Live: Harmony of the Seas Western Caribbean Aug 25

[ceilidh1]

Good morning from Costa Maya. It’s cloudy and muggy today.

[ceilidh1]

Say hello to my little friend! If you guessed Enchantment you would be correct!

[ceilidh1]

Why do all the hot tubs on this ship look like this? I know it’s not actually dirt, but it still puts me off wanting to get in! This is the one in the Solarium but they all have that same brown nastiness…

[ceilidh1]

Ship views

[firefly333]

2 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

Remember how I said I loved the singing and dancing in Grease and wished they had a show where they just did musical numbers? Well, it seemed that they got my memo - tonight was a cabaret with the cast of Grease. It was in Dazzles and started right after the ice show, so by the time we made it over there it was a packed house with nowhere to sit. Standing room only. As we were debating whether to go or stay, a big group of 20 somethings invited to sit in their booth with them. DS was grinning from ear to ear and said “OMG we are groupies”. I was totally confused until he explained that these lovely people were, in fact, the Grease cast and this evening’s entertainment! Wow! They were just the sweetest and obviously so close as a cast and as friends. Each one chose a song from a musical to sing and introduced themselves while telling us why the song was meaningful to them. All of the songs were from lesser known musicals and these guys knocked it out of the park. Pure talent. Such an enjoyable evening and the perfect way to end the perfect day!

I think your plan to not like harmony went astray. You like it. Lol. 

[blarko]

13 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

Why do all the hot tubs on this ship look like this? I know it’s not actually dirt, but it still puts me off wanting to get in! This is the one in the Solarium but they all have that same brown nastiness…

Eww

[AmyJA]

23 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

Why do all the hot tubs on this ship look like this? I know it’s not actually dirt, but it still puts me off wanting to get in! This is the one in the Solarium but they all have that same brown nastiness…

What??!!?!?!?

 

Was NOT that way when I was on Harmony. 

[ceilidh1]

Just now, firefly333 said:

I think your plan to not like harmony went astray. You like it. Lol. 

Yeah. I tried not to like it 🤣

 

There are one or two things I don’t love (bar service or lack of being top of the list). I don’t love the smoking area right at the pool - that seems weird to me, with all the kiddos around that area. I don’t like the silly charges for silly things - $2.50 for popcorn? That’s low. I would love a paper copy of the daily stuff (maybe you can get them somewhere but I haven’t found one yet) as I keep missing stuff when I’m not on my phone/app. But all of these are pretty minor and not a make or break for me.

 

What I do love is the entertainment- very talented people at everything we have been to! The food has been consistently good - not knock your socks off outstanding, but really good. The drinks are strong. There are lots of things going on at all times so always something to do. 
 

Having said all this, I likely wouldn’t rush into booking RC again unless this class of ship came out west. For the cost of this trip, we could have easily done 2 weeks on princess or NCL from the west coast…

[ceilidh1]

Just now, AmyJA said:

What??!!?!?!?

 

Was NOT that way when I was on Harmony. 

Yeah. It’s gross. I’m not even sure what it is and people are still using them but not for me…

[AmyJA]

4 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

Yeah. It’s gross. I’m not even sure what it is and people are still using them but not for me…

OK..... I had a Finding Nemo "touch the butt" flash back there. It "has" to be that the paint has worn off.  People and paint chip soup anyone?

[MrsMuffin]

9 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

Yeah. It’s gross. I’m not even sure what it is and people are still using them but not for me…

Hmmm.... we are on Harmony in 5 weeks and are hot tub people.  I hope that this is sorted out by then! 

 

Thanks for this Live, it is really getting me excited about our trip! 

[ceilidh1]

Just now, MrsMuffin said:

Hmmm.... we are on Harmony in 5 weeks and are hot tub people.  I hope that this is sorted out by then! 

 

Thanks for this Live, it is really getting me excited about our trip! 

It’s a great ship!

[firefly333]

14 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

Yeah. I tried not to like it 🤣

 

There are one or two things I don’t love (bar service or lack of being top of the list). I don’t love the smoking area right at the pool - that seems weird to me, with all the kiddos around that area. I don’t like the silly charges for silly things - $2.50 for popcorn? That’s low. I would love a paper copy of the daily stuff (maybe you can get them somewhere but I haven’t found one yet) as I keep missing stuff when I’m not on my phone/app. But all of these are pretty minor and not a make or break for me.

 

What I do love is the entertainment- very talented people at everything we have been to! The food has been consistently good - not knock your socks off outstanding, but really good. The drinks are strong. There are lots of things going on at all times so always something to do. 
 

Having said all this, I likely wouldn’t rush into booking RC again unless this class of ship came out west. For the cost of this trip, we could have easily done 2 weeks on princess or NCL from the west coast…

Royal pricing is different than other lines. People use TAs with group rates. I cant do csrnival for what I pay for royal. And I get better perks included. There are rates that dont show booking direct. Sorry you paid so much. I've done that with a few cruises myself in my early days.

 

As for wishing a oasis class comes to calif, be careful what you wish for. And if you think oasis is high, icon class is double. And more icon class on order.

[ceilidh1]

It’s so humid today that as soon as I opened the balcony door, every mirror fogged up! 

[ceilidh1]

Just now, firefly333 said:

Royal pricing is different than other lines. People use TAs with group rates. I cant do csrnival for what I pay for royal. And I get better perks included. There are rates that dont show booking direct. Sorry you paid so much. I've done that with a few cruises myself in my early days.

 

As for wishing an oasis class comes to calif, be careful what you wish for. And if you think oasis is high, icon class is double. And more icon class on order.

Oh, the cruise itself was a “steal” but once I added in flights, hotel, drink package, wifi, specialty dining, excursions…none of which were mandatory but still added to overall cost.

[S.A.M.J.R.]

34 minutes ago, AmyJA said:

What??!!?!?!?

 

Was NOT that way when I was on Harmony. 

Same here.  I didn't spend a lot of time in hot tubs, but did some.  Don't remember seeing anything like that.

 

Regarding the compasses... check at GS.  I believe I saw paper compasses there. 

 

The popcorn charge I sort of get.  By adding a charge, they cut down on the waste.  I think more people are likely to actually eat the popcorn than spill it or leave it in the theater.  Just a theory though. 

[RobInMN]

41 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

I don’t like the silly charges for silly things - $2.50 for popcorn? That’s low.

 

This has been discussed a few times. The general consensus is that they charge for it to minimize the mess. Think of the family/group with multiple young kids. If one kid wanted popcorn, they'd all have to have popcorn, and half of it would end up on the ground. Pretty sure they charge the minimal amount they do just to give you pause and think "do I really want this" and "you can share". Hopefully resulting in a much higher percentage actually ending up being consumed rather than spilled/wasted.

 

BTW, find your thread very entertaining.

 

[LisaLisa87]

12 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

After Daniel Johnston, we went 5 minutes up the road to the iguana park. I had thought they wove in cages, so was utterly delighted to. Ind they were just wandering around. So. Many. Iguanas. We got a guide who took us around and told us so much about iguanas, encouraged us to touch them and feed them, and took pictures for us. He then took us down to the water to show us huge tarpons and gave us fish to feed them with.

 

First, I'm glad you had such a great experience in Roatan! We visited for the first time via Harmony last September. We did a tour similar to yours, but with snorkeling and beach time. We liked what we saw so much that we went for a week this past February.

 

Our experience at the Iguana park was very different. We had a guy who basically trailed us around and didn't tell us diddly squat. He did put out food for the iguanas so they'd all congregate, but I wish he had warned us... they were very excited to get to the food, and we happened to be in their path! 

[mikayla73]

Is that a pool in the port at Coxen Hole? I've only been on the Mahogany Bay side like you, so just wondering.

[gambler]

Ask your room steward for paper copies.

[ceilidh1]

I feel so bad for DD. She had curly (Afro) hair and is desperate for it to be straight. She spends hours trying to straighten it. She decided to treat herself and paid for a pack of 3 blow outs to have it straightened. They have done a great job and it’s really nice and very straight when she walks out of the salon. Unfortunately, she didn’t factor in the humidity- within seconds she is a ball of frizzy curls again! 🤣

[ceilidh1]

11 minutes ago, mikayla73 said:

Is that a pool in the port at Coxen Hole? I've only been on the Mahogany Bay side like you, so just wondering.

Yes, there was a pool in there along with bars, food, and gift shops. It wasn’t as big as mahogany bay but looked nice!

[ceilidh1]

We had no plans to go ashore today but when DD realized all her friends were off the ship, she decided she wanted to go into the port are. DS had zero interest and, since DD is under 18 it meant I had to go with her. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a really nice port area but I hate the shopkeepers constantly hassling you, and it was super humid…

 

We decided we would do the aviary again - it’s now $14 per person (it was $12 last time we were here) and worth every cent. It’s such a nice little walk through. I’m glad we got to spend the time together, since I’ve barely seen her most of the cruise!

[ceilidh1]

So how do you know when everything is open? I’ve yet to see the zipline running when we’ve walked by. One of the water slides was closed yesterday. The mini golf is closed today. I feel like every time we go to do something it’s closed…but I have no way of knowing when it opens…

[MrsMuffin]

Did you see if they were doing massages somewhere there in the port at Costa Maya?  We aren't really planning on doing anything there, other than maybe wandering around the port a little. I know that there are plenty of options for a massage if you go to the malecon, but I would love to be able to get one right there in the port.