dragontrainer

Food is subjective, but our waiters and assistant waiters get to see general reaction to items daily. Have you had the dining staff advise you against an item when ordering? We can see if there are common culprits, or if food is so subjective that nearly everything on the menu has been noted by a waiter as something to avoid. We were strongly steered away from the Vegan Cheesecake (the waiter was quite apologetic but didn't even want to bring it out), we ordered something else. I also saw on another thread the Oat Bar was noted as no one liking it by a waiter. I'll give honorable mention to the Pork Enchiladas. The waiter checked with me after I finished it asking if I wanted something else since it often is not good. In this instance the one I got was quite good, but apparently they often come out hard or cold). Any items you've been encouraged to avoid? (This post is meant more as a light, fun topic to see when dining staff have seen enough negative reactions to suggest diners choose a different route, no offense is meant to those that enjoy these items).

I'm going to be the person that doesn't have direct experience with your ship but answers in generalities anyway. From our experience, Adventure Ocean will often have the "professional staff" areas where you can drop off children, but will also have an area with toys that are open to anyone to use. I don't know that I'd call the ones I've seen a "playground" but they had dedicated space (e.g., enclosed room with doors) with toys. I don't think there was a maximum age to use it, so there is the typical concern of older kids (e.g., 3-5) running around in the same space, but I'm guessing you're getting used to that in normal life. If you struggle to get any direct answers from people you could try watching a video of Adventure Ocean specific to Ovation to see what it looks like. It appears Aventure Ocean spans two decks for Ovation, so I think it's likely there will be some kind of play area (I scanned through one video quickly and it looked like the lower level had at least one room that had a small climber/slide). Another thing you could see if they offer (or if it went away with Covid) are kids items you can "check out" and take back to your room. I believe they had bags with either books, or kids toys in the past, but I don't recall the specifics. The staff had to sanitize things after use, so I wouldn't be surprised if they did away with this, but it's work checking. Beyond what you asked, we tried to learn early where highchairs were in any dining venue. I felt the crew went out of their way to help out people with young kids. Our son was 19 months on his first cruise and we were able to do the main dining room for dinner. This was before the more streamlined menus and dinner took 2 hours a night, which was a struggle at that age and there were times one of us would have to leave early to avoid disrupting other passengers. Good luck and enjoy your cruise!

Are the pool tables (and other table games) free to play in Playmakers? If not, is it just a "swipe your card" to pay (I doubt people are carrying around quarters).

We contacted web services about a similar request. This was 2020 for Oasis, so others may have updated information. Our children were 5 and 7 at the time and we were interested in moving the 5-year-old up to the 6-8 group. We were given similar information to what smokeybandit mentioned and I was able to find that e-mail: "It may be possible for both of your children to be in the same program in Adventure Ocean but it's up to the Adventure Ocean Team to make that decision" They also noted that, "Your 5-year-old will need to participate in two activities with his own age group before the team will allow him to move up to the next group." The online support was not able/willing to guarantee anything, which makes sense given they aren't the ones that have to work with the kids or know anything about them other than ages. "Once you get onboard, stop by Adventure Ocean and speak with the team concerning your desire... " I recall having the impression (or having read elsewhere at the time) that they didn't let older kids go back down with younger, but I can't find anything now specifically stating this. Given this was four years ago I would defer to any with more recent experiences, but since I still had the e-mail response, I figured I'd share what the communicated policy used to be.

Awesome, enjoy the trip and excursion!

You may have already looked at the sloth/monkey excursion in detail, but just in case, if you go into the enclosure with the capuchin monkeys, they jump all over people including climbing on your head (and will try to dig in the pockets and shirts of visitors). Seeing you have a 2-year-old I wanted to note it as I could see this being something they love, or are terrified of, just so you know what to expect.

Not OP, but I have been looking at a similar cruise and had been digging around in the Ports of Call. In case anyone here has additional experiences to share, the ports for the July Independence cruise are: Molde Skjolden Olden Haugesund (The one leaving end of June into July has Alesund in place of Skjolden).

Heights bother me a lot. I do not have meaningful issues with the Oasis class ships, and don't recall any significant issues with my first Oasis sailing. For me the most likely places that I notice it are the areas around the elevators that have art/sculptures that hang down from many floors up. As long as I don't stand right by the railing, I'm fine (in that area I'm worse looking up than down). Being on the pool/sports decks (15/16) I don't notice any height issues looking out at the water. I had to initially force myself to go on the zip line (it's maybe 10 seconds and goes over the boardwalk which is something like eight decks below, but the start to end drop is maybe 10 feet), but as hoped, doing it a number of times has taken away the height issues for that specific activity. Based on my experience, any height issues I had were no different on an Oasis ship than any other cruise ship. If you've been on other ships and been ok, I don't think the extra size/height of Oasis is going to be a vacation-defining problem for you.

It wasn't my intention to minimize this difference and I could have used more wordsmithing as I understand on re-read why you are taking offense. I really had started writing that as the notification popped up as I know it is a point of concern, so I'm happy to agree that it was wrong to call it splitting hairs.

Also, if you didn't catch them, there have been some recent more in-depth reviews on Harmony so if you have specific questions, or want to see recent pictures, check them out:

We were on Symphony in March and Harmony a few weeks ago. Other than having a less than stellar experience with the Coke Freestyle machines and service in the bars, the overall cruise experience was quite similar. From my standpoint, it's splitting hairs to find differences. You can't have a Harmony post without people pointing out there is no pool in the Solarium (Ah, I see one such post literally came as I was typing that!), which didn't impact us at all. There is no laser tag or shuffleboard on Harmony, but I doubt many are going to care. As shows go, I prefer Hairspray to Grease and Hiro to Fine Line (aqua shows), but that's subjective and the Harmony shows were still excellent. I'd say if you liked Symphony, you'll be quite happy with Harmony.

This may be the topic referenced above from a recent (and ongoing) trip report: I linked to the trip report at the end, and I copy/pasted the portion related to the Women of Wine to make it easier to find. If you had additional questions for their experience you could consider asking in the linked thread For clarity, I'm reposting from someone else's report, I have not participated. This was for Harmony; I don't have any feel for what differences may exist for Navigator. "Before dinner that night, we had a 4pm reservation for this Women of Wine wine tasting experience. This was given to us for free by the friend of mine who booked our cruise as a thank you. The wine tasting was done at Vintages, so we didn't have too far to go to get there. For those here that like wine, this would have been for you. As this was formal night, we were all dressed up going to the wine tasting. None of the Women of Wine were there, but we were treated to a video about each lady, their background, etc. There was also this small booklet that you were given which also had more info about them. Once each segment was played, the guy in Vintages imparted some interesting information about the wine we were about to taste (well, drink). There were 3 reds, 3 whites and one sparkling white - that was the first one we started out with. Additionally, each glass was placed in this circle on the circular mat to identify the vineyard/brand. I quite liked the sparkling wine! The other whites were sorta...eh..ok. I'm not much of a red wine drinker, so only took a few sips of each of those. You were also given a small charcuterie plate as well. My mother was pretty picky about the wines and maybe had a sip of each, but my sister pretty much downed them all except for this one white! I will say that the guy in Vintages who hosted this wine tasting did an amazing job! I learned quite a bit from him, especially when it came to German Riesling wines. The whole event took about an hour and 15 minutes."

18+ requirement for bottled water seems... interesting. I'm assuming they're concerned about people booking 4 to a cabin and Kids Sale Free, but I hadn't before noticed that booking kids under a full fare in the cabin don't qualify for water. "Congratulations on reaching Emerald kids, you get nothing!"

Excited to see the differences between Utopia and her sisters, thanks for bringing us along with you. Go Bills!

Show reservations will open sometime before sailing, there does not appear to be any good way to guess when exactly this will be. I've seen people say 30-60 days. Our Harmony August 25th sailing had reservations open on June 21. I think I saw the next sailing (Sept. 1) didn't open until a few weeks before the cruise left. You are reserving a space, not a specific seat. There will typically be two lines, a reservation line and a non-reservation (standby) line. Reservations were allowed in 30 minutes before (maybe up to 45, I'm not certain on initial opening time). Non-reservation were allowed in ~15 minutes before showtime, so even with a reservation you likely want to be there at least that early. Most shows you can get in without a reservation (the adult comedy show which is in a smaller club venue generally seems the least likely to get into without reservation). For Harmony 7-day sailings there will be: Grease 1887 (Ice Show, I may not be exact on the name/date) Fine Line (Aqua Show) Columbus (Main theatre Royal musical production) Adult Comedy We just check daily to see if reservations have opened yet, sometimes someone will post in the Roll Call on this site when they see them open. Shows largely follow the same schedule on the same itineraries, so you could look at reviews of similar cruises to see if someone posts a picture of the schedule or go into the app and set it to the current cruise (person icon --> Select a Different Cruise --> Don't See Your Cruise / Let's Add it Now). I went through ahead of time, wrote down all the times, and had it planned out before shows opened so we didn't have to optimize vs. dining time on the fly. There was a second ice show (iSkate) and second aqua show (Big Daddy's Heist) later in the cruise that didn't have reservations, you just walk in (I assume those timeslots may be held in case the main show for the venue needs to be rescheduled). There are some activities that don't appear in the app until after you board, for example, there are free ice-skating times you can book sometime after getting on the ship. If you have multiple cruise booking reservations they can be linked together and one person can book for everyone (or they can do it themselves). I recall doing the reservations on the website was easier than the app. A final note, if you weren't aware, the app is heavily used these days for Royal, if you don't have it, you'll want to download it (well, you may not "want" to download it, but it is largely expected you will have it).

I have not followed the world cruise thread closely so feel free to send me there is this was discussed: was there a "vibe" concern/issue with crew coming in and out of contracts? The last few posts focus on passenger changes, did that end up being the big driver for vibe changes? I could imagine having the same waiters, stewards and entertainment staff for 3/6 months and having new people come in could be a change over time as well. I doubt, even for a 6-month cruise they would try to align all the crew contracts (but I could be wrong about that) so this would come up on a future world cruise.

I'm looking forward to seeing your thoughts on the cruise, it turns out we were a couple rows down the hall from you (towards the front) and walked by your door many times a day! I stressed to our two kids to be respectful of others while going to the room and am hopeful they never ran you over or were overly loud.

I would agree with that 5-10 years ago, but based on parks around us, and especially the lines on Symphony and Harmony recently, pickleball is right in the Royal family target and age demographics. Parents and grandparents are bringing kids to ice skating on the ships, but they're actually lining up and playing pickleball with them (in 10-minute bursts). Friends that are in the 30s-40s single dating scene tell me pickleball has become a popular meetup and get-to-know-you activity. And if you can tell the HAL crowd they can play pickleball and take their grandkids on a cruise together? It'd be like printing money.

Based on the demand we've seen for pickleball on ships, they could turn Studio B into just pickleball courts and the pool deck and waterslides into the ice skating venue. Discovery #2 could be launched as Pickleball of the Seas and be the most profitable ship in the fleet.

Huh, interesting location for Crown Lounge. I'm sure people will be thrilled with the ringing bell from the carousel. I'm somewhat surprised they are keeping Boardwalk Donuts. I'm a big fan of doughnuts, but not the ring of bread they serve on RC ships under the name "donut". It doesn't take a ton of space and must make others happy...

We were on the most recently completed (Aug. 25th) Harmony sailing (7-day western itinerary). Lobster night was Day 6. This was a change from what the app had been showing leading up to the cruise. It had been showing a UK night (which I was looking forward to), but then once the cruise started the menu reverted to the more traditional set (with no UK). I believe this was the order (I'm not 100% certain now about the order of 2/3/4/5) 1. Welcome Aboard (or similar name - prime rib night) 2. France (formal) 3. Italian 4. Caribbean 5. Mexico 6. Lobster (formal - I don't recall the official name) 7. Bon Voyage

Much appreciated! I was using "debris" to include the rotor and helicopter itself, but your more full description far better captures the safety concern. Prior to the rescue I had always assumed the helicopter would land at the helipad so it was eye-opening when the captain described the procedure (as you describe it) after the fact. I hope to never make use of their skills, but marvel at what the rescuers (and ship crew) are able to achieve and am glad they are out there.

It's tangentially related to this topic, but given your valuable insights I would appreciate if you'd be willing to share your thoughts on another helicopter rescue topic. We were on Symphony during a helicopter rescue south of Puerto Rico. We had front facing oceanview rooms that have electronic window shades and a note to keep them closed at night to avoid light issues with the bridge. During the helicopter rescue they had people leave the rooms and posted a crewmember to keep people from entering these rooms. Would you have thoughts on the main concern they were addressing? There were discussions of various reasons among passengers on the ship; the main thoughts I've summarized below based on my guess of likelihood: - Safey of the rescuers: Avoid any chance people in the rooms could distract the rescue team that is trying to hoist an ill passenger onto a moving helicopter off of a moving ship (opening blinds, lights flashing/reflecting) - Safety of the passengers: If something catastrophic were to happen with the rescue, avoid anyone being in the closest rooms where debris could cause damage. - Privacy of person being rescued: People don't have a need to watch as someone in need of rescue is helped from the ship. Based on your experience would you have thoughts whether any of these, or other reasons, may be the key driver for evacuating the front facing rooms? Thank you!

It may be helpful to check this post if you haven't seen it:

I'm guessing you already looked, but any chance you/they kept SeaPass cards from trips? I know some people like to collect them. Even asking the question makes me wonder how far back beyond 15-years those even existed...