Family of 6 -- Harmony of the Seas -- Dec 17-24 photo review with GoPro time lapse experimentation

[dwHokie]

The last night I set up the GoPro on the balcony and programmed it to start a time lapse at 5am.  Here's the arrival of Harmony back into port, including turning around and backing in, which I thought was pretty cool:

 

 

We had our last breakfast with the older boys hitting Windjammer and me just bringing coffee and light breakfast back from Cafe Promenade for our room since we knew there would be additional snacks in the Royal Theater as we waited to disembark.  We were out of the room by 8am and headed down to the theater to wait.

 

 

 

 

 

Our luggage number was called right at 8:50am (which was the planned time) and we had started to head toward the elevators a couple minutes before.  It was no issue getting an elevator to go up one floor to the Promenade and we quickly were off the ship.  We were through customs with our luggage by 9:05am.  With a short walk to the South lot, the car was packed and we were on our way by 9:20am...super efficient.  We were home in Round Rock shortly after 1pm and began the crazy preparations of Christmas Eve with 4 kids.  Looking back, we will prefer to cruise after Christmas going forward vs. before...as it was a lot to catch up on, being gone the week before Christmas, even though we tried to get everything we could done in advance.

 

Final thoughts:

 

We had a great time.  A cruise is what you make of it and we enjoyed our time together...it's not often we are all sitting down for a nice meal together with all the kids' activities, so a full week of spending time together was wonderful, not to mention all the fun we had and the memories we made.

 

I forgot to mention earlier that we had booked the one-device surf and stream internet package, using the $100 OBC we received from the Premier Pass refund.  We just shared it between my wife and I and the older boys and it worked well all week.  Only one device could be on at a time, but we just took turns and it was all we needed.  We just shared the log-in and it would kick off whoever was on when you logged on, which we coordinated.  Performance was better than I thought it would be.

 

 

We definitely noticed some changes with the biggest impact to us personally being the service from the Adventure Ocean kids club.  After it being a favorite of our younger kids previously, I'm hoping they give it a try again, but we were not fans of the changes there nor what we saw and experienced.  Close behind that was the once per day room service and the inflexibility of our room steward.  Both of these were disappointing, but we did not allow them to bother our cruise.

 

The changes in process in the MDR were evident and I would say the meals there were good to very good with maybe the only drawback being our perceived slight degradation in the amount of choices that appealed to us on the menu.  Service in the MDR was great after that first night and our wait staff worked incredibly hard to keep us happy and we greatly appreciated them.

 

Overall service otherwise on the ship was still great.  Almost everyone would say "hello" or "good morning" as you passed them on deck and I only experienced one crew member with a negative attitude who outwardly said they were not happy there (casino blackjack dealer).  I thought the bar service was very good all week, as was the service we experienced in Chops and Izumi.  The ship was clean and in great shape with no signs of wear anywhere I noticed.

 

In my humble opinion, cruising is still a relaxing way for a large family like ours to vacation, with most things taken care of.  I still felt like the trip was a good overall value for our family, considering everything we got to see, do and eat and am excited for our next cruise on Oasis next New Year's with our extended family.

 

Thanks for following along and I'm happy to answer any questions that may be out there.

 

-Dan

[Another_Critic]

Thanks for taking us along.  A fantastic review.  You have a beautiful family, but I have to add that your daughter is so adorable.

[fla33023]

What a great review! Loved how the older boys would meet up with you for breakfast. Won't be long before they're out of the house so I know how important that time was. A little jealous of the son running laps and then going to Sorrentos! Those were the days!

[dctravel]

Thank you for this review! We are considering Harmony for March (I know, late in the game for planning) and your review is going to help us make a decision!

[livingonthebeach]

Loved following your experience, both on Harmony - a ship I’m very fond of, and the GoPro lessons were an added bonus! 
 

Nice to see such a lovely, well mannered and appreciative family - a rare breed these days!!!

[#55worktoplay]

Thanks for sharing, it was a great review. 
 

It’s nice to see a great view of your family dynamics and your family pictures were all beautiful. I loved the one of the boys walking ahead holding your daughters hand (she is truly adorable). 
 

Thanks 

[Etta1213]

On 1/7/2024 at 2:19 PM, Another_Critic said:

Thanks for taking us along.  A fantastic review.  You have a beautiful family, but I have to add that your daughter is so adorable.

And compliments to your wife for daughter's precious wardrobe.🤗

Edited January 9 by Etta1213

[BK79]

With the once a day turndown service, what time would you recommend for a family?

[11Bravo]

I sincerely appreciate your detailed and thorough reflection on this voyage, dwHokie. We are on Harmony in 5 days, and all your posts are a wealth of knowledge!

 

I love your balcony GoPro videos. I ordered a similar tripod and security cables to attempt my own balcony time lapse videos. We too, were on the Allure last year on this same itinerary. This is a fun trip, and we're look forward to making more memories with friends and family!

 

 

[dwHokie]

2 hours ago, BK79 said:

With the once a day turndown service, what time would you recommend for a family?

I just realized I never addressed this in my review (other than the final summary) and meant to, my bad!  It was one of the service changes I wanted to highlight.

 

We met our steward the first afternoon and she gave us the option of morning (9-1) or evening service.  We initially chose morning since we had the kids in our room on the pull-out and thought it would be good to have her make it up in the morning.

 

We then thought better of it, knowing we would always be out of the room for several hours at the same time for dinner in the MDR.  We found our steward that first night and asked to change to evening service and she refused, saying her evenings were full.

 

This ended up being an issue for us on sea days (not port days) as it wasn't as easy for the 4 of us to be out of the room for an extended time in the morning (we had to be in and out a bit).  And as a result, we just got towels and didn't have her service the room a couple of those days.  We were out of the room for a couple hours those days, but she did not make the room up during those times, which was also frustrating.  I just think they have too much to cover now and have little flexibility, though I would have expected a little more of an attempt.

 

So for our family, since we always went to dinner in the MDR, evening service would have worked better.  Again, was not an issue on port days since we were gone, but we had to focus on it for the 3 sea days to get out of the room between 9 and 1 and I would rather not have to worry about it next time.

Edited January 9 by dwHokie

[Lorey2007]

2 hours ago, dwHokie said:

I just realized I never addressed this in my review (other than the final summary) and meant to, my bad!  It was one of the service changes I wanted to highlight.

 

We met our steward the first afternoon and she gave us the option of morning (9-1) or evening service.  We initially chose morning since we had the kids in our room on the pull-out and thought it would be good to have her make it up in the morning.

 

We then thought better of it, knowing we would always be out of the room for several hours at the same time for dinner in the MDR.  We found our steward that first night and asked to change to evening service and she refused, saying her evenings were full.

 

This ended up being an issue for us on sea days (not port days) as it wasn't as easy for the 4 of us to be out of the room for an extended time in the morning (we had to be in and out a bit).  And as a result, we just got towels and didn't have her service the room a couple of those days.  We were out of the room for a couple hours those days, but she did not make the room up during those times, which was also frustrating.  I just think they have too much to cover now and have little flexibility, though I would have expected a little more of an attempt.

 

So for our family, since we always went to dinner in the MDR, evening service would have worked better.  Again, was not an issue on port days since we were gone, but we had to focus on it for the 3 sea days to get out of the room between 9 and 1 and I would rather not have to worry about it next time.

What category cabin did you have?

[dwHokie]

45 minutes ago, Lorey2007 said:

What category cabin did you have?

 

Standard oceanview balcony for the adults and younger kids with an interior across the hall for the older boys.

[pmak]

Hello, thank you for the wonderful review. We will be sailing on the Harmony this February. I was wondering how do you find out when the ship has a Caribbean/White theme nights for your sailing?  I don’t see any theme nights on the Royal app. Thank you 

[dwHokie]

1 hour ago, pmak said:

Hello, thank you for the wonderful review. We will be sailing on the Harmony this February. I was wondering how do you find out when the ship has a Caribbean/White theme nights for your sailing?  I don’t see any theme nights on the Royal app. Thank you 

 

As you get closer to your cruise it will start showing up on your daily list of activities in the app.  I think usually there was an activity entry around 4pm or so that would say the dress for that evening.  On our recent 7-night, there were 2 formal nights, 2 casual nights, a Caribbean night, a country night and a white night.

 

You can also look up previous/recent Compass versions for Harmony and in the upper right hand corner of the day they have the dress, pictured below.  Link here of a good place to find previous Compass versions.

 

Edited January 10 by dwHokie

[js10]

Great review Dan--it felt like I was right there with you guys!

[loug1601]

What a nice review. You have created beautiful family memories 👍!

[jammin]

Thanks for sharing your vacation with us!  Your review was awesome to read.

 

how was your room setup with your kids?  I recall you mentioning you had a balcony and an inside across the hall.  Did you and your wife have to register as the adult in each room?  Did the kids sleep in the inside and you in the balcony?

 

we just booked 2 balcony cabins for our family of four for next Christmas. My kids are 19 and 14 but Royal required an adult over 21 to be registered in each room. We plan to just move a kid into one room and she and I will take the other. 

[perfect match]

Thank you for a great review! I really enjoyed cruising along with you and your awesome family. 

[dwHokie]

4 hours ago, jammin said:

Thanks for sharing your vacation with us!  Your review was awesome to read.

 

how was your room setup with your kids?  I recall you mentioning you had a balcony and an inside across the hall.  Did you and your wife have to register as the adult in each room?  Did the kids sleep in the inside and you in the balcony?

 

we just booked 2 balcony cabins for our family of four for next Christmas. My kids are 19 and 14 but Royal required an adult over 21 to be registered in each room. We plan to just move a kid into one room and she and I will take the other. 

 

Adults and the 9 and 7 year old were in the balcony.  14 and 16 year old were directly across the hall in the interior.  As long as it's an adjoining room or directly across hall, you are good with this setup.  We had another cruise where we were diagonal across hall and we had to have a parent booked in each room (but then had extra room keys made and still ended up with parents in the balcony without issue).

[TeamCan]

Thank you for the wonderful review!  I enjoyed following along with your family adventures.  Beautiful family pictures!  Brings back many cherished memories of cruising with our kids.

[Missusdubbya]

@dwHokie wonderful review, thank you!

[paml]

Wonderful review. Thankyou for sharing. Very helpful information. You have a beautiful family. Loved the pictures and videos. What precious memories you all have created.

 

[T-2]

I only just ran across your incredible review and pictures and was wondering which GoPro you used, I need to upgrade mine and have been reluctant to make the decision not knowing how much they had changed. Your videos are stunning. May I ask, did you change the speed any when you were snorkeling amongst the fist in Roatan? I definitely also appreciate the info on the legs to attach to a rail and the security cords. Just keeping my fingers crossed you may revisit and share which gopro is responsible for those eye dropping results- you did an amazing job!  Thanks!!!!

PS- we don't go for 7 weeks so I iwll keep checking back even if its not anytime soon. (same ports, super appreciate all the tips you shared on your excursions)

[dwHokie]

2 hours ago, T-2 said:

I only just ran across your incredible review and pictures and was wondering which GoPro you used, I need to upgrade mine and have been reluctant to make the decision not knowing how much they had changed. Your videos are stunning. May I ask, did you change the speed any when you were snorkeling amongst the fist in Roatan? I definitely also appreciate the info on the legs to attach to a rail and the security cords. Just keeping my fingers crossed you may revisit and share which gopro is responsible for those eye dropping results- you did an amazing job!  Thanks!!!!

PS- we don't go for 7 weeks so I iwll keep checking back even if its not anytime soon. (same ports, super appreciate all the tips you shared on your excursions)

 

Thanks for the feedback!  I used a Hero9 for the GoPro videos and time warps.

 

I did play with the settings a bit snorkeling, starting with the 2.7K resolution activity setting and then moving up to 4K.  I also changed the lens angle.  The default setting for video is a very wide angle fish eye type view. I opted for a couple clicks down (narrower field of view) which is the linear which was more to my liking for the snorkeling.

Edited February 8 by dwHokie

[T-2]

I cannot thank you enough for the help and the insights- I noticed the lack of fish eye and couldn't believe how much better it looked, even the audio sounded great, and the quality, just amazing- its definitely time to upgrade. Usually everyone is shooting action sports like skate boarding, skiing, I had not realized the advances in underwater and just shots you took around the ship, again, without the fish eye effect. Were any of your single shots with the goPro- like on the water obsticles or were you using something else? Again, your help is super appreciated and I enjoyed every minute of your trip adventure. Photo/video memories are irreplaceable for us when we travel as a family so again, super thanks.