Live - Harmony of the Seas - Nov 5, 2023

[Rewind]

Sat and watched the aqua performers warm up for the 4pm show.  Just as they were packing up, the rain came in.  Luckily we got here really early were in seats undercover.  We wanted to get closer but now think we will stay here.

 

 

 

[OnTheJourney]

5400 passengers? Can't quite imagine that. I guess we should probably try a big ship at least once, but not sure how much we'd really enjoy it. We don't really get involved in any of the social / game-type activities on cruises other than if there are guest lecturers onboard. Outside of that, theatre / ice shows, and shore excursions, we're content to be on our balcony reading or else walking the promenade deck. Not sure how much we'd take advantage of having lots of different restaurant options either, since we mostly eat in the MDR. Coming from Viking with only 930 passengers, Oasis class would be like culture-shock! Worth a try when one is in either Bayonne or Baltimore. Biggest ship we've ever done is the Adventure.

Edited November 11, 2023 by OnTheJourney

[Rewind]

We sailed on Oasis out of Bayonne in 2021.  I don't know if she is still there, but I think plans were to keep an Oasis ship in that area.

 

Our week is coming to a close.  We did eat at Chops tonight (part of a deal from our TA) and it was very good and extremely filling.

 

I didn't talk about the second diving show.  It was more humorous / playful and had a lot more dives.  The first show was more dancing and performing.  Two completely different styles of show and both worth seeing.

 

Some more comments on our stateroom:

It is of the more modern design, doesn't have the combo closet / desk / TV / fridge unit and by not having that, it does feel - sparse but in a good way.  We still have all those elements but just better organized and is much easier to walk around.  We do have the bed by the balcony which is nice that you don't have to dodge the bed when changing clothes and using the bathroom.

 

The bathroom has a good sized shower with a swing out curved door.  Lots of space in the shower.  I also noticed an improvement in the venting - older ships have a space at both the top and bottom of the bathroom door.  When it would steam up, the exhaust would pull in air from the gap at the top of the door and steam would not escape.  On Harmony the gap is only at the bottom of the door.  This pulls in cooler air and vents better.  Plus with the almost sealed shower, it keeps the steam inside the shower area better leaving the rest of the bathroom less steamy.

 

Would we ever do a boardwalk balcony again?  Probably not.  It is a bit louder than we would like and it really is a hike down the hallway to get here.  IF we could get the last room back, I might consider it as I do like watching the aqua shows, but it would have to be the last cabin.

 

That being said, we are booked on Icon in 2025 in a boardwalk cabin (it was a good deal at the time).  But without the aqua theater shows or big screens, I am hoping it will be quieter.  And we will be right around the corner from the elevators so not as much walking.

 

I'm sure I'll think of more later, but it's time for bed so we can get up early and off the ship 

[perfect match]

On 11/10/2023 at 10:07 AM, Rewind said:

The tiny ship is Hamburg - I had to look it up.  It is a luxury liner that has 420 passengers

Thank you for the ID of Hamburg. I don’t know if I would have been able to figure out what ship it was on my own. 
 

I’m glad you liked the layout of the Harmony BW cabin. I really did not like the layout of the one we had on Oasis at all. It felt really cramped to me. I was in the “never again in this category” after the Oasis cruise but after seeing the Harmony layout and having a DH who absolutely loved people watching on the Boardwalk I decided to give it another try on Wonder. I do like the fact that even though we’re in an inside facing cabin I will still be able to see the ocean from our end cabin.We also enjoyed being able to watch everything going on in the AquaTheater. I do think I’ll miss my quiet aft facing balcony from our last cruise on Odyssey though. 
 

Safe travels home and thank you for a very enjoyable and informative review.

[Rewind]

Morning.  We are doing self carry so after breakfast, we grabbed our luggage and are now waiting in the MDR on deck 5 (first time in the MDR this week).  Don't think it will be much longer until we head out.

 

 

[Wheels Up]

15 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

5400 passengers? Can't quite imagine that. I guess we should probably try a big ship at least once, but not sure how much we'd really enjoy it...

 

Not sure how much we'd take advantage of having lots of different restaurant options either, since we mostly eat in the MDR...

 

Biggest ship we've ever done is the Adventure.

Wife and I have been on Majesty and Enchantment (both smaller than Adventure) and we really loved Majesty. I'm not sure why we felt some kind of sentimentality toward that ship... maybe because it was our first cruise together. It's weird how people get attached to certain inanimate objects almost like the ship itself was the destination rather than merely means of conveyance, isn't it?

 

We've also been on Allure and we were apprehensive about so many people in one place. We both agreed that Allure felt the least crowded of any ship we've been on. The only time we really noticed that there were a ton of people was getting off the ship at ports. The Oasis class ships are designed so all the extra passengers are never in the same place at once. It's entirely possible to stay aboard for a whole week and never see a large portion of the vessel.

 

On Majesty and Enchantment, I generally preferred to take the stairs between decks to avoid long waits at elevators. The Oasis class ships have so many elevators and they're laid out so well that long waits are not nearly the irritation that they were on the older, smaller ships. At least, that was our impression.

 

Like you, we only dine in the MDR for dinner. We're not specialty dining people at all. We never felt that the plethora of extra dining options detracted from the experience.

Edited November 12, 2023 by Wheels Up

[notscb]

That MDR reminds me of the classic MDR design on the QM2. It's gorgeous 🙂

[OnTheJourney]

8 hours ago, Wheels Up said:

We both agreed that Allure felt the least crowded of any ship we've been on.

That's most interesting. Given the sheer size of the ship, I can see where that could be the case. We'll have to try it sometime. 

 

8 hours ago, Wheels Up said:

almost like the ship itself was the destination rather than merely means of conveyance, isn't it?

I've recently heard a good quote..."the journey IS the destination". I sort of like that. 

 

8 hours ago, Wheels Up said:

We're not specialty dining people at all.

Not that I'm opposed to trying different restaurants, but just convenient to eat in the MDR. On Viking, though, the cruise fare includes at least one visit (or more depending on room category) to their two special restaurants on their ocean ships, and we enjoy both of those. 

[LHARTWICK]

On 11/6/2023 at 1:19 AM, PhillyFan33579 said:

I love Oasis class ships but I have never understood why they didn’t put a pool in the Solarium on Harmony. That is a big negative in my book, but it hasn’t kept me from cruising on Harmony multiple times. 

Personally we apprciate there being no pool in the solarium area.  A pool and its occupants would only produce more noise.  At least that's been our observation on other ships/lines.

[Nike4000]

The wife and I were on this same sailing and had a wonderful time. We kept looking for the second show in the Aqua Theater and never found it in the app. I'm sure we just missed seeing it & now we're both sad. The Fine Line was so amazing we saw it twice - one with reservations and once waiting in the standby line.

The Columbus show was very funny & entertaining. We ended up using our noise cancelling headphones to cut down on the sound - it was turned up to 11 otherwise the noise was intolerable.

 

Grease is not exactly family-friendly, I think people forget the heavy themes that play out in the story. This sailing were the first performances of the new cast and my wife & I thought they did a great job.

 

We did the "All Access Ship Tour" which is a can't miss for anyone who is curious about the behind the scenes goings on. Super cool way to spend a couple of hours, very illuminating! During the tour, the security team told us that the reason we went back to the full Port of Galveston the first night instead of having the passenger taken off via helicopter is because the chopper was involved in a search & rescue operation elsewhere totally unrelated to the Harmony situation. 

 

Chops and both Izumi Hibachi and Sushi were fantastic meals. Johnny Rockets was totally disappointing for both lunch and breakfast. We never really found Windjammer to be extremely crowded the few times we ate there. Park Cafe, Solarium Bistro, Sorrento's, the Dog House, Mini bites, and others offered so many breakfast & lunch options that eating at Windjammer was pretty unnecessary.

 

The new Royal embark/debark experience in Galveston is super easy and smooth. It took us less than 10 minutes to go from parking in the North Lot to being on the ship, and then maybe 5 minutes from our final badge scan to loading the car. EZ PZ all the way. We had an 11am port arrival time and were on the ship by 11:06.

 

Pre-cruise we spent Saturday night at Moody Gardens, away from the motorcycle rally and it was fantastic. It was our first time staying away from the port/seawall and we might just keep it as our main hotel before boarding. 

 

Not much more to add to what @Rewind has already shared. Great review/overview of a wonderful cruise. Let me know if I can answer any questions about Harmony of the Seas from a lower tier of loyalty perspective.

[Morecruisesplz]

On 11/9/2023 at 9:26 PM, Rewind said:

8pm and 10pm tonight are another couple of Aqua Theater shows as well as tomorrow night.  While it does get loud in our cabin for being so close, we are tired enough to dose off through the shows.

We love those rear Boardwalk balconies. But we travel with a white noise app on phones. On Symphony the last 2 weeks aqua theater shows and other nights were loud late. Turn on the app and hear nothing else.

[Morecruisesplz]

On 11/10/2023 at 2:01 PM, Tree_skier said:

Is the screen ok during the day.  I'd have thought the image would be pretty washed out.

Not at all. Just like 2 huge tvs. They play videos and kids movies all day long.

[Rewind]

We made it back without too much issue.  The one thing (totally our fault) is we got into a waiting Uber instead of calling our own (got charged Uber Black rates). 

 

We picked up a rental car in Houston to use for a few hours and went over to Nasa's Spaceport.  We have a ASTC membership with our local science museum so we got into Nasa for free.  We were there 9 year ago, before they had the Space Shuttle Independence and that was a cool area to walk through.  After getting through that section, it did start to get a bit crowded but it was still a good way to kill a couple hours.

 

From there we went to Rudy's for some BBQ that our expensive Uber driver recommended.  It was very tasty and the portions are decent for the sandwiches.  Then to kill a little bit more time, we checked out a Marshalls and Nordstrom Rack (we find decent deals at the ones near home so thought we would look). 

 

It was then back to the rental place to drop off the car, a shuttle ride to the airport, and then waiting for a while for our flight.  We fly Southwest and had pretty much middle boarding position (B33,34).  It was going to be a full flight and by the time we got into the plane, the only two seats together were at the back.  We picked the very last row on the port side and waited until boarding finished...  only to find out that nobody took the last seat on our side of the isle.  WIN!  We spread out with the only empty seat between us and were not crammed in for the 2.5 hour flight home.

 

That is where our trip ends.  Feel free to ask questions - I think I have to find a thread about hard scoop ice cream now as there was a question there.

 

[Lorey2007]

37 minutes ago, Rewind said:

We made it back without too much issue.  The one thing (totally our fault) is we got into a waiting Uber instead of calling our own (got charged Uber Black rates). 

 

We picked up a rental car in Houston to use for a few hours and went over to Nasa's Spaceport.  We have a ASTC membership with our local science museum so we got into Nasa for free.  We were there 9 year ago, before they had the Space Shuttle Independence and that was a cool area to walk through.  After getting through that section, it did start to get a bit crowded but it was still a good way to kill a couple hours.

 

From there we went to Rudy's for some BBQ that our expensive Uber driver recommended.  It was very tasty and the portions are decent for the sandwiches.  Then to kill a little bit more time, we checked out a Marshalls and Nordstrom Rack (we find decent deals at the ones near home so thought we would look). 

 

It was then back to the rental place to drop off the car, a shuttle ride to the airport, and then waiting for a while for our flight.  We fly Southwest and had pretty much middle boarding position (B33,34).  It was going to be a full flight and by the time we got into the plane, the only two seats together were at the back.  We picked the very last row on the port side and waited until boarding finished...  only to find out that nobody took the last seat on our side of the isle.  WIN!  We spread out with the only empty seat between us and were not crammed in for the 2.5 hour flight home.

 

That is where our trip ends.  Feel free to ask questions - I think I have to find a thread about hard scoop ice cream now as there was a question there.

 

Your live review was fabulous, so helpful, thank you so much!

[Tree_skier]

Thanks for your review @Rewind I've enjoyed following along.  I'll be on Harmony in 26 days for our first ever B2B cruise.  I can't wait.   Your review has only heightened my anticipation.

[ajtaylor29]

We were also on this cruise and had a great time! Did self-assist on Sunday, walked our bags out and were in the car headed home at about 7:30! The port at Galveston is really great!

 

We were in a grand suite, loved the cabin and loved access to Coastal Kitchen. We ate most breakfast and dinner meals there, thought the food was really good as usual. We ate once in MDR for lunch (it was ok) and once in Windjammer (not really good but i didn't expect it would be! I found the salad bar and a few other items that were ok).

 

Does anybody else agree that the "famous" Kummelwick sandwich on RC ships is usually pretty bad?!? We always try them hoping they'll be great (and i think at least one time it was!) but not this time on Harmony!! We got them in Park Cafe one afternoon after a port day and honestly they were not edible. The beef was so under cooked that i couldn't chew them at all. Seems like RC should/could have a tried and true method for cooking that roast beef so it's consistent....

 

One other food comment - i think Saber needs to have a totally revamped menu or removed from ships all together. We sat down to eat and watch football on boarding day, but after looking over the menu and not seeing anything that sounded good we got up and left. I remember having the same reaction to it on another ship (was that Allure?), it just seems like such a miss to have a mexican restaurant on the boardwalk that doesn't serve nachos or queso?!? Oh well, that's my opinion anyway....

 

We also ate once at Jaimes and once at Izumi - had really good meals both times!

 

Staff were great. Ships in great shape. We'll definitely sail on Harmony again!

[happy cruzer]

To answer your question about sabor, we love it, especially fish tacos.  We do not enjoy velveta style queso so just goes to prove food is subjective.  The servers normally recommend items that we will try.

 

thanks for the review, we try harmony in the spring.

[George C]

2 hours ago, Rewind said:

We made it back without too much issue.  The one thing (totally our fault) is we got into a waiting Uber instead of calling our own (got charged Uber Black rates). 

 

We picked up a rental car in Houston to use for a few hours and went over to Nasa's Spaceport.  We have a ASTC membership with our local science museum so we got into Nasa for free.  We were there 9 year ago, before they had the Space Shuttle Independence and that was a cool area to walk through.  After getting through that section, it did start to get a bit crowded but it was still a good way to kill a couple hours.

 

From there we went to Rudy's for some BBQ that our expensive Uber driver recommended.  It was very tasty and the portions are decent for the sandwiches.  Then to kill a little bit more time, we checked out a Marshalls and Nordstrom Rack (we find decent deals at the ones near home so thought we would look). 

 

It was then back to the rental place to drop off the car, a shuttle ride to the airport, and then waiting for a while for our flight.  We fly Southwest and had pretty much middle boarding position (B33,34).  It was going to be a full flight and by the time we got into the plane, the only two seats together were at the back.  We picked the very last row on the port side and waited until boarding finished...  only to find out that nobody took the last seat on our side of the isle.  WIN!  We spread out with the only empty seat between us and were not crammed in for the 2.5 hour flight home.

 

That is where our trip ends.  Feel free to ask questions - I think I have to find a thread about hard scoop ice cream now as there was a question there.

 

Thanks for great review we sail harmony on Sunday after thanksgiving.

22 hours ago, Nike4000 said:

The wife and I were on this same sailing and had a wonderful time. We kept looking for the second show in the Aqua Theater and never found it in the app. I'm sure we just missed seeing it & now we're both sad. The Fine Line was so amazing we saw it twice - one with reservations and once waiting in the standby line.

The Columbus show was very funny & entertaining. We ended up using our noise cancelling headphones to cut down on the sound - it was turned up to 11 otherwise the noise was intolerable.

 

Grease is not exactly family-friendly, I think people forget the heavy themes that play out in the story. This sailing were the first performances of the new cast and my wife & I thought they did a great job.

 

We did the "All Access Ship Tour" which is a can't miss for anyone who is curious about the behind the scenes goings on. Super cool way to spend a couple of hours, very illuminating! During the tour, the security team told us that the reason we went back to the full Port of Galveston the first night instead of having the passenger taken off via helicopter is because the chopper was involved in a search & rescue operation elsewhere totally unrelated to the Harmony situation. 

 

Chops and both Izumi Hibachi and Sushi were fantastic meals. Johnny Rockets was totally disappointing for both lunch and breakfast. We never really found Windjammer to be extremely crowded the few times we ate there. Park Cafe, Solarium Bistro, Sorrento's, the Dog House, Mini bites, and others offered so many breakfast & lunch options that eating at Windjammer was pretty unnecessary.

 

The new Royal embark/debark experience in Galveston is super easy and smooth. It took us less than 10 minutes to go from parking in the North Lot to being on the ship, and then maybe 5 minutes from our final badge scan to loading the car. EZ PZ all the way. We had an 11am port arrival time and were on the ship by 11:06.

 

Pre-cruise we spent Saturday night at Moody Gardens, away from the motorcycle rally and it was fantastic. It was our first time staying away from the port/seawall and we might just keep it as our main hotel before boarding. 

 

Not much more to add to what @Rewind has already shared. Great review/overview of a wonderful cruise. Let me know if I can answer any questions about Harmony of the Seas from a lower tier of loyalty perspective.

thanks for info on Moody Gardens we normally stay at Hilton or San Luis but trying Moody Gardens in less than two week,

[JamesEM]

ajavor29 - As for the Kummelwick sandwich, I agree with your assessment.  When I sailed on the Harmony the sandwich was bad, my thoughts were RCL is using a cheaper cut of meat and the server did not know what he was doing.

[Nike4000]

21 hours ago, George C said:

Thanks for great review we sail harmony on Sunday after thanksgiving.

thanks for info on Moody Gardens we normally stay at Hilton or San Luis but trying Moody Gardens in less than two week,

 

Just FYI about Moody Gardens, it's off season so lots of the stuff was shut down (aquarium, etc.). However, they were prepping for holiday activities, including an ice sculpture experience that looked pretty cool. If you visit the ice sculptures, let me know what you thought. We tried to sneak a peek in the tent but security chased us off.

 

Also, we had dinner at Shearns and it was pretty good, but expensive.

[George C]

1 hour ago, Nike4000 said:

 

Just FYI about Moody Gardens, it's off season so lots of the stuff was shut down (aquarium, etc.). However, they were prepping for holiday activities, including an ice sculpture experience that looked pretty cool. If you visit the ice sculptures, let me know what you thought. We tried to sneak a peek in the tent but security chased us off.

 

Also, we had dinner at Shearns and it was pretty good, but expensive.

Thanks , we have a reservation for Shearns we are only staying the one night . We had booked this hotel in pre Covid days and had to cancel since plane was delayed to the next morning and they could have charged us since we canceled at last minute but they didn’t.

[George C]

11 hours ago, JamesEM said:

ajavor29 - As for the Kummelwick sandwich, I agree with your assessment.  When I sailed on the Harmony the sandwich was bad, my thoughts were RCL is using a cheaper cut of meat and the server did not know what he was doing.

We had Kummelwick sandwich two years ago on Allure it was fantastic, no fat , just very lean roast beef .

[LHARTWICK]

On 11/14/2023 at 10:53 AM, Tree_skier said:

Thanks for your review @Rewind I've enjoyed following along.  I'll be on Harmony in 26 days for our first ever B2B cruise.  I can't wait.   Your review has only heightened my anticipation.

So you'll be on the December 10 cruise with us??

[Tree_skier]

10 minutes ago, LHARTWICK said:

So you'll be on the December 10 cruise with us??

Yes, we are on the Dec 10 and 17 sailings.  It come come fast enough.  The cruise planner sale help satiate my cruising addiction for a few days but now that is over and all I have left is waiting.  We'll have to have a hello.

[kfriday]

On 11/5/2023 at 2:30 PM, buncosquad said:

I've got three Star Class rooms on an upcoming Harmony cruise.

 

Any idea if this helps with seat reservations or best to book in advance all the same?

I have never been Star class but was on a cruise last May with my best firend and she was Star class. You will be assigned a Royal Genie and they will take care of any seat reservations you need. You will get very personalized service and personal escorting to many shows. I don't think you will need to book anything. She or he will email you and put together an entire schedule for you with your input on what you want.