Post HOS 12-5 to 12-12

[Laurie997]

Well what can I say she is an oasis class. If you been on oasis the layout is the same. 
We did not eat in the main dining room. Husband got the refreshment drink package (non alcoholic) and used the free style machine more than the refreshment package. We played bingo with the lap top and cards (if you are planning on playing bring a dabber they charged $3). Of course we didn’t win. We bought the largest package which was $72 and you received a free gift of a teddy bear a tee shirt or 2 pull tabs. I chose the pull tabs and couldn’t even win a dollar. 
Park cafe (roast beef sandwich) first day was great the rest hubby got sick for 3 days the beef was almost mooing. Very very rare. I asked them if they could cook it more they said “this is the way it comes ma’am” however later during the cruise they offered to cook it more. They must have had numerous complaints.

Pool deck—we used the solarium mainly and families with kids never paid attention to the over 16 sign. 
Port days—we used shore excursions group.com for our excursions (much cheaper than the ship)

St Marten we went on a shopping and island tour it was great!

St Thomas we went on an open air bus with shopping to the beach sapphire beach not Megan’s bay. They charge now $5 pp to get in. 
Coco Cay—loved loved loved. Husband went snorkeling (brought his own face mask) he saw tons of colorful fish. Food was great. Oasis lagoon was packed 2 ships in and no lounge chairs were available when we went. Make sure and take the tram over to south beach and grab a funnel cake or some mozzarella sticks. Yummy!!!! 
Please see all the shows they were AMAZING. Don’t worry if your not pinnecle or diamond plus there are plenty of seats to go around but we did wait in line for about 45 minutes prior. 
Grease was amazing 

El Gaucho was just okay

Four ever was very interesting especially their version of Queen.

1887 ice show was to us bizzare 

Aqua show we did not see.

All in all a good cruise. You will get your steps in. Food was great we only ate in the windjammer. The staff serves you the food. Tables were social distanced. 
We live in Florida so debarking was easy. We took our own luggage off.

[cruisegirl1]

3 hours ago, Laurie997 said:

Well what can I say she is an oasis class. If you been on oasis the layout is the same. 
We did not eat in the main dining room. Husband got the refreshment drink package (non alcoholic) and used the free style machine more than the refreshment package. We played bingo with the lap top and cards (if you are planning on playing bring a dabber they charged $3). Of course we didn’t win. We bought the largest package which was $72 and you received a free gift of a teddy bear a tee shirt or 2 pull tabs. I chose the pull tabs and couldn’t even win a dollar. 
Park cafe (roast beef sandwich) first day was great the rest hubby got sick for 3 days the beef was almost mooing. Very very rare. I asked them if they could cook it more they said “this is the way it comes ma’am” however later during the cruise they offered to cook it more. They must have had numerous complaints.

Pool deck—we used the solarium mainly and families with kids never paid attention to the over 16 sign. 
Port days—we used shore excursions group.com for our excursions (much cheaper than the ship)

St Marten we went on a shopping and island tour it was great!

St Thomas we went on an open air bus with shopping to the beach sapphire beach not Megan’s bay. They charge now $5 pp to get in. 
Coco Cay—loved loved loved. Husband went snorkeling (brought his own face mask) he saw tons of colorful fish. Food was great. Oasis lagoon was packed 2 ships in and no lounge chairs were available when we went. Make sure and take the tram over to south beach and grab a funnel cake or some mozzarella sticks. Yummy!!!! 
Please see all the shows they were AMAZING. Don’t worry if your not pinnecle or diamond plus there are plenty of seats to go around but we did wait in line for about 45 minutes prior. 
Grease was amazing 

El Gaucho was just okay

Four ever was very interesting especially their version of Queen.

1887 ice show was to us bizzare 

Aqua show we did not see.

All in all a good cruise. You will get your steps in. Food was great we only ate in the windjammer. The staff serves you the food. Tables were social distanced. 
We live in Florida so debarking was easy. We took our own luggage off.

 

Nice review.   We were on the same cruise and had some different experiences.  But, we also had a good time.   

 

We ate in the MDR and enjoyed  it .  Service and food were good, better than we expected.  Only went to Windjammer for one lunch, not much of a fan.   Had a few specialty meals and they were good but, at some point, will price themselves out of my price point.   Spent most of our ship time in the  Solarium and never saw any children.  Arrived at Coco cay about 10:30 and there were loads of empty chairs at Chill Beach.  That is our favorite area.  Chairs remained empty throughout the day.  Had lunch around 1:30 and the lunch  crowds had thinned.

 

We didn't bother with the Gaucho show and liked all the other shows we saw.  LOVED the music in the smaller venues such as Jazz on 4, Pub, Schooner bar etc.

 

Looking forward to sailing Harmony again

M

 

 

[ownedbypets]

We were on the same cruise. Had a great time. If I remember correctly there were under 300 kids so we didn't see them very often. Food was good. I think we are bored with the same menus. We ate in specialty restaurants, never ate in the main dining room. We surprised at how impressed we were with the Windjammer, mainly because it wasn't self serve. Love the new aqua theater show and Grease. Other shows were hit or miss.

Coco Cay was the best for us. We went to the Beach Club. Seating was plentiful and food was amazing.

I can't say enough positive things about the crew. They are all so happy to be healthy and back at work.

 

But...I have never seen more rude passengers. Quite a few times I witnessed passengers yelling and cursing at crew members. No excuse for that behavior because you have to wait for 5 minutes for someone to take your order or you can't get the exact dining time you want.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

43 minutes ago, ownedbypets said:

But...I have never seen more rude passengers.

apparently, one of these drunken and rude passengers took things too far on our Thanksgiving HOTS cruise, and he and his family were offboarded at St Kitts.

[jmh2006]

7 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

apparently, one of these drunken and rude passengers took things too far on our Thanksgiving HOTS cruise, and he and his family were offboarded at St Kitts.

I was on that same cruise!  I heard about a kick off in St Kitts.  It always makes me wonder what the heck they did???

[Itchy&Scratchy]

23 minutes ago, jmh2006 said:

I was on that same cruise!  I heard about a kick off in St Kitts.  It always makes me wonder what the heck they did???

there was a small discussion on the roll call.

[sjb317]

We were on this cruise as well as the previous one, we could feel a big difference in the number of passengers on 12/5  (4000+) versus 11/28 (2700).  Longer wait times for elevators and shows were more crowded.   We enjoyed both cruises, the second just seemed to have a different vibe to it.  
 

Food in MDR was good for the most part, only went to WJ once for breakfast on the second cruise and decided never again as it was packed with no social distancing.  Solarium Bistro was a nice place for breakfast with outdoor seating. We went to Jamie’s and 150 Central Park, had an excellent meal at 150, Jamie’s was rather mediocre, except for the limoncello cheesecake which was very good.  Second week we ate at Chops, 150 CP and Sabor which  was my favorite meal as I love their guacamole and  cucumber jalapeño margaritas.  We also loved Vintages as a nice place to relax in the evening with a nice glass (or two) of wine.
 

Agree with you, Ownedbypets, rude people seemed to abound on the ship.  Sad at how some treated the crew. 
 

Entertainment was very good, the ice show first cruise was I Skate, very good, energetic and fun.  1882 had excellent skating but I have always found the storyline difficult to follow.  Same with Aqua show, first week was Big Daddy’s Hideaway which is a more fun production than the Fine Line.  The only headliner show we saw was Fourever and they are amazing!   Grease was ok, vocalists were very good but storyline seems to be really out of date, IMO. 
 

Overall, amazing ship and crew.  This was our 4th time on Harmony and I think it may be my favorite ship of the Oasis class.

 

Sherri🙂

 

 

 

 

[smmountaingal]

Enjoying all your comments.  We are on 1/23 and 1/30 b2b.  

 

How did you schedule the entertainment?  Was it available on the app before you boarded the ship or after?

 

Were there any special pricing options available for any of the Specialty Restaurants?  On Celebrity, they usually discount the Tuscan Grille on the first night.

 

Do they hold any of the promenade parties like pre-Covid?  

 

 

Edited December 13, 2021 by smmountaingal
wording

[Luckynana]

59 minutes ago, sjb317 said:

 

Agree with you, Ownedbypets, rude people seemed to abound on the ship.  Sad at how some treated the crew. 

Wow!  There is no excuse for this rude behavior.  Shame on these people who feel so entitled. 🤐Disgusting!

[Laurie997]

Yes how could I forget the lady that got off the elevator if more than 6 people were in it having a temper tantrum. Pinnacle people everywhere snotty people just unappreciative to say the least. I made sure to thank every single crew member and TIPPED well. Seemed they were very short staffed. 

[Laurie997]

41 minutes ago, smmountaingal said:

Enjoying all your comments.  We are on 1/23 and 1/30 b2b.  

 

How did you schedule the entertainment?  Was it available on the app before you boarded the ship or after?

 

Were there any special pricing options available for any of the Specialty Restaurants?  On Celebrity, they usually discount the Tuscan Grille on the first night.

 

Do they hold any of the promenade parties like pre-Covid?  

 

 

You need to book entertainment will on board. No promenade parties that I was aware of. 

[Cigar King]

We were also on the 11/28 and 12/5 sailings.  

 

We were in a suite and it was nice to see the lounge was not completely full.  Coastal Kitchen seemed to be having issues, but, by the end of the cruise they were pretty much resolved.  (slow service)

 

I thought that some of the Covid restrictions were interesting.  For example, 6 people to an elevator.  It was not unusual to see more than 6, although I never did see an elevator packed.  Saying something was potentially risky.  I heard several exchanges, but stayed out of them.  Masks were generally worn, but, it was not unusual to see somebody without one or wearing it incorrectly.  I never personally saw an occasion where the crew did anything to enforce the rules.

 

Personally I think that if they are not going to enforce the rules, they should make them optional.  At least once in the elevator i thought things were going to get ugly.

 

All that being said, I had a great time, and was delighted that the water was like glass for the whole two weeks.

[crewsweeper]

WOW!!  Thanks for these reviews.

 

Who was the artist at Jazz4?  Loved that venue on SOTS. 

Hoping that Big Daddy's Hideaway and I Skate are the shows on our cruise in January.

And that all the rude people bugger off due to Omicron fear.

 

Can't recall from SOTS or Oasis, but were there ironing rooms on HOTS?

[sjb317]

9 minutes ago, crewsweeper said:

WOW!!  Thanks for these reviews.

 

Who was the artist at Jazz4?  Loved that venue on SOTS. 

Hoping that Big Daddy's Hideaway and I Skate are the shows on our cruise in January.

And that all the rude people bugger off due to Omicron fear.

 

Can't recall from SOTS or Oasis, but were there ironing rooms on HOTS?

No ironing rooms or laundry rooms on any Royal ship.  You can send clothes out to be pressed for a fee, not sure how much as we just go wrinkled.

 

Jazz club featured a group called Blue Notes, I thought they were pretty good.

 

As I said, the second week seemed to have a different vibe than the first, maybe because we had almost double the passengers?   Makes it harder to follow the protocols when there are more people waiting for an elevator and people these days seem to get grumpy if they have to wait for anything.

 

Sherri🙂

[Blizzard54]

On 12/13/2021 at 10:24 AM, jmh2006 said:

I was on that same cruise!  I heard about a kick off in St Kitts.  It always makes me wonder what the heck they did???

Not sure of all the details leading up to it but when security got involved, his attitude with them got him removed and his family chose to leave with him.  The delayed departure was because the family needed to be tested before the locals would allow them to get off.