Harmony Of the Seas Brief Review

[tmann4]

Just got off the 5-20-17 to 5-27-17 eastern caribbean and had a pretty good time. We have been on 7 cruises and of those 7 we have had 2 where someone was airlifted off the ship for medical reasons. The first was on Freedom and the helicopter landed on the deck of the ship. This one the hoisted the person in a basked. I spoke to some of the crew an many said this was their first. Odd we have had 2 with only 7 cruises. Here are some things that may help and general info. Don't want to give a negative review of the ship because we had a great time overall. However, there are some things RCCL should look at and hopefully make some changes.

 

We used Luxury Limo Service for our transfers. Airport to hotel, hotel to cruise ship, and cruise ship to airport. $225 for all trips with 6 people plus I tipped them. They were excellent and very accommodating. We were lake getting to the van due to customs lines being soooooo long. It took us about 1/2 hour to get through the line. Plan accordingly for your ride.

 

Stayed at the Hilton Marina. Very nice. Heard mixed reviews. However, we thought it was great. Right by the water taxi and many restaurants in walking distance. Outback, Five Guys, Chipotle, Panera, etc. Buffet was expensive. But was fun. It was right by the pool and had some fun drinks. We were in the tower and could see the Harmony out our balcony window. We had a private driver bring our party of 6 to the port. Took about 15 minutes door to door.

 

We got to the terminal around 10:15. We still had to go to the guest services to complete some paperwork.

Health form and other misc things. Took about 10 minutes.

 

We booked our boarding time online check in for 11:00 to 11:30. We got on the ship by 10:45.

 

We ate at the Windjammer. It was always packed and very hard to get a table. I suggest having someone from your party get a table and the others in the group get their food. Otherwise you will walk for 5 to 10 minutes trying to find a table and your food will get cold.

 

Cabin was nice. We had a large veranda. 12598. Room was small, but worked ok. Only bad thing was the person next to us wanted to smoke all the time and finally got tired of it and called guest services. There is no smoking on the verandas. I pay my money to sit and relax, not smell smoke. Security guards have cameras on them that video taped the people smoking and they gave them a warning.

 

Cabins were small. However, lots of drawers and cabinet space. You can put your luggage under the bed. The safe is small and can hold a couple ipads and few other things. Bathroom was about the same as the other RCCL bathrooms. We had four adults and we managed. Beds were good. I'll post a picture of the bed in another post. I was concerned about the pull out bed and it worked out great. There was a mini fridge as well. Didn't use it so I am not sure how well it worked.

 

Shows were very good. Only disappointing thing was the comedians were the same the whole week and covered the same material. They should switch them up half way through the week.

 

Bars by pools were over crowded. It took 5 minutes or more at times to get a drink.

 

We watched the water show and had black soot fall on us and get all over our clothes. There were several other guests that had this happen as well. They said it was from the smoke stack. It also fell in a couple of our drinks and ruined those. We went to guest services and they cleaned all of our clothes at no charge and refunded our drinks. Not sure if this was a one time occurrence, but it was a bummer.

 

Dinner was good in the main dinning. However, staff seemed like they were running. Not sure if they had too may tables or what. Usually we get to chat with our servers and they hardly had any time. Maybe too big of a ship and not enough staff.

 

Customs was very slow. It took us over a 1/2 hour to get through the customs line to get off ship. We left at 8:55 from our room and we didn't get out to our ride until 9:55. Plan accordingly for your transportation. We used Luxury Limo Service and they did an awesome job even though we ran late.

 

It was very busy by the pools. I hate to say, but you do have to put towels out early or you will never get a spot near the pool during sea days. The pool was so full it was hard to find a place to stand in the pool. They really needed to put an adult pool in the Solarium.

 

A beer on the ship was about $7.25 for a Bud Light plus they automatically tack on the tip so it comes to about $9 for a bottle of beer. Margaritas and other frozen drinks were about $12 or so plus tip.

 

Sabor you can't just go get chips and guacamole. It is a $19/person charge to go. We heard so many people say it was a fun place. However, I didn't want to pay just to get chips and guac.

 

Did the behind the scenes tour. Thought it was a little over priced at $125. Think $75 would be more appropriate. It was about 1 1/2 hours. We visited the dining room kitchen for Silk, refrigerator/freezer, recycling, engine control room (Not the engine room), Bridge, and laundry. It was neat to see, but think they could drop the price a little.

 

Did Escape the Rubicon. It was fun and we beat it by 1 minute and 40 seconds. I would recommend this.

 

Tried the scuba diving and that was fun as well. Had never done it before. It was a fast 1/2 hour. Think it was $29???

 

I think that is it for now. If I think of anything else I'll share.

[easyboy]

Thank you for your informative review.

 

 

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[SarafinaPink]

Thanks for your review. Looking to do a family trip next May on the Harmony. We're looking at a D1 Balcony room with 4 adults and glad to hear that while it was tight, it would work out. I look forward to seeing pictures of the cabin and especially the balcony to see how much more room you get with the larger balcony.