A Review of Harmony's First Christmas!

I have been home a couple of days from sailing on Harmony's first Christmas sailing. I have to say it's been a mixed bag but I will go through all the points I have to make fairly and constructively. I will start with a bit of background:

My party consists of me, my mother, my father, my brother and my sister. I am the eldest of the three children at 27, my brother turned 24 during the cruise and my sister is 22. We are all from the UK and prior to boarding we spent a week in Orlando: Disney, Gatorland, The Escape Rooms etc all done and dusted before making our way to Ft Lauderdale early on the 24th. I know a lot don't recommend travelling the day of, but with two mechanics in the family, we don't worry so much.

Keep checking back for more on this review :) I hope you enjoy :)

Sent from my iPad using Forums

I have been home a couple of days from sailing on Harmony's first Christmas sailing. I have to say it's been a mixed bag but I will go through all the points I have to make fairly and constructively. I will start with a bit of background:

 

My party consists of me, my mother, my father, my brother and my sister. I am the eldest of the three children at 27, my brother turned 24 during the cruise and my sister is 22. We are all from the UK and prior to boarding we spent a week in Orlando: Disney, Gatorland, The Escape Rooms etc all done and dusted before making our way to Ft Lauderdale early on the 24th. I know a lot don't recommend travelling the day of, but with two mechanics in the family, we don't worry so much.

 

Keep checking back for more on this review :) I hope you enjoy :)

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Let it flow!

We booked our set sail passes for 12.30pm and I think we were there in good time - we were on the ship by 1.10pm for definite. Having cruised the Allure previously we kinda knew what to expect but the first thought that crossed my mind when we stepped onto Harmony's Royal Promenade was how clean it looked and felt. I can't recall feeling that way about the Allure before. In fact, apart from one piece of rubbish (trash!!) and a lingering smell near the Rising Tide Bar (and I'm talking lingering for days!!) the ship was impeccable. You could always see someone cleaning something somewhere. I was very impressed.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Looking forward to your review. We will be sailing on the Harmony in May.

Do you know if they were strict on the boarding time on your set sail pass? We have a group of 20 sailing on February 4th and we all have different boarding times from 10:30-12:30. Our shuttle is scheduled to drop us at the pier at 10:30. I called RCCL and was told because we have two diamond plus couples traveling with our group, we should all be able to board at the 10:30 time. Thoughts???

Sent from my SM-G935V using Forums mobile app

We forgot about the law of the sea - stopping at Park Cafe for the Roast Beef Sandwiches. I can only apologise to you all for this horrific oversight, I should hand back my Crown and Anchor Membership now right? [emoji23]

My sister bought the internet package on board with the C&A discount. The discount was 10% for gold members and 15% for platinum. I'm not sure if this is the same discount offered to everyone ship wise, but there it is.

I think after this we aimed back to our stateroom. This is where the fun began (and I say this with great sarcasm....)

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Do you know if they were strict on the boarding time on your set sail pass? We have a group of 20 sailing on February 4th and we all have different boarding times from 10:30-12:30. Our shuttle is scheduled to drop us at the pier at 10:30. I called RCCL and was told because we have two diamond plus couples traveling with our group, we should all be able to board at the 10:30 time. Thoughts???

 

Sent from my SM-G935V using Forums mobile app

Difficult to answer because we were there within our allotted time, however from what I could see they weren't turning people away so I would imagine you would be fine :)

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Looking forward to your review. We will be sailing on the Harmony in May.

Thank you :) Have you sailed Oasis class before? (On a side note, I have signatures turned off so if you have something there, I won't see it :) )

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Let it flow!

Great to have you onboard!

Sent from my iPad using Forums

We have sailed on the Oasis 3 times and the Allure 2 times. Love all 5 cruises.

We have sailed on the Oasis 3 times and the Allure 2 times. Love all 5 cruises.

You will love Harmony! It's enough like Allure (and Oasis although I have never cruised her) to still feel like part of the Oasis family. I have so many positives coming up to say about her! Stay tuned!

Sent from my iPad using Forums

We had two staterooms, a balcony and an opposite interior. The rooms were fine, no real issues with them. The balcony door had a screw missing which worried my mum - if anyone would get caught outside on the balcony with the handle falling off, it would be my mum - so down we went to guest services to let them know about the issue. In fairness, it was fixed within the hour. While at Guest Services, we ordered a cake for my brother who celebrated his birthday on day 3 - 12/26. We were told this was done and so we went on our way back to the stateroom - it was time to start dealing with the mess that was My Time Dining.... but that's for tomorrow! It's nearly midnight in the UK so I bid my fellow cruisers goodnight :)

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Oh, I forgot to mention this was an amended Eastern Caribbean itinerary (due to the holidays) and was as follows:

Day 1: Ft Lauderdale (Christmas Eve 12/24)

Day 2: Cruising (Christmas Day 12/25)

Day 3: Cruising (Boxing Day 12/26)

Day 4: Philipsburg, St Maarten (12/27)

Day 5: San Juan, Puerto Rico (12/28)

Day 6: Labadee, Haiti (12/29)

Day 7: Cruising (12/30)

Day 8: Ft Lauderdale (31/12)

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Following along! Can't wait to read the rest of your review!

Sent from my iPad using Forums

I will be on her in 3 weeks. Looking forward to your review

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Following

following...

I will be on her in 3 weeks. Looking forward to your review

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

You will love her! I will try my best to get it finished before you leave :)

Following along! Can't wait to read the rest of your review!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Thank you :)

Following

Hey hey hey!!

following...

Not long until you sail Harmony either (okay I switched Signatures back on :p :cool: ) Hope you enjoy!

Okay so My Time Dining. The thing you need to know about my family is that trying to decide when we all want dinner is like the Spice Girls trying to organise their long-overdue reunion. They can never seem to agree either, but I digress. We used the time between boarding and Muster to agree on what we were going to do, and that agreement was that they can select the time for us on the basis that we had the same server every day. Even if this meant dinner on one night at 5.30pm and dinner at 9.30pm on the next night (for example.)

So anyway, I used the stateroom phone to call down to Reservations. ONE HOUR I was kept on hold. I can hum the tune they played down the phone I heard it that often. After the hour, I was then greeted by an automatic message saying reservations were closed and that I had to go to deck 5 to make the reservations. So I went down.... only to be told they had closed for muster and that I should return straight after.

Muster came and went and I returned straight back to MDR to be told we couldn't make our appointments as the MDR was now closed. This was the same woman who had told me to come back straight after muster. Needless to say I was not impressed. I can't remember what it was we did between Muster finishing and MDR re-opening but I daresay I wasn't amused whatever we did.

Upon returning at 5.15pm we mentioned our request and was seated with a lovely lady from Jamaica who, in fairness, worked her A-Game. She must have been told in advance there was a hothead in the party and that he wasn't amused. But she was lovely....but the MDR problems didn't end there.....

Great start. Following along and a bit impatient to read the rest of your review :)

Cindy

We had already pre-booked our entertainment in advance. Today's show was the first showing of the Fine Line. I have to say it was a fantastic production. It was so much better than the Allure's OceanAria, which I had never been overly impressed with. We were lucky we booked this showing as subsequent showings were delayed due to high winds. The only negative I would say about The Fine Line is that there is one staff member in that production (and in all Aqua Theater productions actually) that doesn't seem to work well as a team - it's all very much "look at me, i'm so much better." I was not the only person to think this. I won't say who, but if you're due to go on Harmony, take a look. You'll know instantly!

Great start. Following along and a bit impatient to read the rest of your review :)

 

Cindy

Thank you, there have been some great reviews on here over time so I know I have to put the work in!

Ooo- spot the show-offy staff member! A fun game for us to play next month :)

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

The only negative I would say about The Fine Line is that there is one staff member in that production (and in all Aqua Theater productions actually) that doesn't seem to work well as a team - it's all very much "look at me, i'm so much better." I was not the only person to think this. I won't say who, but if you're due to go on Harmony, take a look. You'll know instantly!

Cant wait LOL

I do have a question / favor to ask...

I am looking for the prices at Starbucks & Café Promenade or a picture of both their menus. If you get a chance if not its no big deal

Ooo- spot the show-offy staff member! A fun game for us to play next month :)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Same thing I thought while I was reading :D