Yes, another LIVE thread - From the Harmony of the Seas 8/14/2022 - Star Class - with a little Disney thrown in !!!

[mac_tlc]

I thought I would start this LIVE thread a little before cruise day. We are spending a few Disney Days beforehand, and we have a Grand Villa at Old Key West reserved for the eight of us, ages 63 to 4.

 

We drove down from CT (our 28^TH time driving), leaving Sunday and arriving yesterday. Of course, no journey can be without drama. I noticed last Thursday that the AC at our house in Orlando stopped working – big problem in Florida in August. Right now, I have two fans to blow the humidity around. Never fear – the AC folks are coming this morning (Tuesday) and hopefully we will be cooled off by this afternoon.

 

Heading to Old Key West tomorrow to sweat like crazy for a few days. I’ll include some pix of the Grand Villa for those who may be interested.

 

Ok, about the cruise. We will be sailing the Harmony of the Seas, our second time on this lady. This is our (wife and I) 8^th cruise since the restart. It is our annual August bring-everybody-onboard cruise. Our two kids, their spouses and the two grandsons. We will be staying in the 4-bedroom Villa Suite and look forward to everyone having their own bedroom. Previously we have done the 2BDR Aquatheatre Suite, which has a great view, great balcony, great living area, but not great bedrooms and bathrooms. Our genie is Raj, for those who keep track of those things.

 

There was some pre-cruise Covid drama as four of the eight got Covid about a month ago. I will spare you the day-by-day trials and tribulations, but as it ended up, three of the eight will board using a positive PCR test and a Certificate of Recovery, the other five will go the conventional route (hopefully), with a negative (fingers crossed) antigen test two days prior. We will be using RapidTestandTrace for the first time this Friday --- wish us luck. The COR will mean that those folks cannot get off in Jamaica or Labadee, but given the cabin and genie – it's not a huge sacrifice !!!

 

I will be happy to answer any questions about any piece of the voyage – the drive, the testing, the AC, Disney, Harmony – whatever you got, I’ll give it a shot.

 

OK, time to get ready for the AC repair folks !!!!!!! More later.

 

mac_tlc

[wolfganghowell]

Excited to follow along.  We cruise her 10/30.  Would love to hear your experience with CK and SL.  I know you have a genie but if you can let me know about the suite concierge that would be great.  We've only done 1 Oasis class and were unimpressed with the concierge - both just sat at their desk and seemed generally unhappy - never mingled with guests unlike Freedom and Voyager class.  Have a great time.

[mac_tlc]

7 minutes ago, wolfganghowell said:

Excited to follow along.  We cruise her 10/30.  Would love to hear your experience with CK and SL.  I know you have a genie but if you can let me know about the suite concierge that would be great.  We've only done 1 Oasis class and were unimpressed with the concierge - both just sat at their desk and seemed generally unhappy - never mingled with guests unlike Freedom and Voyager class.  Have a great time.

The Suite Concierges seem to run the gamut, as with most folks I guess. We have had very engaged ones and some who never seem to get up off the chair. They always seem to be very busy. I will let you know what I experience. We do spend a fair amount of time in the SL, especially when it's not crowded. 

 

mac_tlc

Edited August 9, 2022 by mac_tlc

[OCSC Mike]

15 minutes ago, mac_tlc said:

The Suite Concierges seem to run the gamut, as with most folks I guess. We have had very engaged ones and some who never seem to get up off the chair. They always seem to be very busy. I will let you know what I experience. We do spend a fair amount of time in the SL, especially when it's not crowded. 

 

mac_tlc

 

FWIW, we had a great experience in CK on Harmony 5/29. If Rodrigo is still onboard running it, you're in good hands! Very friendly and funny in addition to making sure everything runs smoothly.

 

I know one of the two suite concierges has changed but Junior (who was still there last I heard) was very helpful with requests, especially pre-cruise via e-mail. I was the designated contact person for our extended family of 8 for the cruise. There was an app issue with our comedy reservations and he told me he'd personally walk us down to the show if he had to.

 

Good luck with the AC! Ours went out a couple months ago. Turned out to be a quick fix and fortunately we have two units (one downstairs, one upstairs), so as long as one is working, we can survive.

Edited August 9, 2022 by OCSC Mike

[mac_tlc]

1 hour ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

 

Good luck with the AC! Ours went out a couple months ago. Turned out to be a quick fix and fortunately we have two units (one downstairs, one upstairs), so as long as one is working, we can survive.

Good news!! It was either 1) a loose connection in the 24V system, or 2) A stuck overflow valve. In any event, its working now. Let's see how long it takes to cool down 12 degrees ........

 

mac_tlc

[OCSC Mike]

1 minute ago, mac_tlc said:

Good news!! It was either 1) a loose connection in the 24V system, or 2) A stuck overflow valve. In any event, its working now. Let's see how long it takes to cool down 12 degrees ........

 

mac_tlc

 

Hooray for small miracles!

[LuCruise]

Best trip ever....Disney + Royal cruise!  

Looking forward to following along.  We're actually going to Disney in a few weeks (usually it's a cruise this time of year).  What parks?  Do you have Genie+?

Never made it on Harmony thanks to covid shutdown but have done other Oasis class...amazing!

Have a great vacation. 

[mac_tlc]

21 minutes ago, LuCruise said:

Best trip ever....Disney + Royal cruise!  

Looking forward to following along.  We're actually going to Disney in a few weeks (usually it's a cruise this time of year).  What parks?  Do you have Genie+?

Never made it on Harmony thanks to covid shutdown but have done other Oasis class...amazing!

Have a great vacation. 

The wife + son + daughter-in-law area at Epcot today as I had to deal with the AC. They got boarding group 5 for Guardians of the Galaxy this morning. In fact, it broke down as soon as they boarded but started up about 10 minutes later. They gave all of them a free Lightning Lane pass so they will use that on Remy later today.

 

Check in to OKW tomorrow, going to Hollywood Studios. Daughter, son-in-law, grandkids arrive tomorrow. MK Thursday, AK Friday.

 

My wife and I have Pixie annual passes so we are blacked out on weekends. I think the kids will go to Epcot on Saturday. We have resisted doing Genie+. If we were to do it, it would only be at HS and MK. We visit often enough (in fact this is my wife's 100th trip) that I don't think my wife and I need them. The kids will "commando" tour the parks from rope drop to closing. I'm more interested in Food & Wine this trip.

 

mac_tlc

 

 

Edited August 9, 2022 by mac_tlc

[LATTELOVE]

Yes, yes, following for sure.

Been on Harmony 3 times already,

one of our favorite class ships.

Looking forward to your reviews and photos.

Thank you for taking your time to share with us all.

 

Enjoy Disney with your family!

[CruisinSinceIwasBorn]

Sailing in HotS A1 this April. Would you mind sharing what the issue with the rooms is?

[Arzeena]

Looking forward to going to Disney and Harmony, from the sofa.

One cannot get enough Disney or cruising.😀

[tampadee]

We love Harmony.  Thanks for posting.

[sandebeach]

21 hours ago, mac_tlc said:

Good news!! It was either 1) a loose connection in the 24V system, or 2) A stuck overflow valve. In any event, its working now. Let's see how long it takes to cool down 12 degrees ........

 

mac_tlc

So glad the AC can be fixed. Summer can be Very Hot in Florida and I consider AC a necessity of life. 

[mac_tlc]

6 hours ago, sandebeach said:

So glad the AC can be fixed. Summer can be Very Hot in Florida and I consider AC a necessity of life. 

It was one hot night, but thankfully it’s running well right now.

 

mac_tlc

[mac_tlc]

Awaiting check in at Old Key West. They recently renovated the entire lobby area. It’s airy and bright. 
 

 

[Arzeena]

Will you be going to Olivia's? Yummmy!

[mac_tlc]

18 hours ago, CruisinSinceIwasBorn said:

Sailing in HotS A1 this April. Would you mind sharing what the issue with the rooms is?

We had 8, so we had two on the master bedroom, four in the second bedroom and two on the sofa in the living area. The bedrooms are not big. The second one is quite crowded with four, the vanity/table is close to the beds. The master bed is very close to the drawers, really need to shuffle sideways past the bed. 
 

The bathrooms are nothing special, considering it’s an expensive suite. The second one is no bigger than a regular cabin’s bathroom. Master bath is not big and the headroom in the shower/tub is an issue if you are 6 ft or taller. 
 

Livimg area is awesome, balcony stupendous. Oasis/Allure A1’s are a little bigger than Harmony/Symphony.

 

mac_tlc
 

 

 

Edited August 10, 2022 by mac_tlc

[mac_tlc]

21 minutes ago, Arzeena said:

Will you be going to Olivia's? Yummmy!

We might! Depends on how long we end up at the parks. It is very hot, we did HS today from 8:10 to 3:00. Kids are doing extra magic hours at MK tonight.
 

mac_tlc

Edited August 10, 2022 by mac_tlc

[LATTELOVE]

2 hours ago, mac_tlc said:

Awaiting check in at Old Key West. They recently renovated the entire lobby area. It’s airy and bright. 
 

 

Wow! 

Very beautiful!!!

[mac_tlc]

Finally got into our room about 6pm. 
It’s a Grand Villa, 3 bedrooms,   4 bathrooms, dining area, living area, laundry room, two stories. It’s a few more square feet than our house in CT. 
 

Here are some pictures. 

Entry and living room:

 

 Master bedroom and bath

 

Other bedrooms and view from second story:

 

Edited August 11, 2022 by mac_tlc

[BeancounterUSA]

I will be on this sailing as well.  We're from Alabama and driving on Sat.  Look forward to reading your review while I'm onboard.

[perfect match]

OKW resort renovations look good. We haven’t been there in quite a while since we only live 45 minutes away so it’s nice to get a peek at the latest updates.

 

We were typo supposed to be at Magic Kingdom but cancelled due to DH getting Covid during a visit to Animal Kingdom 2.5 weeks ago. He had a mild case and is OK now. I’m not sure how I managed to avoid Covid, but two friends of ours caught it from DH over dinner two nights after our day in the park and a day before DH had any symptoms at all. Fortunately our cruise on Harmony isn’t for another 31 days, so we’ll be avoiding the parks until after we cruise. Parks are way more crowded now than they’ve been since reopening, more like pre pandemic levels and none of the people you’re likely to encounter will care at all that you’re heading for a Harmony cruise when you leave Disney.

 

I, on the other hand, selfishly want to to be sure you get to go on Harmony! I’m very much looking forward to your trip report since I have enjoyed your past ones a lot and haven’t seen any recent Harmony reviews. Selfish reasons aside, I really hope that you and your family are able to enjoy your time at Disney and are able to board Harmony as scheduled. I know it’s possible because we have been in the parks on a regular basis since they reopened and have never had a problem until now. 
 

I’d love to see the Harmony show schedule from your cruise. I’d also love your opinion as to my decision to go with Traditional Late dining as opposed to My Time. We’ve done Traditional Late dining on all of our pre pandemic cruises but switched to My Time on the two cruises we’ve done since the restart. 

Edited August 11, 2022 by perfect match
Typo

[jimbri]

Have a great time!

[LuCruise]

Holy moly. Your place certainly is grand! 

What an amazing space!

[mac_tlc]

14 minutes ago, LuCruise said:

Holy moly. Your place certainly is grand! 

What an amazing space!

It is certainly comfortable for a few days. Old Key West was the first resort Disney built for its timeshare business back in 1991. I guess they really didn’t know how popular it was going to be. OKW rooms are some of the largest in the “vacation club” portfolio and requires the lowest points per night to book. Really a great value compared to some

of the others, IMHO. We have been members since 1992 and OKW is one of our home resorts. It really is a special place for us and the kids…. and now the grandkids… 

 

mac_tlc