peacefrogdog

Doesn't the same thing happen with buffet food? Soft serve frozen yogurt? Samples along the promenade? All other "free" (included) food? Don't they get spilled sometimes?

 

And specifically with your example, wouldn't that free hotdog or sausage cause the same potential problem (spillage)?

Of course all food can get spilled in theory. But just recall your last experience in a movie theatre to see how bad we are at spilling popcorn. And who really spills a hotdog?

On our Dec 10th sailing, they did not offer whole lobster for free, nor the Fisherman's plate. They had broiled lobster tail on the last night.

I definitely agree! Popcorn is so cheap, and it would be such a nice gesture if they simply gave out popcorn for such events.

While nice, would end up meaning people would take popcorn without necessarily wanting it. Imagine what would get spilled onto the Aquatheatre seating area and boardwalk. With staffing seemingly already lower than before, then we'd all complain about how the Boardwalk or Theatre had so much popcorn on the ground.

Can live without popcorn. Happy to have the free hotdog or sausage just down the way.

Agree somewhat with OP. We have been on a total of 6 RC cruises and our recent Harmony cruise was the least enjoyable. Definitely noticed the cut back in staffing.

However it was still a great trip, not as good as previous cruises but a fun family trip. I can't say that things like the charge for popcorn or lack of little chocolates on our pillows ruined our vacation. But I can say we have tempered expectations for any future cruises we book. We will no longer expect them to be like they were 5 years ago, but it probably won't stop us from booking.

Our extended family of 17 is going on Anthem in July. We have a total of 8 cabins and we were able to all get assigned to fixed dining at 530 which was our choice.

We had the same arrangement leading up to our Dec cruise on Harmony but when we boarded we found out they switched all of us to my time dining. Because our group consists of both young kids as well as older people who need to take their supper medications with food, we want to best ensure this involuntary switch does not occur again.

What is the best contact for someone on the ship to best ensure they honor what we actually booked?

Charging for popcorn on RCI is not new. Was the case years ago too, but agree it's a money grab

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Definitely confirm things before you board. Our OBC didn't appear and no one on the ship could do anything about it themselves. They had to contact RCI on land .

Another pic of 12202

We were in that exact cabin two weeks ago. Compared to our cabins on oasis and allure we thought this cabin was better. Here is a pic of the larger balcony

I'm sorry if I missed it in another post but did you get this straightened out?

Yes , but without the ship's assistance. I posted on Royal's Facebook page and someone reached out to me to try and settle it. It turns out that the e-certificate can only be given to passengers who are American, and my mother is Canadian. They vowed to give me a refund. Not clear why they didn't let me know about this in the three months between me purchasing the credit and the actual cruise.

From what I have seen from photos posted, the ocean balconies have a small, low table - like maybe to set a drink on. The neighborhood balconies have the larger round tables that all balconies on Oasis used to have. My daughter and I will be in our second Central Park Balcony, and I was relieved to see the larger tables in the pix. We spent a lot of time playing cards, Scrabble, and using our iPads on the table on our Oasis CP Balcony last February. Would have been disappointed with the small tables I've seen on the Harmony ocean balconies.

Hopefully this gives an idea of the tables

So is there a vitality spa cafe on the Anthem?

So to confirm: prior to the cruise, we could book a table for 9 for the same time everything night in MTD online, and do a separate reservation for a table of 8 for the same time. Then once we board we can go to the MTD desk and request for those two tables to be close to each other ?

We are sailing on the Anthem this July. We have a large group, total of 17 people among 7 different cabins.

We prefer to be seated in traditional dining for the early seating, but currently half of us are assigned to my time dining due to lack of availability. Initially we debated just waiting longer to see if anything opens up. However we were recently on the Harmony, and while we were booked for traditional dining, the ship bumped us out. Thus, I'm concerned that even if we all end up getting traditional dining before the cruise that once we board that could be nullified by the ship.

How does it work to book reservations for My Time Dining? Can we book the same table and time on the cruise planner before our sailing? Can we do it and link all 7 reservation numbers?

Just for comparison purposes, I just checked the Breakout Escape location where I live and most of the rooms are $24 per person. There was a special of $18 for one of the rooms.

 

 

 

We had a work outing there and I did 2 of the rooms. I wish it only cost $9, because I would do it more often. It is a lot of fun.

Agree. $9 is a bargain for an escape room. I had no issue in paying for something that is not on other cruise ships.

The charge is no doubt to make sure people show up. We were told they would not run it if less than 6 showed up. Having done the room I think you do need that minimum to have a chance of escaping. It would likely be much more of a headache to charge people for a no show.

i waas wondering if someone could answer this question we are going on the harmony feb 18 we are a group ofr 11 my daughter just looked and we can book the rubicon and it is 8.95 is this the escape room everyone is talking about?

FYI you can only book kids aged 14 and over. I couldn't even select my 12 yr olds for this activity on the cruise planner.

Having the drink package, I took full advantage of ordering the freshly squeezed juices and smoothies at the Vitality cafe on Harmony. I will be on Anthem this July. Do they have something similar there? I didn't immediately see it on the deck plans online .

Friends who have done all three "sisters" say OA and AL seem less crowded and over-all better organized than HOTS. We were a bit disappointed on HOTS in several ways and are going on AL in Feb. for a comparison. Did OA several years ago and remember it not seeming crowded.

We had quite a few staff voluntarily tell us they had applied to be in oasis or allure because those were the 'happier' ships, but ended up on harmony. I'm guessing these little wrinkles have an impact on staff morale who have to bear the brunt of passenger frustrations.

I have also been on all 3 sisters, and I would put them in order of preference as Allure, Oasis and then Harmony.

 

 

 

They ruined Harmony with that ghastly purple eyesore and forgetting to put a pool in the Solarium IMHO.

 

It also seemed to be a 'cheaper' build to me - no wooden horses in the entrance to Broadwalk, no doughnut shop, tiny little gift shop.....

 

 

 

Lets hope they make necessary alterations and corrections to Oasis IV

Didn't they get rid of the donut shop (and the cupcake cupboard) in all three oasis class ships?

My kids also missed those things near the elevators where you look inside a lens to see a small piece of art

Thanks for the heads up! Our family is going on Harmony next summer after being on Allure. Good things to know!

 

 

 

Did you do the Rubicon (escape room)? My kids are anxious for it as well as the Abyss and waterslides.

Only my 14 yr old could do the Rubicon, but it was one of the favorite parts of the cruise. They liked the Abyss but they don't talk about it as much as the waterslides in terms of reasons to go back

Awesome. did you take WestJet?

No we flew Air canada rouge, who were a bit of a pain. I suspect checking into westjet will be easier and less time consuming

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Just got off the Dec 10-17th sailing on Harmony. Rather than post a complete review, I thought I'd write my experiences on Harmony as compared to past cruises on Oasis and Allure. Perhaps it will be helpful to those who have done one of the older ones, and are debating whether to book harmony.

A bit about us: we are a family of 5 with 3 kids now aged 14, 12 and 12. We also typically travel with my older parents. We have previously sailed on Allure in 2011, Oasis 2012 and Allure again 2014. In general we like the bigger ships because of what is offered for our family, and didn't find much difference between Allure and Oasis. We are Platinum members, and typically book adjoining balcony cabins, so have never experienced Suite benefits. We tend not to go to Specialty restaurants, and typically stay on the ship rather than do excursions.

When making these comparisons, I realize that some may be more due to changes at RCI in general rather than the ships themselves. I will comment mainly on the differences I experienced and perceived between Harmony and Oasis/Allure.

Disembarkation

On Oasis/Allure we could start boarding around 10:45 - 11. Even though we were platinum, we always got on by 11, went to a near empty Park Cafe, ate lunch, and got up to the pool deck that was fairly empty. On Harmony however, boarding didn't start until 11:30-11:45. Thus by the time the Platinums could board, there were more people already waiting. By the time we got there, there was a lineup out the door at Park Cafe and Windjammer was packed.

Advantage: Oasis/Allure (although this may not have to do with the ship itself, and may be a port thing)

Cabins

Whereas Oasis/Allure have that pastel, "Florida" look, Harmony rooms looks classier, a bit more modern and the storage is a ton better.

Also, whereas on Oasis/Allure the deck chairs are those ones that have the plastic ribbon like things running across, we had actual loungers on Harmony that reclined.

Only negative on Harmony was that out of the three cabins we had booked in total, two of them had sliding balcony doors that were either very difficult to open, or emitted a constant whistling sound even when locked shut.

Advantage: Harmony

Ability of cruise ship staff to help

Big difference here. While we had a great wait staff and room attendant, on Harmony no one could help me with anything. Some examples:

- I purchased onboard credit for my mother as a gift, but it didn't appear on her account. Tried to get guest services to help, to which they responded with many different replies including: "just wait another 48 hours and your credit will appear", "you must not have actually purchased the OBC", "you didn't activate it in time". Not once did they actually consider I purchased the OBC properly. They all assumed I did something wrong.

- By day 5, all my kids sea passes stopped working. Guest services was quick in issuing new ones, but all had issues: one didn't work, the other allowed room entry, but when scanning elsewhere it was not associated with my daughter's name or picture. When going back to guest services, we were told that either it takes 24 hours for changes to appear, or we were using the cards wrong, or that they will contact someone from "tech" who will get back to us.

- No one could explain why suddenly, one of our specialty dining ressies was cancelled from our accounts.

Overall the staff were trying to be helpful, but they always spoke as if any thing that wasn't going well was my fault. No one accepted responsibility for anything, and seemed to come up with a reason for me to just go away, usually by saying "wait another XX minutes and it should be ok". Every day on Harmony, the guest services line was huge. I never saw that on Oasis/Allure other than on embarkation day or the last day.

Advantage: Oasis/Allure in a big way

Main dining room - supper

I know the common sentiment is that Harmony food is not as good, but we were quite happy with it as well as the service. We are not foodies by any means, but I think we know what is and is not good food. None of the MDR meals were ones I would describe as being memorable, but if I had ordered any of what I ate at a restaurant at home, I would have been happy with it.

Advantage: Draw

Main dining room - breakfast/lunch

We loved going to the MDR for break/lunch on past cruises because it was relaxing. Everyone seemed happy, it was nice to sit down and not have to worry about the crowds.

On Harmony, we didn't get that feeling. Granted we didn't go there everyday, but we went, they offered a buffet that was similar to Windjammer. You could still order off the menu, but if you did, it took a long time to get your food. For example, 35 minutes to get Eggs Benedict.

Advantage: Oasis/Allure

Windjammer

WJ was a zoo on Harmony, albiet not much more than Allure/Oasis. Biggest difference was that the circle format of the pods on Harmony created more traffic, especially on embarkation day or other busy times. From what I recall Allure/Oasis stations seemed to flow better.

Advantage: Oasis/Allure

Boardwalk& Central Park

Pretty much the same, although the Boardwalk Dog House only served four possible sausages, whereas on our past Allure sailings there were 8 or so. This may be fleet wide.

Otherwise, Harmony seemed to show less sports and movies on the Aquatheatre screen, likely because the first few water shows had to be cancelled on days 1-2 and were rescheduled for later days.

Advantage: Toss up

Royal Promenade

Not a ton of differences. On previous sailings, there was a separate coffee section, and another line to get food or specialty drinks. A minor hinderance on Harmony was at Cafe Promenade, there was one continuous line to get coffee or food. This resulted in often long lineups for Cafe Promenade especially after shows were let out. Not a huge issue, but I always remembered CP as being the place that was the least hassle. Not so much on Harmony.

I expected the Bionic bar to be a novelty the first night, and then we would ignore it. However, my kids and I ended up using it every night. It helped that we had the RR package, so we could order any non-alcoholic drink for free. So it was an ok way to spend some time.

Definitely noticed more people stopping us to try different drinks, or handing out coupons or tickets for raffles, although this made be fleet wide.

Toss up.

Pool decks

We are happy to spend time on the cruise sitting on the pool decks, while the kids play.

Of course, the water slides, even though they weren't the best we've been on, were a hit among the kids. In the past, we used to sit near the old kids area the H20 zone, when it not only had spray stuff but also had a whirly-pool. But on Harmony, the kids area seems to be more targeted to younger kids with more climbing stuff and mini slides, such that kids 8 and above are less likely to use it. Due to the winds, the sprays coming from those kids slides prevented anyone from wanting to sit near that area. I never saw anyone sitting in that section and it seemed like a bit of wasted potential seating space.

My kids had a bit of an issue of the ice cream/frozen yogurt being available for fewer hours on Harmony.

Advantage: Harmony (for the water slides)

Shows

We saw Hairspray and Chicago on the older ships, and Grease on this one. Thought they were comparable.

The Fine Line show on Harmony seems to be more Stomp-like dancing, with less diving compared to the Aqua show on Allure which we enjoyed more.

We've skipped out on skating shows on both so can't compare.

Toss up.

Technology

While all ships have digital signage near the elevators, on Harmony I missed what was on Allure/Oasis which showed how busy each of the restaurants were at that time. Harmony showed basic information like what was going on, and directions to things, but being familiar with this class of ship, I missed the older sign ate.

The Royal IQ app, to me, was like a handheld version of the elevator signage. It did show what activities was going on, but neither had information like what times each restaurant opened, what times regular things like the Flowrider or walk climbing wall were open or closed.

Advantage: Oasis/Allure (just for the elevator signs showing restaurant business).

That's all I can think of for now. If I didn't mention a category it's probably because differences weren't significant enough to notice. Feel to ask about anything else specific.

Ours had haddock and not mahi mahi but sounds right

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We just got off Harmony and had the exact same departure time for our flight to Canada. Around day 3 we got slips in our cabin to indicate when we wants to disembark based on our flight. We chose the earliest slot that didn't require us to carry our luggage. We ended up getting number 8, and we were at the airport by 845 am.

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MrsKCo8 - Do you remember what night the Roasted Garlic Soup was offered in the MDR?

On the dec 10-17 eastern it was offered day 4.

I will say that the timing of the menus did change during the actual cruise. Eg the original day 6 menu got shifted to day 7

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