Harmony LIVE, November 12th - 19th. Happier Than a Seagull with a French Fry!

[A&L_Ont]

Stairs to the loft. On Harmony there is a light switch that turns off all the low level stair lights for the night as well as the solo light that had always been on for the other Oasis Class ships.

 

 

 

View down the stairs.

 

 

 

Make-up area at the top of the stairs, along with the make-up box.

 

 

 

View from bed area to make-up and closet area.

 

 

 

Loft bed.

 

 

 

TV in the loft. It has a power lift and lower feature on the remote. The post that you see in the background is close to the bed, but I didn't walk into it at night. It is only found in aft loft CLS and not in port and starboard cabins.

 

 

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Edited November 21, 2016 by A&L_Ont

[emmy]

Just had to say that the concept of this photo was inventive and genius!!!

 

WOW a good shot. You are a kind giving person taking your personal vacation time to scope and to do this live review on Cruise Critic.

 

Learning a few things myself about Harmony here :)

[A&L_Ont]

View from the loft to the lower level. The heavy night drapes are retracted back. The shears and blackouts run off switches with one set beside the bed and another on the main level.

 

 

 

 

Upstairs washroom.

 

 

 

A tub with a shower head. What??!![emoji33] We preferred the original double shower with rain head found on Oasis and Allure. I guess some people still like the tub, thus the change.

 

 

 

Our only cabin complaint was the safe location in the closet. To reach in it was like playing feely-meely since the door opened the wrong way. It was worse with clothes in the closet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Edited November 21, 2016 by A&L_Ont

[A&L_Ont]

The last part of the cabin, the balcony. When the sliding door was shut there was no noise, except for the occasional loud moment and applause from the Aqua Theatre. There was a child proof door lock higher up on the sliding door as well. It is a great balcony.

 

Starboard aft view.

 

 

 

Port aft view. Nice flow rider stand up line view.

 

 

 

Midship aft lower view.

 

 

 

View from a bit further back. Two nice loungers and a table.

 

 

 

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Edited November 21, 2016 by A&L_Ont

[Ocean Boy]

Sand, darn autocorrect.

 

 

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I knew what you meant.:p

[A&L_Ont]

Waiting for Owen on the bus today was not any warmer with Bob Marley playing on my iPhone. I tried to upload a video but the app kept crashing, due to the cold.

 

Instead this photo of Lisa will have to do. Yes that is Lisa under all those layers.

 

 

 

Final thoughts tonight.

 

 

 

 

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Edited November 21, 2016 by A&L_Ont

[mrucruiser]

Thanks for your review.

 

I came across some drone footage of the Harmony on youtube that you may find interesting, link below

 

[A&L_Ont]

Thanks for your review.

 

 

 

I came across some drone footage of the Harmony on youtube that you may find interesting, link below

 

 

 

 

 

What an amazing find mrucruiser. I would have found it one day, but not this fast. Thank-you.

 

I grabbed a few screenshots from it. Great video drone pilot.

 

 

 

Am I still waving the finger?[emoji23]

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[A&L_Ont]

Final Thoughts

 

We booked this cruise a long time ago and waited patiently for embarkation day to come. When entertainment opened for booking, we booked all the shows we wanted to see. A few weeks before our sail date many of us on our Roll Call started to get emails changing our show times. It didn't effect us as much as others on our sailing but it was a PITA (pain in the a$$). These show changes brought conflicts with dinners and even a show changed from the evening to 3pm on a sea day. Many did not want to give up their PTH (prime tanning hours).

 

The reason given for the show changes was reasonable. It was to give show performers a break after their heavy work load during the short PR sailings the week before ours. Totally acceptable to me, but RC should have known/realized this months ago, if not before they opened our show calendar. This would have avoided grief for many on our sailing. We knew two groups that had their reservations totally disappear and be told to go to the stand-by line, even when their spouse was told they had one. When they went to the box office the next day they were told that they both had reservations and said the husband should have been able to go in. Technology isn't always great. Niksmom630 also spoke of her troubles in her live review.

 

All that being said, the shows were amazing. Grease, Fine Line (less diving and more acrobatic), 1887 (the ice show) was great, the comedy show, the Liars Club, Finish the Lyric and other trivia challenges were all done very well. We didn't make it to the 90s dance party as it started at 11:30, the Quest 11:30 and Love and Marriage was at 3pm on a sea day. Strange times that hopefully will be changed sooner than later.

 

 

 

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Edited November 22, 2016 by A&L_Ont

[A&L_Ont]

Pre-cruise paper work was different than previously on Oasis and Allure. We chose to supply our own ID photos and they were accepted by the port check-in agent. We could not sign activity waivers in advance like previously on Harmony's sister ships. Our cruise cards were to be waiting for us at our cabin door at 1pm. We had to carry our set sail pass for the first few hours and it wasn't a real PITA.

 

We decided to ride the Abyss at 11:45 and we did not have our cards. I wanted to get my wrist band for flow riding since it opened at 11:30. I had to sign and initial 8 different waiver pages at the sports desk on deck 16, taking 7-10 minutes of our and the crew members time to sign the waivers. If the rides are open for use at 11:30 signing paper docs is not the high tech nor time savvy way of doing things.

 

I should also mention that there were 5 other people doing the same thing as me at that moment in time. I wonder how many other times this was done before 1pm when cabin keys were attained.

 

They should simplify this process and revert Harmony to be like her sister ships Oasis and Allure. Let cruisers do their waives in advance, hand out the cards at check-in and make life simpler for crew and guests. Heck, the checkin counters are the same at Terminal 18, keep it simple.

 

 

 

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Edited November 22, 2016 by A&L_Ont

[A&L_Ont]

When we got to our cabin one key was waiting on the outside of the door in an envelope and the other was inside with our WOW bands attached to it. This pic is of the envelope which contained the key (Lisa's) that was on our cabin door.

 

 

 

Inside the cabin my cruise card (in the small envelope) and both wow bands awaited us.

 

 

 

They should also let guests know which WOW band belongs to which guest. If you don't have the same drink package for example it can make a difference. We tried putting our name on the back with a pen but the ink wore off. The colour of the band is determined by muster area (not station). I saw 4 colours being blue F4 (ours), white, yellow and red if I remember correctly. There might be other colours but I didn't see them. It would be nice if there was a way to personalize them like how Disney does. Next cruise we will bring a sharpie to label them, so we always know who's is who's.

 

 

Our cabin was great and so were our attendants. Seepaul and Carona took amazing care of us all week. Wifi in our cabin and around the ship worked great for us.

 

Raj and Mohomad in the suite lounge also were a pleasure to see.

 

 

 

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Edited November 22, 2016 by A&L_Ont

[A&L_Ont]

Having been on Oasis and Allure numerous times each, we practically know the ship like the back of our hand. We saw subtle changes throughout the ship over the week and we noted some through the review. We also found a few areas to where it felt as though things just weren't finished yet, kinda like at the mall. Not plywood walls, just didn't look as nice as other areas. We also missed the fountain under the Rising Tide Bar.

 

The Abyss and the water slides are great additions. I did 4 loops in the champagne glass slide and was told the record was 5. Try to beat that.[emoji12] Most people had a hard time getting one loop. I miss the changes at the beach pool with extra loungers and no sun umbrellas but they need to add chairs to make up for lost deck space taken by the slide ends.

 

The kids area is wonderful with the splash pad. If Owen was younger he'd love it, but I still think he would at 9. The circular pool is gone, which hopefully will keep the kiddies safe. Whenever Owen was in it we always stood right at its edge. With no pool in the Solarium that has brought about another change. The sports pool is now adults only and I suspect this is to make up for no pool in the Solarium.

 

Even though RC doesn't have life guards, they have taken a much more serious approach to pool safety. In the kids area there are 2 if not 3 crew watching the kids. There are life vests and they are encouraged to be used. There was also a deck crew member at each pool watching for jumping, drinks and food near the pool, and even removed towels on the Chogs. The first time we personally had seen it on RC ships.

 

They were also swiping the sea pass at the towel station.

 

The flow rider was perfect as always, with exceptionally short lines. I found my unicorn cruise.

 

 

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Edited November 22, 2016 by A&L_Ont

[A&L_Ont]

Meals for us were an issue, relating to service. We ate 6 times at specialty dining venues and each time there was an issue. In the review I talked about our disappearing waiter at Chops.

 

 

 

At Jamie's, first they didn't think they could seat us, so we choose to sit outside. So much for having prepaid reservations from months earlier. Oh well. I ordered my dinner and then went up to the cabin to change into shorts from long pants. After being gone for 10 minutes, I thought the meat plank would have been waiting for my arrival. Lisa and I continued to wait another 30 minutes for a simple meat plank to arrive. In the meantime the table beside us which arrived after us had their plank and main meal arrive. At that time we spoke with the assistant maitre de that we knew from previous Allure sailings. She looked into it and our waiter appeared and apologized for the delay. Lisa also then mentioned she had no refill on her drink and why was there such a delay.

 

 

 

Our waiter stated that there were new cooks in the kitchen and they weren't following the ticket order. Was it new cooks, or a waiter who forgot about us? It took an hour for us to receive our 1 app to share and be removed from our table. The entire meal took almost 2 hours.

 

 

 

Johnny Rockets was another miss. It took 10 minutes to be seated, and another 10 minutes to order and another 10 until we got our onion rings and fries. We told our waiter we had a show in 30 minutes time. The food was out quick but it didn't leave time for us to enjoy eating it. There were only 2 waiters in the venue and this was at 6:15.

 

 

 

We ate at Sabor three times and had issues each time. Each time the issue was in respect to service. We had to ask about missing mains, more chips and salsa, and the last time we had to prompt the maitre de to find our waiter to take our order. She was busy chatting with a fellow crew member for 10 minutes. There were also only 2 waiters each time we were there.

 

 

 

At all the venues, once the food arrived, the quality was great. It was hot and tasty. It just took too long to arrive, took too much effort on our patience and the servers seemed to be indifferent. That being said, our normal standard to great tipping was not upheld. Our food services tips for the week totalled what we would have given as a normal tip under other cruise experiences. We knew others who ate at Chops and Jamie's and had a positive experience so please don't be afraid. I think we just had the cards lined against us this sailing.

 

 

 

I spoke with others that we knew on the ship and they too had a feeling that service was lacking and one individual also stated that they had delays to "new cooks". I have a feeling that "new cooks" might be a uniform excuse, as who would fault a new cook. I started to think how many new cooks start in specialty dining kitchens with made to order meals. Wouldn't they start in line cooking positions such as the MDR or windjammer until they proved their worth in the kitchen.

 

 

 

I also wonder if there was a high turn over in kitchen and waiter crew the week we sailed. You know that RC would want their best staff on board the week of the VIP, TA and press sailings. Just some speculation on my part but I don't think they would want TA's receiving the service we did. I have been following this weeks roll call and some there have been commenting upon food service as well.

 

 

 

It almost felt like some of the crew didn't care or know what level of service to provide. Either that or they are going home in the next week or two so why bother working hard. I don't know if that makes sense, but our level of food service didn't make sense either after so many RC cruises.

 

 

 

After 30 cruises we had an occasional meal with a hiccup but never this many with such consistency.

 

 

Don't worry about me, I'm still dreaming of Sabor at night. Come a little closer my little short rib taco. MMMM. That might be what Lisa looks like in a taco in my dreams. [emoji23]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Edited November 22, 2016 by A&L_Ont

[A&L_Ont]

Windjammer for dinner the one night was a fast and dirty event. We were there to eat and it did the job.

 

Drink package news. Not once our entire sailing did either Lisa, I or our friends with drink packages get a slip at the bar to sign or add a tip to. It wasn't this way on Allure this past August.

 

Luggage Valet was not yet up and running. Everyone had to drag their luggage off the ship or at least from the holding areas. I muse out loud, could they have negotiated this with their provider months ago? We booked this sailing 1.5 years ago, I didn't think this could be too hard to set up a contract for another ship.

 

Still not a deal breaker, just something that wasn't fulfilled from the suite perks list.

 

 

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[A&L_Ont]

So if I put all of my comments into a big mixing pot, how would we rank the cruise? I give it a score of 6.5-7 out of 10. Had our food service issues not happened, this easily would have been a 9 out of 10. Had the shows times not been changed and other being super late it might have been a perfect 10.

 

 

Hopefully with a few weeks in the Caribbean, Harmony will be more harmonious in regards to food service. We have three more sailings booked on here in the next 1.5 years and I sure hope things are better by our next sailing. If not we will be changing some of our upcoming sailings. Don't worry Villain and Maureen, the September 30th sailing is safe no matter what.

 

 

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Edited November 22, 2016 by A&L_Ont

[A&L_Ont]

I met a lot of fun and good people this sailing. Some have been on CC for years, others were on my roll call, some were in the flow rider lines, a few were periscopers and some were "just sailing" on the ship. Our roll call was a well attended event and the cabin crawl had a good turn out considering it was at 1pm. I can't wait to catch up with you folks again.

 

So when is our next sailing and cruise review you ask? Our next cruise will be on Harmony departing March 11th of 2017. It is a Western cruise and we will have a short three day pre-cruise stay in Sarasota at my mom's condo prior to heading to Fort Lauderdale.

 

Thanks for following along on our latest adventure. Hopefully we didn't need to much Poo Pourii spritzed on this one. Let's just be thankful I didn't know about the Butterfish before this sailing. Oh the fun I could have had with that one. The jokes would have just squeaked out here and there. I bet it tastes even better with fresh ground pepper, to which on a side note Jamie's did have grinders.

 

I hope you sail before our next one but if not, hopefully you will join us in March. Until then take care.

 

 

 

 

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Edited November 22, 2016 by A&L_Ont

[MInurse]

Thank you Andrew again for the honest and thorough review. We sail Harmony December 3rd. After reading your review, I will set my expectations lower as to not be disappointed . We also booked 1.5 years ago and my son and his fiancé are traveling with us as first time cruisers. I hope they will still like cruising after this, since it's their first experience. I appreciate all the time you took to do this review and periscope. Hope to meet up with you and Lisa some day to thank you in person! Keep scoping as I'll keep watching all your interesting travels and the farm.

Colleen @noted nurse.

 

 

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[CRUISEFAN0001]

Thank you Andrew again for the honest and thorough review. We sail Harmony December 3rd. After reading your review, I will set my expectations lower as to not be disappointed .

While food service hiccups happen, they are exceptions and not the rule. Otherwise, Andrew said the cruise was a 9 out of 10...so no real reason to lower expectations.

[MInurse]

I'm sorry I thought I read 6.5-7. Even lowering my expectations, I can't help feeling geeked to get on her. My glass is always 3/4 full, no matter what. Just want to be realistic I guess.

 

 

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[CRUISEFAN0001]

I'm sorry I thought I read 6.5-7. Even lowering my expectations, I can't help feeling geeked to get on her. My glass is always 3/4 full, no matter what. Just want to be realistic I guess.

Agree it's good to be level headed and "real".

 

That said, I suspect you'll enjoy your cruise. Perfection doesn't exist, but the many memories you'll have will be positive.

[A&L_Ont]

I'm sorry I thought I read 6.5-7. Even lowering my expectations, I can't help feeling geeked to get on her. My glass is always 3/4 full, no matter what. Just want to be realistic I guess.

 

 

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Agree it's good to be level headed and "real".

 

That said, I suspect you'll enjoy your cruise. Perfection doesn't exist, but the many memories you'll have will be positive.

 

You read correctly, the score was a 6.5-7 out of 10. Had it not been for repeatedly slow service the cruise would have been a 9/10.

 

Once the food arrived it was of great quality for all 6 of our specialty dining glitches. The 50 minutes that it took for our app of sliced meat, cheese and olives at Jamie's was excessive. Not seeing our waiter at Chops 5 minutes before our food was delivered until he cleared our plated 40 minutes later is more than just a hiccup. He nor anyone else swung by to ask if dinner was cooked right, offer ground pepper, or ask if we needed refills. These are not over the top expectations, these are normal procedures. We have never considered giving no tip and we talked about it more than once this sailing. This was for specialty dining, we never went to the MDR so I'm not sure how it was there. :eek:

 

We are casual and relaxed people, others surely will not have been as patient. As crusinfan said, perfection doesn't exist but we have certainly seen much better on Oasis Class ships. Thus my level headed comments, cruise score and observations.

 

I just hope these are crew swapping glitches which have transpired from many contracts coming to an end or about to since the ship has been in service for close to 7 months. The ship is the destination but food is a big part of it, thus the 3 to 3.5 point deduction for poor service.

 

We had an amazing time on the ship, and we just started to assume that we were the couple that were getting the Eeyore donkey service. We definitely didn't react like Donald Duck. :D

[CallagDeb]

Thanks for the realistic review. We sail here 12/3, we've been on the oasis class 6 times. I am the one who booked the obstructed view CLS 1702 on HOTS.

 

Our last oasis cruise in sept was not the best. The tone was set when at check in they couldn't find our keys and ended up having to remake

them. And it never got any better after that. There was so much drama in the MTD we stopped going. After 30+ RCI cruises we had never experienced one quite like that Very disconnected staff and spotty service, and yucky NEW menu.

 

But we going back, never fear! Lol. I'll let you know how it goes on 12/3. Like Andrew we booked this cruise 18 months ago to celebrate our 47 anniversary. We are eating at Jamie's for our actual dinner celebration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[CRUISEFAN0001]

We had an amazing time on the ship, and we just started to assume that we were the couple that were getting the Eeyore donkey service. We definitely didn't react like Donald Duck. :D

There's nothing more entertaining that a humor-laden series of posts/review of a cruise. Yours is a keeper. :)

 

Your assumption about the "newness" of the staff onboard is likely well-founded, and should show signs of improvement. Sorry to hear you had the slow-motion service levels as reported.

 

We noticed the pace was somewhat slower on Allure last Spring as well in the Western Mediterranean...perhaps a reflection of a slower life pace compared to our roadrunner lives in the U.S.

 

Nonetheless, thank you for your posts, photos, and insights. We're looking forward to Harmony mid-March...and will gladly go into the kitchen and pick up our food as needed if it takes too long...:D:D

Edited November 22, 2016 by CRUISEFAN0001

[Ocean Boy]

I met a lot of fun and good people this sailing. Some have been on CC for years, others were on my roll call, some were in the flow rider lines, a few were periscopers and some were "just sailing" on the ship. Our roll call was a well attended event and the cabin crawl had a good turn out considering it was at 1pm. I can't wait to catch up with you folks again.

 

So when is our next sailing and cruise review you ask? Our next cruise will be on Harmony departing March 11th of 2017. It is a Western cruise and we will have a short three day pre-cruise stay in Sarasota at my mom's condo prior to heading to Fort Lauderdale.

 

Thanks for following along on our latest adventure. Hopefully we didn't need to much Poo Pourii spritzed on this one. Let's just be thankful I didn't know about the Butterfish before this sailing. Oh the fun I could have had with that one. The jokes would have just squeaked out here and there. I bet it tastes even better with fresh ground pepper, to which on a side note Jamie's did have grinders.

 

I hope you sail before our next one but if not, hopefully you will join us in March. Until then take care.

 

 

 

 

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We are on Freedom the week before you sail and finish the cruise on March 12. We are getting closer and closer to meeting up.:):D

[SilkySal]

Another great review!!!!! Thanks again Andrew!!!!! Keep that white stuff up there with you!!:eek: Happy cruising my friend!!!:cool: