Symphony or Harmony?

[JennyRh]

Just came back from Oasis and loved it !! planning next cruise, traveling with a 11 and 14 year old, which one would be better, Harmony or Symphony?

 

thank you

[LouisvilleDon]

We love the big ships. Six of us are going on the Harmony in November and we have booked the Symphony for next November.

[Clarea]

Just came back from Oasis and loved it !! planning next cruise, traveling with a 11 and 14 year old, which one would be better, Harmony or Symphony?

 

thank you

Very little difference.

[Merion_Mom]

Just came back from Oasis and loved it !! planning next cruise, traveling with a 11 and 14 year old, which one would be better, Harmony or Symphony?

 

thank you

 

Yes. ;) :D

[Yorkvillain]

I would go Symphony because of Playmakers sports bar (and arcade for kids) and the pool in the Solarium (for the adults).

[kateg]

My 13-year-old made ridiculously extensive spreadsheetscomparing cruise ships including Harmony and Symphony. For what it’s worth, her choice wasSymphony. I think laser tag and"new" were her deciding factors.

[awestover89]

Symphony has a few new features (laser tag definitely stands out) but you can't go wrong with either. We are doing Harmony for our family cruise purely because it was cheaper than Symphony, but then doing Symphony for ourselves.

[Grandma Petania]

Which port they sail from may also be a decision maker. My daughter and I are booked on Symphony out of Miami this December, and Harmony from Ft. Lauderdale next February. We chose Symphony for Dec., simply because it is newer, with a new escape room. (We really enjoyed the escape room on Harmony.)

 

We have never sailed out of Miami, so I can’t compare it to Ft. Lauderdale yet. Harmony will sail from Ft. Lauderdale in Feb, but will be moving to Port Canaveral sometime next year. The ports might be a deciding factor for us in the future.

[Gators77]

Just came back from Oasis and loved it !! planning next cruise, traveling with a 11 and 14 year old, which one would be better, Harmony or Symphony?

 

thank you

 

Definitely the Symphony without a doubt based on all the reasons other posters have mentioned. And IMO one of the most deciding factors, a lot of their "best" staff has been moved from the Harmony to the Symphony. I just got off the Harmony at the end of June, and the service was definitely lacking. Hopefully you'll have better luck on the Symphony.

[kdnurs]

My grandsons (21 and 8) LOVED Symphony....they spent most of the time doing Laser Tag, playing games in the Arcade and climbing the surf board wall. I enjoyed Playmakers Sports Bar and my hubby hit The dog House

[Cruise a holic]

Loved the Harmony- However the symphony has an adult pool which was lacking on the Harmony. Either a great choice- IMO those ships are the cream of royal!!

[sdrocks]

We cruised Harmony in June with family of 11. The 5 grandkids loved it & so did the adults. We did a B2B on it last year. We had great service. We are doing a Symphony B2B in Feb. Can't wait. I do know prefer off season cruising vs peak as the pools were insanely crowded except on port days. That's the days I went to the pool. For a couple hours while in St Kitts I was the only one in the pool. Had my

own personal lifeguard. Lol !!

[KevinOMReb]

On 7/2/2018 at 11:32 PM, Grandma Petania said:

Which port they sail from may also be a decision maker. My daughter and I are booked on Symphony out of Miami this December, and Harmony from Ft. Lauderdale next February. We chose Symphony for Dec., simply because it is newer, with a new escape room. (We really enjoyed the escape room on Harmony.)

 

We have never sailed out of Miami, so I can’t compare it to Ft. Lauderdale yet. Harmony will sail from Ft. Lauderdale in Feb, but will be moving to Port Canaveral sometime next year. The ports might be a deciding factor for us in the future.

Not a fan leaving Canaveral.  Miami or even Lauderdale so much easier to get to and stay.  Plus with the new terminal in Miami, Symphony wins for us. 

[Clarea]

20 minutes ago, KevinOMReb said:

Not a fan leaving Canaveral.  Miami or even Lauderdale so much easier to get to and stay.  Plus with the new terminal in Miami, Symphony wins for us. 

 

We feel the opposite and prefer Port Canaveral to the South Florida ports.  Much less crowded, less expensive hotels, nice places to eat, free drinks at John's. 

[Mikew0805]

8 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

We feel the opposite and prefer Port Canaveral to the South Florida ports.  Much less crowded, less expensive hotels, nice places to eat, free drinks at John's. 

Agree on all points. Except that John's one... Never been there, but he has a cute dog! 

 

I really like the parking better as well, even off site is so close and easy. 

[KevinOMReb]

I guess if you're driving.  But FLYING into Orlando, shuttleing and having to LT park a car is a pain.  I can fly into Lauderdale or MIA and be at a wonderful bayside hotel in 20 minutes and take a 5 min uber the next morning to the ship.  Plus you have all of the restaurants in Miami to enjoy (like Crust) the night before. 

[Clarea]

41 minutes ago, KevinOMReb said:

I guess if you're driving.  But FLYING into Orlando, shuttleing and having to LT park a car is a pain.  I can fly into Lauderdale or MIA and be at a wonderful bayside hotel in 20 minutes and take a 5 min uber the next morning to the ship.  Plus you have all of the restaurants in Miami to enjoy (like Crust) the night before. 

 

We fly all the time, and generally arrive the day before the cruise.  So it is very convenient for us to rent a car, use it the night before for restaurant/shopping, turn it in the morning of the cruise, and take the rental car shuttle to the cruise terminal. Yes, there is a longer distance to the airport, but it's a nice drive, and usually uncrowded.  

[Cruise a holic]

7 hours ago, KevinOMReb said:

Not a fan leaving Canaveral.  Miami or even Lauderdale so much easier to get to and stay.  Plus with the new terminal in Miami, Symphony wins for us. 

we are on the Harmony next January .  It is moving to Port Canaveral 

[Cruise a holic]

Just now, Cruise a holic said:

we are on the Harmony next January .  It is moving to Port Canaveral 

 

[LisaLisa87]

For the dates I've priced, Symphony is considerably more expensive, so we'd go with Harmony. If the prices were close, I'd choose Symphony. 

[Liverpoolfan181]

Having sailed both, Symphony all the way! Though minor differences, sailing Harmony then Symphony, we certainly noticed the difference (ages range from early 30's to late 60's in our party).

Food quality and options on Symphony IMO were significantly better than what we had experienced on Harmony:

- Dining room quality and menu enhancements were outstanding

- Windjammer selections

- Playmakers sports bar

- Café Promenade even had all new offerings from what we had experienced on all other ships (at least on our sailing)

- Finally, gone was "Mini Bites" near the sports deck and the refreshing change to "El Loco Fresh"- all build your own nachos, tacos Burritos, etc was such a hit!

 

Solarium has it's pool back in the Solarium, new activities daily that differed from other ships- we just found we could not conquer the ship and all that there was to eat and partake in.

 

And yes, the outstanding service onboard- there was nothing the crew would not do to help enhance your vacation. Everything was just so easy and seamless onboard.

 

While I would never say no to Harmony, if I had my choice, Symphony still reigns top spot- so much so we have just rebooked her for our next sailing :) :)

 

Happy Cruising!!!

 

[HBE4]

On 3/5/2019 at 9:35 AM, Host Clarea said:

 

We feel the opposite and prefer Port Canaveral to the South Florida ports.  Much less crowded, less expensive hotels, nice places to eat, free drinks at John's. 

 

I'm guessing the free drinks at John's is to an exclusive crowd. 😉

 

But agree with you sailing from Port Canaveral is a lot more convenient that I thought.  Rent-a-car is cheap and it's an easy drive.  Less crowded as well.

 

Miami/FLL is not to shabby either.