Oasis vs Harmony

[Thorben-Hendrik]

I hope the personal attacks get removed soon.....:rolleyes:

[barb in ga]

I'm sorry that you had a bad service experience on Harmony. Unfortunately, things can happen that impact your pleasure and perception of service on any cruise.

 

I can only say that our experience on Harmony was one of the best we have ever experienced and we will cruise on her again. This October we are cruising Oasis; the top reason was that we got a significantly better price than on Harmony for that week, and we will drive from Atlanta rather than fly.

 

We love the Oasis class ships and are sure we will enjoy the upcoming cruise on Oasis.

 

Barb

[Biker19]

I think there are some posters who lost track of who brought up the bad welds!:rolleyes:

 

I am very certain it was someone living in the rust- belt and who is doing welds for a living - I am very sure he knew what he was talking about!(y);p

 

"the because where she was build part" was then added by these same posters that like to belittle others - to add a nationalist twist to it....and to justify their belittlement of others!

 

...

 

I think you are confused - there's only one poster as far as I am aware that has brought up both the state of the welds and where Harmony was built. The rest of us just chuckle at the ridiculousness of those remarks.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Saab4444]

Oasis, Allure: built in Finland

 

Harmony: built in France

 

 

 

Finland and German built ships are indeed of better quality than France and Italy built ships. Not always but in many cases. E.g. less creaking and better materials in the cabins.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[CRUISEFAN0001]

I think you are confused - there's only one poster as far as I am aware that has brought up both the state of the welds and where Harmony was built. The rest of us just chuckle at the ridiculousness of those remarks.

Yup...one poster who's obsessed with negative nonsense.

 

Like many others here...we've been on all 3 Oasis class ships...other than a unique onboard element or two (only Harmony has the water slides and Abyss right now...) - they are all pretty much alike. It's also possible that when the other ships come up for dry dock again...they could be retrofit with similar elements and/or new added features.

 

In any case...we're on Oasis for the 2nd time next year - they are our favorites - and will likely continue our enjoyment of all the Oasis class ships going forward (new and existing ships).

[John&LaLa]

I think there are some posters who lost track of who brought up the bad welds!:rolleyes:

I am very certain it was someone living in the rust- belt and who is doing welds for a living - I am very sure he knew what he was talking about!(y);p

"the because where she was build part" was then added by these same posters that like to belittle others - to add a nationalist twist to it....and to justify their belittlement of others!

It is always the same crowd that uses that technique....

 

 

Anyway Oasis and Allure were build with some quality in mind - while Harmony was build as cheap as possible.

Lots of materials used on Harmony are just cheap and flimsy in comparison - example plastic foil instead of glass for the roofing of the Solarium and the hot tubs - that cheap foil flaps and makes bad noises in the wind - the hot tubs on the other ships have nice glass domes that will let you see the sky - the white cheap foil used on Harmony will not....just little things like that you will notice and add up....

Also service on Harmony seems to be a lot worse then on other ships...

You may be right, but with so many posters adding new screen names lately it's hard to pinpoint the OP

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app

[John&LaLa]

Finland and German built ships are indeed of better quality than France and Italy built ships. Not always but in many cases. E.g. less creaking and better materials in the cabins.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

You do know one of the oldest ships in the fleet was built in France.

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app

[John&LaLa]

Yup...one poster who's obsessed with negative nonsense.

 

Like many others here...we've been on all 3 Oasis class ships...other than a unique onboard element or two (only Harmony has the water slides and Abyss right now...) - they are all pretty much alike. It's also possible that when the other ships come up for dry dock again...they could be retrofit with similar elements and/or new added features.

 

In any case...we're on Oasis for the 2nd time next year - they are our favorites - and will likely continue our enjoyment of all the Oasis class ships going forward (new and existing ships).

Lack of umbrellas at beach pool on Harmony is a deal breaker. I hope they don't remove them from Oasis

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app

[cbelc]

I would look more at the ports and convenience/personal schedule. I've been on Oasis but not yet on Harmony. I think either ship will be wonderful.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[John&LaLa]

I would look more at the ports and convenience/personal schedule. I've been on Oasis but not yet on Harmony. I think either ship will be wonderful.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

One thing I've come to realize lately is the menus and food venues are quite different. That could come into play as well.

 

But you are correct that departure port is a big driver for some of us.

 

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app

[Hokie79]

Finland and German built ships are indeed of better quality than France and Italy built ships. Not always but in many cases. E.g. less creaking and better materials in the cabins.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

 

 

Never noticed the creaking on Harmony. The cabins also appeared to be in great shape. Thought it was a great ship.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Clarea]

You do know one of the oldest ships in the fleet was built in France.

I believe they used contracted labor from Finland.

[crosby99]

I loved Harmony & Allure plus I am sure I will Oasis when we sail on her next year.

Personally I preferred Allure. However; I would sail on Harmony again without hesitation.

I do have some sympathy over comments about quality of build; although I sensed the welds seemed of high quality ;)

However; I did feel areas such as the Solarium had a cheaper feel. The most noticeable area to me was Boardwalk which felt quite plastic in comparison to Allure.

As a contrasting point the cabins are much, much better on Harmony.

[island lady]

I'm about to drive 14 hours for 4 days on Majesty, so it would be less of a deal breaker for me ;) If I was in the OP's shoes, or car seat, I would probably not want to see CATS ;p

 

Cats was cancelled about half way through our last Oasis cruise. Explained as technical difficulty. For some reason we

survived the cruise without the show. ;)

[island lady]

One thing I've come to realize lately is the menus and food venues are quite different. That could come into play as well.

 

But you are correct that departure port is a big driver for some of us.

 

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app

 

Some of you may not realize this is a view from John's balcony. Sweet!! :)

 

He has to "suffer" that long...long 5 minute drive to the port. :D ;)

[John&LaLa]

I believe they used contracted labor from Finland.

I have such a good comeback to that, but decorum prevents me from using it. [emoji33]

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app

[John&LaLa]

Some of you may not realize this is a view from John's balcony. Sweet!! :)

 

He has to "suffer" that long...long 5 minute drive to the port. :D ;)

Pat, that's actually the front door view. The ships are much further out to sea when I see them off the balcony.

 

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app

[island lady]

Pat, that's actually the front door view. The ships are much further out to sea when I see them off the balcony.

 

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app

 

Ahhh...a choice of views!! Very cool!

 

I have a good view of the alligators in our swamp!! :p;p

Not happy when they cruise too close to our backyard though. :eek:

[John&LaLa]

Ahhh...a choice of views!! Very cool!

 

I have a good view of the alligators in our swamp!! :p;p

Not happy when they cruise too close to our backyard though. :eek:

The front door is the view for launches as well.

 

 

Balcony is south east view

 

Gators would be cool

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app

[Thorben-Hendrik]

I think you are confused - there's only one poster as far as I am aware that has brought up both the state of the welds and where Harmony was built. The rest of us just chuckle at the ridiculousness of those remarks.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Yep - here it is!

Nov 28, 2016, 12:58 PM

Our family was on the Harmony TA, so I will throw my 2 cents in as well.

 

To clear up a bit about the ice: the ice machine in Park Cafe broke about halfway through the TA---I wonder if the OP did not see one as it might have been removed for repairs and then the later posters did beucase it was returned by their cruises?

There was an ice machine in the Promenade cafe. Took me 2/3 of the cruise to notice it as it was not where I expected--it's on the far right as you face the cafe.

As others said, any cup can get ice from the freestyle machines, I used them for ice often.

I really do think there should be a freestyle machine in or near the Park Cafe and one on the Boarwalk

 

 

 

As far as everything else: we had a nice time on the ship. We've only sailed Oasis class once before (on the first Oasis TA) and felt that Harmony had worked out many of hte bugs we experienced on that other sailing.

 

We had MTD and ate at various times, meaning we had three different serving teams. All 3 were really good to excellent. We also had very good service at Soraliam Bistro. No complaints with the free dinner service at all. We ate at Sabor twice and had excelletn service the first time and terrible the second. We had the same experience (one really good and one not) at Johnny Rockets for lunch.

Lunch in the MDR was disastoursly slow and unorganized and busy on the one and only day we tried it. We noramlly eat lunch in the MDR on every sea day, but it was bad enough on that one go to not return even with a TA full of sea days

 

Food was good, but not great (but also not bad) and the menus were somewhat boring.

 

I agree the breads were not so good, and also missed having good salads (lacking even at the start of the cruise before fresh veggies might have run low). On the plus side, we enjoyed finally having tasty desserts.

 

Windjammer tended to be very repetitive for food at lunch. At peak times we asked to share a large table with another small group, and at anything other htan the most peak times it was not and issue to get a seat.

At peak times there was a 2-3 minute wait to wash hands. It was annoying that passengers did not move away from sink to dry hands when people were waiting to wash, but not really a big deal. We did comment that if the paper twel dispensers were moved to near the trash and away from the sinks it might improve the flow of people. Far more annoying were the rude passengesr complaining loudly about the short wait to staff, or literally shoving past those waiting. I personally did not see any mold on the sinks when entering Windjammer.

 

Cruise Staff were good and personable and working very hard to keep a very demanding group of repeat cruisers happy. The CD was very boring and extremly focused only on American Cruisers/experiences. I would rank him as "meh" Not remakrbaly bad but not good either.

 

Production shows:

Columbus---campy and silly and upbeat with some serious stage effects. 2 out of 3 of us really enjoyed it, and the other hated it :p My one complaint is that it is designed in such a way that the sight lines from side sections are terrible.

Grease---I am not a big fan of the script, but they do a good job of it

1887 Ice Show--lots of cool special effects, weird plot, talented cast, enjoyable but nothing amazing

I Skate---Very good, we all really liked it and went back for a second time. Mostly skating and good music, not so much with effects, etc

A Fine Line aqua show---we all loved it. everythign worked well when we saw it and we liked hte effects and music and talent. Would have liekd to see it again.

Hideaway Heist Aqua Show---cute, light, fun if you have the time but not a must see at all

Headliners---we walked out on each and every one. Others seemed to find the appealing though

 

Bar Service---on the TA, with half the ship being Diamond or above, the evening Happy Hour time slot tended to overwhelm the bars and waits could be long in that time frame. Otherwise we found it prompt and friendly, and even during Happy Hour it was OK. My husband tended to order the same thing most nights, and the staff in Schooner often brought his drink during that busy time without him even having to order/ask.

Availability of spirits and other ingredients, and knowledge of various drinks varied greatly from bar to bar and bartender to bartender. Caipirinhas were fun to order--only some bars had the proper ingredients and only about half the bartenders knew what they were.

 

I really like the photo system and lack of waste from it. We actaully had photos taken (and bought some) with this system.

 

We also liked that the fridge was empty on arrival with a note saying that if we would like the minibar stocked to call them and tell them what we want in it and they will stock/restock then as needed. So nice to not have to empty it out and find space to store the stuff, and worry about them coming to check on it, etc.

 

we had a Central Park Blacony and liked our room layout. It was a big improvement over the same category of room on Oasis. The pull out sofa for a third person was odd---the matress is in a drawer under the sofa, so it is almost like sleeping on the floor. My 17 year old did not care for that (who could blame him?) and just moved the mattress up onto the top of the sofa and closed the drawer. After 2 days, the room steward set it up that way. The room steward was friendly and always seemed to make it into our room within a few minutes of us leaving---things were always clean.

 

Overall we felt the ship's design and layout was good. We giggled at the "ramps" near the welding seems---apparently the ship wasn't built quite perfectly to spec and the sections did not line up totally straight? But it didn't feel unsafe or anything, we just made some silly jokes about French engineering :D

[John&LaLa]

Ah, a different German.

 

Imagine that, not someone from the rust belt. [emoji33]

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app

[Biker19]

Yep - here it is!

Nov 28, 2016, 12:58 PM

I guess you found a second, but, unlike the poster we usually associate with that issue, this poster's review was generally positive and they mentioned the weld issue as an aside.

[setsail]

The front door is the view for launches as well.

 

 

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app

 

NKO?:eek:

[Thorben-Hendrik]

Ah, a different German.

 

Imagine that, not someone from the rust belt. [emoji33]

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app

Not German ....just lives there.... :D

 

 

Well that quote was then picked up by someone from the US and he elaborated about how in his company they would get fired if they would weld like they did on Harmony.....

Can not find that post and assume it got deleted....because of all the personal attacks.

There is a BIG difference on not agreeing with someone's opinion about a ship and belittling people like "B--er" for example does all the time - whenever he/they dislike an opinion!

 

If I do not like your opinion I will hit, stab or kill you - seems to be the motto of some here!

 

We can disagree about cars, politic, ships, weather ALL DAY LONG but that does not give anybody the right to belittle that PERSON or their opinion!

People that can not differentiate between different opinions and a PERSON are so despicable!:rolleyes:

But that has been a problem for the past few thousand years....just so sad people (here) do not behave differently!

Edited August 5, 2017 by Thorben-Hendrik

[Clarea]

I have such a good comeback to that, but decorum prevents me from using it. [emoji33]

There's always email.