You were correct. Got off today and had great cruise. Other than the pool areas, which we don't frequent anyway, we didn't find it to be all that crowded. It's just an amazing and beautiful ship, very impressive. So much to do. We're almost exclusively Disney cruisers but we'd do the Wonder of the Seas again.
My BF and I just got off the Symphony on 2/11 and unfortunately our experience was not as good as yours. I'll preface this by saying I've been on over 10 RCL cruises and my boyfriend has been on even more than that, and we love Royal, but after this one we've decided to take a break from them for a bit. It was the most crowded I've ever seen a ship be. People were putting their towels out before 7am just to hold chairs and then never coming back to them, so this was the first time I've never sat at the pool on a cruise because I refused to do that, and getting food at the Windjammer was a test in patience. The worst part though was our entertainment. They didn't bring any headliners on the ship this time. We had the same two comedians every night and they did the same set every night. We also had pretty rough seas and most of the performances couldn't be done for the safety of the performers. Not a problem and completely understandable...and appreciated. HOWEVER, they didn't put any activities or events in place of those cancelled performances. So no one had anywhere to go besides other parts of the ship and it made it feel super crowded and conjested. One sea day they closed all of our pools. The kids clubs were so packed they were turning families away, but they didn't add any extra activities anywhere on the ship to give them something else to do. We heard several parents complaining to guest services about it. A good idea would have been for them to put movies on in the aquatheater like they did when we were on the Allure in November or add some extra family activities in the closed venues, but they did nothing. We had one trivia a day, and on the day when the pools were closed, the trivia was so packed people were sitting on the floor.
The final straw came when we actually stopped and spoke to the cruise director (Dennis) about all of this. He basically said that Royal is starting to cut back on it's entertainment (including entertainment staff), and since the Symphony is a flagship it's starting there. He said the reason for this is because they want to go after Disney and Carnival clientele, meaning, they want to get new cruisers on board that will spend money on their ships instead of trying to cater to the veteran RCL cruisers (Diamond and up) who don't spend as much onboard because of all their free perks. I said that cutting back on entertainment is the worst way to do this because Disney and Carnival are exceptional at that. Then when we asked about the lack of activites during our rough sea days, he said he never though of options like movies or extra activities, and that it probably would've been a good idea.
It takes A LOT for me to complain about a cruise and I really hope what Dennis said doesn't happen because I would love to do the Wonder and eventually the Icon when it comes out. I even promised my daughter that I would take her on another cruise this summer, after we did the Explorer in August, but after this RCL experience, we decided to book the Disney Fantasy for a week instead. I know Disney's product and I know that right now my money would be better spent with them to get exactly what I'm looking for.
Please don't let our experience sway anyone away from taking a RCL cruise, just be aware that this is a possibility and if it happens to please speak up so that we can keep those incredible entertainers on those ships.