Trip Report - 9/2 Harmony "Hurricane" Cruise

STANDARDDISCLAIMER: These are our thoughtsand experiences and obviously opinions vary. We tried to limit this report to the subjects most of you are interestedin (based on the bulk of CC questions and posts)

ABOUT US: 50ish couple, Diamond level on RCI but havecruised other lines. This was simply agetaway cruise for us but we were interested in the newness and size of theHarmony. Had previously sailed theAllure.

PRE-CRUISE: Wedrove to FT. Lauderdale and used Park N Go. Highly recommend this place, see details on the Florida Departuresboard. Great experience with them androughly half the cost of port parking.

EMBARKATION: Arrivedat ship at 11:00, no check-in lines. Basically, we walked directly onto the ship.

CABIN: OceanviewBalcony #8300, Aft Port side– We loved the cabin, no issues or complaintsthere. Cabin Steward was alsoawesome. He was personable and alwaysmanaged to work around whatever our daily schedule was. One caveat to being on the port side, almostall of the docking was actually on the starboard side.

SHIP OVERALL: Obviously very new and in great shape, closeenough to the layout of the Allure that we could find everything.

SOLARIUM: Therehas been much discussion about this area on Harmony, might as well get our twocents in. We found the aesthetics to begreat but it does get a bit hot (the transparent roof only diffuses thesun). So, you get hot. Then you either have to: go in a warm spa, goin the nifty sprinkler area or hoof it to a pool outside the solarium. As nice as the aesthetics were, we reallymissed the solarium pool!!

SLIDES: Didn’t goon them once. I will say that they appeared to be very popular with all ages.

CRUISE DIRECTOR(Bobby Brown): Was just OK. Didn’tphysically see him at all until day 3, thought his morning TV show was way toocorny.

SHOWS: Grease wasfantastic. The Fine Line Aqua Show wasalso fantastic (just don’t sit in the splash zone LOL). The 1887 Ice Show had a weird storyline butwas OK. The Headliner show (guy whocould do tons of voices) was very entertaining. Adult Comedy (especially Simion) was hilarious. RCI also brought on a rock cover band(Private Stock) that was very talented. Wedidn’t make it to Columbus. All shows considered, entertainment on the Harmonyseemed better than we experienced on our last few RCI cruises.

GENERAL DINING:Of the 10 nights, we dined six nights in the MDR and four nights in specialtyrestaurants. Our lunches were spreadacross the Windjammer (aka the “Foodjammer”), the Solarium Bistro and the ParkCafé. We don’t usually do breakfast butwe did try the MDR once (excellent) and Park Café (decent). Our meals in theMDR were all either good or very good. We also never had poor service, for the most part it was above average.I also don’t remember on past cruises having the Head Waiter stop by the tableevery night or filling out those happy face surveys all the time. Ourexperiences in the Foodjammer were frustrating, mostly because of thedifficulty getting a table. Lots of people come here and sort of camp out afterthey are done eating. Food selection andquality were fine, though our expectations here are probably a bit low. Solarium Bistro was always better for crowdsat lunch but selection was less than at the WJ.

MTD: We hadreservations every night we went to the MDR (table for 2) but there were a fewnights that we were less than punctual. Didn’t seem to matter much, we never waited more than a few minutes. Onenight we were asked if we would share a table (all the two tops were filled),we obliged rather than wait. Wegenerally ate at like 6:30-7:30, there appeared to be longer wait lines when wewere leaving the MDR (at like 8:00ish).

SPECIALTY DINING:We purchased the three night package and then added a fourth under the halfprice “hurricane special”. Started with Wonderland. The concept isdefinitely unique and the setting on the ship is gorgeous. We also really liked the food (even though itis a tad “gimmicky” and each course is kind of small). The desserts alone areworth the trip. The experience would have been much better with a differentwaiter. Ours was very new, very nervous and trying so hard to stick to thescript that it was awkward. Definitely worth going to though. Next up was Jamies’s, which had us missing Giovanni’s badly. We thought we ate better in the MDR. Thepasta dishes were nothing special. Chops was very good, this seems to be themost consistent specialty restaurant across the fleet. Last, but not least, was 150 Central Park. First timehere for us and we absolutely loved it. Not sure if it was just the food or that we also had an awesome waiter,but the overall experience really felt special. The tableside service was welldone and the beef tenderloin for two was worthy of any top shelf steakrestaurant. The tableside prepared tunatartare was also noteworthy.

DIAMOND LOUNGE ANDDIAMOND PERKS: As others have stated, the DL is sort of in the bowels ofthe ship with no window views. It isnicely appointed though. There were definitely times where it was standing roomonly but mostly when the different dinner time crowds were overlapping. Thehappy hour service was excellent, no matter the crowd. They also were offering a larger choice ofdrinks (i.e. Long Island Iced Teas, martinis, etc). Don’t think I saw this on prior cruises? Good news on the three free drinks loaded onthe sea pass: we were able to redeem these (during the appropriate hours) inthe MDR, specialty restaurants, shows, etc. This was very convenient. Onediamond rant: we couldn’t combine our two internet coupons for one internetplan for one device (which we were sharing throughout the week). I realize this is small potatoes but thesethings are a bit irritating…

WOW BANDS: We gotthem and liked using them, for the most part. There are obviously still some shortcomings, mostly having to keeptaking the thing on and off when you want to order drinks. The wait staff inthe MDR did not seem to like them at all. They would always ask if we had oursea pass cards instead, or write down our names and cabin numbers to manuallyorder the drinks. Kind of defeats the purpose. All pertinent crew members should have the ability to read these bands. Definitely handy for cabin access.

DEBARKATION: HolyMother of all cluster you-know-whats!! Granted, everyone wanted off the ship in a hurry after 10 nights. This is no excuse for the rude and obnoxiouspassenger behavior. To make mattersworse, RCI could have done a bit more to try to manage the chaos. It was a bad situation: our specific dockingtime was totally up in the air and way too many people were doingself-debarkation (including those that really were not capable of it). There were like 2000 people with luggage onthe Promonade hours before we could get off the ship. When RCI tried to set updebarkation lines at each end of the ship (the theater and the MDR) there wasmuch disorder and resistance. There are definitely groups of passengers thatfelt that waiting in line was just a suggestion. Quite a few confrontations with “linecutters” were observed, as were many instances of lack of any respect for RCIpersonnel who were trying to keep order. Not a shining moment for anyone…

RCI HANDLING OF THEHURRICANE SITUATION: With the exception of the above mentioned debacle, RCIdid an excellent job here with a bad situation. Plenty of updates throughout(Captain Johnny does like to talk J)and a few nice perks thrown in (half priced drinks, laundry, specialtyrestaurants; free continuation of internet, drink packages; cruise points forall ten nights, free internet periods for those that didn’t have it). Nocomplaints here!!

CLOSING THOUGHTS:We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves on this cruise. Many, many more pluses than minuses. We did like the Harmony. Since weare not “slide people” though, the other Oasis class ships are probably abetter fit. Food and Entertainment on thiscruise exceeded our expectations, as compared to previous cruises. Just our opinion of two very subjectivecategories. One thing that was most consistent, we never once encountered arude crew member. Some were obviouslymore helpful than others but they all seemed to generally want to help. So, if you like slides and want the biggestship, Harmony is for you.

Good review. Looking to do the Harmony in 2018. Thanks for sharing.

Really enjoyed your realistic review.......sounds like your had an absolutely fabulous and memorable time! Thanking you so much for taking the time to share with us!//Maria

Thanks for your review. We were on the same cruise with you! Ocean view balcony 8158. We love the extended cruise and we feel that Royal did an excellent job, given the circumstances. We also are Diamond members, but we did not go to the lounge every night. It was just too crowded at times. We cruise the Caribbean only for new ships and we loved the Harmony. Trying to get back to DC from FLL was a bit stressful, but got a flight on Tuesday night. I was worried that we would have to wait for Wednesday, without a hotel room.

Thanks for the review. Good info for planning our Harmony cruise in July. :)