A short review of Thanksgiving 2021 Harmony cruise with food pics

[Itchy&Scratchy]

We flew in from Atlanta on Delta and landed around 9 am. Took us a while to get an uber/lyft since it was a holiday weekend. It cost $100 for the 5 of us in an UberXL. The driver showed up with a Toyota Highlander, which was not overly accommodating of 5 passengers, 3 suitcases and 5 backpacks. My parents traveled with us two and our 10 yo kiddo. All vaxxed, except for the kid who was half way there.

 

We made to Port Canaveral at 10:50 for our 11 am check-in time. Dropped off luggage and were in line 5 minutes later. They checked the check-in time and only allowed people with 11 am time to get into the very first line. Everyone else was sent to the later sections corresponding to their check-in time. Showed our passports, neg results and vaxx cards.

We were inside the terminal at 11:05.

Then the antigen test for the kiddo, told it would be 45 minutes for the results. We were told that there were 514 kids under 12 on our sailing. It was very crowded in the testing area. It took exactly 45 minutes and the results were emailed to us. 🙂 There is free wifi in the waiting area from the Port of Canaveral.

Kiddo's results and paperwork were then checked by an agent again.

At 11:50 we went to the next station to check in fully. It took about 10-15 minutes to check in all 5 of us - mostly, comparing the uploaded data to the actual paperwork and checking the test result printouts.

 

The cabins on deck 9 were ready around 2 pm. We ate at Windjammer which was great. They had cold lobster, tons of shrimp, the kid had some pasta marinara (wasn't crazy about it), he didn't like their chicken nuggets at all (I did) even though they were pretty standard, lots of nice desserts, salads, and hot choices.

 

 

 

oreo cheesecake below was one of our favorite WJ desserts.

 

 

 

 

Quite surprisingly, the WJ wasn't horribly busy at the time. Due to the reduced capacity, WJ rarely was up to capacity on this sailing (there were a few times), and we loved eating there during this cruise. During our full capacity 2019 Allure sailing we managed to eat at WJ about two times. Couldn't get in - it was too busy. So, in 2019 we ate breakfasts and lunches at the Solarium Bistro, which, unfortunately, was limited to vaxxed only people on our 2021 Harmony sailing.

 

As we ate, I managed to book all the shows that we wanted to see using the Royal app. The choices are more limited for those with unvaxxed kids.

 

After lunch I did the muster drill on the app for us (but not my parents, because their old smartphones couldn't load the app) - my parents COULDN'T do it on the TV at all. I don't know where it was hiding, but it was not on the TV. We then checked in at our respective drill stations - despite the proximity of our cabins we had different muster drill locations. I assured the staff that we ALL watched the videos on the app and they scanned my parents' passes without a hitch.

 

We then had some free time to kill, so we watched the kid do the zipline and the Ultimate Abyss.

 

As far as I know, the ship departed on time at 5 pm - we were in the giant hot tub for the departure. This was a dream of mine since 2009 when I saw somebody do that for the sail away... It was great! Loved it. Will do so again next year.

 

To be continued...

[Itchy&Scratchy]

The cabins were ready around 2, the cards were in the door.

 

We had an OV balcony cabin 9546 for 3 and my parents had an OV balcony cabin 9568 for 2. We loved both the cabins (nice and quiet) and their locations. My parents were right next to the elevator which is great for my dad. We didn't get to choose these cabins as this was a Lift and Shift from a cancelled Nov 2020 Indy cruise. RCI chose for us and, for once, we were happy with the choice.

 

Our cabin had the sofa by the balcony, and my parents had the bed by the balcony.

 

 

 

Our 10 yo 5' DS slept on the sleeper sofa. I took a couple of naps on it - it was just like the bed. Kind of hard, but not unbearable. 

 

We didn't ask the cabin attendant to put the bed back into the sofa formation every morning, so she just left it alone for the duration of the cruise. We are fine with that. We skipped a couple of morning and evening housekeeping sessions. So, we got only one towel animal, whereas my parents got one every evening and actually "collected" them.

 

 

We unpacked some clothes, but the rest was still in suitcases. We like living out of them without fully unpacking. We stuffed one under the table and kept the other one on the floor between the bed and the sofa.

[greeneyedancr89139]

Love the review so far!

Did you guys use Adventure Ocean at all? I am curious if they limited you to 5 hours with a lot of kids on board. We are sailing between Christmas and New Years. 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

Some quick notes about the activities and entertainment:

 

Our kid doesn't do kid's club, so no comment whatsoever.

 

We enjoyed ping pong, the zipline (almost never a line of more than 2), rock climbing (lines vary), the Ultimate Abyss (there was rarely a line), water slides (lines varied by the minute), the oversized hot tubs. My parents went to a couple of dance classes, however, they were super crowded at Boleros and masks were not mandatory, so my parents bowed out. We watched the surfing sessions, but none of us were not brave enough to try it out, even the boogie boarding.

 

One of the pools was closed for maintenance in the last 2 or 3 days, and the number of people in other pools was severely limited. Disappointing, because for the first time ever the water in the pools was actually bearable instead of icy cold.

 

Soft serve ice cream was good. DH and DS ate a lot of it.

 

We couldn't do ice skating, because unlike in pre-covid times, you had to stand in a looooong line in the morning to register and then got a skating session booked for you. By 10 am the entire day would be fully booked. We showed up once before knowing about the registration - there were 5 people on the ice, with a limit of 15. Nobody else was there. We asked if DS could skate and were told the entire day was already sold out. Bummer. 

 

Masks were mostly complied with on the Promenade, the WJ and in MDR. Everywhere else indoors the compliance was spotty at best. WE wore masks everywhere indoors, outside of taking a quick photo on the Promenade or while eating at MDR/WJ.

 

We enjoyed both the 1887 and iSkate ice shows. Left and front side seating were for vaxxed people on E showings. Family section was to the right. Spotty mask compliance. Staff didn't say anything, even though loud announcements were made. There was separate performances for vaxxed only.

 

Theater balcony was for unvaxxed people. Hardly anyone wore a mask, even though they were required on the balcony for the mixed crowd. Staff didn't say anything, even though loud announcements were made. Masks are optional on deck 4 for vaxxed people and distancing is not required.

 

My parents and I watched Grease - nice, but inappropriate for kids.

 

Fourever singing group was wonderful. We later spotted the singers eating in the WJ and sunning in Coco Cay.

 

Don't miss the classic guitar player named Wojciech. He is GREAT! We listened to him on the Promenade and in the Central Park.

 

We didn't get to see anything that was for vaxxed people only, because our 10 yo tags along to everything.

 

For E showing of the Big Daddy Getaway show at the Aqua theater, families were seated to the right and some in the middle. On our first reserved showing we sat there in full sun for 40+ minutes, but the show was cancelled due to winds. The show was not as great as OceanAria on the Allure, with very few water acts. But it was entertaining.

 

We also watched the headliner show with a singing impersonator Finis Henderson  - it was great.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

3 minutes ago, greeneyedancr89139 said:

Did you guys use Adventure Ocean at all?

sorry, no help at all. DS refuses to do kid's club.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

Onto the food (my favorite)... 🙂

Now, I know that RCI's food is not its main attraction. We sail on Princess for food, and on RCI for entertainment and activities. That said, we were pretty happy with the offerings and quality of food at WJ and MDR. The menu was identical to the one we had in 2019, with the exception of Thanksgiving day.

 

Solarium Bistro was limited to vaxxed only.

 

We ate all our breakfasts and lunches at WJ, with some quick bites/salads at the Park Cafe once in a while. We ate all the dinners at MDR on deck 5 for unvaxxed people. Tables at WJ were not exactly socially distanced, with some being blocked which made no sense whatsoever. But, hey, as long as we found a place to sit down - we were good. In our MDR tables were not distanced at all. 

 

I found out that we couldn't do MTD with an unvaxxed kid shortly before the cruise, but didn't change us to early seating. When we tried to do that onboard, the earing seating was full and they put us on a waiting list. Our first dinner were were placed at a table for 10 on deck 4, and I was concerned about dining with total strangers who are unvaxxed, but thankfully, nobody else showed up to dinner. Starting on a second night, they moved us to an early seating on Deck 5 and we had the best waiter and asst waiter ever - John and Michael.

 

WJ had the usual breakfast items which repeated every day: lox and herring, scrambled and hard boiled eggs, made to order eggs/omelettes, biscuits, waffles, cold cuts, various breads and baked goodies like donuts and muffins, smoothies, cereals,  bacon and ham, usually some kind of meat, lots of fruit and fruit salads, hash browns, muesli, etc. I was pleasantly surprised by a very delicious avocado toast on dark bread. Yum! DS usually opted for 2 glazed donuts, 2 hard boiled egg whites and 2 hash browns every morning. DH ate everything and a custom made omelette on top of that. 🙂 I enjoyed some of the omelettes as well.

 

Now, I found that I absolutely loved Park Cafe's Egg McMuffins, so I usually stopped by on the way to WJ and got two of those for my own breakfast. The cafe also had a variety of flavored cream cheese (chives, apricot, smoked salmon, veggie, etc.) and bagels, some breakfast burritos (didn't like the beef one), cereal, oatmeal, etc. Park Cafe was usually busy during lunch and the staff limited the number of people coming inside. Outside seating was very limited.

 

We made DS's dream of having breakfast on the balcony come true on one of the sea day mornings, by eating at the WJ without him and letting him sleep in, and then bringing his favorite items to savor on the balcony. Obviously, everything tasted so much better!

 

My parents have high BP, so we requested a low/no sodium meals in MDR for them. It worked out great, and Alexo the head waiter and our waiter John were most helpful by supplying a menu for the next day for us to make choices in advance. 🙂

Edited December 2, 2021 by Itchy&Scratchy

[Itchy&Scratchy]

Subjectively, the MDR food was nice, hot (or cold when needed) and completely satisfying, with three notable exceptions: Beef Stroganoff which had pickles in it (super weird and not tasty), Spaghetti Bolognese (worse than Hamburger helper) and Wild Mushroom risotto.

 

Chicken fingers from kid's menu. Too fancy for my kid and no honey mustard. He tried them but didn't eat them. He liked the grilled cheese sandwich much better. He also tried MDR pepperoni pizza, but thought the pepperonis themselves were awful, so he took them off. He loved Sorento's pepperoni pizza so much that I had to make several trips there on the way to MDR or WJ specifically for the kiddo's meal.

 

Prime rib

 

 

Baked Polenta with Feta

 

 

Warm hazelnut chocolate cake

 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

Duck Terrine

 

 

Beef stroganoff

 

 

Ahi Tuna

 

 

Mojo Pork Chop

 

Vegetarian Mousaka

 

bananas foster

 

 

royal cheesecake (strangely, with only a single strawberry)

 

no sugar added coconut cake

 

[mcgore83]

Loving this review.  Thank you for sharing.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

beef carpaccio

 

 

pan seared sole

 

 

the duck ala orange

 

tenderloin?

 

 

a stuffed portobello mushroom without the marinara sauce

 

 

A peach shortcake with strawberry-lime sauce which was MARVELLOUS!

 

 

Edited December 2, 2021 by Itchy&Scratchy

[Itchy&Scratchy]

a house salad the kiddo asked for. He liked it.

 

 

and a fruit plate he enjoyed every evening:

 

 

a seafood salad

 

 

I think this is cod:

 

 

A wild mushroom risotto which we all wanted to love, but hated. I usually like risottos. It was mushy and tasted over the top like the truffle oil and it had no other taste:

 

 

The next day there was another risotto on the TG menu, something with pumpkin and squash. We stayed away.

 

the desserts:

 

Mississippi Mud pie, excellent!

 

 

no sugar added dark chocolate custard (dad liked it):

 

 

and lemon curd tarlet, which was great:

 

 

 

 

 

[Maitaivegas]

Loved the pictures, glad you had fun

[Itchy&Scratchy]

but wait, there is more!

 🙂

 

Thanksgiving day dinner

some kind of a beef appetizer that my DH said was not good (the beef was cured):

 

 

Pumpkin pie, which was actually a cheesecake. The pumpkin was for decoration only, which DS found out the hard way. 😞 We don't like pumpkin pie in general, but this cheesecake was very enjoyable!

 

 

 

TG ham. The kid didn't like it.

 

 

Veal osso bucco. Mine was very fatty. Kid got very upset when he found out these were baby cows.

 

some kind of chocolate mousse, very good:

 

 

[Arzeena]

Thanks for the review and pictures. Enjoying them.

Was the Wind Jammer crowded? Lines?

Was WJ open for Dinner?

Anything you would think of as a must do?
 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

but wait, there is more! 🙂

 

escargot

 

 

vidalia onion tart

 

 

tenderloin

 

 

lobster

 

 

barramundi

 

 

molten chocolate cake

 

 

baked alaska

 

 

low sugar pineapple cake

 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

2 minutes ago, Arzeena said:

Thanks for the review and pictures. Enjoying them.

Was the Wind Jammer crowded? Lines?

Was WJ open for Dinner?

Anything you would think of as a must do?
 

WJ was open for dinner till 9, but we never went there after MDR, mostly because we had shows right after the early seating to go to.

 

There were no lines for breakfast or lunch, but a couple of times we heard the announcement that WJ was at capacity and to free the tables if we are done eating. Some people completely ignored it - like a lone guy at a table for 5 just reading...

 

Ultimate Abyss and all the shows are a must. 🙂

I will publish the daily compasses later.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

aaaaand, my favorite dinner because of the Garlic Tiger shrimp!

 

Asian tacos - nice:

 

 

seafood cake

 

 

roasted tomato soup - good:

 

 

 

lamb - good

 

Tagliatelle - good

 

GARLIC TIGER SHRIMP - yum!

 

 

pepperoni pizza from the kid's menu. Pepperonis were taken off the kid didn't like them.

 

Steak Diane with cognac mushroom sauce. It's a strip steak. It was ok. I like usually like ribeye.

 

A nice cherry jubilee. The ice cream that came with it wasn't very good, even though on previous nights the vanilla ice cream was exceptional.

 

 

 

tiramisu was good but my DH didn't like it because it wasn't more traditional

 

a very heavenly tres leches

[FionaMG]

Love reviews with lots of food porn. 

 

The garlic tiger shrimp are a favourite of mine too. When it's that menu I usually skip the appetizers and order 1 of the tiger shrimp and 1 of the lamb.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

17 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

Love reviews with lots of food porn. 

 

The garlic tiger shrimp are a favourite of mine too. When it's that menu I usually skip the appetizers and order 1 of the tiger shrimp and 1 of the lamb.

I was planning to get two Tiger shrimp entrees... I will next time. Definitely!

[FionaMG]

13 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

I was planning to get two Tiger shrimp entrees... I will next time. Definitely!

 

Go for it!

 

By the way, was your molten chocolate cake actually hot and molten? I love molten chocolate cake but I've stopped ordering it on Royal because it always comes out cold and solid. 

Maybe I should send it back and ask them to nuke it in the microwave for a bit.

[John&LaLa]

Surprised you didn't try the apple pie.

[John&LaLa]

17 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

I was planning to get two Tiger shrimp entrees... I will next time. Definitely!

 

I get a side of shrimp with the lamb

[FionaMG]

1 minute ago, John&LaLa said:

 

I get a side of shrimp with the lamb

 

I asked for that the first time but he brought me out two full plates anyway - and I cleared them both! 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

33 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

Surprised you didn't try the apple pie.

we did. We didn't like it - it was cold. I could swear I had more pics, but I can't find them. I know my mom also took her own photos, so I'll have to get some from her. 🙂

 

36 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

By the way, was your molten chocolate cake actually hot and molten?

yes, it was!!!!

[John&LaLa]

16 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

we did. We didn't like it - it was cold. I could swear I had more pics, but I can't find them. I know my mom also took her own photos, so I'll have to get some from her. 🙂

 

Odd, it's almost always warm with a bowl of ice cream.