flyingandcruising

Great responses so far, thank you

Which one do you like the best for the atmosphere and why?

Thanks,

Also what is the difference between the three MDR other than the music in the Manhattan? are the menu's the same?

First time cruising on NCL and have a few breakaway questions.

1. What time do they typically start boarding at NYC

2. What time are the cabins usually ready?

Thanks

What time were the rooms ready on embarkation day?

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Appreciate the replies

How many outlets are available on balcony cabins? Any usb outlets? Thanks

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Our arrival appointment at the port, as indicated on our SetSail passes, is the 11:00-11:30 AM time slot. I don't know what time we will be onboard then, but I imagine not too much later since it's a quick process. Thank you very much for your reply, and if anyone knows any other venues (such as the Solarium Bistro, Park Cafe, etc.) that you may recommend for embarkation day lunch, please feel free to let me know here! Thank you all again.

Our appt was also 11-1130, but they did not start boarding until 1145 that day. RCCL does not pay attention to the boarding times at port everglades.

We boarded at around 1215 and were told the WJ was full so we headed to the solarium bistro and it was empty. For lunch on other days, we ate at around 1200, and the WJ was not crowded at all, and there was no lineup to get through the washing stations.

Cabin/Sleeping arrangements: As mentioned we had a central park balcony on the 11th deck, we loved this cabin. It was quiet at all hours of the day with the door closed, and was great to just sit out there with a drink and listen to the music in the park. We would fore sure get this cabin again. Considering we have a toddler with previous sleeping issues, we were concerned with where in the room he would sleep. We wanted it to be somehow secluded and allow us to go on the balcony at night. Our cabin configuration had the couch closer to the balcony entrance, and in most cases, people would probably put the crib in front of the couch. After his first nap on day one we moved the couch away from the wall and put the crib behind the couch, we then put back up the shower curtain with metal clips and made him a little nook. This way we could go back and forth to the balcony and not disturb him. This configuration worked great throughout the cruise. I do have pictures and will load them in the next couple days. We gave him showers instead of baths (he is too big for the blow up bath tubs), he did not like the showers though, even when we went in with him.

Shows/entertainment: This was something that made making reservations difficult. Our son usually goes to bed at 8pm and most of the shows were after 8, so we were not sure what to do (he is very cranky if we wait too long to put him to bed, and because of the history of sleep issues we tried not to deviate from routine). Luckily we had our parents with us, who graciously offered to watch him a few nights while we go see some shows. We did take him to the Fine line and to Columbus which were earlier in the evening. We also did not feel comfortable by having someone from the cruise staff watch him, especially with his allergies.

Toddler programs/Adventure Ocean: There really aren’t many programs for under 3, and we knew this when booking. But what they do have is fantastic. There is a huge toddler area full of toys and books, it is open every day from 9am-10pm and parents can take their kids any time they want and let them play (parents must stay with their child and it is age limit of 6 I think). Adventure Ocean had a few programs that toddlers could join in, such as arts and crafts, painting, etc. They had something once a day usually. There was also a black light puppet show that was great, our son loved it.

Splashaway Bay: They have two sections for children, one is from 6-36 months, the other I cannot remember the age limit. The one for 6-36 months allows for swim diapers to be worn, and that is where we took our son, and he loved that as well. He did not want to leave. It does close when there are high winds.

Debarkation: We were in no rush to get off, but our son decided to sleep late today (we use him as an alarm clock) and didn’t get up until almost 8am. We packed up our carry ons and headed up to the windjammer for breakfast. At around 930am we headed to the wheelchair assistance area on deck 5 ‘On Air’ and waited until our number was called (58) at around 10am it was called and we made our way off the ship. We were picked up at 1030am at the curb, and such ended our wonderful cruise.

I think I’ve pretty much covered everything I wanted to. Our flight home was supposed to leave at 9:55pm from Miami, but was 40 minutes delayed. Luckily our son slept most of the flight, but we did not get home until 330am. Sunday we spent most of the day sleeping and taking turns watching our son, and Monday was back to work :(

Overall: We had an amazing time, Food was great, service was top notch, the ship is a behemoth and I’m sure I did not get everywhere. It is well maintained and very clean. We would go on her again if we had the chance.

If anyone else has any other questions, please do not hesitate to ask. I'm sure I forgot to mention something.

Dinner: We had first dining at 6pm, so we headed to the dining room and spoke with Milagros, our head waiter. She talked us through the entire process, that she will go over the menu with us the day before and pick his dinners. We could also request breakfast and lunch for him for the next day. She gave us her card and personal number and said to phone her anytime. I asked her what her hours were as I would not want to call her during her off hours and she did not tell me, and just said call whenever you need me. I joked and said that I would call her at 3am just to test this theory out. We can’t say enough about her, she was great and very accommodating. She came over to our table every night and when we mentioned to her that our son usually eats at 530 and we cannot wait until 7pm for his food, she arranged to have it made in advance by the chefs and it was waiting for him when we arrived every day.

Breakfast: We went for breakfast every day at the MDR and they made for him whatever we wanted. Pancakes, eggs, French toast, whatever. They have a buffet also in the MDR with sealed cereals, milk, and Nutella packets so we gave that to him too. He is only allergic to peanuts, so Nutella is safe, we spread that on his pancakes. Hard boiled eggs were safe too as they were still shelled.

Lunch: Most days we went to the windjammer for lunch and my wife would look around and see what our son may like from the buffet. She would then speak with the head chef and they would tell us if any of the items we wanted were able to be made peanut free, and if so they would make them in a separate area, fresh.

For snacks, we just gave him the stuff that we had bought in Florida.

Medical Facility: On Sunday, our son started showing signs of not feeling well again, and started to burn up. During the day we checked his temp several times and at night had a fever. We decided to give him some Motrin and put him to bed and see how we was the next day. Monday morning, we woke up and he still had a fever, we went to breakfast and at 10am when he was still not showing signs of the fever going down, we went to the DR. on board. The med. Facility is pretty large with 3 on call doctors, and several nurses. There is a waiting area with chairs and a TV. In the waiting area, there is a bin with sea sick meds (free) and a dispenser with other medical aids (antacid, bandaids, tylenol, etc.) for 25 cents. We waited for about a half hour before the Dr. saw our son. It was determined that he had an ear infection and the Dr. gave us some antibiotics and told us to keep giving him Motrin and Tylenol. We started the antibiotics immediately and by the next morning showed signs of getting better and was mostly himself again. He is a very happy go everywhere baby, even when he is sick, is usually happy. So if he is lethargic and very whiney we know something is wrong. In all we had a good experience with the medical facility, the Dr. was very knowledgeable. An initial visit to the Dr. is $130, plus any additional medicine. Our overall bill was just under $200, which to me is very reasonable for a cruise ship.

Preparing/Packing: We were down in florida in January and left some of our luggage and clothes there so we didn’t have to lug them back and forth. So packing was quit easy and painless. In January we also bought a bunch of peanut free snacks for our son to bring on board with us so that he had those options as well. But we still needed to lug back and forth the car seat, stroller, sippy cups, etc. We left diapers/wipes down there in January. And he has been a slow grower, so we were able to leave most of his clothes (we did a laundry before coming back home in January).

Flying day, March 10th: At 230pm, I got off work, headed home and packed the car. I was planning to pick up our son from daycare at around 345, but at 315 got a call from my wife that daycare called her that our son seemed not well and very tired. So I picked him up early, and took him home. I checked his temp. and although he was a bit warm, he had no fever so we made the decision to proceed with the trip and take some extra Motrin and Advil. We felt that if the next day it was any worse we would take him to a dr. in Florida. My wife got home at 4pm and we left for the airport. We got to the airport at 445, I dropped of my wife and son before heading to the park n fly lot to drop off the car and take the shuttle back to the airport. It took me 30 minutes to do that (will not use park n fly again), that’s another story. Because we had an infant lap with us, even though I already checked in, we had to physically check in because the airline needed to double check his ID (I think this is common with all airlines) by the time I dropped off my wife and son, stood in line to check in, and went through security, it was about 645pm (and we had nexus, so I could only imagine waiting in that huge line up at security). Our credit card allows for 2 adult passes into the airport lounge, and we planned on relaxing there and eat some dinner, the boarding time was 730pm (for an 810 departure), so unfortunately we had to eat quick and didn’t really relax. We flew Air Canada Rouge (discount subsidiary of Air Canada), and I checked the website, and although they do not pre-board or fully accommodate for allergies, they have the 3 row buffer zone rule, which is they will ask 3 rows ahead and behind us not to consume any nuts. (The best airline for allergies in our opinion is SouthWest, they are extremely accommodating, by allowing pre-boarding to wipe down seats and also will not serve any nuts whatsoever on the entire plane). So we boarded with families and were still able to wipe the seats before most of the other passengers came on. We also advised the flight crew of the allergy and they advised the rows ahead and behind us. Our flight left on time (which is extremely rare for us) during the flight our son was able to sleep in my wife’s arms for a majority of the flight and we arrived at about 11pm in Miami. We were picked up by my aunt and stayed for the night at my mom’s condo in Ft. Lauderdale. We were going to meet my wife’s parent on board the ship the next day.

March 11, Embarkation day: Our son let us sleep in until 730am, so we got up, checked his temperature (all good for now), ate, packed the car with the rest of our luggage and left for port everglades at 10am. Got to the Port at 1030 and gave most of our stuff to the porters at the curb. My mom requires assistance getting on and off the ship, so we located the wheelchair assistance area outside and waited for someone to come along and pick her up. About 10 minutes later someone came and took us through security and check in and to the secondary waiting area on the upper level. At this point it must have been around 1115ish and the terminal was packed (they still had not started embarkation yet) at about 1145 they started embarkation with back to back cruisers, pinnacle, suites, diamond, etc. We got on about 1215pm and was told windjammer was full already, so we headed to the solarium bistro for lunch. The solarium was pretty empty and we asked for the head waiter to talk about our sons allergy. Moments later he came with the head chef and the head chef showed us what he could eat (we also brought food for him just in case). At 1pm, the announcement came on that the cabins were ready, so we headed down to the cabin (11613) and immediately had his crib set up so that our son could nap (he usually naps at 1230), for this nap, we just put the crib in front of the couch and threw up a dark blue shower curtain that we bought at giant tiger (similar to Big lots) with magnets, and turned off the lights. He very surprisingly went down quickly and slept for about an hour, which is more than we thought considering the circumstances. While he slept, I went to the dining room and spoke with the hostess. After reading threads on here, I expected them to not know anything about the allergy, but they knew right away, it was noted and said that we will need to speak with our head waiter at dinner time.

At this point I’m not going to go into what we did all day, every day. Just a few remarks, but again mostly about traveling with a toddler, allergies and the medical department.

There are a lot of reviews on here about Harmony, and I’m sure a few of my fellow cruisers will review this particular cruise (there was a live review). So I am going to go in a different direction with this review, as I will mostly review traveling with a toddler with severe peanut allergies, traveling with someone needing assistance on/off the ship and our experience at the medical clinic (not related to the allergies). I will also add the usual review stuff. Once I download my pictures, I will add them later. Enjoy!

About us and who we traveled with. Myself (39), my wife (36), our son (21 months) traveled with my mom, and both my wife’s parents. We had 3 central park balcony cabins (two of them connecting).

Pre-Trip: My mom called me in December and asked “do you want to go on the Harmony”…ummmmmm duh “YES” I responded without any hesitation. A few weeks later we were pleased that my wife’s parents were joining us as well. This is our March break (spring break) in Ontario and my wife is a teacher, so the only option we had was coming into Miami on a late Friday night flight. And with the prices of fares the only option back home was Saturday night at 10pm. Having our 1.5 year old son on these flights was a worry for us, considering we had severe issues with him until he we 8 months old with sleeping (more on the flights later).

At 6 months of age we found out our son has a peanut allergy and was anaphylaxis, this changed things for us of course and when we were booking this cruise, this was our number 1 concern. I searched CC and found great suggestions and we also spoke with RCCL and they were great with information. They recommended that I email the dining department and special needs prior to the cruise, and inform them about his allergy. At about 90 days prior to the cruise I emailed the dining department (rcldiningATrccl.com) and advised them of his allergy and asked about our options, they recommended that I speak with the maitre d upon our arrival and that they will be able to help us out with what and where he could eat. This was the first of many GREAT experiences we had regarding his allergies. I will mention on this review of several times how great they and accommodating RCCL was.

At about 60 days, I emailed dining again to remind about the allergy, but also to request a 6 top table near the window for 1st dining. They accommodated no problem, even told us we would be table 101.

A few days later, I sent an email to special needs (special_needsATrccl.com) to notify them about the allergy, I also filled out the special needs form on the RCCL website. They responded within a few days confirming my email and with instructions. This was the email we received:

“Thank you for contacting us with this information.

We have received your notice regarding your food needs and will forward the information to the ship. By speaking with your head waiter in the dining room your needs will be communicated to the galley and an open line of communication will be established among everyone concerned.

Once on board please meet with one of the Restaurant Managers to review the menus and identify those items that need to be modified or avoided. They will be happy to assist you and will forward your concerns and needs to the galley. All items prepared for guests with food allergies are handled separate from the main food production. Please note that if you choose to go into the other restaurants other than the Main Dining Room please meet with the Manager for that particular restaurant to go over the food items with you regarding your food allergies before eating. Guests are allowed to bring on their own supply of dry, nonperishable food items such as cookies, crackers, chips, energy bars, etc. They may also bring on their own individual packets of salad dressings. Guests may not bring on board any potentially hazardous food items. (Items that require refrigeration, freezing, reheating, or storage by the galley).

It is also recommended that they refrain from eating in the buffet areas, as they are self serve and can not guarantee it will be free of cross contamination.”

This email made us very comfortable with how they treated allergies, and that our son could have lots of options of what to eat. I sent a reply email as to whether we could arrange for a lunch on embarkation day and I also inquired about their medical facilities on dealing with allergies. They responded that unfortunately they cannot pre-arrange for food, but that we should talk with the windjammer buffet manager to find us something to eat. They also advised that they have doctors and nurses on board that can handle anaphylaxis food allergies but to bring our own epipens (we brought 5).

That was all communication I had with RCCL prior to the cruise so the rest of the time was spent waiting.

When we hit Us Customs it was the best stop ever thanks to Nexus. One car in front and it left as we approached.

 

Agent: How many in the car?

Me: Three.

Agent: Do you have anything to declare?

Me: No.

Agent: Have a good day.

Me: Thanks-you sir.

 

Three minutes total.

 

 

 

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Nexus is great, totally worth the $50/5 years even if you only cross 1-2 times a year. Our son was born in June of 2015 and he had a passport and nexus by October..;p

Wish I was there with you, wait a minute, I WILL BE!!!!!:D

If like Oasis and Allure, deck 14 forward, above the bridge wings.

If you are going with Bob's suggestion we will see you there.:) That's where we have done our last 3 sail away from. The only downside is the bar is a little far away.

Doesn't it get really crowded?

Tell Me please......:D

I have all the compasses but have not scanned them in. Do you just want to look at them or looking for something in particular?

Just wanted to take a look, thanks :D

Any chance you have the PDF's of the compasses?

thanks

Also known as Human Soup. I'll pass on the tub and the soup.:o

The canning factory is on deck 1.:D

 

Does this mean two less people I have to worry about crowding the whirlpool on our cruise? lol ;)

You bring your own towels & sheets and take the dirty ones home. Ahhh ya doesn't everyone? Unbelievable yes unbelievable!

 

 

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Yes, for your information I do bring my own sheets for our crib, we like to try and make it smell like home so that he is not scared. What IS so unbelievable are people like you coming on here and shaming others that ask simple questions as the OP did. They don't ask for snarky responses and rude comments about their parenting. I don't understand why people cannot just come on these forums and be able to ask a question without feeling embarrassed or ashamed.

 

Do you take those dirty diapers home with you with your dirty sheets and towels?

 

I take the dirty sheets and towels home, and leave the diapers in the trash that they are already emptying anyway from the adults stuff.

 

A baby or toddler makes a mess when eating' date=' creates dirty diapers, spit up, uses towels for bathing, etc. I tipped extra when cruising with my under-2s - it was very deserved and it was well worth it.[/quote']

 

Who's the one cleaning up after the baby? not the staff. I;m changing the diapers, im cleaning the spit up, we use our own towels for bathing our son, our own sheets for the crib. They clean up after the adults and therefore are compensated as such. If more is done, we compensate them for that. You do more, you get more. Do less, get less. Just like eating at a restaurant.

Sorry...."Actually" but you couldn't be more "wrong" if you're including RCI in your reply. Best not to give out information unless you're sure it's correct, as this could be very confusing to some once onboard !![/quote

 

My apologies, you are correct with RCCL, I hope I did not "confuse" people too much. NCL is 2, Costa is 3, MSC I Believe is 4, Carnival was 2, Princess was 2 as of our last cruise. With that being said, *most* mass market do not tip the same at all ages. For anyone to believe a 6 month old and a 56 year old require the same amount of service is unbelievable to me.

 

Unfortunately Carnival is also 6 months and up. We were on them last year with our 7 month old.

Unbelievable! How's that for snarky

 

 

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What's unbelievable?