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

[crewsweeper]

Andrew, et. al.,

 

Thanks for the great review. DW has been asking what I've heard or seen. We're doing the Oasis in 2018. I'm assuming by your comments, harmony is even bigger. Just curious if she has a lap pool like the Oasis and pictures of the gym. Also appears that to really take advantage of the ship's offering you need a suite. True?

 

Thanks and GO HABS!!!!:D

[WisconsinFan]

We board her on March 18th, just as you get off. Thanks for sharing your experiences. This will be our first time on the Oasis class.

[A&L_Ont]

Hello Andrew. Us too had this kind of welcome home late last night after a Delta airline fiasco that cause us to miss our connector in DTW. We had to spend 6 hours there for the next flight.

 

Highlight meeting you and Lisa finally. I will now be scrolling this LIVE thread to see how you shared your Nov 12 sailing. Hope to see you on a cruise again.

 

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 :)

 

It was my pleasure to finally meet you and Rick. I might not have the boa, but you know I have the spirit. You are right it is a lot of work, but it is rewarding. I can't wait until we are on the same ship again. After this weather we returned too, I think we should go next week.

[A&L_Ont]

I knew what you meant.:p

 

I'm sure there are sad artists too, but I like the happy ones better. :D

 

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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Thanks for following along Colleen, with the review and scopes. There won't be any travel ones for a while, but with winter on the farm I will do a few if something interesting happens.

 

Who knows we might be on the same sailing one day. :)

[molsonschooner]

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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Yes, I read 6.5 - 7 also

[A&L_Ont]

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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Glad to see that you are staying on the proverbial horse, and maybe you can ride one on the carousel. Congrats on 47 years. If I was there I'd buy you a drink in the SL.: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

 

Maybe you want to visit my house and quicken up the food pace. :eek::D Thanks for the kind words and following along.

[A&L_Ont]

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

 

Maybe we can get the gang together again one day and hit the Seas. Until then say hello to Tom for us.

 

Andrew, et. al.,

 

Thanks for the great review. DW has been asking what I've heard or seen. We're doing the Oasis in 2018. I'm assuming by your comments, harmony is even bigger. Just curious if she has a lap pool like the Oasis and pictures of the gym. Also appears that to really take advantage of the ship's offering you need a suite. True?

 

Thanks and GO HABS!!!!:D

 

Harmony is wider by about a metre, so is is a bit bigger. I have no idea if there is a lap pool but I have seen people swim laps in the pools on the pool deck early in the morning. As for the gym, I'm sorry to say I have no photos of the gym.

 

As for the Suite question, you don't need one to take advantage of what the ship offers. All you need is a cabin to join in the fun- it gets you onboard and that's where the fun begins.

 

Go Habs, HA. I loved them in 1992/93 when they won the cup. When Demers had the refs measured McSorely's stick it could not have been better. That was crazy. I'm a sucker for the Leafs but always cheer the underdog, such as last year's Islanders.

[A&L_Ont]

We board her on March 18th, just as you get off. Thanks for sharing your experiences. This will be our first time on the Oasis class.

 

Hopefully my life review the week before you sail will have amped up for your sailing. Only 110 or so days to go. :D

[A&L_Ont]

Yes, I read 6.5 - 7 also

 

You got it. Autocorrect didn't get me on that one. :p

[A&L_Ont]

We also forgot to mention that we have never so many senior officers walking on the open decks of the ship. From hotel manager, the food and beverage manager on down they were all out and about and we saw them multiple times. Lisa even saw Captain Johnny on a Segway type of ride. Someone else even saw him with his actual parrot, and that is not a euphemism.

 

We believe there were even suits with clipboards from Miami out and about the ship.

[jaspercat]

 

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

 

That cracked me up:D:D. (poor Eeyore)

 

GO REDBLACKS!!

Edited November 23, 2016 by jaspercat

[luvtoride]

We also forgot to mention that we have never so many senior officers walking on the open decks of the ship. From hotel manager, the food and beverage manager on down they were all out and about and we saw them multiple times. Lisa even saw Captain Johnny on a Segway type of ride. Someone else even saw him with his actual parrot, and that is not a euphemism.

 

 

 

We believe there were even suits with clipboards from Miami out and about the ship.

 

 

 

We saw Captain Johnny with his parrot eating an ice cream cone. My granddaughters loved it!

 

 

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[jaspercat]

We saw Captain Johnny with his parrot eating an ice cream cone. My granddaughters loved it!

 

 

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Great Shot!

[A&L_Ont]

We saw Captain Johnny with his parrot eating an ice cream cone. My granddaughters loved it!

 

 

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I love it too.

[Agavegirl1]

I am only on page four and would like to thank Andrew from Ontario for writing this review. I will be cruising for the first time in March. I am trying to read everything I can and reviews are very helpful....but this one is downright hilarious.

[A&L_Ont]

I am only on page four and would like to thank Andrew from Ontario for writing this review. I will be cruising for the first time in March. I am trying to read everything I can and reviews are very helpful....but this one is downright hilarious.

 

You might want to retract that by the time you get to the end, there's still time.

 

Congrats on your first cruise, it's a lifestyle- just not in the swinger kind of way. Well that is unless you book a swinger cruise. :p

[Yorkvillain]

Outstanding review as always Andrew. Well done.

 

Now try to stay warm until the next one.

[crewsweeper]

Go Habs, HA. I loved them in 1992/93 when they won the cup. When Demers had the refs measured McSorely's stick it could not have been better. That was crazy. I'm a sucker for the Leafs but always cheer the underdog, such as last year's Islanders.

 

Long time Habs fan...which didn't "endear" me to a Frat bro who went on to played for the Bruins back in their "Glory Years". Hell night was real hell for me:D:eek::D

[travelbuddies]

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

 

I appreciate you taking time out of your vacation to give us this awesome review. The reasons you mention above are exactly why we like to wait 6 weeks after a ship returns from Europe.:eek: By then the 7 should be a 10.;) Thanks for getting her ready for us.:D

[A&L_Ont]

I appreciate you taking time out of your vacation to give us this awesome review. The reasons you mention above are exactly why we like to wait 6 weeks after a ship returns from Europe.:eek: By then the 7 should be a 10.;) Thanks for getting her ready for us.:D

 

Thanks for the feed back travel buddies.

 

We have sailed on a Princess ship after its TA, on it's first Caribbean and it went smooth. There was a slight delay for crew customs but that was it. I think in that case the ship had been sailing for a few years.

 

Harmony would have many new crew members when she first sailed in May but there should have also been crew who where part way through their contracts. Whatever the case we got caught. :o

 

When Oasis 4 comes out we won't be jumping to sail on here first few full Caribbean sailings.

Edited November 23, 2016 by A&L_Ont

[A&L_Ont]

Outstanding review as always Andrew. Well done.

 

Now try to stay warm until the next one.

 

Trying very hard. Thanks Villain. :)

[Thorben-Hendrik]

To us Harmony was the worst ship we have had with ANY cruise line - bad service + bad design.

And that was the case - before she got to the US:p

[CRUISEFAN0001]

To us Harmony was the worst ship we have had with ANY cruise line - bad service + bad design.

And that was the case - before she got to the US:p

Looks like some posters have found yet another place to repeat their whiney posts. :rolleyes:

[CRUISEFAN0001]

Outstanding review as always Andrew. Well done.

Ditto that!

 

What made your journey thread so pleasing to read:

 

1) You kept it real...the good and the "needs to improve"

2) Your pix and choices for just what you specifically photographed - some unique perspectives

3) Your detail - great information that went beyond the obvious or basic

4) The humor - that tied everything together

 

Many of us appreciate the time and effort you put into sharing your adventure.

[A&L_Ont]

Ditto that!

 

What made your journey thread so pleasing to read:

 

1) You kept it real...the good and the "needs to improve"

2) Your pix and choices for just what you specifically photographed - some unique perspectives

3) Your detail - great information that went beyond the obvious or basic

4) The humor - that tied everything together

 

Many of us appreciate the time and effort you put into sharing your adventure.

 

Thank-you.

 

Over 65,000 reads and 34 pages and just one poster who complains about their experience instead of following the adventure.;) If they hated it that much they should have started their own thread expressing their problems there.

Edited November 23, 2016 by A&L_Ont