Harmony mini review 9-16 Dec

[warrior1024]

Hi All,

 

Thought i'd throw up a little review as just got off my first ever sailing with Royal and went for the biggest and newest of the bunch being Harmony.

 

I'll try to cover whatever I can remember but any specific questions feel free to ask.

 

Overall the ship was massive and very modern, initially it was a little overwhelming when first walking on but I believe they do a good job showing you around everywhere and you quickly learn to navigate your way around.

 

The food was quite varied from really good to incredibly average, we got the BOGO package and changed to Jamie's and Chops when we got on the ship. Jamie's was AMAZING, from the lamb chops to all the fresh pastas, risotto and dessert we had such an enjoyable meal there! Chops I found to be disappointing, I love my steak and while they did cook it to my liking the steak in general had very little flavoring, the bacon app was decent but dessert also found to be lacking with the red velvet cake being on the dry side.

 

Windjammer was OK for dinner, not a whole heap of selection for hot meals but quite a few for dessert which I found nice, only went to the MDR once and never again as found the food to be quite bland and overall not worth it, service was average too.

 

Decided to do Johnny Rockets for dinner once, pretty much empty in the evenings due to the cover charge but found $8 to be pretty reasonable considering they give you soda too (don't know why other specialty's can't include that in their package)

 

Ended up going back to Jamie's on the final night because we loved it so much and the hostess gave us 30% PP, definitely recommend!

 

The shows were fantastic, Royal really invest alot into their entertainment and the results show as Grease, The Fine Line, 1887 & even Columbus to some extent were all thoroughly enjoyable.

 

Ports were amazing, had a bright sunny day in Labadee and that place was paradise! Took the Columbus Cove express and the water was fantastic! Unfortunately it rained in Falmouth even though we had reservations at Royalton White Sands for a day pass, still managed to have a good time and drink plenty of cocktails in the pool. Cozumel was spent at Nachi Cocom which I also highly recommend if you just want to sit by the beach and do nothing but eat, drink and swim for 6-8 hours!

 

If I had to ding the cruise on one thing it would be there's simply too many people on board! while some things are designed fantastically like being able to make reservations for shows and restaurants (and actually being enforced) however other things like the Windjammer I found to be really poor in design and just with the amount of people flowing through and layout of the actual place was just a complete disaster *avoid like the plague*

 

Anyway lesson learnt and note to self bigger does not = better ;), next cruise will be on a much smaller ship but at the same time glad I got to experience the biggest and baddest mother on the seas at the moment.

[Clarea]

Feel the same way about Windjammer crowding on Oasis class, though we did find the crowding not as bad at dinner and a good variety of selections at dinner on Oasis.

[easyboy]

Appreciate the feedback!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[warrior1024]

Feel the same way about Windjammer crowding on Oasis class, though we did find the crowding not as bad at dinner and a good variety of selections at dinner on Oasis.

 

Agreed.

Went there once for breakfast and never again, found the solarium bistro buffet to be much better in terms of amount of people and also the buffet actually flowed in a line unlike my biggest gripe about windjammer being the main stations are all in a big square and that simply does not work. You don't know which side to jump in, it always bottlenecks and it's slow as hell. You need to have a start and a finish.

 

Dinner was definitely better so long as you went after 8pm.

[Clarea]

Did you see any drink cards for sale, and if so, what day?

[warrior1024]

Didn't see them but also wasn't really looking, brought 3L of Moscato onboard :D

[Clarea]

Didn't see them but also wasn't really looking, brought 3L of Moscato onboard :D

Thanks.

[BNBR]

How funny. I've found Windjammer on Oasis and Harmony to be the best designed buffet I've seen on a ship. The island/stations are outstanding and never really have to wait. typical buffet has a single line and everyone stands in it. With the islands setup the way they are, you really don't stand in any lines at all. It's efficient. I've never had to wait for a table at Windjammer, but we avoid the busiest times. Eat 30 minutes earlier... Even for lunch around 1PM or so we had no trouble getting a table and no crowding at the stations on Harmony.

[tlatrice]

How funny. I've found Windjammer on Oasis and Harmony to be the best designed buffet I've seen on a ship. The island/stations are outstanding and never really have to wait. typical buffet has a single line and everyone stands in it. With the islands setup the way they are, you really don't stand in any lines at all. It's efficient. I've never had to wait for a table at Windjammer, but we avoid the busiest times. Eat 30 minutes earlier... Even for lunch around 1PM or so we had no trouble getting a table and no crowding at the stations on Harmony.

 

I agree. I thought the stations were a great idea.

 

Great review, warrior1024! What other lines have you sailed?

[Keith1010]

Very nice review/report.

 

Happy Holidays.

 

Keith

[JamesEM]

Thanks for your review, we were on the HOS last month with about 1,000 kids, the first and our last time dining in the MDR I was not a happy camper, the rest of the cruise we ate in the Windjammer and was satisfied with the food and service.

[Sarah1974]

I really want to try an Oasis class ship so that I can experience the ship and the ports. The largest I've sailed on is the Independence and have been on her a few times so it could be time to try something different