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Harmony western 4/22 review. 3 couples humble opinion.

Gators86

By Gators86,
in Royal Caribbean International

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Gators86

Gators86

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Figured after trying out the largest cruise ship in the world, I would give everyone just an average guys humble opinion of the boat. There would be 3 couples in this trip. My wife and I staying in an ocean view room. Mother and father in a ocean balcony. Plus 2 family friends staying in an adjoining ocean balcony. So our opinions ranged from 25-30 and 50-60 year olds. This was my parents first time on a royal boat, however they cruise a lot on princess. We are platinum members and our friends are diamond. So your going to get a good mix of thoughts and a good consensus of the boat from different people. Hope you enjoy and ill do my best to answer questoins if you have any. I'm leaving out pictures as you can find those all over the internet by now.

 

EMBARKATION. This was a breeze for everyone. It was odd for us to not have our sea pass card given to us at check in. However it is presented to you at your room. We arrived at pier at 1130. After doing luggage, parking car, and checking in, we were having a cocktail at 12:10. Pretty good if ya ask me. GRADE A

 

ROOMS. It's a room, what more do you want. Your here to sleep and get out! But it was nicer then any other cruise ship I've been in. Felt a lot more roomy. My folks said there balcony seemed bigger on princess, but the room felt larger. Our bed and friends bed was comfy, parents was like a rock. Not gonna please everyone. Will admit, they could have made the sink 2 inches bigger. Feels like your gonna hit ya head when you wash your face. GRADE A

 

STATEROOM ATTENDANT. Is it just me, but I like the old way of our attendants being. On freedom a year ago, we were talking about how the attendants aren't around very much and don't interact and talk much like they used to. We were told by a couple of higher lvl cruisers and confirmed on cruise critic that royal wants the attendants to be more like silent butlers. I personally am not a fan. It was always enjoyable to get to know our cabin guy for the week. I've always given our guy a 20 at the start of the week and something then at the end. Not because we ask for a lot, but if we need something, I want the guy to feel like it's appreciated. Well that practice is now done for me. My wife saw him the first day and thanked him for taking care of us that week and gave him 20. The only time I saw our guy was at dinner time on the 4th day. And we are in and out of the room a lot. My parents and friends even commented on how odd it's getting that you never really see your person. GRADE D for policy. GRADE A for cleanliness.

 

I've debated on how to do the rest of this review. I'm not going to take you on our day by day adventures. Not my style. We did some specialty restaurants and shows. Plus a couple excursions at our stops. So I'll list them and finish up with my final thoughts later today. It's our first day back and lots to catch up on at the ranch. Feel free to ask any questions you might have.

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MrFunInTheSun

MrFunInTheSun

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STATEROOM ATTENDANT. Is it just me, but I like the old way of our attendants being. On freedom a year ago, we were talking about how the attendants aren't around very much and don't interact and talk much like they used to. We were told by a couple of higher lvl cruisers and confirmed on cruise critic that royal wants the attendants to be more like silent butlers. I personally am not a fan. It was always enjoyable to get to know our cabin guy for the week. I've always given our guy a 20 at the start of the week and something then at the end. Not because we ask for a lot, but if we need something, I want the guy to feel like it's appreciated. Well that practice is now done for me. My wife saw him the first day and thanked him for taking care of us that week and gave him 20. The only time I saw our guy was at dinner time on the 4th day. And we are in and out of the room a lot. My parents and friends even commented on how odd it's getting that you never really see your person. GRADE D for policy. GRADE A for cleanliness..

 

 

Would say this must really depend on the floor and area you are in. I too was on this sailing on deck 12 Boardwalk Balcony. Everyday I saw mine and other boardwalk balconies along with the ocean view balconies attendants.

 

She did an outstanding job and was always friendly, polite and asked if I needed anything. The others I encountered were always very nice too.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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dpcmh

dpcmh

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Looking forward to more...

 

We sailed with you, and we had one of the best stateroom attendants ever. Ocean view balcony. She introduced herself the first day....took our few requests and was around chatting with us in our coming and goings.

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BNBR

BNBR

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I personally have no desire to get to know my room attendant, and I can't help but think the attendant prefers it that way as well. If they are good, they know when you leave and when you are away, then get in and get their job done so that they don't disrupt you. I find it a little odd, actually, that you don't like the silent butler approach as it's clearly a high level of service. Would you prefer coming back to your room and the attendant is in there cleaning while you try and get ready for dinner? There is something to be said of the room being cleaned and serviced and you never even notice the attendant. That's quality.

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cruisetimeforme

cruisetimeforme

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Yes, we are also on this sailing, May 13th. Surprised you haven't joined the roll call for this sailing yet also. I've been following along on all your questions here on CC and throughout Bugsy's live review last week. Not stalking, but looking at all your inquires the past few weeks

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Gators86

Gators86

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Well no I don't mean siting in the room chatting with them. But it was always nice to see them throughout the day or such in the hallway. Always knew ya name, asked if you wanted things, etc. def not something I would trade cruise lines for. Just a personal opinion and something I've noticed since I started cruising a few years ago.

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Wilson

Wilson

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Wilson will that be May 13th I am also on that cruise.

 

Yes. You need to join the Roll Call. There is also a Facebook page, but we are not allowed to share the link on cruise critic. Stupid rule in my opinion. Just search the ship and the sailing date and you should be able to find it. Bar crawls, meet-ups and cabin crawl in the works.

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Gators86

Gators86

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Ok, so now that I know we are still in business and my guys took care of everything while we were gone, I can finish this review. This was the first time in many many years my family and I have all been gone for an extended amount of time. So it was a well deserved family vacation. On to the review....

 

PARK CAFE. Of course our first stop on day one was to get the beef sandwiches. I had raved about them from being on allure and they didn't fail to disappoint. We ate lunch there 3 different days. From fresh salads to a fantastic Cuban sandwich. Fantastic as always! GRADE A

 

SOLARIUM BISTRO. We didn't eat there, but our friends had dinner one night there. Said it was just ok. Not what they were expecting. Buffet style with some things and just bland food. Said they won't be back. GRADE D

 

WONDERLAND. My wife and I are foodies and pretty darn good cooks. So we come at this more from the visual and culinary side. The other people in our party are more your average eaters. Willing to try new stuff but it has to be appealing. With that said, we were all excited to try it and booked this for our second night of the cruise to start our dinning package we bought. Our friends had been to wonderland on another boat and knew we would enjoy it. It was very visually stunning when you walked in and saw the place. However, I commented to our friends it didn't look as "wonderlandish" as I thought. They claimed on the other boat it's done up a lot more. So whatever, we are here to eat. Not look at furniture! I'm not going to go through all the dishes we had as that would ruin your thoughts you might have on it. With that being said, no one liked the deviled eggs in smoke. Tasted like burnt plastic from the smoke. Some of the interesting items like the liquid olive and the reconstructed tomatoes left a lot to be desired. With it being 6 of us, we order all the entrees and just did it family style. Entrees were all tasty and cooked perfect. The chicken and branzino was the consensus favorite. We did the same thing with the dessert, family style everything. The molten cake was fabulous. Everyone raved about the desserts. However, I'm of the opinion that if dessert was the best part of the meal, you lost me somewhere. We all claimed we were very happy to have tried it, but will most likely pass on it again. APPETIZERS D. ENTREES B. DESSERT A. OVERALL GRADE B-

 

CHOPS. This is always our favorite restaurant on the ship. Being that we are ranchers, we look forward to just a simple fabulous steak and sides. BTW, if you ever go to a nice steak house and see Certified Angus Beef on the menu.... your welcome 👍. My wife and I were concerned since the last time we were on chops a few months ago, the experience just seemed like it had gone down. Food didn't have that fresh taste, steaks were just mediocre, etc. I'm always a believer in giving a place multiple tries before I give an opinion and figured since chops has always been great, just a bad night. Sad to say, it seemed the exact same this time. Shrimp cocktail was fabulous as always. Salads tasted more like bagged salads than normal. All 4 of us had steaks. 3 filets and a strip. Tender as can be, but no flavor. Throw a little garlic and salt on it ya know?! The truffled corn tasted gummy as in it had been over cooked. Baked potato had either been overdone or sitting there. Wife was disappointed they don't offer all the normal sides for the potato anymore. Just butter and sour cream. Spinich was canned and asparagus was cooked perfect, but again, no flavor. Molten chocolate cake and red velvet cake were the dessert of choice. Honestly, the molten cake tasted like the one you get at chilies when your a kid. Red velvet was spot on though! GRADE B-

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bethco

bethco

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SOLARIUM BISTRO. We didn't eat there, but our friends had dinner one night there. Said it was just ok. Not what they were expecting. Buffet style with some things and just bland food. Said they won't be back. GRADE D

 

WONDERLAND. no one liked the deviled eggs in smoke. Tasted like burnt plastic from the smoke.

 

The Solarium Bistro is better at night when they offer order from a menu entrees. At lunch, you're right it is a very bland buffet.

 

My take on the smoky eggs was that the smoke tasted like it was from a warehouse fire, not particularly appealing.

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