship feel remarkably intimate.

Like a comfortable small town, Symphony’s walkable and has recognizable landmarks and districts—the Promenade mall, Central Park, Boardwalk amusement zone, entertainment district and restaurants catering to a range of tastes. After a little exploring you can find favorite places to call your own and do as little or as much as you care to each day.

Here’s a first impression of what’s new:

1) The Boardwalk gets a rethink

The classic carrousel and Johnny Rockets are there as they are on the other Oasis class ships. A signature addition to the rethought Boardwalk is Playmakers sports bar that takes up one entire side of the open air zone Yet there are few outdoor tables and most of the space is enclosed by walls and windows, so it’s not as much for people watching as for TV watching. There are channels featuring feeds of every sport you can imagine. If you don’t have enough of flashing lights, half the space is taken up by interactive arcade games that come at an extra cost to play.

Nutritional guidelines go out the window with the pub grub here, lots of deep fried everything from wings and rings to fries that come at prices from $3 for sliders to $9 for burger and fries and $12 for a sundae heaped with ice cream and toppings.

If your teeth aren’t tingling enough after that, another new attraction, Sugar Beach, is packed floor to ceiling with candy, ice cream and cupcakes. It surely runs afoul of the nutrition police as well as every dental association, but boy is it popular anyway.

2) Entertainment Zone—ambitious production shows

Hairspray

In this full revival of the Broadway classic, the whole theater becomes a studio with cameras filming the Corny Collins show displayed on big screen black-and-white monitors overhead. It’s all singing, all dancing, all feel good and the production is topped with dream sequences of characters flying over the stage. It’s definitely a must-see and the wraparound design of the theater makes for good viewing from anywhere—including the balcony.

Flight

Royal Caribbean claims it spent millions developing this spectacular, which looks back from some future time when we’ve got a base on Mars, to an authentic replica of the International Space Station (with advice from a real astronaut) to the milestones that got humans into space. The show concludes with a remarkable full-scale replica of the Wright Brothers pioneering Kitty Hawk plane soaring over the audience and landing on stage as the pilot handles the controls while singing.

1977 ice show

On the ice rink known as Studio B, whose surface covers a projection screen that makes the ice seem to come alive, a new 1977 ice skating spectacular opens with a fantastic aerial ballet by 48 drones whose lights change in sequence swooping in sync to the music. Then the show heats up, with 16 world-class ice dancers. It leaves you wondering if what you saw could possibly be real.

AquaNation

Just as awe inspiring is the dazzling show in the Aqua Theater at the end of the Boardwalk, which vice-president of entertainment Nick Weir summed up as “15 people doing crazy things.” They include synchronized swimmers and divers and tightrope walkers doing amazing stunts while balancing on a stretchy ribbon 10 stories above the ship’s deck.

3) More daytime fun—Laser Tag and Escape Room

A new use for the Studio B rink between ice shows and game shows is glow in the dark laser tag. An obstacle course of luminous walls is set up and teams have to be strategic to avoid laser light beams from opposing players who could be anywhere in the complex.

Meanwhile, Escape from the Rubicon, a new attraction designed by Puzzle Break locks teams of from four to 12 in a mock-up of a submarine that’s complete with a periscope. The challenge is to locate and interpret clues to find the key that will let them fire a torpedo to stop a rogue volcano from erupting. There’s only an hour or it’s game over. The strategy is to make sure that everyone is on the prowl for hints that could be anywhere and thinking of imaginative ways to solve the challenge.

Family suite on Royal Caribbean — Family suite is part amusement park–Courtesy Royal Caribbean

4) The Ultimate Family Suite

Everyone’s in awe of this home within a ship that has so many toys and places for kids to curl up– Legos, video and air hockey games– that they may never want to go outside–other than to tackle the private climbing wall on the balcony that has its own Jacuzzi tub.

Starting at $30,000 and up for a week depending on season, it’s not accessible to many because there’s only one on the ship and it’s already booked solid through 2018. A bigger question is whether it’s really necessary to tempt kids to just play hermit in their own private play zone on a ship that features a multitude of attractions for kids.

Mural on Symphony of the Seas — Think of it as a small town–a 3-D mural in the Promenade–Photo by Wallace Immen

5) Bonus points: The most eco-friendly ship yet

Symphony of the Seas boasts a whopping 25 per cent improvement in fuel efficiency even when compared to Oasis-class Allure of the Seas, which came out just eight years ago, according to Richard Fain, chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

“Most people look for a silver bullet (to cut energy use). There is no silver bullet. It is a thousand little things,” he said during a question and answer session on Symphony’s inaugural cruise.

For example, Symphony’s hull was optimized to reduce drag, and the ship has a system that blows bubbles along the hull to reduce friction with the water, and in effect the ship “literally floats on air,” Fain explained.

That means the ship needs just an 85 MW generating capacity, down from 100 MW on Allure of the Seas, and not all of that will ever be needed, Fain said. This means less fuel burned and, therefore, reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

No incandescent lights are used, only LED or fluorescents that produce much less heat than incandescent bulbs and that means big savings on air conditioning. Another advance is a waste steam generator that uses heat from the smokestacks to heat water on board.

At 16 decks tall, the Symphony sails with 5,500 guests every week, in Europe this summer and in the Caribbean from its home port of Miami. That means a lot of people are going to find out they can feel at home on Royal Caribbean’s biggest ship ever.