Just Back - Harmony 6/2-6/9 - The GOOD, Bad and Lessons learned

[Maplemoose]

51 minutes ago, panzafit said:

If it helps, I have MTD reserved for my group on Harmony of the Seas sailing June 30, 2019 and all our dinner reservations are for 5:45.  I did reserve our times almost a year prior.

Interesting. Are they still showing as 5:45 in your planner? If you remember could you update this post after your cruise as to what happened. Thanks. 

[panzafit]

Yup!  I had to email RC Dining today just to make sure we are all linked and they confirmed 5:45.  I will let you know how it goes.

[brillohead]

 

On 6/10/2019 at 9:43 PM, Maplemoose said:

Yes, I just found the Compass with those times. 6:30 is too late for us. With 2 of us I am sure they would throw us at a table of strangers if we booked an early traditional seating. Seems they are trying to say "Hey we have flex dining too but only if you go after 630 and wait in line with a large mob". I guess I should have stayed loyal to NCL! 

If you want to eat early and with a table for two, why don't you just book Early Traditional and specify "table for two"?  There are a LOT of two-top tables available.

[Maplemoose]

Thank you. I did not think they had tables for 2 in traditional. I will check that out. 

[vidsmart]

Hello. Great review. Really gets me excited as we cruise on Harmony in 53 days--this same itinerary. If I may ask, how old is the child who enjoyed the face painting and balloon animals (my granddaughter, who turns 10 on the cruise will be with us.) Also, did your granddaughter do the waterpark? Thx very much!

[FanofMinnie]

Great, informative post. Thank for sharing!!

[mammap]

5 hours ago, vidsmart said:

Hello. Great review. Really gets me excited as we cruise on Harmony in 53 days--this same itinerary. If I may ask, how old is the child who enjoyed the face painting and balloon animals (my granddaughter, who turns 10 on the cruise will be with us.) Also, did your granddaughter do the waterpark? Thx very much!

She was 9 1/2........had to wait about 15 min in line for painting/balloons but she did not care.   She did NOT do any of the kids club.   She LOVED the Headliner show with the juggler and was fascinated by FINELINE water show.   She also loved loved the dance parties in Royal Promanade at around 7-9 in the evenings.  Loved dancing with the entertainment staff.  Even got a private salsa lesson.  She did the water slides on the boat.....loved all 3 - she also loved the ABYSS slide.  Remember you MUST have a tee-shirt with sleeves to do the ABYSS.   She did the rock climbing.....(just remember to go there with socks).  They provide the shoes.  She had never rock climbed  before and was a bit scared, but loved it.    On Cocoa Cay, we did the swimming with Stingrays excursion and that was a HUGE HIT with her.    We did NOT do the water park....she just loved taking her goggles and going in the beaches at CHILL ISLAND.     She will have so much fun!

[vidsmart]

12 hours ago, mammap said:

She was 9 1/2........had to wait about 15 min in line for painting/balloons but she did not care.   She did NOT do any of the kids club.   She LOVED the Headliner show with the juggler and was fascinated by FINELINE water show.   She also loved loved the dance parties in Royal Promanade at around 7-9 in the evenings.  Loved dancing with the entertainment staff.  Even got a private salsa lesson.  She did the water slides on the boat.....loved all 3 - she also loved the ABYSS slide.  Remember you MUST have a tee-shirt with sleeves to do the ABYSS.   She did the rock climbing.....(just remember to go there with socks).  They provide the shoes.  She had never rock climbed  before and was a bit scared, but loved it.    On Cocoa Cay, we did the swimming with Stingrays excursion and that was a HUGE HIT with her.    We did NOT do the water park....she just loved taking her goggles and going in the beaches at CHILL ISLAND.     She will have so much fun!

Thx so much for your comprehensive response. I am excited for my granddaughter!

[lmp29]

I sailed on the Harmony May 19th-26th with MTD dining each night. 

 

Originally our party of 13 had scheduled through website for 6:30 every evening at two different tables, but on the first afternoon we stopped by the dining room just to verify our reservations and check out our seating, and though i had the confirmation emails, they insisted that we were not in the system.  As they were assisting in providing us with reservations, they booked us at 5:15 every evening, and sat all 13 of our group at the same table (which is very unusual.  We typically sail with 12-25 people and tables usually max out at 10 seats.)    It was wonderful.  The 5:15 seating worked out well.  (A little early on the night we were in San Juan, but we knew we had the choice to go elsewhere if we chose to stay on the island.)  Side note, somewhere something in the system was messed up because my phone app showed two different dining reservations every night of the cruise.

 

Nod to our wonderful waiters - Francisco and Caio.  Worth requesting, they were FANTASTIC!

[panzafit]

Ugh!  I'm really worried about this.  We have a party of 13 as well.  I made our dinner reservations for 6:15 MTD way back last July and then made our show reservations for 8:30pm.  A couple of days ago I emailed RC Dining to make sure they had us all linked and had the reservation and the cake I ordered for my daughters 21st birthday (which is the first day of the cruise).......they had us all linked but didn't have the reservation.  I forwarded all my confirmations.  The response I received was "Please be advised your request has been noted.  Tables in My Time Dining venue are not pre-assigned before embarkation day.  Please visit out My Time Dining Host onboard to get your table assigned."  By "noted" does that mean they put us down in their system at 6:15pm as a party of 13.  And they never mentioned if they received the cake order.  This wouldn't be a big deal if it wasn't a milestone birthday on the first day.  Keeping my fingers crossed.

[normannna]

I know what you mean about the murky and very busy pools.  People seem to sit in there all day which I don't get.  I tried to take my niece in for a quick spIash around but there was just no space!. I always shower before and after using the pool and I rarely see others do the same which means I don't usually use it unless its early morning or when most people are off the ship.

 

Glad you enjoyed your holiday and thanks for the tips.

[Midwestgal]

Thanks I’m enjoying your review.

I'm now confused , where and when should I try and reserve my time dining? We are not cruising until April 2020 .

why can’t people get reservations at 6::00 if the dining room opens at 5:00/5:30 ? 

[mammap]

18 minutes ago, Midwestgal said:

Thanks I’m enjoying your review.

I'm now confused , where and when should I try and reserve my time dining? We are not cruising until April 2020 .

why can’t people get reservations at 6::00 if the dining room opens at 5:00/5:30 ? 

not sure why.....when I put my party in the system, it only listed a certain time....I did not get to pick.  My suggestion, make the reservations when they open but on day 1 go to the dining room and confirm.  Get it straight before your dining time as the first few days were hell with hundreds of people trying to get seated at one time.  Very crazy!

Glad you enjoyed the review.

Edited June 13, 2019 by mammap

[Midwestgal]

10 minutes ago, mammap said:

not sure why.....when I put my party in the system, it only listed a certain time....I did not get to pick.  My suggestion, make the reservations when they open but on day 1 go to the dining room and confirm.  Get it straight before your dining time as the first few days were hell with hundreds of people trying to get seated at one time.  Very crazy!

Glad you enjoyed the review.

I just went in and reserve ours for 6:30 all 7 nights. Once on board I’ll see if I can’t get it early. I did reach out to my TA to see if he can’t make a call ....stay tuned 

[jbrooksodh]

Great post- thank you!  Loved the Amazon links- ordered lanyards and luggage tags!

[ptf2009]

On 6/11/2019 at 9:12 AM, RickinStl said:

 

We're on this sailing with you all.. 

 

So are we!!!! It will be our 2nd time on Harmony. We hope you love this beautiful ship as much as we do:)