Live: Harmony of the Seas 6/23 Queens on the High Seas Summer Extravaganza!

[RazorbackIslandGirl]

Thank you so much for taking time to do such a wonderful review! This has gotten me really excited to get back on her. Congrats on the Delta score! Maybe you can rack up enough Amex points to offset the $500 & fly for free. I LOVE when I can do that! Although I like to hoard them for long-haul Delta-One upgrades!😉

 

[jagsfan]

On 6/30/2019 at 10:31 AM, cruisinfromtampa said:

On to Day 4: St. Thomas! 

 

St. Thomas is one of our favorite islands. It’s on the list of places to go back for a land vacation. Others include St. Maarten, Aruba, and Bonaire, just to give an idea of what we like. I can’t put my finger on a specific thing that draws us to it, but we just live it every time we go, and want to explore more. 

 

We had had a late arrival, which gave us a chance to sleep in and grab breakfast. We walked around the pool deck for a bit while we waited for clearance. The Solarium was crowded when we walked through, and so hot. My glasses fogged up, and sweaty is an understatement. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We did the “Villa Botanica and Mountain Top” excursion. It was roughly 4 hours long. Some highs, and some lows. 

 

Villa Botanica was perfectly lovely, but 90 minutes was far too long to spend there. I would rather they had split the time evenly between it and Mountain Top. The view from Mountain Too was great, but our driver neglected to stop along the way for us to take pictures of the ship docked in port, which is one shot I was really

hoping to get. We saw the other buses stopping, and that was frustrating. The highlight of the trip was the minor traffic accident we had. On the way down the mountain, there wasn’t enough clearance for us and another truck to pass, and we made contact. Both vehicles became wedged together between the others parked on the side. Nobody was hurt, or even close to getting hurt, but it was still unsettling, as anything could have happened. We went to GS just to let them know it happened. The manager from Shore Excursions called us later that night to talk about it. Apparently nobody else mentioned it, and they were grateful to know. 

 

View from the Villa. 

 

 

Termite mound that survived Irma and Maria. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View from Mountain Top. 

 

 

 

Iguana were everywhere. 

 

 

Overall, a relaxing day. St. Thomas is beautiful. 

 

Did you dock at Havensight or at Crown Bay?

i’m hoping Harmony docks at Havensight. 

Tired of Crown Bay and don’t really like it. 

And did you get one of the killer banana daiquiris at Mountaintop?

i’m cruising with you vicariously. 

[mickeygirl78]

Thank you for taking the time to do such a detailed review and including so many pictures. 

[JKCamara]

On 7/4/2019 at 2:13 PM, cruisinfromtampa said:

Well as it turns out, I’m still in Detroit. They offered me $1,000 in flight credit to give up my seat and take a later flight. I jumped on because were doing Alaska next year, and this coupled with miles from my Delta Amex and reward points from the credit union means we’ll be out less than $500 for all of our tickets in first. #win

 

Working on getting pictures of compasses so I can upload them. I should have scanned them when I was at home. 

Thank you so so much for taking the time to post your review! We also live in Tampa and will be sailing Harmony in September on the same itinerary. I would love to see the rest of the compasses if you get a moment to upload them. I know that this change, but I am curious when some of the other events take place. 

 

Thanks again!

Edited July 10, 2019 by JKCamara

[cruisinfromtampa]

19 hours ago, JKCamara said:

Thank you so so much for taking the time to post your review! We also live in Tampa and will be sailing Harmony in September on the same itinerary. I would love to see the rest of the compasses if you get a moment to upload them. I know that this change, but I am curious when some of the other events take place. 

 

Thanks again!

 

Posting now! 

[cruisinfromtampa]

Day 3: At Sea

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisinfromtampa]

Day 4: St. Thomas 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisinfromtampa]

Day 5: St. Maarten 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisinfromtampa]

Day 6: At Sea

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisinfromtampa]

Day 7: At Sea

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisinfromtampa]

On 7/7/2019 at 7:58 PM, jagsfan said:

Did you dock at Havensight or at Crown Bay?

i’m hoping Harmony docks at Havensight. 

Tired of Crown Bay and don’t really like it. 

And did you get one of the killer banana daiquiris at Mountaintop?

i’m cruising with you vicariously. 

 

I am almost certain we were at Havensight.

 

We did!  It was delicious!  Should have gotten a bigger one as we shared.

[Sea Dog]

Thank you for posting the daily compass. It will help us in planning and scheduling.

[cruisinfromtampa]

On 7/7/2019 at 7:58 PM, RazorbackIslandGirl said:

Thank you so much for taking time to do such a wonderful review! This has gotten me really excited to get back on her. Congrats on the Delta score! Maybe you can rack up enough Amex points to offset the $500 & fly for free. I LOVE when I can do that! Although I like to hoard them for long-haul Delta-One upgrades!😉

 

 

You're welcome!

 

So I'm having to Frankenstein our tickets...I get a First Class companion pass annually as one of my perks (I have the Reserve Card), but it has to be lower 48.  I have to book RT Tampa-Seattle, then one way FC tickets Seattle-Anchorage, and Vancouver-Seattle.  I can't use miles for the companion pass, so I have to pay the cost less the $1,000.  The one way legs will be miles for one, and points from my credit union for the other.  It's possible, however, that the TPA-SEA flight will only be $1,000, and then I'd only be out the taxes/fees.  I can hope, right?

[cruisinfromtampa]

On 7/4/2019 at 8:53 AM, leight said:

 Hope you have a great flight! I am so enjoying your reviews. I read the Navigator review but can't seem to find any others. Is there a link you can post to bring me to other reviews on cruise critic? My sister and I are sailing on Navigator in Feb just the two of us and on Harmony in Nov 2020 with our DHs. So I love your perspective on both!

 

Just search the forum.  "Navigator Review" "Harmony Review" etc.  They should pop up.

[cruisinfromtampa]

On 7/7/2019 at 7:04 PM, jagsfan said:

I’m confused. Is Fletcher in Tampa? Is it the route you take going to the east coast ports?

We drive Jax-PC, and don’t know any good bagel places. 

Unfair for you to tantalize me with that photo!

 

Fletcher is a street in Tampa, and how we get to I-75 to hit I-4.

 

If I tell you it was terrible, would that help?  I mean...it wasn't, but I'll say it if you need me to.

 

If you ever sail out of Tampa, it's just off I-275.  If you take I-95 to I-4, it's a backtrack, but if you come down I-75 it's on the way! 

[cruisinfromtampa]

On 7/7/2019 at 2:12 AM, perfect match said:

Thanks for a great review! I’ve enjoyed the journey! 😀. Your food pics have made me really hungry!

 

Next time we go to Maho, we may have to try getting a table at the restaurant. We’ve done chairs on the beach in the past.  I end up getting up every time a plane comes in because the umbrella blocks the view. At least I get some exercise that way! 

 

The last time we were there we just stood around.  Having a table made it SO much better!  And the food is pretty good.  Standard "bar" fare, but I wasn't upset with anything we ordered.

[cruisinfromtampa]

On 7/4/2019 at 4:34 PM, mk907 said:

Thanks so much for your wonderful review! We will be on in late September (my first on Harmony and first on Royal). I loved all the food photos even though we will probably stick to the MDRs for our first trip. The Coco Cay photos really helped put things into perspective, too!

And I have to give a huge thanks for the Excel schedule idea! I am a huge Excel fan and use it for a lot of things (including other schedules) but can't believe I didn't think to use it for this purpose!!! 🤩

 

A group of teachers from my school have started doing a summer vacation together, and this year we did NYC.  We HAD to have something concrete, so I whipped up a schedule.  It was amazing, and I decided to do one for our cruise and I'll never go back.  Made it so easy to get a rough idea of what the day looked like.  We didn't follow it to a T, but it was nice to have everything in one place.

[cruisinfromtampa]

On 7/4/2019 at 12:39 PM, UFMOM said:

Thank you for a great review. We will be on Symphony in August with the Unlimited Dining so I paid great attention to your detailed food reviews.  Concerning the tour to Maho, we have been there many times, but I now have some mobility issues from a broken ankle.  I can walk moderate distances with a cane or walker and can go slowly on steps if there is a handrail. Was there any part that seems undoable with those limitations? We have not been there since the hurricane and things have changed. Thanks.

 

 

Mary Ann

 

I think you'd be fine if you stayed on the deck of the restaurant.  With the beach being so much smaller post hurricane, traffic is definitely heavier due to the compact space.

[jagsfan]

1 hour ago, cruisinfromtampa said:

 

Fletcher is a street in Tampa, and how we get to I-75 to hit I-4.

 

If I tell you it was terrible, would that help?  I mean...it wasn't, but I'll say it if you need me to.

 

If you ever sail out of Tampa, it's just off I-275.  If you take I-95 to I-4, it's a backtrack, but if you come down I-75 it's on the way! 

In my younger days, I’d have talked a friend into riding with me and made the 3 1/2 hour drive to get a good bagel. 

Now I can only wish I had a friend left that would do it!

[bobmacliberty]

Are you still planning on posting the Izumi time lapse, or was that a good idea that ran out of steam (been there)?  Would love to see it.

[cruisinfromtampa]

1 hour ago, bobmacliberty said:

Are you still planning on posting the Izumi time lapse, or was that a good idea that ran out of steam (been there)?  Would love to see it.

 

It’s coming! I pulled it off my GoPro, but it’s I’ve got to move it to my desktop. With being out of town, I haven’t finished that part yet. I’ll work on it when I get home tonight. 

[cruisinfromtampa]

Let's see if this works...

 

I'd do this again and changed a few things, but it's cool to see the whole process condensed to 3ish minutes.

 

 

Edited July 12, 2019 by cruisinfromtampa

[bobmacliberty]

2 hours ago, cruisinfromtampa said:

Let's see if this works...

 

I'd do this again and changed a few things, but it's cool to see the whole process condensed to 3ish minutes.

 

Very cool!  I've not eaten at Izumi but have eaten at a lot of land based teppanyaki restaurants.  It was interesting trying to find the typical chef antics from other restaurants in high speed.  Looks like he may have tossed something for everyone to catch in their mouth??  No onion volcano, but I would guess that open flame would be a no-no on a ship.  I also enjoyed the drink at the end.  It would periodically disappear and then reappear with less liquid.  😄

 

As I said earlier, it's not often that you see something different here.  Thanks for doing something new and different.

[csj092809]

Just an FYI, All the Oasis class ships dock at Crown Bay. I believe they are too large to dock at the WICO dock in Havensite.

[mickeygirl78]

Did you take a picture of the Jamies dinner menu by any chance? The one I’m seeing on Royals site under my cruise planner lists a ribeye but I see in your review a filet. Was curious to see the actual menu on Harmony.