My View: Family of the Seas takes on Harmony...again (Semi-live)

[jagsfan]

The whole private out island idea started with Great Stirrup Cay. 

Bruce Nierenberg was with the old NCL and came up with the idea. 

That was certainly the start of something big!

[APDMOM]

My View: End of day 3 - Coco Cay

 

We ended the day with dinner in Solarium Bistro and music in Central Park.  All in all, it was a perfect day for family time in Coco Cay.

 

There was a short tribute to veterans in the promenade.  I don’t know if we missed the ceremony where they hand out medals to our veterans, which made last year’s cruise extra special.  I hope they still do this and we just missed it somehow.

 

With that, a heartfelt “thank you” to all veterans, especially my personal favorites... my father-in-law (US Marines), my mom (US allied forces - South African Army), and my late brother (US allied forces - South African Air Force).

 

[APDMOM]

Hope all that posted... the internet is doing something crazy with video posting. 😁The video keeps showing up in next posts.  

[cravingthis]

3 hours ago, APDMOM said:

I will try to find out for you about the Windjammer.  We are not spending much time there, but I will see if we run into it or find it in the app.  

Thank you!!!

[APDMOM]

Day 2 Cruise Compass:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tljcruiser]

Enjoying your review so far! One question....Do your wow bands have a muster station printed on them?  My daughter and I got ours on Harmony last year and were able to use them last month on Symphony . My mom got hers on Symphony and the muster station was on the band so I am not sure if hers will be able to be reused.  Just curious if this was the case on Harmony now also?

[Sea Dog]

4 hours ago, APDMOM said:

I use a Nikon P900 for most of my pictures, and sometimes an iPhone XR.

Your pictures look fantastic. Lots of great color's. I assume those were with the Nikon?

[MrsKC08]

19 hours ago, APDMOM said:

 

Sorry to hear the videos are not working for everyone.  It is slow to upload, since I am on free surf today.  No stream... I will check when we are home and maybe reload them through Youtube.

 

As for the wrist bands, they are $5 on MSC and $4.99 on Royal.  (Hope I did not make a typo on my Seaside review).  It is for the whole cruise.  I was also told we can use the Royal wrist bands again on another cruise as they can reprogram them.  I will try it on a next cruise that has Wow bands. 🙂  

Yes, you can reuse the wow bands on multiple ships with Royal (not sure about the MSC). But I will also add the hubby and I sat down and read through your MSC review and now we are considering it after your awesome report! We had a friend cruise it last year in December and she was not a fan...however, to be fair it was her first ever cruise and didn't have much to go on. Hearing your take really made us reconsider. Especially with their price point.

 

19 hours ago, APDMOM said:

@MrsKC08

I found the evening program for day one.  Thanks for catching that!  🙂

 

Day 1 Evening program (Port Canaveral):

Thank you so much for finding and posting this! :) 

[MrsKC08]

12 hours ago, Tljcruiser said:

Enjoying your review so far! One question....Do your wow bands have a muster station printed on them?  My daughter and I got ours on Harmony last year and were able to use them last month on Symphony . My mom got hers on Symphony and the muster station was on the band so I am not sure if hers will be able to be reused.  Just curious if this was the case on Harmony now also?

I can answer this. They switch out your old band with a new one. Or at least that has been our experience.

[Biker19]

Just now, MrsKC08 said:

They switch out your old band with a new one. 

That varies and certainly not uniform fleet wide.

[MrsKC08]

3 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

That varies and certainly not uniform fleet wide.

And that is why I said it was our experience. :) Since the muster drill is printed on the band, that was the case. It might be different for us next week as we are sailing in the exact same cabin we sailed on last time, so our muster station will be the same. However, I might prefer a different color and they are always happy to exchange.

[Biker19]

15 minutes ago, MrsKC08 said:

It might be different for us next week as we are sailing in the exact same cabin we sailed on last time, so our muster station will be the same.

It's not only a matter of muster station, some have reported on some ships, you get a simple "No, you can't reuse Wow bands on this ship". And other times, the reuse seems to depend on vintage/type of existing band.

[cravingthis]

20 hours ago, APDMOM said:

 

1) We did the cabin crawl today and the aft elevators were definitely more crowded and slow. Forward elevators are not much of a problem, except when shows let out and after muster drill. 

2) We do not have UDP, but something strange happened at Johnny Rockets this morning.  For 4 cruises on Oasis class we were always able to get free orange juice for breakfast at JR.  Yesterday was no problem either.  Today, we were told they only serve freshly squeezed juice, which is an upcharge.  We opted for water and fee coffee.  Then, they brought us the free orange juice that we had yesterday.  We saw many other tables also receiving the free orange juice.   I am not sure if there is a strong push from management to sell the freshly squeezed juice or if the waiter lied to try to sell juice for an extra gratuity.  

I read the elevators were out of service for a while now.  Just curious ... do you think it's because the ship would have to be in port for several days in order for them to fix the elevators.  If she's constantly at sea, it would be difficult to repair?

 

Re: OJ, that is very strange!  Was it the same server who said they only had fresh squeezed (for a fee), and then offered the free version?

[APDMOM]

20 hours ago, Tljcruiser said:

Enjoying your review so far! One question....Do your wow bands have a muster station printed on them?  My daughter and I got ours on Harmony last year and were able to use them last month on Symphony . My mom got hers on Symphony and the muster station was on the band so I am not sure if hers will be able to be reused.  Just curious if this was the case on Harmony now also?

No muster station printed on ours.  We will try to reuse them, but if it is not possible, we think it is worth another $4.99 🙂

[APDMOM]

19 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

Your pictures look fantastic. Lots of great color's. I assume those were with the Nikon?

Thank you!  Actually, one of my favorite picture (the last one of Coco Cay) is from my iPhone, using the Vivid finish.  I upgraded from iPhone 6 to XR this year and I am amazed at the quality of the camera.  Most of the pictures are from my Nikon though.

[APDMOM]

3 hours ago, red-dragon said:

I read the elevators were out of service for a while now.  Just curious ... do you think it's because the ship would have to be in port for several days in order for them to fix the elevators.  If she's constantly at sea, it would be difficult to repair?

 

Re: OJ, that is very strange!  Was it the same server who said they only had fresh squeezed (for a fee), and then offered the free version?

All the elevators seem to be up and running now.  🙂

 

No, it was a different server who brought us the OJ.  Benefit of doubt... maybe he was new and just tried to convey that they had fresh squeezed juice, but it was strange.

[APDMOM]

My View: Day 3 - At Sea:

 

[APDMOM]

My morning walk:

 

The full moon setting behind the clouds:

 

 

Sunrise from different venues around deck 15:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

We had a busy, but fun day at sea.  Today was the Cruise Critic Meet and Mingle.  It was set for 9:30 a.m. in Jazz on 4.

 

Right after the M&M was the captain’s welcome in the Aqua Theater.  We opted not to attend this time, as we had the Cabin Crawl at 11:30.  We were able to see the 4-bedroom villa, boardwalk balcony, CP balcony, Junior Suite, and CP view room.

 

The genie of the 4-bedroom villa arranged for an amazing spread of snacks and drinks for our group.  A big thanks to Warrior Planner for this great opportunity!

 

The 4-bedroom villa - with 4 bathrooms!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 13, 2019 by APDMOM

[APDMOM]

My mom and I enjoyed lunch in the main dining room, where we finally found some good desserts.  For a while there, Royal did very well with desserts, but we have found them lacking in this area - at least at the restaurants that we frequent.  (I was disappointed with the changes in the desserts at Solarium Bistro.)  The lunch offerings in the main dining room were excellent!

 

Tip: If you are looking for a quiet and peaceful lunch with great dessert on a sea day, go to the main dining room.  Also, if you see a dessert you like at the buffet table in the MDR, grab it right away.  We waited until after our meal and they ran out of the really good looking chocolate cake.

[APDMOM]

 

Our evening plans included the ice skating show.  It is very impressive and not to be missed!  However, we sat too close to the ice this time.  For this particular show, it is better to sit away from the ice so that you can see the special lighting and video effects.  Since we were so close to the ice, the powder on the ice interfered with the effect.  Last year, we sat about 5 rows back and the effect was much better!

 

Tip: For the best views of the special effects on the ice, sit at least 5 rows from the front.

 

Views of the ice show:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

After the ice show, we happened upon the piano player in the elevator.  We made an impromptu detour to go all the way from 3 to 15, and back down.  Such fun!

 

[APDMOM]

My View: End of Day 3

[APDMOM]

Day 3 Cruise Compass:

 

 

 

 

 

[cravingthis]

3 hours ago, APDMOM said:

All the elevators seem to be up and running now.  🙂

 

No, it was a different server who brought us the OJ.  Benefit of doubt... maybe he was new and just tried to convey that they had fresh squeezed juice, but it was strange.

Glad the elevators are all working, and that you were able to get the orange juice too! 

Thanks!