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So any single shot that is taken out in the water was definitely the GoPro, but there were only a few of those. Just about all the single shots were just with my phone camera. GoPro was almost exclusively the video and time warps.

Thanks for the feedback! I used a Hero9 for the GoPro videos and time warps. I did play with the settings a bit snorkeling, starting with the 2.7K resolution activity setting and then moving up to 4K. I also changed the lens angle. The default setting for video is a very wide angle fish eye type view. I opted for a couple clicks down (narrower field of view) which is the linear which was more to my liking for the snorkeling.

Adults and the 9 and 7 year old were in the balcony. 14 and 16 year old were directly across the hall in the interior. As long as it's an adjoining room or directly across hall, you are good with this setup. We had another cruise where we were diagonal across hall and we had to have a parent booked in each room (but then had extra room keys made and still ended up with parents in the balcony without issue).

As you get closer to your cruise it will start showing up on your daily list of activities in the app. I think usually there was an activity entry around 4pm or so that would say the dress for that evening. On our recent 7-night, there were 2 formal nights, 2 casual nights, a Caribbean night, a country night and a white night. You can also look up previous/recent Compass versions for Harmony and in the upper right hand corner of the day they have the dress, pictured below. Link here of a good place to find previous Compass versions.

Standard oceanview balcony for the adults and younger kids with an interior across the hall for the older boys.

I just realized I never addressed this in my review (other than the final summary) and meant to, my bad! It was one of the service changes I wanted to highlight. We met our steward the first afternoon and she gave us the option of morning (9-1) or evening service. We initially chose morning since we had the kids in our room on the pull-out and thought it would be good to have her make it up in the morning. We then thought better of it, knowing we would always be out of the room for several hours at the same time for dinner in the MDR. We found our steward that first night and asked to change to evening service and she refused, saying her evenings were full. This ended up being an issue for us on sea days (not port days) as it wasn't as easy for the 4 of us to be out of the room for an extended time in the morning (we had to be in and out a bit). And as a result, we just got towels and didn't have her service the room a couple of those days. We were out of the room for a couple hours those days, but she did not make the room up during those times, which was also frustrating. I just think they have too much to cover now and have little flexibility, though I would have expected a little more of an attempt. So for our family, since we always went to dinner in the MDR, evening service would have worked better. Again, was not an issue on port days since we were gone, but we had to focus on it for the 3 sea days to get out of the room between 9 and 1 and I would rather not have to worry about it next time.

The last night I set up the GoPro on the balcony and programmed it to start a time lapse at 5am. Here's the arrival of Harmony back into port, including turning around and backing in, which I thought was pretty cool: We had our last breakfast with the older boys hitting Windjammer and me just bringing coffee and light breakfast back from Cafe Promenade for our room since we knew there would be additional snacks in the Royal Theater as we waited to disembark. We were out of the room by 8am and headed down to the theater to wait. Our luggage number was called right at 8:50am (which was the planned time) and we had started to head toward the elevators a couple minutes before. It was no issue getting an elevator to go up one floor to the Promenade and we quickly were off the ship. We were through customs with our luggage by 9:05am. With a short walk to the South lot, the car was packed and we were on our way by 9:20am...super efficient. We were home in Round Rock shortly after 1pm and began the crazy preparations of Christmas Eve with 4 kids. Looking back, we will prefer to cruise after Christmas going forward vs. before...as it was a lot to catch up on, being gone the week before Christmas, even though we tried to get everything we could done in advance. Final thoughts: We had a great time. A cruise is what you make of it and we enjoyed our time together...it's not often we are all sitting down for a nice meal together with all the kids' activities, so a full week of spending time together was wonderful, not to mention all the fun we had and the memories we made. I forgot to mention earlier that we had booked the one-device surf and stream internet package, using the $100 OBC we received from the Premier Pass refund. We just shared it between my wife and I and the older boys and it worked well all week. Only one device could be on at a time, but we just took turns and it was all we needed. We just shared the log-in and it would kick off whoever was on when you logged on, which we coordinated. Performance was better than I thought it would be. We definitely noticed some changes with the biggest impact to us personally being the service from the Adventure Ocean kids club. After it being a favorite of our younger kids previously, I'm hoping they give it a try again, but we were not fans of the changes there nor what we saw and experienced. Close behind that was the once per day room service and the inflexibility of our room steward. Both of these were disappointing, but we did not allow them to bother our cruise. The changes in process in the MDR were evident and I would say the meals there were good to very good with maybe the only drawback being our perceived slight degradation in the amount of choices that appealed to us on the menu. Service in the MDR was great after that first night and our wait staff worked incredibly hard to keep us happy and we greatly appreciated them. Overall service otherwise on the ship was still great. Almost everyone would say "hello" or "good morning" as you passed them on deck and I only experienced one crew member with a negative attitude who outwardly said they were not happy there (casino blackjack dealer). I thought the bar service was very good all week, as was the service we experienced in Chops and Izumi. The ship was clean and in great shape with no signs of wear anywhere I noticed. In my humble opinion, cruising is still a relaxing way for a large family like ours to vacation, with most things taken care of. I still felt like the trip was a good overall value for our family, considering everything we got to see, do and eat and am excited for our next cruise on Oasis next New Year's with our extended family. Thanks for following along and I'm happy to answer any questions that may be out there. -Dan

Mom spent the rest of the day packing while the little ones headed back up on deck and the older boys did rock climbing and a few other activities. Last night in the MDR was white night and we did stop for pictures before dinner this time and our table was still there for us when we arrived at 5:05. 😂 Service and the meal were again very good in the MDR. Apps we tried included the seafood cake, shrimp cocktail and French onion soup and were good. A couple of us had the lamb (which I thought was okay, but not great) and then the salmon and steak. I think one of the boys commented that they wished they had tried the turkey dinner instead. It was another night when there were not a lot of selections of mains that we were really excited about. I think everybody got the chocolate brownie for dessert, including the little kids and everybody agreed it was one of the best desserts of the week. Trying to keep the white dress white: 😂 Toward the end of the meal, they unveiled a large Texas flag from the 3rd floor railing and played "Deep in the Heart of Texas" with everyone singing. We gave our waiter and assistant an extra tip for the week, said our good-byes and headed back to our room. Was a pretty walk back on the promenade. Everyone was pretty tired that last night and so other than some additional packing, getting the suitcases out in the hall and some last ping pong matches with the 14-year old and I, there wasn't a lot done. I did head to the casino for a last session before the 16-year old texted after running 12 laps on the track at 10pm (??) and wanting to meet at Sorrento's for a last pizza date. It was a fitting way to end the last day together. 🙂

Was up super early on our last sea day and headed to the Solarium for the last attempt of the week at a sunrise on the GoPro. On the way down, noticed the seasickness bags were out on the stairs for the 2nd time of the trip. Did not impact us. No such luck again on sunrise, as rain squalls ended up moving in and stuck around most of the day, making for a wet last day at sea. We didn't let it bother us and had a fun day regardless as temperatures were still nice out. I did capture what would have been sunrise with a time lapse video from up on deck, but it's not that great. You can see the rain start to move in at the end. Boys had agreed to meet at Johnny Rockets again for our last breakfast. It started pouring right around 7:30am, so wasn't sure if they would make it or not and if there would be room for breakfast since the indoor seating is very limited. Was not an issue...they made it and we had the place to ourselves, with not many folks there the whole time we were there. The staff did their traditional last day dance...just indoors vs. in the middle of the boardwalk. Felt like it was a personal dance for us. 😄 The Flowrider opened at 9am and was supposed to be open most of that last day so the 14 year old went to do that while the 16 year old wanted to ride the Abyss and do the zipline. I did both with him (my first time on the zipline) and then went to watch the Flowrider. Tried the GoPro out with 4k video for the first time at the Flowrider. There was hardly any line, so headed back and got the 9 year old and he joined his brother on the Flowrider and they had fun. 7 year old wanted to enjoy a rainy pool day and ended up riding the water slides for the first time with friends she had made over the week. We had made reservations for Izumi lunch way in advance with my wife and the 14-year old since the rest of the family doesn't like sushi. For the second cruise in a row, our lunch reservation got automatically converted to the sushi / sake pairing since it was occurring that last sea day. We had gone ahead and done it last year on the Allure, even with the 14-year old (sans sake) which they did allow, but this year we preferred to pick from the menu. I talked to the Izumi maitre d' earlier in the week and they agreed to make our reservation the traditional lunch and had us arrive at 12pm vs. the 11am start time for sushi/sake. Meal was great...we each chose and shared an appetizer and then we each picked 2 different sushi rolls and shared those as well. Did not really have room for dessert, but we each had the melting chocolate cake. Everything was really good and we'll continue the Izumi lunch tradition on our next cruise as we've done it each RC cruise to date.

We booked directly from their website. They do sell out... Last year I tried to book late and they were already full...But then again that was a day when there were eight ships in port. Just Google Paradise Beach Cozumel. Hope you have a great trip!

Another reason it was a great day at Cozumel...only 3 ships in port and one of them was a smaller Viking ship. Compared to the 8 ships in port last December when we visited, it was deserted! We were the only ship at our specific port as well, so we knew security would be pretty easy getting back on as compared to the craziness last year. So we headed back a little later than we would have and took our time shopping in port. This would play a factor later in the evening, in a bit of foreshadowing. 🤐 We were back on board a little before 4 and had every intention of taking formal pictures before dinner by the Christmas tree since it was the last formal night. Well, getting 2 adults and 4 kids ready and dressed in dresses/ties after a long day on the beach on a cruise ship with 2 bathrooms between the 6 of us is a feat in itself. Before we knew it, it was already 5pm, so pre-pictures were out. We had watched tables around us all week come in as much as 30 minutes late to dinner and were always seated at their table. So we weren't overly concerned when we headed down to the MDR, leaving our room at 5:15. Now I know the rules...you need to be there by 5:15 or risk losing your table...but again, we didn't think it would be an issue based on what we observed all week and also since we had dined there EVERY NIGHT. Well, apparently on lobster night they will give your table away at 5:10. We got down there by 5:20 and there was already a family of 6 sitting comfortably at our table with a bottle of wine...so they had been there for at least a little bit. We stood there until the head waiter came by, with our table neighbors telling us out loud "we couldn't believe they gave your table away." He could tell we were upset and offered to find us another table. I told him I didn't want another table, and I didn't understand why he had given ours away in close proximity to 5:15 when we had been there all week and have 4 kids to get ready on formal night. I know I'm in the wrong here, but it still bothered me. He ended up giving us a table in our same section, but with different servers. When our same servers came over to help us out, I called over the head waiter and told him it wasn't fair for them to have an extra table, as they already had too much going on. So he swapped them and the servers who were supposed to be at our table, which I thought was much more fair to our serving team (and hopefully they appreciated it). I thanked him but gave him a bit more of my mind, telling him I didn't think it was acceptable to give away our table after 5 minutes on a formal night when we have 4 kids, have been there all week and told him we would be dining there each night. Also noted how we had seen others come in 30 minutes late and still get their table (although I'm sure those weren't as busy as lobster night, so I do get it). He offered us filet from the menu for free as a peace offering. I told him it was lobster night and that's what we were planning on. He left and came back (had to talk to his boss?) and offered us the surf and turf for free. The older boys and the adults happily obliged and we were happy with the peace offering. The lobster was very good and the filet was actually as good as the one we had in Chops, cooked perfectly to each of our asks. As we were finishing up dessert, the head waiter came over again. He offered us a free galley tour on the following sea day, starting at 10am. We unfortunately had to decline since we had reservations for lunch at Izumi, but we truly appreciated the additional effort made to make us happy that night. Great example of very good service, when by the rules, they really didn't have to do anything for us, since technically it was our fault. Well, since we didn't get to take pictures before dinner and were wearing our Christmas dresses / ties, we decided to wait for pictures in front of the tree, which we knew was a mistake, but figured it was our only chance for nice pictures left that week. We ended up waiting an hour and by the time we had finished, we had missed the start of Columbus, which we had reservations to that night. Nobody really cared at that point as we did have a great day and a great dinner, after it was all said and done. Pictures turned out okay, although the only one we loved was the last ones of the kids hugging. I'll leave it today with the time lapse of us leaving Cozumel that evening. Different view with the camera facing toward the back of the ship and a pretty sunset in the distance...I was happy with this one.

Drinks were not overly strong, but again, the request for a floater was obliged after they figured out what we meant. Here's how it came out the first time...shot anyone? Although I guess this also worked the same. 😂 Kids had a great time out in the water on the floating stuff. 20231222_112342.mp4 20231222_101805.mp4 There were also beach walks, snorkeling (go under the dock at the very end of the pier) shell and coconut finding, swings, more food/drink and of course, beach naps.

I have to be honest, I was probably the least excited about the day in Cozumel as any of our days on the cruise, having visited several times in the past. Turned out to be my favorite day! Had beautiful weather finally and had a great day at Paradise Beach. It was one of our earlier arrivals in port with the ship getting in close to 7am. Little kids just asked to eat on the balcony, so grabbed some things from Solarium Bistro and brought it back to the room while the older boys ate there themselves. Breakfast of champions... We took our time and headed off the ship a little after 8. Similar to Costa Maya, the port in Cozumel can be a little confusing as you have to literally walk through stores to get out. But at least it is well marked and relatively easy to follow the "Taxi" signs. Kids were not happy when we made them stop for a picture with the local. Grabbing a taxi for 6 was not an issue, other than the price...$36 each way to Paradise Beach and it was probably only a 15 minute drive. But it would have been half that for 1-4 people. It's 50% more for 5 and then 2x for 6-8 people. But it was no problem getting there and the taxi was a nice / huge van. We chose Paradise Beach because it offers a good mix of everything, especially for the kids, along with good service. The all-inclusive is pretty reasonable for what you get as the food is quite good and the menu large (and expensive if you were to go a-la-carte). There is a nice pool (heated), a swim-up bar, nice restrooms, a very nice beach with plenty of shade (one of our requirements) and plenty of fun stuff for the kids. The floating water park was a little extra for the kids, but well worth it as they spent a ton of time out there. The wife and I had actually visited Paradise Beach with the extended family on our first cruise ever 18 years earlier. I pulled a few pictures off my photo show, so the quality is not great (sorry), but it's fun to see the difference from 18 years ago. 18 years ago: Not sure who this guy is...but note how brand new the palms are, having hardly spread out at all. Fast-forward to now: They meet you at the door, check you in, give you bracelets and then a server shows you around and asks where you would like to set up. We said shade on the beach and got a great spot. Plenty of shade, near the pool and taco truck, but also right near the water park for the kids. Service was amazing all day. They would come by constantly asking if they could get you anything and would simply put your order in on a tablet and out it would come 5 minutes later whether it was a drink or food. Tacos were really good, shrimp were really good and kids liked the hamburgers and pizza. We certainly got our money's worth throughout the day.

We wrapped up the day with those Oreo shakes I mentioned and some pictures and headed back to port. You get to choose when you want to leave and they will have a taxi ready for you to take you back. All in all, a great day at Maya Chan and we will happily return. Back at port we did some shopping and explored the port a bit before getting back on board. Once back on board, our 7-year old really wanted to hit the hot tub, so we went to one of the cantilever ones watching over the port. And there may or may not have been a pre-dinner snack afterwards... Dinner that night in the MDR was Mexican night. Service and food was again good. I had the poblano pepper soup which was excellent and others really liked the grilled corn cakes. Mains were the chili-lime salmon and butter chicken and they were good. We dared the boys to try the crunchy chili-crusted tofu tacos, but they would not bite. Desserts were just okay -- tres leches cake, caramel flan and the warm cookie were tried. Everyone was pretty pooped after a day in the sun, so everyone headed to bed pretty early except for me...I hit the comedy show that night. The 2 comedians were okay...funny, but just alright. I was able to capture a couple good videos of Carnival Pride and Harmony leaving Costa Maya, which I will leave you with tonight. We were at dinner, but apparently a little rain squall came through as we were leaving...pretty sunset as well.

Water was clearer than last year, but you have to realize it's not going to be crystal clear there. It's murky at best due to the seaweed, but they do a really good job keeping it off the beach...we didn't experience any on the beach itself. There is a reef WAY offshore if interested, but I mean it's way out there and we've never gone out to it. But they say it has good snorkeling. Service was good on our last visit, but it was absolutely amazing this year. Maybe it was our location, but I mean we never had to wait for anything and they were always asking if they could bring us anything else. Just did a really good job taking care of us. Lunch was again amazing. They make fresh flour and corn tortillas and then have fresh grilled chicken, beef, fish and slow roasted pork with all the fixings. All you want. They happily made a cheese quesadilla for our 7-year old as well. Kids even made a new friend... ...and created some new sports... ...while also enjoying the beach and water and toys.