Xmas/New Years Dilemma

[LuCruise]

Looking at the new released cruises for Dec 2025 and yikes.  Prices are insane.  We love Royal though and this is the only time we can travel as a family with all of us as our older one is in university.  Our kids will be 16 and 20 by then.

 

Here's the Dilemma, which I know no one can tell us which one, but I have a few questions.  Two cruises we are considering:

 a) Harmony cruise out of Galveston - same Roatan, Costa Maya, etc ports that we keep doing

 b) Rhapsody cruise out of Tampa - includes Belize, which is new for us

 

Questions

1. Never flown out of Galveston, but it seems like a bit of a red flag to me.  How inconvenient of a port is it?  We are flying from Toronto, Ontario.  I do see direct flights when I check this Dec, but thinking more of the airport to hotel to port....plus weather concerns with fog.

2. I know Rhapsody is the smallest ship of them all, but is it too small?  We asked our kids if they are fine without the bells and whistles and they said as long as there is a Windjammer and a pool, gym, they are fine.  I did check a cruise compass and they still have the daily activities, which we do enjoy, plus an evening show.  (And we never get internet, but may purchase it for them on this one when we have down time)

 

We have booked  Rhapsody for now as refundable, mostly as it's still a Royal ship and the price is our past "normal" and acceptable to us.  Harmony is the next cheapest but it's 2K more (Promenade room) than Rhapsody (2 interiors).  Harmony is a bit out of our comfort zone for price, especially as we need to add flight costs and it's xmas time (and university changes the extra spending money).

 

Of course, on the flip side, Harmony has the slides, abyss, rock wall, etc , is bigger, more included venues, etc.  

 

We haven't been on either ship and always prefer a new one to us if it's an option (but have been on other Oasis class ships).

 

I know that short cruises are being released in Feb or so, so will definitely check then and if we find a 4 or 5 day or a newer ship, may switch, but pricing has already gone up on both of the above so wanted to book something....even though they were literally just released.

 

Thoughts on the above?

Edited November 20, 2023 by LuCruise

[livingonthebeach]

I've sailed both ships and IMHO I would pick Harmony over Rhapsody unless you prefer Rhapsody's itinerary. There is no comparison between a newer Oasis class ship and an older Vision class ship as far as amenities and things to do. Rhapsody is more for relaxation and if you're okay with that then there is nothing really wrong with Rhapsody. I sailed Rhapsody on a Southern Caribbean port intensive cruise out of Barbados and then a B2B back to Miami. My only complaint was the nightmare disembarkation which was unique to that sailing since she was heading over to Israel after Miami. You will probably have no issues with the sailing out of Tampa and back. Maybe the Black Friday sale will show a reduction in Harmony prices? Which ever you decide enjoy your cruise! Holiday cruises are a lot of fun!!!

[Ourusualbeach]

23 minutes ago, LuCruise said:

Looking at the new released cruises for Dec 2025 and yikes.  Prices are insane.  We love Royal though and this is the only time we can travel as a family with all of us as our older one is in university.  Our kids will be 16 and 20 by then.

 

Here's the Dilemma, which I know no one can tell us which one, but I have a few questions.  Two cruises we are considering:

 a) Harmony cruise out of Galveston - same Roatan, Costa Maya, etc ports that we keep doing

 b) Rhapsody cruise out of Tampa - includes Belize, which is new for us

 

Questions

1. Never flown out of Galveston, but it seems like a bit of a red flag to me.  How inconvenient of a port is it?  We are flying from Toronto, Ontario.  I do see direct flights when I check this Dec, but thinking more of the airport to hotel to port....plus weather concerns with fog.

2. I know Rhapsody is the smallest ship of them all, but is it too small?  We asked our kids if they are fine without the bells and whistles and they said as long as there is a Windjammer and a pool, gym, they are fine.  I did check a cruise compass and they still have the daily activities, which we do enjoy, plus an evening show.  (And we never get internet, but may purchase it for them on this one when we have down time)

 

We have booked  Rhapsody for now as refundable, mostly as it's still a Royal ship and the price is our past "normal" and acceptable to us.  Harmony is the next cheapest but it's 2K more (Promenade room) than Rhapsody (2 interiors).  Harmony is a bit out of our comfort zone for price, especially as we need to add flight costs and it's xmas time (and university changes the extra spending money).

 

Of course, on the flip side, Harmony has the slides, abyss, rock wall, etc , is bigger, more included venues, etc.  

 

We haven't been on either ship and always prefer a new one to us if it's an option (but have been on other Oasis class ships).

 

I know that short cruises are being released in Feb or so, so will definitely check then and if we find a 4 or 5 day or a newer ship, may switch, but pricing has already gone up on both of the above so wanted to book something....even though they were literally just released.

 

Thoughts on the above?

We booked the HM for 2025.

 

I flew to Take a cruise on Allure last year and it wasn't an issue.  We flew in a day early and stayed at a cheap hotel by the airport ND then went back to the airport in tje morning and took Royals shuttle. 

 

While it was more than we usually pay the group rates made it somewhat palatable. 

 

We will be driving. 

Edited November 20, 2023 by Ourusualbeach

[firefly333]

I'm about to board harmony for 3 weeks. Did allure 4 times and oasis 3 times and im sure I prefer a larger ship. I also did 4 legs on grandeur and first time I was ready for a cruise to end. Maybe bad timing. It's been many years since I did rhapsody so not a fair comparison. 

 

I just like larger ships. More food and show choices. Since you have to fly anyway...

 

I'm looking as xmas 2025 and at adventure and not liking the prices either, so I get where you are coming from. I'm also waiting for inspiration. I booked adventure out of PC b2b dec 13 and dec 21 2024 for xmas. Nice unusual ports dec 13 or i wouldnt pay that much. Overpriced imo. The new itineraries that just dropped last Wednesday are no better in price.

 

I'm betting you arent the only ones sitting there wondering.. but I'm doing adventure for xmas 2024. 

[OCSC Mike]

4 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

We will be driving.

 

Of course you will... maniac.

 

To the OP... Looking at your cruise history, I worry how you will feel about Rhapsody. Some people like smaller ships, some don't. I don't care for any ship below Voyager class. Not enough food venues for me and at least like to have a promenade.

 

That said, only you know your finances. If Harmony is too expensive and your choice is Rhapsody or nothing, I'd go with Rhapsody... but there's a reason the old, small ships out of Tampa are so much cheaper than Oasis class.

[Ourusualbeach]

1 minute ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

Of course you will... maniac.

 

To the OP... Looking at your cruise history, I worry how you will feel about Rhapsody. Some people like smaller ships, some don't. I don't care for any ship below Voyager class. Not enough food venues for me and at least like to have a promenade.

 

That said, only you know your finances. If Harmony is too expensive and your choice is Rhapsody or nothing, I'd go with Rhapsody... but there's a reason the old, small ships out of Tampa are so much cheaper than Oasis class.

Won't even look at the prices of anything under  VY class ship for a Caribbean cruise.

[OCSC Mike]

4 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Won't even look at the prices of anything under  VY class ship for a Caribbean cruise.

 

I've looked at Tampa just b/c it's close and cheap (relatively speaking) but I don't blame ya obviously.

 

I need something to look at while waiting for the rest of the PC ships to be released. No real interest in Adventure.

[LuCruise]

19 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

We booked the HM for 2025.

 

I flew to Take a cruise on Allure last year and it wasn't an issue.  We flew in a day early and stayed at a cheap hotel by the airport ND then went back to the airport in tje morning and took Royals shuttle. 

 

While it was more than we usually pay the group rates made it somewhat palatable. 

 

We will be driving. 

Thanks for the feedback on Galveston.  

Wish we could drive as that would make a big difference, but our kids barely managed the drive to New Jersey (never again was their comment) and I have back issues where I can't sit too long so not an option for anything further than NJ. 

[Ourusualbeach]

Just now, OCSC Mike said:

 

I've looked at Tampa just b/c it's close and cheap (relatively speaking) but I don't blame ya obviously.

 

I need something to look at while waiting for the rest of the PC ships to be released. No real interest in Adventure.

PC will get out of the question for us with Star and Utopia.  Maybe they bring another ship in for the 4 or 5 day sailings. 

[Ourusualbeach]

1 minute ago, LuCruise said:

Thanks for the feedback on Galveston.  

Wish we could drive as that would make a big difference, but our kids barely managed the drive to New Jersey (never again was their comment) and I have back issues where I can't sit too long so not an option for anything further than NJ. 

Yeah. I know it's not for everyone but thankfully it works for us.

[LuCruise]

19 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I'm about to board harmony for 3 weeks. Did allure 4 times and oasis 3 times and im sure I prefer a larger ship. I also did 4 legs on grandeur and first time I was ready for a cruise to end. Maybe bad timing. It's been many years since I did rhapsody so not a fair comparison. 

 

I just like larger ships. More food and show choices. Since you have to fly anyway...

 

I'm looking as xmas 2025 and at adventure and not liking the prices either, so I get where you are coming from. I'm also waiting for inspiration. I booked adventure out of PC b2b dec 13 and dec 21 2024 for xmas. Nice unusual ports dec 13 or i wouldnt pay that much. Overpriced imo. The new itineraries that just dropped last Wednesday are no better in price.

 

I'm betting you arent the only ones sitting there wondering.. but I'm doing adventure for xmas 2024. 

Yeah, looked at Adventure and it was 8-9K CAD depending on the room (for 4 of us).  We did bite the bullet and booked Icon for Dec 2024 at 8k when it came out and that's way too much for our liking but did for just this one opportunity (and price now is around 12K so we got a "deal").

[LuCruise]

15 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

Of course you will... maniac.

 

To the OP... Looking at your cruise history, I worry how you will feel about Rhapsody. Some people like smaller ships, some don't. I don't care for any ship below Voyager class. Not enough food venues for me and at least like to have a promenade.

 

That said, only you know your finances. If Harmony is too expensive and your choice is Rhapsody or nothing, I'd go with Rhapsody... but there's a reason the old, small ships out of Tampa are so much cheaper than Oasis class.

Yeah, you can see that we typically cruise on the bigger ships with the extras.  Our kids will be older though and we did ask their opinions.  Am definitely keeping an eye out though and esp when shorter cruises are released.  But Rhapsody...not sure.

 

We also like to cruise 2x a year (March without our older one) and then all of us.  So also thinking if we drop March break.  We are compromising on stateroom choice too.

[LuCruise]

PS - On the flip side, we booked Oasis for March 2026.  In this case, absolute  worst 3 ports ever, but we booked for the ship (and price was right).  Also not sure. Sadly, prices have gone insane.

[OCSC Mike]

8 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

PC will get out of the question for us with Star and Utopia.  Maybe they bring another ship in for the 4 or 5 day sailings. 

 

I definitely didn't mean Star, lol, but I think you knew that. I'm sure someone else close to me will ask for quotes on her though. 🙄

 

I'd do a B2B on Utopia but I expect the prices to be stupid. I'm mostly waiting for Wonder June/July before Star launches (which you also already know). Not expecting those prices to be good either but we all have to decide what we're willing to spend... and sometimes that can mean knowingly overpaying a bit.

[Thoenix]

I can't speak to the cruise portion, but when I was first married, my wife lived in Austin and I lived in Toronto so depending on flight costs, I flew through Houston or into Houston often. This is the airport you'll use for Galveston. 

 

Houston is my least favourite airport if I have a connecting flight, but it's not bad as your final destination. Depending on everyone's physical abilities, if anyone has walking difficulties, you might want to book assistance because there are some very long corridors. Outside of that, it's fine. There are good hotels nearby. Galveston isn't far, only like an hour via car. I think you can get Amtrak to Galveston from Houston, too. 

[robmtx]

1 hour ago, LuCruise said:

Looking at the new released cruises for Dec 2025 and yikes.  Prices are insane.  We love Royal though and this is the only time we can travel as a family with all of us as our older one is in university.  Our kids will be 16 and 20 by then.

 

Here's the Dilemma, which I know no one can tell us which one, but I have a few questions.  Two cruises we are considering:

 a) Harmony cruise out of Galveston - same Roatan, Costa Maya, etc ports that we keep doing

 b) Rhapsody cruise out of Tampa - includes Belize, which is new for us

 

Questions

1. Never flown out of Galveston, but it seems like a bit of a red flag to me.  How inconvenient of a port is it?  We are flying from Toronto, Ontario.  I do see direct flights when I check this Dec, but thinking more of the airport to hotel to port....plus weather concerns with fog.

 

We rent a car at the Houston AP, then drive to Galveston and drop the car off there once we're checked in to our hotel. A one-way rental was cheaper than any shared transport we could find at the time. YMMV. I think we used Enterprise?  It was also nice to have the freedom that comes with having your own vehicle for a few hours.

 

We're booked on Harmony Jan 2025 because the prices were really attractive ($1,839 per OV Balcony, 2 connecting balconies total) - the itinerary isn't appealing but our kids haven't been to those ports. With prices these days, I thought this was a fairly good deal!

[firefly333]

31 minutes ago, LuCruise said:

Yeah, looked at Adventure and it was 8-9K CAD depending on the room (for 4 of us).  We did bite the bullet and booked Icon for Dec 2024 at 8k when it came out and that's way too much for our liking but did for just this one opportunity (and price now is around 12K so we got a "deal").

There is no way I'm paying over $8k for a cruise unless it's a month long. I booked wonder and utopia because I booked with others I know. Icon and star are going to have to wait. I refuse to pay that much. 

 

Independence ots 12/21/25 'mas is $2559 inside, $3619 balcony  .. xmas. Out of miami. That's the best I've found so far. (Grandeur just too small). It has playmakers at least.

 

I'm looking for ideas too. Hope someone finds a better idea.

[OCSC Mike]

1 minute ago, firefly333 said:

It has playmakers at least.

 

Also Fish N Ships is now mostly complimentary (never tried it though). I'm still bitter that it was still completely $$ for the 11 nights I was on her last year, lol. We had very good food and drinks from their Playmakers.

 

Even if I got a deal on Adventure, the lack of food venues makes her pretty unappealing to us.

[LuCruise]

42 minutes ago, Thoenix said:

I can't speak to the cruise portion, but when I was first married, my wife lived in Austin and I lived in Toronto so depending on flight costs, I flew through Houston or into Houston often. This is the airport you'll use for Galveston. 

 

Houston is my least favourite airport if I have a connecting flight, but it's not bad as your final destination. Depending on everyone's physical abilities, if anyone has walking difficulties, you might want to book assistance because there are some very long corridors. Outside of that, it's fine. There are good hotels nearby. Galveston isn't far, only like an hour via car. I think you can get Amtrak to Galveston from Houston, too. 

Thanks.  We tend to book direct, unless no option but I think I saw direct looking at this year.

No physical issues in our party, but thanks for the tip.  1hour away sounds far, but I guess that's not much different from MCO to Port Canaveral.

[LuCruise]

Thinking about it...maybe we should book Harmony too as prices only go up?  I think Royal doesn't care if you have more than one booking as it just means another booking for them on the deposit.

 

So many unknowns...I suppose too another option is to forget March and just book 1 family holiday for now (at least a cruise).  Not sure.

[OCSC Mike]

7 minutes ago, LuCruise said:

Thinking about it...maybe we should book Harmony too as prices only go up?  I think Royal doesn't care if you have more than one booking as it just means another booking for them on the deposit.

 

So many unknowns...I suppose too another option is to forget March and just book 1 family holiday for now (at least a cruise).  Not sure.

 

Book a refundable group rate if you can get one and worry about it later?

[Tree_skier]

I have cruised our out of Galveston a few times and have my first B2B coming up in less than 3 weeks on Harmony out of Galveston.  The transportation to and from Houston is the biggest obstacle but it's not that big of a deal.  Both Uber and Lyft work fine for transport into Galveston and are the most affordable but there are private shuttles available as well.  Ken mentioned Royal has a shuttle too.

 

In the past we have stayed overnight in Texas City.  This way we get most of the way there but avoid the high prices of Galveston hotels.  This time we're actually staying in Galveston the night before the cruise.  I managed to score a Hilton property for $125 a night on Galveston Island. Typically I have been able to find hotels in and around Texas City just over $100 and the Uber the following morning was just around 25 minutes.  

 

I just checked the Home2 suites in Texas city and the price for an overnight on the Saturday the 23rd of Dec is $123.  Even at this late date you still can get a decent price.

 

The difference in experience between Harmony and Rhapsody for kids would be astronomical.  I understand the price concerns.  However, if it was at all possible I'd chose Harmony.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 20, 2023 by Tree_skier

[LuCruise]

4 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

I have cruised our out of Galveston a few times and have my first B2B coming up in less than 3 weeks on Harmony out of Galveston.  The transportation to and from Houston is the biggest obstacle but it's not that big of a deal.  Both Uber and Lyft work fine for transport into Galveston and are the most affordable but there are shuttles available as well.  Ken mentioned Royal has a shuttle too.

 

In the past we have stayed overnight in Texas City.  This way we get most of the way there but avoid the high prices of Galveston hotels.  This time we're actually staying in Galveston the night before the cruise.  I managed to score a Hilton property for $125 a night on Galveston Island. Typically I have been able to find hotels in and around Texas City just over $100 and the Uber the following morning was just around 25 minutes.  

 

I just checked the Home2 suites in Texas city and the price for an overnight on the Saturday the 23rd of Dec is $123.  Even at this late date you still can get a decent price.

 

The difference in experience between Harmony and Rhapsody for kids would be astronomical.  I understand the price concerns.  However, if it was at all possible I'd chose Harmony.

 

 

 

 

Thank you!  This helps and good to know to search hotels also in Texas City.

 

 

[LuCruise]

From the comments, considering booking a room (we always do refundable) and then make a decision when short cruises are released.  Gonna get so sick of the Roatan, Costa Maya Cozumel itinerary (minus CoCo Cay on this one).  Also dates might make a difference as for Harmony we'd have to select xmas cruise as we can't return on a Sunday before school starts up again (i.e. as in new years cruise).

 

For Harmony, anyone know if the sofa beds are similar to Symphony where they are more of a trundle bed?  Or are they like on Voyager class where they are a double flat mattress?  

Edited November 20, 2023 by LuCruise

[karebare22]

We had a similar dilemma. My hubby and 20ish daughters are flowrider addicts, so going on a smaller ship without one needs justification 😂! Last NYE we sailed on Rhapsody vs other bigger/newer because: price and new variety of ports (it sailed from Barbados). We made it a 13 day cruise with a back to back (to make the most of the flight).  The family knew what to expect, and we had a great time. A smaller ship was a nice change. The kids made some friends and enjoyed the pool, gym and bars. It helped that the cruise was port intensive.