“A travel advisor who doesn’t travel is like a chef who doesn’t eat,” they say—and the same goes for a travel writer. So despite a family of nervous moms and four kids, every August we schlep our kids and grandkids on a family vacation. We love to have the whole clan together, and it’s always revealing to see things through the perspective of first-timers.
When travel is your job, though, vacation takes on a different meaning. All year I am blessed to be invited on press trips to amazing destinations and luxury accommodations—so on vacation, I just want to keep it simple and relaxing. For the past two years, we sailed New York to Bermuda on mid-sized Royal Caribbean and Norwegian ships. But this year, with two preteens, we stepped up to the 6,000-passenger Symphony of the Seas, headed to the Caribbean and CocoCay.
The PR teams at RCCL (shout out to SVP Vicki Freed, who is always there for the travel trade) and World Travel Holdings, parent of Resort for a Day, helped me put together an itinerary that included lots of fun and interesting things that even I have never seen or done on my 20 or so Caribbean cruises.
I don’t know if there’s some actual phenomenon at work or it’s just luck, but as in every one of the past three years, we missed a hurricane storming up the East Coast by a week, and sailed into perfect weather on August 18. We idled for more than half an hour in a long line of cars waiting to drop off our baggage, but then sailed quickly through check-in and up to our cabins.
Over the next week we tried 150 Park’s amazing porterhouse for two, sliced tableside, and world-class pasta alfredo and chicken parmigiana at Jamie’s Italian. We learned all about space – through a real-life shuttle launch in the skies over Port Canaveral and the amazing onboard show Flight, as well as a really fun Royal Caribbean excursion to the Kennedy Space Center. Internet posts suggested the ride there takes an hour but it was really only about 20 minutes, so there is plenty of time to wander before the bus heads back. (Insider tip: skip the IMAX movie unless you are really interested in the Hubble Space Telescope. There are much better things to do and see, including a fun slide down the Space Shuttle Atlantis and Planet Play, where kids can climb to the top of Saturn’s rings.)
The kids loved CocoCay, of course, where you can just walk off the ship and slip into the blue Caribbean waters. There’s a whole new—and growing—luxury area for those who are so inclined, but our first-timers were quite happy with the clean and beautiful beaches offered at no charge.
I was interested in seeing the newly renovated port of Nassau, until recently a sort of backwater destination that never quite recovered from Covid. These days it’s looking safe and colorful and inviting after a multi-million-dollar effort to convince those thousands of cruise customers to actually come ashore here. (And there’s plenty more to come. See Nassau Cruise Port Plans $330-Million Water Park | Travel Research Online). Last time my husband and I were here, we toured the Margaritaville Hotel and hung out on its beach; this time we signed up through Resorts for a Day to visit the newly renovated British Colonial Hilton. Just a short walk through the pretty port and a couple of blocks around Senor Frog brought us to this grand dame of Nassau hotels, where just $65 ($35 for kids) got us a relatively empty and seaweed-free beach of the softest sand I’ve ever felt, a regular pool and an inifinity pool, kayaks and paddleboards and giant sea bikes in a beautiful classic setting. When you get hungry or thirsty, there’s a formal restaurant inside or a come-in-your-bathing-suit one on the beach (not included in the price).
Onboard Symphony, we did two fascinating tours, one of the massive galley operation that feeds 8,000 people three times a day, and one of the bridge that guides us safely across the waters.
On the galley tour, our waiter Jaikishan Sunil helped us understand how exactly the deck 4 dining room manages to deliver three courses to 880 guests in 90 minutes: “You have to be proactive.” For dinner, for example, the bakery opens at 3:00; bread baskets are laid out at 4:00, filled at 4:30 and on the tables, still warm, when the doors open at 4:50, 10 minutes earlier than guests expect for the 5:00 seating. There are 265 cooks of 56 nationalities; food is ordered six months in advance. To cut down on waste, food is cooked in four batches: first 70% of what they expect will be eaten, then 20% more, then 5% and another 5%. Sunil manages 10 waiters and 10 assistant waiters, serving 170 guests at each seating. There are two regular seatings in the main dining rooms, but the My Time Dining tables usually turn over three times.
On the bridge, meanwhile, First Officer Arthur Horvath showed us around and let the kids take the wheel. He noted the Safety Command Center used in an emergency: “It has everything you need to deal with any situation,” he said. “You can even close it off so it is soundproof, so they are not distracted by alarms going off.” While you may see ships on the horizon that appear to be close, all are more than 2.5 miles away.
The main concern, Horvath said, is avoiding rain, so guests can enjoy the outdoor venues at Central Park and the Aqua Theater. In hurricane season, which it was, the bridge gets weather updates every six hours. But for him, hurricane season or not, “it’s always a good time to sail.”
Two other tips:
Four times a year, Symphony of the Seas, as well as Ovation, Wonder and Oasis, host glatt kosher sailings that offer three meals a day in compliance with Orthodox Jewish dietary requirements. Meals are cooked in separate kitchens under the supervision of a team of eight facilitators (mashgichim), and served in the Solarium Bistro to about 400 guests each. This dining room is closed to other guests on these sailings, so if you like to eat in the Bistro and are not kosher, it’s worth checking when they are.) Kosher pizza also is available at Sorento’s on these sailings.
If you are going to Johnny Rockets for breakfast, it’s way better to arrive at 8:45, when it is empty, than at 9:00, apparently the time everyone decides to meet there.
Yes, the buffet often was crowded. But even for a group of 10, we managed to find—or push—seats together at every meal.
“May you see your children have children,” says an ancient Hebrew blessing. Hoping all you grandparents out there get the chance to round up all the kids and the grandkids and sail off to somewhere beautiful in 5785.
Cheryl’s 40-year career in journalism is bookended by roles in the travel industry, including Executive Editor of Business Travel News in the 1990s, and recently, Editor in Chief of Travel Market Report and admin of Cheryl Rosen’s Group for Travel Professionals, a news and support group on Facebook. As an independent contractor since retiring from the 9-to-5 to travel more, she has written regular articles about the life and business of travel agents for Travel Weekly, Insider Travel Report, Recommend, Luxury Travel Advisor and Travel Agent.
