Currently on the Harmony - 6/17 through 6/24

have you noticed how the lines for the slides and flow rider were?

Susan,

 

Why didn't you ever come to the Martini making classes. We had a blast and yes, Cat was the best bartender I have ever gotten to know. I wonder if he is still on the ship and if so, if he is still in Wonderland?

 

 

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I know! I should have... some friends of mine went and loved it! My problem is if it's nice outside I have to be up on the decks in the sun :-)

Cat was awesome... I'm booked next July for Harmony and I bet he is/will be long gone by then :(

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Chawkjewel - I did not see Cat there and was unable to understand if I missed him or he moved somewhere else. Sorry.

SilkySal - no way to get the dessert in the MDR. I have seen some folks able to stop by just for the dessert but that varies as well. Best bet is to check in with them when you first board and beg [emoji6]

Also - not trying to tempt you more, but...

Be happy the video wouldn't load...

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Nolefan95 - just the surf package. Might be part of the issue. Anywhere there is a crowd (before a show, etc.) expect the bandwidth to disappear...

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Day 5 – At Sea

Grateful the crowds weren’t as bad as I feared they might be based on Day 2. Today, for some reason,we tortured our teenagers (and ourselves) by taking them to the Dreamworks character breakfast. We’re big Disney fans and love those character appearances. This,however, will be the last time we make a 745 AM breakfast reservation –characters or not. The young kids obviously enjoyed the appearances and photos. Therefore, for families with young children – probably still a good plan. For us, not so much…

Everyone did their own thing on this day. My wife and son enjoyed some pool/sun time while my daughter and I enjoyed some coffee catching up on things. I also snuck in a quick slot tournament qualification round for good measure (need to be in top 12 to qualify for the finals – doubt I’ll still be there by the Friday finals). I also dragged my daughter to the beginning of an art auction but we didn’t last too long at that one…

We had a break in the afternoon so we attended Hideaway Heist – the new aquatic show (no reservations required). It was the same cast from the Fine Line but a completely different store/look. We actually enjoyed it quite a bit. Half of my family preferred Hideaway to Fine Line and the other half preferred Fine Line.

It was then time for the big dinner at Wonderland. I had mentioned earlier that my dining times were not showing up in Royal IQ. Therefore,I had guest services provide me a print-out of the reservations. We were at 630 and had show reservations(Columbus) at 830. For Wonderland, that’s actually a tight schedule given you need to be at the show by 800-815 before they let-in the stand-by crowds… We were obviously surprised to get a call from Wonderland at 530 asking where we were. I kindly informed them that,according to guest services, my reservation was at 630. However, we’d try to be there by 600 to make it a bit easier on them and to free up some time between dinner and the show. I also brought the document from guest services to show that I wasn’t making it up…

Dinner was spectacular. We were a bit nervous bringing our teens as one of them is definitely NOT an adventurous eater. However, we all still had a great time and enjoyed all of the “elements” of the meal. Our favorites were the buffalo eggs, the short rib, fried shrimp and all of the dream elements (desserts).

We quickly rushed to our show to get good seats. Soon after 830, Abe (our trusty Cruise Director) broke the “technical difficulties” news to us. 20 minutes later, the show was canceled. We were obviously a bit bummed as I had heard good things about this one. We decided to treat the kids to a couple Johnny Rocket’s milkshakes (which was really treating ourselves) on the Boardwalk and noticed Beauty & the Beast playing on the aqua theatre screens. The wife and daughter then made the executive decision that we’d spend our evening watching the film. The weather was perfect and the show presentation was nice with one small exception – the climbing walls are above this area and everyone likes to ring the bell when they get to the top. That gets a bit annoying...

Tips for the day…

• Book all the shows earlier in the cruise. This way, if once gets cancelled or postponed, you still have a chance of catching it. Columbus, by the way, was rescheduled for us on Day 6. We had planned originally to see Hideaway Heist on Day 6 but, since we snuck it in on Day 5… no conflict.
  
• We’ve spent a good amount of time just sitting in Central Park during the cruise. Nice quiet place to relax (wine helps) and enjoy some music (mostly guitar players).
  
• If you weren’t aware, there is a piano-playing stowaway on the ship. He’s quite a character and we’ve seen him at Central Park, the Boardwalk, the Promenade AND in an elevator. Clever programming by RCL.
  

Cozumel on deck for Day 6… Mexican Cuisine and Tasting Class….

As promised, here is the teen compass from this voyage. As I have the most anti-social teens on board - can't provide much of a review...

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THANKS SO MUCH for the teen compass!!! We are doing Eastern, but I think it should be the same.

Safe travels home!

And we get an answer to the drink card. Bar sales must have been good as it was only offered on the last day. If we were with a larger group, it might have made sense but not just for the two of us...

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Your tempting pic of the Wonderland dessert was just toooooooooooo much for me to handle!!:o I dove into action and booked all of our family (8 of us for just under $400!!!!!:eek:) for Wonderland to celebrate our anniversary!!

Oh, and another question, if you get time, could you check to see what the all-inclusive photo package costs? Thinking of purchasing this to capture some memories, as this could possibly our last family vacation!:loudcry:

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Thank you for your review on the Harmony. Did you wear a suit to the dining room on formal night? Thank you.

Regarding the Abyss: can you go down slide if you have your purse with you? (thinking of going on first day)

Ping1- 2 formal nights. I had the suit jacket for one and just button down shirt for other. Couldn't do a tie with that humidity... as everyone says, there were all levels of wardrobe choices on this one. One family represented them all in one sitting with a couple very nice suits and a young man in jeans, tshirt and ballcap...

Abyss - no purses/bags allowed. My wife had all of our items in the boardwalk waiting for us as she didn't want to ride. My son and daughter both had tank top type shirts. Also a no-no. Therefore, while I could offer my button shirt to one, the other was not allowed to go on at that time. Also - if in a dress, they want it knee length (I think because of the awkward position sitting in slide).

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Well – amazing how life takes hold of your schedule when the vacation nears its end. We’ve now been back home for a little over a week and I never got to finish. So, here we go…

Day 6 – Cozumel

Took a bit of a risk on this one. My daughter had promised to take a cooking class with me months ago. Little did she know that I booked the Mexican Cuisine and Tasting Class at Playa Mia. Without a doubt, this was one of our favorite excursions ever. Louis (who taught the class) was fabulous. The four of us made a shrimp appetizer, a fish entrée and a plantains/chocolate dessert. I should point out that both of my kids are not big on seafood so this was going to be interesting. My son had a great time cooking it all and ate every bit of it. My daughter was a bit more hesitant and they gave her a chicken breast to cook for the entrée instead of the fish which she appreciated. This brought about one of my favorite exchanges of the cruise as Louis had a quick chat with my daughter on how she shouldn’t be shy or reserved if she wasn’t having a good time. He says he spent his early years very much to himself and regrets it as he’s had a much better time with life by being a bit more of an extrovert. From his teaching and personality – it was hard to ever imagine him as an introvert at one point. Anyway, the open bar was also a nice touch for the class.

After cooking, we had a couple of hours at the resort where the family played on the aqua obstacle course, water slides and pool/beach. I will say I was surprised they wanted to charge for towels and we purposely didn’t bring any from the ship as we “assumed” the resort would have had them available. That was the one thing we didn’t care for.

Before the tour, we were able to make it Johnny Rockets for breakfast (which I had heard only good things about). It was probably my favorite breakfast of the cruise as there really wasn’t a line/crowd and the food/service was great.

Due to complications with our 5-night dining, we ended up at Sabor for dinner (probably not the best choice considering we were in Mexico all day). The guacamole was as good as everyone has stated in the past although not made table-side (the waiter claimed it had to do with health code inspector requirements that made in no longer feasible).

Tonight we also were able to see Columbus which we had missed the day before due to technical difficulties. I know everyone has different thoughts on this show. I absolutely loved it as it was quite cheesy with a good mix of today’s hits music. The cast (which also performed in Grease) were exceptional. The other three folks in my family easily preferred Grease but I probably would have chosen to see this one again if I had the opportunity.

Tip of the Day – in case I didn’t mention it, there is a one-hour time change in Jamaica and Cozumel. The issue is that the ship still goes by ship time and not the local time. My phone and watch, however, automatically sync to the local time. Therefore, for the two days I was having to do a little extra math to make sure I didn’t miss anything. In retrospect, I probably should have turned the iPhone to manual clock setting so as not to adjust to the local time zones…

Day 7 - At Sea

We really took it easy on Day 7. We had a free lunch with our Central Park balcony room so knew we didn’t need much for breakfast. Therefore, I enjoyed my morning latte and then went to see how I fared in the slot tournament qualifications. I expected to be way below the leaderboard by this point. Turns out I was at slot 15 for a 12-person finals. I probably should have paid a bit more attention and I might have tried to qualify again. Oh well, I nice gentleman one a cruise for two by winning the tourney.

It was then time for lunch at Jamie’s. While we really enjoyed our food (for the second time here), I have to say the host and waiter were by far my favorite on the entire ship. It’s amazing how much they can remember when we had been there a week earlier.

After lunch, the kids took in an afternoon showing of Grease while I walked around the ship trying to see what I might have missed earlier. It was also time for the worse part of the vacation – having to pack up the cabin. I unfortunately had a conference to go to after the cruise so had to make sure I packed my business clothes separately so I didn’t show up in shorts and a t-shirt…

Our last dinner was at 150 Central Park. As I have yet to be won over by Chops, I was a bit hesitant about this experience going in. That was quite off the mark. The food was incredible and the family had a great last dinner on the ship. The warm donuts dessert was definitely a favorite (although my son and I both loved the “18 oz Roast Tenderloin of Beef For Two” as well).

After finishing the pack-up, my son and I ventured to the last comedy show. I honestly can’t remember the main comedian’s name (who was good but not great), I won’t forget the comedy host, Simeon (sp?). He was hilarious and made the trip to the theatre worth it…

Day 8 – Debarkation

Getting off the ship was quite easy. We were exposed to advertisements for the digital passport app from the day we arrived at the port the week prior. It stated it made customs a much quicker experience. Therefore, we loaded all of our passport info into the app and headed for the correct line. I’m guessing that the app might have actually saved some time if the port had dedicated more than one line to these guests.The mobile passport line seemed to move considerably slower as everyone else had the choice of 10-12 customs lines to choose from…

All-in-all, as I stated before, Harmony was definitely my wife’s favorite ship. She also enjoyed the Central Park balcony (while I’d probably go for the ocean view next time). We were on Anthem a year prior and their parts of that ship that I thought were superior but, for the sum of its parts, I’d probably agree with my wife and rank Harmony a step above.

Hope this info might help someone out there as they plan their next adventure. While I don’t know where/when it will be, I’m definitely looking forward to my next cruise…

Thank you for posting a great review!! Family and I are very much looking forward to our October cruise on the magnificent Harmony of the Seas!!:cool: And, yes, thanks to you for helping me convince my DH to dish out the $$$ for 8 of us, I will be enjoying that melting chocolate ball in Wonderland on our anniversary!!!:* Happy cruising!!;p

great job. We are on Hamony in 55 days. I hope we have as good a time as you seemed to.