Harmony of the Seas ~ Sept 1-8, 2018 ~ A Kid-Free Anniversary Cruise

DH and I returned on Saturday from a fantastic week on Harmony. We were celebrating our 20th anniversary, which was on 9/5. This was our 10th cruise and our 4th on RCCL. We were on Allure with our DD last year for spring break, so we're familiar with this class of ship. One big difference is that we were in a suite on Allure vs. an ocean view balcony on Harmony. We were curious to see how the experiences would differ. I'm going to break this review down into categories instead of giving a day-by-day account. I do have the Compasses, and I'd be happy to scan and post them if there's interest.

ITINERARY

Day 1: Sailaway

Day 2: At Sea

Day 3: Labadee

Day 4. Falmouth, Jamaica

Day 5: At Sea

Day 6: Cozumel

Day 7: At Sea

PRE-CRUISE

When we sailed on Allure, we stayed at the Hyatt Place on 17th St the night before. This time, DH and I thought it would be fun to stay on the beach, so I rolled the dice and booked via Hotwire to get a good price. We ended up at B Ocean resort ($120 + resort fee + taxes & fees for the night). We loved the location, but we both felt that the hotel itself was just okay. On a fun note, there's a bar/lounge in the hotel called the Wreck Bar that has live mermaid shows on Friday and Saturday nights. We made a point to catch part of the early show before dinner. How often in life does one get to see a mermaid show?!?

Fun Fact: We sat next to this mermaid's parents at the bar!

We had dinner at the Boatyard, which was fantastic. Beautiful setting with great food and cocktails. We'd definitely go back.

The Minty Melon (A+)

EMBARKATION

We took an Uber to the port on Saturday morning and arrived at around 10:20. Security moved quickly and there was no line to check in (we're Platinum). We had our embarkation photo taken and headed upstairs to wait. I think we were only in our chairs for about 5 minutes when boarding began. I just checked the timestamp on my first photo on the ship, and we were on the Royal Promenade at 10:44! All in all a very quick process. I don't think it was much shorter when we were in a suite on Allure.

More later, but now I need to go cook dinner!

Enjoyed the first post of your Harmony Anniversary cruise except I can't see the photos. Where each photo should be it's just a small grey circle with a minus sign in the center of it.

Happy 20th!!

Ugh. I tried to use Google photos, but it doesn't seem to have worked. I'll see if I can figure out another way.

Trying the photos again...

Mermaid 1 by LCT Flickr, on Flickr

Mermaid 2 by LCT Flickr, on Flickr

The Minty Melon by LCT Flickr, on Flickr

Looking forward to the rest of your review. We are headed out on Harmony this February. :)

I will be following along too! We board in a couple of months. [emoji846] Looking forward to the rest of your review.

Following along. Congrats on your anniversary.

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This should be interesting

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Thanks for following along and for the anniversary shout-outs! I think I have the photo thing figured out now -- I can see them both on my computer and iPad. Please let me know if you're not able to see them.

I won't have time for another real post until after work today (re-entry has been painful), but here's a partial list of topics I'll be covering:

• My thoughts on our room, including the special anniversary amenities I ordered through RCCL, and the ship as a whole.
  
• Food and beverages. We purchased the deluxe drink packages for the first time. Did we get our money's worth?? We also skipped the MDR completely and only visited WJ once.
  
• Entertainment. My take on the shows we attended.
  
• The ports, including Labadee where we had a bungalow at Columbus Cove.
  
• A comparison between the suite and non-suite experiences.
  
• And anything else I can think of...
  

More to come this evening!

Labadee! by LCT Flickr, on Flickr

Hey Lisa!

I am following your review with great interest in preparation for my first Oasis-class sailing next December aboard Harmony :) Do you remember how much approximately the Uber was from your hotel to the port?

Would love to see the Cruise Compasses whenever you have a moment to scan them in :)

Thanks!

Great start, can't wait to read the rest of your review. Happy Anniversary!

Hey Lisa!

 

I am following your review with great interest in preparation for my first Oasis-class sailing next December aboard Harmony :) Do you remember how much approximately the Uber was from your hotel to the port?

 

Would love to see the Cruise Compasses whenever you have a moment to scan them in :)

 

Thanks!

I had to ask DH as he handled that ride. Generous guy! When I asked (via text) why the big tip, he replied "good banter." Hmm...

Uber to Port Everglades by LCT Flickr, on Flickr

thank you Lisa for sharing your harmony cruise experience I will be following along :D hope to one day sail on harmony and happy anniversary!

Moving right along...

THE SHIP

Harmony felt very familiar to us since we've been on Allure, but it was fun to see the differences here and there. Our plan had been to take a walk down the Promenade, maybe have a drink at the Bionic Bar since that would be new and different for us, and then head out to the Boardwalk and get a margarita at Sabor. We took our time checking out Promenade and eventually wandered over to the Bionic Bar. There was a big gaggle of people, most of them just watching, so we decided to skip the drink and return another time. Then we headed out to the Boardwalk... only to find out we couldn't go past the carousel because the deck had been hosed down and was still wet. At this point we were really ready for our traditional celebratory cocktail, so we decided to try Boleros. I had made a list of cocktails I wanted to try (more on this later), and five of them were specialty drinks at Boleros.

We sat down and were served fairly quickly by a funny bartender named Joseph. He had a schtick going with another bartender whose name I'm pretty sure was Francisco. DH ordered a coconut mojito and I ordered a mango and melon rita. Joseph talked me out of my choice and ended up surprising me with his own concoction. I'm not sure what was in it, but he called it Fried Chicken #1.

Fried Chicken #1 by LCT Flickr, on Flickr

Coconut Mojito by LCT Flickr, on Flickr

We ended up visiting Boleros several more times during the cruise, and each time Joseph convinced me to let him make up a drink for me. Aside from a sip of DH's coconut mojito, I never got to try any of the five drinks on my list!

We then headed up to the pool deck to check things out. That part of the ship looked very familiar, with the exception of the Ultimate Abyss.

Some obligatory boarding day photos:

Royal Promenade by LCT Flickr, on Flickr

Entrance to the Boardwalk by LCT Flickr, on Flickr

Boardwalk by LCT Flickr, on Flickr

Central Park by LCT Flickr, on Flickr

Next up, our room...

Hi Lisa, we'll be boarding the Harmony in October (for 4 weeks). How was your experience on specialty restaurants?

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Hi Lisa, we'll be boarding the Harmony in October (for 4 weeks). How was your experience on specialty restaurants?

 

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We generally enjoy eating at the specialty restaurants on RCCL and ate at 5 of them this cruise:

1. Sabor

2. Jamie's

3. 150 Central Park

4. Izumi (sushi)

5. Wonderland

I'll write a whole post about our experiences soon!

Here are the Compasses:

Harmony Western, Day 1: Ft Lauderdale

Harmony Western, Day 2: At Sea

Harmony Western, Day 3: Labadee

Harmony Western, Day 4: Falmouth, Jamaica

Harmony Western, Day 5: At Sea

Harmony Western, Day 6: Cozumel, Mexico

Harmony Western, Day 7: At Sea

More tomorrow!

I recognise you off the pictures! .. don't forget to mention the bungalow at labadee and the free moet champagne ha ha

I recognise you off the pictures! .. don't forget to mention the bungalow at labadee and the free moet champagne ha ha

Hey there! It was great meeting you and your husband. I'll definitely be covering our day at Labadee. That was our favorite day of the cruise!

OUR ROOM

As much as we would have liked to splurge on a suite for this trip, we just couldn't justify the extra cost. This was one of several vacations this year, so we needed to keep costs in check. We booked room 8620, an ocean view balcony right around midship on deck 8. We loved the location near Central Park and would definitely choose a room on deck 8 again.

I'll address a few topics that seem to come up regularly, as I wondered about them too:

• The bed. I was concerned after reading many reports of rock hard beds, but DH and I both thought it was fairly comfortable! Maybe on the firm side, but nothing crazy. It did feel like there was a thin padded mattress pad on the bed, but I'm not sure how much that helped.
  
• The air conditioning. We kept ours on the coldest setting and it mostly kept our room nice and cool. The temperature dropped quickly when we kept the balcony door open for more than about 30 seconds, so we were careful about that.
  
• Location of the bed. The bed in our room was next to the balcony. In all our cruises, this is the first time we've ever had that set up. It was different, but we didn't mind it.
  
• Noise from surrounding cabins. We heard almost nothing from the room to our right. The room to our left was another story. The people staying there got progressively louder and stayed up progressively later each night. They liked to talk (loudly) on their balcony into the wee hours of the night, which was a problem for us since our bed was by the balcony. We started using a white noise app after the first few nights. FWIW, we did not have a connecting room.
  
• The shower tube. I actually didn't mind this so much, and the shower head was high enough that 6'4" DH could stand up straight. The only issue we had is that it overflowed almost every time we used it. We had to put an extra towel on the floor to absorb the water. Not a big deal, but a little annoying.
  

Since we were celebrating our anniversary, our ordered some of the "onboard amenities" through RCCL. I chose the "Happy Anniversary Room Decor Package" ($45.99) and the Champagne & Strawberries ($42.95). The decorations were in place when we arrived at our room at about 1pm on embarkation day. The champagne and strawberries were delivered a couple of hours later. I thought the decorations were a little cheesy, but cute. They definitely added a special touch, and I consider it money well spent. Here's what everything looked like:

RCCL Anniversary Pkg by LCT Flickr, on Flickr

IMG_3823 by LCT Flickr, on Flickr

IMG_3820 by LCT Flickr, on Flickr

IMG_3826 by LCT Flickr, on Flickr

IMG_3851 by LCT Flickr, on Flickr

Champagne & Strawberries by LCT Flickr, on Flickr

Next up, food & beverages.

Love your review. We'll be on Harmony next September to celebrate my daughter's birthday

Thanks for posting the compass for your cruise.

Thanks for your review. Looking forward to more.

Thank you to all who are following. It has taken me longer than I anticipated to get to the next installment, but without further ado...

THE FOOD

We decided when we booked this cruise that we didn't want to eat in the MDR. For various reasons, we've enjoyed the MDR less and less over the years. We tried MTD when we were on Brilliance two years ago, but we had sort of a mixed experience. Our limited experience at WJ on our Allure cruise convinced us we didn't want to eat many meals there either. So that left the other "free" restaurants and the specialty restaurants.

Breakfast

Park Cafe (2x)

We both really enjoyed Park Cafe. It was pretty low key each time we went, and I loved the breakfast sandwiches and bagel bar.

Solarium Bistro (2x)

We didn't like Solarium Bistro as much on Harmony as we did on Allure. For some reason, it was much more crowded, and the single buffet line for the hot food was long both times we went.

WJ (1x)

We went to WJ primarily because we had the beverage packages and wanted fresh OJ. While the OJ and the food selection were very good, the place was chaotic and we had a tough time finding a table. That was our only visit to WJ for the week.

Room Service (2x)

Everyone here knows about the $7.95 fee for hot breakfast items, but I had somehow missed the fact that tax ($1.43) is added on top of that. So the total cost was $9.38, but it was worth it to us. Our room service days were Labadee and Cozumel, and it was nice having a relaxed breakfast in our room before heading off the ship.

Lunch

Mini Bites (1x)

I'm not sure why, in retrospect, but we ate lunch at MB on embarkation day. There wasn't a big selection of food -- all I remember are hot dogs, hamburgers, fries, and nachos. We really should have gone for breakfast one morning for the made-to-order omelets.

Solarium Bistro (1x)

This was a good option for lunch as it was much less crowded than WJ, but still had a decent selection. I liked the choices on the salad bar. We took our lunch to go and ate on the pool deck.

Park Cafe (2x)

DH and I both really enjoyed Park Cafe, particularly the salad bar. Maybe we were just lucky with our timing, but it was never very crowded.

MDR

I went to the MDR on the last sea day because I really wanted to try the salad bar I've read so much about here. It was definitely the best salad bar on the ship, and I wish I'd tried it sooner!

Our other two lunches were at Labadee and on Cozumel.

Dinner

I booked the 3-night specialty dinner package via the cruise planner, reserved 2 nights at the Solarium Bistro, and figured we'd deal with the other 2 nights later. In retrospect we would have been better off booking the 5-night package, but you know what they say about hindsight! Here's where we ended up eating:

Sabor

I feel like Sabor gets kind of a bad rap. DH and I both really enjoyed it. We got a ton of food -- too much in fact. Next time we'll scale back! I love Sabor's margaritas. I tried three over the course of the week, but I kept going back to the jalapeno-cucumber. We were told the charge would be $25/person, but we were only charged $20/person.

Dinner at Sabor by LCT Flickr, on Flickr

Jamie's

We were excited to try Jamie's as this was the first ship we've been on that has one. We started with the cured meat plank since so many here have recommended it. It was great! We both had the penne carbonara as our entree. It was tasty, but not my favorite dish of the cruise. DH liked it more than I did. We also shared the caprese salad, which for some reason didn't leave any impression on me.

Jamie's Italian by LCT Flickr, on Flickr

Jamie's Menu by LCT Flickr, on Flickr

Solarium Bistro (nights 3 and 6)

This is a free specialty restaurant at night. DH and I both really liked the starters and sides, which are served buffet style. There were some really interesting choices, like watermelon & feta salad, lamb moussaka, ceviche, calamari, and mussels. The calamari in particular was delicious. We tried the mahi mahi and the chicken kabob, and both were good but not great. As long as this place stays free, we'll continue to go!

Izumi

We made this reservation onboard as well. The sushi was average to above average. It was a nice change of pace in the middle of the week. Our total bill was $61.36.

150 Central Park

We went to 150 CP on night 5, which was our anniversary. I started with the butternut squash soup, which was delicious. DH went with the tuna tartare, which was prepared tableside and which he LOVED. We had planned to order the tenderloin for two, but our server suggested that we get two individual orders to ensure that they were cooked to order. I had ordered a glass of wine before I saw the Central Park Martini, which sounded really good. Next time! We had a wonderful experience here and will definitely return.

Anniversary Dinner by LCT Flickr, on Flickr

Dessert at 150 CP by LCT Flickr, on Flickr

Our last dinner was at Wonderland. I'll save that one for the next post!

Were your drinks included at Sabor?