karmacats

This thread just made me laugh because we crashed a McDonald's cruise on Royal once.  I think it was on Liberty. Most of the passengers were McDonald's employees; many were there for hitting sales records etc and had never cruised before. It was interesting (in a good way - people were nice, and super excited to be there).

As far as cruise quality, there's a reason I'm diamond plus on royal but have only been on one norwegian cruise. I'll leave it at that. To each their own.

On adventure right now and keep passing a door decorated with a pineapple and a sign that says something along the lines of "dancing, romancing, and having fun." I presumed they were dancers, but now I'm wondering... : ) in any case, it's making me giggle every time i go by.

See post #8

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2258706&highlight=Dialysis

That was my post from between my mom's first and second dialysis at sea cruises. : ) we've since gone on a second one, and have a third planned for this fall. The summary from the link above holds true for her second cruise - the procedures were the same and her care was excellent. The only difference is that the cost per dialysis session has gone up slightly (i think $25 per).

If you have specific questions, please let me know. I think it's a wonderful service and my mom is sooooo thrilled to be able to cruise.

For something nautical, The Terror by dan simmons. Not about a cruise, but historical fiction about an expedition to find the northwest passage - it's based on a real exploratory trip, but with some supernatural elements thrown in. I usually find historical fiction a snooze, but this was one of the best books I've ever read, and there's lots of cool info about ocean travel in the 1800s.

For mysteries in the vein of gone girl or girl on the train, i like tana french's dublin murder squad series. The first one is In The Woods. I would read them in order because they are loosely related. My husband who loves the connelly books also loves robert crais.

Thank you for your replies. Glad to know barbados is up there with st kitts as far as dive experience, and i appreciate having the names of some tour operators.

Restaurant Barrachina in old san juan will hold luggage for cruise passengers while you tour the city. Details are on their website, and on the PR port of call board. DH and i plan to use this service after an adventure cruise in April as our flight doesn't leave until the evening. Not your original question, i know, but maybe the info will be helpful, if they will hold your luggage while you tour and then you can board late.

my hint is to grab a bag of chips from park cafe and bring them down to the boardwalk to eat with your dog. not quite fries, but close enough. i do wish they had fries and drinks right there, but we make do... ;)

Hi all,

DH and I are on our first S. Carib. cruise this April, and he is looking for the best diving spots. Our itinerary is St. Maarten, St. Kitts, Antigua, St. Lucia, and Barbados.

He is likely to go diving on St. Lucia, and would like to choose one other location. From reading around on here it looks like St. Kitts may be the next best, but that's honestly his last choice because we're doing a similar itinerary next year but without St. Kitts, so this will be his only time to explore the island with me. However, if St. Kitts is really superior to the other spots, I don't want him to miss it! (We're cruising with a group of 9, so i'll have plenty of company if i just do an island tour. :) )

I'm not a diver so don't really know what relevant info you need, but he's been certified since 2003 and advanced open water certified since 2012, prefers reefs and wildlife (turtles are his favorite) to wrecks, and would be looking for two-tank trips starting in the morning as we're generally docked 8-5 or 9-6.

Also, the cruise has very few dive excursions, so if anyone has private operators they'd recommend, please do so.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions and help!

fwiw, i booked the refreshment (formerly replenish) non-alcoholic package in mid-Oct for $18. it was the same price as last week's sale. so hopefully it continues to go on sale and you can snag it. :) i don't know if they ever limit it to certain cruises, but in oct it was available on sale for both of my cruises, which are a 5-night on grandeur and a 7-night on harmony.

Hi.

Once I factor in the ultimate drink package (whatever it's called), it will bring up the RCCL price but still not close to Haven.

I haven't done the Haven, but in case it impacts your decision, just wanted to mention that if you get a Star Class suite (the level with the genie), drinks are all included, so there would be no need to buy a drink package.

Has anyone gotten the Brownie Sundae on HOS? If so, how was it?

 

 

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i did. by the end of the trip my tablemates were getting it, too. :) we had no problem getting it when we asked.

it was ok. one night the brownie was fine, one night it was really dry. had vanilla ice cream and hershey's-ish chocolate sauce. the ice cream was a bit strange, too - it tasted more like a sweet cream than a vanilla. this was on the TA, though, so they may have different suppliers here. i'm on harmony again in 3 weeks and i'm sure i'll get it a time or two.

fwiw, i tend to get the kids' chicken fingers if i don't see anything that appeals on the regular menu, and on harmony they were nuggets instead of fingers. gross. again, that may have changed since the TA. (and my tablemates laughed at me, but a couple of them ordered nuggets later in the cruise.... :p )

Are there jacks on the radio/clock or sound system in the balcony rooms to plug in an IPOD?

harmony does not have a clock radio or sound system like allure does. at least, it didn't in europe a few months ago. i guess they could have added them since arriving in the u.s., but i doubt it.

I overheard the waiter mention to her that the Macaroni and Cheese was very good tonight. I am the type of guy that would pass up a 5 star restaurant for good mac and cheese, so I felt a little slighted that I don't have this option. I will have a report on this before the cruise is complete. Bet on it.

thank you for the review! DH and i are on grandeur for the first time next june, and it will be our first time on such a small royal ship so i am reading everything i can about it, as i'm a little bit nervous about the size. sounds like there is plenty to do and you are having a great time, though.

definitely ask for some mac and cheese! on my last cruise i ordered the kids' chicken fingers for dinner twice (i'm in my 40s). the first night my tablemates laughed, but after that a couple of them also ordered the chicken fingers. i ordered the kids' brownie sundae a couple of times, too, and got part of the table doing that also. now that i know that there's mac and cheese, i may have to expand my repertoire....

Anyone cruise in 1712? Any info on that cabin? Also is there a hot tub on the suite sundeck now?

yep, there is a hot tub on the suite sundeck on harmony.

i was in 1708 on allure, which is in the same location as 1712 on harmony, and the location was great. you're just slightly on the front of the curve so you get a great view. you can lean out over the balcony and see all the people crammed onto the deck, but when sitting on your loungers all you can see is ocean. the whole hall is quiet, and when you're in the loft area you likely won't hear anything from down below, anyway. obviously i can't speak to the furnishings or the exact room since i haven't been in a CL on harmony yet (we'll be in 1752 in feb - this thread is making me think i made a good choice :D ).

we've also been in 12730 on allure, and really loved the balcony, but when it came time to book harmony, the CL won over the ATS. the CL rooms are just stunning. and we like having two bathrooms. :p

We're booked on Harmony next week in an ocean view balcony cabin. Does this class of cabin have a digital clock/alarm clock?

 

I usually take one along, but I'm trying to pack lighter.

 

Thanks,

Barb

nope. we've been in a balcony and a GS, and neither had an alarm clock. as someone else mentioned, the phone can be used for wake up calls and to see the time. if you lift up the phone handset the display will light up and tell you the time, so it can be used at night, but it is very bright, and the light stays on for a couple of minutes.

my mom found a super-tiny battery-powered alarm clock at target. it's maybe 3 inches across, but the whole front is the display so it's surprisingly legible. i think it was $5. it's what we take on all our cruises now, so don't blind myself with the phone. :p

fwiw, DH just puts his cell phone next to the bed on a dim setting and uses that. i prefer having an actual digital clock.

we had soft rolls. there were also thin slices of french bread which were pretty good and very soft.

windjammer has a bunch of different bread and rolls that they don't bring around in the MDR, so you could always grab something from there and bring them to dinner. people were doing that with those seeded rolls (maybe pumpkin seed?) that everyone loves - they were in the WJ but not the MDR, so folks brought their own.

Any of the specialty restaurants that are on the ship with the exception of Chefs Table and dinners with wine pairings.

also no hibachi at izumi. the a la carte items at izumi, like the sushi, are included, though.

i agree about the coffee tables. our balcony on harmony didn't have one, so we thought maybe they'd be eliminated in the GS also, but no dice - there was a rather large rectangular table in the suite.

on both quantum and harmony we ended up pushing the table up against the cabinets under the tv, so we at least had a clear walking path in front of the couch. it helped some. on quantum a number of people moved theirs out to the balcony just to get it out of the way.

Thanks for the replies, but from the youtube video, the HOTS, appears different then the Oasis- We really like the Quantum Grand Suite- but that was one of the only things we liked on that ship! Two bathroom entrances was great-

we've been in GSes on both quantum and harmony.

i'm pretty sure oasis has a curtain between the living room and bedroom (i haven't been in a GS on oasis) and harmony has a wall, like quantum. so, yes, the harmony and oasis GSes are different in that regard.

in overall layout, however, the harmony room is otherwise more similar to oasis and royal's traditional GS layout than quantum was. there's the entryway where you walk in with the bar in front and bathroom to the side with double sinks next to each other, then the living area beyond the bar, and the bedroom area next to the living area and in front of the bathroom. there is only one entrance to the bathroom, which is off the entryway. the main closet is also off the entryway, so you have to go into the foyer to get hanging clothes, which always struck me as weird.

the harmony GS (and all the harmony rooms, actually) have decor and storage units very similar to quantum and anthem. they feel way more updated than oasis/allure, imho.

tbh, we actually liked the harmony GS way more than the quantum GS. we thought the 2 bathroom entrances were a great idea on quantum, but found we never used the one off the entryway because it was so close to the front door it felt really tight. had we had other people sleeping on the couch, it would have been more convenient to have the 2 doors, but since it was just DH and I we didn't really need the extra entrance. it sounds like that was important to you, but you're already aware that harmony only has the one bathroom door.

also, on quantum we felt the wall between living room and bedroom made each room feel really cramped; on harmony, we did not feel cramped at all - i guess maybe the room is wider? the only thing we disliked about harmony was having no closet in the bedroom to hang dresses and suits, as noted above. the bedroom did have tons of cabinet and drawer space, though, and a vanity area. and the closet, although in the entry, was huge - it has a hanging area, plus a shelf above and a bunch of shelves down one side.

also as a heads up, we did a B2B in a balcony and then a GS, and our balcony had usb ports for charging but our GS did not. at least, we couldn't find them, and neither could our room steward. just something to keep in mind for charging stuff.

overall, we were really happy with the space and layout of the harmony GS. we'd probably stay in one again. i don't think we'd stay in one again on quantum class - we just felt like even though the overall square footage of the GS was a lot, each room was too cramped on quantum.

I suspect there will be videos coming soon that show the tugboat and helicopter views of this historic event. Likely even a potential promotional piece.

 

In addition, I suspect we'll see RCI's own still photos too.

The helicopter is still circling harmony. Supposedly it will be with us all night. Still plenty of us on our balconies waving to it. :D

Photos of the meet will be available onboard at 9:30 pm. No info as to how many etc. We will have to purchase them - no freebies here.

I'm sorry the feed was so poor. It was exciting onboard. We have a portside balcony so watched from there - missed being in the crowd, but it was nice to have shade, a seat, and a clear view. :)

Oasis hasn't moved giving me some hope I'll get home in time, but I believe local sunset is close to 6:30 so they don't have a lot of time to play with.

 

What I believe is a Coast Guard ship (from my phone) has moved away from Oasis a little, perhaps she is preparing to move.

Fwiw, allure is close and has been visible off our port balcony (on harmony) for a while now. I hope you get to see some of the meetup!

Hi Julie - If you don't mind me asking, what time does CK stop serving dinner or how late do they take their last seating? We are going to see Greece on one of the nights and the show ends at 9PM. So since we have late dinner seating we have to find another dinner option. Thanks

I'm not julie, but CK's last seating is at 9:30.

Re public balconies above aqua theater, yes, there is also one on port side with chairs. It can be reached by stairs up from the aqua theater, or through a door at the end of the deck 7 hallway.

Re laundry, we had heard horror stories, and at home we dry everything on low so we were concerned about shrinking etc, but have been pleasantly surprised - have done 2 bags of tshirts (including some thin kind of delicate ones), undies, shorts, and socks, as well as 3 prs of jeans, and everything came back in one piece, soft, and without any shrinking as far as we can tell. One shirt was pretty wrinkled, and that's the worst that happened! Btw, the laundry bag special on harmony is $35 rather than $30, with $10 off for diamonds.

Re tvs, we just got a universal remote - found a tiny one at walmart for $5. It works with about a bazillion samsung models. Ended up not trying it - we haven't watched much tv - but did read on other threads that it works. I know others on this trip that have used universal remotes and they have been working fine. So that may be an option if you can't find out the tv model. I did try to check our tv for a model no but haven't found anything. The remote we got automatically programs itself, so no need to know model no.

 

Glad to hear they are finally doing something with WWF. I hope it's on all ships.

 

Roy

 

It's listed in the compass as "turtle walk" - i just wanted to mention that as there was no further explanation and we didn't find out about it until a few days into the cruise. You can walk by donating any amount of money, but $15 will get you a t shirt and $25 a stuffed animal. We signed up a couple days ago, and it's been a good motivator to walk off some desserts. :D

Sailing later this week and like to browse through physical books if the have any.

Not really. There are 4 sets of shelves in the card room, but they are pretty sparse. Fiction is basically nonexistent.

There are a number of folks on the TA who are planning on leaving their books on the shelves, so you may have better luck after this cruise. :)