Harmony Live, August 25th to September 8th - A few more days drifting away...

[kpark895]

Andrew, thanks for allowing us to share in your family's adventure.  Glad you made it home safely, and hope Owen is enjoying his first day of school.

[Luvmypups]

Thanks for taking us along. We were supposed to be on the Allure 9/1 sailing but chose to cancel after making it all the way to FLL and they shortened it to a 4 nighter. We have rebooked for 10/13 but having your review to read for the last couple of weeks took a little bit of the disappointment away. It helped to vicariously cruise with you and your family. 

 

Your review was great and hope you had a great time. Can’t wait to hear your preference between the CLS and ATS!

 

Thanks again!

[Drock20J]

On 9/6/2019 at 8:56 AM, A&L_Ont said:

We’re off to try something new today, pickle ball. Owen wants to play itLOL, I can’t see them. We’re off to try something new today, pickle ball. Owen wants to play it. 

 My Wife and MIL enjoyed playing Pickleball with you and Owen!

[A&L_Ont]

1 hour ago, Drock20J said:

 My Wife and MIL enjoyed playing Pickleball with you and Owen!

 

LOL, that’s hilarious.  I was sweating my a$$ off, and you MIL was so great in teaching us about pickle ball. It was fun meeting her, and please pass my hellos along to both of them. 

[Jax129]

I really enjoyed your review. It was interesting to read about all the changes with all the hurricane drama since I live here in Cocoa Beach. 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

Another great live review! Especially interesting and entertaining with the hurricane issues! Thanks so much for staying on and extending for us... LOL! Hope Owen has a great school year. He will, at least, have a great story to tell! 

[poohnpals]

Thank you so much for the great review!  We are sailing on her for the first time on Sunday so your review was what I needed to get me jump started!  Glad you made it home safe!

[A&L_Ont]

First day of school, check. 

 

 

 

Lucy even came down to say happy first day. 

 

 

 

Get to ride in the back now, he’s a big boy. 

 

 

 

First hockey try out done.  Hopefully he makes first round of cuts and gets to play tomorrow night.

 

Got his ball hockey team shirt tonight. 

 

 

 

 

Laundry, mail, emails etc completed and caught up. Hope to get the review done tomorrow.  Thanks everyone for sticking it out. 

 

 

Edited September 10, 2019 by A&L_Ont

[amzgirl]

Just finished blasting through your review.  We were booked for the Harmony 9/1 and ended up taking the 3-day since we are locals anyway, and by the time we finished the emotional roller coaster that was Dorian, we were ready for a getaway, however short.  It ended up being the best decision, we got 4 days refunded plus a 5 day FCC (they threw in an extra day.)  We booked onboard for the 10/27 sailing since my daughter is planning to join the Air Force in the next six months or so and we want a big family vacay before she leaves.  So we basically got that three day cruise for nothing, and I feel like I got a nice intro to Oasis class, we know our way around, plus we have now seen all the shows, so hopefully the 10/27 sailing will be nice and relaxed!  It really all worked out for the best.

 

Never having sailed Oasis class before, I do feel that we are now spoiled by the apparently half-empty ship.  Hopefully we are not disappointed by the crowds in October, LOL.

 

Thanks so much for your review!

Edited September 10, 2019 by amzgirl

[packerpegster]

A huge thank you for your postings of your trip!  I am in awe of your positive attitude about the whole trip!  You will never forget THIS cruise..and Owen will remember it his whole life!!  Hope you are all resting up tonight!!  And Go Owen...you got this hockey dude!!!

[minnie00]

On 9/8/2019 at 12:58 PM, A&L_Ont said:

This was also in my email when we landed. 

 

Still, I can’t recommend them.  My email clearly said today’s date, not Tuesday.  

 

Their Google reviews are 4.7 from 5, so I’d say use with caution. 

 

 

We used Cortrans shuttle who is recommended here by many and they were great, timely and nice comfortable ride for $20 pp each way

[Drock20J]

On 9/9/2019 at 8:50 PM, amzgirl said:

Never having sailed Oasis class before, I do feel that we are now spoiled by the apparently half-empty ship.  Hopefully we are not disappointed by the crowds in October, LOL.

 

Though the crowds were VERY nice, honestly even at full capacity, there is plenty of room from everyone.

[Lionesss]

On 9/9/2019 at 8:48 PM, A&L_Ont said:

 

 

 

 

Laundry, mail, emails etc completed and caught up. Hope to get the review done tomorrow.  Thanks everyone for sticking it out. 

 

 

 

 

Andrew, hope all is well after your two week hiatus cruise and all is back to normal, routine and all.

 

I just keep checking to see if you finished your review.......

 

Take care

 

 

Sue

[jagsfan]

3 hours ago, Lionesss said:

 

 

Andrew, hope all is well after your two week hiatus cruise and all is back to normal, routine and all.

 

I just keep checking to see if you finished your review.......

 

Take care

 

 

Sue

Yeah, I’m hoping Andrew will keep it going. 

We have to find out about Owen’s school and hockey, and Fall in Ontario...so much left to tell us!

[A&L_Ont]

Sorry for the delay these last few days. I’m here to finish it up tonight.

 

Really there is not much left to say about the extended or shortened cruises as a comparison.  We did not want for anything for either of the sailings.  The only thing that we joked about, was one night they did not have raspberry topping for the cheese cake.  They did have strawberry thought. 😉

 

The crew across the board was in great spirits.  During the hurricane concerns Captain Johnny did three reports a day at 8, 12, and 6.  The ship also ran the Weather Channel 24/7.  On  the second shortened sailing all the channels were back to normal.

[A&L_Ont]

 

Our cabin for the short cruise was Aqua Theatre Suite 10330. We were very fortunate enough to get one of two Star Class cabins that became available.  We had often wondered what an 2 bedroom ATS would be like but never booked one as we prefer deck 17.

 

For this sailing we could have remained in our current cabin for $599 each, for the first two guests and $99 for the third. For $100 more for each of the first two guests we were able to get our new cabin.  Owen remained at $99. 

 

It was worth the switch as laundry, specialty dining, tips and alcoholic drink packages were included. We might have sent out $100 in laundry the first day alone. As it turns out we came home with an on board credit which was refunded to my credit card. It actually would have cost us more to stay in our earlier cabin because of purchasing drink packages, doing laundry and tips.

Edited September 17, 2019 by A&L_Ont

[A&L_Ont]

Now I will share our observations of the cabin.  I will describe areas of the new cabin, where we saw pros and cons. 

 

The location is a bit of a hike down the hall but with the ship being at half capacity you were not bopping and weaving around as many guests in the hallway. 

 

There are two washrooms, and they both have the similar issue of small sinks with limited counter space. When washing your hands we found the angle awkward to get them under the faucet. 

 

 

 

This sink was better in the master bedroom bathroom. 

 

[A&L_Ont]

Lisa wasn’t use to the step up into the bathroom and hit her foot a few times.  This is normal for many cabins, but not found on deck 17.

 

 

 

She also found the shower glass partition wall for the tub to be shorter than the tub combo on deck 17.  A lot of water ended up on the floor and Lisa was careful not to make a mess. She noted an extra glass panel would have prevented a lot of this extra water on the floor. An extra bath mat did help with the water spray on the floor. 

 

 

 

The capsule shower in the washroom off the hall way was larger than the comparable one in a balcony room.  Both showers had amazing pressure and both washrooms had a good amount of shelf space.

Edited September 17, 2019 by A&L_Ont

[A&L_Ont]

In the master bedroom the curtains allowed enough light in, to wake a light sleeper. 

 

 

 

 

A couple propped pillows resolved the issue. 

 

 

 

Lisa found the bed to be hard, but I didn’t notice it. There was great storage in the room and the safe was easy to access. It was nice to have a sliding door that went directly to the balcony. 

 

The guest bedroom was great for Owen. He sure liked having his own room.  Let’s be honest, who wouldn’t. That being said, I don’t know how comfortable it would be with the pullman’s down and 4 people in the room.

[A&L_Ont]

We didn’t utilize the living room much, as it felt closed in.  It’s hard to explain but I think that this space on the ATS on deck 9 and 8 are larger in size, giving you more room to relaxing in. Owen flaked out on the couch but not all three of us would fit. The living room also had a lot of storage space.

 

We found both bedrooms and the hallway to be quite cool, but when you entered the living room area 3 of the 4 AC units had little, to no airflow.  We had to have maintenance come and look at it.  Their solution was to go to the hallway “master switch” and set the AC to it’s coldest setting. Our cabin thermostats would not longer work. We could not do any further adjustments. Both bedrooms were freezing but the living room really never got any colder. 

 

On a general note the carpet felt well worn underneath your feet.  As though the under padding was completely gone.  Our balcony room on Allure did not feel like that. I might only guess, that with 4-8 guests in the cabin every week it takes its toll. Really just an observation. 

[A&L_Ont]

Now I will head outside to talk about the balcony.

 

It was awkward to walk around the furniture, as it was too big for the amount of space we had. The 2 bar chairs and raised counter were hard to use effectively. We tried sitting there to watch the Aqua Theatre Show and to see from deck 10 to the pool you were practically looking right into the counter top. We just ended up standing and looking over the glass. 

 

We also found a lot of soot from the stacks, more than on deck 17.  Dennis our steward mopped the balcony daily but expect to get black feet if you stay back here. Use a pool towel to sit on when you use the loungers as you will end up with soot on your clothing. 

 

All that being said the balcony has million dollar views.  We got to watch the divers warm up prior to their show, you could still people watch and you also heard the occasional scream coming from the Abyss. There was even a little bit of water spray from the flow rider, when the rider above sent water over the side of the ship.

 

Dennis our steward was amazing.  Even with handling 16 other cabins he took great care of us.  This week he only had 11 cabins with guests.  I’d like to think he is great, even when the ship is full.  He was a friendly a guy who always had a smile and took great care of us. 

 

We also had a Genie, but with a 3 night cruise and no preplanning there was not much to really ask for.  She made 3 dinner reservations, and 2 shows for us.  After being on board for 12 days we didn’t need snacks delivered daily. Goodies arrived, in our cabin but we wondered if they were the favourites of the people who were supposed to be in the room.  Our real benefit of Star Class this sailing was the included laundry, drinks and specialty dining. 

 

Really with the ship half full everyone had “express” elevators, priority seating and easy access to all the onboard amenities.

 

 

[John&LaLa]

9 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

Really with the ship half full everyone had “express” elevators, priority seating and easy access to all the onboard amenities.

 

Wait a minute. STAR Class has express elevator priviledge 🤔

[A&L_Ont]

For those who asked for our thoughts on the ATS, I present the following musings. 

 

For us, it was prefect for a three night sailing. Would we stay in it for a week?  We wouldn’t.  That’s not to say that it isn’t a great cabin, it is.  It just isn’t the cabin for us. For three days it was the perfect sampling.

 

Thanks for following along on our latest adventures.  If you have any questions please let me know. 

 

[A&L_Ont]

I ran through all the pictures and didn’t miss any, but thought I’d end with this one.  We shouldn’t be back to the Bahamas for a while but when we do it’s lighthouse will be awaiting us. 

 

 

 

 

I will most likely ask you all to join Lisa and I again in a few weeks.  I will catch you up with what has happened the last week here.

 

Let’s just say it has been busy and fun. 

[A&L_Ont]

9 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Wait a minute. STAR Class has express elevator priviledge 🤔

 

Only if you have a Genie with you.

 

 

Edited September 17, 2019 by A&L_Ont