Harmony of the Seas - Mediterranean. Too much ship for so few sea days?

[TxStacey]

Were on the Harmony out of Barcelona in July...to me it's a win/win. We get to sail on a beautiful new ship and see the Med. We will be arriving in Barcelona 2 days prior to our cruise and we plan to get on the ship as early as possible the first day. This will basically be a sea day for us. We are also planning a beach day in Palma and will be back on the ship early afternoon..so lots of time on the ship that day too. I think you can make it work if you want to. There are no rules!

[KiwiGal117]

I suspect I will have trouble getting my son off the ship on the port days! Our neighbours did the Allure cruise last summer and used Majorca as a sea day. They said it was great - the boat was "empty" (relatively speaking, I'm sure). We will probably do the same, and may just do a short 1/2 day walk around Barcelona as I will be there next year anyway for work, and our travel friends have been. We are boarding in Civi, so we plan to be at the ship nice and early for boarding (hopefully 10:30 or 11, but we'll see what others say about boarding times once the cruise starts running), so that should get us a reasonable amount of ship time.

[John&LaLa]

We were on the allure last summer in the med, just don't go to port for a day or only spend a few hours off the ship, thats what we did, had the whole ship to ourselves. I find your statement rather irrelevant, your still on the ship for 7 days, they don't tell you to get off during port days...

 

It's nice to be on an empty ship, but it's empty of staff as well. Not as much going on. I would imagine limited hours on the attractions, and limited selections for dining

[critterchick]

There are many cruisers (us included) who have been to those ports lots and lots of times and don't feel any need to get off the ship at some of them. We sailed on Allure in the Med in June and it was so nice to have a ship with so much to offer for the days when we didn't want to get off.

 

I understand that people who have travelled long distances and for whom this may be their only opportunity to visit the Med could feel that an Oasis class ship is wasted on them, but it's nice to have a big ship in the Med for those who like the choice to stay onboard.

 

This.

 

I think of the Med being to Europeans what the Caribbean is to North Americans (sort of). We've been to the Caribbean a lot and the ports of call are beautiful, but there's nothing more that I really care about seeing. So an Oasis class ship is fine because there's still plenty of what I want to do and no crowds to deal with. But I probably wouldn't take a European cruise on one because I would just be onboard to sleep. I'd even want to be eating in the ports of call. So paying the premium pricing would be a waste of money for me.

[MWINT]

We have sailed Oasis in the Caribbean and barely scratched the surface of this wonderful ship. We wanted to experience the Harmony before she to relocates to Florida, so have booked the 7 day repositioning out of Southampton in May.

[alaska_planner]

This.

 

I think of the Med being to Europeans what the Caribbean is to North Americans (sort of). We've been to the Caribbean a lot and the ports of call are beautiful, but there's nothing more that I really care about seeing. So an Oasis class ship is fine because there's still plenty of what I want to do and no crowds to deal with. But I probably wouldn't take a European cruise on one because I would just be onboard to sleep. I'd even want to be eating in the ports of call. So paying the premium pricing would be a waste of money for me.

 

yup....what you said...the med is the caribbean for us...(i go for a walk along the med almost every day of the year)...

this is a chance to be on an oasis class ship...woo hoo!!

[KiwiGal117]

It's nice to be on an empty ship, but it's empty of staff as well. Not as much going on. I would imagine limited hours on the attractions, and limited selections for dining

 

That's an excellent point, and one that we aren't particularly concerned about, but definitely something to keep in mind if people are thinking of taking advantage of all the ship's attractions. I'm cool with chilling by the pool with a frosty beverage and a book without the crowds. But we will be checking the hours on the flowrider, slides, etc. for the kids.

[Pipo]

Already booked the first 7-night cruise out of Barcelona (6/12), and I'm thinking on spend the whole day at each port, despite being in Italy before. This is a port intensive cruise, and as somebody mentioned before, it's very expensive for me coming from Costa Rica, but my motivation is sailing on a brand new ship (almost inaugural). I'm doing a day pre-cruise at Barcelona, and a week post cruise on southern Spain and Ibiza.

I agree that a cruise at port has its limitations, I did an overnight at Athens on the Celebrity Reflection last year, and the service on board was noticeably reduced while docked.

[cb at sea]

Are you sailing for the ship...or the ports? That's the question you must answer! If you want to experience the ship...then stay on the ship! If you want to see the ports...don't worry about the ship...it's your transportation...that's all!

[Cruisin' Again 86]

The Harmony is supposed to eventually move to Florida as its home port after sailing out of Europe for a few months. The OP is from Costa rica. Its quite expensive to fly to Europe. We sailed the med last year but primarily did it for the itinerary. I wouldnt have spent the amount required to fly to Europe if i was mainly interested in the ship not the itinerary.

 

Harmony will be sailing out of Florida after the TA 10-23-16...

[Pipo]

Are you sailing for the ship...or the ports? That's the question you must answer! If you want to experience the ship...then stay on the ship! If you want to see the ports...don't worry about the ship...it's your transportation...that's all!

 

Both, can't wait to board the new ship, but I'm looking forward the ports that I have never been before: Palma de Mallorca, Marseille, and the island of Capri from Naples. I still undecided on getting off the ship at Civitavecchia to visit Rome again. For La Spezia could be short stroll around town or a quick tour to Cinque Terre.

Edited February 26, 2016 by Pipo

[Virtopia]

I looked at Harmony when booking my European cruise, but I didn't book for the reasons mentioned in this thread. This will be my first trip to Italy and Greece (which are 1 and 2 on my travel bucket list) and I didn't want to pay a premium when I knew I would be using my full port days to explore. It was $1,200 more and 3 days less than the cruise I booked. I do hope, however, to book it when it sails from Florida and I will probably only come off the ship once or twice.

Edited February 26, 2016 by Virtopia

[xxHadleyxx]

This.

 

I think of the Med being to Europeans what the Caribbean is to North Americans (sort of). We've been to the Caribbean a lot and the ports of call are beautiful, but there's nothing more that I really care about seeing. So an Oasis class ship is fine because there's still plenty of what I want to do and no crowds to deal with. But I probably wouldn't take a European cruise on one because I would just be onboard to sleep. I'd even want to be eating in the ports of call. So paying the premium pricing would be a waste of money for me.

 

You nailed it. Especially for the most basic of Western Med ports, which Harmony is sailing. Heck, even on little ships like the Legend we tend to just hop off for an hour or two to take a walk--we've already seen anything we want to see many times (or, if we want to see something not fight at port, then, unlike the Caribbean for Americans, it is generally cheap and easy to drive there for a few days for a land trip at another time).