Party of 12! Harmony of the Seas, Extended Family Style! June 12-19 2022

[bobmacliberty]

37 minutes ago, ChristyLNDRN said:

 

Swim up bar.  Ding, ding, ding.  Winner!

[renza]

Great review. I have been on all oasis class ships multiple times. Going on Harmony again next month just is my least favorite because it doesn’t have the pool in solarium. Good job with your review. Can’t wait for more. 
how was boarding process?  Was it a mess outside terminal waiting to get in?  

[volk904]

Looks like the Beach at the Marriott was mostly clean. We were there in late April and the seed weed was over a foot deep. Spent most of the day at the pool. 

[ChristyLNDRN]

8 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

Swim up bar.  Ding, ding, ding.  Winner!

Yes, we quite enjoyed it😀

3 hours ago, renza said:

Great review. I have been on all oasis class ships multiple times. Going on Harmony again next month just is my least favorite because it doesn’t have the pool in solarium. Good job with your review. Can’t wait for more. 
how was boarding process?  Was it a mess outside terminal waiting to get in?  

The boarding process for us was very smooth…but we were there at 10:00 so I can’t speak to how chaotic it got after that.  It was not a mess at all at that hour. 
 

3 hours ago, volk904 said:

Looks like the Beach at the Marriott was mostly clean. We were there in late April and the seed weed was over a foot deep. Spent most of the day at the pool. 

Wow!  The beach was clear but there was a decent amount still in the water and piled up outside the cleared section.  

[ChristyLNDRN]

Day 4 St. Kitts wrap up

 

We left the resort around 2:30.  Our original taxi driver was occupied but kindly sent someone else for us.  Wandered through the shopping area at the port for some souvenirs on our way back to the ship.

 

 

 

Lots of folks streaming back but still a breeze getting back onboard.

 

 

There was ice skating available tonight from 6-8, available in 20 min sessions.  Suzy and I popped in right after dinner and got some of the last few spots available for the 7:40-8:00 session, which gave us time to go back to the room and change.  Note that you must have long pants and socks and must wear helmets.  There were maybe 30 people on the ice with us.

 

 

 

Towel animals to wrap up the day…never seen this one before!

 

We have had the bat before but clearly Suzy liked it.  

 

 

Oh, and Dan, Mike and I made it to adult comedy tonight and it was hilarious!  
 

Next up:  St. Thomas!

 

 

[Valmoisy]

I'm loving your report.  Thank you for taking the time to write it.  How far in advance did you book the Marriott day passes?  Considering this for our January cruise and wondering how early I should book.

[ChristyLNDRN]

1 hour ago, Valmoisy said:

I'm loving your report.  Thank you for taking the time to write it.  How far in advance did you book the Marriott day passes?  Considering this for our January cruise and wondering how early I should book.

I reserved the day passes about a month before our trip. 

[ChristyLNDRN]

Day 4 Compass

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ChristyLNDRN]

Day 5–Good morning St Thomas!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we were sailing in, we ended up turning around and backing in the channel. Had to switch from bridge wings to aft for better view!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ChristyLNDRN]

Today’s plan was a private charter with Seas the Day.  They were very highly rated/reviewed.   They have several different half day/full day charters to choose from. We ended up booking the Hydra.  Dan did all the research for this day, but here’s an overview

 

 

 

 

 

We ended up having to pay for a full-day charter but really were only able to take advantage of 3/4 of a day as the pickup time was 9:30 and all aboard was 3:30.  We were given the option of Red Hook departure (better for St Johns itineraries) or Havensight departure (sticking to St Thomas area).  We decided Havensight would be much easier/better way to manage the limited time that we had.  Left the ship around 8:45 to make our way to the meeting place in Havensight/Yacht haven marina.  Open air shuttle bus was $6pp.

 

 

 

Quick 15 minute ride and we were at the Marina.  
 

 

Another catamaran from Seas the Day docked before ours and took FOREVER to load and move for our boat to be able to dock.  We were a few minutes late getting started but before long we were on our way after going over safety information and our itinerary for the day.  We asked to be away from crowds, snorkel, and hit a beach.  We started off with a sail back past Harmony the way we came but it was a (bumpy) enjoyable ride and made for some good pics!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ChristyLNDRN]

Our first stop was in a bay for snorkeling. Location stamp on my phone says Brewers’s Bay.  Airport was nearby and we could see planes flying over.   Captain let the boys climb the ladder to the top to dive in!

 

 

 

Water was deep, but clear.  They had vests and noodles, along with enough snorkel gear and fins for everyone.  Not a ton of fish to see but we did see multiple turtles and some rays.  
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had about 1-1.5 hours here, and then we headed to Water Island/Honeymoon beach.  When we dropped anchor here, we were able to swim to shore.  It was much shallower, had much better snorkeling near two rocky areas, and had an awesome little bar/ restaurant, Dingy’s, for lunch (food was fantastic). We happily could have skipped the first stop and spent the whole day here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

We probably had about 2 hours here.  Felt a little rushed to have to get back to Yacht Haven by 2:30 to give us plenty of time to get back to the ship.   All in all, it was a GREAT day!   Got back in time to do a little shopping and stepped back onboard just before 3:30.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Another_Critic]

1 hour ago, ChristyLNDRN said:

 

 

She has the older boy's attention.  😄

[bobmacliberty]

3 hours ago, ChristyLNDRN said:

We had about 1-1.5 hours here, and then we headed to Water Island/Honeymoon beach.  When we dropped anchor here, we were able to swim to shore.  It was much shallower, had much better snorkeling near two rocky areas, and had an awesome little bar/ restaurant, Dingy’s, for lunch (food was fantastic). We happily could have skipped the first stop and spent the whole day here.

 

We spent the whole day at Honeymoon beach and it was great.  There's a ferry near where the ship docks (15 min walk) that takes you to Water Island, and then one of those open air bus trucks takes you from there to Dinghy's.  Chairs and umbrellas were free if you bought food/drink there.  Decent snorkeling among the rocks on the left, and other water toys available for rent.  One of our favorite days at St. Thomas.

[perfect match]

Great review, @ChristyLNDRN! Thank you very much for doing it.

 

We’re on Harmony in September and we can hardly wait. We’re on an Eastern Caribbean itinerary but will be going to St Maarten where you went to St Kitts. We love sailing on Oasis class ships. For now, I’m thoroughly enjoying cruising virtually along with you and your extended family! Thanks for taking us along! 

[ChristyLNDRN]

16 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

We spent the whole day at Honeymoon beach and it was great.  There's a ferry near where the ship docks (15 min walk) that takes you to Water Island, and then one of those open air bus trucks takes you from there to Dinghy's.  Chairs and umbrellas were free if you bought food/drink there.  Decent snorkeling among the rocks on the left, and other water toys available for rent.  One of our favorite days at St. Thomas.

This would definitely be my plan next time!

 

10 hours ago, perfect match said:

Great review, @ChristyLNDRN! Thank you very much for doing it.

 

We’re on Harmony in September and we can hardly wait. We’re on an Eastern Caribbean itinerary but will be going to St Maarten where you went to St Kitts. We love sailing on Oasis class ships. For now, I’m thoroughly enjoying cruising virtually along with you and your extended family! Thanks for taking us along! 

 

Thanks for following!

[ChristyLNDRN]

Found some pics of the snorkeling at Honeymoon beach on Suzy’s underwater camera…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few last pics from making our way back to the ship 

 

 

 

 

Fun attire was acquired!  We even managed to find the girls matching dresses!
 

 

 

 

Looks like dessert was enjoyed all around😀

 

 

 

Ice show 1887:  A journey in time was our after dinner entertainment and was enjoyed by all.   Zach and Mike hit the headliner showtime Starring Bryan “Soul Man” Cheatham immediately after without reservations and enjoyed that as well.  
 

Next up:   Sea day and a special flowrider private rental 

 

 

 

 

[ChristyLNDRN]

Day 5 Compass—St. Thomas 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bobmacliberty]

2 hours ago, ChristyLNDRN said:

 

 

Cute picture.  She's either seriously focused on her ice cream brownie, or she's already had one and is about to drift into a chocolate induced coma. 😁

[ChristyLNDRN]

Day 6–At Sea

 

Still can’t sleep in….if you get the solarium at 6 am the chairs may still be stacked..

 

 

It’s a great place to hang while you wait for everyone else to wake up!

 

 

Boardwalk is pretty quiet in the mornings too

 

 

 

 

Breakfast was back at Johnny Rocket’s this morning.   Mike tried to get bananas in or on top of his pancakes he ordered and I think something was lost in translation😂

 

 

Suzy and I hit the towel folding demonstration in Dazzles…

 

 

She recreated some on her own and made some deliveries!
 

 

 

 

 

Looks like the teens had a pizza party for lunch

 

 

Dessert from cafe promenade 

 

 

 And of course a spin on the carousel 

 

 

 

Boys also hit up the teen speed climb

 

 

 

Edited June 28, 2022 by ChristyLNDRN
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[gometros]

On 6/24/2022 at 12:20 PM, Jimbo said:

Thanks for checking in, From the pictures and dimensions I have seen I think you are right, The Roomette would be pretty small for 2 adults, The Bedroom Cabin looked to be twice the size of a Roomette.  Do you believe that is a accurate assumption?  I think that is what we will do if we decide to go  with the train.

 

You took your own cars down to Florida on the train, so did you all drive back or use the train again for your return home back to Lofton, Va.

 

Before my wife overcame her fear of flying, we used to take the Autotrain all the time.  I was much heavier then, but had no problems in the roomette. My wife, being the smaller of the two of use, would take the top bunk. I think my only complaint was the I wish the leg room was a little more.  We took the autotrain for the first time this past winter as we were going to our townhome in Orlando for an extended stay and needed our car. We took a roomette going down, but got a great deal on the larger room on the return trip. I do like having a private bathroom.

[ChristyLNDRN]

Day 6, Sea day continued

This portion of the review is sponsored by cats who refuse to move out of the way for ping pong…

 

 

 

Tonight was the 2nd formal night (and lobster night). Pop and Alda made some appetizer plates in the windjammer and we had a little pre-dinner cocktail hour on our adjoining balconies. 
 

 

Coolest boys ever…

 

And the sweetest granddaughters…

 

 

 

Still feeling cool at dinner…

 

 

Teen table

 

 

 

Sunil stuffed us silly with all the lobster tails we could possibly want, and then entertained us with tricks.  He stumped us with puzzles multiple times throughout the week.

 

 

Mmmmmmmm, dessert….

 

 

 

And a stop in Central Park after dinner 

 

 

 

Two towel animals waiting for us tonight…

 

And Dan had another one I had never seen before…

 

 

As the sun went down, we changed and headed off to the flowrider for our rental.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ChristyLNDRN]

Day 6, at sea continued…

 

Zach has been a flowrider junkie for awhile now…I think one of his favorite cruise memories was finishing 2nd in the “king of 360’s” boogie board competition on our first Harmony cruise.  Even with two waves onboard, lines for the boogie board flowrider ranged from long to obnoxious most of the time.  Stand up lines often looked better but he hasn’t tried that yet.  We looked into signing up for a group lesson (4-8 riders, $70) but didn’t think that would be a great value, depending on how many people were in the group.  So we looked at renting the wave for our group.  It was $340 for an hour with no instruction (2 sports staff present for safety/observation) or ($500+ for full instruction from the 2 staff).  Since the kids had all been flowriding during the week and had prior experience, we went with the lower level.  Especially sharing the cost, this was an AMAZING experience and worth every penny.   *Warning—we all took way too many pictures of this so skip this post if flowriding has no interest for you LOL!

 

Jacob from England and Daniel from Portugal were waiting for us at the bleachers.  We went over some safety info first and they checked that everyone who wanted to ride had signed waivers and had bands.  
 

 

 

After that, the kids hit the wave!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

Jacob and Daniel were seriously amazing.  They did way more than I expected and went above and beyond helping the kids truly have an awesome experience. 
 

 

 

Edited June 28, 2022 by ChristyLNDRN
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[ChristyLNDRN]

Kids even let Dan and I join in the fun…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flowriding as the sun set….so cool and so much fun. 
 

 

 

 
 

 

 
 

 

This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip, and a night to remember, thanks to Jacob and Daniel.   I had brought some cash for tips for them, and Dan actually ran back to his room for more after seeing how much they were helping the kids.  I also mentioned them in the post-cruise survey❤️.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 28, 2022 by ChristyLNDRN
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[ChristyLNDRN]

Day 6 Compass

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ChristyLNDRN]

Day 7–Coco Cay

 

Up for sunrise on our last day.  We had a fairly late scheduled arrival of 10 am .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plenty of time for breakfast although obviously we would have preferred an earlier arrival to maximize our time ashore.  Especially since all the port scheduled I checked had us arriving after Freedom.  However, when we left the windjammer after breakfast (no crowds, weird!) we could see the dock and no other ship in sight!  Wow, Perfect Day just got a lot more….perfect!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We arrived early, but it still took some time to clear the ship.  I’d say we stepped off a little after 10.  

 

 

 

 

Edited June 29, 2022 by ChristyLNDRN
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