CreativeCruiser119

Looking forward to reading! Thanks so much for doing a review!

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I just saw a post on Facebook from someone who met Captain Ron from Allure at the airport yesterday, which means Captain Tore must be back onboard.

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And I also wonder if Abe Hughes will take the CD on the Symphony. I might be liking the smaller ships too much. I am doing the Symphony in April of 2020 so I have a ways to go.

 

 

 

Johnny also does not always bring his motorcycle on board either.

Captain Johnny typically keeps a smaller bike onboard, as his bigger one does not fit in the ship’s elevators. I will likely be doing Symphony in summer 2020, so shortly after you. I too was hoping Abe would come to Symphony, as I loved him on Harmony, but unfortunately that does not seem to be the case - he was originally supposed to, but there was a change of plans. Bobby Brown and Michele Scarpato are the 2 CDs on Symphony now, and once she comes to the US I believe it will be Michele and Marc Walker. Michele was the AM on my Allure cruise and I did really like him too. We never know what 2020 will bring though!

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wow it sounds like he is keeping close to the Harmony as I had him in 2016. I wonder if he will take over the Symphony when it comes? He is a hoot. All captains should be as nice and cool and Johnny, One can hope.

I was hoping Captain Johnny would come to Symphony too, but he and Captain Gus have both mentioned that they plan to stay on Harmony for awhile to come! I remember seeing in another thread how he stays on the same ship for awhile, which definitely seems to be the case - Mariner several years, then Allure, and now Harmony. Rob Hempstead and Rick Sullivan are Symphony’s Captains for the foreseeable future; both of them are also quite respected. There is also a thread on here that keeps track of which ship each Captain is on, which ones are on vacation, etc. I don’t have a cruise on Symphony booked yet, but do plan to sail in the near future, and was slightly disappointed when I heard Captain Johnny wouldn’t be in command, but I’ve heard great things about the ones on Symphony as well. Although, I agree, it is hard to beat Captain Johnny! He will always be my favorite!

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He is currently on Harmony, however he is on vacation for the time being as each Captain gets 10 weeks on and 10 weeks off (although sometimes they will go an extra week). Captain Gus is currently on Harmony, sharing the helm with Captain Johnny. I sailed with Captain Johnny on Allure in 2015 and again on Harmony in 2017 and I always enjoy talking to him and just listening to his announcements, he loves what he does and it shows. Happy cruising!

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Harmony and Symphony do not have the donut pool - as the previous poster said, it was also removed from Liberty, and I believe it was just removed from Independence as well. I must admit, I thought it was a cool idea, so it’s a shame it’s being phased out! It currently still exists on Freedom, Oasis and Allure, although I would not be surprised if those ships remove it during their respective dry docks in 2020, 2019 and 2020. That being said, Harmony does not have the H2O Zone, but rather Splashaway Bay, which is home to play structures with slides, a dump bucket, and other interactive aquatic features as well as a hot tub. A child’s dream! Don’t worry, I think your grandson will have a great time!

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I do! It’s always great to have something to wake up to, IMO, not to mention the rundown of daily events plus the humor! A lot of CDs do it similarly, but they each still do it slightly differently. I’ve loved all mine so far, but if I had to pick a favorite, I’d have to go with Abe Hughes from Harmony of the Seas! However he did his solo, whereas all the others I’ve cruised with have done it alongside their Activities Manager.

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Please don't take this the wrong way, but if I provide info to the list, I would appreciate if it is added. I've provided some things since the previous update a few weeks ago and they have been ignored.

- Grant is no longer with Royal.

- Angelle is now on AL not OV.

- Alex is on LB.

- Katrina is on RD after her vacation.

 

Also found some new info:

- Talita is back on Vision as of April.

- Aysy is back on EX June 8th so Margot likely joins SY on June 10th which would have Katy going to HM on June 16th.

- I think Troy is on VY. Claire has went back to NCL.

Alex is on vacation - he was on my Freedom cruise 3/25, then switched over to Liberty for what I believe was an emergency fill-in, and now, according to his Instagram, he is on vacation. He did a great job - and was a phenomenal beatboxer too! I had Katy on Harmony last year, I didn’t see too much of her, but I think that was more due to the fact that CD Abe did a lot of things, such as the morning show, by himself rather than with Katy as a duo. I still thought he and Katy did a great job, and while I have enjoyed all my CD’s and AM’s so far, Abe has to be my favorite. I did love Drew and Alex’s morning show on Freedom too.

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Bob is correct, Blaze Nightclub on Deck 4 has a nightly club function. Unlike the Attic Club on Harmony and Symphony which doubles as both a nightclub and comedy club, Blaze on Oasis and Allure is strictly a nightclub (separate comedy club across the hall) so the hours, which will more than likely be listed in your Cruise Compass, should be fairly consistent on a nightly basis. Have a great cruise! You’ll love Oasis!

ETA: as Island Lady mentioned, Dazzles on Decks 8 and 9 is another large and lively nightly music venue with stunning views of the night lights on the Boardwalk. In addition, Blaze will also host events like silent parties, and there are also various other music venues such as Boleros and Jazz on 4. Enjoy, you can’t go wrong with Oasis!

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Lovely video and family! Thank you so much for sharing.

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What is the length of their contract? Sorry if this has been asked previously.

Typically 10 weeks on followed by 10 weeks off, however it is not unheard of for Captains to sometimes do 11-week rotations.

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The wristbands, known as WOWbands, are supplemental to the SeaPass card and can be used in conjunction. They serve all the same functions as the card, with the exception of getting on and off the ship. You must have your SeaPass card with you on the gangway. As far as I know, they are not GPS enabled. They are available to everyone for $4.95 (free for Star Class guests) and come in four colors: blue, yellow, black and white, the color you get depends on your muster station. They are available on Harmony and all 3 Quantum Class - not sure if Symphony too, but I would imagine so. I hope I was able to answer your questions! You will love Harmony!

 

Here is my SeaPass card and WOWband from my April 2017 cruise on Harmony:

 

 

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Following up on my previous post, I will also add that due to the RFID chip, the SeaPass cards on Harmony cannot be punched for lanyards. Luckily, since the WOWbands serve all the same purposes with the exception of getting on and off the ship, if you leave your room to go somewhere else on the ship (I.e. dinner, the pool, a show, etc., anything that doesn’t require you to go ashore), you can simply leave the card in your stateroom. Have a wonderful cruise!

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I would guess they are not GPS enabled as there is no reason for them to be. They are just used for opening your room and making purchaces which just requires a rfid chip, just what is in the room card.

 

 

 

Had to think of a second why you need the room card to get off the ship and back. It is for the local port security, they need to match the name on the card with the photo id you are carrying to let you back into the port area. Obviously the Wowbands don't have that.

That’s a great point. I guess I had never really put any thought as to why WOWbands don’t function on the gangway, but now it makes perfect sense. I think WOWbands are extremely convenient!

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The wristbands, known as WOWbands, are supplemental to the SeaPass card and can be used in conjunction. They serve all the same functions as the card, with the exception of getting on and off the ship. You must have your SeaPass card with you on the gangway. As far as I know, they are not GPS enabled. They are available to everyone for $4.95 (free for Star Class guests) and come in four colors: blue, yellow, black and white, the color you get depends on your muster station. They are available on Harmony and all 3 Quantum Class - not sure if Symphony too, but I would imagine so. I hope I was able to answer your questions! You will love Harmony!

Here is my SeaPass card and WOWband from my April 2017 cruise on Harmony:

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Does the Allure/Oasis have a walk in pool with steps? Our friend has difficulty with ladders.

 

 

 

Also, how large are those Solarium pools in comparison to the Freedom class ships?

 

 

 

Thanks so much.

The Solarium pools on Oasis and Allure do have stair entry, it’s a circular pool with steps on either side. As far as size, they are much smaller than Freedom class ships, although I thoroughly enjoyed the area at the center of the pool (see photos) which has jets and showers spraying on you. Very relaxing. The depth throughout is 3’11”/ 1.2m. I took these photos on Allure in 2015, hope this can help! Happy to clarify or answer any other questions! You’ll absolutely love the ship!

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Was on Oasis back in April and they did a “surprise” drill right during dinner time. It was a Bravo Bravo Bravo call and we could see the looks on the crews faces as they scrambled to what they believed was the real deal. Even the wait staff dropped what they were doing. We saw a crew member in his Bingo attire running down a flight of stairs mumbling that “this isn’t happening!”. About 5 mins later the captain came on the PA system and announced that it was an “unannounced drill” to make sure they were properly prepared.

 

 

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I heard about this - I am part of a cruise community on the live streaming app Periscope, and one of the members of our group was on your sailing and came on the live stream before he heard what was going on, and thought there was a real emergency, and I could tell in his voice that he was worried - I would be too. He came back on later with the update that it was a surprise drill. IIRC, he said the location they responded to was Deck 3 port side. I’ve never ever heard of a surprise drill taking place on any ship, but it’s smart to keep the crew on their toes, Royal really does go the extra mile when it comes to safety!

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Thanks for this. I believe in looking at the map, Deck 2 Zone 7 is under the MDR galleys near the provisions store and aft of the crew quarters and I-95. I have heard them drill there several times on Oasis class ships, maybe because it is a convenient place for that. They also seem to pick a stairwell for a fire simulation, maybe to see how it affects evacuations? Just a guess.

That makes sense. I am fairly sure this was only a drill, and in the slim chance that it wasn’t, it seems as though it was handled quickly if it were a real situation. Supposedly these incidents happen more often than we think, but are handled swiftly so they don’t make headlines.

I have a lot of peace of mind with their training, and their preparedness has shown in the emergencies that have taken place, such as the Freedom fire in 2015. I was on the ship at the end of March and our MDR server mentioned how she’d been onboard for several years, I asked her about the fire and being there firsthand and she said she felt that it was handled perfectly. Your theory makes perfect sense, and you’re very welcome, but I give all the credit to the user who originally posted that diagram on another thread some time ago!

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Navigator sends security to investigate if a smoke detector goes off as they get about 15 fire alarms a day . Mostly the cook setting it off in the galley or a guest is using a hair dryer to close to the sensor . It would get annoying if bravo was called for every one. Grand princess has buzzers in all hallways that goes off and they call first stage response for every detector activation

I was told the same by the Staff Captain Aboard Freedom regarding the fire alarms received on the bridge. I was having an informal chat with her on the Promenade and asking her about life on the bridge, and she mentioned it. I don’t remember the exact number, but I was surprised at first but when you come to think of the size of the ship, it’s definitely believable. So you’re saying Princess has an alarm that goes off in guest areas every single time a detector is tripped? Interesting, never heard of that!

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This isn’t my photo (I believe it belongs to the user Chandom, thanks so much for originally posting this), but each color represents a fire zone, although the red is clearly broken into two. The dark orange towards the back is Zone 7. Zone 1 would be at the very front (Muster Station A). Sorry if this is off topic, just thought it would be interesting to share with the reference to fire zones. This is for Allure, but should be very similar if not nearly identical to the other 3. I’m glad all is well, and wishing I were on Symphony right now!

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Well, not really. I'm sure they don't expect passengers to respond to "zone 7" and fight the fire. ;)

 

But I agree....this was most likely a drill.

“Zone 7” on Oasis-class ships is the vertical area containing staterooms ending in 290-320 on the port side and 690-720 on the starboard side. There are no staterooms on Deck 2, but this area would be below those staterooms, likely a crew accommodation area or engine control space.

Crew only = drill.

Agreed. More than likely, the announcement said “this is a drill for the crew only.” Hope that helps ease your nerves a bit! Can’t wait to go on Symphony, have a great rest of your trip!

If it is called in a port at about 10 am. It may be a drill. They may make a announcement before it that a drill is taking place and or add this is a drill for crew only to the announcements. . Sometimes no announcements can be heard in the cabin at all so when they sound the emergency signal passengers start heading to thier muster stations . I was on explorer last year and they forgot to say it was a drill and a few passengers were confused and was asking if it was necessary to Head to Master Station . Royal Caribbean should follow princesses lead and put a notice in the compass that there is a crew drill and what time it is so people will be aware that a drill is taking place for crew .Adding the word drill to the announcement helps distinguish between a drill announcement and one that could be real for example independence had a medical emergency in the middle of a drill And the lack of the word drill was in indication that was a real code

When I was on Liberty in 2016, they did a MOB drill with the announcement “Oscar, Oscar, Oscar, starboard side, this is a drill for the crew only.” It was actually fun to watch. Anyway, they didn’t announce that one beforehand, but said in the announcement that it was a drill. They later moved to a Code Bravo as we disembarked for our excursion in Roatan. On Harmony last year, Captain Johnny mentioned in his morning announcement that there would be a Code Charlie (security) drill, but we were onshore in Labadee before any further announcements were made. And, as I mentioned earlier, on my recent Freedom cruise, I can’t recall if they said in the actual announcement that it was a drill, but did announce beforehand.

Good point about not hearing it in the cabins - that would be an acceptable exception to the usual “no paging into the cabins” protocol, IMHO. No need for panicked guests! I also think that following it up with “this is a drill for the crew only” is a good procedure. Hope that was the case on Symphony! OP, please keep us posted if you hear anything!

I concur, Bravo means fire. Interesting, as that’s two completely different locations you listed - zone 7 is towards the aft; there are 8 fire zones on the Oasis class ships that correlate with muster station letters (A-G but the G section has two zones with the F zone in between). Sometimes when they do drills, they’ll call various locations around the ship to respond to.

When I was on Freedom at the end of March, they called Bravo the morning of Cozumel - I can’t recall if they said in that exact announcement if it was a drill, but we knew it was because they did make an announcement shortly prior that they would be doing crew drills. They break it up into stages of response. We only heard “Bravo Stage 1” as we were just finishing breakfast and were off the ship for our excursion before any further announcements were made. Following this thread, hopefully all ends well and it’s only a drill! Stay safe!

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You are correct about not punching holes in the cards, as this would destroy the RFID chip. What I found extremely convenient was an option offered on Harmony, called WOWbands, which cost only $4.95 and can be worn on your wrist at all times, even in the water, and can open your room as well as all purchasing power - all info from the SeaPass card is transferred over. Just go to Guest Services and they will give you one with the corresponding muster station number and letter on it. The only place these do not work is the gangway, where physical cards are still required. Other than that, they basically replace the SeaPass. I hope I could help, and have a great cruise! Harmony is a remarkable ship!

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Central Park is arguably my favorite feature of the Oasis class ships - I had a balcony overlooking it on Harmony and absolutely loved it. It was time spent out there on Allure that influenced the decision to book that room for Harmony.

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