basictek

When I travel on Harmony the cabins are supposed to be alternating, I'm hoping we get the bed near the balcony. The Mrs. goes to be earlier than I do so it's better if I can get in and out of the room (couch area) without going by the bed. 

7 minutes ago, gerif said:

My bad. Missed the Harmony part. 

ya and I didn't want that much larger balcony per se (such an an extended balcony or hump), just one I didn't need to sit sideways on. The balconies on Harmony are around 50 sq ft and just big enough, with nice chairs as per this post. 

22 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

Some balconies on Oasis ships are much bigger than others.  But you pay extra

True I was just trying to compare standard vs standard, for instance I was going to book an NCL mini suite or balcony, on the breakaway, but after comparing and talking to a friend that just went I decided the harmony suite was a better option (the balcony size was one of the factors) the other main factor was for NCL to be close on price I had to let them pick the room. So i have 2 Harmony cruises coming up this fall/winter. 

11 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

Fortunately this is not the Regal or the Royal Princess.  😉 😄  😛 

OMG regarding Regal balcony , even the royal princess was better than that 

I was wondering about the Harmony chairs myself, it looks like you can almost recline, & the balcony looks to be deeper than many other cruise ships. Some look so small you have to sit sideways. Every Harmony video I've seen shows these chairs and a pretty deep looking balcony 

Just ran some #'s on your ship, not sure they are the best but should be close.

for 4 adults in an interior (160 sq ft and 1 bath) I got around 2K on RCI site, through a TA I got same - $100 cruise cash

for 4 adults in 2 interior rooms it was only about $500 more (no where near double) and through TA -$200 cruise cash

The ultra large oceanview (catagory 1K) which is the size of 2 interior rooms but still 1 bath was about $900 more on RCI & about $600 through a TA so the 2 interior rooms appears to be the most cost effective option unless you want to jam 4 people into a 160 (10x16) room sharing 1 bath. 

Another thing to note (if you are planning on buying surf and stream for 1 device) the combined soda+surf&stream was $21 a few weeks back and been running $22 which is cheaper than both of them separately (currently $9 +$14). 

I've been following pricing threads to get the best deals and I can say you never know, book at the lowest price and cancel/re-book if it drops. They had a lot of advertising sales for memorial day in the US but I didn't see any real price changes from what was offered earlier. The prices do fluctuate so once it goes up there is no guarantee it will come back down, so booking at the lowest price and re-booking if it drops seems the best course of action if you are buying that item.

I found this thread enjoyable. As a central Floridian for the last 26 years  (without kids) I would pay more $$$ to not be on a Disney ship and avoid all the things that Disney offers. There is almost a resentment the same way floridians look at snowbirds associated with anything Disney. Despite this I still did compare the Disney ships with other options (RCI, Carnival, & NCL) as those are the 4 major cruise lines going out of the closes port to me (45 min). I was astonished that Disney costs twice as much as RCI - Harmony despite comparing photo's and options on the ships Harmony seems to hands down offer more (especially if you slightly resent Disney characters).

I have coworkers that almost exclusively cruise Disney (and they don't have kids either) it puzzles me but to each their own. In the meantime I'll use the extra $$$ I saved by not going on a Disney cruise to get some great excursions, maybe a dinner package, etc... oh and most importantly I get to go on 2 cruises for every one they go on!  

I was told the same (we ordered multiple appetizers and desserts on Holland America a couple months ago both MDR and specialty), in fact there is a tips thread where it specifically mentions that you don't have to  order just 1 of anything... 

I just cruised in April and on a couple of days it was cooler than usual for that time of year (probably similar to what you would get in December) Honestly we did not like the top deck of our ship at any time due to the high wind, it was still warm, but the wind was annoying maintaining around 20 - 30 mph. There are plenty of decks (except the very top) that have great exposure but are protected enough where the wind isn't that annoying. I would imagine the same to be true on most cruise ships including Equinox... 

Just did a Holland America and it was very quiet, laid back, much older crowd, and we were bored (so we're going on RCI Oasis next) but I'd agree with Holland although we were on a small ship (1997- rotterdam) their newer bigger ships may not be so quiet. Also to note the rotterdam had really low fares vs higher fares on the newer ships. 

When I was obese for 20+ years I rarely stepped on a scale. In a lot of cases the scales wouldn't go high enough anyway (325 - 350). I failed to lose and sustain weight loss many times before finally getting it right. From 2017 - 2018 lost 130 and checked the scale not quite daily, but on average 5 times a week. Learned a lot of lessons...

#1 daily scale readings can easily fluctuate over 5lbs & it's not due to actually gaining/losing weight

#2 about 10% - 15% of your body weight is a fluid #. This is why fad diets and such can always promise quick weight loss, but real weight loss takes time and consistency. Most heavy people can easily lose a lot of weight in short amount of time by restricting intake in any fashion, but this will often result a rubber band effect where you plateau as you reach the end of the band then shoot back often gaining more than you lost (I've experienced this many times). 

#3 The most important thing in picking a new lifestyle, eating plan, diet is the ability to sustain it long term then probably implementing it gradually over time rather than all at once. 

There's no wrong answer to how often to step on a scale but I would say if using a scale, understand what you are looking at. If you weigh daily, your weight will bounce around (up 2, down 1, up 1 down 3, etc). When using a scale daily I focused on hitting a new low each week. This way I kept the arrow pointing in the right direction, and if I went in the wrong direction for a week (failed to hit a new low) I needed to look more closely at what I did and make adjustments. 

I know many others that lost substantial amounts of weight did not weigh daily or found it discouraging. I really liked the instant feedback but it certainly not mandatory.

Now I step on a scale once or twice a week in maintenance, because former obese people can never let their guard down, and have to make sure things don't start creeping back to where they were. Now I generally try to stay within 192-198 and if I get out of that range i need to make adjustments. If you aren't obese or former obese this is probably overkill

My last cruise I weighed in at 194 before went for 7 days and came home at an astonishing 206 (12 lbs higher in 1 week) I attribute that mostly to the huge amounts of free coffee and extra food that I normally wouldn't eat at home. I got back to my normal plan and saw the 12 lbs drop off in 2 weeks, half of it was gone in a few days because it wasn't real (that 10 -15%).

Anyway I expect to be on vacation when I'm on a cruise and not watching my weight. I have 46 weeks a year where I can do that. I just need to be willing to get back to consistent eating when the cruise or trip is over (at least that worked the last time... ) That's my .02

11 minutes ago, Ack53 said:

I have booked with US agents in the past for Disney? But I'm very confused by the terms and conditions of US TA's as we can't change our bookings without penalties here in the UK? So I don't think we can take advantage of any price drops? 🤔 . So I'm not sure how to go about it and what I need to look for?  

I'm pretty new at this but what I know about groups rates is that they cannot be advertised, it appears even the TA doesn't know where they appear unless you run the #'s on a particular cruise. CnM also just had a big promo for US memorial day, and that was combinable with all their other perks (I'd assume they will do something similar on other holidays) and I'd expect similar from other TA's.

I've seen overwhelmingly on these boards that the long time members seem to recommend using a TA, but I haven't seen any info about how to locate the best group rates, possibly using sites like cruise compete??? I'd search as many as possible, to me the deals are out there if you look long and hard enough...  

I wanted to post because the deals can be so good you might find a better price on a normally more expensive cabin. For instance on the cruise you are looking for the oceanview balcony rooms are well over $3,000 and with the group rate it was under $2300 + cruise cash. That's > $1000 swing

I'm not sure if this will help, but my TA (Cruises n More) has group rates for balcony rooms on many RCI ships (showing available on Allure nov 1 2020 from Barcelona ) which puts the Ocean view balcony at about $200 US below the regular ocean view room, also they are offering about $160 cruise cash as well which would almost pay all the gratuities. 

So effectively that's $350 less than the quote above and you get a balcony guarantee instead of oveanview... 

I was looking for interior on Harmony and got such a nice deal on their group rates, cruise cash and prepaids, I ended up booking 2 balcony cruises this fall/winter.

I don't know if this is available via UK or if you can get group rates through other TA's over there but it is definitely something to check out. 

I just brought a fan on a holland cruise np and was planning on bringing this "air multiplier" on my next RCI cruise on Harmony. Hope it's allowed, I'll detach the 2 pieces so it doesn't even look like a fan

We loved this park in 2014, everything from zip line's to cave swimming, and I really enjoyed driving the buggy. We're going back in November this year hopefully and already booked the same excursion.  

It's been an available option on both my harmony cruises since I booked them both 6 months in advance. Go to cruise planner > spa fitness > relaxation areas. Price has been constant $119 for 1 $199 for couple.

I had been looking into the premium coffee card and it apparently includes just about everything at any restaurant except Starbucks (which was a disappointment to me too as our cabin is right behind Starbucks), but some of the other coffee shops actually make "Starbucks" coffee which is included, just not if it's bought from the "Starbucks" restaurant. 

I wanted soda + surf & stream, originally they were cheaper apart, then they were cheaper together $21 a day, so i cancelled them separately and bought the package. Seems kinda dumb all the price jiggling they do but apparently they have bookeepers telling them it works better this way.... 

On 2/15/2019 at 7:32 PM, Big_G said:

We just got off her two weeks ago. You'll be pretty safe if you avoid the Windjammer at peak times. We're at seven Oasis Class sailings to date and other than the previous advice I would suggested the forward elevators over the aft. The aft elevators get pretty busy especially around dinner time.

I've heard many refer to "peak times" and was wondering what that was (specifically for windjammer). We typically eat early breakfast before 8 maybe even before 7. Lunch after 11 before noon, and dinner at 5:30. Considering all the early slots for dinner seem to go fast, I'm wondering if that is peak time at sea, or would we be ahead of peak time like on land? 

So a proper foam topper that would cover a "royal king" best  (72.5"W by 82"L) would be a California king which is about the same dimensions. However, that's a really big thing to pack even for a 2" topper. I'm wondering of the feasibility of using a full 54" by 74" and turning it sideways, leaving about 2' for pillows and 1' by the foot, it sounds like that was what "pcur " for their long cruise but with a queen size. 

11 minutes ago, whitshel said:

They should be able to get you the group rate after you're home.  All of the bogo promo stuff wont transfer but the booking obc should.  And remember t/a group rates are only on certain categories so if you want a 4d but the t/a only has 8d's then you would have to switch categories.  Here is an example I posted yesterday on a different thread.  Symphony April, 5th 2020 i do believe, you can see a really nice price difference between group(middle column) and bogo pricing (left column), but only certain categories are available.  You would be only able to book a 6d or 8d in the group.  If you wanted the 4d, you would have to book it with the bogo pricing.

 

That's exactly what I'm talking about, 4D was just an example in this case the cruise I have booked is a 4D about $700 below the BOGO price, plus another $350 onboard and gratuities. I was thinking that I would lose some or all of that if I booked onboard. I'll talk to my TA. it would be nice to add even more perks :) Thanks! 

1 minute ago, Host Clarea said:

 

You have to book a new cruise onboard in order to get the OBC from booking onboard.  They can book with your travel agent onboard if you like.  Otherwise, you can transfer that booking to a travel agent to get whatever prices/perks the agent offers.  You have 60 days to transfer.

 That's good to know, and should work for the cruise cash and gratuities etc.

If I book on next cruise with RCI something like an oceanview balcony 4D, and the price is $2500ish, but my TA has a group rate where the price is $1800, I'm guessing a transfer would not allow me in the group rate since those cabins are effectively bought separately....   

Along the same lines, I've recently found my TA has booked groups of balcony cabins on the ship and port that I would probably prefer to cruise on the most in the near future (Harmony out of Canaveral). Now their group rates are unadvertised, even the TA's don't know them until you pick a specific cruise. Their group rate has been showing between $400 and $800 (per cabin) below the advertised prices at RCI or any other agency. In addition they have other promo like $100 - $300 cruise cash and currently free gratuities for memorial day. 

Now If I book through my TA (these group rates are always refundable up to 90 days prior), is there any way to apply the deals on next cruise? I'm assuming next cruise will never touch the prices I'm getting but wondering if there was a way to combine both...