Dan83

We had a bad experience with dolphin discovery Cozumel in February 2020. I don’t recommend them. 

Thanks for all the advice. Cruise leaves Friday. The 10 pm departure from home now seems too optimistic. More likely will be 11-midnight. I think I’m going to leave at 2 am. If all goes well I’ll just nap in the car when we get to Galveston. And I’ll still have a few hours wiggle room before the 1:30 all aboard. 

2 minutes ago, wavechaser said:

Great to finally hear that someone else is on this ship! Thanks for the information. See you there!

Yeah it’s been sold out for weeks but I was unable to find any active roll call. Thought maybe it was a partial charter or something like that. We’ll be the ones getting kicked out of the lounge due to rowdy kids. (Kidding) 

well maybe not kidding 

We also leave out Friday. Salvador, the concierge, emailed Saturday with the welcome email. I replied with a couple minor requests but he never responded. The address posted above is correct. 

We’ve had something come up that we can’t miss the evening before a cruise departing Galveston. It’s a 6 hour drive to port. My options are to start driving around 10 pm and arrive 4 am. Or I could try to get a few hours sleep and leave home at 3-4 am and arrive to port in time to board the ship. This option doesn’t leave much wiggle room for flat tires, breakdown, etc. which is rare but always crosses my mind on a trip. I’m reluctant to get a hotel just to check in at 4 am and then leave 5-6 hours later. It’s just too much work unloading the car and kids into a hotel for a few hours. Another consideration is driving through Houston on a weekday morning, which could easily add an extra hour to drive time.  Which option would you take? 

Thanks! I will use them for sure. 

Anyone have a recommendation for a dive shop? Cruise line doesn’t offer a dive excursion and I try to avoid those anyway. 

Had the same problem. I used a vpn to connect to a server in a different country and the Royal website worked fine.

The regular photo package is adequate. There are plenty of backdrops available and lots of photo opportunities off ship in the ports.  The private photo shoot is insanely expensive. My wife is a picture addict, seriously it’s as bad as a gambling addiction. I always buy her the photo package, however, last cruise she went and bought the private photo shoot. It starts at $1200.  Basically the same pictures we had already been taking. It was a done deal before I could intervene. 

We got off Harmony yesterday. I had many of the same questions as the OP and I’ll just give a short report of our experience. Not intending to be a review but it may sound that way. The main takeaway is this was our best cruise ever. Royal Caribbean cruise #5 for us, but this was full of firsts. First- cruise post Covid, first oasis class, first suite, first cococay, first labadee.  
Harmony of the seas is a beautiful ship. Looked brand new as far as we knew. It felt like everything was back to normal. It was reported just under 4000 passengers onboard. About the “crowded feel”. For experienced cruisers this probably isn’t a factor they are concerned with, but for those like us who only get to travel twice a year it has importance. Crowded feel was non-existent on this cruise for us. Being in a suite played a factor and the reduced capacity was awesome. Never really waited long for anything. Pizza and other food venues would have short or no lines at all. All week long. Pool deck got a little thick on sea days( Nassau and Falmouth included). Elevators weren’t bad at all. The most crowded we felt was at cococay with 2 ships docked. Beach loungers were taken very early and pool and food venues were packed. 

Adventure ocean: was at full capacity with no reservations needed. kids still had to wear masks but most didn’t complain about it. This was a great experience for us and our kids. They never filled up so we could bring our kids anytime they were open. In the past we would have to line up 20 minutes before they opened just to be able to get our kids in. And the kids absolutely loved it. They always wanted to go and never wanted to leave. After 10 pm was $7 an hour. I saw many parents, us included, show up at 10 pm and the kids refuse to leave. No problem, $7 an hour is literally the cheapest thing on a cruise. I’m happy to leave them for another 2 hours. 
 

The food was good. I didn’t care for windjammer at all during breakfast and lunch. I prefer other venues during those times. Coastal kitchen was spectacular the first night. One of the best steaks I’ve had. We did coastal kitchen 4 nights, main dining 2 nights, and hibachi one night. I wish we would have spent a couple more nights at main dining. Service and food there were outstanding. For us, going on 2 cruises per year, main dining will never get old. We have always enjoyed main dining room on Royal Caribbean. Hibachi was just ok for me but the wife and kids liked it. They had one chef working two tables at once and he was overwhelmed, he pulled it off though and made it work. 
 

The suite:  it was amazing. It’s going to be difficult to go back to a balcony. Others have reported no problem with this but for me it will never be the same again. No reservations needed for shows. Just show the card and get in. This also worked at the comedy club. Reserved seating in the theater and aqua theater but no reserved section at the ice venue. Embarkation and debarkation were painless. We were told that suites could embark up to 1 hour prior to scheduled time but I suspect that we could have come anytime. Coastal kitchen was nice but I could live without it. Suite lounge was nice but the chairs were a little uncomfortable.  The 11am-11 pm beer, wine, and soda were not advertised. I wouldn’t have known to ask about it unless I had read it here. This was a very nice benefit. I enjoyed many glasses of wine after the lounge cleared out at 8 pm. The concierge’s were amazing. Can’t say enough good things about those 2 amazing ladies. 
A very good travel agent scored us a grand suite with some lift and shift magic back in 2020. Royal up provided us with a crown loft suite for dirt cheap. this cheap suite will now cost us a fortune. I will have to splurge on a suite in the future. Enough about the suite though. 
 

Shows: all were good. I don’t like grease but the actors are obviously very talented and did a great job. Both ice shows were very very good. Aqua theater was just mainly some diving and dancing but it was still impressive. The juggler was just ok, the ones I’ve seen in the past were more impressive. Comedians were mixed, one funny one and one not so much. 
 

As I mentioned before, this cruise felt like 2019 except for masks in the terminal and for kids club. Here is my very short list of negatives. 

Pre-cruise testing sucks. It was stressful for us. It’s a jeopardy event. We’ve all had our shots and I don’t care to get a brain swab unless someone is sick and actually needs a test. 
Masks in the terminal. Seemed silly to dig out a mask for 5 minutes of walking through the terminal after a week of 4000 unmasked people on a ship. Silly things are the new normal so that’s a wash. 
The weather sucked. Cold and windy with the exception of Labadee. I like the weather hot. I live in the south and still complain about our mild winters. 
Ive seen less scooters on a princess cruise. My kid got ran over by one in the elevator. Not cool. 

Last negative, I already mentioned this but I do wish we would have spent a couple more dinners in the main dining vs coastal kitchen. And also getting hooked on a suite cabin. November we have a balcony booked and I just won’t be as excited about it. But hey, it’s still better than staying home. 
 

I was stressing about this very thing Friday. My results did not have it either. I looked up the lab’s CLIA number on the cdc website and printed that off just in case. Our test reports were checked 3 different times in port Canaveral and nobody questioned them.  

24 minutes ago, mandream said:

Won't they refund you once onboard?  We've done that before (on Celebrity).

I’m hoping this is the case. I went ahead and reserved my 5 year old for the 30 bucks. Once onboard, maybe they will let me cancel the kids and rebook at the $10 that I’ve seen reported. 

21 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Yea, pay the $10 and don't worry

Thanks, I was leaning this direction. Cruise planner is getting $30 for kids. Not quite insignificant as $10 but still. 

The cruise planner says kids under 6 are complimentary, ages 6-12 are kids price. When adding a 5 year old, the cruise planner charges the kids price. I think the pre-Covid advice was to not add the under 6 kids with cruise planner, then add them onboard. Being that seating is limited, this strategy seems risky. Should I just pay the kids price for the 5 year old to ensure no complications on board? 

An update on my bids, sometime today they all changed back to pending and are able to be modified. The CLS shows “upgrade unavailable” but it can also be modified. Looks like I missed out on that round. 

35 minutes ago, sford75 said:

When this happened to me, it took 4 days before the upgrade did come through. This likely means it's happening. 

What ship? which one is pending and which ones are expired?

Harmony, Crown loft suite pending, everything else expired. I’d be happy with any of them honestly. I wouldn’t want the aft facing ones but I’d still take it over the grand suite. 

1 minute ago, jrapps said:

What ship are you? I sail on 3/20 as well on the Oasis. All my bids still say Pending and are modifiable.

Harmony 

Sailing on 3/20. For the past 2 days all my bids except 1 have said expired. With the one bid pending and unable to modify. I had read that this was a good sign. But it’s been like that for 2 days with no upgrade. I don’t like that they won’t let me cancel or change bids with 10 days to go. What if I want to just forget the whole thing and cancel all the bids. Booked in a grand suite and I put in minimum/low bids for most options. 

1 minute ago, CityChickCruising said:

Some CLS on oasis class ships overlook the back of the ship and aren’t traditional ocean view. Definitely be sure you’re okay with that - we haven’t bid on CLS for that reason. 

In that situation, I’d definitely prefer the owners suite. However, I think I’d still take that as a cheap upgrade from grand suite. Having more space is important for us with 2 kids in the room.  I’ll leave my bids alone. Thanks for the info. 

Slightly off topic…. Is a crown loft suite more desirable(or higher category) than an owners suite? We are booked in a grand suite with 2 kids. Happy with the location on deck 8. I put in minimum bids for everything available, except slightly higher on owners suite. My thinking was that owners suite would be more desirable because of slightly more space and larger balcony. I’ll be happy to get any upgrade for cheap, but which one should I be rooting for? This will be our first suite experience regardless. 

Is there still a suite area on labadee? Barefoot beach was the name I think. We are booked on our first suite ever coming up in 2 weeks on Harmony. 

10 minutes ago, CityChickCruising said:

Hopefully this makes sense. There will be a really small text that says ‘bid on other options’ or something like that between the top bid that shows as bigger than the others and your other listed bids… I think you can only view this on your computer. But it’s super small text and should be there! 

Yes! I had to use desktop to find it. Thank you! 

I put in minimum bids on several cabins but not all of them. Later I thought maybe it wouldn’t hurt to bid on the rest.  Those options no longer show up. Is there a way to get back to the original cabins that were available to bid on? 

I have two that are in the partial refund category. One was refunded exactly 50% and the other was refunded exactly 75%. Both were refundable deposits canceled outside final payment. In both cases there were separate payments combined to make the deposits. I had 4 other refundable deposits that were refunded in full. Those deposits were all made with a single payment. The deposit that was refunded by half was back on March 17. After waiting two months for the other half I called today. Royal wouldn’t talk to me because it was a TA booking. The TA sent out an email saying not to call them just call Royal. Called the TA and they say call Royal. Royal again won’t talk to me. After an hour on hold with the TA, someone finally talks to me. They say we’ll fix it, refund coming. I’m doubting the other half will ever be refunded. Thinking of going the credit card dispute route. The other partial refund was just received 2 weeks ago. Based on experience I figure the rest is not coming.  I’ll start calling for that one soon.  
 

It was painful having to cancel all these reservations. I had secured great cabins at good prices. Some were Allure out of Galveston 2021-22. Although they are still selling these sailings, I don’t see that terminal being built and any of these actually happening. I also canceled fall 2020 because I don’t think they will sail. I hope I’m wrong about this and have to rebook. 
 

I can’t wait to start cruising again. I do hope it will still be enjoyable with all the likely restrictions. My booking habits, however, will be forever changed. No more booking 1-2 years in advance for us. If I have to take a cabin in a bad location and pay higher prices then that’s the way it has to be. Maybe even a bit more exciting to book and actually get to travel right away. 

May 10 sailing appears to have St Martin added also. I think I like this change. While staying on the ship is no substitute for a true sea day, I think we will pick a day and do just that. Of these port stops, which would you pick to stay on the ship and why?

St Thomas 

St Kitts

Antigua

Barbados

St Lucia

St Martin

St Lucia is a must see for us. So that one is a port day for sure.