We traveled very economically, so we purchased the inexpensive inside cabins. These cabins were smaller than we have had on other ships. We like having a coffee table in front of the couch, but on this ship there was no room for that.
Covid Test-We were traveling by car and our town did not do the Rapid Test, so we found a CVS along our route that did the Rapid Test. We scheduled the test at the location 11 days prior. It was easy and quick (free). They sent us the results on our phone, but you do have to sign into the website they provide.
Parking-We parked with Cruise-N-Park. It was a good price and very easy to get to ship. Their parking lot is all gravel and they drag your suitcases across this gravel. We felt it was a lot of wear and tare on the suitcases. We’re not sure of the security of our car. When we returned, they never asked for our ticket and we found our own car in the parking lot with the keys laying on the windshield.
Embarkation-We arrived for early embarkation. It was quick, but I felt a bit unorganized. They ask for your ship pass and covid test at first stop, then again at 2nd stop. Then there is a third stop where they ask for your vaccine, passport and ship pass. You want to try and get your images of passport and vaccine loaded into the cruise website prior to arriving at port. I wish I had paper copies of all my items instead of having to search for somethings on my phone and having paper copies of others. When doing it again, I will get a folder to contain all items in one place.
First thing we did on ship-Hopefully, you downloaded the Royal Caribbean app prior to your arrival. Once we boarded, we hooked on to the Ships Wifi (in your Settings on Phone) It was at this time, the theatre shows showed up on the app. We do early dining and like the early shows. You must reserve the shows at this time. Even though I tried to reserve early, somehow I was unable to get reservations for the early water shows. They filled up very quickly. They did say that you could go down to the show at the time and see if you can get in because some people might not show. We didn’t choose to do this. We saw the ice show and the Grease production. They were phenomenol.
Masks-You are required to wear a mask when walking around the ship except outside. Although, I don’t know how much safety they provide. You walk in public with the mask and as soon as you sit down at any table in public, you can remove your mask. You wear a mask into the shows and then you sit down in the show with wall -to- wall people beside you, and you can remove your mask. When the show is over, they tell you to put on your mask and they dismiss you row by row because of social distancing. There were very few young children on our cruise, so I would say most everyone was vaccinated. When riding in the elevator, they had a sign that there wasn’t to be more than six on an elevator at a time. Most people were not concerned with this policy. The ship was not crowded and there was rarely any wait for the elevator.
Excursions-We were trying to have a very economical trip, so we did not spend much money on excursions, so we can’t tell you much in this activity. First stop was Cocoa Cay. We were supposed to go jet skiing, but it was windy and cool, we didn’t want to get in the water. We canceled our excursion. We walked around the island. It looks like a lot of fun for beach and swimming lovers. If you have kids, the water park looks like great fun. People did go swimming, but it was cool. They also have a fun area where you can play beach volleyball and they had some type of beach billiards. The hammocks looked relaxing as well. We ate at one of the beach outdoor cafes. (Hamburgers, hotdogs, tacos, chicken, salad) is mostly what I saw. We went on the bike ride/kayaks in Costa Maya Mexico. There wasn’t much to see here and the riding was very slow. It was a relaxing time and we enjoyed it, but don’t expect to really do much riding or kayaking. We got off the ship in Nassau, but the town has really gone down hill since the Covid and possibly hurricanes there. We loved shopping for trinkets and bartering in Cozumel. We took a taxi to the downtown Center. You find the taxi right outside the port once you exit the maze of provided shopping. It is a little too far to walk to downtown, but there is a sidewalk the whole way. We looked at sterling silver jewelry, fun colored dishes, leather and T shirts. If youre looking for real art, there was a unique booth where a family had hand painted art onto feathers. We had salsa and chips at a Mexican Restaurant.
Activities on ship-We like to dance, so we enjoyed dance lessons. They had line dancing, Zumba and a dance activity for a mob dance. They also had Latin dance lessons. Although, they wouldn’t teach you how to couple dance (because of social distancing) The Latin dance lessons did not show up on the schedule, until the day before the activity, so watch for them. The Latin dancing took place mostly in the Boleros Bar. They had open dancing in the evening at other venues besides Latin, but we aren’t late nighters and most of the dancing didn’t start until about 9. We wish they would have early dancing. They had several activities called “Name that tune” which we would have enjoyed, but most of the ones we liked happened right before our early dining. There was very little swimming being done on this cruise, because it was cool, but there were people by the pool. We enjoyed the hot tubs. They had a sports pool for swimming laps. Although, you didn’t swim laps, they hooked you up to some type of rope and you could swim in place. They had an art activity and card making during the week. My husband watched football at some of the bars and the room TV. We had downloaded our own movies from HBOMax/Netfilix prior to the trip. I had gotten the refreshment package on the Good Friday sale. I enjoyed non-alcoholic frozen drinks and a milkshake at Johnny Rockets. We brought cards and a board game of our own and played them on deck five in the café promenade. We met an older gentleman, traveling solo that joined us in playing. There were others playing cards here as well. We can’t tell you much about the casino, because we didn’t participate, but I heard a lot about bingo. I tried the boogie boarding on the flow rider. The water was warm, to my relief. Make sure you fill out the signed release before standing in line. There were several talented stand-up surfers. I rode the zip line-make sure you show up with closed toe shoes. I rode the abyss slide. It is dark inside and you need a shirt with sleeves to ride. I didn’t try the water slides, but I heard they were fun. If you enjoy art, there is an art gallery near the casino with beautiful art. We also enjoyed ping pong in the enclosed ping pong area. There were many other activities, but this is what we enjoyed.
Eating- We chose early dine. We usually do “my time dining”, but you weren’t allowed to eat with my time dining until 6:30. We’re early eaters. They were not sitting you with other families, you sat only with who you came with. This is unfortunate for solo diners because we saw several sitting alone. One solo diner, said they met some friends the first day that were traveling alone and they decided to ask for a table together. We didn’t try the specialty dining, but I’m sure it was fabulous. We ate every night in the dining room. The food can be compared to possibly eating at TGI Fridays, but there were some stand out dishes. We discovered it’s best to take the recommendations of the night from the waiter. One dress up night they served Steak and Lobster. The lobster was so-so, but if you like seafood-the last night they had jumbo buttered shrimp and it was outstanding! My husband loved the banana foster for dessert. For breakfast and lunch, we tried the solarium and the Windjammer and Italian Solentos. Lots of food to choose from. Probably very ordinary. We got expresso with the refreshment package, every morning in the Café Promenade on the 5th floor. I also tried a Frappuccino here. There is a Starbucks, but it was not included with the Refreshment Package.
Exiting the ship was easy. Going through customs, we didn’t even need to take out our passport because the computer now has facial recognition and it found us in the data base.
Just back-Nov 28 Harmony of Seas
in Royal Caribbean International
Posted
We traveled very economically, so we purchased the inexpensive inside cabins. These cabins were smaller than we have had on other ships. We like having a coffee table in front of the couch, but on this ship there was no room for that.
Covid Test-We were traveling by car and our town did not do the Rapid Test, so we found a CVS along our route that did the Rapid Test. We scheduled the test at the location 11 days prior. It was easy and quick (free). They sent us the results on our phone, but you do have to sign into the website they provide.
Parking-We parked with Cruise-N-Park. It was a good price and very easy to get to ship. Their parking lot is all gravel and they drag your suitcases across this gravel. We felt it was a lot of wear and tare on the suitcases. We’re not sure of the security of our car. When we returned, they never asked for our ticket and we found our own car in the parking lot with the keys laying on the windshield.
Embarkation-We arrived for early embarkation. It was quick, but I felt a bit unorganized. They ask for your ship pass and covid test at first stop, then again at 2nd stop. Then there is a third stop where they ask for your vaccine, passport and ship pass. You want to try and get your images of passport and vaccine loaded into the cruise website prior to arriving at port. I wish I had paper copies of all my items instead of having to search for somethings on my phone and having paper copies of others. When doing it again, I will get a folder to contain all items in one place.
First thing we did on ship-Hopefully, you downloaded the Royal Caribbean app prior to your arrival. Once we boarded, we hooked on to the Ships Wifi (in your Settings on Phone) It was at this time, the theatre shows showed up on the app. We do early dining and like the early shows. You must reserve the shows at this time. Even though I tried to reserve early, somehow I was unable to get reservations for the early water shows. They filled up very quickly. They did say that you could go down to the show at the time and see if you can get in because some people might not show. We didn’t choose to do this. We saw the ice show and the Grease production. They were phenomenol.
Masks-You are required to wear a mask when walking around the ship except outside. Although, I don’t know how much safety they provide. You walk in public with the mask and as soon as you sit down at any table in public, you can remove your mask. You wear a mask into the shows and then you sit down in the show with wall -to- wall people beside you, and you can remove your mask. When the show is over, they tell you to put on your mask and they dismiss you row by row because of social distancing. There were very few young children on our cruise, so I would say most everyone was vaccinated. When riding in the elevator, they had a sign that there wasn’t to be more than six on an elevator at a time. Most people were not concerned with this policy. The ship was not crowded and there was rarely any wait for the elevator.
Excursions-We were trying to have a very economical trip, so we did not spend much money on excursions, so we can’t tell you much in this activity. First stop was Cocoa Cay. We were supposed to go jet skiing, but it was windy and cool, we didn’t want to get in the water. We canceled our excursion. We walked around the island. It looks like a lot of fun for beach and swimming lovers. If you have kids, the water park looks like great fun. People did go swimming, but it was cool. They also have a fun area where you can play beach volleyball and they had some type of beach billiards. The hammocks looked relaxing as well. We ate at one of the beach outdoor cafes. (Hamburgers, hotdogs, tacos, chicken, salad) is mostly what I saw. We went on the bike ride/kayaks in Costa Maya Mexico. There wasn’t much to see here and the riding was very slow. It was a relaxing time and we enjoyed it, but don’t expect to really do much riding or kayaking. We got off the ship in Nassau, but the town has really gone down hill since the Covid and possibly hurricanes there. We loved shopping for trinkets and bartering in Cozumel. We took a taxi to the downtown Center. You find the taxi right outside the port once you exit the maze of provided shopping. It is a little too far to walk to downtown, but there is a sidewalk the whole way. We looked at sterling silver jewelry, fun colored dishes, leather and T shirts. If youre looking for real art, there was a unique booth where a family had hand painted art onto feathers. We had salsa and chips at a Mexican Restaurant.
Activities on ship-We like to dance, so we enjoyed dance lessons. They had line dancing, Zumba and a dance activity for a mob dance. They also had Latin dance lessons. Although, they wouldn’t teach you how to couple dance (because of social distancing) The Latin dance lessons did not show up on the schedule, until the day before the activity, so watch for them. The Latin dancing took place mostly in the Boleros Bar. They had open dancing in the evening at other venues besides Latin, but we aren’t late nighters and most of the dancing didn’t start until about 9. We wish they would have early dancing. They had several activities called “Name that tune” which we would have enjoyed, but most of the ones we liked happened right before our early dining. There was very little swimming being done on this cruise, because it was cool, but there were people by the pool. We enjoyed the hot tubs. They had a sports pool for swimming laps. Although, you didn’t swim laps, they hooked you up to some type of rope and you could swim in place. They had an art activity and card making during the week. My husband watched football at some of the bars and the room TV. We had downloaded our own movies from HBOMax/Netfilix prior to the trip. I had gotten the refreshment package on the Good Friday sale. I enjoyed non-alcoholic frozen drinks and a milkshake at Johnny Rockets. We brought cards and a board game of our own and played them on deck five in the café promenade. We met an older gentleman, traveling solo that joined us in playing. There were others playing cards here as well. We can’t tell you much about the casino, because we didn’t participate, but I heard a lot about bingo. I tried the boogie boarding on the flow rider. The water was warm, to my relief. Make sure you fill out the signed release before standing in line. There were several talented stand-up surfers. I rode the zip line-make sure you show up with closed toe shoes. I rode the abyss slide. It is dark inside and you need a shirt with sleeves to ride. I didn’t try the water slides, but I heard they were fun. If you enjoy art, there is an art gallery near the casino with beautiful art. We also enjoyed ping pong in the enclosed ping pong area. There were many other activities, but this is what we enjoyed.
Eating- We chose early dine. We usually do “my time dining”, but you weren’t allowed to eat with my time dining until 6:30. We’re early eaters. They were not sitting you with other families, you sat only with who you came with. This is unfortunate for solo diners because we saw several sitting alone. One solo diner, said they met some friends the first day that were traveling alone and they decided to ask for a table together. We didn’t try the specialty dining, but I’m sure it was fabulous. We ate every night in the dining room. The food can be compared to possibly eating at TGI Fridays, but there were some stand out dishes. We discovered it’s best to take the recommendations of the night from the waiter. One dress up night they served Steak and Lobster. The lobster was so-so, but if you like seafood-the last night they had jumbo buttered shrimp and it was outstanding! My husband loved the banana foster for dessert. For breakfast and lunch, we tried the solarium and the Windjammer and Italian Solentos. Lots of food to choose from. Probably very ordinary. We got expresso with the refreshment package, every morning in the Café Promenade on the 5th floor. I also tried a Frappuccino here. There is a Starbucks, but it was not included with the Refreshment Package.
Exiting the ship was easy. Going through customs, we didn’t even need to take out our passport because the computer now has facial recognition and it found us in the data base.
I can’t think of anything else at the moment.