Symphony of the Seas Family Review, What a 7-Day Royal Caribbean Cruise Actually Looks Like With Kids
This was our first cruise, ever. Vika and I had been on the fence about cruising for years and finally said yes for a week on Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas with Josh and Emily over the Christmas holidays. Seven days out of Fort Lauderdale, two stops in Labadee and Nassau, one of the largest cruise ships in the world, and a family that did not know what they were walking into.
I went in with a healthy skepticism. A ship this big, would it feel like a floating mall? Would the kids be lost in a sea of 6,000 other passengers? Would the food be the cafeteria-tray nightmare I half-expected? I was wrong on all three counts, and I want to walk you through exactly what we found, what we ate, what the kids actually did all day, and the one quiet thing nobody tells you about cruising before you go.
First Impressions, Embarkation in Fort Lauderdale
The boarding process at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale was smoother than I expected. Cab dropped us off right at the entrance, porters took our bags straight to the stateroom, and we were holding boarding cards and a mocktail by the time the kids realized they had not eaten lunch yet.
I’ll be honest, the waiting area itself is basic. Comfortable seating, bathrooms, that is about it. Not airport lounge, not even close. The energy kicks in when you actually walk onto the ship. We sailed over winter break, so there were Santa hats everywhere, the holiday decorations were absurd in the best way, and Josh and Emily were practically vibrating with anticipation by the time we hit Deck 5.
PRO TIP: Hand your bags to the porters at the curb the second you get there. Do not drag them inside. Royal Caribbean delivers them to your stateroom anyway, and dragging four suitcases through embarkation with two kids is a mistake you only make once.
Our Ocean View Balcony, Surprisingly Spacious for Four
I was nervous about fitting a family of four into what I assumed would be a tiny cabin. The ocean view balcony surprised me. The king-sized bed (we requested the twins pushed together when we booked, and I’d recommend you do the same) sits in the middle, the couch transforms into a second bed each night by the room attendant, and Josh and Emily had their own setup that actually worked.
The bathroom was bigger than some of the European hotel bathrooms we have stayed in. Storage was honestly the surprise. There is a closet, drawers, a safe, and enough space under the bed to slide all four empty suitcases. We unpacked everything on day one and that decision alone changed the week.
The real upgrade was the balcony itself. When we pulled into Labadee on day three, Vika and I sat out there with coffee for an hour just watching the ship dock. You don’t get that on land at any price.
PRO TIP: Request beds together at booking, not after. The default is split twins, and once you are on board it can take a day to get the room attendant to swap them.
The Food Story Goes Way Beyond the Buffet
This is where the cruise actually surprised me. Yes, you have the buffet. But the cruise fare also includes the main dining room, the Promenade café, the Solarium Bistro, room service for kids, and a couple of other spots. And then the specialty restaurants are where it gets really interesting.
The Windjammer, Better Than I Expected
The Windjammer Marketplace on Deck 16 is the main buffet and it became our default for breakfast and lunch. The variety honestly impressed me. Fresh vegetable bar, a real salad station, a bread station with everything from dinner rolls to specialty loaves, a sandwich station with proper cold cuts, burgers and hot dogs grilled fresh as you order, a pasta station where you pick your toppings and they cook it in a pan in front of you, and dedicated Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern sections.
Josh said, and I quote, “Dad, this pasta is better than the pasta place at home.” Vika kept going back to the salad bar because the produce was actually fresh, not the tired buffet version. Emily made it her personal mission to try a different ice cream flavor every single day, which she completed.
PRO TIP: Hit the Windjammer at 7 to 8 AM for breakfast or 1 to 2 PM for lunch. The food stays fresh all the way through service, but the lines are massively shorter outside the rush windows.
The Main Dining Room, Where the Lobster Lives
I underestimated the main dining room. Two formal nights during the week, the second one is the lobster night, and it is a full lobster tail with drawn butter, saffron rice, broccoli, and tomato. No upcharge. I was not expecting to eat lobster as part of my included dinner on a cruise ship, and yet.
The desserts in the main dining room were the other surprise. The dark chocolate pot de crème with a single fresh raspberry on top was the kind of plate I would order at a regular sit-down restaurant on land. I had it twice during the week.
Formal night is also one of those moments worth dressing up for. The kids were into it, the dining room looks the part, and the porthole tables along the back wall give you a real ocean view at dinner.
Wonderland, the Specialty Dinner That Made the Cruise
If you take one specialty dining recommendation away from this whole post, take this one. Wonderland is an Alice-in-Wonderland themed restaurant, the menu is half magic show, and the kids did not stop talking about it for two weeks after we got home. The Mad Hatter actually came to our table.
The food itself plays with you. A single tempura shrimp wrapped in fine kataifi noodle threads served balancing on an espresso cup. A whole dessert course with cotton candy, a chocolate ice cream dome, and a red-and-white toadstool macaron that looks like it walked out of the storybook. The presentation is theater, but the food is also genuinely good. Vika and I both flagged it as the best meal we had all week.
Izumi, the Sushi Surprise
Izumi is the Asian specialty restaurant and it punches above its weight for sushi at sea. We ordered a sashimi platter and a few rolls and the fish was actually fresh, the rice was right, and the presentation cared. I am not saying it competes with a real sushi spot in a city, but for a sushi dinner on a cruise ship in the middle of the Caribbean, it was honestly impressive.
Entertainment That Actually Lived Up to the Hype
I came in expecting cruise-ship entertainment, which is to say I had set the bar low. Wrong move. Symphony stages four real production shows during the week and at least three of them are worth your time.
Hairspray, in the Royal Theater
This is the actual Broadway production of Hairspray, full cast, full sets, full music. It runs in the Royal Theater and you reserve a slot through the app. Vika and I had not been expecting a full Broadway show on a cruise ship and we were both quietly impressed for the entire 90 minutes.
The AquaTheater at Night
The AquaTheater is the open-air diving and acrobatics show at the back of the ship, and it is the most underrated venue on board. High-divers off platforms 60 feet up, synchronized swimmers, a pool that flips between stage and water, and the Royal Caribbean crown and anchor lit up above the deck. Worth grabbing seats early.
Studio B, Ice Skating in the Middle of the Caribbean
Yes, there is a real ice rink in the middle of the ship. Yes, it doubles as a venue for an ice show during the week. And yes, during open-skate hours the kids can rent skates and go on. Josh and Emily were both nervous about it, both got out on the ice within ten minutes, and Emily still talks about it.
The Boardwalk and Activities the Kids Actually Did All Day
The Boardwalk neighborhood at the back of the ship is where Josh and Emily spent most of their unscheduled time. There is a carousel, a sports court, an outdoor rock climbing wall, a kite-net climbing structure that is basically a free indoor playground, and the Perfect Storm waterslides that loop around the AquaTheater stage.
The kite-net climbing wall in particular is the kind of thing the kids would have stayed on for an hour without being asked. Free, no reservation, no line most of the day, and tucked into a corner I would have walked right past if Emily had not pointed at it.
The rock climbing wall sits next to the AquaTheater shell, included in your fare, and Vika went up it twice. I took the photo. I will go up it next time, Vika has been telling me to.
The Ultimate Abyss is the dry slide that drops you from Deck 16 down to the Boardwalk on Deck 6. The kids did it five times the first day. Josh kept trying to talk Vika into doing it. She did not.
PRO TIP: Download the Royal Caribbean app before you board. It carries deck maps, restaurant menus, the daily activity schedule, your boarding cards, and a built-in messenger so you can find Vika when she has wandered off to the salad bar again.
Shore Days, Labadee and Nassau
Our two stops were Labadee, Royal Caribbean’s private destination on the north coast of Haiti, and Nassau in the Bahamas. Both shore days were good in different ways.
Labadee is a private peninsula. You don’t leave the cruise line ecosystem, which means the experience is curated and clean and easy with kids. Beach lounging, included buffet lunch on the beach, a zip line if you want to pay for it, and a few good photo spots. The big colorful Labadee letters out front are the family photo of the trip for us.
Nassau is the opposite. It is a real city, you can walk straight off the ship into town, the Atlantis resort and the pink-tower complex sits right across the harbor, and you can either grab a water taxi over for a beach day or just wander Bay Street. We did a half-and-half, walked around the cruise port and then jumped a taxi over to Atlantis for the kids to see the aquarium.
The Quiet Tradition Nobody Tells You About
Nobody told us about cruise ducking before we sailed. Here is how it works. Other passengers hide little rubber ducks around the ship with a tag that names the duck and lists a website where you log the find. The kids find them, you take a photo, you can either keep the duck or hide it again for the next family. Josh and Emily found four of these in our first three days. It became its own subgame for the rest of the trip.
If you are sailing with kids, bring a small bag of cheap rubber ducks with name tags from home. The kids hide them, other kids find them, and your kids end up part of the tradition instead of just receiving it. Josh’s idea, not mine, and one of the better travel ideas a 9-year-old has had.
The One Thing That Surprised Me Most
Despite this being one of the largest cruise ships in the world, it never felt impersonal. The crew remembered our names by day two. Our room attendant remembered the kids’ favorite towel-animal request. The maître d’ in the main dining room sat us at the same table every night without us asking. The layout actually makes sense once you walk it once, and there are enough quiet corners and adults-only spaces (the Solarium especially) that you can find a calmer pocket whenever you need one.
The only thing I’d say is that if you genuinely prefer small, intimate travel experiences, a ship of 6,000 people is going to feel like a lot at first. By day three you stop noticing.
My Verdict
Symphony of the Seas exceeded my expectations as a first family cruise. The food is genuinely good, the entertainment is better than it has any right to be, the kids found something to do every single hour they were awake, and the ship never once felt like a floating mall. I went in skeptical and walked off planning the next one.
For families specifically, this ship is built for you. Kids’ programming, family-friendly restaurants, dozens of free activities, an ice rink, a Broadway show, slides, and a private island. Vika and I could still find moments to ourselves, the kids never said they were bored, and we ate well every night. That is a lot of boxes ticked at once.
Would we sail Symphony again? Yes. Honestly we are already eyeing the next Royal Caribbean ship to compare.
Ready to See Inside?
I filmed the whole week on board, the cabin, the food, the shows, the slides, the boardwalk, the shore days, all of it. If you are weighing a Royal Caribbean cruise for your family, watch the full video below and you’ll get a real sense of what your week would look like.
If you are finding this review useful for your travel planning, I would actually appreciate a subscribe over on YouTube. I keep sharing real family travel experiences from cruises, lounges, hotels, and destinations to help you make better travel decisions.
Have you sailed Symphony or one of the other Oasis-class ships? What surprised you the most about cruising with kids? Drop it in the comments below. Vika and I read every single one and are always looking for tips before our next sailing.
