Dec 16 Harmony Post Cruise Thoughts

[danny6514]

For this cruise, we travelled in a group of 4, age ranging from 23 to 29. One person in the group is a first-time cruiser while the rest of us have cruised before the past. This cruise would make it my 6th cruise, 3rd with RC.

 

Ship:

• Having been on Oasis twice, I felt this ship was significantly newer in almost all ways.
• Lines for dinner/shows were either short or non-existent.
• Pools were crowded during prime time but nothing out of the ordinary.
• Last 3 days the ship rocked up and down, left and right, can't say it was the best experience. But it was definitely the ocean and not the ship.

 

Cabin:

• Well-appointed, felt modern and way newer than Oasis.
• Balcony was large compared to the other Norwegian ships I've been on.
• Edward, our cabin attendant, is the best I've seen. We see him cleaning or in the hallways almost every time we walk in or out of our cabin. Our room was very messy, and he carefully cleaned and folded everything every single time, while we continued to make the mess. (Oops) We made sure to tip him generously at the end.

 

Restaurants:
 

- Jamie's:

• Food was great here, the meat/vegetable platters and the tomato bruschetta are to die for.
• Rudest service I've experienced in 6 cruises. A person standing outside the restaurant "greeted" us while we looked at the menu and asked "do you know how much this restaurant costs?" When we informed him we already have a reservation, he simply turned away and left without saying a word. He must be disappointed we poor people could afford to eat there. Be assured he was reported to guest services.

- Wonderland:

• Our server Schubert was our absolute favourite throughout the entire cruise. He provided exceptional service with the Wonderland twist, making our dinner very fun and memorable.
• Food was exceptional and very different. I was a bit skeptical at first with all the "magic" happening here, but it was definitely worth it. 
• We went with server recommendations, and loved every dish. Some highlights were Terroir Beef, Buffalo Chicken Eggs, and our favourite, Oceanic Citrus.

- Central Park 150:

• Definitely one of the fancier dining venues onboard, dress code recommended.
• Attentive service, but nothing out of the ordinary.
• Lobster bisque was great, most other food were good but pales in comparison with Jamie's and Wonderland. Likely will not return.

- MDR:

• Was not a fan of this place on the Oasis, but was pleasantly surprised with all 4 meals I ate here. Thought the food was actually pretty good, definitely has quality there.
• For the first time, tried lunch here, A La Carte together with the buffet gave us tons of selections and the quality was great.
• Ate 3 lobsters during lobster night, it was tasty. Don't be shy if one isn't enough for you 😉

 

Shows:
 

- Columbus:

• Loved this show, the use of gigantic props (the largest at sea I heard), talented performers, and catchy music kept us interested the entire show.
• Loved how they added a taste of RC at the end with a video of Harmony sailing by in the background.

- Grease:

• Never a fan of long shows, but I was blown away by this show, and for the first time, managed to stay attentive through the entire show.
• The main actor acting Danny Zuko did a fantastic job, but on an unfortunate turn of event he was the one that went overboard on Christmas...extremely saddening.

- Game Shows:

• Newly wed show was a great laugh as usual, but we felt our cruise director Marc was a bit biased. The oldest couple barely knew how to respond to questions, got almost nothing right, but managed to bring away the grand prize. Don't get me wrong, I completely adore the old couple as they were so loving together, but it made the game not as fun to watch when every round it always ends with "lets just give them the point!"
• I always loved watching Quest but this one the the absolute worst I've seen, theatre was half empty, crowds were less engaged. The lead for our group literally did not want to move, and did nothing but walk when he was supposed to do crazy things. Not RC's fault, but disappointing.

- Parties:

• Very short and disorganized, the parades don't really make sense as no one really knows where the actions are until it's too late.
• The glowing things they throw out, probably only a handful of people got them while everyone fights for them like it's their last meal.

 

That's it! If you have any questions, feel free to ask away.

Edited December 27, 2018 by danny6514

[scorpluvsdolphins]

Thanks for the review. I’ll be on the Harmony after it comes to PC. 

[packerman8]

My wife and I are going on the Harmony is less than 2 weeks.  Anything that we should make sure we do that you found amazing?  We love Trivia and will do a lot of that.  We also were thinking about the Scavenger Hunt.  Did you do either of those?

 

I am a very picky eater and don't like a bunch of seasonings on my food.  Do you think I would like Wonderland?  I really want to do it.  

 

Thanks!  

[zenworks911]

Did your family use either of the Royal Caribbean apps on your phones for texting other family members onboard or schedules?  We weren't planning on buying an internet package.  I wasn't clear what the current status was as things seem to have changed for the Harmony of the Seas in the last month or so.  We have a mix of iPhones and Android phones.

Edited December 27, 2018 by zenworks911

[kenzie]

Hello, 

I am on HOS end of Jan, so thank you for your perspective of the Cruise. If you had the surf & zoom package, it is for one phone, can I use it for both my Iphone & ipad or do I need two packages? 

Also, which night is the Lobster night. just so I know not to book a specialty that night. 

Thank you for any replies

[Ken at the beach]

21 minutes ago, kenzie said:

Hello, 

I am on HOS end of Jan, so thank you for your perspective of the Cruise. If you had the surf & zoom package, it is for one phone, can I use it for both my Iphone & ipad or do I need two packages? 

Also, which night is the Lobster night. just so I know not to book a specialty that night. 

Thank you for any replies

You can use the 1 device internet package for any number of different devices....just one at a time.  

 

Need to know which itinerary you are on to determine formal night.  It could be either 5 or 6.

Edited December 28, 2018 by Ourusualbeach

[Ken at the beach]

On 12/27/2018 at 3:04 PM, zenworks911 said:

Did your family use either of the Royal Caribbean apps on your phones for texting other family members onboard or schedules?  We weren't planning on buying an internet package.  I wasn't clear what the current status was as things seem to have changed for the Harmony of the Seas in the last month or so.  We have a mix of iPhones and Android phones.

 

So far texting is only available on Allure for ships using the Royal app.  It doesn’t matter if it’s an iPhone or Android.

[kenzie]

Hi- We are on Western itinerary.

 

Thank You

 

[aneshka]

On 12/27/2018 at 3:04 PM, zenworks911 said:

Did your family use either of the Royal Caribbean apps on your phones for texting other family members onboard or schedules?  We weren't planning on buying an internet package.  I wasn't clear what the current status was as things seem to have changed for the Harmony of the Seas in the last month or so.  We have a mix of iPhones and Android phones.

We were on HOS on Dec 9 sailing, I think that was the time they switched to the Royal app. We were able to msg each other using Imessage, the FB messenger would come but the message would not load nor were we able to reply to the messages.

[NSnewcruiser]

1 hour ago, kenzie said:

Hi- We are on Western itinerary.

 

Thank You

 

Should be day 5.The 2nd formal night.

[danny6514]

On 12/27/2018 at 10:47 AM, packerman8 said:

My wife and I are going on the Harmony is less than 2 weeks.  Anything that we should make sure we do that you found amazing?  We love Trivia and will do a lot of that.  We also were thinking about the Scavenger Hunt.  Did you do either of those?

 

I am a very picky eater and don't like a bunch of seasonings on my food.  Do you think I would like Wonderland?  I really want to do it.  

 

Thanks!  

 

Hmm...in terms of activities I wouldn't say there are anything out of the norm. We tried to do the escape room but it was fully booked, so if you wanted to try that, make sure you book early. I heard it's pretty hard to solve. In terms of secret places on the ship, on deck 5 jogging tracks, towards the forward of the ship there is a quiet area with a great view of the ocean, and no one seems to know about it. (let's hope it stays that way) The whole week I saw probably 1 or 2 people there max. Great place to just sit and relax.

 

I didn't find the food from Wonderland over-seasoned, infact most are relatively simple but yet creative and good tasting. Just for the experience alone I feel it's worth it.

 

 

[danny6514]

On 12/27/2018 at 12:04 PM, zenworks911 said:

Did your family use either of the Royal Caribbean apps on your phones for texting other family members onboard or schedules?  We weren't planning on buying an internet package.  I wasn't clear what the current status was as things seem to have changed for the Harmony of the Seas in the last month or so.  We have a mix of iPhones and Android phones.

 

The new Royal Caribbean app rolled out the sailing before ours. We found the app very buggy, sometimes when we are scrolling through the list of activities it just disappears. Further, the times provided on the app are frequently wrong, so we never trusted it. To make it even worse, none of us managed to even get the messaging functionality working, nor were we able to make reservations and view our folio. Not sure if it could get any more useless than that...

[danny6514]

13 hours ago, kenzie said:

Hello, 

I am on HOS end of Jan, so thank you for your perspective of the Cruise. If you had the surf & zoom package, it is for one phone, can I use it for both my Iphone & ipad or do I need two packages? 

Also, which night is the Lobster night. just so I know not to book a specialty that night. 

Thank you for any replies

 

As someone already replied above, you can only connect 1 device at once. But if you log out, you can sign on using the other device.

 

For lobster night, we did Western Caribbean and it was on the 5th day. (sea day)

[kenzie]

8 hours ago, danny6514 said:

 

As someone already replied above, you can only connect 1 device at once. But if you log out, you can sign on using the other device.

 

For lobster night, we did Western Caribbean and it was on the 5th day. (sea day)

Thank you - just booked my time for that day 

[Biker19]

On 12/29/2018 at 5:24 AM, danny6514 said:

 To make it even worse, none of us managed to even get the messaging functionality working

The within app chat function is/was not available on Harmony and I assume the internet traffic that used to allow some messaging functionality without a VOOM package was turned off by your sailing. 

[packerman8]

2 quick questions, once we get on the ship, Where is the best place to make reservations for the Bogo Dining?  Also, Where do u get the Wow Bands?  

 

Thank you!

[Clarea]

5 minutes ago, packerman8 said:

2 quick questions, once we get on the ship, Where is the best place to make reservations for the Bogo Dining?  Also, Where do u get the Wow Bands?  

 

Thank you!

Go to any specialty restaurant to make dining reservations.

 

Guest Services for WOW bands.