Hoopster on HARMONY, Jan 7-14 2017 REVIEW w/lots of photos

[Hoopster95]

One of the more interesting areas, unfortunately, was the cold storage areas and freezers where all perishable goods are stored.

 

 

 

The numbers are staggering... in the MDR they serve 900 people per floor. For the entire 7 day cruise they use 25,000lbs of chicken, 32,000lbs of beef, and 16,000lbs of lobster! Its interesting to note that each week the food is determined by the number of kids on board... besides pizza stuff and other kid-consumed items, it's obvious for them to order thousands more hot dogs for example during spring break sailings.... I never thought of that angle. A few other incredible stats for you... 11,000lbs of watermelon, 9,000 cantaloupe and 4,000 gallons of milk. Simply incredible.

 

 

 

As he explained to us these numbers, we were allowed to enter the freezers just to experience the actual temperature... I joked that it was warmer down here than in the winds of the Solarium.

 

 

 

 

We were then walked down to deck 2, where we congregated at the entrance to the I95. Our first stop was very close by at the incinerator/recycling rooms.... yes, it did smell in there! The most interesting factoid I picked up here that I did not know before is a fleet wide program: all proceeds of all recycling on board go directly to the staff for parties, events, whathaveyou... monies are distributed fleet wide.

 

Another factoid... "black water" is disposed only with a minimum distance of 24 nautical miles away from land, and at a max speed of 12 knots.

 

 

[Hoopster95]

For those of you who have never seen...., or heard of.... the I95 corridor, this is the main "freeway" so to speak of the entire ship for the staff to navigate from all the way forward to all the way aft. It runs the entire length of the ship.

 

 

 

About half way down, we were ushered into the Engine Control Room.

 

 

 

I'm a factoid kind of guy, and there was a lot of stuff to see and peak at during the Quantum Tour, but here we were kind of "controlled" so to speak, and a pretty basic description of things was given.....

 

6 diesel engines: #2,4,5,6 are 12 cylinder ... #1 and 3 are 16 cylinder

3 azipods

On average an incredible 1.8-2.2 tonnes of fuel burned per hour!!!!!

Max speed is 25 knots

The stabilzers are 6m long and 2m wide

 

 

 

 

 

I would have loved a real life description of some of the systems that were being monitored so that we could understand and have a clearer sense of some of the things that were being monitored on the various screens, but we were in and out of there pretty quick

[Hoopster95]

Back out to the I95 we go and we continue forward

 

 

 

Gotta love some of the interesting signage we just don;t get to see or know of up on the passenger decks. Here are the directions to the Crew Cafe, crew WJ, crew Disco, crew gym... all places viewed in previous tours to give us a sense of the life of the staff, but not on this tour.

 

 

 

I didn't ask what the latest accident was... hopefully the next picture we see here on CC will be a much higher than this

 

 

 

We got the the very end of the I95 where the Crew WJ is but we were not allowed to enter, not even for pictures. It was here on the side I noticed this bike room that I hadn't seen on other ships/ Do other ships have this? What a great benefit for the staff on a day off to grab a bike and ride the city they're in for quicker shopping of sundries or simply site seeing.

 

 

[Hoopster95]

Here's an interesting factoid for crew cabins I had never clued into before... maybe it's not the same on all ships, but I thought this was interesting

 

 

 

 

The laundry area is located at the bow of the ship, on the bottom two decks. In fact, in the first picture below on deck 0 we are 3m below sea level at that point. There's another deck below deck 0... do any of you know what that is called? I won;t say until tomorrow's posts so guess away... CC bragging rights are at stake!!!

 

 

 

 

Here's some more incredible stats for you:

Laundry service starts at 6am

Up to 5000 WJ and 9000 MDR napkins are washed each day... the napkins are the first large loads to be done to ensure there are enough for breakfast service

Daily 60,000 brown and 20,000 white napkins are washed for specialty and MDR dinner service ship wide

In Labadee 11,000 blue towels end up being serviced!

A normal day on board has 22,000 white towels being washed

 

 

 

And here's what I feel is the most interesting tidbit...

On turnaround day they do all laundry in about 6 hours... it's obviously their busiest and most stressful day with machinery working at max capacity. 40,000 white towels are washed on this day.

 

The laundry area was the longest and most extensive part of the tour. We spent maybe 1/2 hour there. Shouldn't the "best" and "longest" part of the tour be the bridge? or Theatre? or Aqua Theatre? or.... 10 other better areas to view and learn?

 

So, having finished a 10min galley tour and the I95 garbage room/Control Room/Laundry.... that's it so far... we were being ushered up to deck 12 for the finale of this "Semi-Access" Tour --- the bridge

 

[Hoopster95]

My favorite D+ tour or invite is always the bridge! I will never say no to going up there. But first you have to be cleared by security before going in. Having said that, taking the elevator up from the lowest deck on this ship (remember folks... post the name of this deck if you know it.... bragging rights!) our group got separated. Security was at the deck 12 elevator landing waiting for the remainder of the group and I suspect someone got lost as it took them 10 minutes to show up. Folks, a fellow cruiser brought two kids on this tour aged maybe 5 and 7... seriously, they were bored to tears and dragging/falling behind. This tour is not for children whatsoever.

 

To add to this delay, we were delayed more as there was a group ahead of us in the bridge. All in all, we lingered in the elevator area at least 15 minuted before being ushered into the hallway and to the bridge

 

 

 

On the original itinerary, the All Access Tour was supposed to be Day 6, a sea day. Of course with our new Western itinerary, they shifted this tour to Day 7... also on Day 7 Capt's Corner was scheduled down in the Aqua Theatre so obviously we got hosed out of getting a visit from Capt Johnny on this tour.... plus no opportunity to participate in the Capt Corner.

 

 

 

 

My fave place on the bridge is at the wing... great views forward and back along the side of the ship.

 

 

 

[Hoopster95]

I love the electronics and charts, asking the staff Capt. to zoom into the Harmony's location and explain a few things. We were "dog tracking" slightly (sailing sideways by a couple degress degrees angle because of slight wind) at 18.3knots. This dog-tracking is electronically monitored, of course can be done manually as well. It was here that the Staff Capt. explained the rough seas/swells from the other night at 8.5 meters

 

 

 

 

A view of the Helipad... imagine watching the coast guard land here back on Day 3 with this view

 

 

 

The green areas below are land, with Labadee being the starting point at the bottom right. Here on this chart we are just off the north coast of Cuba

 

 

 

This was a very cool chart explaining turning radius and angles of the ship. This photo shows poorly, but when I zoom on my laptop there's some very interesting info here

 

 

 

 

While not as rushed as the Galley tour, I feel we were short changed here on the Bridge as well and ushered out very quickly, definitely a lot faster than previous experiences. They collected our headsets out at the elevator landing and I approached our guide to voice my displeasure... he began nodding right away. He said he heard my exact complaints on every tour. They did in fact change this tour from feedback from you and I saying it was too long!!! WHAT!??! So in our case today we started late at 9:20am and we were done at 11:20am... exactly 2 hours. I told him that my $150 was not with this tour, that I had much better experiences previously. He agreed and said he would add it to his received feedback.

 

I also told him that for ship geeks like me there should be a longer more exclusive tour offered, even if it were more money.

 

So:

1. no backstage tour (I wanted see see all the Grease and Columbus sets)
   
2. No bow of the ship/Helipad access
   
3. No extended crew area explanation
   
4. No Aqua Theatre tour
   
5. Rushed Galley and Bridge tours
   

 

Sorry folks.... big big BIG fail with this new system.

The new All Access Tour is a huge fail in my books.

[CruisinMama2003]

Wow thanks for sharing the info from the "All Access" tour. I've never been on one, looks very interesting though.....at least the areas you DID get to see lol Will you be doing review of your next cruise? I sure hope so, love reading your reviews!

[ValerieJo]

Thanks for saving me $150.

 

Funny, about 2 or 3 years ago we were on the Jewel of the Seas. They offered a very nice galley (only) tour with lots of samples for us to try. It lasted maybe 30 minutes and quite informative. The best part is, it was free to all guests. I've not seen this offered on any other ship since.

 

Wonderful Review!

[Hoopster95]

Wow thanks for sharing the info from the "All Access" tour. I've never been on one, looks very interesting though.....at least the areas you DID get to see lol Will you be doing review of your next cruise? I sure hope so, love reading your reviews!

 

Very kind words. Thank you :)

 

 

Thanks for saving me $150.

 

Funny, about 2 or 3 years ago we were on the Jewel of the Seas. They offered a very nice galley (only) tour with lots of samples for us to try. It lasted maybe 30 minutes and quite informative. The best part is, it was free to all guests. I've not seen this offered on any other ship since.

 

Free? Interesting.

My experience was free also, but by invitation only on Adventure. Not only did we do a regular galley tour, it was late afternoon and we all got to speak with all the Chefs around the main table in the galley. Every dinner dish was served and we made part of the tasting process. So super interesting and interactive.

 

 

 

Wow, I just went through my photos of this Galley tour on Adventure... phenomenal photos and learning compared to this recent Harmony experience. It's too bad... I still talk about that Adventure experience, and now I will have negative memories/discussions about my Harmony experience.

[ValerieJo]

Very kind words. Thank you :)

 

 

 

 

Free? Interesting.

My experience was free also, but by invitation only on Adventure. Not only did we do a regular galley tour, it was late afternoon and we all got to speak with all the Chefs around the main table in the galley. Every dinner dish was served and we made part of the tasting process. So super interesting and interactive.

 

 

 

Wow, I just went through my photos of this Galley tour on Adventure... phenomenal photos and learning compared to this recent Harmony experience. It's too bad... I still talk about that Adventure experience, and now I will have negative memories/discussions about my Harmony experience.

 

My mistake, it was Adventure and not Jewel. We were invited by our Main Dining Room waiters at dinner the night before the tour. It was a great experience.

[Ourusualbeach]

 

While not as rushed as the Galley tour, I feel we were short changed here on the Bridge as well and ushered out very quickly, definitely a lot faster than previous experiences. They collected our headsets out at the elevator landing and I approached our guide to voice my displeasure... he began nodding right away. He said he heard my exact complaints on every tour. They did in fact change this tour from feedback from you and I saying it was too long!!! WHAT!??! So in our case today we started late at 9:20am and we were done at 11:20am... exactly 2 hours. I told him that my $150 was not with this tour, that I had much better experiences previously. He agreed and said he would add it to his received feedback.

 

I also told him that for ship geeks like me there should be a longer more exclusive tour offered, even if it were more money.

 

So:

1. no backstage tour (I wanted see see all the Grease and Columbus sets)
   
2. No bow of the ship/Helipad access
   
3. No extended crew area explanation
   
4. No Aqua Theatre tour
   
5. Rushed Galley and Bridge tours
   

 

Sorry folks.... big big BIG fail with this new system.

The new All Access Tour is a huge fail in my books.

 

Firstly, I believe that the deck you were referring to is the tween deck.

 

Sorry the tour wasn't what you gave had in the past. Makes my decision even more difficult. The mast one we did was Monarch 4 years ago and I really wanted to do one on one of the big girls.

 

Did you purchase the tour beforehand or on board? They have change the price through the cruise planner to between $99 and $119 and advertise it as a 2 hour tour. I'd be upset if it was a lower price through the cruise planner and then more on board but that seems to be the wayRoyal is doing a lot of thongs now.

 

Thanks again for taking the time...fantastic review.

[lambstew]

loving the review and love the stats!!

[Klstaack]

I've been thinking about doing the all access tour on harmony in June. I will skip it now. I want to see more crew areas.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Hoopster95]

Firstly, I believe that the deck you were referring to is the tween deck.

 

 

DING DING DING!!! Yes, it's the TW (tween) deck

CC Bragging rights go to Ken :D

 

 

Did you purchase the tour beforehand or on board?

 

Thank you for the kind words. I booked on board.

If it's $119 on the planner and truthfully advertised as 2 hours then I would consider that as truthful. That would match what my experience was on board.

[Hoopster95]

I told my gf that we would meet at 12 noon back in the cabin, but 11:20am I had time to roam around a bit. I normally visit the gym at least a few times on a cruise, but here on Harmony... nada. Here's a view looking at the Promenade from the front entrance of the Gym & Spa

 

 

 

 

Spa/Gym entry

 

 

 

As per the theme of harmony (Oasis Class in general), this gym has an inward focus with very few windows. If you have seen pictures of Voyager Class and especially the excellent Radiance Class gyms, you'll how just how superior those gyms are compared to Harmony. Best gym and spa in the fleet? Look through my Quantum review... if the Anthem gym is same as Quantum then it wins hands down, with the best "outside" focus going to Radiance.

 

 

 

 

Also what I feel is the worst jogging track in the fleet is on Oasis Class... deck 5, zero view, no atmosphere, enclosed space while all other ships have a great track on top deck. These stairs from deck 6 lead down to the track on deck 5

 

[Hoopster95]

Meeting with the gf at noon, we headed for lunch and then out to pool deck for some R&R. Like trhe sea day on Day 3, the pool deck was already a disaster of chairs and loungers strewn all over the place... and totally crowded. We again ended up in the Solarium, this time no winds! and Sun!!! YAAAAAY Happy Happy

 

 

 

Here's a look back from the solarium down on deck 16... loungers and chairs fully used and in various directions right through to the edge of the Solarium in and around the cantilever hot tubs. I did not encounter this kind of crowding on Oasis, but I have to tell you this was not a one day thing... Sea day 3, San Juan, and today all extremely crowded, the worst I've ever seen on any ship

 

 

 

A few parting shots of view from the wing

 

 

 

 

 

This is later in the afternoon when the pool deck has "cleared" up!! Staff vs. passenger volleyball was underway to pretty much cap off the pool deck festivities for the day

 

[Hoopster95]

A word on Thriller.... this was offered to guests on the first two sea days at 4pm, with practices to be held at Boleros. Day 2 there were maybe about 25 people, Day 3 maybe 30. There were enough people wanting to get extra instruction that we set up an impromptu practice in OnAir on Day 6 after Labadee that only two people came to so that didn't go.

 

Everyone was told to show up at 4pm on the final day for the Final practice and further instructions on what would happen that night. However, the compass showed 3pm. We showed up right on time.... there were 4 people there. Either many participants gave up or just missed the time on the compass. Highly unfortunate.

 

So instead we were able to get quite a bit of packing done before Columbus: The Musical. If you remember last night the show abruptly ended with a malfunction. RCL rescheduled it for tonight which was great, at 5pm.

 

 

 

 

We initially headed up to the balcony level to check out the site lines and decided that wasn't for us.

 

 

 

We ended down below and off to the side, great seats actually and a pretty cool perspective compered to front row center.

 

 

 

I mentioned earlier in this review that Columbus The Musical is a very cool cannot miss show, and now we got to see the whole show. Absolutely superb, I can say again the very best production show I have ever seen on any RCL ship. Be sure when you see it to really pay attention to the words and singing, hilarious and very witty, just brilliant. And this crew of actors/singers by far and away #1 in the fleet hands down.

 

 

[Hoopster95]

We had time this evening for the DL after the show as Chops was booked for 6:30pm. I was able to pay a final visit to the DL Checker... what a great guy and was praised by many. Funny thing is back on Day 1 when I walked in for the first evening, he recognized me but I didn't recognize him!! I introduced myself as he forgot my name... I asked him what ship he's been on recently.... Vision was one of them and I immediately rattled off my experiences on Vision with DL Efren, CD Rico and Capt Srecko. Checker was the CL on that sailing and I wasn't D+ yet, but remembered seeing me around enough and with Capt Srecko. Very cool! It looked to me that many were giving him their praise that night as he was making rounds, so I'm happy to say to those of you visiting the lounger and needing Checker's services, he will take very good care of you.

 

We then headed to Chops... it was PACKED full. I found out later that the what the Royal genie wants, the Royal Genie's get, and two very large groups wanted to book Chops at 6pm and they accommodated both parties.

I can tell you that our little table for 2 was not overlooked... service was as good as if we were the only two in there.... and like Night #2, the dinner was perfect. Chops wins as the best specialty venue on Harmony for us, with a very close second to Wonderland.

 

Cream of mushroom starter and the bacon

 

 

 

 

Both our fillets were perfectly cooked. The red wine reduction excellent

 

 

 

Still good (but not the best ever) was the signature Red Velvet Cake

 

[Hoopster95]

Tonight 7th Heaven was performing a farewell concert in the Aqua Theatre. So before it was to start we quickly went up to our cabin to finish packing. Done with packing we headed down for the concert and stopped for a Margarita at the Sabor Bar before taking our seat.

 

Now that the whole ship knows who these guys are from the headliner shows, the Aqua Theatre was just packed. And what a great show they gave to the crowd!! There have not been many acts I have seen cruisers simply get up a dance, or hear them singing lyrics all around me, but these guys had the crowd going again tonight

 

 

 

 

They easily played over an hour, and then said they would perform even more! We wanted to get in some last evening dancing down at Boleros so we made a quiet exit up the side, stopping at the carousel for a ride before heading up to our cabin to change.

 

 

 

And from our cabin 78th heaven was still rockin' the crowd

 

 

 

We spent the remainder of our evening at our favorite night spot in Boleros, and it was hopping! The band was alive and there was not a seat available

 

 

 

It was here I learned of something that was quite incredulous to me actually...follow me here:

The various bar venues are split into "teams"... so for example the bar staff in Boleros plus On Air are one team. The 18% gratuity on each bill is split within that team, not to everyone on the ship, so if one bar is better than the other (service, drinks, etc) and get more tips then those servers will get better income than a bar with poor service. Their wages are 100% dependent on tips from you and I. Anything extra added to a bill (or in cash) to a server is kept by the server 90%, 10% goes to the team. By the way, this applies to the stateroom attendants too I was told. I was floored. The next morning when I saw our excellent stateroom attendant I gave him another $50 after learning this. Please everyone, if you can afford to do so tip your excellent and deserved servers well when you can.

 

Bags packed and out in the hallway, we were ready for a good nights sleep to get ready for a long travel day tomorrow.

Edited January 31, 2017 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

 

 

 

 

 

[Hoopster95]

We had a noon flight out of FLL so we opted for a leisurely breakfast at American Icon

 

 

 

I had not taken any photos from American Icon throughout the cruise so i took this opportunity to go for it

 

 

 

 

 

 

Breakfast was strictly a sit down menu order meal, there was no buffet area for this breakfast.

 

[Hoopster95]

With the cabin cleaned out and double checked for anything we may have left by mistake, I took some final parting shots of our Boardwalk balcony view, and the eerily quiet Boardwalk and Aqua Theatre below

 

 

 

 

 

Getting through the cruise terminal and winding our way through customs was a long line, but not totally bad... maybe 1/2 hour? We got to FLL with lots of time to spare. Fort Lauderdale airport was normal today, unlike a week ago during that tragic event of the shootings. And from our vantage point at the Delta terminal, we were able to see Harmony off in the distance

 

 

 

The end :D

Summary and ratings of tomorrow

[vacationlover_mn]

Thanks so much for your fantastic review!!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[bobmacliberty]

Happy to hear that you had some good weather on the last day!

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Also what I feel is the worst jogging track in the fleet is on Oasis Class... deck 5, zero view, no atmosphere, enclosed space while all other ships have a great track on top deck. These stairs from deck 6 lead down to the track on deck 5

 

First, thanks for the great review; we'll be on HOTS in a couple of weeks.

 

But I have to respond to your comment about the running track. It just shows that this -- like food preferences, room and bed preferences, and almost everything else about a cruise -- is an individual taste. My wife and I both greatly prefer the Oasis class running track because of its length, the wider turns and the lack of chairs to dodge. It's one of many reasons we prefer the Oasis class. I understand your preference for the sun and the view on the tracks on other ships, but you can still the see the water from large portions of the Oasis track and we actually prefer the shade for running; we get our sun on our balcony or laying out on the decks. We think that overall the Oasis class track is much better. But to each his own.