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Sailing in harmony on Harmony of the Seas-February 16-23

WVHillbilly

By WVHillbilly,
in Royal Caribbean International

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WVHillbilly

WVHillbilly

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Harmony of the Seas – February 16 to February 23 – Semi Live Review

I have always enjoyed reading the cruise reviews for their information and entertainment value.  They also make the time between cruises a bit more bearable.  I have done three post cruise reviews, but this will be my first attempt at a live review.  In fact this is my first time with the internet on the ship, not sure how it will go but I will try my best to post in between enjoying the cruise.  I’ll also try and answer anyone’s questions that they may have.  I fancy myself as an amateur photographer so there will be lots of pics. 

 

We are a mid-60s couple, and I would describe ourselves as pretty easy to please and we are more inclined to roll with the flow.  On our past cruises dining has been in the MDR, café promenade/compass deli and the windjammer in that order.  The buffet would be my least favorite place to eat.  We don’t spend a great deal of time in our cabin and the only thing I expect from our room steward is to make the bed, replace the towels and fill the ice bucket in the evenings.   We enjoy listening to music and attending the various shows and lounging in the sun/hot tub during sea days.  On port days, we like to do a bit of sightseeing.

 

Background:  We booked this cruise three days into our very first cruise on Oasis of the Seas in April 2018.  I retired in November 2017 and after hearing about Royal Caribbean cruises from a co-worker I decided to finally take my DW on a cruise, something she had wanted to try for a long time.  To say that we fell in love with cruising is an understatement.  In addition to this cruise we have three others booked.

 

Harmony is our fourth cruise, with Oasis, Grandeur and Majesty being number 1, 2 and 3.  All have been great experiences.  We have an ocean view balcony, and first seating Traditional Dining.  We are not foodies and the MDR and other included venues have been fine with us in the past.  The only specialty dining we have experienced so far was Chops Brunch on Grandeur of the Seas and we were not that impressed with that one.  But because we wanted to experience Wonderland, I purchased the three night dining package for this cruise, when it went on sale for $99pp.  Our plans are to eat at Chops, Wonderland and 150 Central Park.  We were also lucky enough to get the great UBP glitch of 2019, so there will be no problem breaking even on this cruise.  I have the digital photo package so we will be jumping in front of a ship’s photographer as much as I can.  At the last minute, we purchased The Key as prices went down, so I will try to do a somewhat live review this time.

 

The Plan:  We started taking ballroom dance lessons this past September and hope to find opportunities to dance the night away.  The pre-cruise events starts off with a formal Sweetheart Dance on February 14 put on by our local dance studio.  With only a few hours of sleep we fly from DC to Orlando Saturday Morning.  So here is our itinerary for this cruise.

 

Pre-Cruise Day -2:  Final packing and attending the Sweetheart Formal Dance.

Pre-Cruise Day -1:  Flight to Orlando, spend the day checking out Disney Springs and/or Universal City Walk before checking into Country Inn & Suites by Radisson.

Cruise Day 1:  Kraken Lava Flow, specialty dinner reservations and then Chops lunch in the MDR. 

Cruise Day 2:  Coco Cay-this is our second time at Coco Cay, but the first time at Perfect Day.  Plans are for a relaxing beach day with time in the pool, beach and                                          exploring the island taking photographs.

Cruise Day 3:  Sea Day-this is a do nothing but enjoy the ship day.

Cruise Day 4:  Puerto Costa Maya-this is our second time here.  On our first visit we took a Royal excursion to the Mayan ruins at Kohunlich and Dizbanche, this time the                           plans are to explore the port and visit the Aviary.

Cruise Day 5:  Roatan, Honduras- we will be doing the adults only Sol y Mar Beach Club.   

Cruise Day 6:  Cozumel, Mexico-this will be our third time here, previously we did the Mayan Ruins at San Gervasio and Chocolate Factory Tour and explored downtown                             San Miguel.  This time we have Trikes Cozumel reserved for a tour around the island, followed by some time downtown before heading back to the ship.

Cruise Day 7:  Final Sea Day-hoping to enjoy the ship and drink our sorrows away as this cruise comes to an end.

Cruise Day 8:  Will be dragged off the ship kicking and screaming, once the shock wears off we’ll be off to explore Cocoa Beach area.  DW does not like rushing off the                               ship to the airport so we will spend another night in Florida before heading home.

Post-Cruise Day:  It’s back to the cruel cold winter with a flight from MCO to IAD.

 

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perfect match Holiday Sharing Rare

perfect match

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I’ll be following along to help me deal with my “Isn’t it time for us to board Harmony yet?” depression. We will be 17 months out from our last cruise by the time we board in October, the longest wait we’ve ever had between cruises. It has been far too long as far as I’m concerned. It’s a first world problem for sure, but I really miss being at sea 🌊. Thanks for helping me get through.  😀

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WVHillbilly

WVHillbilly

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5 hours ago, perfect match said:

I’ll be following along to help me deal with my “Isn’t it time for us to board Harmony yet?” depression. We will be 17 months out from our last cruise by the time we board in October, the longest wait we’ve ever had between cruises. It has been far too long as far as I’m concerned. It’s a first world problem for sure, but I really miss being at sea 🌊. Thanks for helping me get through.  😀

 

Your welcome; reading others reviews certainly helps me between cruises.

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ljmandelbaum

ljmandelbaum

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13 hours ago, WVHillbilly said:

This time we have Trikes Cozumel reserved for a tour around the island, followed by some time downtown before heading back to the ship.

 

We had fun doing TRikes Cozumel in December.  You might want to confirm where you are meeting before you get off the Boat.  The Tequila tasting was a lot of fun. 

 

Can't wait to read about your Perfect day at Coco Cay.  I'm wondering how many kids are going to be on your cruise since it is Presidents week for a lot of the Northeast and the kids are off from school.  

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WVHillbilly

WVHillbilly

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6 hours ago, Lionesss said:

I must say you are an excellent planner!!!!!!!

 

I love your outline of plans to do.

 

Me on the other hand I make lists and lists to check the list.

 

I am eager following your adventures.

 

Safe travels to you 

Thank you, I like to always have a plan B, in case plan A goes to crap. 😄  I also do packing lists to check off what I have already packed. 

 

6 hours ago, gatour said:

Between Universal/City walk and Disney Springs, I would do Disney Springs.  There are more things to see/do.  Plus if you have a car, parking is free at Disney Springs

We did a Disney and Universal vacation this past November, did not spend much time at all in Disney Springs so was planning on wondering around there for a bit, and like you said the parking is free there.  Wanted Universal City Walk for the nightlife just not sure I want to hang out there to long as we are staying in Cocoa Beach the night before the cruise.  Since we are arriving mid morning the day before, i do have a rental car to explore with and get us to Cocoa Beach.

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WVHillbilly

WVHillbilly

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4 hours ago, ljmandelbaum said:

 

We had fun doing TRikes Cozumel in December.  You might want to confirm where you are meeting before you get off the Boat.  The Tequila tasting was a lot of fun. 

 

Can't wait to read about your Perfect day at Coco Cay.  I'm wondering how many kids are going to be on your cruise since it is Presidents week for a lot of the Northeast and the kids are off from school.  

 I received one email about where and what time to meet them outside the port.  They said they would be holding a sign.  They also said they would send an email a week before so hopefully will get another one soon.

Glad you said it was fun, I see that they post a lot of pictures on facebook, I was planning on taking my own camera, was there time to take your own pictures or do they rush you around?

 

Excited about Perfect day,  i did not realize there would be a lot of kids off of school that week, not anti-kid but hoping for well behaved kids.  😊  Also its a partial charter with Rockin the Caribbean oldies, not sure that will impact any venues.  But hey it's a cruise and if I get lemons, maybe I can trade them in for frozen Lime Margaritas  😁

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ljmandelbaum

ljmandelbaum

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10 minutes ago, WVHillbilly said:

I received one email about where and what time to meet them outside the port.  They said they would be holding a sign.  They also said they would send an email a week before so hopefully will get another one soon.

Glad you said it was fun, I see that they post a lot of pictures on facebook, I was planning on taking my own camera, was there time to take your own pictures or do they rush you around?

 

My brother in law booked it around 5 days before we were in cozumel and the day before we left but through his mother in law's travel agency ( don't ask).  He didn't check for the confirmation email other than the proof we booked, so when we got to the pier we had to figure out where to meet.  

It was just 4 of us on 2 trikes, so we kind of set our own pace.  

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RN4Nsy

RN4Nsy

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I look forward to your review! I just got off on Sunday. Mentally kicking and screaming. She's a beautiful ship. On sea days, don't miss the lunch in main dining room. They have a buffet and a great salad bar, you pick ingredients and they make your salad. You can also order off the menu at lunch. On our last sea day, dessert on menu was a "floating island". Yummy! Dining room had great food but we also went to other venues.

 

Myra

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WVHillbilly

WVHillbilly

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4 hours ago, RN4Nsy said:

I look forward to your review! I just got off on Sunday. Mentally kicking and screaming. She's a beautiful ship. On sea days, don't miss the lunch in main dining room. They have a buffet and a great salad bar, you pick ingredients and they make your salad. You can also order off the menu at lunch. On our last sea day, dessert on menu was a "floating island". Yummy! Dining room had great food but we also went to other venues.

 

Myra

 I agree the tutti salad is great on sea days.  What was the "floating island"?

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WVHillbilly

WVHillbilly

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4 hours ago, BNL1213 said:

We are on this cruise too!!!  I am going to have to look for that Kracken Lava Flow to jump start Day 1 as well.  Have safe travels and see you onboard!

 

Love the Kracken Lava Flows, or just plain Lava Flows if there isn't any Kracken rum

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gatour

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On 2/12/2020 at 3:07 PM, WVHillbilly said:

Thank you, I like to always have a plan B, in case plan A goes to crap. 😄  I also do packing lists to check off what I have already packed. 

 

We did a Disney and Universal vacation this past November, did not spend much time at all in Disney Springs so was planning on wondering around there for a bit, and like you said the parking is free there.  Wanted Universal City Walk for the nightlife just not sure I want to hang out there to long as we are staying in Cocoa Beach the night before the cruise.  Since we are arriving mid morning the day before, i do have a rental car to explore with and get us to Cocoa Beach.

City Walk doesn't really get hopping until the night time.  During the daytime you are pretty much limited to a few shops and the restaurants.

 

Disney Springs has things to see/visit during the day time.

 

Now that I know your plans.  Pick up your car, head to Disney Springs do some site seeing, have a late lunch/ early dinner, and then head to your hotel on the coast.  Just my take.

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WVHillbilly

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4 hours ago, gatour said:

City Walk doesn't really get hopping until the night time.  During the daytime you are pretty much limited to a few shops and the restaurants.

 

Disney Springs has things to see/visit during the day time.

 

Now that I know your plans.  Pick up your car, head to Disney Springs do some site seeing, have a late lunch/ early dinner, and then head to your hotel on the coast.  Just my take.

 

I kinda wanted to try the Red Coconut Club but, things wouldn't be happening till much later in the evening and I really will need to some rest before boarding on Sunday.   So after picking up the car we'll head to Disney Springs and spend the afternoon there before heading to Cocoa Beach.  I hear there is a scheduled Space X launch on Saturday would be nice to catch that.  Also there is a guy on FB who takes pictures of Harmony coming in and he had some really nice night photos of her sailing in.  If I'm lucky I maybe able to catch her sailing in before daybreak.

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WVHillbilly

WVHillbilly

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We only have two more nights at home before we fly out to Orlando and the pre-cruise packing panic is setting in.  Just like Santa, I’m making a list and checking it twice.  Am I packing everything I need; do I really need that?  Can I get everything in two checked bags or do I need a third?

 

Tomorrow is turning into a busy day; I had surgery on my foot in December and have one final check with the surgeon in the morning, the store for any last minute items, and get some cash from the bank.  I have one final check in with my elderly parents to make sure they are set for me to be gone.  Then we have a formal dance for Valentine’s Day.   I’ll finally take a breather once we are wheels up on Saturday morning.

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WVHillbilly

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Pre-cruise Day:  We flew from Dulles International Airport to Orlando on a morning flight on Southwest Airlines leaving the cold freezing weather behind.

 

Arriving in Orlando it was a long trek from the Southwest gate to baggage claim.  Played the baggage claim musical chairs, first bags are coming out at one carousel the no it’s over here, no we were just kidding back to the original location.

 

Collected our rental from Alamo it was quick and painless and we were off to Disney Springs for lunch.  Walked around Disney Springs a bit then headed to the hotel.  A couple of days earlier, I realized I scored a rental car bonus by renting from Alamo.  I’m not loyal to one brand over the other usually going with the best rate, but I was happy that the return location is like a 10 minute walk to the ship.

 

 

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