laura85

Oh ok thank you guys for the info! I think we will be fine with some heaters in there. On another note, how early do we need to cancel specialty dining reservations to not be charge?

I'm probably overthinking this...but what else am I supposed to do when we are just 10 days away from our cruise? We'll be on Harmony out of Galveston, and have booked Sabor for the first night at 5:30. I'm concerned that with the temps being in the low 60s, the restaurant will be too chilly for my elderly family and small children? Has anyone dined there when it is on the cooler side? The restaurant is basically open to the Boardwalk, and I don't know if they have space heaters.

Well this sounds really great! My son - and our entire family- will be thrilled to listen to music together. I love the Schooner Bar, and hope the player is good on Harmony in a couple weeks!

Ok thanks for the info. I do know that sometimes piano bars can get...rowdy...late at night so I wouldn't bring him around then. I tried bringing him to a piano bar on NCL this past summer, but they said he was not allowed in the bar and we had to leave. He was very disappointed to miss the music!

My son will be 12 on our upcoming cruise and he loves music. He plays piano, guitar, drums and is in several bands. (No, I don't want him to be able to play on the ship, don't worry). He absolutely loves hearing live music. He would love to see a great pianist, Is he allowed to watch the piano player in Schooners, or is that 21 and over? Are all bars/lounges with live music off limits to him? What are the best places to check out live music he can watch? Pool deck? We'll be on Harmony Christmas week. 

59 minutes ago, Wanna Be Retired said:

I'm getting on Voyager tomorrow.  My Key email encouraged me to get there early to take advantage of my lunch.  I have never checked in to the port in Galveston where they actually checked the time.  That said, I usually have the Key and they are already boarding when I get there.  I get there early.

Ok thank you so much for the info! Have a great cruise tomorrow!

I'm curious about this too. We have The Key for our upcoming Christmas cruise out of Galveston. I just did check in and the earliest time available it 1:00. But if we wait until 1:00 we will miss the special lunch for people who bought The Key. Hopefully we will get an email with more instructions.

On 11/11/2023 at 4:55 AM, S.A.M.J.R. said:

We'll use the sofa bed for our cruise next year.  Haven't decided if we're doing morning or evening service.  Here's our plan...

 

* Ask the steward to come back an extra time to put up/take down the sofa bed.

* If he/she can't/won't, then (gasp!) we'll do it ourselves.

 

We've stayed in plenty of hotels with sofa beds and NEVER expected/asked a hotel employee to set up/put it away.  We've even put sheets on it.  

The problem is pullman beds require a special tool to be put away and taken down. I agree, a sofa bed is not the end of the world to put away. But a pullman (or 2) taking up space in a cabin all week is no fun. Granted to avoid this is the future, we are booking 2 cabins for our family of 4 instead of . Kids are getting kind of big to have the 4 of us in one room regardless.

I'll be on a holiday cruise this year, and I'm definitely not doing the holiday dinner. I think it is super overpriced. But if it sounds fun to you, go for it! I'm sure plenty of people enjoy it!

This is my only gripe with once a day service. Especially in the case of a pullman bed that will block parts of the room if it is left out all day. I don't need the room cleaned twice a day. But the rooms are so tiny, that you lose major square footage with a sofa bed pulled out, or a pullman in the way.

Awesome! Can’t wait for our Christmas cruise this year. Harmony is definitely my favorite cruise ship so far. 

Has anyone experienced once a day with a Pullman bed? We did NCL over the summer, once a day, and they left our Pullman bed down the entire cruise! It was awful because it blocked the closet all week. Finally, on 2nd to last day they put it up… but didn’t come back to bring it down at night so my daughter had to squeeze in bed with us. Wonder how RC handles this. 

I’m curious about this as well! We are going on the Harmony sailing over Christmas this year. We bought the key around 30pp. We figured it will be worth a try as the shipped will be packed since it’s a holiday sailing. I have been trying to find out more about the “fast lane” but can’t find many documented details. I’ll definitely relay my experience after we sail! 

I would love a Yeti full of Pina Colada! Hey, it’s a vacation right? 

How and when can you book the escape room? I have a group of 5 that wants to do it together. 

Ok thanks for the info everyone! Makes sense to make the fancy night on Christmas 👍

Good question! I’ll be on Harmony for Christmas. I believe one of the  “dress your best” nights is typically on day 3. However Christmas is on day 2. So do they ever change “dress your best” to coincide with a big holiday like Christmas? Or any tips on how people dress for Christmas? 

On 9/28/2023 at 7:37 AM, HicksRA said:

Dream works was discontinued about 4 years ago. 

Ok thanks for the info! Truthfully, I don’t think my kids will be all that disappointed. Plenty of other things to keep them entertained on Harmony! 

On a past cruise I remember parades with Dreamworks characters, and even a special chocolate breakfast with Dreamworks characters. 
 

Is this a thing of the past? Has it been replaced with anything similar? 

3 hours ago, GetToLivin said:

Ugh, this is so sad. We took DS (15/yo at the time) on his first cruise last December and after the "ooohing and ahhing" I very soberly told him not to mess with trying to sit on a railing, push "upward" on a railing to hoist himself high, lean over too far, etc, all the dumb things teen boys might do. I explained what "going over" means in many gruesome scenarios and details. Didn't want to freak him out but I'd rather he had a terrifying visual to remind him to respect gravity and the sea. So sad for this family, a parent's worst nightmare. 

Same, it’s better to let them know how serious it is to fall off the ship. I also have a policy that no one can hold my daughter (5) near any railings, she has to just look at the view through the glass. I feel very terrible for the 19 year old and his family. 

2 hours ago, bkrickles1 said:

I just sailed Joy 7/23 and had zero issue with once a day cabin service.

I provided our cabin steward, within 15 minutes of entering our cabin, a list of things I'd like to have done. He was terrific and took care of everything between the first and second day.

One of the items was to provide us with 4 extra (large) towels so we didn't have to reuse towels on days I or my wife went to the gym and showered twice.

This request was taken care of the very first day and I never had to ask again. We had extra towels left on our sofa every day. 

Your issues seem to be the result of a not so great cabin steward and I would have gone to guest services on day 2 to make your feelings known.

It's nice that your trip was not ruined over this. You're better than most folks on here. Lmao!!

I had a great sailing on Encore in 2020 and the service was great!

I definitely learned that next time, with the Pullman, I should try physically going to guest services. I figured we were just stuck with it down since the cleaning is 1x day. We were definitely shocked to have it closed and never opened on the last day. We got back to the cabin around 9pm with the Pullman still closed and no one was answering at guest services. I didn’t want to make a huge stink about the towels because the room stewards are so busy! Live and learn. 

1 hour ago, AK Dreaming said:

As the OP I thought I would let you know how it went.  We were 3 women in a Balcony Suite cabin.  I was told by NCL that they steward would help with the extra bed, but he never did.  It was not a vacation ruining situation, but it did make the cabin much less usable and much less comfortatble during the day.  Overall I would say there is totally less customer sevice than in the past.  On a side note, it was my first cruise on the Bliss and I was not impressed. Much prefer the Getaway ships.

Yes my thoughts exactly about leaving the Pullman down! It really made the cabin so cramped and the closet was almost inaccessible. I’ve stayed in rooms with Pullman’s before, they were always closed during the day by steward. I wouldn’t have as much issue with a pullout couch that we could put away ourselves. 

2 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

I sure hope you called Guest Services to request towels and to request the Pullman be put up/put down. You gotta communicate with the ship's staff if you aren't getting what you require, yo! 

We called many many times with no answer. One day they answered and put us on hold. 

Recently got off our first NCL cruise aboard the Encore, overall a great trip. I knew to expect 1x day cleaning. We had 4 in a cabin, with a Pullman bed. I figured we’d reuse towels for a few days, then ask for a new set. I asked the steward for the new set on day 4. We didn’t get new ones until day 6 and had to pick up our old off the floor to use because the steward never showed up to swap them out like she said she would. The Pullman bed was left down for the entire first 6 days (we tried and COULD NOT put it away ourselves) so the closet was super hard to use with the bed in the way. And yes, we had asked the steward to put it up during the day. Finally on day 6 she put it up… and never put it back down. So on the last night my daughter had to sleep with us, because no one would come to our room to put the bed down. None of this ruined the trip, but the cabin was much less pleasant/usable with the Pullman down all week. 

Yup use magnets. I’ve never had anything stolen off my door, but it can happen. I think it’s really nice to see door decorations while walking down those looooooooong hallways!