Harmony OTS Review

[Master0396]

Harmony of the Seas (HOTS) Review

 

Background: As this voyage marked the first time I attended a meet and mingle, I thought that I should be a more active member on CC, so here's my first attempt at a cruise review. I am a college student traveling with my parents and a friend and his parents. We are experienced cruisers and were very excited to sail on the maiden voyage of the world's largest cruise ship.

 

To keep this review as concise as possible, I will be addressing the following topics: Food, Entertainment, Accommodations, Ports of Call, and conclude with a commentary section about other areas of the ship. I will also be happy to answer any questions about the maiden voyage.

 

Food: The food onboard the HOTS was by far the best we have experienced onboard any RCL ship. The fact that our voyage was the maiden voyage might have had something to do with it, but we were impressed by the overall F&B offerings around the ship. (We have lobster two nights! - once in the MDR and once in the windjammer!) The new menus onboard the ship are very similar to the old menus found onboard the other vessels. Some of them just got name changes. (Ex. BBB Creme Brulee is now Creme Brulee)

 

My other comment about F&B is that many of the venues offer the same types of food everyday which can be bothersome if you are looking to eat something different at the same venue. For example, the MDR for lunch has two menu sets that they rotate, so the first and third sea day will serve the same menu; however, like I said, food was top notch onboard.

 

Entertainment: I must say, RCL has really raised the ante with entertainment. While many of the shows were still perfecting their performances, we were quite amazed by the shows offered onboard. I had just wished we were able to see Columbus The Musical and iSkate.

 

Service: Pretty good in most areas of the ship. We did notice a few hitches here and there, but not enough to ruin our holiday. Could be because the ship is new?

 

Cabin: I really enjoy the new cabin design that is very similar to those found on the quantum class; however, my all time favorite cabin design comes from the solstice class from celebrity. Lots of storage and good room to move around. Balcony is also decent size.

 

Ports of Call: We traveled from Southampton, England to Vigo Spain and Malaga Spain before disembarking in Barcelona Spain. Vigo was okay... Not much to see, but very nice city. Malaga is a very nice city that you can spend all day in. Beach is right near the terminal.

 

Other: Overall, the vacation was fantastic. I was particularly amazed with the entertainment more than anything else. Although there was noticeably a lot less activities and a lot of work still happening onboard, the trip was one of better trips my family has taken. We are looking forward to what celebrity/RCL has in store with their new ships!

[lovevacadays]

Thank you for posting your review.

[tifosi2]

We were told by our waitress that the lobster is being taken off the MDR menu for the rest of the med season. Just passing on what we were told.

[RubyGold]

I agree with your review, I was on may 22 sailing and had a great time.

The last rci ship we were on was Explorer and the food was abysmal to say the least.

I'm so glad it was better this time!

The small bites place had the same stuff every day but there was enough food to keep us going elsewhere.

 

I loved the ice show, not seen anything like that before.

Comedy was a bit rubbish though.

 

Glad you had a good time it's a cool ship.

[ade1982]

Comedy was a bit rubbish though.

 

Who did you have on? I saw Chris Ramsey was on the preview cruise, I've seen him live a few times.

 

On 22nd May we had Jarlarth Regan and Ed Gamble, both of whom I've heard of, but hadn't seen live. I thought they were alright ...

[ChipLondon]

Really that just shows how opinions vary, I thought they were the 2 worst ever, Relying on asking people where they are from and what they do for a living until you find someone who can make a joke out of is NOT comedy.

 

However the headliner comedian Bobby Davro was hilarious, and the best I have ever seen on a ship, although I accept his show was aimed for an English audience. Hope to see him on another ship soon. :D

 

 

 

On 22nd May we had Jarlarth Regan and Ed Gamble, both of whom I've heard of, but hadn't seen live. I thought they were alright ...

[ade1982]

Really that just shows how opinions vary, I thought they were the 2 worst ever, Relying on asking people where they are from and what they do for a living until you find someone who can make a joke out of is NOT comedy.

 

However the headliner comedian Bobby Davro was hilarious, and the best I have ever seen on a ship, although I accept his show was aimed for an English audience. Hope to see him on another ship soon. :D

 

Bobby Davro is on tour at the moment. I had an email from a local theatre in Port Talbot to say that his show was reduced in price. So he was right, he really won't get on telly these days. I've got to say, I wasn't expecting much, but his show was good. There are a few out there like him that can do a bit of everything - sing, tell jokes, stories etc. Mike Doyle springs to mind as one of the good ones. Darren Day was on the Ovation.

 

I go to watch a lot of comedy, there are far worse ones out there than the two that were on! You are right in saying a sense of humour is subjective. My OH hates most of the things I find funny, and I have been known to fall asleep in the theatre at some of the stuff I got dragged to.

Edited June 7, 2016 by ade1982

[RubyGold]

Who did you have on? I saw Chris Ramsey was on the preview cruise, I've seen him live a few times.

 

On 22nd May we had Jarlarth Regan and Ed Gamble, both of whom I've heard of, but hadn't seen live. I thought they were alright ...

 

I didn't see Bobby Davro but those other two. I didn't find them to be very funny personally.

 

Over all we had a fab time though, and I'm planning to use my 50% discount on a transatlantic end of next year. I know that there has been a lot of people say they had a terrible time and will never sail royal again..... well I'm glad I won't be on a cruise with them!

[Clarea]

Thanks for the report.:)

[tifosi2]

We went to see Bobby Davro not expecting very much but he was hilarious.

 

The comedians in The Attic were struggling. We went once and they were poor but we gave them a second chance on the last show on the last evening and they were very good despite probably only 30 people in the audience.

[compman9]

Bobby Davro - Best act I have ever seen on a cruise ship

 

Grease - Very good. Pretty much like a 'proper' stage show

 

Tenors of Rock - Excellent, should have been longer than 45 minutes

 

Attic Comedians - Average

 

Man Showroom Singer - Didn't see

 

Ice Show (1887) - Awful. No-one had a clue what was going on. Skating was good as usual, but the show was dreadful arty farty nonsense

 

Fine Line - Awful. A man literally spun around for forty minutes. Actually, it was also very cold, so I would say, worse than awful

[hexdragon]

Did anyone go to the Jazz club? How was the band?

[tifosi2]

Jazz club was excellent. Really nice atmosphere and the band were superb.

[tifosi2]

Regarding Fine Line, I agree about the bizarre spinning man. We sat in front of one of the directors of the show and she was telling us how amazing he was and that he goes into a trance to do the act. Didn't do anything for me. They need to ditch him.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Thank you for the review! Good job.:)

[compman9]

Did anyone go to the Jazz club? How was the band?

 

Jazz Club Band - Good, not great, but with the added audience participation, which for us was hilarious as Mother in Law was mortified :D

 

Piano Girl in Schooner - Really really good and very original

 

Guitar guy in pub - Very good and the young girls loved him

[ade1982]

Ed Gamble is on Mock the Week now

[Horshamflyer]

Regarding Fine Line, I agree about the bizarre spinning man. We sat in front of one of the directors of the show and she was telling us how amazing he was and that he goes into a trance to do the act. Didn't do anything for me. They need to ditch him.

 

That's so funny about the spinning man. We watched part of the rehearsal on the 22nd of May cruise and wondered what on earth his talent was meant to be. We go back on Harmony on the 19th of June and my husband said if he's still in the show I'm not wasting my time,we'll sit at the back so we can leave.

 

We also saw the ice show. Great skating but as with the other quotes,we came out of studio B wondering what the story line was all about.

 

Tenors of Rock were excellent.

[Horshamflyer]

Regarding Fine Line, I agree about the bizarre spinning man. We sat in front of one of the directors of the show and she was telling us how amazing he was and that he goes into a trance to do the act. Didn't do anything for me. They need to ditch him.

 

That's so funny about the spinning man. We watched part of the rehearsal on the 22nd of May cruise and wondered what on earth his talent was meant to be. We go back on Harmony on the 19th of June and my husband said if he's still in the show I'm not wasting my time,we'll sit at the back so we can leave.

 

We also saw the ice show. Great skating but as with the other quotes,we came out of studio B wondering what the story line was all about.

 

Tenors of Rock were excellent.

[Single Cruiser]

The spinny man was only supposed to do 10mins but they were desperate for the Sun to set to get the effects so kept sending him back for more!