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Harmony of the Seas Helpful Hints & things I misunderstood or missed in my research!

cpayne

By cpayne,
in Royal Caribbean International

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cpayne

cpayne

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Listed below are just a few tips to pass along from our recent Harmony sailing. Some tips I picked up before sailing and found to be helpful, some I learned from experience on board and some are merely clarifications of misunderstandings I made in my research pre cruise. None will make or break your trip, but may come in handy!

 

SHOWS: When you pre schedule your shows schedule in order of priority. Shows can and do get cancelled. Be prepared as it can then send the rest of your schedule for the wk in to a tail spin! Not always, but be prepared. Grease was our #1 priority so scheduled it on 1st day. Lo and behold it was cancelled! Not knowing if it would be rescheduled we stood in the stand by line that nt and got in to the Comedy Show. That freed up another nt for re-negotiating the rest of our shows if needed. Grease was rescheduled for Sun at 4, but that impacted our dinner reservations. You see how the domino effect can go?! Grease reservations for Sat carried to the next day and I cancelled our dinner reservation. All ended fine, but be flexible and book your shows by priority.

 

BEER: We may have been the only 2 people on board who didn't buy the drink pkg! At the Boot and Bonnett bar I was asking about some of the beers. Bar tender recommended Blue Moon, but I said I drink that at home and would like something I haven't had. He suggested a comparable option that was a Belgian beer that's not on the menu. Perfect! Enjoyed it and to my surprise it was cheaper than any beer on the menu. Beers on the menu were $7-8+. This was $5.95! This is what I drank the rest of the wk! Of course I can't remember the name, but just ask for the Belgian beer similar to Blue Moon that's not on the menu! Blue and yellow label.

 

FLL ARRIVAL TIME: This was our 20th cruise. We have always boarded before noon. Was worried about crowds at arrival with 6700 passengers. Arrived at 1:30 bc we ran the Miami Zoo 5k that morning. OMG! We will arrive later from now on. Not a single line to wait in! On the ship and in our room in 30 min!

 

LUGGAGE SIZE: Each cruise I pack less and less. This yr we met my goal of a roller board and duffle bag each. Unexpected benefit? We carried our luggage on board and no waiting for it to arrive in our room! Unpacked in 10 min and off to lunch!

 

COZUMEL TAXI: Ship arrived just before 8. We got off at 9:15. Was at least a 30 min wait in line for a taxi to town. We crossed the main road outside the front of the pier and grabbed a cab immediately!

 

NEWLYWED GAME: We love this game. It's never failed to disappoint. In my pre planning I thought I read it was on Tues or something like that. Well that turned out to be the newlywed get together. NOT the game show. The game show was Thur at 7:45 or 8. As luck would have it this conflicted with our ice show reservation. Since I had booked our shows in order of priority (see above!) I was ok to cancel that reservation instead and opt for the game show.

 

COMEDY SHOW: Shows are at 2 times on different days. The 10:30 pm show is no more adult than the earlier show as I had read pre cruise. They are both adult shows. What I didn't know from my research was there is a Fri nt addtl comedy show at 10:30. This is in the main theater and NOT in The Attic. No reservations required and family friendly.

 

STAND BY SHOW RESERVATIONS: I'm sure this varies from show to show, but it appeared most people were getting in shows if they chose stand by. No guarantee and of course you may not all get to sit together, but it's worth a try.

 

PARK CAFE VS VITALITY SPA CAFE: I thought I had read egg whites and parfaits were served for bkst in the V Spa Cafe next to the gym. Perfect after our workout each morning. Nope! Only smoothies ($), banana bread, granola bars, and fruit cups. Yogurt parfaits were available in the Park Cafe and egg white omelette in Mini Bites. Windjammer also offered scrambled egg whites which I had never seen before on our cruises.

 

PARK CAFE: They offer grab and go options and I've not seen this done before. They had pre made fruit cups, yogurt parfaits, sandwiches and salads. All wrapped in covered containers so easy to take back to your cabin, beach chair OR to your room for late nt snacks. We also would frequently grab bags of chips to keep in our room for late nt snacks or bar snacks in the evening.

 

LATE NT SNACKS: RCL's weak spot has always been food choices after 9 pm or so. Was not looking forward to the same dang sandwiches at 10 pm for 7 nts. Not to mention what would the lines be like in the Cafe Promenade when nearly 7000 of my closest friends left a show and were hungry before bed?!?! Not a problem! Think grab and go option (see above) earlier in the day!

 

MADE TO ORDER PIZZA: The quality of pizza also does not seem to be an RCL strong point. However, once again we were pleasantly surprised here too! Seems to have improved since our last RCL cruise. Didn't say it was great. Said it was much improved. ;). LOVED the addition of make your own pizzas! I had not read about this pre cruise. Never found a consistent time they stopped the make your own option, but always seemed to conveniently just before the main show let out. Tip - if they don't have an ingredient out for make your own pizza, just ask. I always asked for pineapple and they always were able to accommodate.

 

ABYSS DRY SLIDE: Not the thrill ride we had hoped nor did we think it lived up to all the hype from RCL. However, was fun and worth doing. We called it the Express Lane. Our cabin was deck 7 and after being on Deck 15/16 it was quicker to take the slide/Express Lane to deck 6 then up to 7 for our room vs 8'ish flights of stairs or waiting for the elevator. Now that only works after the about the 2nd day when the lines for the slides subside and unfortunately they would not let me slide down with ice cream cone in hand!

 

ZIP AND WATER SLIDES: Lines could be long of course. We tried during port days and had good luck. We rode the water slides towards the end of the day in Haiti and zipped as soon as they opened at 4 while in Jamaica. Zero wait for the zip! Do not wait until the last day!

 

WAIVERS: We signed our waivers in our room 1st day. Off to zip on Tues. Get to Deck 15 or 16 and won't let us go bc we don't have BOTH our sea pass cards. Not only were we the only couple who didn't buy the drink pkg, but we also must have been the only couple who didn't buy wow bands. I was not being annoyed by that ugly plastic "watch" like looking thing all wk! In order to verify your waiver is signed they must have each persons sea pass card. Hubby and I are always together and only need 1 card. They didn't have paper waivers I could sign and couldn't look up my signed waiver based on my cabin #. Sooo, took the Expess Lane (see ABYSS above) back to our cabins to retrieve BOTH sea pass cards.

 

HAITI/STAND UP PADDLE (SUP): In the pre reserved shore excursions I did not see SUP listed, but if they had kayak rentals I figured they must have SUP. They in fact do and it's $15 for 30 min. Was quite shocked how fair the price was considering it was an RCL rental. Took a bit of the sting out of the $100'ish they charged me for 1 zip line even if it was over the water! Be sure and ask for the pink/white boards and NOT the green plastic ones. They set me up with the green ones and didn't know they had other options. They were more like a flat kayak in terms of plastic. Not as stable as other boards I've used. I wanted to do SUP yoga and was a challenge on this style of board. Not enough 100% flat surface nor non slippery surface. When I came back to shore I see the other boards and made an exchange. Much better! I paid for 30 min and assumed someone would wave me in when my time was up. I had been gone awhile and figured time had to be up and found out it had been 50 min! It was towards the end of the day so I was the only person using the boards or kayaks. They didn't say a word when I returned it and I even apologized for staying out so long. They just laughed! Extra tip....go late in the day and you likely will get some free bonus minutes!

 

JOGGING TRACK: Perhaps our fav jogging track of any ship we have been on. One solid loop on deck 5. No stairs to go up and over. It's a covered deck so out of the sun/heat. Some days windier than others even though not on top deck. A few water fountains along the way. Also the busiest track we've ever experienced especially in the morning of course, but even throughout the day.

 

GYM DOOR/TRACK: Along the track is a door that leads up stairs and directly to the gym. Handy access if you want to cross train, bathroom break, make sure your spouse is still on the elliptical as promised and didn't sneak back to bed, etc.

 

CABIN PLACEMENT: We were in 7606. Could not have been a more perfect location for us. Everyone's wants/needs/preferences are different. Was concerned with this big of ship that we would feel like we were off for a "hike" every time we went somewhere. Not the case at all. Deck 5,6, and 8 is where we spent most of our time. Cabin was mostly mid ship so just a deck or 2 either direction and we had arrived. If at the W Jammer, zip, mini bites etc we would take the Express Lane "home" (see above). With this size of ship I highly recommend giving some thought to your room placement in relation to the venues you will frequent the most.

 

AIRSIDE MOBILE CUSTOMS APP: Download this app pre cruise! Wish they had told us this pre cruise. They told us mid wk and once again we were probably the only couple on board who didn't purchase internet access. Sorry folks but LOVE cruising bc it forces me to set the phone down! Tried to download upon return to Ft Lauderdale, but something about you need to set this up at least 4 hrs prior to departure. We had zero delay going thru customs w/o it and would not have saved us any time. We did self disembark. 30 min from leaving room to at the curb waiting for uber. Only had 1 person in line in front of us in customs. Later in the day this pre approved mobile app may have been helpful when the masses were exiting???

 

 

SELF DISEMBARK: Deck 5. Another unplanned benefit of our cabin placement (see above). All clear given at approx 6:30 just as they had expected. Off in 30 min!

 

VERIZON $2/DAY PHONE ACCESS: Yes I said I prefer to set my phone down while cruising, but reality says the occasional check in at the office may be required. Before you judge, we don't have kids so not worried about grandma and grandpas needing to keep us abreast of little Johnny or Susie's antics while we are away! ;). Verizon offers an option in MX for full phone access (internet, phone, text) for $2 day. Your regular data and text limits apply as if you were at home. This may be a good one day option for some. Other ports like Jamaica were $10/day. No thanks, but $2 is fair for a few messages to the boss back at the office.

 

RCL EXCURSION SALE: We typically book our own excursions for less $ and better quality. However, in Labadee you have no choice with it being the RCL port. I had booked and pre paid for the over the water zip line this fall. Well lo and behold on Black Friday (Fri after Turkey Day) my co worker alerts me RCL is having a B Fri sale and 20% off most excursions! I've never heard of them putting excursions on sale?! Perhaps they do and I just don't know bc we book excursions independently. I had to call RCL to cancel and get a refund for my reservation and then rebook online at 20% off. Saved me approx $40'ish.

 

UBER: Flew in to MIA as air was more than 50% less. Have used uber before, but 1st cruise using uber and no issues. Some talk about surge pricing, but we did not experience this. $26-29 each way for 2 people. You might try asking people on your roll call if they want to share an uber or taxi when you return to FLL at the end of the wk and split the cost? Have not done this, but always looking for ways to help people save $$. The more you save the sooner you can travel again!

 

Well folks....that about sums it up from our perspective! Please keep in mind everyone's perspectives are different and what's a valuable tip/idea to one may seem foolish to another. If anything above has been helpful, then awesome. My time was well spent. If anything I posted seems foolish to you, please refrain! Let's keep Cruise Critic a happier and less judgmental sharing venue! If I am incorrect in anything I said, please feel free to correct me. I am also open to answering questions, but disclaimer: I am by no means a HOTS expert like others on this forum!

 

My final tip for all future Cruise Critic postings......as my mother used to preach to me growing up.....You can say anything you want. It's just how you say it! :).

 

BON VOYAGE!

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cpayne

cpayne

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As far as I know there is only one kayak/SUP rental area. As you are walking towards the beach area it will be on the right side. It's on the same side of the island as the ship is parked. The rental "hut" is located past the private entrance/area of the beach reserved for Suite guests. If all else fails ask and someone will point you in the right direction like they did for me!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

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TinkBellaMom

TinkBellaMom

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Thank You you very much for taking the time posting the tips. I was wondering if you know if two person kayaks could be rented on Labadee. I am afraid my back would not allow me to do a SUP, but with hubby helping I may be able to paddle out in a kayak.

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cpayne

cpayne

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They did offer 2 person kayaks. You might be surprised about the SUPS and how it does or does not impact your back pain. I have lower back pain and for me the SUP is easier than the kayak. SUP uses more upward body motion to propel you through the water. The kayaks bother me sitting for too long. You can also sit or kneel on the SUP's if that is easier. You could always ask at the rental desk if you could try the SUP and if it's too difficult for your back could you trade for a kayak? If you go later in the day I bet they would have no problem with that.

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TreeCity

TreeCity

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Great tips!

Where do they make the "made to order pizzas"?

What exactly does the AIRSIDE MOBILE CUSTOMS APP do?

Have a 10:45 flight so looking at the self disembarking. Will I have trouble with a carry on and large suitcase?

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cpayne

cpayne

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Made to order pizzas are made at Sorrentos. It's where the "regular" pizzas are served. The "regular" pizzas are served much later in to the evening, but the made to order ones end/stop much earlier in the evening. Seemed to be a different time each nt, but I noticed a pattern of them often stopping just before the evening show let out. Sorrentos is on Deck 5 and diagonal from the Café Promenade.

 

I'm not 100% certain what the Airside Mobile app does. My understanding is you submit your trip information in lieu of filling out the customs form you previously would fill out the night before your return to port and present to customs. Once you fill out the app you receive a confirmation email and that's what you show the customs agent. I think you have to have internet access on board to fill out the information on the app the night before your return? Not 100% certain about all of this so you may need to ask at Guest Services. The small amount of information they provided in the Daily newsletter was minimal.

 

We did self disembark with a roller board and duffle bag each. We were on deck 7 and only 2 flts of stairs to carry the bags down. With a large suitcase you will likely need to use the elevator to get to deck 5? Only issue with that is everyone else is doing the same thing and you could wait awhile. Once you get off the ship there is either an escalator or elevator to get to customs. There was obviously a line for the elevator, but escalator went quickly. Depending on the size of your big bag the escalator may or may not work.

 

We had an 11:00 a.m. flt from Miami. We were at the airport before 8 a.m.! Never a guarantee, though.

 

Hope this helps!

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CRUISEFAN0001

CRUISEFAN0001

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Made to order pizzas are made at Sorrentos. It's where the "regular" pizzas are served. The "regular" pizzas are served much later in to the evening, but the made to order ones end/stop much earlier in the evening. Seemed to be a different time each nt, but I noticed a pattern of them often stopping just before the evening show let out. Sorrentos is on Deck 5 and diagonal from the Café Promenade.

 

I'm not 100% certain what the Airside Mobile app does. My understanding is you submit your trip information in lieu of filling out the customs form you previously would fill out the night before your return to port and present to customs. Once you fill out the app you receive a confirmation email and that's what you show the customs agent. I think you have to have internet access on board to fill out the information on the app the night before your return? Not 100% certain about all of this so you may need to ask at Guest Services. The small amount of information they provided in the Daily newsletter was minimal.

 

We did self disembark with a roller board and duffle bag each. We were on deck 7 and only 2 flts of stairs to carry the bags down. With a large suitcase you will likely need to use the elevator to get to deck 5? Only issue with that is everyone else is doing the same thing and you could wait awhile. Once you get off the ship there is either an escalator or elevator to get to customs. There was obviously a line for the elevator, but escalator went quickly. Depending on the size of your big bag the escalator may or may not work.

 

We had an 11:00 a.m. flt from Miami. We were at the airport before 8 a.m.! Never a guarantee, though.

 

Hope this helps!

It's called the Mobile Pass App, and you pretty much have it described above. THE RESPONSE app documentation is only good for 4 hours, so it needs to be submitted with the applicable passport information (including a photo you can take with the phone camera) no earlier than 4 hours before you go through customs at the Ft. Lauderdale port terminal.

 

This is still reasonably new technology used, but it works very well and streamlines the process when disembarking. We went from stepping off the ship (Harmony) to curbside in about 20 minutes, including getting our luggage waiting in the terminal. The lines through customs for people using the app (a separate line) are somewhat shorter and definitely faster.

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Zoey00123

Zoey00123

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Do you know why it was cancelled? I have reservations for the first night also? Did you do the eastern or western? Can you post the entertainment at a glance & the daily compasses.

 

I, too, have Grease scheduled for the first night, and would like to know why it was cancelled. Please tell us...

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FloridaPalms

FloridaPalms

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I think you have to have internet access on board to fill out the information on the app the night before your return? Not 100% certain about all of this

 

It's called the Mobile Pass App, and you pretty much have it described above. THE RESPONSE app documentation is only good for 4 hours, so it needs to be submitted with the applicable passport information (including a photo you can take with the phone camera) no earlier than 4 hours before you go through customs at the Ft. Lauderdale port terminal.

 

Just to clarify, you don't need internet access to fill out the information required by the phone app (passport numbers, photo, etc.) so do this ahead of time at your leisure rather than the morning you disembark. Then, after you've docked and, as cruisefan0001 stated, within 4 hours of the time you will pass through customs, SUBMIT the info using your phone's wifi or data and get the QR code receipt you will need.

 

Again, the code is only good for 4 hours but don't wait until you are in the terminal to submit the info and get it.

 

More info here: https://mobilepassport.us

 

~ Judy

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