rsharp83

I got excited for about 5 minutes today (wait, that doesn't sound right).

I was surprised and encouraged for about 5 minutes today. I happened to tap on my Royal Caribbean App on my phone just to see what (if anything) was there. Lo and behold, the complete listing of all activities for our sail date were loading up! Wow, like having OUR sailing cruise compass months in advance. We are sailing on Harmony, June 2, 2019. This week to our surprise all the show reservations became available for our sailing. So this was like a super bonus to have shows booked and a complete list of the rest of the activities. 

I immediately headed to my computer to pull up our show reservations and start filling in the blanks with all the other activities I wanted to highlight for the group that's sailing with us (51 people, lots of first timers) . And then the curse of Royal IT set in...the schedule on the app was a complete wreck. So wrong about so many things I cannot begin to list them all. But here are a few examples of what will be happening on our Harmony sailing if you believe the schedule on the app:

Love and Marriage will be held at least 3 times. One of those times it will be in the theater at the same time the Comedy Juggler Headliner is performing...so if you get on stage watch out for flying objects!

None of the main shows (Fine Line, Columbus, Grease, etc) are listed at all -- until day 7 when a bunch of them will be happening!

iSkate will be performed while we are still in port in St. Thomas. 

And speaking of St. Thomas we now get to dock at 8 am instead of Noon when our itinerary shows. (we have an issue that prevents an 8 am docking at St. Thomas but apparently the app fixed that!)

For some reason we dock at Coco Cay at 8 am but cannot leave the ship until 10:30?  (Is that really the case?)

Apparently we aren't having a Quest, it's not listed. But Battle of the Sexes will be held at least twice. 

And (THIS IS THE BIG NEWS) on Day 7 you can go at 11 am to Studio B and book your show reservations for the cruise that is almost over! TIME TRAVEL! Book shows that have already occurred! Could it be like the movie Ground Hog Day where we get to day 7 and then suddenly are transported back to day 1 and start our cruise all over again?  Please let it be Ground Hog Day! 

So, my excitement quickly turned to despair. Alas, no info that is reliable. I just hope that by the time we sail the app is working and correct. (and I really wish they would enable the texting feature on the app for Harmony before we sail.) 

My fear is that we will not really have any reliable information about our sailing until we actually get on board. The move to Port Canaveral is about a month before we sail. No other sailing before or after us has our exact schedule because we have the late port time in St. Thomas. That might throw several things off. If it was just me and the Mrs. or even a small group I wouldn't be so concerned...but with 51 people and a lot of first timers I really hoped to have a better handle on the schedule. 

Oh well, we are booked for the shows. That was the main thing. I'll keep watching the app for corrections as we move closer. 

Anyone else have experience with the app schedule being a mess?  (knowing Royal IT that is probably a stupid question). Maybe the better question is, "Does anyone have experience with the schedule on their app changing and improving as you get closer to your sail date?"

The Drag and Drop attachment seems to work fine. My concern is eating up my allowed storage --then what? 

The Insert Image from URL doesn't work at all. When I click Insert other Media I get the box to insert the URL link and when I paste a link into that box the box turns red and nothing further can be done. 

Trying to slog through the new site. I used Tapatalk all the time for multiple forums...So far the new site is inconvenient for mobile users. And Hello? Most of us these days are mobile users.   

It’s all going to change in just a few hours when Cruise Critic shuts down for an overhaul. Supposedly they are going to make sharing photos and videos easier than the unbelievable hassle it is now.

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Thanks for a fun review. I’ll likely never go on the President’s Cruise so this was an interesting read.

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Rsharp – how crowded was the pool area on sea days? I know it’ll be packed but were there loungers to be found anywhere in the vicinity? Doesn’t need to be by the pool or overlooking it but within a short walk to the Pool/Sky bars. ;):

Well, my insight here is limited. I don’t spend much time laying out. We lost one full sea day to rain and most of another sea day because DW didn’t feel well.

There did deem to be plenty of chairs on the upper deck. Solarium chairs were tough to come by.

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That’s a wrap folks! Thanks for following along. I’m happy to answer any questions.

In June of 2019 I’ll be sailing on Harmony with a big group that now stands at 57 people! It’s going to be crazy fun. And I’m super excited to say that one of those 57 people is FamilyGoBoston! She’s my cruise planning mentor.

We don’t know exactly how we are going to do our review but it will be fun to work together to share our experience of organizing a large group sailing.

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Relentless rain son sea day #2

Couldn’t resist the cupcakes!

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Cozumel

Rasta’s

Take a marker to Rasta’s and leave your signature!

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In Cozumel we docked next to Oasis as the sun was coming up.

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Another view of the Banana Mama at Coconuts.

Shrimp at Coconuts.

Maya Chan

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As we near the end of my review I will be posting pictures. Some with comments, some without.

You can get this drink without any package...it’s chocolate milk.

Right before the storm hit.

A seaside basketball goal on Roatan.

The Mexican alternative to Corona.

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We also did the family and friends cruise last Jan,good times. Our next Cruise will be Wife and myself, southern route out of San Juan on the Freedom. PS I like that KC CHIEFS uniform, GO CHIEFS.

How about those Chiefs!! And I got lots of compliments on the loud Hawaiian style Chiefs shirt. Several Texas Tech fans talked to me. And there were other KC peeps on board.

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We regularly sail from Galveston and would welcome a change in Schooner Bar.

 

 

 

Do you know who was in the pub and who was the band on board? Still lots of country?

There was a guitarist in the pub. He was good the few songs we listened to him.

There was a Caribbean band and a country band. The country band was more popular for sure.

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I thought Allure went there?

Allure does go to Roatan. The couple that died doing the zip line excursion this July was aboard Allure.

So if an Oasis Class ship is sailing out of Galveston then there’s a built in itinerary.

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I have a C-Pap machine. As many of you know electrical outlets on cruise ships are never where you need them. So of course an extension cord is always necessary. The ship will provide one if you need it.

But it’s always a tripping hazard. Our cabin steward had this nifty little trick. He used luggage departure stickers to secure the cord to the floor!

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A few words about the port at Costa Maya

Yes, this is a self contained “manufactured” experience. So those seeking authentic experiences (or at least as authentic as a cruise vacation gets) will likely need to go beyond the walls.

However, those that like the security of the port area and don’t want to spend money on excursions will find plenty to do. There are a multitude of shops. Eating and drinking are plentiful. There’s a large pool with a bar. There are areas for sunbathing. And it appeared that there was some kind of swimming with live fish thing going on.

You can easily spend your day here and have plenty of fun.

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Thanks for the kind words for Texans. There is a different vibe on Galveston cruises than Florida departures. Not saying better - just different. It's a little more laid back, you're going to see a lot more jeans and hear a lot of ya'll's. Passenger demographics are definitely Tx, Ok, NM, AZ and the Midwest. Not too many "yankees" ;)! We might be a little loud at times but I have noticed the rudeness and complaining is a lot less noticeable. We can't wait to get back to Liberty!

With the possibility of a new Royal port in Galveston and the rumored placing of an Oasis Class ship there I’d be strongly considering Texas sailings in the future.

Cozumel and Costa Maya already can handle the big ships. Not sure about Roatan.

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Thanks for the info on Maya Chan. I checked out the reviews at TripAdvisor and they are spectacular. We've been on 3 cruises, all with Carnival, and we've never done a non-cruise line sponsored excursion. We've never had much luck finding beaches on our own that weren't packed to the gills with no shot of getting a beach chair or umbrella. We're booked for LOS sailing date 1/20/19 and I'm looking forward to the trip to Maya Chan. Going to make our reservations soon.

You won’t be disappointed. Make your reservations soon because they do sell out!

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Interesting that you liked the Schooner Bar guy - other reviews have not been very kind. The consensus seems to be he talks too much and needs to play the music! Thanks for your opinion.

True, he is a talker. But I found him to be funny and a nice change of pace. He really works hard to involve the audience. But I can certainly see how he might put some people off with the chatter and the rearranging of the songs at times to elicit a laugh.

Liberty has the 70s Party and after seeing “Saturday Night Fever” how much more disco do you need on one cruise? I’m more than ready for the70s party to retire. But Liberty has an 80s party! CD Mark and Activities Director Enzo put it together themselves and its fun! Symphony also has an 80s party and they have a giant PacMan. No PacMan for Liberty but the 80s Party was a good time and a nice change of pace from the same old disco songs.

There were also some bartender shows on the Promenade where they flipped bottles all over the place while they made drinks. Worth watching for sure.

Quest was good, and our team won. One of the couples from the Love and Marriage game were our team leaders and the older couple were on our team as well. They were leading the charge for our Quest team and we basically kicked everyone else’s tails. There were a number of people that left before the game even started apparently already offended by the announcement that you would likely see some body parts during the game.

CD Mark did a great job with Love and Marriage. We had three couples who were all very funny and talkative. No stage fright in this crowd at all. Mark was a good as the host and was a good cruise director overall. His morning show with Enzo was a riot. But Enzo is leaving the Liberty at the end of September and he’s not sure where he will be next.

Enzo!

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The best show on board is the Cirque du Soleil-styled “In the Air.” If you enjoy Cirque shows, then this is a very enjoyable production. The aerialists are top notch and their section of the show is the best but other parts of the show are very good as well. The featured dancers make a return to the stage and put on another great dance performance. If you only go to one show on Liberty this is the one.

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We saw the ice show “Encore” and it was fine. It’s supposedly about theater around the world. Started off with Phantom of the Opera. A little Cats mixed was mixed in for popularity. Then we jumped back to the 1800s and did Carmen music. If that wasn’t obscure enough for most of the audience, we headed off to Russia for some tunes and then Japanese Kabuki theater. Finally, we head back to the USA and Vegas with a bit of Elvis and then the Hollywood Bowl for classic rock. It really didn’t make much sense but hey, at least at the end was songs you actually recognized. The skaters are always good on RCCL and they have to work in a pretty small space. I did see more falls in this show than I’d seen before but again, small space and on a moving ship.

We also saw “Saturday Night Fever.” I guess I never saw the actual movie. Just all the videos and clips of the dancing. Well, the problem is that most of the songs you know come early in the show. Then there are several story lines going on and none of them really get fleshed out very well in the stage production. I get it, shortened show, focus on the musical numbers and the dancing means that there is a lot of fill in the blanks on the storyline. Characters who seem to have little interaction are suddenly thrown into intense situations and are fighting other people and committing suicide. I had no idea any of that was in the movie. Then the story ends rather abruptly, and on a downer note with a song I’ve never heard before. That’s when the cast comes back out full force for a long ending and musical rewind of all the hit songs you are now going to hear again. It’s not terrible but it’s not the best show on the ship for sure. The featured dance couple (not the main characters) are fantastic and they really steal the show with the contest dance performance.

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Entertainment

We skipped the headliner on Monday because we had seen El Gaucho before. And we wanted to do different things on this trip. We wandered into the Schooner bar and caught Bill Forrest playing Billy Joel songs for an enthusiastic crowd. Bill was really funny and involved the audience in the performance. He offered insight into the songs he was playing and had witty banter all evening long. His shtick was kind of a subversive jab at the powers that be running the ship. When a crowd of people would walk through the bar area headed elsewhere he’d say something like, “Oh it must be time for the big bean bag toss finals on the promenade!” He did a different featured artist each night, Billy Joel, Elton John, The Beach Boys and the Eagles. If you are on Liberty don’t miss a chance to sit down in the Schooner for at least one of Bill’s sets. Well worth your time.

But one interesting thing did happen with the piano man. He kept alluding to a show he was trying to arrange for later in the week where he would be playing with the ship orchestra as his backing band. Mentioned it numerous times and said it wasn’t on the schedule yet but look for it. When “later in the week” arrived, it was a new performer to RCCL making his first Headliner appearance (at least on Liberty), a Billy Joel impersonator being backed by…the ship’s orchestra. Hmmmmm. Interesting.

The Billy Joel impersonator was good so if he shows up on one of your sailings he’s worth going to see. He did make a rookie cruise headliner mistake in his first performance that was kind of funny. He thought he’d play his set, bring up the house lights, have the CD come on stage and then call him back for an encore. Well, experienced cruisers will know how that went over! As soon as the lights started coming up half the crowd immediately started bolting for the exits and dinner. The CD hastily tried to stem the tide, but it was too late and by the time faux Billy made it back to the piano (he never even really got off the stage) a large chunk of his audience was long gone. He didn’t make that mistake in his second show.

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Almost forgot, don’t mess with Texas! They fly the flag while docked in Galveston.

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