Big beast has beautiful side
The Symphony of the Seas is huge and brash but scratch the shiny exterior and a surprisingly warm, beating heart emerges, writes Alan Granville.
The numbers don’t give you the sheer scale of the Symphony of the Seas. You can spit out figures like a weight of 228,081 gross registered tons (or, handily, the equivalent of 17,000 African Bush elephants), a length of 362 metres, or the fact it can hold more than 8800 passengers and crew, roughly the entire population of Waiheke Island.
But the numbers become meaningless as you get up close to this new behemoth of the seas.
The ship is spending the Northern Hemisphere summer lapping along the coastline of the Mediterranean before travelling across the Atlantic to set up home in Miami.
I was fortunate to get a preinaugural trip with a two-day jaunt from Barcelona, Spain, a taster of what full paying passengers can expect.
Now an admission up front – I have never been on a cruise ship before. The idea behind meandering at sea fills me with a mix of terror and boredom.
But I know many cruisea-holics who swear there is no other way to travel. It’s the best way to see cities and ports, and a great way of meeting possible lifelong friends.
So where does the Symphony of the Seas fit in? Well, basically it is trying to be all things to all people.
This is a ship that prides itself on being able to keep you stimulated dawn-to-dusk. Or at least well-sated and well-fed. If there’s a word that gets bandied about the most it’s ‘‘ultimate’’.
‘‘Ultimate Family Suite, ‘‘Ultimate Abyss Slide’’. Royal Caribbean isn’t afraid to use hyperbole.
The Family Suite is certainly one of the areas that the cruise bosses seem most proud of.
An interactive suite designed for the young (and maybe not so young), this multi-levelled, multicoloured apartment has an insuite slide, a Lego wall, and private cinema, all overlooking the prime real estate that is the zipline and FlowRider surf simulators.
Michael Bayley, president and chief executive of Royal Caribbean International, says the use of the word ‘‘ultimate’’ is intentional.
‘‘The reason we developed the ‘Ultimate Family Suite’ for example is we were trying to create accommodation that was fun for the family.
‘‘It’s a crazy space that’s just fun. We love the idea of naming it the ‘Ultimate Family Suite’ and I think you’ll see more of that from Royal Caribbean International. We are a serious business but we don’t take ourselves seriously. We will try and find more things that are the ‘ultimate’.’’
Symphony of the Seas is unashamedly pitched towards the family market.
There’s a ton of things for older kids and teens to do with water slides, pools, rock-climbing walls, laser tag, puzzle rooms, which all cleverly also appeal to parents as well.
There’s plenty to keep those a bit older entertained as well, with a production of the hit musical Hairspray, silent discos, a huge casino, as well as a host of bars and restaurants and even a pair of robot bartenders that give you the strongest pour on board. But it is not just the bells and whistles that you can see on deck that the company likes to crow about, but also a lot of the behindthe-scenes changes which have made a big difference.
It’s no secret that cruise ships have not got the greatest name for themselves when it comes to pollution but the Symphony is trying its best to combat at least some of those perceptions.
Captain Rob Hempstead has been with Royal Caribbean since 1999, working his way up from the smaller ships like Rhapsody of the Seas, Freedom of the Seas and Oasis of the Seas.
Now the affable American is tasked with making sure sailings are as smooth as possible. And one aspect that he is enthused about with Symphony is energy efficiency.
‘‘Our hull shape is slightly different. It is formed a little more efficiently. The shape around the trusted tunnels, they’ve added gradings, all with efficiency in mind. They’ve added the latest generation of silicone paint system which is a very slippery paint system on the hull.
‘‘Compared to the Oasis, we have the air lubrication system where we have big compressors pushing air bubbles under the hull and the ship rides along those air bubbles to make it more efficient.
‘‘We have more efficient propellers and the shape of the stern is different.
‘‘We have a steam generator – the heat that goes up the smokestack is captured in an economiser. That steam is diverted back down to a steam generator, a turbine. That spins and generates electricity and that’s added to the grind.
‘‘All of that adds to make us 25 per cent more efficient than the first Oasis-class ship and that’s significant. And on top of being 25 SBW-PHOTO per cent more efficient, we are a little bit faster.’’ Of course, no matter how many fuel-efficient compressors you have, or how many distractions you have to entertain young-toold, there is one major piece of hardware that every ship needs to keep sailing smoothly – the crew.
I couldn’t fault the eversmiling faces of the workers on board – from the casino croupiers, to housekeeping, to the bar staff there was a genuine feeling of camaraderie.
More than 2000 people work to make everything shipshape, literally, with pretty much every corner of the world represented.
One perhaps surprising fact is, of that crew, there is only one Kiwi on board.
Bryon Blane from Tokomaru Bay, north of Gisborne, is part of the 22-strong Sports Crew helping to inject a bit of adrenaline into the passengers’ day.
The former army man and personal trainer works across the zipline, the rock wall, and the FlowRider surf simulators.
After working for more than four years on a range of cruise ships, Blane says there is a simple reason why he loves the job.
‘‘It is meeting all the people from different cultures. I’m working with about 14 different nationalities alone in my team. Working alongside them is different. It’s not like back home where it’s ‘chur bro how are you?’ None of that works here.’’ The Symphony of the Seas wants to please everyone. It is big, it is brash, but scratch the shiny exterior just a bit and a surprisingly warm, beating heart emerges. Your enjoyment on board may depend on whether you want an intimate, more tailored approach to cruises, or prefer the wham-bam glossy allencompassing theme-park-at-sea experience. It you are the latter, then Symphony is for you – a beauty and a beast of the seas. The writer travelled as a guest of Royal Caribbean.
FACT FILE
ROYAL CARIBBEAN More information Symphony of the Seas will spend the Northern Hemisphere summer in the Mediterranean out of Barcelona, visiting Palma de Mallorca, Spain; Provence, France; and Florence/Pisa, Rome and Naples, Italy. From November, Symphony’s homeport will be Miami, US. See royalcaribbean.com Eat and drink There are more than 20 restaurants on board, ranging from quick-and-easy Mexican and hot dogs to more fine dining such as 150 Central Park and Jamie’s Italian by Jamie Oliver. Fourteen bars dot the ship, including an English pub, several poolside bars and of course the hard-pouring Bionic Bar robots. Entertainment During the day the host of distractions includes ziplines, swimming pools, FlowRider surf simulators, laser tag, ice skating, slides and puzzle rooms. In the evening there’s plenty of shows including Hairspray, AquaTheatre, silent (and not-so-silent) discos, and the casino. Cabins A range of options exist depending on costs, ranging from the elegance of the Royal Loft Suite to the more basic interior rooms. Those rooms with views can look out onto the ocean or onto the internal ‘‘Boardwalk’’. Prices for a seven-night Eastern Caribbean sailing on Symphony of the Seas departing Miami on January 19, 2019: Interior twin share is NZ$1159 per person. Interior quad share is NZ$1109 per person. Ultimate Family Suite is NZ$30,159 pp twin share – or $15,169 pp quad share (averaged). NB: Ultimate Family Suite is sold out until June 2019.