PlanetX

1 hour ago, maudde said:

We were on Harmony in Feb. and this was my least favorite CK. The tables are very close together but more than anything the food was terrible. 

Possibly intentional to get people to go elsewhere, take the load off from Sky suite guests + Pinnacles + junior suites?  We'll see, I'll be on Harmony 7/14 and will see what the quality is like.  It was pretty hit or miss on Oasis 2 years ago, though.

1 minute ago, crusinthrough said:

If you liked the bar in the suite lounge on the Allure you will be disappointed on the Harmony.  I don't understand why it was designed so that the bar faces inwards with limited seating.  Who wants look at a wall and not the sea while on a cruise ship?

To accommodate more CK seating that faces out toward the windows, I would bet.

11 hours ago, reallyitsmema said:

Are they hard, thick plastic or thin plastic?  I never liked the way the old ones crack easily if dropped, but they were pretty darn sturdy and kept drinks cold.

3 hours ago, Tulsacoker said:

yes they have can beers of what you see above, and on Oasis its free from 11:30 am  till 8.30 pm 

Isn't it supposed to be 11 am to 11 pm?

4 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

How do they exceed 100%? Is someone sleeping on a deck chair by the pool?

100% would be all cabins booked at double occupancy. However, many cabins are booked with 3 or 4 people in them.

16 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

To put a positive spin on this, the less money spend on "back office" technology leaves more money to continuously improve the product for the customer...

Or line the pockets of RCI execs and investors...

1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Be careful when you say “all”. There are crown loft suites that overlook the sports deck and not the ocean.  

Having sailed in an aft CLS before...the balcony most definitely has a straight-on view of the ocean, you just see the sport court, aquatheater or mini golf course if you're looking down.

Is the balcony private? Not necessarily but at night there's hardly anyone around at the back of the ship, and it's quite peaceful out there.  

Another data point for the curious...

Had to renew my passport as it expired in late June...sent in the renewal on May 8th, 2 day priority mail. The package arrived on the morning of May 10th, and my check was processed on May 14th.  The application was in the system by the time I checked on May 21st.  Signed up for email alerts around that same time.  Received an email on June 6th indicating that the application was being processed (which seemed weird because they had cashed the check 3 weeks prior, but I was only now getting notified that it was being processed?), then got another set of emails on June 7th (3 of them) saying the passport had been issued, and providing a locator # and tracking number.  

Happily, the passport arrived today, June 10th - so about 4 1/2 weeks later - and in plenty of time for our mid-July cruise.  I'm happy everything went according to plan, but in hindsight I'll probably apply at least a month or two earlier next time, just so I'm not sweating over whether it's going to arrive on time.  

Thanks so much to you both for sharing your vacation with us!  It was a lot of fun to follow along with you guys all week, and you gave us some great info and pictures that are very helpful!  Our family will be on Harmony for the July 14th sailing and your live review only made us more excited for our trip!  😄  Thanks again, you guys are awesome!!

We're trying to figure out what to do in PR in a few weeks ourselves.  Plenty of ideas here:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/80-san-juan-pr/

13 minutes ago, pmck said:

I agree with you on that point.  I was getting nervous in the weeks leading up to our cruise, but thankfully all went well.  I'm only sorry that it had to end.  It was just awesome!!  Have a ball!!

 

Thank you! We can't wait!!

40 minutes ago, rsharp83 said:

Here’s the WJ line for lunch.  And the 4 hand washing to accommodate all these people. 

 

My my theory is the created this bottleneck to try and force people into using some of the other options.  

Thanks for showing us this!  I would have never known to arrive to WJ a few minutes earlier than normal when we're on Harmony in a couple of weeks without the heads up.

Just now, pmck said:

Just got off the the Allure on Sunday and I can tell you that the propulsion "issues" didn't effect the cruise one bit.  True, we were only in PR for 4 hours, but that didn't bother us at all. That was the only port time that was changed by the issues.

Yeah, I mean if they don't have problems with any of the remaining azipods, it's not a big deal.  Our concern was what would happen if 2 malfunction and they'd need to drop ports or send her in for repairs when we're supposed to be sailing.  Just seemed like an unnecessary risk to take if we weren't already booked (plus Allure was more expensive than Harmony for just about all of the summer months when we were quoting things out).

1 hour ago, richstowe said:

Sure and if that don't work they can raise it to $15 and then $20 . 🙄

 

This reminds me of the former Bistro on Five on Celebrity . Always empty . They finally replaced it with Sushi on Five . The difference is that there is no expectation of "free" crepes or for that matter Sushi on a cruise . A decent burger at no extra charge is something else . 

If they can get away with a $20 burger, you better believe they will.  I hear JR is already up to $10.95 on Symphony alone.

Imagine if they got Bobby Flay (who already has burger joints on the east coast) to take over the JR space and set up something unique and attractive that has better food than JR plus beer and wine.  I'll bet they could sell a $15+ cover charge for that.

Whichever is the cheapest imo, though I would imagine Allure (and Oasis if cruising before November) would be somewhat less attractive if you care about water slides and having the latest bells and whistles.  They're all basically the same, though. We decided on Harmony for our July cruise over Allure and Symphony largely due to cost (plus Allure's propulsion issues).

1 hour ago, Host Clarea said:

 

John has probably convinced them to move CATS to Harmony.

Hopefully not before we sail on her next month.  😄

The number of people who have fallen asleep during CATS on Oasis has to be in the tens of thousands at this point, no?

1 hour ago, rsharp83 said:

What’s the best desert at Wonderland? For our crew it was hands down “The World” chocolate globe. It was insanely good. Amy & Jeff literally we’re scraping the plate clean. 

 

 

The World has always looked amazing!  I'm glad to hear it was just as good for you as so many other people I've read. 

I do wish Wonderland had a more appealing menu, at least for us - the whole concept of the place is very exciting, but when my wife and I looked at the actual offerings, we quickly decided that Chops or Jamie's was more our speed.

Are you talking about going up the ramp? If so, this video would seem to answer your question:

We took our 4 year old on Oasis 2 years ago and she had a great time.  Her big favorites were the carousel, the kids splash area, the arcades and the Boardwalk Dog House - 3 out of 4 of those are only available on Oasis class ships.  We're taking her on Harmony in a few weeks and she's really excited about many of those same things, plus the water slides and the upgraded kids pool area.  

I don't have a lot to compare it to since we haven't been on many cruises as a family, but our kids are very happy with Oasis class ships so far.

2 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Slides vs no slides (Oasis).  Different restaurants and shows.

By June of next year, Oasis will basically be the same as Harmony/Symphony, no?  In terms of the actual ship itself, that is.

11 minutes ago, BillOh said:

 

Is it called Escape the Rubicon on Harmony? That is what it is called on Symphony, I thought I heard it had a different theme on every ship, but maybe I just think i heard that. 

It's still called that, per the Cruise Planner:

10 minutes ago, rsharp83 said:

WOW Bands

 

Jury is out for me on the bands. I’d say so far it’s been kind of useless. Swim up bar at Coco would be useful. But everywhere else you need to remove band to send with waiters or drink servers. And just now I got a water at Promenade Cafe. I showed her my band and she ask me to please bring my Seapass card next time. Well, if I have to bring my card then what the heck is the WOW Band for?? 

That's ridiculous.  In a time when mobile scanners are easily obtainable and RCI already has fast wifi onboard, there should be no reason why service staff can't simply scan the bands where you are.  Disney figured it out years ago with a much larger number of guests using bands on a daily basis, and the system works fine.

3 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

They don’t have to. They have plenty of people who think the burgers are the best burgers they have ever had, which may be true compared to what’s available at home and they are so impressed by the 50’s theme. People are also over the moon about breakfast which I don’t understand either.

No doubt but if they can get $7.95 a head for JR, they could get $10.95 a head or more for a much better experience with better food.  When have you ever known RC to turn down a revenue-generating opportunity?  

Agreed on the breakfast, it's average at best.  It *is* nice to sit outside and have a quiet meal on the Boardwalk in the early morning though.

When we were on Oasis in 2017, I received the concierge email on the Monday prior to sailing, replied right away, and had a response confirming everything we requested by the Friday prior to sailing (embarkation day was Saturday). 

Bear in mind that the concierges are also busy on the present week's sailing handling the needs of current suite guests, so I'm sure it can be difficult to get back to everyone who will be on the next sailing right away.

On 5/29/2019 at 11:41 AM, springfire said:

It is time for Royal Caribbean to replace Johnny Rockets with something  of quality that more people will enjoy.

One would think that if they were going to have a burger joint on board when burgers are free elsewhere, they'd make it an overwhelmingly good experience like what Carnival has done with Guy Fieri's place.  

1 hour ago, RoperDK said:

I've been trying to get current menus for Coastal Kitchen.  We are on the Harmony in Sep. in a JS.  Not much hope, but will try to book as soon as we get onboard.  Anyone have the current menus? 

I had the same question and couldn't find the answer here on CC.  Found these on the interwebs, they seem to be from 3 months ago...

I'm on Harmony next month and plan on emailing our concierge a week out to see if any of these have changed.  Will share them here if I find anything different. 

 

Coastal KIDS MENU.pdf CK D #6_ENG.pdf CK D #7_ENG.pdf CK D #4_ENG.pdf CK D #5_ENG.pdf CK D #3_ENG.pdf CK D #1_ENG.pdf CK D #2_ENG.pdf

The big girl is revving up her engines, it's almost time...