Live Review - Harmony of the Seas 2/18-2/26 Southern Caribbean

[DaKahuna]

 We will be sailing on this cruise and it is my intention to post our experiences here during the course of our travels. 

 

 We are finishing our final packing now and our SIL and DD will be picking us up and taking us to Washington Dulles Marriott Suites where we will spend the night before taking the airport shuttle to the airport tomorrow morning. 

 

 We have an 0841 non-stop flight from IAD to FLL tomorrow morning and will be staying at the Renaissance Fort Lauderdale Marina Hotel, which is out normal pre-cruise hotel for Port Everglades. 

 

 

[seapad]

Following.....love to hear how the cruise goes. Food? Entertainment? Venues 🙂 

[DaKahuna]

1 minute ago, seapad said:

Following.....love to hear how the cruise goes. Food? Entertainment? Venues 🙂 

 

 We are booked in a Grand Suite and will be dining in the Coastal Kitchen most meals.  Have made pre-cruise reservations for lunch at Jamie's, Lunch at Chop's, and dinner at 150 Central Park.  Also I am sure we will make at least one, if not two trips for lunch to Izumi. 

 

 We have made reservations for Columbus, A Journey in Time, The Fine Line, and Greese.  Additionally, we have requested the Concierge make us reservations at the Comedy Club but do not see it in my daily planner yet.  

 

 We have been to Aruba and Curacao many times so have only booked one shore excursion, Picture Aruba.  

 

[bobmacliberty]

I'm in.  Looking forward to another DaKahuna review!

[Ret MP]

3 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 We will be sailing on this cruise and it is my intention to post our experiences here during the course of our travels. 

 

 We are finishing our final packing now and our SIL and DD will be picking us up and taking us to Washington Dulles Marriott Suites where we will spend the night before taking the airport shuttle to the airport tomorrow morning. 

 

 We have an 0841 non-stop flight from IAD to FLL tomorrow morning and will be staying at the Renaissance Fort Lauderdale Marina Hotel, which is out normal pre-cruise hotel for Port Everglades. 

 

 

Pictures, we/I need pictures.  

[DaKahuna]

52 minutes ago, Ret MP said:

Pictures, we/I need pictures.  

 

 My normal review includes pictures of:

   Hotel rooms

   Cabin onboard

   Food we have for most of our meals, I tend to skip normal things like bacon and eggs, burgers and fries, but occasionally make exceptions. 

   interesting things we aboard the ship and ashore 

 

 Anything else you would like to see picture of in particular? 

 

[Ret MP]

Just now, DaKahuna said:

 

 My normal review includes pictures of:

   Hotel rooms

   Cabin onboard

   Food we have for most of our meals, I tend to skip normal things like bacon and eggs, burgers and fries, but occasionally make exceptions. 

   interesting things we aboard the ship and ashore 

 

 Anything else you would like to see picture of in particular? 

 

What you said is perfect.  I don't care or need to see bacon and eggs.  But, I'd like to see inside the Sabar, Solarium Bistro, et al.  I'd like to show them to my buddy and his wife who will be on the Harmony with us in Jan 2024.  

[DaKahuna]

6 minutes ago, Ret MP said:

What you said is perfect.  I don't care or need to see bacon and eggs.  But, I'd like to see inside the Sabar, Solarium Bistro, et al.  I'd like to show them to my buddy and his wife who will be on the Harmony with us in Jan 2024.  

 

 If you do not see pictures of any these or any other places you're interested in by the middle of next week, say something.  I have a tendance to hang out in the same areas aboard ship and will need to add those two to my list.  Have been considering having breakfast or lunch in the Solarium Bistro but had not considered visiting Sabor, except for maybe a drink at the bar. 

 

[Tree_skier]

4 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 We will be sailing on this cruise and it is my intention to post our experiences here during the course of our travels. 

 

 We are finishing our final packing now and our SIL and DD will be picking us up and taking us to Washington Dulles Marriott Suites where we will spend the night before taking the airport shuttle to the airport tomorrow morning. 

 

 We have an 0841 non-stop flight from IAD to FLL tomorrow morning and will be staying at the Renaissance Fort Lauderdale Marina Hotel, which is out normal pre-cruise hotel for Port Everglades. 

 

 

I'm looking forward to following along.  We're booked on Harmony for Dec this year and it will our first cruise on her.

[DaKahuna]

4 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

I'm looking forward to following along.  We're booked on Harmony for Dec this year and it will our first cruise on her.

 

This is our first cruise on Harmony as well.  Have sailed Oasis, Alure, and Quantum in the past. 

[Tree_skier]

4 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 

This is our first cruise on Harmony as well.  Have sailed Oasis, Alure, and Quantum in the past. 

Of the big girls Odyssey and Ovation are the only ones so far but we have Oasis the beginning of next Month and then Harmony one at the end of the year.  

[DonnaK]

DaKahuna - we will be joining you onboard!  Looking forward to reading about our cruise from someone else's prospective!

[Ret MP]

1 hour ago, Tree_skier said:

Of the big girls Odyssey and Ovation are the only ones so far but we have Oasis the beginning of next Month and then Harmony one at the end of the year.  

We booked Harmony at that time, for us, was the last Oasis Class ship that we haven't cruised on. But noooooooooo, RCCL had to come out with the Wonder and then the Icon Class is coming.  Seems we are always trying to catch up to fulfill the complete category game. 

[maggieq]

7 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 We will be sailing on this cruise and it is my intention to post our experiences here during the course of our travels. 

 

 We are finishing our final packing now and our SIL and DD will be picking us up and taking us to Washington Dulles Marriott Suites where we will spend the night before taking the airport shuttle to the airport tomorrow morning. 

 

 We have an 0841 non-stop flight from IAD to FLL tomorrow morning and will be staying at the Renaissance Fort Lauderdale Marina Hotel, which is out normal pre-cruise hotel for Port Everglades. 

 

 

Have a great cruise.  Stayed at the Renaissance in January for our harmony cruise.  

[DaKahuna]

 Let the fun and games being. 

 

Our SIL and DD picked us up and drove us to the hotel near Dulles where we always stay when we have morning flights.  

 

We checked in around 7:45 PM and after droppin our gear off in the room, met them in the dining area for dinner.   Everyone had their usual.  French Onion Soup for the ladies.  My wife had the grilled chicken sandwich and our daughter had grilled salmon with asian sauce.  My SIL and both had Long Island Ice Teas, not driving like him so I had two, and we both had Marriott Burgers (a bacon cheese burger for those that are not familiar).   After dinner, they left to drive an hour and a half home and we came up to our room to get ready to call it a night. 

 

No food porn for tonight, but I promise some for tomorrow. 

 

Those of you that find yoursleves looking for a hotel near Washington Dulles, I can highly recommend this hotel. 

 

 

And on that note, I will wish you all a good night and safe journeys wherever your travels may take you. 

 

[perfect match]

Our most recent cruise was on Harmony. We loved every minute of the time we spent on her. It will be fun to see her again through her eyes. 🛳

[JamesEM]

Looking forward to your review and photos, doing a b-3-b in May for my birthday cruise.

[NC State]

Yes, I want to follow you as well. We will be on her in April! 

[jimbri]

Looking forward to your review.

[Kathscof]

Maybe my brain knew this was coming, as I had a dream last night that I got into the room on our cruise and didn’t take any pictures before we messed it up! Hahahha

[DaKahuna]

 Good afternoon --  Posting from the comfort of our hotel room in Ft. Lauderdale. 

 

 Today did not start well.  Neither of us heard the alarm go off at 0445 this morning.  My DW wife woke up at 0511 and shook me and asked what time it was.  When I told her, mild anxiety kicked in as we have a 0600 shuttle reservation to the airport.  Morning preparation was expedited and we made the shuttle with a little time to spare. 

 

Took us 30 minutes to get from the hotel to Terminal C at Dulles.  We went to the United Club (near gate C7) which was the closest to our gate and relaxed for about an hour before our flight.  

 

Other than the WiFi for the onboard entertainment not working at all, it was an uneventful and we touched down about 10 minutes early.  Had a little turbulence after takeoff and just before our decent but otherwise there were no issue.   

 

FLL was busy this morning and baggage claim was slower than normal.  Once again United's baggage claim did not fail to disappoint. I often wonder what the purpose of the orange "Priority" tags they put on luggage since it almost never comes out first.  Anyway, it was fun watching my bags move at both airport using the Find My and our air tags.  

 

We took lyft, wait was less than 10 minutes from the time I confirmed until our driver showed up, from the airport to the hotel, Renaissance Fort Lauderdale Marina Hotel and we arrived just before 1230.  As almost always happens with this hotel, our rooms were not ready.  We decided to walk over to The Boatyard and see if we could be seated earlier than our 1330 reservation.  There was no problem. Lots of seats available and the two twosomes that checked in ahead of us did so without reservations.  We had a wonderful lunch -- We shared the calamari starter, my wife had the tuna taco, which was raw tuna with a salsa in small crispy tortilla shells. I had the fish sandwich, mahi mahi, with a mixed green salad as a side. Since we had time to kill, we had desert.  Warm Apple Tart for her, chocolate hazelnut gelato for me.  Interesting to me was five golf ball sized scoups of gelato for $7.00.  Take that Celebirty.  I was also able to move our 2030 dinner reservation at the boatyard to 1830 so we'll make it a early night tonight I am sure. 

 

After lunch we came back to the hotel for about 30 minutes before noticing people getting their rooms.  Went up and inquired if a room was ready for us.  Moved us from two queens to a corner king. We are happy campers. 

 

Time for a nap before I take a walk over to Walgreen' s and see if I can get a six pack of Diet Pepsi in plastic bottles to take aboard tomorrow.  Plus we need some bottled water for the hotel room. 

 

 

[bobmacliberty]

Wake up!  It's cruise day!

 

Bon Voyage  

[DaKahuna]

 Good morning and welcome to pre-embarkation. 

 

 After waking from my nap yesterday we decided to forego our dinner reservaton and just grab something at the hotel.  It was a nice leisurly dinner and we both had two drinks and called it a night. 

 

 This morning we woke to colder temperatures but not as cold as it is back home. 

 

 We enjoyed our complimentary breakfast at the hotel breakfast buffet and are just relaxing in the room with our bags packed and everything ready to head to the ship.  Our plan is to order Lyft around 1030 and proceed to Terminal 18 and embark.  We have completed the health questionnaire and the four standard questions: vaccinated, boostereed, more than 23 weeks pregnant during cruise, or any symptoms from a laundry list of things.  I captured a screen shot in case anyone is really detailed oriented and wants to see exactly what is asked. 

 

We are now watching the safety video to get that out of the way so we can go straight to our assembly area once we get on the ship.  

 

For me this is the worst part of every cruise, except for getting off at the end.  Having to sit around with little to do while waiting until we can go to the ship and start the onboarding process. 

 

However, that being said -- as they say - any day your are going to be cruising is better than a day you are not cruising.  

 

 

[depplep]

Can't wait for this review. Harmony is one of the choices we are looking at now. I thought Royal didn't have the vacination/booster requirement any longer. ??

[Sea Dog]

Sorry I’m late but looking forward to following along on your adventures. Have a great cruise.