BadgerFBfan

Thank you to everyone who replied. We definitely appreciate the input and perspectives. We're excited for our next adventure!

16 hours ago, 1Virgo said:

oh 1 more. Visit Perlan. It looks like a giant dome, but has a fantastic panoramic view from top, naturally a gift centre but also explains how they use thermal technology to heat.  Lots to learn and see.  Now I want to go back

Sounds awesome. We'll definitely keep this in mind. Thanks!

16 hours ago, 1Virgo said:

we did a walking tour with City Tours. Just Amazing.   a typical Icelandic lunch was included. Great guide.  Actually DH and I said we would do that again.  

We'll have to look them up. We've loved the food/drink/walking tours we did in Barcelona and San Juan. Thanks!

18 hours ago, kathynorth said:

Have you considered renting a car to DIY or taking day trips via a tour company during precruise? IMO the more precruise days you can manage the better. There's lots to see and do outside of Reykjavik. 

Wife has indicated she really would like us to rent a car pre-cruise, so very likely we'll go outside Reykjavik and possibly the Golden Circle. Thanks for the input - appreciate it!

18 hours ago, kwokpot said:

I thought the Penis Museum in Reykjavik was a unique and fun way to spend 30-45 minutes at. Certainly something not to be found elsewhere. 

Have to admit, wife and and I LOL'd at this one, but it just might make it to the final cut (so to speak). Thanks for the great suggestions!

Experienced cruisers (see signature) doing 7 night Iceland Intensive cruise on the Silhouette in July 2025. Probably flying into Reykjavík 2-3 days prior. All previous Celebrity cruises have been in Retreat (Magic Carpet/Sky Suite). This time we elected to go with Veranda room. Probably will do the premium dining package.

Couple of questions:
1. What is not to be missed in our pre-cruise visit to Reykjavík? Restaurants? Attractions? We're active, fairly fit and in good health.
2. Since we've done only E class ships, what are your favorite dining, bar, or other places on the S class ships? I have read threads on dining, but I like hearing personal preferences and experiences.

Thanks in advance!

Nice, balanced review. We got off the Apex March 30th. We were in a Sky Suite, so not quite comparing "apples to apples", but we found the staff throughout the ship to be friendly, accommodating, and helpful. Food we found to be better on Celebrity than RCCL, where we previously cruised the most. We also had the premium drink package, and probably didn't quite get our "money's worth" from it, but like you we like not thinking about account balances while we're on a cruise. 

I would highly encourage you to not miss the last two shows of the cruise. They were SPECTACULAR (this from a guy who never wanted to go to the shows).

Enjoy your last days on board!!

It appears that you will only see this "..once you're on board..", which leads me to believe that the app changes slightly when connected to the ship's WiFi, in that additional features appear in the app that don't appear when not on board. So the email appears to be a bit misleading.

We received an email regarding preparing for our cruise, and the email stated we can start Muster 2.0 in the app (see screenshot). Anyone know where to find this in the app? I've looked all over and can't seem to find it.

Thanks in advance!

Nice review. We're on Apex in Retreat suite on 3/23/24. After so much negativity/trollng by some, its nice to hear a balanced, fair review. We also find the staff amazing, hard-working, great people. Just be nice to people - its surprising how people are willing to help you if you just treat them nice instead of complaining. 

Going to St. Lucia on the Serenade OTS in November 2018, and am looking at possibly playing St. Lucia Golf and Country Club while there. Looking for impressions of the course from anyone who has played there within the last year or so. Thanks in advance!

Thanks for the review. Wife and I are Diamond on RCL and have been thinking of crossing over to X, now that our son is in college. You've given some great and comparable insights that will help us decide.

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Got to agree with you, Hoopster95. We were also on this sailing and wife, son, and I thought Wonderland was a definite highlight, and Vinko was great. Definitely a do not miss experience!

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Highly recommend the Pan Pacific. Cruise terminal in lower level. In the heart of everything.

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Thanks fellow BadgerFBfan for the great review (Go Bucky!).

 

 

 

I'm guessing from your review that you bought the 4 or 5 night specialty dining package' date=' right? If so, I understand that it only allows you to make reservations once on the ship. Did you have any difficulty making reservations once on board? Did you use the kiosks, the Royal app or go to the restaurants? Any other particular suggestions?

 

 

 

Thanks.[/quote']

 

 

We actually booked all of our dinner reservations online before we boarded and paid for them before boarding. That was a bit of a mess. We had some issues with making reservations when we wanted because the online system requires two hours for your dining experience. That conflicted with several shows we wanted to see. We ended up calling Royal Caribbean and they helped us out, but did not mention anything about the dining packages available. After a lot of back-and-forth, we were able to get in touch with the restaurant manager who works out of Jamie's Italian restaurant on board the harmony of the seas and were able to get a bit of a refund. We dined in the specialty restaurants every night. The app will not let you book anything within a two hour period for dining if it conflicts with something you've already scheduled. We found that most dinners lasted one hour to one and one half hours. If you are going to make reservations on board, I suggest you do it immediately upon boarding. And definitely go to Wonderland. Request Vinko as your server. #OnWiscsonsin

 

 

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Hey Silky. This is as good a time as any to mention a little bit about the Abyss slide view affecting the Boardwalk balcony....I hate to say this, but I think your view may be more compromised than mine. Note this first photo below. My cabin is the 3rd from the bottom against the Climbing Wall, and it also the cabin where the slide is at the most center of the Boardwalk, thus the farthest away from my balcony giving me a lot of open space... does that make sense? I think I got lucky when booking as I believe deck 10 (and 11) is the very best view with the slides farthest away from you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deck 12 is immediately under the bridge. The slide will wrap up closer to your balcony thus covering a little more of your view than me. Also, immediately aft and to your right you have the control booth right there beside you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's my view looking directly out at the slide as it wraps away from my balcony and upwards, thus giving me a lot of open space to look aft.... note in my other pics in the first post when I stand to the very aft of my balcony I get an almost unobstructed view aft of the Aqua Theatre and beyond. I think the slide opens up at the top and might affect your view a bit more as it reaches the top. Seriously though, you get used to it no problem and added to the charm in my opinion. I loved it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yep! I had the 4 night dining package as well as my D+ BOGO... in fact I did only one evening in MTD and an interesting major fail happened on that night! I'll explain when I get there on night #6.

 

 

 

Anyhow, yep I did Wonderland on night #3. I'll have pics and a review of Wonderland later on. It was very cool experience and one of our faves on the ship. Ask for a waiter named Vinko if you can... totally entertaining and a great server. He has a deep voice like Vincent Price and a great demeaner so he added to the whimsical atmosphere of the place and the food as he described everything. Also, we started to ask him about the menu and what to order, and he said "let me take care of you. I'll bring out the courses for you and make your dinner special"... we did not order anything.... he just brought out all the courses of the most interesting and popular choices as we went. It was fabulous. :D

We also were on this cruise and also had Vinko as our waiter. He was fantastic. We thought our meal and presentation were the best we've had in years. Thoroughly enjoyed it!

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Enjoyed reading your cruise review. Thanks for sharing your trip with us!

 

What hotel did you stay at?

We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Pier 66 Hotel.

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Park Cafe. Royal Kummelweck not to be missed!

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Just came back today from Harmony. Wonderland, Wonderland, WONDERLAND! Best, most interesting meal wife and I have had in years. 19 year old son was impressed.

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Day 4

Woke up to two ships in port next to us that we had been on - Jewel and Grandeur. Interesting comparison between the three. Breakfast at Mini-Bites, wake the son, fuel him with a can of Red Bull and an egg sandwich, and we were off.

We've been to St Maarten multiple times. We decided to rent scooters and tool around the island, since our son wanted to do this. Just outside the ship was Johnny's Scooter & ATV rentals. He was out of scooters and ATVs, so he made a call and found a friend who also rented scooters. We waited quite a while, and just when we were about to give up, his friend picked us up to take us to get our scooters. Place was a bit sketchy, and only could take cash ("our credit card processing is down"). I knew what was going on, so I played along. Cash it is. Thankfully we brought some extra cash.

Scooters were newer 125cc and were a bit beat up. But they functioned fine. Did a little riding, then stopped at Chesterfields for lunch and a cold beer. We had been there before, the food was very good and the view priceless for 3 people from Wisconsin in January.

After lunch my wife decided to do some shopping so son and I got back on the scooters and headed out to the airport. Wanted to see the place where the planes takeoff and land right over the beach. We eventually got there but no place at all to park, so we headed back.

Dinner that night was at Wonderland. Have to say, if you are into excellent cuisine and amazing presentation, by all means try this restaurant. Best meal I've had in many years. Vinko our server did a tremendous job of explaining each course. We received menus that were blank, with a "magic paint brush" with a dish of water, which revealed the selections when brushed water. The theme was earth, water, fire, ice, sea, with interpretation by the chef. Even our 19 year old son was impressed and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

To end the day, we went to the headliner show, which was 7th Heaven, a rock group from Chicago. They had a large following on the ship. We were in the upper balcony, and a disturbance occurred where, from what we could tell, several women got into an argument we think about some of them dancing and possibly blocking the view of others. Never ran into an argument like that at sea.

Day 5

San Juan, Puerto Rico. A quick breakfast and off the ship. We were only in port till 1:30pm, so we started walking the streets of Old San Juan. Love the beautiful architecture there. Stopped in an art gallery, and a very sweet woman who worked there began talking to us and our son. Bought a couple of paintings for our son, then off to lunch at Toro Salao in Old San Juan. I had the queso fundido, a 3 cheese with peppers dip with bread that was very good. Wife had vegetable flatbread and sangria, and son had mahi mahi tacos, both of which were good. A couple of souvenirs later, we were back on board.

Since we won another dinner at Jamie's Italian at the Meet & Mingle, we opted for a second dinner there. Glad we did, as I felt the second dinner was better than the first. Started with the vegetable plank, which had a hummus spread, grilled veggies and olives, a buffalo mozzarella, and sliced parmesean cheese. Very good. For entre I was stuck between a pear and prosciutto salad and truffle pasta. Our server suggested he will make small portions of each. Reminded me of earlier days of cruising, where if you couldn't decide, the server brought both. I thoroughly enjoyed both. Wife had salmon, which was tender, juicy, and flavorful. Son went with the burger. Asked to compare it to his favorite burger (Flemings Steakhouse), he ranked it behind that, but very good.

After dinner, we went to the Love and Marriage game show. As always, it was hilarious and should not be missed on any cruise. After that, we went over to Studio B (ice skating rink), which they turned into a comedy venue for a last minute all ages comedy show because of the rough seas. Opening was Simeon (we had seen him on a previous cruise - very funny and topical). His Donald Trump impersonations were funny and very good. The headliner was Nery Saenz, also funny. Riffed on topics such as his weight, how he got his name, and working on a cruise ship while his stay at home wife is back with their young children. His "finding the poop" bit hit home with anyone who has had kids or pets.

Day 6

Up early, sat on the balcony in the sunshine and warmth. In the distance, Labadee. Lots of activities scheduled today - kayaking, wave runners, dinner at Chops, comedy club. But first, our morning ritual - Starbucks.

Let me take this with opportunity to bring up something. While a cruise is usually "all inclusive" to some extent and you pay your gratuities, if you find someone that provides great service or gives you a smile when they're doing their job, tip them an additional $10 or $20 and thank them. You'd be surprised at how much the servers appreciate it, how they remember you when you come back. They work very hard for long hours, and just like everyone they want to be appreciated.

Made it ashore and over to the kayaking hut. After a brief overview of what we were going to do, we set off in our kayaks. Wife and son in one, me solo. Here's where my 55 year old, out of shape body began to catch up with me. Made it to the first stopping point, a bit tired but OK. At the second stopping point, where local craftsmen were peddling their arts, I had a cramp getting out of the kayak. Wife and son bought a few things from the locals. By the way, our guide was excellent about explaining that, if you didn't want to buy from them, you shouldn't feel obligated. But if you did, that was fine too. On the final leg, decided to let the son go solo while I paired up with my wife (in case I had another cramp, she could paddle my sorry butt back to shore). Despite it all, had a great time.

Off to lunch where they served a buffet style fair of hamburgers, hot dogs, ribs, etc. Just as we finished lunch, a storm blew through. I was amazed at how many people scrambled back to the ship, standing in line in the rain to get through security. We just stayed where we were, under a big structure, dry, while it poured down. Within 30 minutes it had passed.

Headed back to the kayaking hut (which was also where the wave runners were to meet), where we were informed that the wave runner excursions were canceled due to high waves. Son was a bit disappointed, as this was to be the "make up" activity for the golf being canceled in St Thomas. To his credit, he took it in stride. Stopped for a few scenic pictures on the way back to the ship. Wife decided to get a seaside massage up near the Dragon's Breath. She said the massage was AWESOME and the setting with the waves breaking in the background was fantastic.

Dinner was at Chops. Son and I had the filet mignon. Excellent. Wife decided to try the dry aged beef. While OK, not worth the upcharge in our family's opinion. Dessert was red velvet cake (very good) and a liquid chocolate center cake with carmelized bananas with ice cream on the side. Yummm-O!

After dinner, we had reservations for the comedy club. The comedians were once again Simeon and Nery (from the previous last-minute all ages show). Once again, we thought Simeon was better than Nery, but both were funny and we're glad we went.

Day 7

Final day, at sea. Top priority today is to get our on board account corrected. Somehow, even though we prepaid all of our specialty restaurant reservations before boarding the ship, we were charged $255 for a "dining package". I am hopeful this will get corrected; wife, not so much. (Side note:situation got resolved after multiple attempts).

Decided to step on the scale in the gym. We all weighed ourselves when we got on the ship, as a joke. This morning I stepped on it and it read 10 pounds more than when I got on! Ugh! No longer a joke.

Spent the day doing the things we didn't do yet. Water slides, zip line, etc. Then, dinner at 150 Central Park again (at son's request). We all tried something different than what we previously had. Wife and I split the filet mignon for two, son had the free range chicken. Filets were very good; chicken was good. We finished the night by stopping by the Aqua Theater, where 7th Heaven was performing. Fun cover band, overall OK. Quick nightcap at the Trellis Bar on deck 8 to see our favorite bartender, and that was for the most part the end of our cruise.

Summary:

In my opinion, The Harmony is a fantastic ship, with many dedicated crew members trying to provide exceptional service. It has some some crew members that need help with providing customer service to the guests. Would I do it again? ABSOLUTELY! Was it perfect? No. But what in life is perfect?

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Just got back from a 7 day cruise on the Harmony of the Seas. Before I give you all my thoughts, some background on us might be helpful.

We are from Wisconsin, where we left behind 7 degree Fahrenheit temperatures, and are Diamond. Wife (54, 14 cruises) and I (55, 13 cruises) asked son (now 19, 5 cruises) last January what he wanted for a high school graduation present. Gave him multiple options but he opted for a cruise. Didn't have to ask us twice, so we started looking into cruises available during what would be winter break from college. Decided on Harmony for week of 1/7/17, with fly down on Thursday, 1/5/17 and stay pre-cruise at Hyatt Regency Pier 66 in Fort Lauderdale. As you can imagine, we are so grateful we avoided the tragedy that occurred at the airport the following day.

Flight from Milwaukee to FLL was easy, and after a brief delay on the tarmac, we got our luggage and headed out to meet our Uber pickup. The staff at the hotel was great, with the hotel showing age but overall good (not great). It was cool to see all of the yachts, including the 7 Seas, the $184 million former Steven Spielberg yacht. Wow! Spent the next day walking around the area surrounding the hotel, and ate lunch at 15th Street Fisheries (great lunch), then dinner at the Boatyard (good to very good).

Embarkation Day

Woke up and checked my email, and another member of Cruise Critic that my son and I had planned on golfing with in St Thomas emailed me to let me know there was an itinerary change due to the weather. Nassau and St Thomas out; San Juan and Labadee in. Guess I no longer needed the golf clubs I lugged along anymore.

Boarding was easy. Arrived to the port about noon for our 12:30pm scheduled appointment. When we got to check-in, the agent said our room was changed. We had booked a large interior stateroom. Uh-oh. Now we would be in #8204. We didn't think much about it initially and didn't notice the detail until we were in one of the lines to board. That's when I noticed the words "ocean view w/ balcony" on our temporary sea pass. Holy cow! The upgrade fairy has struck! A free room upgrade from large interior stateroom to outside ocean view balcony. The irony is, we gave our son an option of balcony or $150 spending money when we booked the room. He took the $150. He got the best of both worlds. One minor inconvenience was our luggage still had the tags (printed weeks earlier) for our old room#. Eventually they showed up. Again, no biggie.

First night we went to Sabor Taqueria. I had a build your own taco. The meat (pork) was in a liquid and was a bit chewy and soaked the tortilla. Wife had jalapeño shrimp, which she liked, and son liked his build own taco ($23 plus tip total). My recommendation is, don't bother. While service was great, food was average. A couple night caps and we called it a night.

Beds were a bit more firm than we remember. Storage is much improved. We opted for the onboard chat/phone feature for $7.95 per device. The Royal iQ app with the chat/phone feature was OK for messaging each other on board, but app does need some work as does the reliability of the My Calendar function. After the first couple days, this feature worked more reliably. But it definitely was better than a walkie talkie or leaving a note in the stateroom on where you are. Also sprung for the Voom internet option for son's smartphone. He said it was pretty good overall. Worth the investment if you need to stay connected.

Day 2

Wife and I went to the Windjammer early (7:00am). Was typical buffet food. After breakfast, my wife left for yoga. She does yoga regularly, and decided to cancel the remaining classes she was signed up for. The instructor was not very good at all. Also the spinning class she signed up for immediately following yoga was overfilled and no bikes were available. She was not a happy camper about this, to say the least.

We went to the Meet & Mingle in Dazzles on deck 8. They had coffee and pastries, and drawing for various door prizes. We won dinner for 2 at Jamie Oliver's. Unfortunately the cabin crawl was canceled due to the organizer not being there. Was looking forward to that.

Spent part of the afternoon on balcony relaxing.

Dinner was at Jamie's Italian. Started with the meat plank (good). I had the Penne Carbonara (good), son had risotto (good), and wife had prawns (again, good). For dessert son had tiramisu, which he said was good, and I had ice cream with hot espresso (very good). While I don't consider us food "snobs", it takes more than average to get beyond "good" with us.

Day 3

After yesterday's rough sea day, the weather finally started to give us a break. Seas calmed a bit and even some sunshine with warmer temperatures. Went to the Solarium for a "healthier" breakfast. Wife enjoyed it a bit more than me. Son still sleeping, of course. Used the walking/running track in a futile effort to counter act the thousands of calories consumed the previous 4 days. Walked 8 laps, 3 miles. Almost noon. Time for a cocktail? Maybe....

Dinner was at 150 Central Park. On the Harmony they've changed the format. When we were on the Oasis, it was a seven course, chef's choice meal. We personally liked that, as we have no food allergies and like to be surprised. On Harmony, it's a more traditional 3 course, choose each course meal. We had excellent recommendations from our server, which we went with for the most part. Lobster gnocchi, beet salad, duck confit for appetizer and braised short ribs and black cod as entrees. All were excellent and well worth the up charge.

Later, we had reservations for the Fine Line show in the Aqua Theatre. I recommend getting there 20-30 minutes early, as we arrived 5-10 minutes early and ended up in the "splash zone". To us, not a big deal. Got splashed a little bit. Absolutely a fabulous show. They had a minor technical issue where they had to stop the show briefly, and they were apologetic. Something with one of the aerialist's harness. But safety first! Again, recommended highly!

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Amazing, well crafted piece. We board Harmony today, and our thoughts are with everyone affected, be they families of those taken too soon, the first responders, or those in any way involved with the airlines or cruise lines. A heartfelt thank you to all involved.

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Agree with tlatrice! Worthy of a mic drop![emoji441]

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Boarding Harmony Saturday! Will have to look for the "look at me" team member in the Aqua Theatre. Keep the review coming!

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We are boarding Harmony Saturday and wife will likely be doing the spinning classes. Will reply with details upon return.

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