karebare22

We did this cruise last Aug on Odyssey (family of 4 with 2 young adults). We’ve done many cruises, and I would say this was one of the best overall. We started out planning to do the Greek Isles/Croatia, but wanted to do a longer cruise on a bigger ship (with a flowrider), and said “why not?” do this one - so glad we did! My tips: 1.Choose a date in the spring/fall. We sailed end of Aug/beginning of Sept and it was HOT and crowded everywhere! 2. We used independent tour operators for 4 of the 7 ports to save some money as a family of 4. They were all fabulous. We did small group tours in Jerusalem (+ Dead Sea but wouldn’t do the Dead Sea again), Haifa (Biblical Galilee tour), Limassol (Kourion archaeological site, winery, etc), and Kusadasi (Ephesus - a must see!). Santorini was beautiful but crazy busy, we did it on our own but taking a ship tour here is commonly recommended. Bodrum was a nice surprise, we just walked around. Souda, Crete - unfortunately this was the last port and we were just too tired to leave the ship 😂. 3. Be prepared for the port intensive itinerary, and mix up the days with long full day tours and shorter/easier tours or just explore on your own. 4. Spend a few days in Rome either before the cruise to adjust to the time change etc. It’s a great and unique itinerary, so interesting!

Congratulations! Love your videos. Will look for you onboard in February!

Unfortunately (for the flowrider fans out there) the newest and upcoming big ships only have a single flowrider (but more passengers 🤔). To the OP: You gave a great review, nice photos - Maho beach is a memorable experience! Despite the disappointment, it seems this past cruise has helped you see what you’re looking for in a cruise ship vacation. The difference from your previous cruise could have been many things - the time of year, or an aging thing 😉 with a new perspective or cruise line procedural/crew differences since your last cruise on this class, etc. Even on back to back cruises I’ve found that my experience can be really different from one week to the next in terms of the passengers, food, crew, atmosphere. Just keep cruising and find what works best for you & family. It sounds like you now have a flowrider addict in the family too, so that narrows down the options 😆.

Hi, we’ve done this drive 3 times, but from Ottawa (about a 7-7.5 hr drive according to Google, no stops. First time (way back in 2010!) we stayed at the Embassy Suites Newark airport for 1 night, and at the time the price included a shuttle for 2 people to the ship, and parking. There are a lot of hotels to choose from in that area, and shopping mall/outlets close by. Very easy. In 2020 we did the same but got the best rate at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Newark Airport, price included the parking for the week, but there is nothing in that area except a mess of highways. Not sure if there was a shuttle, but Uber was the cheapest option for 4 of us so that’s what we used to get to/from the port. Last May, we didn’t stay in a hotel overnight. We left our house at 4am, and drove directly to the port, and would have been there around 11:30 without stops (after duty-free, breakfast and gas stops it was more like 1:15). . Parked our car at the port for the week. Quick and easy to just head straight home from there after the cruise. The last scenario is what we will do for future cruises from Cape Liberty. Very smooth and not that long a drive. So nice to be able to drive to the port and avoid flying!

Great info, I’ll have to remember this! The time in Kotor is quite limited, so we’d really like to be on one of the first tenders. Our plan is also to go up to the fortress. I’m really enjoying all your photos and feeling excited to cruise again and visit some new ports.

Looking forward to your review and photos! Our family is sailing this itinerary in August, first week of a back to back.

We (family of 4) stayed one night at the Sleep Inn & Suites Fort Lauderdale Airport in Feb. Our flight came in late, so we just needed a place to get a few hours of sleep and didn’t want to spend a fortune (but still >$200 US!) . Definitely not fancy, but we would stay there again. It offers an airport shuttle, free breakfast, and there’s a Walmart and liquor store just across the street, and Publix and restaurants about a block or 2 away. We’ve also stayed at Margaritaville a couple of years ago, it’s super nice but will probably cost you as much as the cruise 😬 . Lots of restaurants around there, but we had to get an Uber to the Publix.

Also, definitely fly out at least a day early, especially if it’s during the holidays! Our flight was Dec 24, the day of the big storm and flash freeze. We were very lucky our flight from Ottawa wasn’t cancelled because there weren’t any other flights with seat availability that would have gotten us to Barbados until a week after the cruise! I’m still amazed that we made it.

We sailed out of Barbados in Dec for a New Years cruise (Rhapsody of the Seas). We stayed at the Rostrevor Hotel in St. Lawrence Gap. It was fine for us (family of 4) for 2 nights, since it had a kitchen and nice balcony with ocean view, and reasonable price. Restaurants nearby, and a grocery store within walking distance. The only issue is noise from the clubs at night, but we are night owls so it didn’t bother us too much. There are 3 different buildings, we were on the 5th floor of the deluxe wing, which I believe was the only building that had an elevator.

No worries, either try to reserve once onboard, or just go in the standby line (just line up early if you want better seats). Last month we went standby, and I thought the line was too long and we wouldn’t make it in, but there was plenty of room! You won’t get prime seats, but you can still enjoy the show.

No we didn’t. Other than lobster night (surf and turf), we’ve never felt like we had to have more than one app or main entree at the same time. Desserts are a different story! (Yes, he finishes them all!)

Just came off Harmony recently, our first experience with the new menus and change in the dining experience (1 entree at time). In the past, my husband has always enjoyed having the “surf and turf” on the second formal night, however he would just ask for the lobster tail only, to be added to his beef tenderloin (now strip steak) plate. My daughters and I don’t eat lobster. We are pretty easygoing, but enjoy dressing up and having a nicer family dinner experience in the MDR vs windjammer. A few notes about our dining experience: a) Entree portions were smaller. Previously, I could never finish everything on my plate, so hubby would help me out with that. We don’t like to waste food, and this allowed him to have a taste of whatever dish I was having, and order something else for himself. With the smaller portions, I was actually able to finish my meal most nights, and hubby ordered more appetizers vs a second entree. b) Prime rib and beef tenderloin- this was the first time we were told that the only 2 options were medium rare or medium well. This wasn’t a big issue (although I normally ask for Medium 🙄). c) We verified with our waiter that my husband could not have the lobster with his steak. She mentioned that the managers were carefully watching, and that if they saw 2 entrees in front of someone, that they would be in trouble. We felt bad for her. d) Substitutions are fine - as long as it is something on the menu. For example my husband was able to have mashed potatoes vs a baked potato with the steak. e) It’s only the appetizer and entree that are served 1 at a time. The desserts were all served at the same time if multiple were ordered. f) My biggest pet peeve (this isn’t related to the new menus) - coffee and tea service with dessert! I thought maybe this was a my time dining vs main dining issue, but having done many cruises this past year, that doesn’t seem to matter. Crew either not trained about this or the assistant waiters are given too many tables to handle. If you want coffee or tea with dessert, be sure to mention it when you place your order. g) As a cruising guest, the menu changes haven’t made my dining experience any better, or much worse. I did enjoy having some new menu options to choose from, but missed having the everyday available classics - for the first time I actually ordered an entree from the kids menu since nothing else appealed to me! No real complaints about the taste/quality of food. Note that it will vary from ship to ship, day to day, etc. On our B2B, hubby said the lobster on week 1 was so-so, but excellent texture/taste for week 2. No difference in the food temperature or length of the dining service, although Royal has highlighted these as improvements to the guest dining experience with the menu change.

I just wanted to highlight that peoples’ perspectives will differ for sure. Our friends joined us for this B2B cruise, their very first cruise with Royal. During the second week, our cabins were next to each other and they had the same cabin attendant, but asked for morning service instead. They had no complaints and didn’t mention having a problem with once vs twice a day service. Unlike us, they really had no other standard to which they could compare the experience, whereas we know what we need/expect with the service based on past cruise history.

No we didn’t, mainly because we knew this was the first week with the change. We did hunt down the room steward for wine glasses one of the days. I’ll be raising these issues when I complete the survey. I didn’t go into detail, but we definitely experienced the melted ice by evening, accumulating dirty dishes and glasses, and full trash (a couple of days). He did seemed overworked. Also, with the increased number of cabins, it’s more work for them to remember names and who is in which cabin, so less of a personal feel to the service. We like to chat with our cabin attendant normally, but during the second week we didn’t want to interrupt/disturb him. I really wasn’t expecting the decrease to 1 day service to make such a difference (we are pretty easygoing/relaxed about things normally) but on this cruise there was a noticeable decline.

Just get home after a B2B on Harmony and want to share our experience since the once a day service started for our second week. We keep our room tidy, and only ask for ice and 2 clean wine glasses to be available for later afternoon, when getting ready for dinner (late seating). We’ve cruised with Royal many times pre- and post- covid. Week 1: Typical friendly, efficient, great service. Our room steward didn’t miss a beat, never had to hunt him down for soap/towels etc. It was the last week of his contract, and his experience showed. Week 2: Very disappointing experience, probably the worst of all our cruises. These were our issues: a) We changed cabins for the second week. Our understanding (from previous B2B) was that the cabins for consecutive cruisers were priority for cleaning, but not this time. Hubby just wanted to quickly drop off his bag in the cabin at 11, and it wasn’t even close to being ready - not an issue, but the cabin steward seemed angry with my hubby for being there. b) We didn’t have evening service on day 1, I assume that was because all rooms were prepped in the morning. c) Although clean, the cabin just felt dirty. It seemed that none of the surfaces and handles had been wiped or cleaned properly. d) Only met our room steward late morning on day 2, and we gave him the choice of when he preferred to clean our room. I think many people choose morning so he told us evenings (he didn’t tell us of any specific working hours). We just asked if he could drop off 2 fresh wine glasses and some ice at the end of his morning shift, and with a late dinner seating, we would be cleaned up and out of the cabin by 7:45/8 for the daily cleaning. e) Service OK the first couple of days, but day 5 & 6 no ice or wine glasses delivered. Usually service improves during the week? f) Here’s a first for us - we felt pressured to leave our cabin so that he could clean it when HE was ready to clean it. One evening he called our cabin at 7:55 (we were just heading out the door for dinner) to tell us he wanted to clean our room and told us his shift was almost done. Another time he knocked on the door to ask if he could clean and we were still getting dressed for dinner. We felt like we were inconveniencing him! My overall thoughts: a) Next cruise we will ask for morning service: I don’t like having to make my bed while on vacation, and this way the room steward doesn’t need to make a second visit for daily ice and wine glasses. b) I understand this was just the first week of the once a day service implementation on this ship, and there were bound to be some blips. I don’t blame the cabin attendants, it’s a new adjustment for them. As well, I believe our cabin steward was fairly new (I certainly hope so! maybe his 2nd/3rd week?) and still learning, so I’ll attribute this for some of the issues we had. c) I still prefer 2x daily room service, and not happy with the increased gratuities/reduced service.

Captain Marshall left Harmony on Feb 26, sorry I didn’t confirm his replacement or find out his return date.

My family also boarded Harmony yesterday, for a B2B. Looking forward to reading your review! We had reservations for the 10:30 show, surprisingly it was not cancelled. Amazing performance!

I’ll be celebrating the New Year on Rhapsody followed by B2B with the Jan 3 sailing. Me too! That’s next in line in 2023.

We sailed on Odyssey on Aug 30. We would have preferred to cruise the previous week, but the ship was chartered by this same group. For next August (2023) we booked a Greek Isles/ Croatia B2B cruise on Explorer. It sails from Ravenna Aug 20 and 27. Don’t know if this is a good option for you.

We are on Harmony with the same 8 day itinerary in Feb, our first time on Harmony. My husband and daughters are also flowrider enthusiasts and will be very happy to get back to it after our NYE cruise on Rhapsody . Glad that itinerary is port heavy. I think you would get along well with my hubby! Have a great cruise, I’ll be following along.

Same thing just Same thing just happened to me. Booked a GTY cabin, and was assigned a 2V cabin 30 days before the cruise. We are now 21 days before the cruise and called via travel agent to change to another 2V cabin on a different deck to be closer to family. He had RC agent on the line to tell us it would cost us $650 more because it’s considered a category change from GTY. Will call back tomorrow, or try to change the cabin when we board. Wonder if this is a new policy for GTY bookings? We didn’t have any problems changing GTY cabins a few months ago.

Also booked! 2/17/24 and 2/24/24. We were booked on Odyssey, and just did a switch. Kept it cheaper with GTY. Overall more expensive as expected, but sailing on a new ship like this is pretty exciting (plus I’ll celebrate my BDay onboard 😄).

All these “sneak” peeks are exciting, thanks everyone for sharing. Can’t wait to find out more tomorrow, and sail on Icon one day. Crown’s Edge, now that looks scary!! 😱 is that a zip line?

As soon as you board the ship, book these activities via the app if you want your preferred days/times. Most availability is while the ship is in port, so try to fit in a time before or after your excursion.

Agreed! We always attend the shows and I felt the entertainment productions on Odyssey were outstanding. We loved the 3 production shows, as well as the regular headliner Gold Art Duo. However, the rest of the entertainment was pretty weak or non-existent. I was odyssey for 12 days and I’ve never been on a cruise with so many evenings with no shows to see, it was disappointing. I also wish it had a good cover band for the music hall, like I’ve experienced on other ships.