jdemontrichard

Ok. I'll be brief so as to not upset other readers of the post. Harmony docks at a distant pier. There is a shuttle bus to the town where the Cathedral is located and it cost 5€ per person for a return trip.

Best Regards,

Jm

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Hi jdemontrichard and thanks for that excellent review. We'll soon be

Star Class on Harmony as well so your experience is 100% relevant for

us.

 

Might I ask why you felt the need to tip your genie at the outset?

Is extra tipping expected by the genie?

 

It seems to me RCI is trying to provide an all-inclusive, no hassle,

gratuities-included character to its Star Class, which goes in the right

direction of a more upscale experience. To have tips creep back in where

none should be needed is a bit surprising.

 

As a european I very seldom tip beyond our restaurants' included service

charge and without fail receive excellent service as a repeat customer.

Your point is very valid here. However I had done some research on CC regarding genie tipping and found out that if was the norm to tip the genie as tipping that was included as part of the package was not allocated for this critical team member of your suite. Apparently the tips go to the room attendants and people in the MDR. Yes, the MDR, a place I never dined in.

So I tipped what everyone else was tipping which was about $100 per person for 7 nights or $50 per day which ever was greater.

Do I think that it was worth it? Well after having paid a pretty penny for the room, few more more shillings were not going to kill me. But it's entirely up to you of course.

Perhaps you could give a small tip of around $100 on your first day and then see if any further tipping is warranted as the days go by.

Enjoy the vacation and make full use of your Star Class privileges.

Best Regards,

Jm

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Liked your review, however when you returned at 3pm, why did you not go to your suite and order up some room service for lunch? Did that not occur to you?

 

 

 

oh well, glad you liked most of the perks.

To tell you the truth, it had not occurred to me to order room service because we honestly did not even consider dining in the MDR, where room service food normally comes from.

But imagine paying 20K for your vacation on Harmony and a place like Coastal Kitchen, which is considered to be " the MDR" for Star and Sky class guests is closed at ridiculous hours.

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Dear Readers,

I will try and provide some useful feedback without trying to detract from the origin of this thread.

If our kids were not booked into our Sky Loft Suite and were booked into a different category room onboard the ship, they would not have been able to avail themselves of the Star Class Privileges. I had asked this question to RCI prior to the booking. However once you are onboard you can try and negotiate with your genie or your concierge to see what arrangements can be made to keep the group together. The analogy to this situation would be like parents buying first class tickets for themselves on a flight but buying economy class tickets for their children.

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On the last night of our cruise, I had noticed that the bottle of champagne which was presented to us on embarkation day out of Barcelona was missing. The bucket in which it was placed in was turned over and the champagne was no where to be found. I had planned on gifting this full bottle to a staff member of RCI since we did not consume it. I had advised our genie that the bottle was missing and on disembarkation day he apologized on behalf of RCI and provided us with a $300 credit to our account. We were more than satisfied with this kind gesture.

A private car was due to pick us up from the port at 8:30am so our genie met us at our room at 8:15am. Within 10 minutes we had disembarked the ship and collected our luggage. Unfortunately our driver was not there to meet us in time. The genie did not want to leave us but I insisted that we would be fine and that I would contact the transportation company to inquire about the driver's whereabouts. The genie had admitted to me that he was reluctant to leave us but I assured him that we would be fine. Within 5 minutes our driver showed up. Unfortunately he was waiting for us at terminal B and we had disembarked at terminal C. So if you are planning for a private pickup, you would be best advised to find out which terminal you would be using on disembarkation day and notify your driver accordingly.

Overall the cruise for us was good. 8 out of 10 overall. 10 out of 10 for our genie. We provided him a tip on 3 occasions. 150 Euro at the time of boarding, $250 on the last night of the cruise and $50 on the day of disembarkation. On our last night of the cruise he had even bought a personal gift for each of our kids that was greatly appreciated. The Royal genie experience in my opinion is a welcomed benefit to any Star Class guest. Use it to your liking. But be realistic in your expectations as well.

I hope that this sums up the overall experience for past, present and future cruisers considering Star Class for RCI.

Best Regards,

jdemontrichard

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https://vimeo.com/175343249https://vimeo.com/175343477

On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, our days involved an early morning breakfast then followed by an excursion booked with RCI. In Italy, RCI use a tour company called Aloschi Bros who provide amazing excursions. In La Spezia we did a tour which involved authentic pasta making. In Civitavecchia we did a private tour to Rome and in Naples we did a tour to the island of Ischia for a swim in the sea and thermal baths. Again, I highly recommend using RCI for your excursions because of the quality that is delivered from start to finish. If you have a small group of 4, the private tour to Rome is the way to go. Our guide was excellent in her knowledge of the ancient city and her history of the Vatican and the Colosseum.

Wednesday night we dined at Chops Grill. As a Star Class guest there is no charge to dine there, however if there is an item that has a dollar amount next to it then this item needs to be paid for. For example their dried aged steaks are about $21. I ordered it and to be honest it was alright. Our son had ordered a filet mignon that did not come with an additional charge and it was better than my steak. My wife and daughter had ordered the jumbo sized shrimps which were excellent but had an additional charge. The waiter that attended to us that evening was superb in his service.

Thursday night we dined at Jamie's and Friday night, which was a formal night, we had selected Wonderland. Wonderland is a restaurant which is either going to appeal to you in a big way or not. I don't think that there is an in between here when it comes to this dining venue. For us, we were very impressed with food, presentation and most important was the service.

There was a minor problem that we had encountered during the main course. Unfortunately, our daughter's meal was served cold and there was a hair in it. Our waiter, who was from Turkey, immediately removed the meal and offered a sincere apology on behalf of the restaurant. Within a relatively short space of time he had another meal brought to the table which was served properly and according to our daughter tasted delicious.

After the main course was finished, our waiter took the order for dessert. My son said that he wanted nothing and "Nothing" was brought to the table.

This kind gesture is something that will be remembered for a lifetime. And so I awarded RCI 10 out of 10 for this restaurant and the dining experience. Every restaurant can have mistakes within their kitchen. However the response to the mistake is what should be noted. For us, the sincere apology and the timely manner of presenting another dish was what mattered.

As we departed Wonderland, the maitre'd had offered a sincere apology regarding the initial problem during the main course. Naturally she had alerted our genie to the matter and I had received an email from him within minutes of leaving the restaurant. He wanted to apologize for the experience especially as we had a disappointing time when we had dined at 150. He also had advised us that he had set up a meeting with the Food and beverage staff of Wonderland to address the problem. However I had advised him that by no means were we disappointed with our experience at Wonderland.

On our sea day, we did an All Access Tour of the ship. Now this tour, again was not booked in advance before arriving on the ship and the request that I had put in for this tour was at very short notice. The excursion team had originally denied the request according to our genie. However he sought approval on a higher level and the request was granted. The tour has a limit based on the number of guests that can be on the bridge at any one time. So what they did was to put 2 of us in one group and 2 in another. One tour started at 9:00am and the other started at 9:20am. It lasts between 2:30-3:00 hours depending on the number of questions that are posed by the guests of the tour. The tour was fantastic and I thanked our genie for his genuine effort in securing places for us in this tour. If you're really interested in seeing a behind the scenes tour of the ship then I recommend this tour as a must do.

Although our direct interaction with our genie was minimal at times, the small things that he did for us never went unnoticed. For example, one evening when having dinner I had sent a message to him that we wanted to be seated at the Comedy show for the start time of 10pm. At 10:10pm we were just about to leave the restaurant and honestly I had forgotten about the message that I had sent to the genie. The maitre'd of Jamie's came to us and wanted to inform us that our seats were still being held for us and would continue to be held until we arrived. When we arrived at Comedy Show, our genie had discreetly seated us so as to avoid minimal disturbance to a show that had already commenced. The attention to detail is something which I always noted and it was very much appreciated.

Disembarkation day is next.

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If you're traveling with kids or young adults, one of the best privileges as a Star Class guest is the privilege of being attended to first for onboard activities. Our son was able to use the flow rider frequently because of his guest status. What the sports staff do is allow the Star Class guest to be inserted into the queue of other guests with discretion. For example if our son wanted to go back for a second run on the flow rider, they would allow 3-4 guests ahead of him and then put him next onto the ride. And this would be done for any onboard activity. My daughter and I arrived at the zipline 15 minutes before it closed. We were told that they could no longer accept other guests as they had a cut off point. However I identified myself as a Star Class guest and we were immediately geared up and taken to the front of the line. https://vimeo.com/175260230

So identify yourselves as Star Class guests and the staff are trained to recognize your privileges.

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On day 3 we had breakfast again at Coastal Kitchen and went out on an excursion that was recommended by RCI's excursion manager. We thoroughly enjoyed the day and I highly recommend to anyone looking to book an excursion to go with RCI rather than independently. The tour companies that RCI deal with provide guides who have an excellent command of the English language along with local knowledge of the area.

When we arrived back at the ship, it was a peak time for those returning from tours. The line to board the ship can be long at times and this is where RCI has fallen short for Suite Class guests. I had mentioned to our genie that the recognition of the suite class program must begin from the gangway of the ship. I recommended that the security line have a special line for the suite class guests for boarding the ship when returning from an excursion and he agreed at the suggestion. Hopefully in the near future it will be implemented.

We dined at Sabor that evening and the meal and service was excellent. In our opinion it was so good that we decided to dine there again on our last night of the cruise. As usual, our genie arrived at the restaurant shortly after we were seated to check in on us. Now I apologize readers but I did not avail the service of hand crafted cocktails that is provided to Star Class guests. But I have no doubt that if I had requested an artisan cocktail every evening to be delivered at a set time then it would have been done. However when I had met our genie that evening, I had requested a change in the excursion for the next day and it was done without question. So this was a great benefit of having a genie with the Star Class service for me. The ability to just pick up a phone or send a message or even request that the genie meet me immediately to work on our request was astounding. And the request was always met with the same answer, " I'll get on it right now Captain de Montrichard". And within a relatively short time frame a confirmation message was delivered to me. Think of the genie as your personal assistant. Whatever you would like done then all you have to do is ask.

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https://vimeo.com/175157948

The bathroom which is located on the ground level of the Sky Loft Suite has a large shower which comprises of 2 shower heads, each one is located on opposite ends to the shower area. There is no bathtub within this bathroom. However both bathrooms have flaw designs that are hard to overlook. The bathroom located on the top floor has major water buildup after a shower at the rear of the tub. Water also flows down from the side of the tub onto the floor. The lower bathroom has a problem as well in that the doors do not close fully and water comes out from the shower into the bathroom floor area.

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I'll post more information in about 24 hours. Unfortunately I have to go to work now. I'll try and finish the thread by tomorrow.

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So dinner on the second evening was at 150. On a scale from 1-10 the overall experience I gave to RCI for this restaurant was 4. Shortly after we were seated at our table our waiter arrived to introduce himself and the theme of the restaurant. I had immediately noticed that his tie was not properly knotted and during the middle of his presentation he asked to be excused to serve dinner at another table.

As we awaited for the waiter to return, our genie showed up at 150 to check in on us to see how we were doing. And in fact he showed up every evening at the restaurants where we dined each evening. Even though I didn't ask him, I believe that he must have been alerted by the restaurants after our arrival. Although our meetings in the evening were brief, the time spent was sufficient to catch up on what we did for the day and to address our plans for the next day such as an excursion or dinner reservation. It was also a time to provide our genie with any feedback or suggestions that could make our experience more enjoyable. But more on that later on.

After our genie left, the waiter had returned and took our order for the appetizer and main course. The portion sizes in 150 are ridiculously small. I had ordered a beet root salad which comprised of a few minuscule cubes of beet. The main course had 3 scallops that looked more like an appetizer portion. The service was terribly slow. Thank goodness I didn't have to pay for that specialty restaurant. I didn't even bother to stay for dessert and the waiter could sense that I was disappointed with the overall experience.

However the evening was not ruined as we went to see Columbus the Musical which we enjoyed. As a Star, Sky and Sea Class guest, seats are held on the upper tier of the theatre until 20 minutes before the show starts. Show your sea pass card to avail these seats should you want them. However in my opinion the best seating is in the stalls of the theatre located in the lower tier. Show up early and you can get a seat close up or better yet, ask your genie to reserve seats for you. For Columbus seat reservations are really not necessary, however for Grease, the genie will reserve seats for you in the theatre for the time and date that you have requested. Normally the seating will be in the first 3 rows and in the centre of the theatre.

More news to come regarding day 3.

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So on day 2 we arrive at Palma de Mallorca. This was the only port where we did not have an excursion booked for us. On our first night while dining in Coastal Kitchen, the genie had the RCI excursion manager meet with us to discuss our excursion plans for the cruise. See, I intentionally did not make any excursion plans nor speciality dining reservations because I wanted to test the Star Class privileges. Basically the word " No" should not be used towards a Star Class guest. Everything that they do should be with a " can do" principle. Of course there will be some things that can't be done due to either logistics or the ridiculous request being made by the guest but dining reservations and excursions are things that are well within their control even if the venue is said to be fully booked.

We decided to do a spin class at 8am which was complementary for Star Class guests. But you only get one class complementary. Any others which carry a charge would need to be paid for. There are 21 bikes in the studio and I recommend that you book in advance using the sign in sheet which is located in the wellness area. Spin classes are Monday, Tuesday and Saturday at 8 am and carry a $20 charge. Cycling shoes are also provided.

After the class, we had breakfast at Coastal Kitchen. But here is my complaint regarding Coastal Kitchen. For Star Class guests, it's basically considered to be a Main Dining Room. Yet the operating hours vary for breakfast and lunch depending on the day of the week. And this was rather annoying. The opening hours are not that long first of all. Example 8-9:30 am on day 2 for breakfast. Lunch from 12 to 1:30pm as well. That is absolutely ridiculous in my opinion. And on other days breakfast may start earlier such as in the port of Civitavecchia. On that day it starts at 7am but will end by 9am. I complained to the genie that the restaurant should have operating hours just like a hotel restaurant and open at 6am and stop service around 10:30am. Lunch should be served from 12:00pm to at least 3:00pm.

We went into Palma and toured the place on our own. We returned to the ship by 2pm but found it difficult to find somewhere to have a decent lunch onboard the ship at 3pm. As a Star Class guest I was disappointed about this. We had pizza at Sorrentos to hold us over until our dinner reservation at 150 for the formal evening.

Well this was not a good experience for us and I'll write about this later in.

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https://vimeo.com/175111922

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Sorry folks. I don't know why the uploaded video is without audio.

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https://vimeo.com/175111610

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https://vimeo.com/175111368

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https://vimeo.com/175111226

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Ok, so as a Star Class guest you have access to Coastal Kitchen for breakfast, lunch and dinner and like I said, on our first night of dining, a reservation was made for us there by our genie. The food was good but nothing remarkable, just good. Coastal Kitchen shares its floor area with the concierge area I believe. So basically when you enter Coastal Kitchen, the restaurant seating area is in front of you and to the left. To the right is a bar which we did not use and to the right of that is the concierge area with seating for guests and Pinnacle members I think. There was also an area to get some hot food and light snacks but I never used that either during the sailing.

After dinner, we walked around the ship to orientate ourselves. Central Park by far is the prettiest area of the ship and is best viewed at night and when the ship is sailing. There is a light breeze that can be felt when you are in Central Park when the ship sails and there is a nice bar called Nells I think which serves good quality drinks. As a Star Class guest an adult gets the Ultimate beverage package. Below the age of 18 ( for Europe) they give you the Replenishing package I think, which is basically everything except alcohol. Our son is 17 and occasionally he can drink at home. So once in a while I would get him a sangria using my sea pass card. Now the Ultimate beverage package has limitations as well. First of all, you can't order a bottle without paying something. If the bottle cost less than $100 you get a 20% discount and if the bottle is over $100 you get a 40% discount. Now regarding drinks. If the drink is less than $13 there is no additional charge. But if the drink is more than $13, you pay the difference. Most drinks are targeted at $13 and below around the ship but dining outlets like Vintages and 150 serve many glasses of wine above $13.

At the end of the evening, we decided to take in the show called Big Daddy's Hideaway at the Aqua Theatre. It runs for about 1 hour and started at 11pm that evening. Good show for a first night. But the better show at the Aqua Theatre is the one called A Fine Line. It is laced with danger so don't miss that one.

That's it for day 1. Interested in hearing more, let me know.

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Dear Members and Readers of Cruise Critic,

I felt that it was time for me to payback to those of you who had taken the time to post information regarding Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas from the dawn of her construction up to her latest sailings.

Our journey began back in September of 2015 when we had booked room 1722 which is a Sky Loft Suite for a sailing from the 3rd of July until the 10th of July out of Barcelona with stops in Palma, Marseilles, La Spezia, Civitavecchia and Naples before returning to Barcelona.

Shortly after booking our cruise, I joined the membership of Cruise Critic to gain as much information as I could about this ship and the sister ships within RCI. Most of the information was great and at times some of the information could have been misleading if you didn't have an open mind.

As many of you might know, Harmony of the Seas had a bit of a turbulent start with her sailings out of Southhampton. However I can assure you that my family and I did not witness any of the problems that were mentioned from those sailings. Now before I begin my story let me put up a few photos as most people are interested in this rather than me rambling on about my experience.

Ok, so here goes. About a week before the cruise began, I had received an email from the Genie who would be attending to us during our cruise. I don't want to mention his name but he is Genie No 1 on HOS and is also the face of the Genie that you see in the advertising that RCI does with their Star Class program. The email was basically for me to download the Loop app and to introduce himself to us. Now regarding this app, first of all, in my opinion it is not an app. It's just a webmail address that links your sailing details to your genie's email address. However it has a major flaw which I was unaware of until the genie told me towards the end of the sailing. In order for the genie to pick up the email on Loop, he has to be in front of his computer in his room. The phones that they carry around with them on the ship are not smart phones and they are really used just for making calls. So the best way to get in touch with your genie when you are on the ship is simply to dial his extension number which he provides to you on his business card when you meet him. If you use the Loop for important things he will not pick it up unless he is in his room. However when they are not with their Star Class guests they normally return to their rooms for desk work. Also I encountered a major problem when using the Loop in that I could not see the messages that the genie sent to me. And this was rather disappointing. The system is obviously not working properly as it should be. But perhaps it might be by now.

Our boarding time that we selected was 3:30pm. We stayed at a hotel that was only 10 minutes away from the port. However RCI use both terminals B and C in Barcelona for embarkation and disembarkation. Passengers in the front half use terminal B and those in the back half use terminal C. The Star Class suites board via terminal C but on embarkation day the closing time for terminal C is 3pm. Therefore we were advised a few days in advance that we should come to terminal B.

Upon our arrival, it was a little chaotic as my bags were immediately being loaded and carted off as they were pre-tagged. However I immediately stopped the baggage porters and had to find someone that could assist me in finding our genie. And here is the secret to all your problems for those of you who are traveling in Star Class. Find someone with a RCI name badge and identify yourself as a Star Class guest. The gentleman that I found immediately advised the porters that the bags were from a Star Class guest and that they should be loaded accordingly. He then immediately took me through the terminal to where my genie was waiting for us. The genie introduced himself to us and he knew each one of our names without us introducing ourselves. He took our Set Sea Pass Sailing documents which were scanned and proceeded then to escort us onto the ship and to our rooms. From the time we arrived at the port to the time we arrived at our room 15 minutes had elapsed at most. Time for more pictures. https://vimeo.com/175099370

After we arrived at our suite, the genie presented us with our sea pass cards, wow bands and other pieces of literature regarding the star class benefits. The room attendant and his attendant had also presented themselves shortly after. Before they left, I had remembered the post regarding tipping genies that I had read. So what I did was inline with what others had done in the past. I tipped him and also out of courtesy I had tipped the room attendants even though the room attendant tips were prepaid.

The mandatory sea drill takes place at 4:30pm and the location area is printed on your sea pass card. It last for about 45 minutes. The shipped sailed out of its dock at 6pm and our first night for dining was at Coastal Kitchen at 7pm.

I'll stop here for now and should the response be good from the readers then I'll continue the story with more pictures.

Best Regards,

jdemontrichard

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Ok I was leaning CLS but these pics are making my decision harder!

 

That aft view looks to be amazing. And the wall of windows in the bedroom is to die for!!

You would be making the worst decision in changing your Crown Loft Suite for anything other than another Crown Loft Suite, a Sky Loft Suite or the Royal Loft Suite.

Anything on Deck 17 is considered to be the best on the ship. It is First Class. The rest is like Business and Economy.

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