Feedback of the sailing from the 3rd to the 10th of July aboard Harmony of the Seas

[jdemontrichard]

If you're traveling with kids or young adults, one of the best privileges as a Star Class guest is the privilege of being attended to first for onboard activities. Our son was able to use the flow rider frequently because of his guest status. What the sports staff do is allow the Star Class guest to be inserted into the queue of other guests with discretion. For example if our son wanted to go back for a second run on the flow rider, they would allow 3-4 guests ahead of him and then put him next onto the ride. And this would be done for any onboard activity. My daughter and I arrived at the zipline 15 minutes before it closed. We were told that they could no longer accept other guests as they had a cut off point. However I identified myself as a Star Class guest and we were immediately geared up and taken to the front of the line. https://vimeo.com/175260230

 

So identify yourselves as Star Class guests and the staff are trained to recognize your privileges.

 

 

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[jdemontrichard]

https://vimeo.com/175343249https://vimeo.com/175343477

 

On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, our days involved an early morning breakfast then followed by an excursion booked with RCI. In Italy, RCI use a tour company called Aloschi Bros who provide amazing excursions. In La Spezia we did a tour which involved authentic pasta making. In Civitavecchia we did a private tour to Rome and in Naples we did a tour to the island of Ischia for a swim in the sea and thermal baths. Again, I highly recommend using RCI for your excursions because of the quality that is delivered from start to finish. If you have a small group of 4, the private tour to Rome is the way to go. Our guide was excellent in her knowledge of the ancient city and her history of the Vatican and the Colosseum.

 

Wednesday night we dined at Chops Grill. As a Star Class guest there is no charge to dine there, however if there is an item that has a dollar amount next to it then this item needs to be paid for. For example their dried aged steaks are about $21. I ordered it and to be honest it was alright. Our son had ordered a filet mignon that did not come with an additional charge and it was better than my steak. My wife and daughter had ordered the jumbo sized shrimps which were excellent but had an additional charge. The waiter that attended to us that evening was superb in his service.

 

Thursday night we dined at Jamie's and Friday night, which was a formal night, we had selected Wonderland. Wonderland is a restaurant which is either going to appeal to you in a big way or not. I don't think that there is an in between here when it comes to this dining venue. For us, we were very impressed with food, presentation and most important was the service.

 

There was a minor problem that we had encountered during the main course. Unfortunately, our daughter's meal was served cold and there was a hair in it. Our waiter, who was from Turkey, immediately removed the meal and offered a sincere apology on behalf of the restaurant. Within a relatively short space of time he had another meal brought to the table which was served properly and according to our daughter tasted delicious.

 

After the main course was finished, our waiter took the order for dessert. My son said that he wanted nothing and "Nothing" was brought to the table.

 

This kind gesture is something that will be remembered for a lifetime. And so I awarded RCI 10 out of 10 for this restaurant and the dining experience. Every restaurant can have mistakes within their kitchen. However the response to the mistake is what should be noted. For us, the sincere apology and the timely manner of presenting another dish was what mattered.

 

As we departed Wonderland, the maitre'd had offered a sincere apology regarding the initial problem during the main course. Naturally she had alerted our genie to the matter and I had received an email from him within minutes of leaving the restaurant. He wanted to apologize for the experience especially as we had a disappointing time when we had dined at 150. He also had advised us that he had set up a meeting with the Food and beverage staff of Wonderland to address the problem. However I had advised him that by no means were we disappointed with our experience at Wonderland.

 

On our sea day, we did an All Access Tour of the ship. Now this tour, again was not booked in advance before arriving on the ship and the request that I had put in for this tour was at very short notice. The excursion team had originally denied the request according to our genie. However he sought approval on a higher level and the request was granted. The tour has a limit based on the number of guests that can be on the bridge at any one time. So what they did was to put 2 of us in one group and 2 in another. One tour started at 9:00am and the other started at 9:20am. It lasts between 2:30-3:00 hours depending on the number of questions that are posed by the guests of the tour. The tour was fantastic and I thanked our genie for his genuine effort in securing places for us in this tour. If you're really interested in seeing a behind the scenes tour of the ship then I recommend this tour as a must do.

 

Although our direct interaction with our genie was minimal at times, the small things that he did for us never went unnoticed. For example, one evening when having dinner I had sent a message to him that we wanted to be seated at the Comedy show for the start time of 10pm. At 10:10pm we were just about to leave the restaurant and honestly I had forgotten about the message that I had sent to the genie. The maitre'd of Jamie's came to us and wanted to inform us that our seats were still being held for us and would continue to be held until we arrived. When we arrived at Comedy Show, our genie had discreetly seated us so as to avoid minimal disturbance to a show that had already commenced. The attention to detail is something which I always noted and it was very much appreciated.

 

Disembarkation day is next.

 

 

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[jdemontrichard]

On the last night of our cruise, I had noticed that the bottle of champagne which was presented to us on embarkation day out of Barcelona was missing. The bucket in which it was placed in was turned over and the champagne was no where to be found. I had planned on gifting this full bottle to a staff member of RCI since we did not consume it. I had advised our genie that the bottle was missing and on disembarkation day he apologized on behalf of RCI and provided us with a $300 credit to our account. We were more than satisfied with this kind gesture.

 

A private car was due to pick us up from the port at 8:30am so our genie met us at our room at 8:15am. Within 10 minutes we had disembarked the ship and collected our luggage. Unfortunately our driver was not there to meet us in time. The genie did not want to leave us but I insisted that we would be fine and that I would contact the transportation company to inquire about the driver's whereabouts. The genie had admitted to me that he was reluctant to leave us but I assured him that we would be fine. Within 5 minutes our driver showed up. Unfortunately he was waiting for us at terminal B and we had disembarked at terminal C. So if you are planning for a private pickup, you would be best advised to find out which terminal you would be using on disembarkation day and notify your driver accordingly.

 

Overall the cruise for us was good. 8 out of 10 overall. 10 out of 10 for our genie. We provided him a tip on 3 occasions. 150 Euro at the time of boarding, $250 on the last night of the cruise and $50 on the day of disembarkation. On our last night of the cruise he had even bought a personal gift for each of our kids that was greatly appreciated. The Royal genie experience in my opinion is a welcomed benefit to any Star Class guest. Use it to your liking. But be realistic in your expectations as well.

 

I hope that this sums up the overall experience for past, present and future cruisers considering Star Class for RCI.

 

Best Regards,

jdemontrichard

 

 

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[thecatsmeow]

Thank you for sharing your trip with us. Great review and amazing pictures.

 

Joyce

[Crazy planning mom]

Is this just for those in Suites? Can you sign up ahead of time or while on the ship? Thanks. Love your pics.

[Clarea]

Is this just for those in Suites? Can you sign up ahead of time or while on the ship? Thanks. Love your pics.

There is an All-Access tour you can sign up for in your Cruise Planner. It's available to all guests.

Edited July 19, 2016 by clarea

[Mimigm]

Hello theolongos. I noticed in a previous posting of yours that besides your star suite you had a grand balcony suite and that Royal Caribbean agreed to link both cabins with the star privileges. Did they actually honor that promise. How did it go, we have a similar situation for our upcoming 7/31 cruise on harmony of the seas. We booked a sky suite for four and also an inside cabin across the hall for our 19 yr old son and his friend. Royal Caribbean assured us at the time of booking our son and his friend would be extended the same sky suite perks. However with two days before we board we asked for confirmation from the concierge on this arrangement and they are now saying no that can't be done. We would never have booked the extra inside cabin if that was the case as the sky suite will hold up to 8 people. We are extremely unhappy and feel like it was a switch and bait scam to get us to purchase a second cabin. We are extremely unhappy and right now their "resolutions" group is trying to resolve the problem. After getting assurances several times from the booking agents that the arrangement was confirmed in the notes of our reservation they are now denying that they agreed to the arrangement. Now they only can find notes that say we asked about it and they said they will look into it for us. Unbelievable two days before the cruise that we are dealing with this stress. Dealing with Royal Caribbean has been a nightmare from day one. When we first reserved and put the sky suite on a 24 hour hold we called back the next day well before the 24 hr deadline and they had given our sky suite to someone else. After many hours of hassle on the phone they finally came back to us the next day and let us book the suite after all.

[Thelongos]

Hello theolongos. I noticed in a previous posting of yours that besides your star suite you had a grand balcony suite and that Royal Caribbean agreed to link both cabins with the star privileges. Did they actually honor that promise. How did it go, we have a similar situation for our upcoming 7/31 cruise on harmony of the seas. We booked a sky suite for four and also an inside cabin across the hall for our 19 yr old son and his friend. Royal Caribbean assured us at the time of booking our son and his friend would be extended the same sky suite perks. However with two days before we board we asked for confirmation from the concierge on this arrangement and they are now saying no that can't be done. We would never have booked the extra inside cabin if that was the case as the sky suite will hold up to 8 people. We are extremely unhappy and feel like it was a switch and bait scam to get us to purchase a second cabin. We are extremely unhappy and right now their "resolutions" group is trying to resolve the problem. After getting assurances several times from the booking agents that the arrangement was confirmed in the notes of our reservation they are now denying that they agreed to the arrangement. Now they only can find notes that say we asked about it and they said they will look into it for us. Unbelievable two days before the cruise that we are dealing with this stress. Dealing with Royal Caribbean has been a nightmare from day one. When we first reserved and put the sky suite on a 24 hour hold we called back the next day well before the 24 hr deadline and they had given our sky suite to someone else. After many hours of hassle on the phone they finally came back to us the next day and let us book the suite after all.

 

Hello, first of all I'm sorry to hear of your frustration with this.

 

Second, I recognize how silly all of these odd rules can be. I'm going to guess there was a cost benefit decisions that took place with RCCL before they allowed these specific situations to work for others in the past (which may seem unfair to some).

 

We actually haven't sailed yet on that specific cruise so I have no first-hand experience. The RCCL agent told us as long as we have our "minor children" in an adjacent cabin they can share in the parent's suite privileges.

 

In this case we will be in a grand suite (Sky Class) with adjoining balcony--3 of us in the suite and 2 (6 and 10 year old) in the non-suite. I think the issue with yours could be the fact that your children are considered adults and drive the expenses up for concierge/drinks/meals which is why RCCL doesn't allow that. Can they drink at 19 in international waters?

 

I think we are hijacking this thread and there are other threads somewhere that go over this in more detail with others who have much more experience than I on this specific topic.

 

I honestly do not believe they tried to bait/switch you--the specific cruise rep would get a bad rap if they did that on a normal basis. Again, these are all assumptions so take it for what it's worth and good luck on your cruise in two days. I'm sure it will be wonderful and you will enjoy it so much!!

[jdemontrichard]

Dear Readers,

I will try and provide some useful feedback without trying to detract from the origin of this thread.

If our kids were not booked into our Sky Loft Suite and were booked into a different category room onboard the ship, they would not have been able to avail themselves of the Star Class Privileges. I had asked this question to RCI prior to the booking. However once you are onboard you can try and negotiate with your genie or your concierge to see what arrangements can be made to keep the group together. The analogy to this situation would be like parents buying first class tickets for themselves on a flight but buying economy class tickets for their children.

 

 

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[Mimigm]

Thanks for your responses and sorry about the hijack. Long story short at the last minute and after many stressful hours on the phone this evening Royal Caribbean has finally agreed to text our concierge to allow our son and friend to be given the same privileges as our sky suite as originally promised In our case it would have actually been much less expensive to add the two boys to our sky suite as guests number 6&7 than to put them in the extra inside cabin. I believe the problem is rc is not training the sales agents properly they are making promises at the time of booking that are not being honored. As I mentioned in previous text when we first put the 24 hour reserve on the sky suite and called back well before the 24 HR deadline to pay for the suite someone at rc had already given our reserved suite to someone else. They admitted it was due to the agents mistake. The worst part was before we called back to pay for the suite in full the next day we had already contacted two other family friends who were interested in joining us and we urged them to get suites as well so we could all enjoy the same privileges. So one booked another sky suite and the other a star suite. Then we call back to pay and our sky suite is gone and there were no others left. They tried to convince us to take two balcony so for the same price and we had to go thru hell and back yo get their attention to right this wrong This was all done in May 2016 so not many suites were available at that time. That whole thing was a huge hassle over two days to get our reserved sky suite back. Considering all the business we are bringing to rc for this cruise - 19 guests in two sky suites, one star suite and an inside cabin etc etc we were just stunned when they pulled the rug under us once again and said at the last minute there was no record of rc agreeing to provide the sky suite services as they had promised to our boys across the hall. Only that we requested it and they were looking into it. Well even if that was the case and it wasn't, so nice that we had to find out from the concierge at the last second that it wasn't going to happen. Rc does consider 19 year olds as minors regardless if sailing from a domestic or international port. In that They cannot book their own cabin without legal guardians on board. Thus why we had to book the inside cabin directly across from the sky suite. It's right in their cruise terms. Anyhow I am just thankful they finally changed their minds to honor their original promise but it has been so stressful and exhausting dealing with rc on both issues. At this point we Need this vacation just from dealing with rc.

[rrzj]

Your post is incredibly helpful. Would love to hear more!!

 

Thanks!!

[rrzj]

My apologies for asking for more information. I just learned how to get to page 2. Sorry, I'm a newbie. You're review has been incredibly helpful. Thank you.

[crosby99]

There is an All-Access tour you can sign up for in your Cruise Planner. It's available to all guests.

 

I did it on Allure. It is expensive but well worth doing

[Fisherlady48]

Liked your review, however when you returned at 3pm, why did you not go to your suite and order up some room service for lunch? Did that not occur to you?

 

oh well, glad you liked most of the perks.

[galba]

 

Overall the cruise for us was good. 8 out of 10 overall. 10 out of 10 for our genie. We provided him a tip on 3 occasions. 150 Euro at the time of boarding, $250 on the last night of the cruise and $50 on the day of disembarkation. On our last night of the cruise he had even bought a personal gift for each of our kids that was greatly appreciated. The Royal genie experience in my opinion is a welcomed benefit to any Star Class guest. Use it to your liking. But be realistic in your expectations as well.

 

 

Hi jdemontrichard and thanks for that excellent review. We'll soon be

Star Class on Harmony as well so your experience is 100% relevant for

us.

 

Might I ask why you felt the need to tip your genie at the outset?

Is extra tipping expected by the genie?

 

It seems to me RCI is trying to provide an all-inclusive, no hassle,

gratuities-included character to its Star Class, which goes in the right

direction of a more upscale experience. To have tips creep back in where

none should be needed is a bit surprising.

 

As a european I very seldom tip beyond our restaurants' included service

charge and without fail receive excellent service as a repeat customer.

Edited September 5, 2016 by galba

[jdemontrichard]

Liked your review, however when you returned at 3pm, why did you not go to your suite and order up some room service for lunch? Did that not occur to you?

 

 

 

oh well, glad you liked most of the perks.

 

 

To tell you the truth, it had not occurred to me to order room service because we honestly did not even consider dining in the MDR, where room service food normally comes from.

 

But imagine paying 20K for your vacation on Harmony and a place like Coastal Kitchen, which is considered to be " the MDR" for Star and Sky class guests is closed at ridiculous hours.

 

 

 

 

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[jdemontrichard]

Hi jdemontrichard and thanks for that excellent review. We'll soon be

Star Class on Harmony as well so your experience is 100% relevant for

us.

 

Might I ask why you felt the need to tip your genie at the outset?

Is extra tipping expected by the genie?

 

It seems to me RCI is trying to provide an all-inclusive, no hassle,

gratuities-included character to its Star Class, which goes in the right

direction of a more upscale experience. To have tips creep back in where

none should be needed is a bit surprising.

 

As a european I very seldom tip beyond our restaurants' included service

charge and without fail receive excellent service as a repeat customer.

 

 

Your point is very valid here. However I had done some research on CC regarding genie tipping and found out that if was the norm to tip the genie as tipping that was included as part of the package was not allocated for this critical team member of your suite. Apparently the tips go to the room attendants and people in the MDR. Yes, the MDR, a place I never dined in.

 

So I tipped what everyone else was tipping which was about $100 per person for 7 nights or $50 per day which ever was greater.

 

Do I think that it was worth it? Well after having paid a pretty penny for the room, few more more shillings were not going to kill me. But it's entirely up to you of course.

 

Perhaps you could give a small tip of around $100 on your first day and then see if any further tipping is warranted as the days go by.

 

Enjoy the vacation and make full use of your Star Class privileges.

 

Best Regards,

Jm

 

 

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[drdaddy]

Hello. Sorry to horn in on your thread. We will be on Harmony for the Transatlantic and I have a question for you. You said you did Palma on your own, right? You seem to have the definitive answers.

 

Where did she park in Palma? Did RCL provide a shuttle (free or not) if Harmony was at the distant pier? We are planning on the HOHO bus and doing our own thing. Especially at the market and I hope it is something like La Boqueria in Barcelona.

 

Thanks and thank you for the detailed review and pics. Hope the trip home was uneventful.

[jdemontrichard]

Ok. I'll be brief so as to not upset other readers of the post. Harmony docks at a distant pier. There is a shuttle bus to the town where the Cathedral is located and it cost 5€ per person for a return trip.

 

Best Regards,

Jm

 

 

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