basictek

I bough the thermal suites on another cruiseline (Holland america) that ship holds about 1/4 the people of Harmony. the suites were hit or miss, but on holland they were at least on the top of the ship with an amazing view of the ocean. The ones on harmony are down below with no windows at all. They are more expensive as well so I've decided to pass on them for my cruises on Harmony.

I tried to add a link with pics and info, but it wouldn't stay. If you google harmony of the seas thermal suite and look at pics you can find lots of info about it.

I haven't tried it yet, but I often wake my wife when I'm on the couch and she is in bed. I googled and found that apparently the magnetic hooks can be used to hold up a shower curtain partition between the living area and bed in the room, hopefully giving more privacy and allowing me not to wake her up as much. 

I see the programs are quite different (RCI NCL), and the NCL one says limited time. so isn't the norm I guess. Well who knows maybe RCI will start doing it also. Seems like a way to get a bunch of $$$ from people that aren't ready to pick a specific "next cruise" yet

I'm not sure if RCI does this but my friend just got back from a Norwegian, cruise and they were allowed to double their deposit on their next cruise without actually picking the cruise. So put down $500 get $1000 credit, and apparently this was good on any cruise even via travel agencies (for up to 4 years I think she said). If you can do something like that that then when you book your next cruise you simply add the credit to whatever you book with your new status.

I've got the same thing happening in December, so let us know if you find a way. 

To note I just went through something similar on Harmony last week. We have a group of 4, and when we booked I don't believe early dining was offered so we both choose my time dining.

Once on the RCI website I was able to make reservations for my time dining (under dining, you add my time dining, and checkout like buying something, but of course it's free). Then you choose the time, but in my case it wasn't available to pick times earlier than 6:30PM.

I called RCI they told me that's the earliest I can schedule online and didn't offer any other options. They did say to contact my TA and they could switch me to early dining. So I called my TA and they switched me, and the other couple going with us. Our Harmony trip is this November so just under 6 months out this wasn't an issue. It seems like they hide early dining unless you really push for it. 

.02 

If you can't change anything see if you can cancel and repurchase the drink package using the onboard cash, or it's good for use on gratuities as well. If you make a stink and complain, from my limited experience the cruise lines seem to find a way to make things right. 

165 for my 1st cruise on Harmony 

207 for my 2nd cruise on Harmony 

Hope we like Harmony 😮

I've been booked on Nov 2019 for a little over a month, and I have watched everything change price several times. Excursions have been full price, - 20%, - 25%, (I currently have 3 purchased at the - 25%)

I've bought voom & stream at $14 and a soda package at $10 a day only to cancel them and buy a combo package zoom and stream + soda package for $21.

I've seen the key at $38, and currently $30, I'm considering it at $20 for me and my wife but won't pay more, so we'll see.

I don't really want the unlimited dining package on my 1st harmony cruise (I'm fine eating at the no extra charge places) but it just dropped from $200 to $175, if it dips to something like $150 or less I'll have a hard time resisting that. I'd rather spring for the 3 meal package which has been $99, $89 but not lower yet, maybe at $69 I'd certainly get that. 

So all in all, there's some things I want, some things I'd like and some things I may just get if the price drops low enough. I expect with months to go I'll see many more price changes. 

I login 2-4 times a week just to see, in fact this morning this thread prompted me to check and voila everything had changed again and the dinner package was the lowest I have seen since being booked. 

just wait it will probably change, when it's low or close book you can always cancel later for a better price if it comes along

We had aft on another ship and in the early AM on every port we heard lots of commotion and even yelling as they docked the ship. It never woke me up but my wife was pissed a couple times. We also heard engine noise in the back but it was not very loud or often (only when taking off from ports that I recall)

I would think the quietest rooms on harmony would be in the front near the spa. That being said I'm booked in the back sort of behind starbucks with a balcony view. My only noise concern from reading reviews is the aqua theater being fairly close to us. 

If you google the room # and "harmony of the seas" I've been able to get very specific feed back on many rooms, lots of them link right here on CC.  

1 hour ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Royal Caribbean's beds when pushed together are 72.5” wide by 82” long.

Thanks, so most likely a king topper and it will go over the sides a bit. 👍

Just a few things to note about salt water pools. 1st see this article on how and why RCI is using them.

• The amount of salt in a salt water pool is typically about 1/10 the amount that is in the ocean. You would be hard pressed to taste the salt or to have it burn your eyes because the amount is so low.

• Salt water generators turn salt into chlorine and the pool is sanitized the same way as a chlorine pool but the maintenance is much easier (no need to constantly add or store chlorine)

• When using salt water as a source for chlorine the stabilizer levels in the pool are typically raised higher which reduces the harshness of the chlorine that is generated by the salt water generators.

• So if you have the impression that a salt water pool is anything like the ocean, it is not, and from managing my own salt water pool, and belonging to a forum of others that also manage salt water pools, the water is softer, less harsh, cleaner, and much easier to maintain. 

• Oh 1 more thing to note, generally the main reason pool water hurts peoples eyes is usually attributed to out of balance PH more than chlorine if the chlorine is properly stabilized and maintained. 

I'm curious and should be related to this post. If I wanted to bring my own mattress topper, does anyone know for sure what the bed dimensions are? I see in my booking the bed is referred to as a queen (60 x 80) in one location, but usually as a "royal king" in most, is that traditional king (76 x 80)? something maybe something in between?

We like a firm mattress but in the context of "Luxury firm" memory foam, not plywood firm (as cheaper beds often are). I'd assume even if RCI gives toppers, they aren't likely to be of high quality, may cause extra heat, or just add to the problem. So I'm curious what size topper would fit best (and not take up a ton of luggage space).

This is an option for anyone buying an internet package (probably only surf and stream).

On my last cruise I only bought 1 internet package but we were able to switch our phone carrier off, turn on wifi calling, then whichever that phone was connected to the wifi we could text and call for free (on the ship or back home). So in theory if you have the internet package for 2+, you can call and text each other for free all trip long. It's very important to disable the telecom provider as our phones defaults to use verizon service on the ship which would charge money for every text and call (lots of money).

So this works somewhat with 1 internet package but would work really well if each person had their own. 

I booked on Harmony for Nov 3rd, right off the bat many of the shore excursions were 25% off. I was planning on going 3rd party but ended up booking through RCI at those prices, I've seen them bounce since then to 20% (a little higher) and no discount (a lot higher).

I have been watching the key which was originally $37.99 a day pp. It's now $29.99 and I'm only considering it at $19.99.

I was planning on and did purchase a soda plan for 1 ($9.99 per day) , and voom surf & stream ($13.99 per day) then I saw them combined for $20.99 ($3 x 7 savings). I cancelled the 2 I had and re-booked the sale saving the $21. If I get the key at $19.99 I'll have to cancel again and just get soda again (which has actually gone down to $8.99). 

It looks like RCI fluctuates prices worse than amazon right now, To note, this has all occurred in around 4-5 weeks since I booked.