pinkandgreenmom

I get a blow out in the salon on board if I want my hair to look good after a day of sweating/swimming. Then I make sure I don't get my hair wet for the next 2 days to get good use out of it (shower with a shower cap, no head in pool/ocean).

They did offer the fitness class pass for the 9 day sailing but it was $49.

We just did the North Coast tour with ABC Tours this past week.

We really didn't feel safe in the vehicles. Our driver was a total maniac. There are only lapbelts for restraints and most of those didn't operate properly (you couldn't tighten them). There is a lot of off-roading and traveling over very rough roads (four days later and my husband is still sore). The speedometer didn't work in the vehicle we were in, and neither did the gas gauge (it was on empty the entire time). Also, when we went, there were two vehicles worth of passangers but only one guide to drive. Guests had to take turns driving the other one, with other guests on board. The problem with this is twofold: one, if you are in that second vehicle you don't hear anything whatsoever that the driver is saying about what you are seeing and two, you have NO idea who the other driver is (whether he/she will be safe, knows how to drive off road, isn't drunk, etc). It was literally "ok, you six are going in that vehicle and one of you will need to drive it. Follow me, and try to keep up." No one checked to see if the guest driving even had a valid driver's license.

Putting all of that aside, in addition, the tour felt very rushed. And you can't really take any pictures when you are in the vehicle because you are speeding around over bumpy terrain and holding on to the seat cushions for dear life.

We (and another couple we met) thought this was the worst shore excursion ever. We are very low maintenance and easy to please, but this tour really missed the mark for us. We were constantly looking at our watches and counting the minutes until the tour was over.

On Navigator last week we saw everything from suits to tshirts/shorts/flip flops in the specialty restaurants.

Also in the port/Flordia Aquarium area is a light rail/trolley car to ride on (kids love it if they haven't been on one before), and a bowling alley/restaurant/bar called Splitsville (clean, modern and family friendly). The bowling alley is in Channelside Bay Plaza right next to aquarium. American Victory Ship is also there, which is a WWII ship that you can tour and explore.

My son left his epipen in his room on Harmony and we had no luck trying to retrieve it.

Thank you for the pics of the layout, Moopetguy! Enjoy your first leg and see you on the second!

Thank you for including the fitness stuff. If you could let me know what is included in boot camp I'd really appreciate it.

I'm looking forward to your updates! We sail with you on the ABC cruise, and I'm dying to see recent pics of Navigator. I like to plan and know where eveyrthing is before I board.

Have a wonderful trip!!

We watched college football games on Oasis class ships in the On-Air bar. Last year, we were able to watch games that weekend but only if they were airing on ABC. I know there were Alabama fans who couldn't see their game that was airing on CBS - they had to huddle around their computer screens to watch.

Our first cruise was in 2000, and our next wasn't until 15 years later (we signed up for C&A in 2015). We were given points for our 2000 cruise by going to the Loyalty Ambassador, telling him when we sailed and he was able to find our information in their system and gave us the points. I was expecting it to be a difficult process or expecting to have to somehow "prove it" but it was very easy and we didn't have to do anything.

We were on Oasis in Nov. 2016 and this never happened to us, but all 6 of us had this on Harmony in June, 2017. We all got the soot marks the first night at the aqua show. I couldn't get the marks completely out at home and neither could my parents, who were with us. I covered my clothes with a towel the next time we went to the aqua show.

Beautiful pictures! Thanks for sharing!

When we were there last November, there were something like 6 ships in port (including Oasis) and St Thomas was really crowded. We did a shore excursion to Sapphire Beach. It wasn't crowded at all. It is a small beach near some condos, but there was a band playing (they were really good), a bar and restaurant (things like burgers and sandwiches), snorkel rentals, and facilities. It was nice and relaxing. I believe we had to pay about $10/pp to rent a lounge chair, but I may be mixing that up with another island.

I agree with the WACOAL suggestion..........Dillard's (if you have one near you) has a big selection......lots of different

styles, colors and sizes.

Another vote for Wacoal. They have the most comfortable strapless bra for large sizes as well - it is so comfortable I wear it as my regular bra half the time. It is called the Convertible Red Carpet bra. It has a lot of hooks in the back but it is soooo comfortable and stays in place, all while holding you up. Cannot say enough good things about it.

Coconut mojito from Boleros.

I'm curious as to how they did the Captain's corner on Harmony. On Allure it was held in the aquatheater and it had the Captain, CD, Hotel Director, and Head of Engineering so you got to ask a lot of varying questions. On Oasis it was held in the comedy theater and that was way too small a venue. It was just the CD and the captain.

When I was on Harmony 6/24, it was as you described it for Allure (aquatheater and same officers you mentioned).

We were on Harmony and ate at Jamies about 2 weeks ago.

At a minimum, when we were there, men were in khakis and golf shirt, ladies in pants or skirts and nice tops. I don't recall seeing anyone in shorts at all, but there were some men with dress shirts and jackets.

I've just asked 4 of the 6 people we cruised with and none of us can recall lasagna being on the menu.

The meat platter appetizer was very good. We had several of the pastas as a side dish, and enjoyed the risotto with red sauce and the pasta with cream and truffle sauce (that was amazing). My dad had some pasta with putenesca sauce and didn't particularly care for it. 4 of us had steaks, they were ok. My youngest had a burger (seriously?) and my teenager had the salmon.

Honestly, none of us were overly impressed with the food (service was excellent). We thought the meat plank was the best thing we had there. They do this huge dessert plank for the table, we were too full from pasta to partake so none of us had any dessert. But they looked delicious at the other tables.

We were on the same cruise as you. I hope you don't mind if I include my observations, too.

We were 6 people, DH and I in a forward balcony on 11, my parents in a forward balcony on 12, and my two boys, 16 and 12, in an interior across the hall from us.

Rooms and ship were immaculate. Very new, very modern. Our stateroom attendant was amazing and really did a great job keeping the boys room neat as well (my youngest tends to leave clothes all over the place).

Restaurants. We had MDR 3 nights and while nothing was outright bad, there was really nothing we though "wow, that was amazing." We ate at Solarium two nights, it is ok (my father absolutely loves this place, especially the mussels in the appetizer buffet). We ate at Jamie's one night, no one was that impressed or thought it worth the money. It wasn't bad, it was just ok. I did really like the side dish of pasta I got - it had truffles and cream sauce and was about a million calories but delicious. Johnny Rockets was decent. All wait staff was outstanding. Saw lots of tshirts, khaki shorts and sneakers on men, women, and children in the MDR at dinner (we did not go to either of the formal nights, so I cannot speak to those)

Buffets. Not really much to say about Windjammer. We ate breakfast there once and it was fine, I don't think we ever had lunch there, and the one or two times we ate dinner there it as just ok. I didn't think the selections at dinner were all that great. On the last night I found out there is a Mongolian Grill station way, way in the back that looked and smelled delicious. Wish we had seen that earlier. We ate breakfast at the Solarium buffet almost every day and really enjoyed that. MDR breakfast buffet was crowded but good.

Shows. The diving shows were amazing. Grease was spectacular. None of us really cared for the ice show. Columbus the musical was just downright bizarre (dancing cheeseburgers and a shark named Al??) Headliner (The Edge Effect) was very entertaining. The comedians were great, and during the family friendly show my not-easily-impressed 16 year old almost peed his pants from laughing so hard.

Slides/Flow Rider. Very fun. My 16 year old was busy being an unimpressed teenager, but the rest of us really enjoyed the Abyss, water slides and flow riders.

Bar staff. Waits at bars could be a bit long but we saw plenty of bar staff walking around taking orders at the pools and all shows. We were on the Oasis last year and this was definitely an improvement on Harmony. I think the mixed drinks were incredibly weak. We all had beverage packages and I noticed it taking me twice as many mixed drinks as usual to get that "I'm on vacation" feeling. I did like, however, that I was never once at any bar or with any waiter given a slip to sign. If you want to tip any bar tenders you can ask for a slip and they will give you one to add additional tips in.

Veterans Gathering. My Dad served in the Army and on the last sea day, Abe the cruise director hosts a gathering for anyone who has served in the military. Everyone is still talking about this. It was a very nice event and there were two WWII vets on board who shared stories, along with many others. I had tears in my eyes more than once. It was very nice to see veterans honored.

Aquatheater. When we went to see the dive show we (all 6 of us) ended up with black soot marks on our pants (half a dozen or so little brown dots I assume from chimney smoke?). It was really strange. It was of course first night and I of course had on my favorite white jeans and couldn't wear them a second time. Just something for people to be aware of - wear something dark when you are out at the aqua theater, especially if you try to get more than one wear out of each outfit.

Ports. We did an outside Orient Beach/Maho Beach excursion in St Maarten, which is always fun. Orient was beautiful, my youngest loves to watch planes land at Maho. San Juan was not enough time, we wandered around on our own and out to one of the forts where we got to watch some Navy ships on maneuvers out in the ocean. Labadee was an absolute zoo. We got to Nellie's Beach around 10:30 and not long after that all chairs were taken and all umbrellas long gone. My husband and youngest enjoyed a ride on the roller coaster. Bar line was sometimes long, but we met a lot of very nice people in line. Food was typical private island fare - not very good.

Spa/fitness center. These were great. I worked out almost every day, usually around 7 am. Machines started to get busy around 8. Running track is great, with the exception of people strolling 4 abreast with their coffee when people are trying to get by. But I love the track being down on 5 as opposed to up on the top deck.

Internet. Boys and my DH had Voom, absolutely no problems. We all had Royal IQ and this is the best idea in the entire world and allowed us to all keep in touch with each other when we changed locations or meeting points. I wish this was available on all ships.

Overall we were very impressed. The staff was great - I don't think we ran in to one that was just going through the motions. Food is, I think, the weakest link on the ship. We are really not foodies and really not very hard to please so this isn't an issue for us. We booked a 9 night cruise for our 20th Anniversary on Navigator in November to the ABC Islands. I hope the newness of the Harmony and all the bells and whistles haven't spoiled us to older ships...

The coconut mojito from Boleros. They use coconut rum and the rim of the glass is coated in toasted coconut. Yum.

My very mild mannered husband was using words I have never heard him use before as he was trying to print our set sail passes and spend $1000 on drinks packages today. It was a nightmare and took over an hour.

Thank you for posting info on the Headliner act - we board on June 24 so I wonder if he will still be on board then. Sounds like fun!

My 12 year old wants to know if you have seen fried shrimp at the buffet or any of the restaurants.....

Thank you for the review - we leave on Harmony this Saturday. My husband has been wrestling with the idea of the drink package - he only drinks beer and misses that package option. After reading this I think he has decided to just go ahead and get the package.

Thanks for the comments about the food. We are travelling with my parents, who don't like to do specialty dining, so I appreciate hearing what you liked/didn't like in the MDR. I think we will avoid Windjammer at all costs, which we typically try to do anyway.

I know there is a part where it's consider nude . But from what I have read that a separate area.

When we went in November there were topless women everywhere, in every beach bar area. I don't think we saw anyone fully nude.

To the poster asking about the gym and free classes: there were usually two stretching classes offered per day (one was 6 pm and I think the other was 7:30am ish), and at least one Abs class per day - I think that was at 7 am. These were half hour long. I do not remember any other free classes.

Sometimes the sliding doors to the track on Deck 5 were locked early in the AM. (I work out around 6 am). The trick to getting on the track if the doors are locked is to enter the spa on 6, walk down the ramp to the gym, and in the middle of the gym is a wide set of stairs going down, those stairs will take you down to the walking track on 5 and the door there was never locked (at least at the times I tried).

When I was on the running track in the 6-7 am time frame, there'd be maybe a dozen other people on it. It would get more crowded around 8 am.