Harmony of the Seas Review - May 20 - 27

[kculater]

Harmony of the Seas Review 5/20 –5/27

I know it’s been over a month since I sailed but I still wanted to give my review. Just to give you background about me. I am in my early 40s and cruised with two of my friends to celebrate my birthday and take a vacation. This was my 5th cruise. I love to travel and have traveled outside of the United States.

 

Arrival

We arrived to Ft. Lauderdale Airport around 9:30 am. We got our luggage and rearrange some items that we wanted in our carryon and others to put in check-in bag. We took cab to the pier instead of doing Royal Caribbean transfer (to save money). The cab ride was only $15. I prefer this method. It was fast, only 15 minutes to pier.

 

Embarkation

The process was very fast. We arrived at the prier around 10:30 am. The prier terminal was still busy with passengers getting off the ship. I did find aporter who was able to take our luggage and proceeded inside the building. There was no line. The first thing you do is go through the metal detectors and X-ray machine (just as you do at the airport). The check-in was easy. I gave the representative my name and reservation number. I filled out one form and they had to retake my photo for the Set Sail pass. You don’t get your card at check-in, one card will be on the door and the others will be in the room. You use your print out to enter the ship. I was instructed to go left to board the ship. We took the ceremonial picture with the ship as the background. When I got to the escalator I was handed a number to show once I got upstairs. We took the escalator up and got in line to board the ship. This whole process from the time we entered the building to boarding the ship took 20 minutes.

 

Day 1 (Saturday)

We went straight to Windjammer to grab some lunch. It wasn’t crowded and found a table right away. The buffet had many food options. You can order alcoholic beverages; you just had to give them your room number as you don’t have your card yet. At 1 pm an announcement was made that the rooms were ready. We then went to find our room. We were on the 10th deck mid-ship. We had an ocean view balcony room.

 

The Munster drill was at 3:30 pm. We had to report to Studio B, this is the ice skating room on deck 4. They scanned our set sail pass. We had an announcement from the captain and then watched a video. After the drill we headed up to the deck 16 for the sail away activities. There was a DJ and there we doing line dances i.e. Wobble, Cupid Shuffle etc.

 

We had dinner reservations at 6:00pm at Silk (5TH deck). There are two lines, one with guests who have reservations and one with guest without reservations. Both lines were long. We ended up sharing the table. Our dinner reservation was mixed up but it worked out. We took what was first available so we could eat and get to the show.Vinko was our waiter. He was very attentive and provided great service. We requested to be in his section every night.

 

We had tickets to the 8:30 Grease show. Doors open at 8:00 pm. They scan your set sail pass in order to enter the theater. If you don’t show up by 8:15 pm then they give your seat to those in the wait line. We tried to get to the shows when the door opens to get good seats. I LOVED the show. I’m a Grease fan so I was lip syncing the songs in my seat.

 

Boleros was the Latin bar and lounge. We hit this bar every night. The band was great and so were the drinks. The band was there every night except for one night when they had a DJ. People were up dancing and we saw people teaching others how to salsa. It would have been great if they had salsa lessons before the band started playing.

 

Day 2 (Sunday – Nassau, Bahamas)

I got up early around 6:30 am to watch the ship arrive in port from my balcony.We headed to Windjammer around 8:00 am for breakfast. It was so crowded we couldn’t find a table. We had to walk around twice to find a table (we noticed people finishing their meal and started to get up). There were no long lines for getting food from buffet. The captain announced we were leaving 30 minutes early. You can pick up towels after you disembark the ship.

 

We booked our excursions on our own before the cruise. We selected Viator it was a 3 hour sightseeing tour. We choose this tour because most places didn’t open until 10:00 am and we had to be back on the ship by 2 pm, we didn’t want to do anything long or expensive. After tour we walked around and checked out the Pandora store and then through the market for souvenirs and back on the ship.

 

I did the Abyss after I got back on the ship. There was no line around 2:30/3:00 pm. Please follow their instructions as you need to lean back, keep your legs straight and elbows in.They also told us the more clothes you have on the better. We had t-shirt and shorts on. My friend bent her knees, hit the slid wall and ended up with a burn similar to rug burn. It was fun and there is a camera at the end that takes a picture of you exiting the shoot part.

 

Tonight was the first formal night.There were many places in the Promenade to take professional pictures.

 

We had tickets to 10:30 pm The Fine Line Show at the aqua theater. I didn’t understand the theme but the show kind of reminded me of O by Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas, a much scaled down versions of it.

 

Day 3 (Monday – At Sea)

We had breakfast in the Windjammer still had to walk around twice to find an available table.

 

We went to the Meet and Mingle in Dazzles. We got there after 10 so we were in the back. We did get to hear from the Captain and the directors of the various areas. I learned some interesting facts. We didn’t win anything from the raffle.

 

We went to Deck 15 to see if there were open chairs by the adult pool. There were a couple of empty chairs, unfortunately we couldn’t stay in that area as we noticed the smoking section was next to the area and we could smell the smoke. We went to Deck 16 and found plenty of empty chairs. The wind was blowing so we used clips to keep our towels on the chairs. They did have bar servers walking around taking orders. The sun is intense make sure you put on sun block.

 

I participated in the Martini tasting that is held at the Wonderland bar. The cost is about $25 and it is only for the number of people that can sit at the bar. The bartender gave us the recipes and went over each drink. He also passed the shakers around so everyone had a turn to shake the drink. We had 5 martini tasting. The tasting is more like a small martini glass. It was definitely worth the expense and would definitely do it again. I meant to on the other sea days but never made it back.

 

We made reservations at Jamie’s Italian for dinner as we had a buy one get one free. We didn’t enjoy Jamie’s Italian. We ordered the cured meat plank which was awesome and the only thing we liked. My friend got the chicken al mattone and said the chicken was chewy. We told the waiter and manager. The manager said it was because it was free-range chicken.We look at each other because we have all eaten free-range chicken and it is not chewy. My other friend ordered the Penne Pomodoro and I ordered the Tagliatelle Bolognese. The food was bland and the pasta was either overcooked or undercooked. I do know what al dente is and that is how I cook my pasta at home. We didn’t enjoy the meal at all at Jamie’s would definitely would not recommend it to anyone.

 

We had tickets to the Headliner Show at 9:30. It was a ventriloquist and we weren’t interested and decided not to attend.

The silent party was fun. It looks like they only do it on a Sea day and I only saw it twice on the schedule. It starts around midnight.They hand you headphones and you get two channels to switch between. The color green for one channel and blue for the other. It was fun watching everyone dance, people trying to talk to each other and singing the songs out loud.

 

Day 4 (Tuesday – St. Thomas)

We arrived at Crown Bay ahead of schedule. We were the only ship at this pier.Disney and Norwegian were at the other pier. We booked our own excursion, Sunny Linston for Shopping, Sightseeing and Beach before we left for the cruise. Once you leave the ship go through the duty free shop area. We stopped at the windmill as that was the location to meet our tour. We were picked up by Linston of Sunny Linston tours. We were dropped off downtown for 1.5 hours of shopping. Next we went on our tour of St. Thomas. Mountain Top is a beautiful view of the island and you can see other islands. The banana daiquiri was good and I recommend it to anyone who likes daiquiris. The gift shop had plethora of souvenirs. I wished we had more time there to shop. My friends decided they want to do Magen’s Bay for the beach. There is an entrance fee for the beach.There is a place to get food that served pizza, chicken nuggets, fries etc.Make sure you keep your food covered and not left out as the sea gulls will flyover and grab it. There is a server that goes in the water to take your drink order so you don’t have to go to the bar.

 

We went into the On-Air room where they hold the Karaoke.It was crowded. We stood for a couple of songs. Every night we passed by there when they had Karaoke it was packed.

 

Day 5 (Wednesday – St. Kitts)

We arrived at. We were the only ship at this pier. We picked towels outside ship on the pier. You always return the towels there too. Again we booked our own excursion Thenford Grey for Grand tour of St. Kitts tour (sightseeing and beach) before we left for the cruise. It was a great tour of the island with 2 hours of beach time. The beach stop was at a beach club with restaurant that is all. You can pay for your chair/umbrella with cash or credit card. If you want food or drink we were told you had to pay by cash only. Some of us were not prepared for the cash only. I had brought extra cash with me for this excursion so I had enough cash to pay for all of our food and drinks.

 

We had tickets to Columbus. Doors open at 8:00 pm. They scan your set sail pass in order to enter the theater. If you don’t show up by 8:15 pm then they give your seat to those in the wait line. We tried to get to the shows when the door opens to get good seats. I LOVED the show. Columbus was a great musical using mostly modern songs to tell the story. I enjoyed the show and would see it again.

We had tickets for the 10:30 pm comedy show tonight but decided not to attend.

I finally tried the Bionic bar. It wasn’t as busy as I thought it would be. We were able to get a seat and tablet. You can choose from 3 categories of drinks: create your own, traditional and RC drink selection.The screen on other side shows where you are in line of getting your drink made. You have to use your set and sail card for the drink to be released to you.

Quest was held tonight and was fun as usual. The cruise director did say he was changing things so those who did bring a bag of stuff to win that you wouldn’t be able to use it.

Day 6 (Thursday – At Sea)

It was humid and hot sitting out on the sun deck today. There was no wind today to help stay cool.

 

I attended The Heist show at the Aqua Theater. It was a cute short show about 45 minutes. You don’t need tickets, first come and first serve.

 

This was the second formal night and the night they served lobster tail.

 

We had tickets for the A Journey in Time show tonight at 7:30 pm but decided not to attend as we were still at dinner and wanted to finish our dinner.

We went to Sabor after dinner for drinks. We didn’t like how they are charging a flat fee now for food. There was no way I was going to order enough food to cover the cost. I did like the jalapeno-cucumber margarita.

 

Day 7 (Friday – At Sea)

Since I dreaded going back to work on Tuesday after the Memorial Day Holiday, Idecided to relax today.

 

We discovered the American Icon dining room when we walking around trying to find Izumi as we wanted to see what it looked like before we got off the ship. They were serving lunch. You can choose from buffet or order off menu. We choose buffet. We wish we would have discovered it on the other sea days. I enjoyed the salad that the chop up for you and the stir fry station where you choose the vegetables, meat and sauce you want in it. It was not crowded.

 

I caught the afternoon aqua show Hideaway Heist. This show had a theme and was also short about 40 minutes. I enjoyed this show.

 

I went to the 5 pm iSkate show which is the ice Skating show in Studio B, another short show. No one fell during my show. It reminded me of the Ice Capades if you remember those. Each skater pick a song they wanted to skate to, some of the songs were modern and some were classics.

Heading to dinner we saw the Penguins from the Madagascar movie. You can take pictures with them. I saw characters from DreamWorks in the Promenade throughout the week.

I made it to the Schooners Bar. I was able to see the captain on his motorcycle riding through the promenade greeting the passengers. Also, as we were sitting there they had the Celebration parade in the afternoon. The best place to watch it is in front of Sorrento’s as they stay in that area. Some of the acts walk all the down but most stayed in that area.

Food

Overall, the food is ok (not the worst and not best). I understand it is buffet food and mass produce food so it will never be gourmet so I went into it knowing the food will be ok/good. The Caesar salad was really good. At times we did order two entrees to try something new that we had never tried before. I Sorrento’s Pizza was ok. We only ate there late at night after a several adult beverages so anything would taste ok at the point. I didn’t want it to any other specialty restaurant and I didn’t make it to a couple of the bars.

Room

We like having a balcony room. We enjoyed sitting out there to watch the ship sail in and out of port. The walls are magnetic so we used hooks to hang up night gowns, robes, etc. We also used plastic shoe holder over bathroom door to hold items. At the desk/vanity there were 3 outlets and 2 USB ports. There are 3 shelves in the bathroom and night light. The sink is very small. We all loved the shower because the water was hot, great pressure and movable shower head. I liked having a refrigerator in the room as we were able to keep bottles of water cold.

 

Disembarkation

Our plane left Ft. Lauderdale at 10:00 am so we did self-disembarkation. At 6:30 am we left our room dragged all of our luggage down the ship ramps to customs. We did the customs form through the app. When we got to customs they said the person was not there and to fill out the form. I’m glad I filled out the form just in the case the app didn’t work. There were plenty of cabs available to take you to the airport. Our cab ride was more than when we arrived. The cab driver told us there was a flat fee but we read signs at the port saying there wasn’t. We were confused and wasn’t sure if we were getting ripped off. I will take pictures of the signs next time. When we got to the airport, there small lines at Southwest kiosk and baggage counter as well as long lines to get through security. It took us about 20 minutes to get through security. We were at our gate a little after 7:30 am.

I have attached the Cruise Compass from my cruise which was Eastern Caribbean.

CruiseCompassDay1.pdf

 

CruiseCompassDay2.pdf

 

CruiseCompassDay3.pdf

 

CruiseCompassDay4.pdf

 

CruiseCompassDay5.pdf

 

Daily Planner - Day 6.pdf

 

Daily Planner - Day 7.pdf

If you have any questions, please let me know. I will answer all of them to the best of my ability.

 

Thanks for reading my review!

Edited July 13, 2017 by kculater

[easyboy]

Thank you for your clear and concise review!

 

 

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[ALSEAU]

Thanks for sharing your experience.

[mrsaknar]

Fabulous review ~ We are going on Harmony in October and can't wait! This will be our 9th cruise but first time on this ship! I noticed you mentioned the captain having a motorcycle .... Was it Captain Johnny? He is a great guy, so friendly and hilarious!

[kculater]

Fabulous review ~ We are going on Harmony in October and can't wait! This will be our 9th cruise but first time on this ship! I noticed you mentioned the captain having a motorcycle .... Was it Captain Johnny? He is a great guy, so friendly and hilarious!

Yes, it was Captain Johnny.

 

Sent from my SM-G925P using Forums mobile app

[Dremac373]

Thanks for the detailed review. The tips are awesome and will be adding them to my notes. Glad you had a fun trip and arrived home safely.

[SilkySal]

Fabulous review ~ We are going on Harmony in October and can't wait! This will be our 9th cruise but first time on this ship! I noticed you mentioned the captain having a motorcycle .... Was it Captain Johnny? He is a great guy, so friendly and hilarious!

 

We will be going in October as well! We will be on Harmony from October 7 to the 14th to celebrate our anniversary with family!:hearteyes: If you'd like to connect with other cruisers going the same week as you, check out the site below to click on your specific week to talk with her fellow cruisers!!:cool:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1008

[mizLORInj]

Great review.

We were on Anthem the very first time Harmony docked in St. Maarten (November 2016) Many of us were out taking pics of it as it turned around and backed in next to us. Crew members watched too! Very nice ship. We'll get on it at some point. . . right now we love that Anthem's port is only an hour away by car!