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On Harmony Now....Three Words......


Sascol
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Do's:

Fine line water show. I am not a fan of production shows but it was awesome.

 

Flow rider was fun and not too crowded when we did it.

 

If you can time it right around kids, try the specialty restaurants. All were good.

 

Sit in Central Park after dinner and listen to the guitarist. Very relaxing.

 

DON'Ts

Do not sit in the Prominade area before the open the cabins at 1pm. It's madness. Chill in the solarium and relax.

 

Windjammer is sooooo crowded. Avoid during peak hours if at all possible. No different than any other ship though.

 

Don't sit in the front row of the comedy show unless you like being picked on!

Thanks, we sail on October 21st, 7 of us all family and all adults. Looking forward to it, first time in Star Class.

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We start in early August, but don’t get a fall break. We get 2 weeks at Christmas, though. How long do you get?

 

 

 

This is our son’s grade school calander for 2017/18 for Ontario Canada. The rest of the province will be comparable.

 

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I was on this sailing and was super disappointed in the lack of manners of the guests.It appears to be a common theme amongst the reviews. Kids running the halls, kids up way past bedtime and lack of supervision.It was hard to ask the kids to stop doing what ever the bad behavior was cause most didn't speak or understand english! I had one person hold the elevator door for me and I said Thanks, his reply was wow, you have manners! LOL Rare theme for the week.

Then on another occasion, I had someone ask me a question and I answered in english and he said, OMG, you speak english.

I felt the cruise director was too old for this young of a ship and majority age of cruisers. He put really no effort into the Quest, which is my favorite games.Service was slow at MDR and room. I think it was due to them being new. Nice, but I just don't have 3 hours for dinner with the teens. They were on Fall break (Arizona gives my kids 2 weeks off)

Spent over 3 hours total over the week at guest services as they keep charging me for items that should have been free. No invite to the M & M, so missed that.

Almost died on the ferry coming back from Playa del Carmen from carbon monoxide gasses. Several guests complained as my did I . They offered 10% off. But my kids were so sick they were in bed by 5 and I had a migraine. Had to cancel the next day excursions because my kids did not want to go as they felt that bad.

All of the ports were changed so basically we went to 3 places we didn't want to go to (but yes, I understand why and it was a chance we took. But at least going to Labadee would have been nice). This sailing also had the same comedian and headliner that I had on Oasis in June. (what would be the odds of this happening and how can I find out who they will be beforehand so I can avoid this in the future, LOL)

I have been on Oasis and Allure in the past 15 months and both were nothing but a positive experience. Harmony is beautiful, but I will have to wait to go back when it is not fall and when they have worked out all the quirks with show audio, different cruise director and more experienced staff.Was hard to find people with common interests as language was a big barrier with other guests.

But we did have a good time however. Don't miss the shows!! ALL were great. Escape the Rubicon was fun, 10 minutes to spare! Decor was pretty and I loved all the positive statements on the walls. Johnny Rockets staff was great, Abyss slide was super fun as were the water slides.Getting on and off the ship was super fast and easy (however they did put one of our suitcases in the wrong # section, which caused stress and about 20 minutes of time to track it down). We have some great memories and some cute pics. All in all, we made it home safe and the teens had fun!

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Hi @krazyfuntimes, I’m sorry we missed you at the M&M! We didn’t get invited either but one of our roll call members called guest services and posted the time and date on the roll call thread. The activities director Jerry said that the invites had been sent out, but we told him that wasn’t true. [emoji848]

 

I enjoyed this cruise a lot and booked it again for next October, but I agree there were a few problems.

 

The audio across the board was not good. It cut out quite a few times during Grease, and I was at Hideaway Heist when they had to cancel the show in the middle because the music cut out four or five times.

 

There was a severe lack of organized daytime activities. There was plenty to do of course on the sports deck, but I am really into the game shows and trivia, bingo, and those types of indoor activities and there just weren’t very many. A 7 day cruise and only 4 bingo sessions? Really? The activities staff just didn’t seem very enthusiastic and you’re right that the CD Bobby Brown wasn’t very good, although I did enjoy him on Allure a couple of years ago.

 

I didn’t bother getting off the ship for the first time. I didn’t want to go Western so I stayed and enjoyed the ship on those days.

 

I also noticed the rudeness of other passengers. Was traveling with my mom who has limited mobility and people would just cut in front of her scooter CONSTANTLY, would refuse to hold elevators, etc. The elevator situation towards the end there was HORRIBLE. I saw grown men screaming and cursing while waiting for elevators. Calm the heck down!

 

The things I really enjoyed were the shows and the food. Almost all of our experiences there were excellent. The staff were all friendly as well.

 

The ship was beautiful and I loved everything about our cabin and the decor around the ship. I’m really excited for our cruise next year but hoping the cruise staff is better next time around. :)

 

 

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Hi @krazyfuntimes, I’m sorry we missed you at the M&M! We didn’t get invited either but one of our roll call members called guest services and posted the time and date on the roll call thread. The activities director Jerry said that the invites had been sent out, but we told him that wasn’t true. [emoji848]

 

I enjoyed this cruise a lot and booked it again for next October, but I agree there were a few problems.

 

The audio across the board was not good. It cut out quite a few times during Grease, and I was at Hideaway Heist when they had to cancel the show in the middle because the music cut out four or five times.

 

There was a severe lack of organized daytime activities. There was plenty to do of course on the sports deck, but I am really into the game shows and trivia, bingo, and those types of indoor activities and there just weren’t very many. A 7 day cruise and only 4 bingo sessions? Really? The activities staff just didn’t seem very enthusiastic and you’re right that the CD Bobby Brown wasn’t very good, although I did enjoy him on Allure a couple of years ago.

 

I didn’t bother getting off the ship for the first time. I didn’t want to go Western so I stayed and enjoyed the ship on those days.

 

I also noticed the rudeness of other passengers. Was traveling with my mom who has limited mobility and people would just cut in front of her scooter CONSTANTLY, would refuse to hold elevators, etc. The elevator situation towards the end there was HORRIBLE. I saw grown men screaming and cursing while waiting for elevators. Calm the heck down!

 

The things I really enjoyed were the shows and the food. Almost all of our experiences there were excellent. The staff were all friendly as well.

 

The ship was beautiful and I loved everything about our cabin and the decor around the ship. I’m really excited for our cruise next year but hoping the cruise staff is better next time around. :)

 

 

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The first night on the ship, there was a fight in the theater over saving seats. It was a couple of ladies in their 70's!!! They were swearing and pushing each other. It was crazy! Also I wish I would have known the cards have a chip in them and can't be hole punched. Kids didn't want to do the wristband option, so they had to carry the cards all week. I heard about the scooter issue from another couple on board as well. Sorry that happened.

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Wow, I never once hesitated pulling DD out of school to travel. Studies were never a problem and I always felt travel helped in the "big picture". That being said, she was always older than her years. Even in junior high, she was going to the dining room on her own - she enjoys that, I don't, and I would have her table mates seek me out to tell me how enjoyable she was as a dinner companion. Even so, I can guarantee she had her moments sitting in the stairwells. Oh well.

 

Maybe, if you don't like sailing with children, try a different line? I've heard Princess is good for avoiding them.

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Let's say the ship is sailing at close to full passenger capacity, which is 6318 passengers.....so if it has 6000, then 10% is 600. That really is a small amount of children spread over the size and variety of activities onboard. We sailed on Navigator over Thanksgiving week, and Navigators max is 3840 (and we were at max capacity - the captain said) and had 1150 kids and less activities for the kids overall (no waterslides especially). Did we see them...yes, were they unruly, not really. The biggest problem was the dining room....it was so packed that there was very little walking room between the tables -- for both staff and passengers.

 

We expected lots of children; we have sailed that week many times....it is when we can get away.

I was on the Oct 7th Harmony sailing, it was reported that there was over 1,700 kids on this sailing. Most were well behaved, except at the 8:30 traditional dining. A few kids fell asleep at the table. The others were racing around the tables almost tripping a waiter with a handful of dishes, parents just laughed. This was my first time on the Oasis class ship and although it's a beautiful ship, I prefer the smaller Rccl ships.

 

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We were on the 9/23 Harmony.

Slightly less than 10% were kids....not bad

We are in California & never heard of 'Fall Break'

 

 

We were on that cruise.

 

Less than 10% = it was announced that we had over 600 kids on board. Never saw so many kids in the main dining room at early seating.

 

Lot of kids but not a lot of problems with them.

 

It blew us away that on the 9/30 cruise it was announced that we had over 800 kids. For what ever reason did not see as many in the MDR. Again not a lot of problems.

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I noticed that there are a lot more Europeans and South Americans on the ship this week. Then has been the last 3 weeks. [emoji848]

 

 

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The Oasis class ships seem to have a great appeal to the International crowd. It must be the WOW factor they have.

Sometimes when waiting or in an elevator I wonder it there are any English speaking passengers on board. Still everyone seems to be having a great time. I am thinking when we travel to Europe do they think the same thing.

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Last night we had our first real issue. We had dinner at Chops at 8:30. Many, many children under the age of 5. Of course after 10 minutes at that hour they get cranky. Lots of yelling, running, no parental control. Hate to sound like an old grump but please control your children in situations like this. No reason for a 2 year old to be in Chops at 9:00. Very discouraging.

 

The one thing that did strike me as odd is how late families were up with their kids. It must be a cultural thing to stroll with your kids at 11:00 and 12:00 at night. A 9:00 dinner is right on schedule for some cultures. Unlike many Americans who call it bedtime for the wee ones.

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We were also on this cruise. We saw many unattended children during the week. One night in Central Park there was a group of young boys sitting by the guitarist. They sang one song with him which was adorable, but then they kept interrupting him during his other songs which was not so adorable! No parents were with these boys and they were probably around 9 years old. This was around 10:00 p.m. also. The ship is beautiful but there were crowds. The elevators were always packed. The windjammer was always crowded and hard to find a clean table. We tried it twice then avoided it. Our 34 year old daughter was verbally assaulted by an old man in a Leonard Skynard shirt the first night at the theater. We went to Grease at 7:50 with the show starting at 8:30. We had good seats up front. At about 8:15 my husband went to get us drinks and I went to the restroom before the show started. I guess ole Leonard and his wife decided to come in last minute and bogart our seats. My daughter politely told them no her parents had been sitting there but the man went off and screamed at her about saving seats. Sorry, but if we are sitting there for 30 minutes and get up to use the loo or get a drink that does not give you the right to try to hijack our seats when you come in to the show last minute! Thankfully she held her ground. I told her she should have asked for security! All in all we had a great trip. These few minor things did not ruin or detract from our vacation. We booked another cruise on board but with Celebrity. This ship is truly geared for families with children. Beautiful ship, great service but just not right for us.

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We were also on this cruise. We saw many unattended children during the week. One night in Central Park there was a group of young boys sitting by the guitarist. They sang one song with him which was adorable, but then they kept interrupting him during his other songs which was not so adorable! No parents were with these boys and they were probably around 9 years old. This was around 10:00 p.m. also.

 

The ship is beautiful but there were crowds. The elevators were always packed. The windjammer was always crowded and hard to find a clean table. We tried it twice then avoided it. Our 34 year old daughter was verbally assaulted by an old man in a Leonard Skynard shirt the first night at the theater.

 

We went to Grease at 7:50 with the show starting at 8:30. We had good seats up front. At about 8:15 my husband went to get us drinks and I went to the restroom before the show started. I guess ole Leonard and his wife decided to come in last minute and bogart our seats. My daughter politely told them no her parents had been sitting there but the man went off and screamed at her about saving seats.

 

Sorry, but if we are sitting there for 30 minutes and get up to use the loo or get a drink that does not give you the right to try to hijack our seats when you come in to the show last minute! Thankfully she held her ground. I told her she should have asked for security! All in all we had a great trip.

 

These few minor things did not ruin or detract from our vacation. We booked another cruise on board but with Celebrity. This ship is truly geared for families with children. Beautiful ship, great service but just not right for us.

 

Welcome to CC.

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I was on this sailing and was super disappointed in the lack of manners of the guests.It appears to be a common theme amongst the reviews. Kids running the halls, kids up way past bedtime and lack of supervision.It was hard to ask the kids to stop doing what ever the bad behavior was cause most didn't speak or understand english! I had one person hold the elevator door for me and I said Thanks, his reply was wow, you have manners! LOL Rare theme for the week.

Then on another occasion, I had someone ask me a question and I answered in english and he said, OMG, you speak english.

I felt the cruise director was too old for this young of a ship and majority age of cruisers. He put really no effort into the Quest, which is my favorite games.Service was slow at MDR and room. I think it was due to them being new. Nice, but I just don't have 3 hours for dinner with the teens. They were on Fall break (Arizona gives my kids 2 weeks off)

Spent over 3 hours total over the week at guest services as they keep charging me for items that should have been free. No invite to the M & M, so missed that.

Almost died on the ferry coming back from Playa del Carmen from carbon monoxide gasses. Several guests complained as my did I . They offered 10% off. But my kids were so sick they were in bed by 5 and I had a migraine. Had to cancel the next day excursions because my kids did not want to go as they felt that bad.

All of the ports were changed so basically we went to 3 places we didn't want to go to (but yes, I understand why and it was a chance we took. But at least going to Labadee would have been nice). This sailing also had the same comedian and headliner that I had on Oasis in June. (what would be the odds of this happening and how can I find out who they will be beforehand so I can avoid this in the future, LOL)

I have been on Oasis and Allure in the past 15 months and both were nothing but a positive experience. Harmony is beautiful, but I will have to wait to go back when it is not fall and when they have worked out all the quirks with show audio, different cruise director and more experienced staff.Was hard to find people with common interests as language was a big barrier with other guests.

But we did have a good time however. Don't miss the shows!! ALL were great. Escape the Rubicon was fun, 10 minutes to spare! Decor was pretty and I loved all the positive statements on the walls. Johnny Rockets staff was great, Abyss slide was super fun as were the water slides.Getting on and off the ship was super fast and easy (however they did put one of our suitcases in the wrong # section, which caused stress and about 20 minutes of time to track it down). We have some great memories and some cute pics. All in all, we made it home safe and the teens had fun!

 

I couldn't agree with you more, I was on this sailing too.

 

In regards to the children, most the time we didn't have a problem however, a group of teen girls were lingering on the deck 7 staircase one evening (unsupervised) and they didn't move out the way when people were coming.

We noticed a lot of children unsupervised and causing trouble at the shows, they ended up being told off by RCI staff on a number of occasions.

Then upon speaking to a lovely couple on our last night they were telling us how they'd seen children running along the corridor banging on stateroom doors and pressing every floor in the elevator.

There were some lovely Columbian children in the elevator one day, and an elderly man said "Are these your responsibility?" And the 12ish year old girl replied yes, she was taking care of them. She was with a 1, 3, 5 and 9 year old. My question- where were the parents? This girl was mature beyond her years, but she was only about 12.

For some families it almost seemed like well my kids are old enough to be left so we'll do our own thing and they can do theirs. Obviously this doesn't apply for everyone but a bunch of people it seemed to.

 

I felt the same way about the cruise director, he was just... boring, he didn't seem to have much umph.

 

The MDR we waited 40 minutes for a table one night. When we tried to make a reservation we were told everything was booked up for the whole week, and this was only on day 2.

On another evening we were sent to a table, there was no table!! We waited 15 minutes while they tried to re-arrange something for us.

 

Not only were some of the children a bit problematic, on the last morning in the Windjammer a lady shouted and made a waitress upset. I couldn't believe how rude this woman was for no good reason. Thankfully the waitress was comforted by some lovely, kind passengers and we told her what a good job she was doing when she came our way.

Shocking how rude some passengers can be!

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One night in Central Park there was a group of young boys sitting by the guitarist. They sang one song with him which was adorable, but then they kept interrupting him during his other songs which was not so adorable! No parents were with these boys and they were probably around 9 years old. This was around 10:00 p.m. also.

 

Yup. We were there at the same time and saw this too. Cute for a song but it got old fast. The poor guitarist tried to discourage them after a while but there is no polite way to say get out of here. Where were the parents? We gave up and left to go elsewhere.

 

Solarium is supposed to be adults only. No enforcement here either. Got frustrated one day and went to guest services to complain. They swept the place of kids but the next day they were all back. Just enforce the rules (yes this one is a rule) and there will not be any problems. As a paying customer I expect adult designated areas to be just that. Before anyone asks, no it was not raining. I know they relax the rules when the uncovered pool areas are not usable.

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I truly felt bad for the guitarist, he was there to perform but turned into a babysitter for the evening. We figured the parents were in a specialty restaurant and told the kids to sit there. We also had kids banging on our cabin door on deck 12. You would figure with the cameras everywhere Royal Caribbean could shut this down by tracking the kids parents down and fine them. If parents are threatened with fines I think they would control their kids. There was a smoker next to our cabin, he was even smoking in the stateroom and out on his balcony. Security had been called twice by our attendant, us and another cabin. The second time they told him he would get a $250.00 fine. Lo and behold the smoking stopped! If they hit people in their pocket books they wake up and follow the rules.

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I truly felt bad for the guitarist, he was there to perform but turned into a babysitter for the evening. We figured the parents were in a specialty restaurant and told the kids to sit there. We also had kids banging on our cabin door on deck 12. You would figure with the cameras everywhere Royal Caribbean could shut this down by tracking the kids parents down and fine them. If parents are threatened with fines I think they would control their kids. There was a smoker next to our cabin, he was even smoking in the stateroom and out on his balcony. Security had been called twice by our attendant, us and another cabin. The second time they told him he would get a $250.00 fine. Lo and behold the smoking stopped! If they hit people in their pocket books they wake up and follow the rules.

 

 

 

If the fine was $1000 first offense and second was tossed off the ship, we wouldn’t have this smoking issue.

 

 

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