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Harmony of the Seas 5/12-5/19 review!!


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Hi Cruise Critic!!

 

So I just got off the ship *cue post cruise depression* and I'm on my way to the airport home to NY. I wanted to post and say that I will be doing a full complete review of our trip with dining, shows, ship areas, cabin, staff, etc etc etc. with many pictures as well! I will also post food photos, menus, and cruise compasses!! I will try to get the review up as quickly as possible, gonna try and write as much as possible on the plane, pictures may come later though as I am flying out to London for 8 days on the 23rd!! So quick unpacking and packing turnaround for me.

 

But overall, we had an incredible time!!! The ship is beautiful and you really will have an amazing time if you make the most of it!!

 

A little bit about my mom and I to begin:

 

My name is Victoria and this cruise was to celebrate my 21st birthday (still celebrating from March whoops) and I sailed with my mom Bridgett who is 51! We are from Long Island, New York and this is my fourth cruise (second Royal Cruise, my first was Freedom in 2008, and I have done the Disney Wonder and Celebrity Equinox) and my moms 6th cruise (she did Disney, Celebrity and Freedom with me, as well as Royal Song of Norway and Royal Majesty of the Seas) so our most recent was Freedom. Since we are big planners, before this cruise we made sure to research tons and make sure we knew everything there was to know about the ship, ports, and cruising! I am writing this review to help others as much as other's reviews helped me so much and I will be honest and I hope it will be beneficial!

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Day 1: gonna try and go by days , but we shall see how this works out. Luckily, I snapchatted almost everything so I have records of the exact times we did things and in what order we did.

 

Embarkation:

 

We traveled to Port Everglades from Embassy Suites by Hilton (which by the way, had an option for early check in when we arrived on 5/11 and we were able to check in at 10am when we arrived off our flight which was awesome considering most hotels don't let you check in until 3pm. we had to pay extra for this early checkin but it was definitely worth it for us) on 17th street by the hotel shuttle which dropped us off past all the waiting taxis and we got there in about 6min from the hotel. We arrived at the Port around 9:45am and a porter (who was quite rude) immediately took our luggage as soon as we got off the shuttle. I say the porter was rude because he just showed up and pretty much grabbed our suitcases while repeating a speech that basically goes "hi im your porter I'll be taking your suitcases to the ship, go down there to check in, you should tip your porter ", he spoke very fast and if we asked him a question all he did was repeat his same quick speech and requested a tip multiple times before we even really knew what was going on. Now we will give tips normally to anyone who is doing a service for us so naturally we wouldve given him a tip anyways and we dont mind tipping and usually always do, but I found it rude to just ask for one straight out before we even really knew what was happening or how our luggage would arrive. But we did tip him and made our way to check in. Overall, I didnt trust this luggage drop off process as if I didnt trust that my luggage would arrive safely, more on this later as the luggage DID NOT arrive successfully to our room.

 

We made our way to the check in line and we were on line for security before they began at 10am so we were some of the first to go through security. This was very simple and easy, many people directing you, fast security process, lots of direction but make sure to pay attention to the signs the staff is directing you to since sometimes some lines aren't identified properly or the staff directs you to different lines. For example, we are Gold C&A members and sometimes it wouldnt say it on our set sail pass and the staff would direct us to a different line which we had to correct, or sometimes the Gold line signs were placed improperly, so just make sure to pay attention and you should be fine. You have a short check in at desks after security with the checking of your setsail pass, passports, short health questionnaire, and some important info. After this you take pictures in front of ship murals, and there is a little area to buy lanyards, sunglasses, socks, etc. We were up to the holding areas relatively quickly and were waiting by around 10:40am, and actually boarded onto the ship and stepped on the Promenade by 11am!!

 

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Things to note throughout my review:

-We purchased the Deluxe Beverage Package

-We stayed in a balcony oceanview stateroom, Deck 10-room 10562, on the forward side in the hallway right next to the elevator foyers.

-We did not purchase the specialty dining package but planned ahead that we knew we wanted to do Jamies Lunch, Chops Grille dinner, and possibly try Sabor. We didnt book ahead because we wanted to see which days to do specialty after seeing the MDR menus on board.

 

First stop was to get our WOW bands!! We picked up our Wow Bands from Boleros latin bar on the Promenade, it is right when you walk on the boat. For those that don't know, these are rubber wristbands that you can use to scan any purchases of food,drink, merchandise, and get into your room, and they are $5 each. You can only use them on the ship, not to get on and off ship at ports which you will need your actual card Set Sail Pass for. This band is great because you don't have to carry around your setsail pass all day and it is very convenient and easy to use around the ship, you are able to pick your color of band (white, black, blue, yellow) and I definitely recommend it. Only drawbacks of the wow band are that mine fell off a few times without me realizing it so just make sure to have it secured firmly and check to make sure its still on. Also, when you order drinks at bars or waiters during shows, you take off your Wow band and give it to them, make sure your group members have diff colors bands to distinguish or mark the bands with nail polish and make sure to check that you don't leave without getting your wow band back.

 

 

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I am really appreciating your review. Very informative. Note on your Porter. IMO, I would have been taken off guard having the Porter speak the way he did. I am always looking for warm human contact in conversation. A robot talking and asking for money is not the best technique, I think. He might have been autistic? On that note, that is the best he might have been able to do. So there is grace there.

 

I just got back from Galveston Port. The Porters were all standing around and we had to walk our own luggage inside the warehouse and put it next to the number of the floor we were on. Not one Porter offered to help us with our luggage. Not impressed. No tipping happened there.

 

Appreciate the info on the WOW bands. Not sure if I would get one or not? It is just $5.00, so no biggy

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I am really appreciating your review. Very informative. Note on your Porter. IMO, I would have been taken off guard having the Porter speak the way he did. I am always looking for warm human contact in conversation. A robot talking and asking for money is not the best technique, I think. He might have been autistic? On that note, that is the best he might have been able to do. So there is grace there.

 

I just got back from Galveston Port. The Porters were all standing around and we had to walk our own luggage inside the warehouse and put it next to the number of the floor we were on. Not one Porter offered to help us with our luggage. Not impressed. No tipping happened there.

 

Appreciate the info on the WOW bands. Not sure if I would get one or not? It is just $5.00, so no biggy

 

 

 

Thank you so much, there is a lot more to come!! He was definitely very robotic, but I do not believe he was special needs. Just very cold and unhelpful unfortunately. Glad I was not the only who experienced this from the Porters.

 

As for the wow bands, I definitely recommend getting them. Much more convenient to use for rooms and purchasing instead of having to wear a lanyard or risk losing the seapass which is necessary to get on and off the boat. We loved having them!!

 

 

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After the WOW bands, we decided to have a celebratory first drink! We chose to hit up the Rising Tide bar, which is the bar that moves up and down from the Promenade on Deck 5 to Central Park on Deck 8, such a cool experience. Our drinks of choice were a French Martini (super yummy by the way, if anyone wants the recipe let me know!) and a Cosmo for me. We were able to use our drink package right away, although the machines were not working correctly apparently and they had to write down our room number to charge it later, this seemed like it happened a lot throughout the cruise, not sure why since sometimes they even did charge on the machine but still wrote down our number on a makeshift list often. We didnt end up getting any weird charges so it worked out fine but I wonder why the list was necessary so often. Drinks were strong and yummy.

 

Since rooms were not ready until 1pm, we decided to explore a bit. First we explored Central Park, what a beautiful area, truly feels like you're in a park and not on a ship, very well done and very calming.Theres beautiful sculptures and it was nice to see the restaurants and luxury shopping along the sides. They also have umbrellas located at all of the doorways for when it rains. Park Cafe is a free food option located here and I loved stopping here quickly in the morning for their breakfast burritos, so yummy! They have lots of changing flavor options of items like breakfast paninis, pastries, parfaits, oatmeal, cereal, fruit, and even a make your own bagel bar! They also have those amazing coconut cookies here! Only seldom times though sadly but definitely get them when you see them. They have lunch here as well and it is usually open until 5:30. I didnt love the options for lunch as much as for breakfast, but they do have a make your own salad bar, selective paninis and veggie quesadillas, changing soups, desserts, and the Royal Kummelweck roast beef staff is located here. I must say I did not enjoy the Kummelweck at all, which I know is blasphemous to say as a Royal fan as it is famous but I didnt love it. The only thing that was a negative was they did not sell bottled water here so I wouldve had to go to another cafe or bar (which werent open early) to find bottles of water.

 

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Next we checked out the Boardwalk on deck 6, another very cool area! The Aqua Theatre is awesome and loved the beach chairs as the seating. The Carousel is super cute, even I rode on it! Also located here is the hot dog stand, and the only Royal Caribbean logo shop on board.

 

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My flight got delayed over an hour so we just boarded now, gonna try and get this last post in before we fly. But I will write throughout the flight and post after I get home.

 

First Lunch:

 

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While we were in the boardwalk we decided to have our lunch at Sabor specialty restaurant. We decided to have a specialty as lunch because we knew the buffet would be crowded, we didnt really want to do MDR and we knew the specialty would be empty and quick on the first day. I believe the price was $30 pp, I could be wrong but I forget the exact price. We LOVED Sabor!!! Such a good choice for first day, delicious and fresh food, great drinks. They have specialty margaritas you cant get anywhere else! Menu is pictured above, I will post the food we got below and write thoughts.

 

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Fresh made guac that you can customize, we don't like spicy so we asked for no cilantro or jalapeños, it was very fresh and delicious. My mom also spilled a bit of my cosmo into it by accident so that made it drunken Guac ;) Make sure to get the guac early in the cruise!!! We have heard they often run out of avocados quickly and the guac gets worse and is not fresh. Plenty of chips come with this, you also get salsa free when you sit down but its more just chopped up tomatoes and onions rather than an actual saucey salsa. Also not pictured, (I mustve eaten it so fast before I got a picture, I got the beef empanadas as an appetizer . This was actually just ONE regular sized empanada, a very good one at that but just one. I think two might be good, but I ended up being fine with the one because we had so much other food. the drink pictured is my Cosmolata drink, very strong, sweet, and delicious. I forget what made it different from a regular cosmo but it was on their separate drink menu.

 

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This is my moms Aztec martini, it was chocolate based but definitely very spicy and had a kick, she didnt love it. I didnt mind it but it definitely had a kick to it.

 

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This is the three cheese quesadilla which I asked to have added chicken and mushrooms. I also asked for the side of rice. Very delicious, craving it now.

 

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My mom got the make your own tacos in Shredded Beef Short Rib. She was worried about the chipotle bbq sauce being too spicy but it was DELICIOUS. Sweet and very flavorful. It was great to customize your own.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Grilled corn on the cob!! Yum!!

 

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These are the bananas and chocolate chimichangas, these were little warm pockets of goodness.

 

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Cinnamon churros, we thought these were just okay. Pretty basic, I think if they were filled with something it mightve been more special. The sauces werent great either.

 

Overall, we really liked Sabor, service was great and friendly and it was perfect for a quick lunch on the first day and we were able to go right to our rooms after!! I totally thought I took pictures of our room but I guess I was so excited I only took a snapchat video. Not sure how to upload videos quick and easy on here from my phone but if anyone knows how please let me know.

 

 

 

 

 

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LUGGAGE DELIVERY:

 

We were told that our luggage would be waiting outside our room when rooms were ready, but as we were walking to find our room. We ended up happening upon our luggage NOWHERE near our room, separated in front of random different rooms so all our luggage was not together, and one of our luggage tags had been ripped off. My luggage is very bright neon blue with roses and moms is large silver and we marked all our luggage together with a bright pink sparkly ribbon to show our group was together so it was odd that our luggage was put in multiple places separately. We laminated our Royal caribbean luggage tags very strongly before we left and secured them strongly with zipties so they were not coming off easily. When we found our luggage, and told one of the staff in the hallway that they were not by our room and asked why, he responded very rudely that one didnt have a luggage tag. We still don't know how the tag got ripped off since the others were strongly on fine, but that still doesn't explain why the luggage was all separated and not even near our room. The staff member was very unhelpful and rude to us and snapped at us like it was our fault that our luggage was no where near our rooms and that a luggage tag was missing. He did not help us whatsoever and we ended up having to drag all 6 of our heavy luggage all the way across the ship to our room, that part was not fun in thin hallways. We were lucky to have found our luggage by chance as we are not sure if it wouldve arrived successfully otherwise.

 

CABIN:

 

No real complaints with our cabin. Awesome location right outside the elevator foyers (theres no noise from elevators as its a hallway next to them). We had a balcony oceanview room with the bed by the bathroom and couch by balcony. Room was well sized, even with our four very large suitcases and two large duffelbag carryons, we did not feel cramped. We placed two suitcases on the couch, two on the floor. Adequate drawer and closet storage, although we did not make much use of the double closets except to hang our gowns. The drawers held plenty, the fridge was tucked away neatly in the drawer set. One outlet only on one side of the bed was annoying but we brought a multiple USB outlet to make it work, and there are plenty of other outlets by the great sized desk. The mirror over the desk is large but could be lit a bit brighter but it was fine for what we needed, we brought a portable light up foldable makeup mirror. The lighting is great in the bathroom, the bathroom also has great shelving, nice sized shower with a little bar towards the floor to put your leg on. The water pressure was great and water temp was always perfectly adjustable and consistent. Beds were very comfy, and we asked for extra pillows. AC in the room can get very cold. Also MAKE SURE to bring an extra hotel room key or other card to keep in the slot by the door, this slot keeps the power on in your room so leave it in if you want to keep the AC running while you are out.

 

After we checked out our cabin and got settled in, we had our Facebook group sailaway party at 2pm at the Wipeout Bar on deck 15 by the Ultimate Abyss, that was fun and we all got leis thanks to one of our group members!

 

After that we headed to the actual Sailaway party around 3:15pm by the upper pool deck. So with this Sailaway party....we felt this wasnt really, well, a party. People were all out on deck looking out on the railing sure, and they were playing music yes. Not sure if live or a track but the music was not loud and it wasnt really an exciting party. Everyone kinda just stood there, we couldnt even see where the music was coming from or if there was a central stage to look at. I think this party could definitely be amped up with entertainment and getting everyone excited, no announcements from Cruise director, at least that we didnt see. And it didnt last very long.

 

After the sailaway party came the Muster Drill around 4. We were stationed in Jazz on 4, already feeling a bit of the drinks we had been having since getting on the ship, it was VERY HOT. No AC was on anywhere in the ships elevators or rooms and the club we were in was especially hot since it was crowded inside. For the drill, there was a safety announcement over the loudspeaker and then we were directed to watch a video on the tv screens. What was odd is that we were directed to all stand and not sit down, which many did not follow. But by all standing, the crowded room and two small tvs on the sides of the room made it very hard to both see and hear the safety video. Everyone was talking loudly, not that I'm the strong rule follower and all that but hey if the ship went down, there would be a lot of chaos since no one was listening. Overall, we felt the safety video was both juvenile, confusing, and hard to understand what we needed to do in an emergency. First, there was a cartoon musical video about washing your hands and what to do if you get sick, that seemed like it was right out of the Nick JR channel or another kids tv channel. The tune was catchy and I guess it was cute and made sense but I think it couldve been simpler and more to the point in order to get us out quicker and make sure everyone understands. It was not in other languages and did not have subtitles so how could those who didnt speak english understand? The second video was in a movie style format, very much James bond style with this fabulous stylish young woman as the lead who for some reason had this young guy giving her instructions on how to get around the ship and I guess what to do in emergency situations. I get they were trying to be creative but since I could barely hear and see, it made me not want to pay attention, the storyline didnt seem to make sense as to why she was talking to this guy, and the actual instructions were not clearly stated but more implied, for the most part I'd know what to do in an emergency just from common sense but for those who may not know on their first time cruising, again, a simpler and to the point video would've worked more effectively.

 

 

 

 

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Thanks for the review. I love how thorough you are! Girl after my own heart. I have a pic of the drink list from Sabor with the drinks you mentioned (nabbed it from a previous live review!). I plan on going there and trying some myself! 846bcd4b600e975426984253b540d702.jpg

 

 

Harmony 06/02/18

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Thanks for the review. I love how thorough you are! Girl after my own heart. I have a pic of the drink list from Sabor with the drinks you mentioned (nabbed it from a previous live review!). I plan on going there and trying some myself! 846bcd4b600e975426984253b540d702.jpg

 

 

Harmony 06/02/18

 

 

 

Hehe glad you're enjoying it!! Thanks for the drink image that is great to add!! :) I'm trying to write as much as possible! I have finally landed and on the way home, will try and post more later!! Definitely more will be coming just be patient people but I have a lot of info and tips!!!

 

 

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Currently in the midst of organizing in order to upload over 1,200 pictures/videos from my trip to Facebook, it will include all kinds of stuff on the ship, let me know if you want to add me in order to see! Because I don't believe CC will let me upload that many at once[emoji23]

 

 

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I am really appreciating your review. Very informative. Note on your Porter. IMO, I would have been taken off guard having the Porter speak the way he did. I am always looking for warm human contact in conversation. A robot talking and asking for money is not the best technique, I think. He might have been autistic? On that note, that is the best he might have been able to do. So there is grace there.

 

I just got back from Galveston Port. The Porters were all standing around and we had to walk our own luggage inside the warehouse and put it next to the number of the floor we were on. Not one Porter offered to help us with our luggage. Not impressed. No tipping happened there.

 

Appreciate the info on the WOW bands. Not sure if I would get one or not? It is just $5.00, so no biggy

 

When we were at Port Everglades in February, there was a man yelling at everyone "tip your porter". Very rude.

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