Little Things Make The Difference

[PapaSquatch]

Due to a comment I made in the MSC section, I'm posting here. That comment was that most forum posters fall into only two catagories, those that love it, or those that hate it. The 90% inbetween rarely post. Though the posts are to be helpful, this does make it difficult to make proper decisions. It's just how forums are. So here's my 90% on Royal Caribbean.

 

Our first cruise was Disney in 2012. It was definitely a learning experience. I'd stay with them as a cruiseline but at nearly double the price, uh, no. Though the target audience is kids, most of the activities can be done by anyone for fun. One was trying to find all the Mickeys aboard the ship. They were everywhere, some obvious, some very well hidden but in plain sight. Multiple other activites. Comparing onboard activites to RC, Disney wins hands down.

 

But since this is the RC forum. We went on Liberty in 2017, then Harmony in 2018. There were some very minor differences between the two ships  I would like to compare. Not bad, just differences.

 

I use a cpap at night. On the Liberty, there were not any plugs by the bed in our room. Do not know if this is ship wide or if we just happen to get the room without them. Had to request an extension cord that we ran halfway across the room. On Harmony, there were plugs by the bed

 

On Harmony, the Queen complained she did not have a mirror with sufficient lighting on which to apply make-up. Do not remember this on Liberty.

 

We travel with a plug-in room airfreshener. No problem on Liberty. On Harmony, the plugs all had some type of obstruction above them like a glass shelf. This would not allow the airfreshner to plug in. The one, usable plug the airfreshener fit in was not very tight, allowing the airfreshener to fall out of the socket.

 

As for the crew, top notch. Maybe it was our dining time, but, on Harmony, we had the same servers for only 2 of the 6 dinners in main dining room. Those 2 nights were great. The other 4 nights were not so great. On Liberty, we had same servers every night. They were great. Folks taking care of the room were also great.

 

Ship wise, size is obviously the biggest difference. We did not have any abnormal weather or roughness of seas, but I think Harmonys size and weight made for a smoother glide thru the water.

 

A few more activities on Harmony than Loberty. Personally, I would like to see an indoor movie theater that ran maybe 4 different movies throughtout the day (Disney has multiple theaters, but that would be only appropriate). It would make for a place to just relax and be entertained without distractions of talking, clapping, hollering, etc

 

I really only have 2 complaints of the RC cruiseline.

On Liberty, we got really tired and annoyed of the upsells. It seemed every place that had room for a folding table, there was someone trying to sell specialty dining or drink packages, internet, etc.  First full day onboard, I can put up with this. This went on all thru the week to the last full day. It was too much. On Harmony, we'd run into an upsell table maybe once a day. That was better. The other upsell we encountered multiple times at the buffet. A crewman would stop at our table and would begin.."we've had multiple request to see the kitchen. With so many, the captain has decided to allow a tour of the kitchen. We'll even include a dinner at the end. Tour and dinner $35pp"...uh, no. Now, a tour of the behind the scenes of the bridge, engine room, kitchen, etc? Maybe. I know that upsells are part of business, it just got old.

As for the second complaint, it's food related.--Royal Caribbean are you reading this?---they really need to get a good southern cook to show them how to make a proper biscuits and gravy!

The other is vegetables on the buffet. Yes, there were various cooked vegetables, but always some kind of medley. I would like to have seen just plain yellow corn, or green beans, or something similiar.

Liberty had an omellet station during breakfast in the buffet. Harmony's was a simple fried egg station. 

 

I hope this helps since it's not an I love it or an I hate it review. Just little things. Happy cruising.

 

[mk907]

Thanks for your thoughts! I am going on my first RCI Harmony this fall after doing a couple Disney cruises in 2013 and 2015 so I appreciate your take on things! 

[ONECRUISER]

Older ships never have had plugs by bed for CPAP machines, them and the diagnosis requiring use has exploded last few yrs. So new ships have near bed plugs which is great as everyone has many other electronics to charge that they didnt 20yrs ago. But they wont be adding more to older ships so count on  not having them in only under 10yr old ships.... Royal ships did have Movie theaters at one time showing many movies a day. Were not to popular, some were replaced with more cabins... Sounds like on Harmony   you had "My Time" Dining if you had different servers each nite... Up sells in all Businesses is big now, helps keep their Profits up and base prices down. I can take four 7 nites cruises today for what one cost 30yrs ago. This without even adding inflation into it. I never purchase add on's, I nice no thank you works... Thank you for sharing your experience and opinions, always welcome here

Edited March 18, 2019 by ONECRUISER

[LeeW]

Since your air freshener plugs directly into an outlet, it is likely a prohibited heat generating device.

[mac66]

 I think the up selling is what turns off most first time cruisers. If you cruise enough times you tend to look past the up sales.  I had to think back what if any there were on the last cruise in Feb I was on. I don't even notice it anymore and am not bothered by it. Maybe I have "the look" because I've never had anyone approach me at a table or otherwise to sell me anything.

 

When we were on the Oasis in Dec we had my time dining. Only was in the same place and had the same waiters two or three times. The rest of the time we were shuffled around and had generally poor service in the MDR.  On our Feb cruise on the Freedom we had regular dining, same waiters, same table every night. The service and food was excellent.   We picked regular dining again for our next cruise.

 

I think my wife brings a lighted mirror with her on cruises. I seem to recall seeing one.

Edited March 18, 2019 by mac66

[er345]

You are correct that the rave reviews and the awful reviews probably aren’t what the general population will experience. I am usually a rave reviewer of RC, although I don’t post much because my thoughts have usually already been expressed by another post.

 

Since I am expecting to be wowed, I usually overlook any minor inconveniences on the ship and really enjoy the things that are great. My official review pretty much talked about all the good parts.

 

My contribution to little things observed from our Symphony cruise:

I was expecting outlets on each side of the bed, but there was just one. It happened to be the side DH sleeps on so I did not charge my device at night.  No biggie, just a slight disappointment. Also the phone took up most of the space on my tiny nightstand.  Again no biggie, but bothersome that I didn’t have room for my book, glasses and phone.  I did use the shelf below instead.  Wish the phone was at the desk.

 

I ignored all the upsell techniques on the ship.  However I did choose a spa treatment even knowing I would be hit up.  I was already planning a this as a treat for myself. I thought I could work around the upsell because I was expecting it.  But no, my 50 minute treatment consisted of at least 25 minutes of questions about my health, eating habits, exercise, even my bathroom regularity. All phrased like casual conversation just so she could spend the last 5 minutes recommending all the treatments that would ‘benefit’ me. When I declined to book more appointments while still on the table, she said she was at least going to “give me” some products to take. Luckily I flat out asked the price of the products and declined the $55 cream etc. Lesson learned, no more spa treatments onboard. 

[Ocean Boy]

In your third paragraph you state there are some very minor differences between Liberty and Harmony. I would say there are some major differences.