Harmony Apri 3rd, 2022. Not Live, just available😇

[bobmacliberty]

1 minute ago, OCSC Mike said:

I hope this isn't sarcasm, but out of an abundance of caution, I will wait to respond further. 🙈

 

I don't think it's sarcasm (Pat? sarcastic?).  John has posted several pics of his stir fry creations.  He's a master at combining ingredients from other WJ areas with stir fry.

 

We didn't eat dinner at WJ at all but I believe that the made to order area is open every night.  If it's like lunch, it would change a bit each night, e.g. pasta one night, stir fry the next, hot pot the next, etc.

[OCSC Mike]

1 minute ago, bobmacliberty said:

We didn't eat dinner at WJ at all but I believe that the made to order area is open every night.  If it's like lunch, it would change a bit each night, e.g. pasta one night, stir fry the next, hot pot the next, etc.

Thanks. I've been on cruises with this and others with no or more limited cook to order stations.

 

I think I mentioned this before but I'm mostly asking b/c my wife is very picky so any time she can create her own dish (and have it come out freshly cooked), she's set.

[island lady]

1 hour ago, OCSC Mike said:

I hope this isn't sarcasm, but out of an abundance of caution, I will wait to respond further. 🙈

 

Nope...not sarcasm at all.  He loves posting pictures of one of his favorite meals.  I have gone there for the stir fry myself several times.  Love being able to pick out just want you want, and have them fry it up for you fresh while you watch.  🙂 

[John&LaLa]

52 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Thanks. I've been on cruises with this and others with no or more limited cook to order stations.

 

I think I mentioned this before but I'm mostly asking b/c my wife is very picky so any time she can create her own dish (and have it come out freshly cooked), she's set.

 

Yes, most every night is some made to order offering. Pasta, stir fry, etc. They also do crepes a few nights.

[island lady]

1 minute ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Yes, most every night is some made to order offering. Pasta, stir fry, etc. They also do crepes a few nights.

 

Love the pasta station!  🙂 

 

I think this will be a lot of the variation we may do on those longer cruises on ships with no CK.  Can't just do MDR every night...and sometimes the specialty restaurants just don't click.  😉 

[John&LaLa]

2 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

Who's taking the thread from here?

 

@orville99 has a fresh one going

[akcruz]

4 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

Final thoughts.  I want to keep this as positive as possible because it was a good cruise, but I'll probably mostly mention the things that weren't as good as before.  Our stateroom attendant Anniya (call me Annie) was fantastic, as was one of the SL bartenders named Mark (not so much for the second SL bartender named Dave).  The suite concierges, Elaine and Mario, were very helpful and friendly.  Dan Dan did a good job as the CD, as did his staff.  This was Dan's last cruise before going on vacation.  I don't know who the CD will be next week.  Captain Johnny was Captain Johnny...very visible and funny.  The Captain's talk had some of the same jokes that are probably told every week in answer to the same question, but they were delivered well and got a good laugh.  

 

Itinerary - When I booked this cruise, Antigua was on the itinerary.  We've only been there once and wanted to see it again.  That got switched to St. Maarten.  One of the risks that you take when booking a cruise during Covid times.  We've been to St. Maarten and St. Thomas many times and barely got off the ship in both places.  Running almost full speed for a couple of days going from Port Canaveral to St. Maarten (would have been worse going to Antigua) meant for some windy sea days.  Weather was also a little cool and overcast the first couple of days.  We enjoy having an empty ship but we live at the beach and belong to a beach club, so spending several days on the ship isn't as much fun for us.  We need some new ports to visit, or some fresh things to do at the old ports.

Crew - Crew shortages and inexperience were fairly obvious in places.  I was nearly run into several times by a crew member who's path was crossing with mine.  They didn't wait to let me go, even though they saw me.  Not a big problem since they had to be somewhere quickly and I didn't, but I don't remember that from before.  They all seemed to be in a hurry and the traditional crew smile and greeting was missing for several people.  It seemed easy to tell who has experience in their role (efficient and friendly) and who doesn't (inefficient and seemed overworked/confused).  This will all hopefully get resolved over the next few months as things continue to return to full speed.

Food - Coastal Kitchen got a little better as the week went on but overall was still a little disappointing.  Our waiter had a hard time remembering what we ordered and a couple of times brough the wrong thing (both food and drinks).  He wasn't familiar with a Dark n Stormy or a Jack and Ginger.  I told him to just say those drink names to the bartender and he'll know what to do.  We ate breakfast in CK twice and it was good.  Since we were on deck 8, we found it easier to just grab breakfast in the Park Cafe.  We didn't eat lunch in CK at all.  The lunch menu never grabbed us as it seemed more like dinner at lunch time.  We used the WJ for lunch instead so that we could mix and match whatever we wanted, including whatever was in the daily made to order area.  WJ was not overly crowded.  Specialty restaurants were good, but not as good as I remember them from a few years ago.  As was just discussed, the 150 CP experience isn't as upscale as I'd read about it.

Entertainment - The cruise was short one production show in the main theater and didn't have the full Aquatheater show...just a demonstration of some of the acts in the show.  I learned in the "virtual" behind the scenes theater tour that the problem was a shortage of tech crew members.  They are short 4 people including a sound person, a rigger, and a few other jobs that I don't remember.  They are filling these roles but it will take some time for everyone to get up to speed to perform the shows.  The tech crew needs to rehearse to "install" the show just like the talent.  Dan's best guess was that the other main theater production show would start playing in June, and that the Aquatheater show would start in late June.  He seemed hesitant to commit to dates.  They are also still struggling to get headliners.  We were supposed to have a 4 man singing group as the first headliner but 2 tested positive for Covid at the last minute.  We were lucky to get Paul Hughes to fill in last minute.  They have a smaller "pool" of headliners for the fleet and those headliners who are available are bouncing from ship to ship.  If you have several cruises in the next few months, you may see repeat headliners.

Cabin - It's hard to complain about a Grand Suite, but I'll do it anyway.  We were in 8650 which was a good location...about 6 cabins forward of the aft elevators on the starboard side.  Easy access to Central Park and fairly easy access to the SL/CK.  It's not the same though as being on deck 17.  Lots of noise with kids running, things being dragged across balconies, etc.  Our only other GS experience was on Serenade and the Harmony GS is smaller.  The partial wall between the bed area and the living room area just makes both areas seem really cramped.  I preferred the more open feel of the Serenade GS.  The bathroom is spacious but the shower/tub is still a little tight.  Our last 2 cruises were in crown loft suites and it's tough for a GS to compare.  First world problems.

 

We've got 2 more Royal cruises scheduled (Alaska followed by TP to Hawaii) but I think we'll try another cruise line for the next cruise that we book.  Our first cruise was with Disney and we've been Royal ever since.  We like the entertainment and variety of things to do on the larger Royal ships and Royal was a great fit when our kids were cruising with us.  We now cruise without kids and in suites and the Royal suite experience has been underwhelming as of late.  That might not be completely Royal's fault with Covid impacting everyone, and I think that our expectations have changed.  As my daughter would say, we've become bougie.  We'll be D+ after our next cruise and will almost certainly never reach P (we only cruise once or twice a year typically), so future C&A points don't mean much.  I think it's worth checking out Celebrity in the Retreat for whatever the reciprocal Captain's Club Elite level gets us.  Royal would still feel like a good fit for any future family cruises that we do.

 

Any more questions? I've got compasses from days 3-7 (day 1 and 2 got thrown away) so I can look anything up.  I've also got the suite and Diamond info.

 

Who's taking the thread from here?

 

Thanks for the "review".  Agree with you on wanting to mix things up, we usually try to hit at least one new destination on a cruise but are quickly running out of ports with Royal/Celebrity.  I would definitely say give Celebrity a try, we took a break from Royal once our kids weren't traveling with us.  Haven't tried Epic class, so far our favorite was Reflection, loved the Sunset Bar.  Came back to Royal this year but will bounce back and forth in the future depending on who is traveling and itinerary.  Status match only goes up to Diamond/Elite regardless of tier level.

[MamadawgFL]

thanks for the replies everyone.  This sailing will be my first Oasis class, I've not been on a ship this big before and i'm sure size will actually matter for Nassau lol.  I'll just add an extra mile to my planned walking for the day and should be fine. Maybe that taxi up to the distillery wouldn't be such a bad idea...

Edited April 17, 2022 by MamadawgFL

[h20skibum]

7 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

Before I get into final cruise thoughts, I was able to reconfirm some "truths" about the elevators:

1. Pushing the elevator call button in the lobby does not in fact cause the elevator to arrive faster.

2. It's possible for an elevator to stop at every single deck, even if no one gets on or off.

3. You can straddle the gap between the elevator and the floor to keep the doors from closing for a long, long time.  Children seem to have more power to do this than adults.

4. There is always room for one more person to try to get on the elevator, even if there isn't.

5.  Quickly getting on an elevator before others have a chance to get off does not cause the elevator to leave faster.

Those are reasons why we never use the elevators.  I can’t tell you how many times we see kids getting in an elevator as we are walking down the stairs.  Then when we get to the next level, there they are getting off.  Really?  They can’t walk one flight?

 

Our next cruise, we will have to use them when we do a walk off, because they moved our flight up.

[five.]

On 4/12/2022 at 9:54 AM, bobmacliberty said:

will probably spend much of the day hiding in a corner somewhere and reading.

What book were you reading? That's my favorite cruise activity.

 

On 4/12/2022 at 11:35 AM, bobmacliberty said:

Most points, and second most in entire fleet behind just Mario, is Barbara McIlroy at 5740 points. That equates to about 15 years at sea.

Wow! I went looking and saw that Mario passed 9,000 back in the fall. That is amazing and crazy to think about.

 

On 4/14/2022 at 7:40 PM, bobmacliberty said:

Sitting in our preferred main theater seats… first row of the upper section on deck 4 right on the aisle. Shelf in front to set down your drink/phone/purse, looking over the top of everyone below so no blocked views, easy access to go to the bathroom mid-show.

Thanks. I will keep this in the back of my mind. We will cruise in September on Harmony. First time on RCCL.

[bobmacliberty]

1 hour ago, five. said:

What book were you reading? That's my favorite cruise activity.

 

I'm a little more than halfway through the second Atlee Pine book by David Baldacci.  It's OK.  I usually finish at least one book on a cruise but didn't this time.

[molly361]

13 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

I'm a little more than halfway through the second Atlee Pine book by David Baldacci.  It's OK.  I usually finish at least one book on a cruise but didn't this time.

That's because you were too busy keeping us updated😇

[judebarsto]

We are on the Harmony right now  and having fun. That being said, I can’t believe we booked Easter week without even thinking twice.  TONS of kids and I mean TONS. Now I like kids, but this is overwhelming. (Full disclosure, we usually sail celebrity and there’s a huge difference) Will probably stay in the Solarium on at-sea days but I’m disappointed that there’s no pool, just hot tubs)

 

Yesterday‘s lunch was in the Windjammer Café, and I must say I was disappointed in the lack of food choices. The Indian food was excellent, but most other things we tried were not well cooked i.e. over cooked chicken etc. So we headed to the park café and had a beef on Weck sandwich - which was good - but remember, I’m from Buffalo, so it was not great lol. 
 

We started thinking that the food would be a disappointment, but were we proven wrong! Last night we had an absolutely fabulous meal at 150 Central Park. Everything we ordered was outstanding: the short rib appetizer, honey scallop appetizer, and lobster Thermidor. Chocolate peanut butter tart with blackberry sorbet for dessert. Great and fast service, and we really enjoyed it. It definitely is right up there with some of the better restaurants on Celebrity. Tonight is formal night in the main dining room, so we shall see.

 

We went to the  iSkate ice show last night and it was very entertaining: talented skaters, great music and a fun show. They are apparently not doing the 1887 ice show and I’m not sure why. Someone said lack of personnel to run two ice-skating shows?

 

Today’s aqua show was postponed due to rainy weather. We briefly went into Nassau and had cracked conch for lunch that was pretty good. 

 

We are staying in a regular balcony cabin, and we do not have a drink package. We brought two bottles of wine on board and are trying not to order more than two drinks per person per day. I will say that it is very difficult to find free beverages during non-restaurant hours. The machines with ice tea, lemonade, fruit punch are only available in the Windjammer Café and when that restaurant is closed, it’s hard to get a free drink of any sort. Still, the drink packages  are exorbitant and not worth it for us.

 More to come…..
 

 

[OCSC Mike]

13 minutes ago, judebarsto said:

We are on the Harmony right now

Great review so far. Looking forward to the rest of your experiences!

 

My wife and I don't have kids and only cruise in the summer due to her being a teacher so we're used to lots of kids on the ship. That said, it's not really any issue with us on Oasis-class. It's just so big and the kids congregate to areas we don't... main pool, boardwalk, etc. We usually spend a good amount of time in the Solarium, evenings in the Diamond Lounge, etc.

 

We love Park Cafe (paninis are good if the weck isn't authentic enough for you) but don't give up on the WJ after one bad lunch. It changes daily so we usually pop in, see if anything looks good, then wind up in Park Cafe for something either way. 🙂

 

Just drove home from The Villages this morning btw. Enjoy your week!

Edited April 18, 2022 by OCSC Mike

[bobmacliberty]

39 minutes ago, judebarsto said:

So we headed to the park café and had a beef on Weck sandwich - which was good - but remember, I’m from Buffalo, so it was not great lol. 

 

I know what you mean. 😉

 

All of the shows are affected by their shortage of show technical staff.  They have limited ability to run multiple shows at the same time, and they can't have any shows within 3 hours of a Grease production.  It takes that long for the tech crew to set up and Grease requires all hands on deck.

Edited April 18, 2022 by bobmacliberty

[Ocean Boy]

53 minutes ago, judebarsto said:

The machines with ice tea, lemonade, fruit punch are only available in the Windjammer Café and when that restaurant is closed, it’s hard to get a free drink of any sort. Still, the drink packages  are exorbitant and not worth it for us.

 More to come…..
 

 

Have you tried the Cafe Promenade or Sorrento's for something to drink? I don't know about Harmony in particular but other ships have had iced water and tea there.

[John&LaLa]

9 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

Have you tried the Cafe Promenade or Sorrento's for something to drink? I don't know about Harmony in particular but other ships have had iced water and tea there.

 

Park Cafe has flavored waters, but no evening hours. Vitality Spa may have something

[Blur]

13 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

Have you tried the Cafe Promenade or Sorrento's for something to drink? I don't know about Harmony in particular but other ships have had iced water and tea there.

You can ask for ice water at any bar as well.

Edited April 18, 2022 by Blur

[OCSC Mike]

This doesn't help you right now but my wife always brings one of those large metal water bottles that keeps things cold even without a fridge and constantly keeps it filled with a few ice cubes and flavored water (her free drink of choice).

 

You can always grab a few cups of whatever and keep them in your cabin fridge.

[judebarsto]

Thanks for all the responses!

but:

Vitality - nope

cafe promenade nope

sorrentos just water

bars - just water

 

i think they’re trying to get you to buy a soda package but we try not to drink that stuff. 

 

we ended up taking a couple of glasses of tea and lemonade and put them in the “fridge” for later. 

 

 

[judebarsto]

Question: Why do they even bother with formal nights? Tonight in the MDR at My Time Dining (huge line to get in by the way) there was virtually no one dressed up. I did see a guy in a wife beater tank top, another in a Beatles tee shirt. ?????? Just sayin’

 

 the food was mostly very good with a couple of standouts: excellent escargot, outstanding grand Marnier soufflé with vanilla custard sauce. The service was perfunctory - disinterested waiter, not friendly at all, very disappointing. I know they are overworked and he really seemed to be stressed out.  I’m sure I’ll get a better waiter next time. 

[Bailey & Sophie]

3 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

This doesn't help you right now but my wife always brings one of those large metal water bottles that keeps things cold even without a fridge and constantly keeps it filled with a few ice cubes and flavored water (her free drink of choice).

 

I've never seen flavored water. And it's free? What flavors?

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, Bailey & Sophie said:

 

I've never seen flavored water. And it's free? What flavors?

 

I swear there's flavored water in Park Cafe

 

One is strawberry kiwi

[Bailey & Sophie]

1 hour ago, John&LaLa said:

 

I swear there's flavored water in Park Cafe

 

One is strawberry kiwi

 

Yum. Will check it out.

I do bring my own crystal lite.

[OCSC Mike]

Strawberry Kiwi is our favorite. I've seen lemon lime before. I wanna say there a mango or something that I liked but can't remember.

 

Park Cafe has definitely always had it and John was just on the ship.