My View: Family of the Seas takes on Harmony...again (Semi-live)

[APDMOM]

A few cabin hacks:

 

I read a tip to use a hair tie to keep the hairdryer on so that you don’t have to keep pressing the button down.  I could never get the hair tie to go past the spiral cord or to fit right.  So, TIP: This time I brought a Velcro Cable tie.  It worked perfectly!

 

 

TIP:  We recently started bringing a cheap shower curtain and more magnetic hooks to create a bit more privacy and make one cabin into ‘two rooms’.  During the day, we pull the magnets back, then ‘close’ the curtain at night.  (It is handy to have a husband who is 6’4”)

 

 

TIP:  We never cruise without strong magnetic hooks.  The ones we have are padded on the back, so they can not scratch the wall at all.  They are handy to hang jackets and hats:

 

 

TIP:  It is difficult to keep a small cabin clutter free.  So, I now always travel with my over the door shoe hanger.  It is so much easier to find lotion, make up, hair tools, etc.  It keeps everything organized too.

 

Outlets above the Vanity:

 

TIP:  In the bathroom, put a rag in the metal shelf so that shampoo, razors and soaps don’t slIp and fall in the shower.

 

A few more views of Stateroom 10606:

 

I love that the closets are beside the beds on Harmony.  So much better than Oasis!

 

 

 

TIP:  The muster station for our room was in Studio B.  Make sure you have a jacket at the safety briefing/muster drill.  The ice makes it quite cold when you sit close to the front.

Edited November 22, 2019 by APDMOM
Typo

[APDMOM]

Decorating Doors:

It really is helpful to have some sort of decoration for your door, especially if you are far from the elevators, down a long corridor.  Since most of the Harmony doors are not visible in the hallway, I found a few good ideas around the ship to mark your door.

 

TIP: For the doors that are not directly on the hallway, hang a flag or a banner with a thin string over the cabin number - there is a slot where you can receive mail/communication from the ship and the string should fit well to mark your cabin.  Here are a couple of examples I found on the ship.  The first one shows the typical cabin door/entry.

 

 

 

I also liked this idea for a door decoration:

 

A few fun views from around the ship:

 

 

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

That is it for tonight, and almost the very end of this review... I will have to look tomorrow to see if I can find any pictures of my parents’ cabin.

[perfect match]

Thanks for another great review!

[Ren1216]

2 hours ago, APDMOM said:

We did buy the lamb chops for $9.99 the last night, and I wish I had done that sooner!  I would have ordered those at least 2 nights.  Delicious and perfectly prepared - Melt in your mouth!

Good to know!  My mom really likes the MDR but this may entice her to try the SB.  Thanks again for putting so much time and effort into sharing your experience with us.  The pictures were wonderful!  Like others, I also look forward to your Meraviglia review.  After your Seaside, I'm now very interested in trying MSC.

[cruise wizard]

Thank you for taking us along on your adventure. We board Harmony this Sunday for our family Thanksgiving gathering. Our "kids" are Vegan and it looks like there will be some good options.

[cravingthis]

11 hours ago, APDMOM said:

At least 20-30 questions were answered.  They spent quite a lot of time with us.  It was in the theater, which was so much better than in the past when there was no seating in the promenade on Freedom... 

 

That's good to know!  Thank you!

 

11 hours ago, APDMOM said:

 

My mom loves the flan while I like the black forest cake.   Crepes in the Windjammer are always a favorite - they have such great toppings.  🙂

 

We did lunch for both afternoons.  The desserts were basically the same at the buffet area in the MDR, but the lunch menu had different desserts.

 

Thanks for the extra info!  I think you or someone else mentioned to get the desserts first, since they tend to run out if cruisers wait until after they've eaten?

[MalteseMama2]

3 hours ago, cruise wizard said:

Thank you for taking us along on your adventure. We board Harmony this Sunday for our family Thanksgiving gathering. Our "kids" are Vegan and it looks like there will be some good options.

Hi Gary! We are going to get on as you and Mary get off! Then as we leave, Pat and Bucky arrive!! Any chance you are doing a B2B?

We’ll be watching you depart Sun on the PC webcam.  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Cruise. 

[jagsfan]

Great review. 

I’ve never been interested in MSC, but you’ve got me intrigued since your DH prefers it. 

We alternate Princess and Royal. 

Maybe we can learn to juggle three cruise lines!

[cruising twosome]

Thank you for a great review! Going in January with family!

Edited November 22, 2019 by cruising twosome

[cruise wizard]

3 hours ago, MalteseMama2 said:

Hi Gary! We are going to get on as you and Mary get off! Then as we leave, Pat and Bucky arrive!! Any chance you are doing a B2B?

We’ll be watching you depart Sun on the PC webcam.  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Cruise. 

 

Unfortunately we are only doing 7 nights............I promise to bring Harmony back in excellent condition. Good thing that you aren't boarding after Pat and Bucky.............who knows what they will do to the poor ship?????

 

Look on the webcam as we will be waving and blowing kisses.

 

Mean Mary and I wish you and your family a wonderful Thanksgiving too - we all have so much to be thankful for!!!!!!

[APDMOM]

8 hours ago, red-dragon said:

Thanks for the extra info!  I think you or someone else mentioned to get the desserts first, since they tend to run out if cruisers wait until after they've eaten?

Yes, I would recommend that for lunch in the MDR too.  They had run out of the delicious looking chocolate cake by the time we went to get our dessert. 

[cravingthis]

52 minutes ago, APDMOM said:

Yes, I would recommend that for lunch in the MDR too.  They had run out of the delicious looking chocolate cake by the time we went to get our dessert. 

Oh that's too bad.  Thanks again, much appreciated!

[APDMOM]

Surprisingly, our trigger happy family did not take any pictures of my parents’ cabin.  I can not believe it.  😱 It has to be a first for me.

 

We do have these two of their cabin overlooking Central Park.  It has a very good location, close to the elevators.  The only thing is that they could hear the loud music from the pool deck whenever there was a party at night (even through the window).  Otherwise, it was a great cabin with nice extra space of the bench by the window overlooking CP.

 

 

 

Their cabin was 9585:

 

[APDMOM]

Final Note:  Royal Caribbean Pricing

We have been tracking cruise prices for several years.  With Royal, it usually pays off to book very early - as soon as itineraries appear, especially for a family of 3.  We booked this cruise in November 2017, got a price drop in December 2017, where it stayed until March 2018.  After that, we never saw the price that low again.  So, we got  a great deal at $2,393 for 3 in an oceanview balcony.  For my fellow spreadsheet geeks, here is our tracking of the prices.  The blue line shows how the price changed, while the green line indicates our price paid.

 

 

[APDMOM]

Until next time, Family of the Seas bids you fair weather and calm seas on your cruise adventures!

 

See you on our upcoming adventures (DV):

MSC Meraviglia (December 22, 2019)

Adventure of the Seas (March 14, 2020)

MSC Seaside (May & June 2020)... etc.

 

 

 

 

[LuCruise]

APDMON, love your review as always!  Seems like you had an amazing cruise and got to have some precious family time.

 

We actually have a Central Park Interior booked on Harmony in the future...very similar location but on the other side.  Am surprised that you can hear the music on the pool deck when down on deck 9.  We'll bring ear plugs for sure (and we've stayed in a Boardwalk so guessing similar).

 

Enjoy your next cruise.  Think you commented next one is MSC again.  If you do a review, I'll definitely follow. Great that you've found two lines that you and your husband love.  

[APDMOM]

1 minute ago, LuCruise said:

APDMON, love your review as always!  Seems like you had an amazing cruise and got to have some precious family time.

 

We actually have a Central Park Interior booked on Harmony in the future...very similar location but on the other side.  Am surprised that you can hear the music on the pool deck when down on deck 9.  We'll bring ear plugs for sure (and we've stayed in a Boardwalk so guessing similar).

 

Enjoy your next cruise.  Think you commented next one is MSC again.  If you do a review, I'll definitely follow. Great that you've found two lines that you and your husband love.  

Hi, LuCruise!

 

Always fun to see you here.  Thank you for being such a loyal follower, always with kind words.  The noise was only bad on one night until about 11, when they had a party.  Other days, it was more mild during the daytime hours.  I just wanted to mention this, as it was an issue for them one night.  

 

However, having access to the much less utilized forward elevators was a good trade off for them.  Enjoy your CP interior!  It is fun to people-watch, and quite a comfy seat in the window.

 

”See” you next month.  I do plan on doing a review, as I have (somewhat limited) wifi plan. Hope it is enough to cover the ‘semi-live’ review.

 

🙂

[indie]

On 11/20/2019 at 4:56 PM, APDMOM said:

Hideaway Heist:

 

The weather cleared up very nicely and they announced that Hideaway Heist was back on.  Unfortunately, we were still on the Rising Tide Bar and knew that we would not get good seating as we would arrive late.  So, off to deck 7 we went to sit by the rock climbing wall.  We had a good view and no crowds to wrestle with.

 

TIP:  You can watch the diving shows from deck 7.  There are chairs overlooking the water that can be moved to face the Aqua theater.  After the show, just enter the glass door next to the rock climbing wall, and you can even avoid the crowds dismissing by walking past the cabins on deck 7, as opposed to walking on the Boardwalk.

 

 

 

 

 

The High Dive:

 

Hitting the Water from the High Dive:

 

Definitely a fun show!

Awesome tip. Thank you that looks like a great spot! 

Edited November 23, 2019 by indie

[KLMB]

Thanks for sharing the cabin ideas.  I will use some of them.  Great fun reading your review.

[Diver2014]

We're on Harmony's Jan 12 sailing.  Your 'tips' are outstanding!  Thank you for that.  I did get confused about taking a 'jacket' to the muster drill - I thought you meant life jacket at first.  Then I realized you meant something warm because the ice is cold. Duh!

[APDMOM]

8 hours ago, Diver2014 said:

We're on Harmony's Jan 12 sailing.  Your 'tips' are outstanding!  Thank you for that.  I did get confused about taking a 'jacket' to the muster drill - I thought you meant life jacket at first.  Then I realized you meant something warm because the ice is cold. Duh!

😂 Easy to confuse.  Yes, warm jacket if you are in studio B for the drill.  

 

Enjoy your cruise in January!  Someday, when I am no longer tied to school breaks, I would love to take advantage of Jan/ Feb deals 😁

[RickinStl]

On 11/15/2019 at 4:14 PM, APDMOM said:

Unfortunately, it is not very functional.  If you only have the free wifi, you get kicked off if you are inactive for a while.  You messages can only be delivered and read by the receiving party if they have the free wifi on and the app open.  We have sent about 14 messages, and only 2 of them sent my parents a notification.  So, they often only read the message hours after we send them.  
 

The other sad thing is that Royal has figured out how to end the free texting among iPhones via the free wifi.  So, we are back to Post It notes for communication in our family 😂

 

It was closed off for us back in September too.. 

[APDMOM]

On 11/20/2019 at 1:49 PM, Ren1216 said:

ADPMom... sorry if you already mentioned this and I have forgotten:  Did you still have "formal" nights or has Harmony converted to the "dress your best" phraseology?  And if you had to guess, what percentage do you think still dressed formally?  This matters to some of the older, more traditional cruisers in my group (they don't want to bring formal wear this time but are concerned about under dressing).

 

@Ren1216 I just heard back from someone on our roll call.  They said about 10-20% of people dressed up more (dress your best).  They report there were not many suits at all. 🙂Enjoy your cruise 

[Ren1216]

On 11/24/2019 at 3:12 PM, APDMOM said:

 

@Ren1216 I just heard back from someone on our roll call.  They said about 10-20% of people dressed up more (dress your best).  They report there were not many suits at all. 🙂Enjoy your cruise 

Thanks for asking about this, I appreciate it.  I'll pass the info along to my gang.  Happy Thanksgiving!