taliho621

Yes, we are on the 4-day cruise. Is cruise planner different for these cruises?

Now, I know that RCI does not provide a set date by which you can make show reservations on Cruise Planner, but we are now less than 60 days out, and entertainment reservations are still not available. This seems unusually late.

Has something changed with RCI? Is it specific to Symphony (we are sailing on the first US cruise for the ship)? Am I just too anxious?

Any (relevant) thoughts are welcome.

Thanks.

TrojanUSC, yes I agree that it is not right that lower minimum blackjack pays only 6:5, in that it is a crime against nature. However, and unfortunately, it is correct that the lower minimum tables do in fact pay 6:5 - at least they did when we were on Harmony last month. But I can confirm that it was 3:2 on the $25 tables. And don't even get me started on craps tables that only offer single odds (although that is not a new development in the cruise industry).

And yes, I agree that I for one can tell no difference between the "smoking" side and the "non-smoking" side.

I have to confess to a different experience. We were on Harmony for the week of New Years, and with the exception of the Fine Line (the major water show), we did not experience any full theaters. And we went to all the shows (two water shows, Grease, Columbus, headliner show and both ice skating shows). The only time they checked our seapass cards for reservations were the Fine Line and Grease, so my guess is that for all the otehr shows you would not have a problem getting seats without a reservation. Yes, you should make reservations, but we only made ours the month before and had no problem getting the shows we wanted. I would agree to get to all shows at least 20 minutes early if you want good seats, but (again, other than Fine Line) if you showed up right on time, you could still find a place to sit, even if it is not prime viewing.

Do you remember which nights were formal nights?

I know for a fact Sunday night was formal night (it was New Years Eve, and though I gave up long ago wearing anything more than a blazer on formal nights, we went all out with a tux and gown. Even got the DS to wear a suit).

I believe the second was Thursday night, but it may have been Friday. Very few people dressed up for the second one.

How were the beds / mattresses?

I think they were pretty comfortable, but to be honest my standard m.o. on these ships is that I do not head down to the casino until at least midnight, after the family is done for the day. So I never get into to bed until 2 - 3 a.m., so I pretty much crash immediately. So they could have been concrete blocks for all I knew at that time. But I honestly don't remember being uncomfortable. And no one else complained.

Now the pillows, on the other hand . . . (I will just say that they were really crappy)

Hi. Was there an 80’s party, or any other themed evening parties?

 

 

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Yes, I recall an 80's party, a 90's party and what I believe was a 50's/60's party.

Also, in the entertainment I forgot to mention that the headliner was a band out of Nashville called Savanna Jack. Apparently the lead singer is a songwriter who has written for a number of country stars, and they have toured with a number of acts. We went with very low expectations, but were quite pleasantly surprised. They were fun and funny, with quite a bit of audience participation, and pretty good musicians to boot.

Congratulations on winning progressive trivia! It's a rush, isn't it? ;)

To be honest (and admit to my geekiness), it kind of was. It was almost comparable to the time my son won the auction at the glass-blowing show on the Solstice years ago (do they still do those? That was a great activity for a cruise ship).

I do have all the compasses. Will post them once I scan them.

Did you enjoy the Cruise Director and his Assistant?

 

I thought Dru was quite good. But I do not have a very high threshold for CDs to meet: act happy, don't tell the same jokes I have heard on every other ship, and don't step on the performers' toes. He met and exceeded all of these criteria. I don't remember the activities director's name, but we attended a few of her events, and had no complaints.

Well, I had all intentions of writing an actual trip report, but that is not going as quickly as I had planned, so in the meantime, here are some of my thoughts from a New Year’s cruise on Harmony of the Seas.

Travelers were me, my wife and my 16-year-old son. Been cruising a number of times before, but by no means pros (maybe a total of a dozen cruises, with the majority on RCI with some Celebrity, Princess and Norwegian mixed in (not including the honeymoon cruise on the old Chandris Fantasy line). This was our first Oasis-class ship. We live in South Florida, so the port is all of 30 minutes from the house. We used a car service both ways so we would not have to deal with the hassle of parking.

Embarkation/Disembarkation:

Got to the port around 1:30 on Saturday, 12/30. Biggest line of our entire vacation was at the port entrance. There were six ships in port that day, so took us about 25 minutes to get through the gates into the ports. Then no problem getting porters. Line for security was about 15 minutes, and then we waited less than two minutes to get to an agent. This also took very little time, as we had checked in (including submitting pictures) before heading down, so there was very little for her to do. Total time from drop off to walking on board was about 20 minutes. Not bad at all. I have to say it's a little weird that they just leave a sea pass in the hall outside your cabin, so that anyone could grab it, but I did not hear any stories of something like that happening.

Disembarkation was even shorter. My son had a program on Saturday, so we self-carried our luggage. Went downstairs to the promenade around 6:30, saw absolutely no one in line, so we grabbed our last snack from Cafe Promenade. Walked out at 6:45, and were at the curb at 6:55 (this was basically only the time it took us to actually walk). I had done the mobile passport, but a bit of a waste as it was not working (and not needed). Unfortunately, I cannot say if regular disembarkation was this easy.

Cabin:

We did a guaranty outside balcony and were originally assigned a D3 on deck 14. I was very worried about pool deck noise, so called my TA to see about switching to another D3. We got 12328, which is the last balcony in the back on the port side before the aqua suite. Loved the location - very quiet. Now, I have to ask my fellow passengers this one -is this cabin narrower than balconies on Freedom class ships? The room was fine in size, and had lots of storage space, so no complaints, but it just seemed narrower than we recalled (this was our first Oasis class cruise). But anyway, the cabin was great, our steward was great, balcony was great - I really appreciate the little foot stools with the chairs.

Food:

First of all, we are not specialty dining people, so please don't ask. MDR has always been perfectly fine for us. Although one night we did book the Solarium Bistro ("specialty" without the added cost),which we really did enjoy. Having our choice of starters and sides at the buffet allowed us to try a number of things. And the main dishes werevery good. The desserts seemed pretty ordinary, however (which of coursedid not stop us from having a couple). Every other night we did My Time Dining in the MDR. We never had to wait, as we just made reservations for each night based on our show reservations and what they had available. While we always said that we would improvise and go without reservations if we needed to make a change, we never did. We had different tables and waiters each night, and never a horrendous waiter (although some were better than others). Only issue is that one night they tried to put us sandwiched between the waiters' station and the emergency exit, but we just asked for another table and they obliged. Food in MDR was always good, but not great. And we are usually okay with that. One night, however,the fish dish sounded unappealing, and their standard back-up fish was always cobia (even though the menu says "Fish of the Day", we discovered this was the same fish every night), which every waiter told us not to order. But our waiter that night, Sandesh, was able to get us salmon. Best dessert of the week was the beignets with chocolate sauce, but the chocolate bar was a close second. One tip for MDR was that we always ordered a chees plate as a starter even though it was not on the menu.

For lunches, we mostly did Park Cafe. This includes embarkation day where we had a late lunch, heeding the advice on these boards to avoid Windjammer on that day. I liked the selection there, as well as the salad creation. And it was always nice to sit out. We did Windjammer for only two lunches, and both times we were able to find tables without too much trouble. This may be because both times we were there considerably later in the day, We also did the MDR for lunch one day,which was much better than Windjammer. So while I have read many reviews that say the Windjammer is like a can of sardines, we just did not experience that (more on crowds, or lack thereof, later).

Breakfasts were again a mix between Windjammer and MDR. Ireally liked the MDR, because if you get seated in the a la carte side, you can order fresh eggs off the menu but still go get everything else from thebuffet. This was our go to. Windjammer was maybe twice, and definitely not as good. On New Years they had a brunch in the MDR instead of breakfast. The only real difference I saw was the lunch items (chicken, etc.) plus a waffle station and a stir-fry station (this was in fact quite good). But the dessert buffet, including the white chocolate fountain, was a hit.

We also had plenty of slices from Sorrento’s, and yes, I agree,it is still some of the best bad pizza I have had. And it is just so convenient –we brought many slices to events at On Air, the Pub and Boleros, and even the aqua theatre. Café Promenade was okay for a quick small snack, but I don’t know if I am misremembering from prior Freedom class cruises that there was a bigger selection on those ships. Never made it to mini bites, so I cannot provide a comment. Did make many stops at the soft serve ice cream machines by the pool, so I can provide thumbs up there.

Activities:

First off, we are trivia and games buffs. Have always been on all ships. Trivia, corny games and puzzles entertain us. For trivia, we found some staff was better than others, and there were a couple of games that were a little too hard. As usual, we spent lots of time in that second or third place slot, although we did get keychains when we were one of only two groups (the second had one person!) who showed up for video trivia on a port day. However, we did participate in the progressive trivia (they have three sessions – one for each sea day – and your scores are totaled for the entire week), and our intrepid band of three actually won. Yay us! We also watched (never participated) plenty of karaoke and played other game shows. We also spent a cool morning in the library/gameroom, which I must confess was a bit of a letdown. Games consisted of checkers, chess and Chinese checkers, and there was one shelf with about 20 books and a box full of decks of playing cards. That’s it. Such is the consequences of today’s online world, I guess.

One observation on games where the winner is determined by audience vote – “if you know it, dance it” and “Love and Marriage” are two examples: If you are competing and your co-competitor is either (i) under the age of 12, or (ii) over the age of 80, give up now. The power of cute wins out every single time.

Entertainment:

I would agree with many who have said that the shows here are top notch. While they may not exactly be Broadway quality, they are as close as I have seen on a ship.

Fine Line: Great show with some pretty impressive feats. I liked the performers’' energy and the effects. While I am somewhat jaded by recently having seen Cirque de Soleil’s “O” , this was still a very enjoyable show. Still can’t figure out, however, what was the purpose of the guy in the spinning skirt.

Grease: Again, a great performance, great cast and pretty high production values. While not quite the Great White Way, it was not too far off.

Columbus: A cute concept, even if the story itself was a bit nonsensical. This was the same cast as Grease, so excellent acting and voices. And again, very impressive production values.

1887: I honestly did not really follow the storyline, but the skaters were great. We are always impressed by how much these folks can accomplish on such a small skating surface.

iSkate: This one does not require (or allow) reservations, but I highly recommend going. It allows for some pretty creative routines, and the skaters really get into it.

Hideaway Heist: This is the extra water show. When we asked about scheduling at th ebeginning of the week, we were told that they only put it on the schedule if there are time slots available that are not needed for rescheduled Fine Line performances (which are cancelled due to weather or other issues). It again started with the guy in the spinning skirt (seriously, what is his deal?). It was not as good as the Fine Line – it was a much lighter tone – but was an enjoyable distraction on a rather chilly sea day.

Escape the Rubicon: It was just okay. At the massive price of $8.99 per person it maybe worth it for something to do or as a distraction. But they overbooked our session (15 people consistingof three groups), the staff member was a wet noodle at best and, to be honest, it was very very hard. We were told that only 20% of people solve it, so I guess I am part of the unintelligent 80%.

Late Night Adult ComedyShow: Well worth it. The onboard host (don’t remember his name) was good, but very short bit. The two others were as good a quality as any local comedy club. Again, not national headliner quality, but more than enough to make us laugh for an hour.

Pub Entertainment. I want to take a moment to speak about Lukas Borsten. If you have not seen him and have a chance to do so, go. He is a guitarist that plays three hour sets at the Pub, and it is just fun to go. Tons of sing-alongs, rowdy behavior, crowd interaction, the whole kit and caboodle (sp?). We caught the second half of his set on Tuesday and were hooked. So on Thursday and Friday we got there early to get seats (it gets packed by the end of the night). And it doesn’t matter that he sings the same songs every night – half the fun is being in on the jokes.

Quest: This is not a “show” by definition, but isn’t that kind of what it really is? I have no objections to the game – we have been before – as some parts make me laugh and som emake me cringe. My real objection is with staff at the doors. They are at the doors at the beginning to make sure that no one under 18 comes in, but apparently they leave these posts after the first 10-15 minutes, as many youngsters came in after this point. Mind you, I am not someone who believes there are always adult spaces and kid spaces. If you have a kid under 18 that can handle an R rated movie or a raunchy comedian, that is your call as a parent (so long as you are responsible in these decisions). However, here is my problem with that lax enforcement for this particularshow: As many of you know, there are often simulated sex acts and various stages of undress of both male and female participants. While we laugh when watching consenting adults do these things for a few points, watching someone who is obviously underage doing the same thing just makes me feel creepy. Maybe that’s just me, but this is probably the only place on the ship where I really wish they would be extremely strict.

Ports:

St. Martin: While I do not often book excursions through the ship, since the historic bike ride had a very early start, we did book through RCI to avoid losing out due to delays. This was a great mix of exercise and sightseeing, and not too strenuous at all. JP and his two other guides (forgot their names) were very informative. This was also an interesting trip because we learned a lot about hurricane impacts as well as saw some of the actual issues. Highly recommend.

San Juan: On this one, I cannot provide any insight on hurricane devastation, as we never made it out of Old San Juan. We did Segway Tours of Puerto Rico, and also highly recommend. This one I booked directly on their website. Our guide made sure that everyone was comfortable and confident on the machines before we headed out. We toured the walls of the city and the fort. Again informative and fun. If you are concerned, don’t be. No one in our group had any problems with the machines, and I think we had someone as young as12-13. They are very easy to control. Afterwards, we walked around Old San Juan and bought a few things at a small gift store that had many items from localartists.

Labadee: Not a great day. It was lightly raining when we got off the ship, and a downpour by the time we made it off the dock. We tried taking the tram to Town Square to shop, but it was raining so hard when we got there, we did not even get off. Took the tram back, and then ran back to the ship. Did not stop raining all day so we never tried going back.

The Ship:

We really loved the ship. First of all, as it is so new, everything was new and clean and in good working order. Loved the zipline and the Ultimate Abyss. Waterslides were just a bit too long of a wait for the payoff in my opinion (really? That is my biggest complaint while on a ship that I have to wait for the waterslides? Think about that for a minute.). I really liked that it was basically the Freedom layout (with some variations), but bigger. Nicest gym at sea I have seen. And I love the deck 5 walking/jogging track – no need to weave through loungers! Staff was always helpful and cheerful, and the thing I like best about RCI in general is that if you want to do something, you can find something to do, from 7 a.m.to midnight.

RoyalIQ was great. While I always walk around with a compass (yes, that is me), it was nice to have an electronic version with me. And it was even better on Thursday when they added a whole bunch of activities in the middle of the day (since it was pouring on Labadee), so that the online Compass was updated immediately. We were also able to make all of our onboard dining reservations, check my balance and even booked the escape room. And yes, I will confirm that if youhave iMessage, you do not need the messaging feature. We all have iMessage and used it. And I do know that you do not need the wifi package to use it, because I did not buy the package for all of us (we just rotated whenever someone needed to be online), but all the phones picked up the iMessages.

So now let’s talk about the crowds. And I have only one question: Where were they? The only show we went to that was completely full was the Fine Line show on the first night. I think Grease may be the only other show where they actually checked our Seapass cards. Never a wait for dinner (although we had reservations). Never a wait for food at Park Café or breakfast/lunch in MDR. All games had people there (other than the one during port day), but those crowds were no different than what we are used to on Freedom class. The only two times we felt the crowds were (i) New Years Eve on the promenade (understandable) and(ii) on Thursday afternoon when it was cold and rainy, so no one was outside and instead were milling about the promenade. Oh, and one more – whenever they had the $10 sale at the promenade, it was quite entertaining. As if folks had never seen scarves or digital watches before.

Conclusion:

What, you are expecting more? It was truly a great time. A great ship. I know I said at the beginning that I was planning to write a separate trip report, but after reading all that I wrote, I think I may skip that part. But feel free to ask any questions,and I will do my best to answer.

Thanks for reading. And thank you to all of you who posted all of the great advice I followed in our planning.

So I have a question for making reservations for the first night on Harmony. We are not getting on the ship until almost 2:00, so will we have any chance of getting a reservation for three for that night - at a reasonable hour? And will we be able to do it on Royal IQ (figure I will activate the minute we get on board), or should we go wait in the insufferable line?

Thanks.

Good morning. A little bit back, someone posted the schedule and prices for gym classes for the Allure. Does anyone that has been on the Harmony recently have the schedule they can post?

Thanks.

So I posted about this elsewhere. We lost two excursions on Our Harmony cruise on 12/30. In San Juan, we have learned that the El Yunque rainforest is not in great shape, so our hike excursion was understandably cancelled. We also lost the Amazing Adventure Race in St Maartin. I called the vendor directly on that one, and while the vendor is still open, and offering other tours, they have stopped offering this one because many of the businesses that participated have not yet reopened. Cannot forget that even though it is not front page news anymore, the effects of this past hurricane season are still very much being felt on the islands.

We did this a number of years ago to get a family aft balcony on Celebrity, as you needed 5 to book it. Paid for the fifth person in the room (not a huge increase in cost). When we checked in told them he was ill and not joining us. No problem whatsoever.

So I see a couple of Segway tour websites that have tours in Old San Juan. Does anyone know if they are up and running?

Thanks.

I have. I even posted on St. Martin board. Not a lot of information about what is open other than beaches. Thanks.

So we are booked on the Harmony out of Fort Lauderdale, leaving on the 30th. Scheduled ports are San Juan, St. Martin and Labadee. Now, we know that San Juan and St. Martin are not in great shape, so we booked excursions through the ship (we usually direct book, but figured this was our safest bet this cruise due to the storm-related issues on both islands).

Well last week, we got an e-mail cancelling our Adventure St Martin excursion (an Amazing Race-type game), where we were told that the excursion was canceled due to operational issues. And then tonight, we got the e-mail that our El Yunque Rainforest Hike out of San Juan was cancelled as well. What the heck? And unfortunately, the alternatives for both islands are mainly beach-type activities, which is not our thing. So we are scrambling for ways to entertain ourselves (can't stay on the ship for seven straight days).

Now don't get me wrong. With everything that the residents of these islands have been going through the last couple of months, the inconvenience of my family having nothing to do all day except lounge around a billion dollar ship, where our every whim is catered to, is not exactly an international crisis. But I am wondering why RCCL is even bothering to go to ports that do not seem ready for the cruise traffic.

So other than to vent, I guess the purpose of this post is to seek your advice and input as to substitute activities on either of these islands, ones that you know (or at least strongly believe) are actually open for business. No hanging on the beach (not my son's thing) or snorkeling/diving (not the wife's). We like to take active excursions (but not TOO active - we like to move around, but are not iron man athletes. Hiking, not mountain climbing. Biking, but not serious off-roading. That kind of stuff).

Thanks.

So we booked the excursion through RCI for our 12/30 Harmony cruise. But a couple of days ago, I got an e-mail from Royal Caribbean saying that the excursion has been cancelled for operational reasons. So I was trying to find some replacement ideas, and I found the excursion still being offered through Shore Excursioneer. I have not used this company before, so I have no knowledge of how legit they are.

So before I book this through an unknown third-party site, can anyone provide any feedback regarding this website? Legit or not?

And if we do not do this excursion, does anyone have any other suggestions? It will be me, my wife and 16 year old son. We don't want to just hang at a beach, and we don't want to spend the day riding around in a bus. Something active (but land-based) is our preference.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

Thanks folks. St. Thomas would be perfectly fine. Have not been there since our first cruise many years ago (for a hint as to how many years, we were sailing on Fantasy Cruises Amerikanis at the time). I know that we could just stay on the boat in Cozumel, but I did that the last two times we were there. Plus, as this ship has only three port stops, I would hate to lose one.

So I have looked and was unable to find any recent answer to this question: Is Harmony now back to regular itinerary? I understand that for a while after the storms, they were switching to Nassau/Cozumel instead of the regular Eastern Caribbean itinerary. We are about to book a last minute cruise for the holidays, but I just cannot go to Cozumel one more time.

Thanks.

Thank you all for the responses. No need for special services, we will improvise with the MDR and special requests (never had a problem with RCCL staff in getting moderate menu alterations before, as we are not talking serious allergies or anything).

And as to cooked foods, I guess I need to check the rules more carefully. We have always brought a few things from home (baked goods mainly), and never had them taken, so I just assumed that food would not be an issue. Who knew? (Obviously not me.)

FYI - A tip for if you ever want to keep anything cold in the refrigerators/cooling boxes: It is possible to turn these things into something resembling a real cooler (perfect for cooked foods, or even milk - but nothing frozen, of course), it just requires the judicious use of ice from the steward and some home-brought gallon-sized ziplocs.

Howdy all. Heading onto the Independence with a rather large group, and one of the group has food issues, so is preparing a number of her own meals before we board (will keep them in the fridge in her room). She has asked me if there is a microwave in the Windjammer, and I did not know, so I am asking you. So:

Is there a microwave in the Windjammer? If not, is there one anywhere on the ship that is available to guests?

As always, thanks in advance.

We have sailed in a promenade family stateroom on Liberty twice with our family of four. First time we were unable to grab it until 4 weeks before sailing - I had booked an outside room originally, but had read on this board that they often open up un-booked family cabins to smaller groups a few weeks prior to sailing. So I called a month out and it was available. The second time we did it, for some reason we were able to book it from the outset.

We are currently booked on Independence in a family oceanview - Cabin 8200 (faces front of the ship). The interesting thing here is that there are only 3 of us, and we had no issue booking the cabin 6 months out. And this cabin has basically two bedrooms: a curtained bedroom with regular bed and a bunkbed room with an actual door, as well as a small common area with a bathroom. How can you beat this for the price of an oceanview? No balcony, I know, but we will survive for 4 nights.

One other tactic that may work, depending on cost: A number of years ago, I was dying for the family aft balcony on Celebrity Century. But they had a hard minimum of 5 people. So I booked an imaginary third kid for an extra $300 (5-night cruise), and the room still came out cheaper than if we had gotten connecting cabins, while giving us the extra space and great view (although only one bathroom - all things are trade-offs). And the third kid just never showed for the cruise. We told them when we were checking in that he had decided to stay home. Best $300 I ever spent on a cruise booking.

Hope this helped somewhat.

Didn't think of that, there are a good number of JS staterooms without a sofa bed.

 

I wonder if the OP entered only 2 guests in order to display the guarantee price.

Nope - entered three when I tried it online, and Guaranty came up as an option. But the price came from my TA, who has all of our information.